As it stands now, your waiter gives you your bill, you leave him 15% of the subtotal as tip, and end of story. But should it really be like that? I think the amount of tip should be based on the number people in your party.
Let’s say you’re eating alone at Denny’s (I’m trying to be international, and Denny’s is the only restaurant that comes to mind). You order a Grand Slam breakfast for $2.99 and an orange juice for $0.99, subtotaling to $3.98. 15% of that being about 60 cents. Then that same day, you come back for dinner and order a steak dinner. It costs $7.95 plus $1.49 for a coke, subtotaling to $9.44 and 15% of that roughly being $1.50.
But does the amount of energy and effort exerted to bring you the dinner require a greater tip than that of the breakfast? I mean, you’re still only being brought one plate of food and a drink. Why does it matter how much the food on the plate costs? Sure, maybe the steak dinner might weigh a little more, but we’re talking ounces, barely noticeable when carried.
So shouldn’t the amount of tip be based on the number of people? Wouldn’t it be harder to wait on two or three people as opposed to one? If two people ordered that Grand Slam breakfast, the tip would still be less than that one person ordering a steak dinner, even though it would be physically harder to wait on two.
Personally, I think tipping is ludicrous in general. Servers should be paid what they’re worth, and I should be charged based on the total cost to provide the food and service.
However, the marketplace has seen fit to implement the current system. In practice, it’s more trouble than its worth to buck the system.
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I totally agree with you SingleDad. But I think we’re in the minority on this issue.
I leave tips because I frequent the restaurants I go to. The servers no doubt remember me, and if I didn’t tip, who knows what would be happening with my food back in the kitchen.
I see your point, but in my experience people tend to pursue this line of thinking already. Most people I know, and I myself, tend to leave a larger percentage of the bill as tip for breakfast than for dinner.
Someone who orders the breakfast you mentioned above and then leaves a 60 cent tip is just being cheap, in my opinion.
As for the merits of tipping in general, the only virtue I see in it is that it allows for some reflection on the quality of service you receive. If I get terrible service, I leave a terrible tip. For especially good service I think as much as 20% is appropriate. Perhaps I’m cynical, but I think servers know this and are inclined to give better service under a reward system than they might be when receiving a flat wage.
Well, in my college years, when I was working in the food service industry, I made $2.80 an hour plus my tips, which I had to report and pay taxes on. IMHO, this sucks! I do not think that waitpeople (is that the P.C. term now?? lol) should be paid less than minimum wage.
I mean, think about it, the teenager working at McDonald’s gets paid minimum wage! I do not see why it should be any different if you are waiting tables. I think they should be paid for the job and not have to depend on tips to make part of their wages.
BTW, the last food place that I worked at did pay minimum wage plus tips. I think that is how it should be. A tip should mean that you have done a good job not an obligatory 15% of the bill.
Just thought you’d like to know that a 15 percent tip is now, in general, considered substandard. 20 percent is the current standard.
Yeah, the system is screwed up. The IRS taxes tips, and restaurants pay wait staff ridiculously low wages, defeating the purpose of the whole initial concept of tips.
Be that as it may, however, your philosophical arguments over the fairness of tipping a certain amount should be saved for another day outside of the restaurant. Because of the screwed-up system, those waiters and waitresses are counting on you to tip your 20 percent. And yeah, more often than not they need the money more than you do.
Tip more if you get overwhelmingly good service, tip less if you get unbelievably bad service. But if your service fell in any range outside of the extremes, give them what they need. If you don’t, you’re just a cheap bastard. Sorry.
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SingleDad wrote (and was backed up by microshroom)
Personally, I think more positions in society should be compensated by tipping. It’s true tipping has a downside, in that some tippers are cheap. But the upside (to me) is huge: good servers get paid more than poor servers, which incents servers to be better. I wish I could pay the mechanic a portion based on how courteous, efficient and skilled he was.
I think Microschroom and Singledad should look at it a little more positively. It’s not what they’ll do to your food if you don’t tip, it’s what they’ll do for you extra if you do tip. Trust me, there is plenty of gray area is any menu for food but especially drinks…many heavy tippers save more money then they’ll ever know.
In Switzerland, where I’m from, servers are paid a higher salary and there is no tipping. I think that is a much fairer system for the restaurant employees. What if you go to a restaurant where a hard-working waiter is by himself because two of his colleagues called in sick? The service will be slow, so the server will be penalized by poor tips. Not fair.
What if the cook in the kitchen is goofing off? The food is bad, so the server is penalized. Again, not fair.
I could come up with many more examples.
Tips are a method for restaurant owners to underpay waiters. If the tipping system is acceptable, why isn’t it used everywhere? Policeman should get a low pay, and if they solve the crime to your satisfaction, you need to drop by the police station and give them a tip. The airplane pilot should be underpaid, and you hand me a ten-spot on the way out of the plane if you arrive safely. etc… The whole idea seems ridiculous to me.
…I must have missed when the bureau of Measurements and Standards came out with this bulletin. When did this 20% become the official rule on tipping?
I tip based on the performance of the server. I don’t punish the server for poor quality of food since he did not make it… that would be like shooting the messenger. I reward the server for helpful tips like…“I’d avoid the hamburers today sir… they were left out in the sun to thaw a little too long.”
I drop a few percent off the tip if I have to ask the server for ketchup for the third time and he continues to saunter back and forth past me in oblivion and with empty hands.
The price of a restaurant meal has gone up in line with the rest of inflation, thus, 15% (or 20% for that matter) of the current bill is more now than it was 5 years ago. So the servers have received their raise every time the prices on the menu have gone up.
But you bring up a good point… what if I tell my clients that the STANDARD increase in consulting costs has gone up by 10% from last year. Perhaps if enough people say it often enough and with enough conviction then I would stand a pretty good chance of raising my rates by 10%.
The U.S. Government actually decides on the 15%. The Government takes 15% of a server’s paycheck in addition to the regular state and federal taxes that are taken out.
I agree. As a former waiter, I don’t believe in tipping. I believe it should be abolished and waiters should be paid well. (On a side note, most chefs are underpaid too, they all need more money). However tipping does exist and waiters are not paid well. I always make a point of tipping extremely well. If you can’t afford to leave a good tip, cut down on your food. Leaving a bad tip is extremely insulting. Even at the Coffee shop you really should tip.
There was thread on this a couple monts ago, but my connection is wonky. Anyone want to do a search?
microshroom:
Huh? AFAIK, the feds don’t take any more out tipped employee’s paycheck than out of anyone else’s.
Now, the gummint does indeed demand income taxes on tips, and they assume (at least they did a few years ago) that servers are tipped 8 1/2 percent of their total sales. It’s self-report, though, so many unethical servers don’t report all their tips.
I kinda like the tipping culture in some cases. As a waiter, I had a motivation to do better. It helped that I wasn’t working at Denny’s, but I often cleared ten to twelve dollars an hour. Much nicer than my $2.13 an hour paycheck.
And it’s increasingly the case that 20% is the de facto standard for tipping dinner servers at decent restaurants. Obviously there’s no standards bureau, it’s just what’s done. If you don’t want to tip 20%, don’t.
But tip 15%. Shorting your server won’t change a silly system.
Funny, I haven’t received my notice from the tip commission. I’ve never heard this from friends in the restaurant business or fellow tippers.
Arnold Winkelried wrote
Nonsense. Restaurant owners choose the rate to pay waiters the same way all other job rates are figured in a free-market: supply and demand, what the market will bear. I.e. waiters are paid almost exactly what they are worth.
It’s used in plenty of places. Bonuses, perks, stock options, raises, and tipping are all examples of pay tied to performance. Which is a good thing.
oldscratch wrote
As a former computer programmer, I believe they should be paid a million dollars a year and get a corner office. And get to go to the front of the line at first-run movies. And be exempt from leaving tips at all, especially for bad service.
For what it’s worth, I do tip well, but I have no problem leaving no tip (or a penny to really get the point across) for lousy service. The world needs better integration of pay to performance. They tried that “from each man according to his abilities; to each man according to his needs” thing a while back. News flash! It was a disastrous failure.
20% is common here in Silicon Valley Ca, in pricey rest. with EXCELLENT service. The 20% is because there are other servers besides your waiter & he will give them some. 20% is NOT standard, but shows extremely good service, whitch you should get in rest. with bills for 3 topping $100.
As a E.A. I can tell you tips are the most underreported legal income, with the IRS assuming 8% (but they do projects at some rest. & check the CC statements, ect.), so most waitstaff get 12-20% & report 8%.
The REAL ripoff is the mandatory tip/service charge added to parties as small as 6. OK, if you rent the whole banquet hall, and have a # of waitstaff, then you have to have a std tip, but for parties of 6-8 w/ 1 waiter? I boycott those eateries.
I have been led to understand that the standard is 20%. It’s been that way (in my mind, anyway) for at least 6 years, probably more. But I am from Los Angeles, and the idea has been brought up that 20% is the standard in CA. I don’t know about that. All I know is that 20% is what I believe is the “standard”. So that’s what I tip (often more than that.)
If 20% is not the standard in other states, maybe that is why a friend of mine (also a Californian) had so many waitresses love him and look forward to seeing him when he moved out-of-state (and still tipped 20+%.)
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