One of the great things about a place like the Straight Dope is that we learn that the whole world is not like our little piece of it. In Canada, servers make at least minimum wage, and frequently more than that. The minimum wage in Alberta is $9.40 per hour; any wait staff in any restaurant I go to are making at least that, as are the counter people at McDonald’s or Starbucks. I have a feeling that this is where Canadians got a reputation for being lousy tippers; we’re used to waitstaff making semi-decent wages before tips, and a lot of Canadians probably don’t realize how shitty wages are for servers in the US. Plus there’s the whole, “Healthcare not tied to your job” thing in Canada.
But I think I might be getting a little off-topic.
So, basically you are saying Canadians are about as insular and uniformed about other countries laws and customs as Americans are? In post about "things are different in other parts of the world ! "? How ironic.
If the young lady behind the counter has on a revealing top or if the service is unusually good and I’m in a good mood I’ll toss my change in the tip jar. I want to encourage behavior I like. One deli I go to regularly I make a point of putting in at least a buck. The subs are huge, cheap, custom made and the ladies work really hard. There I am glad to tip for NOT wearing revealing tops.
It would be nice if there was a more polite way to ask, but in most cases, you don’t ask, you don’t get. As for why… I can tell you I hated working the counter/to-go orders at the diner many moons ago… because I still made freaking 2 bucks an hour, no one tips on to-go orders, and I typically made about enough to cover my transit costs on those shifts. I had to take my turn because it allowed me to remain employed so I could get shifts assigned to tables, where I might get tips. It sucked, and as you’ve pointed out, there’s no polite way to say “Dude, I stuck your food in a bag by virtue of being stuck in this section today, but I did it with a smile and a pleasant attitude and made sure you had all the condiment packets you asked for and I will make less this shift than you just paid for your food. Please tip me. I need to make rent.”
As mentioned above… blame the game, not the player.
How can you be proud of being self-righteous and narrow-minded?
Did it ever occur to people w/this silly attitude that the non-tipper isn’t necessarily rich and the tip jar money goes to people who aren’t necessarily poor?
IMO I am not morally “obligated” to help anyone outside of my immediate family. I do give generously to charities, however, including people/causes which IMO are about 1000 times more worthy and money better spent.
lol @ people who think if you don’t spend your money the way *they *think you should you’re “cheap.”
It’s irrelevant for anyone. Nobody forces a waitress to take a job lower than minimum wage.
And frankly I hate that stupid loophole. Min. wage should have NO such exceptions.
And we don’t care about your narrow-mindedness or silly spin doctoring and snide comments about people who don’t tip as much as you do. :rolleyes:
For someone who “truly doesn’t care,” you sure are going on and on about it.
I’m not the one stuck in a shitty low-paying job, they are. They are the ones who have to deal with it. Just like people like you are the ones who have to deal with the fact “your” way isn’t “the” way. I’d say deal with that, but obviously you can’t.
PS and oh btw, I have had such jobs in my life. I appreciated tips but never “expected” them or copped an attitude about it, certainly none like the ivory tower groupies here.
No, but sometimes the realities of the economy do. Absolutely I’d much rather make $30 an hour than $2 an hour. But if that $2 job is the only thing I can get, am I supposed to turn up my nose at it and starve? (For the record, I never stopped looking for work while I waited tables, but it still took months.)
This I wholeheartedly agree with. And minimum should be substantially more than $7-and-change.
In California it doesn’t. When I worked as a server I got minimum wage ($8/hr) + tips.
But here’s the thing: even if someone is getting paid minimum wage, minimum wage is SHIT. Have you ever tried to live on minimum wage? There is no life in America on minimum wage that doesn’t involve squatting on somebody’s couch or leeching/stealing from somebody else in some way. There’s certainly no house or car or white picket fence and 2.3 children. And if you get sick you are fucking dead, because you won’t be able to afford a doctor (or health insurance) in a million fucking years. My doctor bills more in a day than someone on minimum wage makes in a year.
Someone upthread said the person at the counter “didn’t do anything to earn a tip”. Sure they did. They got up at 5 AM and put on their shitty polyester uniform, then took a filthy smelly bus to work so they could help you shovel more hamburgers into your fat fucking mouth. Effectively tips are subsidizing our country’s horrendously shitty and cruel labor system. And if you have money (i.e. white-collar job) and you’re stingy about tips, you are a douche of the highest degree.
In many provinces of Canada servers are paid less than the minimum wage by law! Check it out for yourself. Sorry to burst your bubble.
The only people I see getting bent out of shape here, are those that are offended by a tip jar that no one expects them to pay into. That was probably put there to satisfy all the customers who kept asking for it!
So it was okay when those tippers paid your rent, but you don’t want to return the favor?
Dude, you have never had a job as a tipped employee in your life… or else you would be able to relate to those people and maybe have some human empathy on the subject. Like I said, in any society some people have to do those jobs.
But then most people with similar views are against minimum wage hikes and job reform because it’s bad for small business, right? So which is it?
Come on dude. Get real. You don’t want to let go of that dollar, so you don’t. It’s fine, and you know what… the rest of us don’t care, but the employees do.
I’m sorry about your situation. But clearly you’re not in rational discussion mode. I’d be happy to reply further if you get there.
Yes that must have been the reason.
:rolleyes:
They didn’t pay my rent. My salary did. The tips were gravy. Which I thought I made clear initially.
Dude. Yes I have. I really don’t care if you believe me.
Where did you get I have no empathy? I simply said I am not morally (or financially) obligated to them. What about people who work minimum wage jobs where there are no tips? Why aren’t you whining and playing the violin for them? What you only tip the ones who are “supposed” to get tips? Why don’t you tip them, you cheap SOB?
Dude. Reading comprehension just isn’t your thing, is it? Where did you get that I “don’t let go of that dollar?” Ah I see, more asinine assumptions because I happen to disagree with you on some level or other. To heck with facts or having a clue what you’re talking about. Brilliant.
And again we have someone who says they don’t care going on and on. OK…
And yes, I want that super-sized. Hurry up, I have to get back to my cushy white-collar job.
List of minimum wages in Canada - servers don’t always make full minimum wage, but it is much higher across the board than two bucks an hour (the lowest wage for workers receiving gratuities is $8.55 per hour in Quebec).
I will always tip, so long as my server was not rude. If they are rude, unhelpful, or do not do their job except for the bare minimum and have an attitude, I will not tip.
As to the first comment… SALARY? Really? What tipped job is salary and not hourly? This is a moot point, because we both know damn well you didn’t pay rent on a tipped employees wages. $2.13 an hour times 160 hours in a month? Not enough for the cheapest slum.
And about the second part, go back and read the entire thread. Because I do tip them too.
Btw, isn’t calling someone a cheap son of a bitch outside the Pit a no-no? It’s all good man. Keep that dollar.
I never tipped at (and have stopped going to) Cold Stone Creamery because of the obnoxious bullshit they do with their tip jar. When anyone drops in money, one of the staff rings a LOUD bell and the entire staff bursts into some goofy song.
I considered offering to leave a tip if they would not do the bell and song routine, but I didn’t want to see smoke coming out of their ears as their brains fried from the idea.
The thread has gotten slightly off topic, but again to the point, I have definitely been at least partly responsible in seeing a tip jar put out in a local business. So I would say it’s a fair assumption that this happens in plenty of places.
