i just read an article in the campus newspaper about tipping, and how people don’t do it right. now my question sounds very insesitive to the hundreds of thousands of food service workers. i am aware of that. i also used to be a wiater, and i new that i may not get a “big” tip for every table i served. i just didn’t expect much from the customer. so why do so many people complain about tipping?
if you make $2.13 an hour, and you feel like your tips aren’t cutting it for all of your expenses, then get another job. i did. and i made more money without the tips.
food service has been around longer than anyone can honestly say. and tips were for those people that did something good.
these days, i think people feel that they can go to mcdonalds and get a burger just as easily as sitting in an establishment and having someone bring it out to you. but do we tip the fry guy for adding just the right amount of salt? no.
and why? cause he gets paid a normal wage.
i believe that food service and wiating tables should be have flexible wages. get rid of tipping, and pay these people more.
i tip. and i tip well, but i don’t always do so. if i happen to be in a bad mood, or i am just not happy with the service, or even the atmosphere of a place, it will reflect in my tip. sorry, but thats my choice. i could just as easily get up from my table and go to kitchen and get my side of mustard as the server. what do you think? am i just an ignorant customer?
Yep, pretty much.
The issue of tipping has been beaten to death in these forums I think (I can remember two threads that hit 3 pages of posts).
The issue spans those who tip very well (usually former servers, myself included) to those who don’t agree with the convention of tipping, and don’t tip at all. Both camps have valid arguments, except for the latter, who are wrong.
But you’re right about one thing. It’s your choice.
It’s hard to believe you were ever a waiter.
And no, you cannot go get your mustard from the kitchen just as easily as the server. Surely you know that customers aren’t allowed in the kitchen.
If you don’t want to tip, then don’t go to sit-down restaurants where tipping is the custom. There are lots of self-serve places where tipping is not the norm. Or stay home.
Are you just an ignorant customer? Sorry, but yes, you are.
You do realize that such a system would come with higher prices of food and/or a mandatory service fee added to your check to compensate for paying the servers a living wage? How on earth would you stiff them then?
I don’t know what it is that you do for a living, but why don’t you go in for a day of work, bust your ass, and then have your boss tell you that he wasn’t going to pay you for that day because he didn’t feel like it. Or he was in a crappy mood. Asinine, isn’t it?
“Ignorant customer” indeed.
And, no, I’m not a server, never have been. Speaking of which, I also find it extremely hard to believe that the OP ever worked for tips.
I have been a waitress.
And guess what, bub?
There have been days I didn’t want to go to work. I was in a bad mood, or my back hurt, or I had too much housecleaning to do. But I did not take it out on my customers. They got my best service with a smile.
The only reason to stiff a waitress is bad service. She has no control over how your food is cooked, so don’t stiff her if your salmon still has ice crystals in it. She also has no control over the loud music or the dusty ferns, so fig off for taking it out on her for the “atmosphere.” And if you’re in such a crappy mood that you need to stiff a waitress to feel better about yourself, stay home and stare at the wall. Don’t take it out on a hard-working individual just because you have problems. That’s not her fault, and I bet you still got your food with a smile.
I tip only because I accept the social convention, but I don’t like it. Of course if I get an exceptionally congenial and helpful food server, I don’t mind at all. As I understand it , here in Canada or every province I’ve lived in, food/beverage servers get the standard minimum wage common to a host of other occupations like burger flippers and sales associates at department stores. That is why this social convention irks me. What makes food servers so special ?
(I can understand it if food servers are getting less than minimum wage like in the States, but that really really sucks)
Many times as a student, I’d stick with low brow beer parlours where you aren’t expected to tip and only go to fancier places to impress some girl feeling that I’ve got to tip that foxy looking waitress just to look cool.
Wrong. They get paid less than minimum wage. The reason owners are allowed to do this is because of revenue the server is expected to generate through tips, which they have to declare on their Income Tax Return.
And just to forestall the eventual argument, the reason you don’t tip the drones at McDonald’s is because 1) they DO get paid minimum wage and 2) serving a three/four/five course meal to a table of 6 is slightly more labour instensive than putting Big Macs on a tray.
You may not believe in tipping, but the servers who work at the restaurant do. Don’t want to tip? Don’t go places you’re expected to tip. It’s not like the servers can say “I don’t believe in paying rent.”.
Basically, if you don’t tip in this country or you tip below a certain amount that amounts to theft.
Wait staff are taxed on an assumed percentage of sales (I would have to look it up, but if memory serves the IRS assumes a 10% tip). If you don’t tip, that waitperson basically is paying the government for the privilege of serving you. This is a crass thing to do to a person. Moreover, in many restaurants the waitperson is required to “tip out” bus boys, bartenders and in some cases even the kitchen. More often than not this is also based on a percentage of the check total. The result is, again, that the waitperson just paid for the privilege of serving you. This may be ok if you are the lord and they a lowly serf, and to be honest that is how a lot of customers seem to behave, but in the 21st century it is pretty much not ok.
Those are just the simple, mathematical reasons. There is also the matter of that person that is busting their ass being paid below minimum wage because tips are an assumed part of their income. Finally, I sort of wish that you had started this thread in the Pit so that we could talk about your “don’t get paid enough at your current job, just get another one that pays more” school of thought in a way that would do the topic justice.
Actually, last time I waited tables, we were taxed on 8% of our sales, or our declared tips, whichever was higher.
The people who “feel that they can go to McDonald’s” are free to do so, facil. The problem with your logic here is that you’re assuming, somehow, that people who go to service-oriented restaurants are forced to do so, and that the service industry’s expectation of a tip for their service is somehow the server’s fault. Like they’re in error.
The actual truth–sometimes the obvious doesn’t seem so obvious to certain people–is that if you don’t like tipping, don’t go to restaurants wherein it is expected. They’re pretty easy to spot, I promise. And if you feel you can get the same level of service and food quality at McDonald’s, why not just keep going there? Or get take-out? Why sit down in a restaurant and let someone wait on you, knowing that b/c you’re in a funk or you don’t like the music or the color scheme, they’re going to get the short end of the stick?
If you did wait tables, it shows an appalling lack of empathy and maturity to do this. Not all of us can get another job quite as easily, my dear. And “get another job” has never been a valid reason to treat anyone poorly, regardless of their job.
Your point, however, is well-taken; people who work for tips know that it’s a gamble every day. We’ve learned to take the good with the bad, b/c it’s our job and we don’t have a choice. Not everybody tips. It’s not a revelation.
But it doesn’t make you any better a person, and if you’d like to crusade for restaurants to pay “flexible wages,” why don’t you write your elected officials and boycott restaurants that have tipped employees? Going there anyway, and then deciding to “exercise your choice” by not tipping…you know the answer to your own question. Ignorance is written all over your OP.
I gather you’re from TO, and you’d be correct only in the central 2 provinces. However I believe that the distinction only applies where alcoholic beverages are concerned
From the British Columbia Restaurant and Foodservices Association
I should point out that at present, British Columbia’s minimum wage is $8.00 per hour after 500 hours of work experience. Otherwise it is $6.00 per hour. No distinction is made for alcholic beverage servers.
You’ve got to admit that Canada’s minimum wages for food service workers are a far cry from the paltry $2.13 per hour mentioned in the OP. Even considering the exchange rate.
I gather you’re from TO, and you’d be correct only in the central 2 provinces. However I believe that the distinction only applies where alcoholic beverages are concerned
From the British Columbia Restaurant and Foodservices Association
I should point out that at present, British Columbia’s minimum wage is $8.00 per hour after 500 hours of work experience. Otherwise it is $6.00 per hour. No distinction is made for alcholic beverage servers.
You’ve got to admit that Canada’s minimum wages for food service workers are a far cry from the paltry $2.13 per hour mentioned in the OP. Even considering the exchange rate.
I understand that tipping is important in North America and always plunk at least 15% down when I am there. Before my first trip I had expected the total cost of a meal out (including 15% tip) to be comparable with a meal out here where tipping is very much optional and usually only a reward for excellent service.
I did not find that to be the case at all however. I found eating out at comparable level restaurants to be about the same value before tip, the tipping made it much more expensive over there than here in oz.
Of course I am not speaking dollar for dollar as the last time I was there I was only getting .56 USD per oz dollar but in general, looking at average wages and other costs I found tipping made eating out a much more expensive affair than here where serving staff are paid a realistic wage by the proprietors.
I suspect a much higher profit margin for the owners in the restaurant trade is the standard.
In the converse, your fast food is much cheaper than ours yet the staff are paid more than in a sit down restaurant. None of it made any sense but also none of it is the server’s fault and tipping is important under the circumstances.
Someone told me that here in Ireland tips legally belong to the person who owns the business, and not the staff. And the boss is under no obligation to let the member of staff who recieved the tip keep it, or divide tips between the staff … :eek:
Wait, you don’t tip because “you’re in a bad mood?”
What if the waitress decides not to bother serving you because she’s in a “bad mood.”
Hey, I’m in a bad mood, I think I’ll take this candy bar off the shelf, after all, I’m in a bad mood.
:rolleyes:
Yeah, it’s your choice. Doesn’t mean it’s right.
There are two types of people in this world… Those who agree with me, and those who are wrong.
I dont tip if they dont deserve a tip…Hell most the time I say “Fuck em!” Here is why…
I worked a few jobs like theirs…one was at an old fashioned Dairy Queen (we came to your table and you ordered and we brought it out) did we get tipped?? Never…just cause it was thought of as “FAST FOOD” yet we did the same as a “regular” waiter.
Second I was a furniture deliveryman…We lifted Earth stoves onto second floor balconys, moved all your old crap to your in laws house when you got your new stuff, and assembled lots of stuff you should have assembled your self…Did I get tipped? Not often… And I even delivered to louisianna once from the center of texas…NO TIP. drove to kansas by myself to deliver some stuff…left at 3:00am on monday…Returned to my house 4:50 am tuesday. Did I get a tip?? HELL NO!!!
I drove a small van for a local furniture store so it wasnt like I was gettin union pay or driving and 18 wheeler…so dammit tip my fuckin ass when I drive 14 hours to bring you your damn table!
Hey, it could be worse. Anyone see the 1st episode of the Sopranos this year?
I have worked for Waffle House (a huge company with small quick service diner-type stores) for six years, all told. I have also worked in other restaurants as a server.
Waffle House starts their servers out at a whopping $2.38 per hour. Minimum wage for servers in Georgia is $2.13. The reason they pay so little per hour is because it is assumed that the servers will make at least enough in tips to equal $5.15, the standard Georgia minimum wage. (It is my understandind that in the states, there is a Federal minimum set, but the states may pay more by their discretion.)
Taxes are paid on an assumed tip amount. Say I work 40 hours in a week. I gross $95.20 for that week. Assumed tips are added to the gross amount. Assumed tips equal the amount I should have made over $2.38 and up to $5.15. The ‘tip credit’ is then taken back out of my paycheck (after taxes). So:
$5.15- $2.77x $95.20+
2.38= $2.77 40= $110.80 110.80= $206
$206.00-
taxes-
tip credit-
meal credit (+/- 26 cents/hour)= JACK SQUAT
It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but basically, I can work 4-5 10 hour shifts in a week and take home a paycheck less than $100. The main excuse I hear for not tipping is “You get paid.”
Oh, and I love busses. 50 people at once invading a tiny restaurant, all wanting their food at one time (one cook does it all), all wanting to be able to leave at the same time, all wanting to be waited on at once… And we’re usually lucky if we (maybe 3 servers, usually 2) get $10 between us.
I have often been told to ‘get another job.’ It just isn’t that simple. Given my lack of formal education as of yet (because, you see, I’ve had to work for my food since I was 14), there really isn’t any other job I could make as much money doing. $400 a week is nothing to sneeze at. I get that from the people that can appreciate all the hard work I do for them.
Stiff me once, I will count it as oversight.
Stiff me twice and you get burnt coffee.
We never forget regular faces.
Make that "burnt coffee with a smile 
"
Yes, I know the math got messed up. Just scooch all the numbers over a bit.