There’s one thing about some of the tipping comments I have read that I don’t understand. Some replies are from people who describe themselves as “poor students” and who say that tipping really hurts their eating out budget.
To which I say “Then why are you eating out at all? If you can’t afford to tip when you have recieved good service, then you shouldn’t be out.” If my budget is not all that high but I still want someone else serving me I make sure I order something that leaves me enough money after the sales tax to give at least a 15% tip. Or I go to a fast food drive thru.
I knew oldscratch would take good care of me! Top tips for you pal!
I always tip by default, and you’d have to irritate me to get stiffed completely. But get this:
We’re in a restaurant with a group of five, (we were all teenagers back then), get royally ignored and spoken down to, and downright rude treatment. When we pay the bill we leave next to nothing, and the waiter follows us outside (after examining the cash) and yells down the street “where’s my tip?!” I still laugh when I remember the sight of him, truly beside himself…
I worked in several jobs where tips where more than half the pay, and I never got too sore about no tip, but when customers were rude to boot than did piss me off.
So last time I read about your job you were a bar-back, when did you get the bar tender gig? Which club? (I’ll stop by with tips in hand). Email if you don’t feel like posting here.
Yep no taxes. If it’s slow I make less money, but still more than I would if got paid and paid taxes.
I don’t know about that. Never heard of it before. I would regard it as smarmy and, depending on who did it, somewhat creepy. Your intuition is right, don’t do it.
Baker, barker, and Guinastasia Thanks. You guys have good heads on your shoulders.
Well, it’s a funny story. I don’t know why I didn’t post. Musta slipped my mind. The old bartender got fired because he was stealing from the owner. I’ve been there a little while, so he decided to train me. It’s been pretty fun so far. So I’m working at a club. It plays house music 5 nights a week. Used to be a country bar. Feel free to stop by if you feel like it. I don’t know if it’s your style.
Feh. This is the part about tipping that I hate most. I’m a good tipper, but it just kills me that a huge percentage of the money I leave on the bar goes to unprosecuted felons.
What, really, is this supposed to mean? Of course the term is relative - I am by no means “rich”, and certainly would never brag that I am. My point I was trying to make was that because I can afford it, I do try to dress well and conservatively. And that leads people to lump me in with an interesting subgroup known as “Yuppie Scum”. Did you at least understand that much?
Is this some sort of strange dig at me because I used that term? Please try to use more than 5 words and elipses next time.
As a “regular” at a neighborhood bar, I always tip, at least 50 cents or a buck per every beer, and it has its advantages.
Note: This does not apply to big nightclubs (or tightwad owners) with those metered shots, or worse, those fucking metered beer taps which only pour a glass, or a pitcher at a time, before auto shutoff. (scourge of the earth)
Many times I will go in, and outta the blue, my friendly bartender(s) will turn me on to a shot or two, or a coupla beers, or if I am low on cash, they will run me a tab, “just pay me back in a week or two” They won’t do that for regs who don’t tip. I figure it works out…
Bartenders like to take care of their regulars, and if you tip them well, they will take care of you; like when the place is jammed, and you need a drink, they will generally serve you before the loud obnoxious non-tipping assholes, or if you were an idiot, and got in a fight, they tell the cops, “That drunk asshole smacked my regular, he was just sitting at the bar havin a beer”.
Wait just a goddammed minute. Oldscratch, you profess to be a socialist/communist and yet you refuse to pay taxes? What the hell ever happened to the old axiom, “from each according to his ability, to each according to his need?” So much for contributing your “fair share.” And essentially your bitch here is, “I don’t make enough money.” Forgive me if this sounds like what you’d probably call “greedy capitalism.” It appears to me that your convictions stop at the point you actually have to contribute to that social utopia; you want the benefits, indeed seem to think they are owed you, but are unwilling to pay the costs. Where’s your socialist ideals? Bullshit.
Oldscratch, please tell me this is not true. I’ve only somewhat followed your postings, and know you to be a pretty neat guy overall. You don’t really claim to believe in socialist/communist principles, but are happy not to pay any taxes, do you?
oldscratch, I am just bewildered. How can making even $2.13 per hour minus taxes be less than making zero? I understand that it is possible if you have only a few hours and claim a giant tip amount that there could be more tax deductions necessary than the total of your paycheck. But I can’t believe this happens regularly or even more than very occasionally. And, although this certainly isn’t the case for every club on earth, the ones I have worked at almost always paid the bartenders somewhat more than the legal service-employee minimum, which makes it even more difficult for a bartender to get a “negative” paycheck.
Even if your club pays only $2.13, you should still end up with a check unless you are claiming exceedingly large tip amounts. I don’t know what state you are in, but in mine - and I believe every state has this law - it’s illegal for the club to pay you nothing - it doesn’t matter if you agree to it. It is covered under the “anti-kickback” legislation. Plus, you will have a very hard time trying to collect anything under workers’ comp should you become injured, and you certainly can’t get unemployment if you are fired.
Did the club convince you to accept this arrangement? I can’t remember if you have ever been a bartender before, and maybe you didn’t really know what to expect. If you are unsure of the labor laws, I would be happy to explain them, or just to give you some insight as to what kind of money to expect as a tipped employee. I worked almost 15 years as a bartender and server, so I do have some knowledge in this area.
I don’t mean to keep harping on this - if you really understand your situation and don’t want to go into it, don’t feel that you have to explain anything more to me. I just hate to see someone who might not know any better get shafted by his employer.
Woohee. I’m actually not complaining that I don’t get paid enough. I do. If I didn’t I wouldn’t be working there. I’m complaining that certain people believe they shouldn’t or don’t have to tip the bartender, under the mistaken belief that , I really don’t know what. This thread has already been productive in that at least one person who didn’t know they were supposed to tip has been educated, and several have been educated on proper procedure.
As for not paying taxes? I can put forward several arguments. First, I would rather spend my money on direct contributions to need (a 5 to the homless guy with the “Spare cash, for white trash” sign every morning), and on overthrowing our current government than spending it to buy pepper spray that will in the future be dabbed in my face, or training for future death squad leaders, or etc etc. Now. If I were in a position to pay taxes, I wouldn’t go out of my way to keep them from the government. But, I’m not going to bother myself and go to all the trouble of finding my earnings, figuring out what I should add in taxes, and reporting that at tax time. The government already has plenty of money withheld from my last job.
As for not being paid a wage and not reporting. It’s just easier. Last night I made $150 for 5 hours work. All cash. Sure, I might havee made a little more if I reported taxes, got a check, got paid minimum wage (which btw is $5.75 something in CA, even for bar work). But I like my arangement. It’s easy and hastle free.
