If you haven’t noticed…the people advocating the flotilla are disappearing. Which means less reality tv interference. Win/win.
Here’s the thing: Let’s say you’ve got four people having dinner, and they each order $25 worth of stuff for a total of $100. The current “norms”, according to the SDMB, is 20%. But, Having worked in hospitality, I can tell you that there isn’t $20 worth of work involved in serving four people.
Somehow I suspect that if you offered restaurant and bar staff in the US the option of being paid a flat $20 an hour (about the going rate here in Australia) with no tips allowed, surprisingly fewer of them than you’d expect would take the offer up.
So . . . do you get headaches from sitting next to the vent spewing toxic fumes all day long? And if people pay extra can they request (and obtain) their answers in a coherent and linear form?
Also –
Hey, you know what? This isn’t the time or the place. You should go start an “Ask the Oracle” thread.
Oh man…I miss ruffinos. I used to take my wife there for our anniversary every year. Haven’t been able to afford it in a long long long time.
Heh. I’m near Clarksburg, WV, so I know what you mean! Now, the town I live in is so tiny that there is no pizza delivery! But we do have a couple of diners that deliver, and we ordered from them pretty frequently when the weather sucked this past winter (one in particular is close enough that the delivery-person often walks my order over if the roads are bad). I tipped big-time in snow storms!
I’ve noticed that many threads concerning waiters and waitresses always lead to stupid, unnecessary debate. Why is waiting such a hot topic, like religion and politics?
If you don’t pay any attention to what’s customary, you can’t complain if your actions are misunderstood. For example, if your private and special tipping algorithm computes a tip for what you consider good service that turns out to be only 5% of your bill, your waiter is not going to interpret that as a good tip from a good customer; he’ll interpret that as getting stiffed by a mingy cheapskate. Because the customary tipping rate is at least 15-20% for good service.
The fact that you’re aware of that, and that you feel the need to tell us that, pretty much destroys your credibility in claiming that you completely disregard “social norms” concerning tipping.
Honestly, I really had no idea how many people seem to regard routine tipping decisions as a personal power trip or a chance to express their individuality and freedom from tiresome social expectations. My heart goes out to all the waitresses and waiters who have to deal with such people.
Papa Johns drivers around here make eleven dollars an hour plus full gas. That’s better than I make. Learn to read, please.
I gave up on Dominos when I was told, in complete seriousness, that it was cheaper to pay for 2 pizzas then to use a buy one get one free coupon.
Absolute idiocy.
I’m gonna be driving pizzas this summer. I interviewed at Papa Johns, but didn’t get the job, presumably as I’ll be heading back to school after the summer. My notes from the interview: “$4.25/hr when driving (7.25/hr when in store), plus $1.15/delivery, then tips ~$10/hr + gas” for the evening rush a few days a week.
I’ll be working at Dominos, and I"m not exactly sure on their pay.
The pizza business used to offer free delivery. They then changed to charge $2.50 for delivery. The amount the driver was paid did not change. I fail to see why I should feel sorry that the driver did not receive a $2.50/delivery raise in pay. It sucks that their tips decreased though.
I came here for the waiter/waitress rants. Where the hell are they? Entertain me!
I did read. Are you unable to read what you wrote?
You said absolutely nothing about what the drivers make. Only that he is paid better than you on the better of your two jobs. As most drivers are paid less than minimum wage, being considered a tipped job, I insinuated that you had to work two jobs just to make minimum wage.
I call complete bullshit on $11/hour, by the way. I’m sympathetic to food service employees, but as a manager I’d have to be insane to pay anyone that base rate. If they’re making $11/hr, that’s including tips, which means that by withholding yours they’re actually not making that kind of money and thus invalidates your whole high horse position.
once I tried to wait tables at a smallish coffee-and-sandwiches place…
I discovered I could handle five tables, but not six 
since then, I have been unfailingly kind to servers, even when they are grumpy.
I tip 20% for food service, a dollar for every bar drink… which includes specialty coffee: I worked for one of the big guys, that espresso machine takes talent!
my Dad taught me that if you could not tip, you stay home.
I have one dear friend who does not understand tipping (One dollar for FOUR drinks???) so I slip $$ to the waitperson when he is not looking 
try here: http://waiterrant.net/
A previous post, and no, that does not include tips. At all. Yes, this is straight from multiple people I personally know and associate with regularly, who work for a living as Papa Johns pizza makers and drivers, to my ears. This is for people wbho do it as a living, so they might get more than the random joe with no work history. But I can confirm they do it, get paid that, and live on that money. I get paid minimum at one job and the same at another, with fewer hours and no tips.
I also know what you insinuated. I simply didn’t give a shit since you apparently assume I am lying, and therefore we have nothing to talk about.
I have a question for the OP, if she’s still reading (or anyone else, actually): My wife and I used to frequent (and I mean really frequent - sometimes two to three times a week) a close-by Tex Mex place run by actual Mexicans. Obviously, we loved the food, and since we dined there so often, we got to know the co-owner and his brothers, and several of the waitstaff. One of these waiters was particularly outgoing and loquacious, and would chat with us for five or ten minutes (or more) whenever he’d wait on us (which was pretty frequently). We thought nothing of this, other than that he was a nice guy (as was pretty well everybody who worked at that establishment at that time), and he never got overbearing, as he always had other tables to take care of. We loved this place.
After a while, the co-owner and his brothers opened up a newer location in a city about 40 minutes away from us, and they consequently promoted the waiter to the manager’s position, and were rarely seen after that. Well. As soon as the waiter became the manager, his chats with us started venturing into overbearing territory. A quite typical visit to the to the place would have us walking in, being seated, and, within five minutes, the new manager/former waiter would come over to our booth, sit down with us on either my wife’s or my side, and just start shooting the shit. And shooting it. And shooting it. Whenever the waiter would come by to take our order, he’d just keep sitting there and talking to us. Whenever our food would come out - he’d make no move to get up and leave us to eat our meal in peace. And we were not the only ones he’d do this to. We saw him do it to countless others. And apparently, the majority of the people love it, as he’s still running the place, and the place is crowded much more often than not. Needless to say, we stopped eating there quite some time ago.
So, my question: Without seeming like a dick, what’s the best way to shoo him away, should we ever want to go back to this place (and, dammit, we do, since the food is pretty amazing, but this guy’s still there)? What’s the best way to send this guy the message that we don’t mind catching up for a few minutes, but after that, we want to be left alone? I mean, I’ve kind of said that once or twice to him, saying that I needed to talk to the wife about something or other, and he’d give us this pantomime-reproachful look, and say something to the effect of “Tsst. Whatever.” Hey, but it worked. It’s just that I felt, despite being as polite as ever and saying it with a smile, more than a little bit like a dick.
Any suggestions, other than just staying on our current course of not eating at the place at all? And is this a unique thing, or does this sort of thing happen more often than I realize?
Give it up Bosstone…
This is similar to when I was a teacher making shit wages and having to listen to “I know x teacher and she makes a bazillion dollars a year so you, bduck, are grossly overpaid!” stories.
I have bad news MTCicero I think the only way to get to eat the food and enjoy the time talking to your wife is to continue “having things to discuss” to shoo him away. Some people just don’t take less abrupt social cues well.
I guess the other alternative would be finding out when a slightly more favorite customer is going to be there and going then. Surely he can’t be in two places at once.
Amazingly, I not only do not particularly judge people in completely different situations, I do even care to know about them. This is precisely the same courtesy I demand from you, pathetic wrtech though you be.
In my situation, I can see how much they are making and need no justification to not pay them a tip over and bove their other pay on the pizzas I do not in fact order.