Call me crazy, but I think restaurants should pay waiters a decent wage, at least minimum, and call it even. Tipping has exploded into this nebulous social etiquette where people now in traditionally non-tipping industries EXPECT to be tipped.
As a former waiter/busboy/cashier/cook, I consider the wage I get from the restaurant my pay. People giving me random money because they like what I do is icing on the cake. I do not expect it or deserve it. I think people feel they are entitled only because of habit. I don’t think anyone should be tipped, at all, for anything. You do your job and get paid for it. You don’t act pissy just because someone didn’t recognize that.
For instance, I work in an office job now. I do good work, but I don’t really have much contact with the public. Some people in the office do, as they deal with the public all the time. They don’t get tips either. Should they lower their service, relax their professionalism, and take 10 mins to do a 5 min job just because nobody’s tipping them?
As far as I’m concerned, and I upheld this belief when I was waiting tables, one should do their job well no matter the pay. That means no spitting in a dish, taking too long to bring out a dish, or eating part of the food even if you don’t get tipped. You are there to wait tables and part of that is taking orders and bringing food as is. You are not paid NOT to be a jerk. No job is like that.
So do your god damn jobs you lazy, entitled, selfish waiters.
Yeah, so do i. I come from a country where this actually happens, and i think that, on the whole, it’s a better system than America’s tipping culture.
But arguing that things should be different is one thing. It’s something quite different to blame the people who work in restaurants for the current situation, which is precisely what you appear to be doing. They are not lazy or selfish for working within a system over which they have no control, and they are not lazy or selfish for expecting that system to provide them with a reasonable income for doing their jobs properly.
You can attempt all you like to rationalize your argument, but it’s completely stupid because you end up taking the inadequacies of the system out on people who can’t change it, and are just doing their best to get by within it.
I completely agree with this. I’ve worked as a waiter and bartender in places with no tipping (UK, Australia) and in places with tipping (Canada). I’ve lived in all three of those countries, and now live in the United States.
In my experience on both sides of the issue, as a waiter and as a customer, i haven’t noticed any correlation between the tipping culture and the level of service. I’ve had great service and shitty service in Australia and the UK; i’ve had great service and shitty service in Canada and the US. I’ve worked with lazy-ass, incompetent waiters and excellent, hardworking waiters in Australia and the UK; i’ve worked with both types in Canada.
Eliminating tipping does not eliminate the economic incentive for a waiter to do a good job. It just changes slightly where the incentive comes from and how it works. As Kaio notes, the notion that you’ll be fired if you don’t do a good job is plenty of incentive for most workers, whether they get gratuities or not.
Goodie. I await your massive letter-writing petition-signature-gathering PR campaign to your Congress-critters to raise the tipped employees’ minimum wage to something resembling a living wage. (Hint: it’s more than 2 bucks an hour.)
(Good lord. I just checked and the regular federal minimum wage is still only $7.25. Who can possibly live on that?)
When I was working as a waitress, my paychecks were routinely under a dollar - usually, they were issued for 0.00, because the taxes for my reported tips were taken out of my hourly wage from the restaurant. Every other server I have ever talked to received similar “paychecks,” so I think you are in the minority for considering the wage you get from the restaurant your rightful pay, and everything else “icing on the cake.”
Also, so as not to be participating in this thread solely as a hijacker, I would have loved to have a manager who did something like this (and it would have taken many, many visits marked by severely poor tips to even get them to consider something like this), but I think 15% would have been more fair (as that what is tacked on to large party checks) and they probably could have explained it to her in a nicer way.
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OK, now I’ve seen the video. This is not a “normal” restaurant. Eaters at a Japanese steakhouse receive a tremendous level of attention, and not tipping is pretty egregious. The owner didn’t handle it very well, though. He honestly should just include a 15% upcharge for everyone, then allow a little merit tipping on top. Bad tipping at Chili’s is something you just have to suck up, but at a Japanese steakhouse it’s indefensible.
No, they’re not lazy or selfish. I only said that because for some reason you felt the need to cuss at me for something, I felt, wasn’t warranted.
Isn’t there some kind of restaurant workers union that can handle this? Minorities didn’t just sit around waiting until racists granted them equal rights, they had to demand it. Labor didn’t sit around waiting until monopolies gave them a fairer wage, they demanded it and got government action to do so. I simply feel that succumbing to this kind of extortion is not the way things ought to be. In the past, people fought for their fair share. I cannot shake the feeling that because nobody seems to think this is a big deal, we shouldn’t fight for it.
Worse are waiters who get paid well, but still demand tips. Those parasites I can do without. I empathize for the ones who do not get minimum wage, but I cannot just ignore that and continue to buy into a system that I feel is fundamentally unfair. Besides, if you think I should not demonize those who work in a system that cannot change, then neither should I support it. Let’s face it, that guy who doesn’t get his 15-20% off my $10 meal isn’t going to starve. 95% of the rest of his customers will tip him. I’m not bad for not buying into it.
If I were still waiting tables, I hope I would have the wisdom to realize that the pay I got from the restaurant for those 2 hours is exactly what I deserve and what I signed the contract for. I would be peeved, but not for the reason you think. I would be peeved because I’m surrounded by a culture that demands tipping and I didn’t get my fair share. But I would STILL hate tipping, even though I benefit from it.
In the interest of full disclosure though, I do tip, and I’m generally a good tipper. I think the standard rate is like 15-20% now, though YMMV, and I try to tip that for anything more than a lunch special $10 quickie meal. I have a favorite restaurant I go to near work that I routinely tip more than 20%, because I like them and they recognize me. Also, and I’m not ashamed to admit, I tip partly because I don’t want trouble from the wait staff. So part of it’s fear. I hate it. I shouldn’t have to fear having my food tampered with or being yelled at because I wanted to have a soup and some pasta (not that it’s ever happened). But the fear is there, and I tip, and I hate it.
I’d like to add that another reason I hate it is because it’s become mandatory. It’s how humans are built, I guess, when something is voluntary, you like it more, but when people demand you do something, you start to hate it. I can’t help it, I hate tipping. I would love to do it if it wasn’t expected all the time, but because it is, I really really hate it
You must swear to use this power only for good. However, I got the same vibe. She wants to go to the restaurant, but she doesn’t want to tip. I get the impression that she doesn’t tip AT ALL.
She knows that she’s supposed to tip. She just doesn’t want to do it.
I think that the manager could have handled it better. He should not have put a service fee/mandatory tip on her bill without warning her. He could have stopped by her table one time before she ordered for that visit, and asked her if she had a problem with the food or service, since she never tipped well, or never tipped at all (whichever is true). Then he could have told her that he expected her to either give a decent tip for decent service, or that she could find somewhere else to eat. But she is not entitled to dine at a particular restaurant if they don’t want her business. If she wants the food and the show and the service, she needs to be willing to pay for it.
I know a couple of people who make a practice of finding the smallest things to complain about in hopes of getting a free dessert or something knocked off their bill. Notice that I don’t say that these people are my friends. Some people are simply out for everything that they can get, and to hell with the rest of the world.
I don’t particularly like tipping, I’d much rather have the price on the menu being the price that I actually pay, but even I have a few social skills. It’s not hard at all to figure out what 15% of the total is. Just take ten percent, take half of that ten percent, add those two sums together, and round up to the nearest quarter or dollar, assuming it’s a low or midprice restaurant.
She might be an ass for undertipping, but I don’t think the restaurant is right to do this. Hmm. Is it even legal?
If I worked there* I would be thrilled, gotta admit. But I still don’t think it’s the right thing to do. Bad or no tips from certain people are a part of life, and tipping is not mandatory. I voted that neither are right.
I think that the restaurant was in the wrong. That’s what tipping is about. Takes your chances. Do they refund anytime somebody over tips? No. Because, it’s kind of a some do some don’t. That’s why they pay sub-minimal rates.
In some states, there is no lower minimum wage for tipped employees. That’s a practice that needs to be nationwide.
In this case, the woman was wrong to be a habitual poor tipper (if she is) and the restaurant was wrong for thinking that they could get away with slapping a service surcharge on one customer and one customer only. Ban her, but you can’t arbitrarily charge someone more money. That’s begging for trouble.
Agreed, but it’s one of those things that are easier said than done. The restaurant is walking a PR tightrope no matter what it does. Asking her to stop her behavior is an invitation for her to walk out on her bill, teaching her that all she has to do to get free food is to be an obnoxious bitch. Allowing her to behave that way is an invitation for her to keep behaving that way, causing the staff to be pissed off and alienating the other customers, who are also paying for the privilege of a meal out. The woman is clearly a troublemaker, so either way, the restaurant is fucked.
That being said, I bet the woman will find herself receiving less-than-friendly service at other restaurants she patronizes. Her little campaign can backfire pretty easily.
I waited tables for years and I would’ve loved if any of my managers had the balls to do something like this. Good on them. Sure, they should’ve given the woman notice that they were going to add the surcharge or just kick her out, but as far as demanding she tip or refusing her service? Totally within their rights.
I used to work at this resturant where we had a regular customer like this. The hostess knew to always rotate who had to serve her (we actually kept a list) and whenever she was sat, we’d pass around a cup where everyone would throw some money for the poor schmuck who got stuck with her that day. It’s really sad that we had to do that and shame on that cheapass bitch for making us have to do that.
I don’t care what your personal feelings are towards the tipping system in the U.S, if you penalize the people who are stuck working in it and have no control over it, you’re being an asshole. Period.
And for those who keep asking “why should I have to pay more just because my bill is larger?” It’s been explained multiple times. Servers are taxed on their sales, not by the number of customers they serve. Those taxes are taken out of their checks and that is the amount they are expected to tip out towards back of the house staff at the end of the evening. Thus, that is the amount you are expected to tip off of. It couldn’t be more simply explained if we drew you pictures in crayon. Those who still claim not to “get it” are being willfully obtuse. It’s really not a hard concept.
Oh man, I remember this. I used to work the closing shift on Saturdays. Without fail, every Saturday night we had the same Indian family who would come in at 5 minutes to close, run me ragged, treat me like dirt, and leave me a pitiful tip. At the end of a hard night I’d have to fight back tears when I’d see them approach the door. The most I could do was pray there’d be at least eight of them so I could add the 15% surcharge.
I don’t know what makes people think acting like this is okay. If you’re from a country where this type of behavior is normal and you’re just visiting, that’s one thing. But this family had clearly been here for quite some time, so you’d think they’d realize that this type of behavior is not looked upon kindly in this country. I think some people just look for any excuse they can to justify acting like jerks. Kind of like the people who try to justify not tipping as some sort of brave protest against “the man.”
For the most part, servers will not mess with your food even if you are a poor tipper or a PITA.
I wanted to clear up two misconceptions: First, people’s tipping customs are fairly static regardless of the type of service they receive. Second, (IMO) the vast majority of people like the way tipping works. They like having the sense of power, and perceived control over the situation that comes with being able to judge others and their service.
Since this is IMHO, here is mine. I checked “both”. I find tipping obnoxious, although I do it. If I go to a restaurant here and there is a meal for $20, I know I will have to add about $6 for tax and tip. I much prefer what they do in Europe and Japan (to limit it to places I have visited) where the menu would say $26. On the one hand tipping is supposedly voluntary and, on the other, the waitstaff absolutely depends on it for a major part of their income. If tipping is voluntary, then she is right and if tips are a major share of the waiters’ income, they are right and the restaurateur is right to exclude her or to add a service charge. The whole situation stinks, IMHO.
I have never seen any connection between the service and size of the tip.
I just want everyone to consider for a moment, regardless of where you lie on the tipping divide, how consistently and egregiously bad a tipper/customer you would have to be to illicit this response from restaurant owner/manager.
There are a zillion fast food joints around where no tipping is required, if that’s your issue.