Thanks, Kinsey. That makes sense.
btw- Waitstaff are taxed on their tips assuming (I believe this is the correct number) the person made at least a 10% tip on their total food sales. So, if they do $100 worth of sales that day, the employer taxes them as if they had made an additional $10. I assume that is if they do not directly report tips each and every day.
I’m with sailor.
I resent this rationalized extortion that whiney waitpeople foist upon the resaurant-going public. For every time a patron “screws” a waiter because the patron does not know the proper tipping etiquette (as the OP described) there were probably ten times the waiter deserved to be stiffed but wasn’t – because the patron was too embarassed or intimidated.
Also, how many times does some happy-go-lucky patron decide he’s feeling generous, or flush, or happy and spring a big fat 200% tip on a waiter (or more likely, waitress) for no good reason at all? It happens. But nobody starts threads on the message board to complain about THAT, do they?
First off, if you have a problem with the food, you talk to the manager. Dumping on the server accomplishes nothing, other than make you feel like a self-important asshole. You tip on the service, nothing else.
And stuyguy, if you would like to estimate how many times a waiter gets a 200% tip versus the times he gets a 5% tip, be my guess. It won’t even out.
k2dave, if by “meal” you mean the whole dining experience, I can’t argue with you. But most of the time (and by “most” I mean about 95%), the better the restaurant, the better the server.
And sailor, while your points are valid, they really are, this society has created standards of expectations involved with the service industry. Until they change, and be my guest to start up an advisory watch, people ARE expected to supplement service workers’ wages. Thus this is why most places will automatically add a 15% tip for large parties.
What planet are you living on?
That may be the law, but the reality is, shall we say, a bit different. If the restaurant manager were approached with a request to “make up the difference,” the waiter would be laughed out of the restaurant. If she tried to insist, then she would be fired so fast that she would get whiplash.
You have obviously never worked in food service. Let’s see you put in a few shifts at Denny’s, and then you can tell us about how it all works.
One customer doing this doesn’t make much of a difference. However, servers pay taxes based on either a percentage of sales, amount of tips declared, or credit-card tips (whichever is greater). If everyone gave small tips because the server should be happy with that, then the server ends up paying taxes on money he never saw.
Example: I have $1,000 in sales. I only served people who thought a small tip was good enough, so I make $50 on that $1,000. (Let’s assume they were all cash tips.) I declare $50 on my tip report. Tough, says the restaurant and the IRS - you have to pay taxes on at least 8% of sales, whether you actually got the money or not. So I, in effect, have subsidized YOUR restaurant experience.
You might want to think about changing your repeat-business venues. If the servers get to know you, you could be in for a “surprise.”
I would say the obvious answer to this is: If you can’t afford it, then don’t go! Crimeny! What does this have to do with tipping? You can afford to eat but not tip? What a crock. If you can’t afford to tip, eat where it’s not expected, like McDonalds or a cafeteria.
I suppose everyone has heard the warm fuzzy story of the little boy who went in to a diner and sat down. The waitress half ignored him for a few minutes and he finally asked her as she was passing:
“How much is a plain ice cream cone?”
she responded with “35c”
How much is a cone with some chocolate syrup?
she told him “50c” looking extremely exasperated with having to deal with this child. The small boy then sorted through the change in his grubby little hand and ordered the plain cone.
When the waitress went to the table after he left she found 15c. The boy was too polite to order what he wanted cause despite being young knew to leave a tip.
I come from a non tipping country but lived in Florida briefly as some of you know. If anyone is in or near Merritt Island and have some time, drop into Steak and Shake for me on the SE570 there get served by Kathy. She is a lovely lady in her 50s who has returned to work to pay her daughter’s tuition. Her service is exceptional (and whether or not it was the novelty of tipping) I always left a 50% tip.
Say Hi from Luke the Australian if you do go there 
I suppose most people saw the episode of Spin City where Paul was on Who Wants to be a Millionaire and had to use two lifelines on the first ($100) question which was
“What is the recommended price of a tip for service?”
<<<<<<Also… why is it not racist/discriminatory, that Oriental restaurants only hire Asians as servers & chefs and only mexicans as busboys (and other menial tasks)? I for one expect to be waited on by an oriental when I dine in a Chinese restaurant. >>>>>>>
WOW!..At Red Lobster do you expect a Fisherman from Maine to serve you while dressed in his Nor’easters? Are all Pizza place wait staff employees Italian? Holy Mackeral
I’ve said it in the numerous other tipping threads, and I’ll say it here too.
The practice of tipping for bad service only encourages more bad service. I know, I for one, would continue to do a shitty job if I knew I was going to be tipped regardless.
I mean, where’s the incentive to provide good service if tips are essentially “automatic”? It’s the equivalent of rewarding a child for continually misbehaving.
Yes, I understand that servers make under the federal minimum wage, but that is still no excuse to do a half-ass job and still expect to be tipped.
I have no sympathy for servers who bitch and moan about their pay. When I was a server, I didn’t expect customers to feel sorry for me. I didn’t expect them to tip me because I made a shit wage, but rather, I wanted them to tip me because I provided them with good service.
The guy who plays music in the street offers his service with the hope that people will give him money. Am I wrong if I listen to his music and give him nothing?
It seems to me the logical conclusion of this thread is that tipping is a lousy system and that service should be included in your bill.
In the meanwhile tipping is voluntary and if you do not like the idea, then waiting tables is not for you qand better get another job, maybe helping design a better Concord.
As for myself, no, I would not wait tables.
You’re wrong to not give him money if you specifically make it a point to go listen to him. I don’t think you’ve ever gone to a restaurant and been surprised to be waited on. That’s a terrible example, and there is nothing in common between a street musician and a waitperson.
My response to that is to say that you are right - tipping is voluntary. It is also the standard accepted restaurant practice in this country, and if you don’t like the idea, then dining out at restaurants that provide table and bar service is not for you and you should go somewhere else or design a system more to your liking.
If you don’t like the tipping system, notify restaurants that use it that you won’t be patronizing them anymore, and tell them exactly why. Penalizing the servers because you don’t agree with the accepted economic system isn’t going to get you anywhere and it isn’t ever going to get anything to change.
Clearly you know nothing about Australian service industries, Wonko. What Guano said is correct. Tips have never been part of the Australian system of earning an income. Wages are based on hard won conditions and work values, as fought for by the union movement in our Industrial Courts. Wages and salaries are based on criteria such as qualifications, workplace hazards, responsibility, incentive, inflationary factors, productivity improvements, enterprise bargaining etc.
Most of our service industries already charge exhorbitantly for the bare minimum of service. Tipping would be interpreted as an expression of great approval and gratitude. No way am I going to reward that!
Always tip your waitstaff unless they make a point of being nasty to you.
I never saw why it’s difficult to figure out a ten, fifteen, or twenty-percent tip.
A ten-percent tip, you drop the last digit. $34.93 -> $3.50.
A 15-percent tip, you figure out a 10% tip, halve it, and add it. $3.50 / 2 = $1.75; $1.75 + $3.50 = $5.25.
A 20 percent tip, just double a 10% tip. $3.50 * 2 = $7.00.
For what it’s worth,
I’m 17 years old, so I’m not often placed in a situation where tipping is required. However, several years ago I started working as a caddy at the local country club. Working there made me quickly realize the importance of tipping. If I’m caddying for the nicest guy in the world, and he stiffs me on the tip, my initial impression of him is instantly reversed. For me, even the difference between a $10 tip and a $12 tip means a lot, not because those two dollars will make a difference in my life, but because the tip represents how much the golfer appreciated your help and advice.
I’m often surprised and dismayed at how little thought my parents and other adults give to tipping. I suppose most people don’t realize that giving a few extra bucks to show that you appreciated your server can make a very big difference to them, and will certainly affect the way they treat you if you ever encounter them again.
Sailor, you really are out of the loop on this one. “The restaurant makes up the difference?”, you meant that as a joke, right?
Your against tipping but agree with a 15% percent service charge for the server? Huh!?! How does this not conflict with your earlier posts?
I can safely assume that your dining enjoyment has only been getter worse with this strategy, especially if you visit the same place twice. Unfortunately, this will only harden your stance on not tipping and make your enjoyment even less enjoyable in the future.
Frankly, to me, you just sound cheap and are trying to find a way to justify it. Fine. But if that’s how you truly feel, why are you going to these restaurants in the first place?
First, Connor, my thoughts exactly - street musician does not equal server.
How is having service included on the bill any better than just adding it on yourself? You do know that, at least in European countries, when the service is added it is not included within the price of the meal itself but is tacked on additionally as a separate line item, right? And you don’t have a choice about whether or not to pay it - shitty service, tough - you pay the service charge anyway. You’re still paying the tip - only in Europe it’s 100% obligatory.
I’m such a pansy when it comes to tipping. If the waiter/waitress does a really good job, I tip really well. If they’re in a bad mood, forget things, I feel sorry for them for having such a crappy job, so I tip well then too.
I guess it is because I could never deal with a job like that, it doesn’t take a brainiac to do it, but it takes something that I haven’t got…
Don’t be so anal. All I meant is that I can’t recall a time at a Chinese restaurant that I have been served by anyone other then an Asian person. Therefore, I now come to expect it and would be surprised if a person of european descent served me. In our effort to “accept” every race as just being “people” we seem to be stripping identities that make people and different races unique. I, for one, appreciate the differences in various cultures. And imho, ASIAN WOMEN ARE THE MOST BEAUTIFUL WOMEN ON GOD’S GREEN EARTH! What that has to do with this conversation is beyond me, though!
NICE GUY EDDIE
Okay, everybody cough up green for the little lady.
Everybody whips out a buck, and throws it on the table.
Everybody, that is, except Mr. White.
NICE GUY EDDIE
C’mon, throw in a buck.
MR. WHITE
Uh-uh. I don’t tip.
NICE GUY EDDIE
Whaddaya mean you don’t tip?
MR. WHITE
I don’t believe in it.
NICE GUY EDDIE
You don’t believe in tipping?
MR. PINK
(laughing)I love this kid, he’s a madman, this guy.
MR. BLONDE
Do you have any idea what these ladies make? They make shit.
MR. WHITE
Don’t give me that. She don’t make enough money, she can quit.
Everybody laughs.
NICE GUY EDDIE
I don’t even know a Jew who’d have the balls to say that. So let’s get this straight. You never ever tip?
MR. WHITE
I don’t tip because society says I gotta. I tip when somebody deserves a tip. When somebody really puts forth an effort, they deserve a little something extra. But this tipping automatically, that shit’s for the birds. As far as I’m concerned, they’re just doin their job.
MR. BLUE
Our girl was nice.
MR. WHITE
Our girl was okay. She didn’t do anything special.
MR. BLONDE
What’s something special, take ya in the kitchen and suck your dick?
They all laugh.
NICE GUY EDDIE
I’d go over twelve percent for that.
MR. WRITE
Look, I ordered coffee. Now we’ve been here a long fuckin time, and she’s only filled my cup three times. When I order coffee, I want it filled six times.
MR. BLONDE
What if she’s too busy?
MR. WHITE
The words “too busy” shouldn’t be in a waitress’s vocabulary.
NICE GUY EDDIE
Excuse me, Mr. White, but the last thing you need is another cup of coffee.
They all laugh.
MR. WHITE
These ladies aren’t starvin to death. They make minimum wage. When I worked for minimum wage, I wasn’t lucky enough to have a job that society deemed tipworthy.
NICE GUY EDDIE
Ahh, now we’re getting down to it. It’s not just that he’s a cheap bastard–
MR. ORANGE
–It is that too–
NICE GUY EDDIE
–It is that too. But it’s also he couldn’t get a waiter job. You talk like a pissed off dishwasher: “Fuck those cunts and their fucking tips.”
MR. BLONDE
So you don’t care that they’re counting on your tip to live?
Mr. White rubs two of his fingers together.
MR. WHITE
Do you know what this is? It’s the world’s smallest violin, playing just for the waitresses.
MR. BLONDE
You don’t have any idea what you’re talking about. These
people bust their ass. This is a hard job.
MR. WHITE
So’s working at McDonald’s, but you don’t feel the need to tip them. They’re servin ya food, you should tip em. But no, society says tip these guys over here, but not those guys over there. That’s bullshit.
MR. ORANGE
They work harder than the kids at McDonald’s.
MR. WHITE
Oh yeah, I don’t see them cleaning fryers.
MR. BROWN
These people are taxed on the tips they make. When you stiff 'em, you cost them money.
MR. BLONDE
Waitressing is the number one occupation for female non-college graduates in this country. It’s the one job basically any woman can get, and make a living on. The reason is because of tips.
MR. WHITE
Fuck all that.
They all laugh.
MR. WHITE
Hey, I’m very sorry that the government taxes their tips.
That’s fucked up. But that ain’t my fault. it would appear that waitresses are just one of the many groups the government fucks in the ass on a regular basis. You show me a paper says the government shouldn’t do that, I’ll sign it. Put it to a vote, I’ll vote for it. But what I won’t do is play ball. And this non-college bullshit you’re telling me, I got two words for that: Learn to fuckin type." Cause if you’re expecting me to help out with the rent, you’re in for a big fuckin surprise.
MR. ORANGE
He’s convinced me. Give me my dollar back.
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Well it’s obvious he’s an asshole. But he does have a point!