I grew up in a world where waiters and waitresses received a gratuity for good service. Provide good service and you’d usually get ten or fifteen percent as a show of appreciation. Provide poor service and you were lucky to get anything. Display some attitude and you’d soon figure out that the penny is so you know that the customer didn’t just forget.
Today we don’t have waiters and waitresses. We have ‘servers’. We don’t have professional, trained staff that take pride in their jobs, we have students. Gratuities are now a ‘tip’, and ‘servers’ apparently believe they are entitled to a fifteen percent minimum no matter what level of service they provide.
When I first heard this I figured the guy was just yanking my chain. Trying to crank me up, so to speak. So I asked a young lady at a local restaurant and her answer was incredulous. The entitlement generation indeed expect fifteen percent – minimum — no matter what. And they expect more if the service was good.
What a crock!
To use words kids understand, it’s time for a come to jesus meetin’. A gratuity, or ‘tip’ if you must, is a gift. You’re not entitled to it, even if you provide absolutely wonderful service. If you’re slow, rude, inattentive or too damn busy talking with your buddies to notice that my coffee is empty, you can kiss your tip goodbye. And don’t even think of sitting down beside me to take my order. You’re the server and I’m there for service. If I want a friend I’ll bring my own.
I like dining out because somebody else gets to cook, serve and clean. Save the “it’s the kitchen’s fault” excuses for somebody who cares. You take my order, you bring my food, and if there’s a problem with any of the process in-between, you sort it out. If you want a fifteen percent tip you’re going to have to earn it.
Speaking of which, my coffee is just about empty…
Evolving Squid
And let’s not forget… this is written in Canada where people make $8.50 – $10 per hour just for showing up. It’s not the same as countries where waiters get paid only in tips.
Watch carefully on the little pin-pad devices that calculate the tip for you. Often entering a percentage calculates the tip on the tax as well – that’s a social faux-pas in my book, and certainly goes against what I was taught (the tip is calculated on the restaurant portion of the bill, before any discounts, and before any tax).
Evolving Squid
The biggest tips I give are to the guy who drives my food order during some snow storm, and gets it to me hot and in reasonable time. He gets at least 20%.
My lowest tips are at the buffet. I tend to run 10% unless the table person is exceptional at keeping my drink filled, clearing the plates etc.
I’m not afraid to talk to a manager on duty about poor service, but I always do it after I get the meal to reduce the likelihood of adulterated food. Ordering food after you’ve complained about the kitchen or staff greatly increases your chance of bodily fluids in your meal, particularly at low-end places.
Alexa
You are obviously completely clueless about this.
Most restaurants only pay their waitstaff $2.50 or so an hour and they must make up the balance through their tips. They’re hardly “gifts” in today’s work environment. If you don’t feel that they are, I suggest you get off your ass and spend some time waiting tables. You’d be surprised at what they have to put up with for that measly “gift” you feel that they should bow down to you for. They’re “students” because those are the only people who can afford to work there.
Evolving Squid
In the US you’re absolutely correct, Alexa. Although part of me asks “does a person’s career choice inflict an obligation on me, the customer”. I’ve never been convinced of that.
I go to restaurants a lot. One of the perqs of not having kids, so I can say with some confidence that I have experienced every imaginable level of service from every kind of restaurant all the way from the greasy-spoon dive to a 5-star exclusive restaurant.
When travelling in the US, I treat tipping like I do in a third world country such as Venezuela or Kiribati. I tend to be pretty diligent about tips in restaurants, both in paying them, and in ensuring that poor service is discussed with management. I do this because I do understand that some people effectively live off the tips because they don’t get a wage that adds up to anything. One of the things I’ve taken to in the USA is to make an effort to only frequent restaurants that pay their staff proper wages. That can be hard to do and it pretty much means fast food and really upscale places with nothing in the middle.
In my travels in the USA, I find the US is becoming worse than the third-world countries I’ve visited for people grubbing for tips – it’s more than just table staff. Everyone and their cat expects a tip for everything, seemingly irrespective of their job description. I find that quite off-putting, especially in what is arguably the richest country in the world. Less people were cruising for tips on my trip to Fanning Island last year than do on a typical trip to NYC.
What happened to accepting your agreed-upon wage for doing your job? What happened to “I care about the quality of my work and want to do my job well”? In the US it seems to be “I’m happy to do a half-assed job unless I can get something on the side to make it worthwhile” in a lot of areas.
One of the nice things about Canada and Europe is that not everyone has their hand out all the time. In Canada and Europe, servers are paid at least a government mandated minimum wage – a wage that won’t let someone live like a rock star, but they’re not going to starve either. I’m serious about $8.50 to $10 per hour here in Canada (It’s $9.25 in Ontario, where I live). I find that means there is less variation in the quality of service, but it also means that the best service probably isn’t as good as best service in the USA.
In the parts of Europe I’ve been to, you don’t tip at all – it’s considered an insult in some places because staff are paid decent wages.
What the server has to put up with is simply not relevant. It’s a non-sequitur to even bring it up. Crap is just part of the job and the server voluntarily signed up for that when they took the work. All jobs have crap. We don’t tip soldiers because their job involves getting their arses shot off (and we don’t pay soldiers especially well either). I think it’s unreasonable to say “I took/had to take this shitty job, so now everyone else owes me.” That’s bollocks. On any given day, a teacher puts up with more, and worse, crap than any server, and teachers don’t get tips or especially good pay. Teachers and soldiers also pay taxes on the full amount of their earnings.
If a server’s entire livelihood depends on getting tips, then the server better damn well be motivated to provide top-notch service. It is absolutely NOT incumbent upon the customer to pay for the servers shortcomings in the employment department. The server who provides good service will get good tips and will succeed because customers will want to pay for it.
By comparison, here’s how it works in my job, and I think it’s representative of most jobs outside the food-service industry:
1. I provide the service that the customer requests at or above their expectations and I get paid the amount I agreed to when I took the job, or
2. I get fired.
There’s no “the customer owes me something on the side for doing what I agreed to do, and if what he gives me isn’t enough, I have a right to get indignant about it.”
Tipping is an anachronism that should be done away with, and I look forward to that day. I’d like to see the US legislate against short-paying staff so that people have to live off tips. In the meantime, the guy who hauls my food through the snow on dangerous roads gets a great tip. He’s risking his life to feed me, that’s got to be worth something.
And the waitress at the chinese buffet who gets me a drink if she remembers or happens to notice that I fired a flare-gun to get her attention? She gets jack.
I don’t care about the wage agreement that either has with their employer any more than they care about my employment agreement.
Evolving Squid
I should add…
It may seem that I’m a curmudgeon. As anyone who has dined with me would attest, I am *PHENOMENALLY* patient with table staff, in stark contrast to my usual very short fuse. If I give someone a less than stellar tip I assure you they really should suck it up and shut up because if they don’t and I start spelling out why to their boss, their tip may well be a chance to seek career opportunities elsewhere from their current job. I give every opportunity to make good on issues of poor service, and even create opportunity.
Here are things that have resulted in memorable tips. As a supporter of tip entitlement, let me know what you think:
1. Order arrives 30 minutes after every other order at the table, despite asking about it 4 times. Food is cold, order is INCORRECT. Replacement order arrives in reasonable time, but order is INCORRECT. I give up and get a snack, and go eat later. Tip=0 + manager discussion. This one is memorable because the waitress followed me out of the restaurant to express her opinion that I was being unfair.
2. Waitress writes expected tip on the bill. Service had been good, but now the waitress insults me with this? Tip=0, manager discussion about manners and entitlement.
3. I get a drink with broken glass in it, which I notice because I get a mouthful of it. Mentioning this politely (doubly politely given that I could have been very seriously injured) about this gets me an apology but not even a free drink. Tip=0, manager discussion, call to the health inspector, don’t go there for 5 years, and publicize the shortcomings of the place.
4. I show up with my date at a higher-end restaurant. We’re seated promptly, but after 45 minutes, we’ve had no water, no bread, nobody to take our order. I chat with the manager. We’re given a bottle of wine, a discount, and free dessert. Tip 15% on the amount of the non-discounted bill because they made good on the situation.
So what do you think? The first two of those are USA, the second two are in Canada.
B. Locke
Good service 10-12% tip max! Poor service=no tips. I don’t care if you had a bad day, or have troubles at home. You are at work, so do not be distracted, pay attention to your customers. Really poor service = no tip, and a letter to the head office. I’ve done this on several occasions and have found out that companies that really care about their customers, respond accordingly. Recently I called in a order of wings for pick up and after waiting 30 minutes, found out they hadn’t even put in my order. I left without my food, and followed up the next day with a letter to the head office. Surprise, surprise, the manager of the establishment called me up two days later, and apologized. He hoped I would reconsider my promise of never going there again, and to help persuade me, he left a $30 gift certificate with my name on it, at the cashier.
Now that is proper customer service.
Another piss off? The coffee servers at high end coffee shops, who scribble “Tips” on a coffee cup and tape the cup right on to the cash register. They never get a cent. In fact if I’m short a nickel or dime, I reach into the Tips cup and take it out of there.
Carter Drake
Alexa, perhaps if ‘servers’ rely upon tips they should reflect that fact in their attitude and service. Enough of this damn entitlement generation. You want a tip, you work for it.
Employment conditions are an issue between the employer, employee and whatever agency or legal process enforces employement law. As a customer, the fact that an employee is pair poorly isn’t my problem.
If the tip is mandatory, then the restaurant is breaking the law. It should be on the bill and they should be charging and remitting tax on it. If the restaurant really feels that their staff all deserve 15% minimum they should add it to the bill and be up front about it.
A tip is a gift for good service. It’s discretionary. Give me good service, you’ll get a good tip. Make a mistake and correct it properly, and I’ll probably not hold it against you too much. Give me poor service and a crappy attitude and you’ll get nothing. Or maybe a penny to make the point.
A bunch of jerks
With posters like Locke, it’s no wonder that establishments are reconsidering mandatory tipping. The standard Locke, is 15% with a lot of generous patrons tipping at 20%.
I agree that I don’t like seeing ‘tip’ cups at coffee joints. However, if I ever see you reaching in to the cup, I’d likely smack your hand before I kicked your *ss. Grow up.
It’s simple. The server is expected to provide good service and make sure you food arrives as expected in a timely fashion. If the cooks have screwed something up then the server has to make things right, by either getting you what you wanted or removing the item from my bill. I will not punish the server if something is wrong with the food – not unless it is obvious. I will take away some or all the tip if the waiter does not respond to my complaints or miss obvious things like cutlery on the table, ect.
Carter Drake pretty much sums it up exactly right. Although I would never leave a penny. In all my years I have never had service that deserved that. I am tired of people who stick their noses in the air at the thought of leaving a tip for their server. Locke – 10% tip? You’re cheap. No and if and buts about it.
RD
Evolving Squid
The “standard” is 15% now, but it wasn’t always. Within my lifetime… in fact, within my ADULT lifetime, which means after the 70’s, the standard was 10%. It was somehow decreed to be 15% by some unknown cabal, and diners bowed their heads and generally accepted it for reasons i don’t really understand.
Now, in the 2000’s, there are people trying to move the bar to 20% as “standard”. Search around the web and you’ll find waitressing sites that promote that agenda. I think that’s way, way too much, and personally resist it.
Evolving Squid
>>If the restaurant really feels that their staff all
>>deserve 15% minimum they should add it to the bill
>>and be up front about it.
I disagree.
If the restauranteur believes his staff deserve 15% of receipts then tipping should be flat-out banned at the establishment, prices adjusted accordingly, and 15% of receipt paid out like a bonus to all staff with appropriate taxes remitted.
Tom
In the US, as Alexa said above, waitstaff is paid $2-$3 per hour. The expectation is that each meal will have a 15% tip. It’s not entitlement anymore than extra pay for working overtime or paid vacation at other jobs. It’s simply how the system is structured. If waitstaff was paid a livable wage and tipping wasn’t allowed, I think it’s safe to say that your bill would simply be 20% higher as the restaurant would pass on the costs to you.
The system is very simple here. Normal service = 15%. Good service or a large table = 18%. Exceptional service = 20%. If the service is poor, you don’t take it upon yourself to teach the server a lesson by tipping a fractionally small amount. YOU TELL THE MANAGER. Plain and simple.
If you can’t afford $7.50 instead of $5 on a $50 meal, I’d suggest you stay home. You really think a waiter is going to realize his subjectively poor service because you shorted him a dollar twenty-five, and instantly realize the mistakes he made? No! He’s just going to think you’re cheap and bad at math. Telling the manager will actually accomplish something, and maybe even get you an enticement worth coming back.
So to summarize, if you come to America, tip 15% or more. *ALWAYS*. If it’s bad enough to not meet a minimal standard of service, REPORT THE SITUATION TO THE MANAGER.
Alexa
One of the things I’ve taken to in the USA is to make an effort to only frequent restaurants that pay their staff proper wages.
And how do you ascertain that? By asking them? Do you expect them to tell you honestly?
In my travels in the USA, I find the US is becoming worse than the third-world countries I’ve visited for people grubbing for tips – it’s more than just table staff. Everyone and their cat expects a tip for everything, seemingly irrespective of their job description.
That’s because the vast majority of them are forced to live on minimum wage or less. I can tell by your privileged attitude you’ve not had to do that in quite some time. No one in the U.S. can afford to live on minimum wage. Your assertions about what people are paid in other countries is a non-sequitar with respect to the U.S., by the way. 😉
We don’t tip soldiers because their job involves getting their arses shot off
Actually, we do. It’s called hazardous duty pay.
On any given day, a teacher puts up with more, and worse, crap than any server, and teachers don’t get tips or especially good pay.
No, but they make far more than minimum wage, dude. Please. If you’re going to draw parallels between who’s getting tips and who’s not, at least use jobs that are similar in nature and pay structure. Using these outlandish comparisons does nothing to bolster your position – it just makes you look clueless.
Teachers and soldiers also pay taxes on the full amount of their earnings.
So do people who live off tips. Employers are required to keep track of the tips and report them to the IRS.
With posters like Locke, it’s no wonder that establishments are reconsidering mandatory tipping.
Agreed. If I knew Locke (or one of his ilk) was a customer of mine, I’d go out of my way to give them bad service just because I know they had a shitty attitude to begin with.
In the U.S., the restaurant associations lobbied Congress to allow a minimum wage exception for waitstaff way back when, and it has never gone away. I disagree with that and believe they ought to be paid at least minimum wage like everyone else.
Are their bad waiters/waitresses out there? Absolutely. I don’t tip them more than the commonly accepted minimum of 15%, but I don’t tip them less either. Why? Because I’m not an asshole who believe my (relatively) privileged life excludes me from making sure the waiter/waitress is able to make ends meet.
Don’t consider yourself “privileged?” Quit the job you have now and start waiting tables. When you do that, *then* I’ll lend some credence to any position you might have on the issue. As it stands right now, you come off as an arrogant asshole who’s had a few bad experiences with waiters or waitresses and choose to take it out on all of them, and then have the audacity to whine and bitch about *their* attitudes. Please.
Tom
On any given day, a teacher puts up with more, and worse, crap than any server, and teachers don’t get tips or especially good pay.
Yes, but teachers have other “perks”: they receive a year round salary for working 10 months, they are home everyday at a reasonable hour, and they receive things like health insurance, guaranteed salary, yearly raises, tenure, and retirement pensions.
Seriously, you’re comparing apples to oranges.
Elle
If you don’t like the money from waiting tables, go get another job. Don’t expect the diner to make up your shortfall if you’re slow, rude or bad at your job.
Carter Drake
Tom and Alexa, that’s precisely the problem with the entitlement generation (or Gen-E for short).
Nobody should feel entitled to my money in order to “make ends meet” unless they earn it. If a ‘server’ provides bad service and as a result can’t make ends meet that’s their problem. It’s called personal responsiblity — something that is sadly absent from many young people today.
I’m sure that many, upon receipt of what they consider a ‘poor tip’, do indeed blame it on the customer’s math skills or character and don’t even consider their own contribution to the problem. The first thing that crosses their mind should be, “What could I have done differently to earn a larger tip?” Of course that goes against the grain of Gen-E. It actually involves earning money as opposed to just claiming a false entitlement.
Tom
Carter,
First off, please stop referring to it as the “entitlement generation”. You act as though the only bad waitstaff in the world is entirely under the age of 25. There are bad servers of all ages, just like there are great servers of all ages.
Second, you’re completely missing my point. I’m not saying anyone should be entitled to a tip. I’m saying that 15% is the minimum for adequate service. It’s an associated cost of going out to eat. If you don’t feel that you received adequate service, it’s your responsibility to tell the manager. The manager then has the professional responsibility to a) make it up to you and b) either fire the employee or give them appropriate training/advice so they can improve the business without having to sit around guessing as to whether or not you were unhappy or just bad at math.
It’s not your responsibility to admonish subjectively poor service by rating it on a scale from 5% to 15%. And the subjectivity is part of the problem here. If I leave an 18% tip because I thought the waitress was friendly and flirty but I appreciated how she left us alone for most of the meal, then you come in and leave an 8% tip because you thought her same exact behavior was inappropriate and out of line and you really wanted a 4th glass of tap water, then how is she supposed to know what to do?! It sends mixed signals, unless you actually go and tell the manager what the problem was.
Giving someone $2 less is never going to actually solve any problem. It’s utterly ineffective and won’t actually remedy the problem that you experienced in the first place: bad service. Reporting bad service to the manager, however, will lead to a solution.
Again: minimum tip: 15%. If you want to leave less than that, you don’t leave a tip at all and you speak with the manager. So please explain to me how I think that people should be entitled to something if I believe that they should be professionally admonished by their manager for not doing their job?
Evolving Squid
>>And how do you ascertain that? By asking them? Do you
>>expect them to tell you honestly?
I have been known to ask. In reality it depends on where I’m going and how much time I feel like spending. Yes, most decent restaurant managers or staff will tell you if their staff are paid the low rate in my experience.
Another way is not to visit low-end restaurants as much as possible.
Beyond that, I have to suck it up.
it’s not really sucking it up… outside of this argument, I tip quite well for decent service.
>>Your assertions about what people are paid in other countries
>>is a non-sequitar with respect to the U.S., by the way.
Fair enough. Then the solution is not to tip but to petition US/state/local governments for redress to this injustice, don’t you think? Does tipping not prolong the problem rather than address it? If one server in 10 wrote a letter a month to their congressman demanding action, how long would it take for something to be done?
>>I can tell by your privileged attitude you’ve not had to do
>>that in quite some time.
Not relevant, really. That’s as much a non-sequitur as comparisons to other countries. As a minimum, I’m a customer and someone is demanding my money. As the customer, I have the right to make demands of the person rendering the service, and to spell out my expectations, just as my customers have the right to do the same of me.
>>No, but they make far more than minimum wage, dude.
And the put up with a lot more shit. Ergo, the comparison is valid… the minimum wage person puts up with less and gets paid less. QED. Yes, someone looks clueless here.
You are arguing that people with poor career situations are owed, solely by virtue of their situation, a gift from everyone else.
>>In the U.S., the restaurant associations lobbied Congress
>>to allow a minimum wage exception for waitstaff way back
>>when, and it has never gone away. I disagree with that and
>>believe they ought to be paid at least minimum wage like
>>everyone else.
On that we agree fully.
>>It’s not your responsibility to admonish subjectively poor
>>service by rating it on a scale from 5% to 15%.
Correct. It is my responsibility to rate service from -100% to whatever I feel like.
If I am to pay for the service, then the server must live up to my expectations. I shouldn’t have to live up to the server’s expectations.
I agree with you partially, poor service should be reported to the manager if one has the time.
However, you can’t say in one breath that tips are crucial, and then turn around and say that not tipping doesn’t send a message or get a point across. If the tips are so important that it means people’s livelihood, then not leaving one must send a message.
>>Again: minimum tip: 15%. If you want to leave less than that,
>>you don’t leave a tip at all and you speak with the manager.
>>So please explain to me how I think that people should be
>>entitled to something if I believe that they should be
>>professionally admonished by their manager for not doing
>>their job?
It’s a tip, not a fee. By setting a minimum, you are claiming entitlement. When you claim an entitlement, it’s not a tip.
Perhaps another way out of the whole dilemma is simply to call it a service fee and put it right on the bill. In that way the server will not be getting short fees, and the customer will feel much more inclined to report bad service to the manager and demand compensation.
Although, I must admit, seeing all this tip entitlement makes me feel that perhaps customers owe me an additional 15% just for doing my job. After all, I have expenses too… my life could be better. Maybe they all owe me 15% just for doing what I agreed to do – more if I do a really good job.
kingthorin
“Teachers and soldiers also pay taxes on the full amount of their earnings.”
“So do people who live off tips. Employers are required to keep track of the tips and report them to the IRS.”
How do “people who live off tips” pay taxes on those tips if the tips aren’t reported to the IRS as earnings?
Stephanie
here’s my take on tipping. if you are tipping ANYTHING less than 18 percent, you are considered the biggest assholes in the world. servers nowadays have to tip out every single busser, seater, bartender and food runner, and if you are only tipping your server 10-12 percent, your server will barely be able to afford food to put on their tables. every single dime that is made in tips in the united states is taxed. if a server only makes 200 dollars in tips one week, and she works minimum wage [6.55 in minnesota] for, say, 20 hours, she should rightfully be taking home more than 440 dollars after that week of work. so much money is taken out of a servers paycheck that instead of her paycheck being 240 dollars during that week period, it will be less than 80 dollars. a server living off of 280 dollars a week? that doesn’t work. servers, for the most part, work their asses off. if a server is working 40 hours a week, and only making 10-12 percent on her tabs, she will quit that job almost instantly, and your food prices will soar because servers will no longer be able to be hired at minimum wage because no one will want the job. the VERY least that is expected is 15%. if the server is absolutely horrible, 10% is required. to tip nothing or a penny is not an insult, it makes you look like an irresponsible guest, and a welfare rat. remember: the server does NOT cook the food. if there is a problem with your food, and the server tries as hard as possible to solve it, even if the situation is not solved, DO NOT take it out on the server. poor quality of food does not equal poor quality of service. if there’s something wrong with the food, talk to a manager. if an employee at the establishment was rude to you, but it was not your server, do not take it out on the server. if the server gave you good service, she does expect, and deserve 20%. keep in mind that these people are here to SERVE you. it is NOT a “gift” to give someone a tip. it is expected. these are no longer the days of slavery, and if you don’t tip accordingly, this employee will be working for you for free, which, might i add, is ILLEGAL. servers are running their own little businesses in each section of their restaurant, and you must pay for any SERVices that the SERVer performs. if you don’t want to tip, go to mcdonalds. there are places for people like you. if you want to make a servers day a whole lot better, tip 35%. if you are going to sit here and trash-talk servers, maybe you should step into their shoes for once. a lot of servers are, in fact, students. if you are honestly going to trash-talk students who are trying to get through college so that they can make a better life for themselves, then go for it. i would rather have student servers than 45 year old women who hate their jobs, don’t have a degree and are going through menopause. servers have to put up with every kind of person, from raging alcoholics, to dirtball men who can’t manage to keep their hands off. if you want to tip 10-12% for good service, be my guest. well not my guest, because i would throw the tip back in your face, but anyone elses guest, go for it. if you want to tip 25% for good service, you can expect the biggest smile from your sever, and a “thank you sooo much for coming in today and i truly hope that you come in again very soon.” you made the server’s day a lot better. if only everyone else could catch on.
Stephanie
also, carter drake, if i EVER meet you, if you EVER sit in my section at my restaurant, you will soon learn what it means to have your ego completely and utterly destroyed. do us all a favor, and quit going out to eat. nobody wants a stingy asshole like you in their establishment. we’re here to make money, not to work for free.
Carter Drake
Stephanie, you’re confused.
As a customer, I’m purchasing from the restaurant. The ‘server’ is an employee of the restaurant. I’m obligated to pay the resturant for the meal. Legally speaking, I don’t owe the ‘server’ a penny.
I certainly appreciate that servers depend on tips for part of their income, and I’ve been known to leave really good tips when it is deserved. But as I pointed out in my article, some feel entitled to a tip even when they provide poor service, and that’s just plain silly.
As a ‘server’, you are accountable for everything you put on my table. And if somebody has made a mistake, it’s your job to get it fixed. Mistakes happen, but it is how you deal with it that really matters. If I have to ask to speak to the manager about a problem it means that you didn’t do your job.
Stephanie
actually, carter, i am not confused. you act as though servers are lower than you. i think you are confused about the message i was trying to convey. just because where you come from, servers get paid a decent wage, does not mean that servers elsewhere get paid that wage as well. this “gift” that you decide whether or not to give is what puts food on their tables, what puts clothes on their backs, what pays for their healthcare, and in my case, what pays for my education. without these so-called “gifts”, i would be making minimum wage, slaving away after what you all undeservingly need. the reason that servers make minimum wage is that they are supposed to be making more in wages from tips. again, there are places for non-tippers to go. mcdonalds, subway, and taco bell would love to have you. if you receive horrible service, then sure, don’t tip, but to say that a server doesn’t deserve more than 15% is an insult. i know what kind of service i provide, and if in a given shift, i do not make at least 20% of my sales, i know that there is something wrong. you obviously have never been a server.
Tippingsucks.com
Actually, the $2.50 an hour minimum wage is b.s. Tippees have a vested interest in continuing to buttress this legal sophistry. The Fair Labour Standards Act states the employer must provide at least the Federal minimum wage should tips fail to so provide.
Tipping is an arbitrary social convention that should be abolished forthwith.
Join the Revolution.
http://www.tippingsucks.com
kingthorin
“it is NOT a “gift” to give someone a tip. it is expected.”
It may be “expected” but that is not the fault of the customer, that is the fault of the server. If you fail to understand that a “tip” is a bonus you get for performing your job well that is not within the customers control.
“without these so-called “gifts”, i would be making minimum wage, slaving away after what you all undeservingly need.”
If you’re unhappy with your wage and associated tips or lack thereof then you should: a) discuss your wage with your employer, b) get additional training, c) change jobs.
“the reason that servers make minimum wage is that they are supposed to be making more in wages from tips.”
So other people who make minimum wage but don’t server tables should expect tips? Do you tip the guy at the gas station? Do you tip the guy at the laundromat? Do you tip the cashier at the grocery store?
Unless you can honestly say “Yes” to all of those questions then you have no valid argument.
“i know what kind of service i provide, and if in a given shift, i do not make at least 20% of my sales, i know that there is something wrong.”
So when you don’t hit 20% you assume the customers were all jerks or do you realize that your service may have sucked for some reason?
A tip is like a “bonus” as you might have heard of in other types of jobs. If you do really well with whatever service or product you provide you might get a bonus, but you should never count on it or assume that getting it is a hard fact.
As of Oct 2008:
“To illustrate: Under current federal law, FLSA-covered employers may pay a cash wage of $2.13 and take a tip credit of up to $4.42 an hour ($2.13 cash wage + $4.42 tip credit = $6.55 minimum wage). In all cases, an employer may take the tip credit only to the extent that employees actually receive that much in tips.”
So if you’re getting $6.55, then you’re getting what you should “expect” if you get “tips” on top of that then congrats you got your bonus.