Should you tip the waitress and how much thread

kegkilla

The Big Mod
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As someone brought out earlier in this thread, imagine they did do away with tips and just paid these servers a wage. If you think service is bad now it would be way worse if they didn't have to kiss ass for a tip. And to those who think serving is easy. maybe in a low volume establishment, not where I worked at it's a workout. We had servers track how far they walk in a shift, (granted the restaurant was huge), some were walking 7-8 miles in a shift, more if they pulled a double. Yes I know it's not rocket science, but I'm willing to bet half the people on here would drop on a high volume night.
it's actually not nearly as easy as most of aspies in this thread would like to pretend to believe, assuming you're working at a half decent restaurant. for one, you need to have a good personality and be able to talk to people, which alone makes about 90% of the people in this thread unqualified for the job. second, you've got to be able to multitask like crazy and keep it together when shit gets busy. you've got customers, hostesses, managers, servers, bartenders and cooks all asking things of you, it gets very hectic. on top of that most, most of the people you are working with are lifelong restaurant workers with really bizarre personalities. they can be very hard to deal with and love to start restaurant drama.

i worked at a pretty upscale restaurant for about 6 months when i was in college. on good nights i could make up to $300, average was probably around $150. eventually i was fired for a combination of being a pretty shitty waiter and repeatedly coming in drunk as fuck. all in all it was a good life experience and i don't regret it.
 

Oldbased

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Meals under $25 I usually tip $4-5 bucks. $25+ 20% and delivery like pizza $3( on a typical $10 papa john/pizza hut pizza ).
I never understood people who don't tip cause it costs to much, then drive straight over and buy something stupid they won't use for $50.
 

Sithes_sl

shitlord
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jesus christ there's a lot of cheap pieces of shit here. assuming your service is decent, you need to tip at least 15%. don't like the social norm of having to tip? stay out of restaurants and cook your own food, you cheap jewbag. you Wakandanrds complaining about how servers make more money than you do working at gamestop aren't factoring in that servers are working a lot of hours they aren't collecting tips, setting up and shutting down restaurants.
Nice model to follow, I can see how it works out for servers if you're not going to give a 20% tip as standard don't bother making me do any work by coming in. How well does it work for the business which is paying that other portion of their earnings, oh right and bringing in customers for servers to make tips from.
 

Replican_sl

shitlord
65
1
Nice model to follow, I can see how it works out for servers if you're not going to give a 20% tip as standard don't bother making me do any work by coming in. How well does it work for the business which is paying that other portion of their earnings, oh right and bringing in customers for servers to make tips from.
If it weren't for the server, you would just be sitting at an empty table for a while before getting up and going home to make dinner. If you aren't going to pay for the service provided, there's no point in getting it. Stay home and cook.
 

kegkilla

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Nice model to follow, I can see how it works out for servers if you're not going to give a 20% tip as standard don't bother making me do any work by coming in. How well does it work for the business which is paying that other portion of their earnings, oh right and bringing in customers for servers to make tips from.
pretty hard for the business to make money on sales if they have no one to serve food because their servers are unable to make a living wage by working there. i know this is tough for you to comprehend, but it's a symbiotic relationship between all parties involved.

just come to terms with the fact that you're a poor, cheap, anti-social American Inventor and let's move on with our lives.
 

Gavinmad

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Reading through this thread should show everyone why tipping is fucked up, and the peons need to rebel and get the shit laws changed that allow under-minimum wage laws for servers.
What, you mean the laws that require a place of business to compensate any staff member whose tips didn't bring them above minimum wage?
 

Rezz

Mr. Poopybutthole
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pretty hard for the business to make money on sales if they have no one to serve food because their servers are unable to make a living wage by working there. i know this is tough for you to comprehend, but it's a symbiotic relationship between all parties involved.

just come to terms with the fact that you're a poor, cheap, anti-social American Inventor and let's move on with our lives.
Tips weren't always taxed, and businesses ran just fine by paying minimum wage to minimum work jobs like serving. Sucks that the government effectively decided to tax gratuity and put the burden on the buyer to pay the wages for certain service industry members. Because in 90% of cases, they do not deserve it. Also, if companies had to pay their waiters a flat rate regardless, it would not increase food costs by 10%. Or 5%. Maybe 2-3 depending on how low end you are. And you can still fire shitty waiters for doing a shitty job even if you are paying them min wage and people will still be fighting to get those jobs. Why? Because it is retard easy work since even you were able to do it. 2-3% increase in cost for 5-25% savings and the ability to actually reward good service instead of being required to assume the service was good? Yeah.

You have no idea what you are talking about, at all.
 

kegkilla

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Tips weren't always taxed, and businesses ran just fine by paying minimum wage to minimum work jobs like serving. Sucks that the government effectively decided to tax gratuity and put the burden on the buyer to pay the wages for certain service industry members. Because in 90% of cases, they do not deserve it. Also, if companies had to pay their waiters a flat rate regardless, it would not increase food costs by 10%. Or 5%. Maybe 2-3 depending on how low end you are. And you can still fire shitty waiters for doing a shitty job even if you are paying them min wage and people will still be fighting to get those jobs. Why? Because it is retard easy work since even you were able to do it. 2-3% increase in cost for 5-25% savings and the ability to actually reward good service instead of being required to assume the service was good? Yeah.

You have no idea what you are talking about, at all.
tally one more for poor, anti-social Wakandanrd.
 

Dianetics08_sl

shitlord
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I work at Outback, about as middle of the road as shit gets. Weekends I make about 100 bucks in tips for a 5 hour shift, weekdays I make jack shit just because we aren't busy. It can be a hard job on a busy night, and it sucks if you get sat multiple tables at once, but it's worth running around for the money on Friday/Saturday nights. If I was only getting tipped 10%, I'd quit in a fucking second as would a lot of waiters.

As far as To Go food, we have a dedicated Take Away server who only does take away orders. They make 7 bucks an hour (which is like 1.40 under minimum wage in Vermont) and should be tipped at least a few bucks. They take your order over the phone, put it in the computer, box up your food and make sure you have all the appropriate sauces and whatnot. You don't need to tip much, 10% would be plenty generous, but 2 or 3 bucks would be fine.
 

Cybsled

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Ya I always wondered about pick up food and if tipping is required. Sometimes I'll tip a buck or two depending on the mood, but I've never been clear on the etiquette/compensation aspect of it.
 

Lejina

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If you think service is bad now it would be way worse if they didn't have to kiss ass for a tip.
The strange thing, is invariably the places (read countries) where I had the best service were where it wasn't custom to tip. When no tip is expected the servers just act like professionals trying to do their job well (strangely, in those places the patrons are generally not bent on being assholes either). In tipping locales, you end up with servers often more concerned about kissing ass, making excuses and faking being my friend; it's not the rule, but fuck there's a lot of them. No shit, the current breed of servers are doing their job well strictly because they want a tip and not because they simply want to do their job well: it is that type of individuals the current north american system draw to those jobs. The landscape of the food industry would change a lot if we'd somehow move to a non tipping system.
 

OneofOne

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What, you mean the laws that require a place of business to compensate any staff member whose tips didn't bring them above minimum wage?
Yes, those laws. Why all the special god damn hoops? People keep saying "but gee willikers if they had to pay a living wage prices would go up!" as if you aren't ALREADY paying that increased cost in the form of tips. "But without tips service would suck!" People that choose not to give good service don't have a job very long, because customers aren't being taken care of. It's like a whole special segment of society are entitled pricks. If you accept a job, that you went in and asked for, do it and do it well. Otherwise fuck off. If my secretary decided that she's no longer going to treat our clients awesome unless she gets tips (even though she has to deal with a few assholes now and again), guess what? She's fired and we get a new one. I stop treating our clients awesome, guess what? I'm fired and replaced. Only in the food industry is the bar set so low. I really don't get it.
 
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All this makes me think back to my days of working fine dinning. Old school career waitstaff made bank, but truly earned it. They pampered customers. Pulling out chairs, placing napkins, spiffed tasting portions out of pocket, Johhny on the spot to light cigarettes (back when you were allowed to smoke in a restaurant). They took Sommelier courses once a year. Went to seasonal Wine tastings regularly, personally knew great pairings. They knew every item on the menu backward and forward, could answer all the questions about ingredients / sources. They knew the magical ratio of just enough personal attention to make you comfortable, while not going overboard 'sucking up for a bigger tip'. Pulling off that is a long crafted skill set, but also a lost art. I don't see that kind of dedication to the craft anymore. Most tipping now it out of habit, not out of appreciation for someone doing excellent work.
 

Agenor

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Standard operating costs at chain restaurants is x3. That includes food/labor/ overhead. If we buy a steak at 10.00, the customer is going to pay 30. Bumping the servers wages even to minimum wage is going to drive that price up a minimum of 10%., and mostly likely more if they actually want to keep good servers.

Mom and pop establishments I can't speak to, but if they went up @2% per item, with servers making minimum wage they will lose money. Period. Short of the restaurant running at maximum capacity at all times which short of peak hours rarely happens. It's a win for restaurants, oh your service sucked,, sorry about that, here's some free pie. Knowing full well that server will get stiffed, and rightfully so. No way a restaurant would want a flat rate to servers, then it's money out of there pockets.
 

Gavinmad

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Yes, those laws. Why all the special god damn hoops? People keep saying "but gee willikers if they had to pay a living wage prices would go up!" as if you aren't ALREADY paying that increased cost in the form of tips. "But without tips service would suck!" People that choose not to give good service don't have a job very long, because customers aren't being taken care of. It's like a whole special segment of society are entitled pricks. If you accept a job, that you went in and asked for, do it and do it well. Otherwise fuck off. If my secretary decided that she's no longer going to treat our clients awesome unless she gets tips (even though she has to deal with a few assholes now and again), guess what? She's fired and we get a new one. I stop treating our clients awesome, guess what? I'm fired and replaced. Only in the food industry is the bar set so low. I really don't get it.
Uh, do you have a point? What needs to be changed?
 

OneofOne

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Uh, do you have a point? What needs to be changed?
Retarded or forgetful? You choose!

Originally Posted by Gavinrad
What, you mean the laws that require a place of business to compensate any staff member whose tips didn't bring them above minimum wage?

Beyond that what needs to change is the whole entitlement attitude, but I'd settle for what is realistic.
 

Gavinmad

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Retarded or forgetful? You choose!

Originally Posted by Gavinrad
What, you mean the laws that require a place of business to compensate any staff member whose tips didn't bring them above minimum wage?

Beyond that what needs to change is the whole entitlement attitude, but I'd settle for what is realistic.
Wait, so you're saying on a slow night servers should be paid less than minimum wage?