Daniel, you are mistaken. In my experience, buffet servers, with the possible exception of restaurants that serve buffet exclusively, ARE paid less than minimum because it is expected that persons dining will leave a tip. Again, I can’t speak for every restaurant in existence, but every one I worked at in almost 15 years of restaurant work - both as a server and as a general manager - did pay less than minimum for buffet shifts, and it’s perfectly legal. The tips are calculated and reported (or assumed, even if the server gets zero), just like with any other regular non-buffet shift. Plus, many restaurants that serve a buffet also, at the same time, serve off the menu. I have never known anyplace to have both a “buffet only” and a “non-buffet” staff to be working the same shift in the same dining room but earning different pay.
Not necessarily, you CAN tip something without upsetting it. If you tip them too far, however, they may fall over.
I worked in a restaurant for five years, and I have been a big tipper ever since.
If anybody gives me good service, I tip them 20 percent or more. If they give me average service, I tip them 15%. If its really awful, I’ll leave them a note + 15%.
I always like to assume the best about a waiter or waitress. They could be having an awful day. They might be new. They might be very tired. You never really know.
> Those employees are not classified as “service employees.” They are making at least the minimum wage, if not more. Putting a tip cup out, to me, is very presumptuous.
What next, a tip cup next to the register at the supermarket?
I thought we were talking about those “buffet only” type eateries which are very common now-a-days. And IRS regs do not assume the 8% tip for that type of waitstaff.
Tips are for service, and if there is no service, there should be no tip. If there is minimal service, then there is minimal tip. However, if there is a buffet being served at the same time as menu, and some of us order menu, then we usually tip as normal.
I’m with you here, Tampa. I bag faster than they do, I’ve got things to do and places to go and food to consume in a frantically compulsive manner. ( Well…). Does this mean that I GET TO BRING a Tip Cup with me, and have the check-out personnel tip ME for doing their job? Hell, I love this more and more already.
Cartooniverse
I eat sushi buffet once a week. The food runs around in a moat. However I tip because 1. the waitress has to clean the table 2. she has to keep bringing me water 3. she asks if I want items not on the buffet 4. she has to bring the receipt…etc.
[hijack]handy, you seriously have to explain that. Because that sounds like either the coolest thing ever, the weirdest thing ever, or the most evil thing ever. Maybe all three.
So out with it![hijack]
I usually follow NothingMan’s advice and tip roughly 10% at buffet style places since they do still bring you drinks and clean up your dishes. They provide a service so you should still tip. I would never go so far as to tip 15-20% as people would normally do at a standard restaurant, though.
Don’t know where handy eats, but there’s a joint in Seattle (whose name escapes me) that does this. Basically, everyone sits around one mondo table. The chefs are in the middle, preparing the sushi. The table itself has a moat, maybe a foot wide, running around it at table height. In the moat are little bamboo boats chained together, each with a dish of sushi. You take what you like, and pay by the dish, which are color coded for what kind of sushi was on them. Pretty neat-o.
Oh, and I do tip, when I’m there.
At sit-down in the USA I always tip 15-20% unless the service is really bad. Even when it’s bad I give a tip if I think the waitperson is doing their best or at least trying.
But I think tips should go to the people who do the work. So at a buffet where I schlep my own food, I split my tip with the paid staff.
What about buffet-only establishments, where there are waiters but you do not use their services. For example, you get you drink from the fountain, but later on the waiter asks if you would like a refill. You choose to get your own refill. And you choose not to have the waiter bus your table mid meal. Are you still expected to tip even if the services the wait staff provides is somewhat unnecesay and you dont use them?
manhattan, sure, I can give some clarification. They have little otters [plastic ones, okay?] laying on their backs & they put food on them & they are in a moat with water rushing to push them around.
The way I posted it at first, I see it looks like they have fish in moats that you stab & cut up youself
In the lobby of my office is a Starbucks, with a tip jar. I always found this slightly obnoxious, but I got to be friendly with the barristas, so I always tossed in my change.
About three weeks ago, the Starbucks went to “Express” - you order, they give you a cup and point you to the row of coffee machines on the bar. Sure its faster, expecially in the morning rush, but damn if I’m going to tip you if you’re not even giving me the coffee anymore!! I think my attitude was widespread - this week they went back to the old we pour your coffee for you service.
Sua
*Originally posted by Lamsai *
No you are all wrong. When a person hires on as a waiter or waitress they accept the wage they were offered. Tipping is to show you are pleased with the service. For someone to bring a drink, that is part of their job and does not require tipping.
Disclaimer: I worked in a restaurant at one time, so I know all about the work that is done and all that. However, and I’m not trying to piss anyone off, but Lamsai is right. I hear the argument that we should tip service people because they don’t get paid much. Then take another job! No one forced you to accept a job paying minimum wage. (And in fairness, I also don’t think that your W2 should be increased by 15% on the assumption that you earned tip money.)
The cashier at the supermarket only gets minimum wage. He/she rings up my stuff, is friendly, smiles, carefully bags everything without bruising fruit or stuff like that, and they don’t expect a tip! The kid at Home Depot who helps load wood on my truck makes minimum wage. He doesn’t expect a tip. There are nurses who don’t make much more than minimum wage, and they are providing a much more valuable service than bringing me a soda. Where’s their tip? I could go on and on.
Why tip at a place that serves food? Probably so they won’t spit in it if you come back. Before anyone gets pissy, I have seen it happen at the restaurant I worked at, and heard it from other people who worked in restaurants. That said, if I get good service at a sit-down place, I will leave about 20%. For a buffet, maybe a dollar per person.
If I want to do everything myself, I can stay home and eat. A plate full of chicken, rice, and vegetables with a salad on the side is hardly worth $20. I think I’m already paying for the service. If I am to tip the person that serves me, how about the person who cooked the meal? Your service can be wonderful, but if the food sucks I’m not coming back. So why not tip the chef while we’re at it?
I work in customer service, and to some degree, if you think about it, most of us do. Yet I don’t get tips. I don’t expect any. I am getting paid to do what I do.
What about this typical scene? One person shows me to my table, someone else tells me who my server will be, a third person takes my drink order and brings it out, yet another takes my meal order. That same person may or may not bring my food. A totally different person buses the table. Who am I supposed to tip?
Sorry for the rant, and for you waiters and waitresses, 20% is a pretty good tip, and I’ll leave it for good service. I just hate having to feel obligated to do so.
The reason waiters and waitresses get such crappy pay is because tips are expected.
And don’t pull that get another job shit. I hear that whenever I talk about how much Kmart sucks. It isn’t always easy getting another job that isn’t retail.
And since we’re on the subject…
BTW, in Europe, dining is considered to be a compliment to the waiters. THEY rule, not you.
Remember-it’s a service, not a right.
*Originally posted by Lamsai *
**No you are all wrong. When a person hires on aa a waiter or waitress they accept the wage they were offered. Tipping is to show you are pleased with the service. For someone to bring a drink, that is part of their job and does not require tipping. **
I wonder what kind of “extras” you get in your drinks after that first no-tip meal…
Re this $2.13 travesty and the minimum wage. What IS the minimum wage, and why on earth isn’t everyone on it? That’s the very definition of a minimum wage… isn’t it? Here in the UK I believe there are two minimum wages, one for those under 21 and one for those 21+.
*Originally posted by Stimpy *
**Re this $2.13 travesty and the minimum wage. What IS the minimum wage, and why on earth isn’t everyone on it? That’s the very definition of a minimum wage… isn’t it? Here in the UK I believe there are two minimum wages, one for those under 21 and one for those 21+. **
It is set at a federal level in the U.S., but states are free to make it HIGHER. For example, in Minnesota, the $5.15 minimum wage applies to EVERYONE, tipped or no (there are a few exceptions for apprentices and such where their training is considered part of their pay)… And I believe that in Kansas, the minimum wage was nominally higher than the federal one.
Of course, it’s been MANY moons since the minimum wage has had any bearing on my personal income, so YMMV.
mm
Listen up you cheap bastards: Leave a tip like you would do at any other restaurant.
Do you really think that in the long run you’ll be better off whittling down the tip to 5 or 10%. Get real.
Cheap skates get the crappy service they deserve. When in doubt…tip!
Have some class. It pays off in the long run. Of course, as a catch-22, if anyone of you had any class, you would not be splitting hairs about tipping at a buffet.
Please, stop embarrasing yourselves! Wouldn’t you feel better to tip, move on and and not worry about it? Are you the same people who will split the check and divide it up to the penny when you go out with a group of people?
“Oh, I had a small coke, so our bill is $17.45, not $17.85”
Give me a break.