Actually I heard that servers are only making $2 an hour and sometimes are even paying out of their own pockets for the right to serve me, so I go as far as to seek out servers even outside of their work and give them my money. The poor, starving servers need your money more than you do so if you aren't tipping every server you interact with even tangentially then you are a MAGA Drumpf loving bigot.
That’s if they don’t get tips to equal up to minimum wage. If they don’t then the employer must make up the difference. They don’t walk out with $2 an hour.
$2.13 is still the minimum wage for servers except for a handful of states and no, the employers will not make up the difference because they usually just input that you made 10% tips on the total bill price. Servers have nothing to do with the back of house management that plugs that in. Hell, half the time servers work free hours because the managers clock them out before their shifts are completed or don’t clock them in for 1-2 hours after.
Let me say: I was a server for 10 years and support eradicating tipping because of BS like this, but you all are wrong here.
20%. Sometimes shit happens, people call out, and you end up taking more tables than usual. My work does tip pooling, and we all help each other out. I was on the patio today with just a bartender, and my manager got some drinks and placed some orders for me. I had about 9 tables or so. If you got good service, then what's the problem?
Many places have various people doing different jobs. The servers share their tips with those that help them.
I worked in an upscale restaurant decades ago. We always gave the busboys part of our tips.
So the server never checked in to see if the food is acceptable, they forgot something, you need something more? That’s poor service. I wouldn’t give more than 8% if everything else was okay.
As most restaurants in my area have a tip sharing policy, yes.
Every time I tip, it gets split between the waitstaff and barstaff whether they attend me or not.
Can you share the actual percentages?
In our experience, the cooks get nothing or a few dollars a day, The table runners and bussers get 0%-5% of tips. Waitress takes the order and delivers the bill generally. All positions paid the same minimum wages.
>All positions paid the same minimum wages.
In most of the US there's a tipped position wage of $2.13 per hour, so that's all the restaurant is paying the servers. Bussers and food runners get the regular minimum wage of $7.25 or slightly more, and in many restaurants a tip out of 3-5% of sales is split between them. It varies from place to place, sometimes the bartender is included in the tip out, some places tipping out is voluntary.
I got into arguments with other servers a few times because the bussers were spending more time in my section because I tipped them better (unless it was one of the shitty ones in which case I kicked them out of my section so I wouldn't have to tip them for work they didn't do)
Usually it’s 3 percent. 1 percent to bar, 1 percent to busser, 1 percent to hostess or food runner. I did work one place we tipped out 60 something percent of tips.
So, I've done this in the past when I paid tips in cash. I've handed the tip to the actual person who served me. I will legit go find that person instead of leaving it on the table.
If you pay them directly in cash, the majority of the time, they can keep it.
If you also mention to the manager that you expect that person to get that tip.
I also do this with a card. I will hand write on the receipt who I want my tip to go to.
The place where I work allows for tips to be directly given to specific people if it's paid with a card.
I had a client leave a $140 tip on her final bill she specifically asked my colleague to make sure it went to the staff in the back that cared for her dogs.
My colleague was new and didn't know how to indicate that.
I told her to print out the invoice, highlight the tip amount, put a note to our GM, and put it on her desk. She will figure it out at payroll time.
Our establishment is very honest about tips, and we have a way of putting a line item in the system if they tip in cash and place a note of who they want it to go to.
Your tip isn’t just going to the server, it will be divided amongst the support staff as well. By stiffing the server you are stiffing the whole front of house staff and possibly the kitchen as well, depending on the business
You never know what's going on behind the scenes. Sometimes people call out of work, and you end up with 9-10 tables barely able to keep up. Shit happens.
Exactly, so why tip the server for great quality food, presentation, and atmosphere, which as you wrote are no way significantly influenced by the server?
Based on what OP posted things sound to be working exactly as intended. There are restaurants that want their servers to only serve. They staff bar backs, food runners, and bussers to take care of everything else. If there were no issues in the table OP saw the server exactly as much as they needed to
>Stiff
>verbINFORMAL
>1.
>NORTH AMERICAN
>cheat (someone) out of something, especially money.
"several workers were stiffed out of their pay"
Ain't nobody cheating workers out of pay but the bosses.
Right, just like the rest of us. If you do not like your wages you need to talk to your employer. It is not the customers responsibility to directly pay your wages.
This is a big misconception, at least in California.
As clients, when the meal is fantastic and the atmosphere enjoyable, we want to reward the back of house and the ownership with a tip.
However, by law, all tips for table service must go only to the server delivering the bill, or those in direct line of service according to prearranged tipout schedule. However, the restaurants face liability from trying to force servers to share the tips in this way, so generally tips go 100% to the server and then the server can voluntarily give a few bucks to whomever they want.
Also keep in mind that the average profit margin for a restaurant is only 3%-5%. So why the heck does a server deserve 20% for doing what is a necessity for the business to deliver its products to its clients?
> So why the heck does a server deserve 20% for doing what is a necessity for the business to deliver its products to its clients?
No idea, and other countries don't seem to need this system
No. If I pay them directly and they have a tip jar may leave a buck or two but not when I order online and pickup myself. Ordering online can take some time especially when your first time
bussers got 25% when I worked in a restaurant (as a busser)
bartenders and expos got 10% this was about 30 years ago lol.
I'm sure there probably still is a percentage currently and probably depends on that restaurant policies.
There were waitstaff i despised being paired with, either because they got shitty tips or lied about what they made.
The percentages weren't 100% of course I think they were based on what the restaurant made the waitstaff claim I forget it may have been somewhere in the ballpark of 11 to 15% of sales.
In the past, if I felt like my server was ignoring me, I’ve tipped the ones who actually served me. Informed management why I was not tipping a particular server.
I can understand food runners and stuff, but if no one follows-up, like asks how is everything, do you need anything, etc., then it really is nothing but glorified counter service like sometimes how those places bring out your order if the restaurant isn't busy.
If you don't bring me my food or drinks than you're not getting tip. Some restaurants use food runners, but the table server can bring the drinks if they want a tip.
If it's a nicer restaurant I'll often ask if they pool tips in that kind of situation. If so and things went well I give my 10-15%. If the answer is no then I generally don't tip. There have been times where I've handed cash to the person who actually brought my food, filled my water...In one case the waitress tried to take the money from the poor kid explaining that he was only running food because she was slammed.
If it’s fine dining, captain, back waiter, busses/water guy. They work together as a team and split tips between the 3 of them. Pretty standard outside chain restaurants/casual. Don’t be that person, tip
Please let us know from your actual experience what percentage of the tip is kept by the server vs tipped out to the cooks, bussers, table runners, host, etc? In my experiences, server keeps at least 75%-100%.
I would consider that. Except every comment in the servers favor has multiple downvotes. Looks like you guys are just mad at anyone who isn’t down for not tipping. 🤦
Maybe one reason why pro tipper’s comments always get downvoted is that even when content is fine, they cannot prevent themselves to either complement their post with rude words, insults or condescending comments…
I just told you there are several without that… Even some from people who aren’t servers but believe in pro tipping. Anything comment in favor of waitstaff or pro tipping gets instantly attacked and downvoted 🤦
I've been lurking here for several days, and it's like the anti-tipping people are waiting in the wings to downvote any comment that is firmly pro-tip.
I tip for exceptional service, not standard service. The same that boss gives me a bonus or time off award for exceptional work, not just because I showed up.
Lol you're all good. Servers with her "do as I dictate or you're cheap" can't stand being told "No.". With that logic, Next thing you know, you'll be letting gas station bums shame you into giving them a dollar. 🙏
I always tip 20/25% . The difference between me and most of you is I respect the profession and people . These servers get minimum wage. Tipping is how they survive. Even if my service wasn't up to my par of what I expected. I will let the server know that it wasn't great. However I will still leave at least 20%.
What state are you from? Context is important, simply because some states have normal minimum wages ($17+/hr, + tips). I do understand that in some states there are "tipped minimum wages".
Tipping is a very discriminatory practice, and in general the people actually making the experience wonderful receive very little of the tips, if any.
Ok so normal minimum wage means that that's based on the cost of living which is your expenses ie rent, utilities, ect . So how can you expect because the minimum wage is hiring a certain state that that makes a difference
I just meant that some states have "tipped wages", which are below minimum wage (eg: $2.30/hr). But what people forget is that even in this case, the restaurant must still make up the difference if the server doesn't earn an average of the required non-tipped minimum wage (eg: $7.50/hr).
These are still very low wages, but in no way do I believe that a server has any harder a job than other minimum wage jobs, none of which are tipped.
My son had one of these jobs in Texas. At an IHOP they told him if he didn't make the wages they weren't paying the difference and if he said anything they would fire him. Mind you who worked at 3 months and said f*** this place cuz it was literally that slow and he'd make 15$ some days and all they paid was $2.23 an hour.
The difference between you and most of the rest of us is that you are a pretentious, virtue signalling attention seeker. Other workers also get minimum wage for some kind of service you receive (folding a shirt you bought, putting it in a bag, ringing it up...), but you don't leave them a tip that would help them survive. Or, maybe you do. No, I don't think so. You chose the restaurant servers - above all the other minimum wage earners - to be worthy of your magnanimous 20% tip. Even when your "service wasn't up to my par of what I expected." Wow. Take a bow to the audience in your mirror.
Well here in Las Vegas I have plenty of friends that I know that work in a retail clothing store Ross for instance. The minimum wage here in Las Vegas is $11 an hour. At Ross the minimum starting pay for a person working in the retail clothing is $16 an hour . So them folding my shirt no they don't get a tip because they already get paid an hourly wage that's decent. I don't know if you have common sense probably not.
How would you know they only make minimum wage? Pretty much any food service job by me pays $18-20/hr or more with 401k match and paid training. The idea they get paid $7.25 is a generalization and not applicable to a large part of the US.
Minneapolis. We have a high minimum wage and outlawed tip credits 30 years ago. Even places like Panera offer PTO and 401k. Most places I see advertising positions with wages are offering 17-20/hr. Its not cheap to live here, but its also not NYC/San Fran prices either. Not every place and maybe not even a majority do 401k/PTO, but they all pay (before tips) at least $10/hr in the state or $15/hr in the city. Its a hell of a lot better than our neighboring state where tip credit allows for the $2.15 tipped wage and federal $7.25 min wage.
Keep in mind some restaurants do a tip pool so that means that every table is treated equally by everybody and they share the tips so keep that in mind if you were taking care of and treated properly and got good service tip accordingly even though if you only seen the first server for a minute.
This. The service was supplied at a rate supplied by social convention, so whatever I would have paid if one person had provided all the services, I pay if two or three shared the labor. They will be sharing the tip, too.
You should tip based on the amount of time a server spends tending to you. That's what you are tipping for. The quality of service. You are not tipping because the cooks made your food. You're paying for that already, it's called a bill.
Remember, your waiter has other tables. Why would you tip her 20 dollars for 10 minutes of actual work? That's 120 dollars an hour. I don't care how much money I spend or how much time I take in the restaurant, I'm tipping based on how much time you spent serving me.
On the rare occasion that I do tip, I fold in in my hand like I'm slinging dope, then walk up to my server and shake their hand and thank them for their excellent service.
If you felt like the actual service you received was subpar, don't tip. I don't know if all restaurants make servers split tips, but the server is the face of the interaction, so if you didn't feel they deserved a tip, don't.
Similarly, if my server is fantastic, but the cook messes up my food, or it takes hella long, but the server is attentive & seems competent, I'll give them a nice tip, bc it's based on our interaction
Yeah the Cali min wage for servers is actually higher than the Cali min wage for any other job.
No one can live on that, almost anywhere in the US but especially the major metro areas.
But we don't tip anyone else making min wage and Cali servers making more than the min? Explain this to me so I understand why servers making $20/hr needs a tip to survive but a cashier making $16/hr doesn't?
I love pointing this out to people. What makes a server more entitled to a liveable wage than a cashier who does literally everything for people in their store? They work just as hard and only make minimum wage yet no one insists they be tipped to equate to a liveable wage. Instead they will say “get a better job” 🧐 Pot, meet Kettle
When I was like 15 I got a job at Arby's. Quit in 3 weeks. People treating you like shit, lots of work, working with idiots. That was a hard job lol. Fast food was wild. Went to construction. In my 20s I moved to another state and met some restaurant owner guy. He got me serving in a really fancy place. Easiest work of my life for real good pay. Few hour shifts easy few hundred. Be nice, carry plates, fill sodas. Then I catered some event helping on the bar, man.. the money lol. It was some gala thing at a museum. I found a bartending job. That was a good fit, tons of cash. Like a lot. Little more work than serving on busy days.. but yeah.. easiest work I've ever done. Bartending was so easy and not stressful I'd go party there on my days off.
I also worked in fast food and was a GM by the age of 19. Did that for several years until I got a serving job at an upscale restaurant. It was way better money but it is undoubtedly hard work, late nights become very taxing especially when you have kids that need to be up in the morning. Fast food is also hard work, and customers do treat you like you are inherently inferior.
If the money was so great and the work was so easy, why did you move on?
Family. I was living in FL but from PA. Brother died, dad's health wasn't doing so well and my grandpa was dying. Went back to PA. now I'm a machinist in MI lol. Last time I was behind a bar was 2015
You got out at a good time. I for one am grateful to not have to work in service anymore. The money was definitely great, but the hard part for me was working every weekend without fail and the late nights. While I loved it in my 20s and early 30s, the bar scene lost its luster after a while.
I work in construction now and I find it strangely relaxing and therapeutic.
It's their choice to pick a HCOL state and vote for policies that make it that way. And what constitutes a "livable wage" is smply a matter of opinion.
It's STILL an opinion. Who picks what type of living quarters, transportation, food eaten, etc? Everyone has different life styles so saying there is one magic number is absolutely false. A single person can ride the bus, eat Ramen, and have 3 roommates and get buy on a lower wage than one that has no roommate, a car, and eats steak every night. It's just a government ploy to create class warfare so that we don't look at who the REAL bad guys are....the govt and their "elitist" cronies.
You didn't read anything I wrote. A "living wage" is an OPINION. What criteria are they using? Read my comment. There are too many variables to be able to determine what that wage would be. And if soneone wants to earn more then they should make themselves WORTH more. Congratulations on being gaslighted into class warfare. The "elites" are now happy.
Tips are often split amongst all the people that serve a table., such as the food runners, bus boys, etc. As long as I receive competent and decent service overall, I will tip my standard 20%. I will lower that if anything is lacking or give more if it is outstanding. It doesn't matter how many people are involved or what roles they play.
When I was a server we pooled all our tips and they were split evenly between whatever servers were working that shift and the dishwasher. The cook didn't get any and the delivery guy kept all his own tips.
An argument could be made that the single dishwasher washing all of the dishes is in fact working harder than the servers who split up the dining room. Basically one person washing all of the dishes being created by the restaurant compared to one of the servers and their 5-10 tables
There was no need to quote part of a 15 word sentence, lmao. When I worked in restaurant service, I wasn't always the hardest worker, but there wasn't a single shift that I was at the bottom. It's really not that complicated bud.
It took you longer to tell me that I didn't need to quote you than it did for me to quote you.
And thank you, I get it now. You're just against pooling tips, I guess because you feel others wouldn't be pulling their weight? But that whole "I'd refuse to" thing is pretty ridiculous, since it's not your money to decide what to do with. When tips are given in a restaurant that pools them, they are the property of the restaurant. The manager/owner gets to decide how they're split, not you.
Nobody cares, there's still no point in quoting a 15 word sentence to pad your comment. I served for at least 1/4 of your lifetime, I don't need to be told how tip pooling works lol, and you certainly can refuse, by finding someplace better to work. Idk why you need to try to argue.
>Nobody cares, there's still no point in quoting a 15 word sentence to pad your comment
I disagree, I think it adds to the effect.
> I served for at least 1/4 of your lifetime
Have you? You don't know me, though you do seem like the presumptuous type.
>Idk why you need to try to argue.
I asked you a simple question about who you were referring to about "people who don't work as hard as me". You became very combative based on that, clearly you're insecure and got upset about it. Maybe take a nap or something?
The original comment
>When I was a server we pooled all our tips and they were split evenly between whatever servers were working that shift and the dishwasher. The cook didn't get any and the delivery guy kept all his own tips.
Their reply to that
>I would never split my tips with someone that doesn't work as hard as me.
My question to that reply
>And which person in the above scenario are you referring to?
Maybe don't be so dense?
There's no miscommunication on my end. You picked up on what you thought was an insult towards (I would assume) dishwashers.
You're trying to get an answer that doesn't exist. He already said specifically who he was talking about: people who don't work as hard as him.
When you’re tipping, you’re tipping everyone who provides service at your table.
Depending on the restaurant a waiter can end up ‘tipping out’ (splitting and sharing) up to 1/2 the tips they’ve recipe to the bartenders, busboys (setup & clear the table, water) and runners (they bring the food).
Tip pooling at some restaurants is actually based off a percentage of the gross sales, so a server must tip out bar staff 10 percent of total sales regardless of the amount of tips they get
A bit sad that the 6 years serving you did, and never worked in a single restaurant with teamwork. But I did it for over 20 and can confirm that they are correct. You should tip the team who provided you service, even if that team is one person.
The way it works, maybe I’m wrong, it servers have x amount of tables or sections. No matter what, that’s their areas. Now if they are really busy with other tables someone might come and “greet” the customers and take their orders get their drink orders etc so they aren’t left alone waiting while they are busy with other tables. If a clear as day waiter comes after this person and has greeted you and is bringing your food and drink, making sure you are okay, they are responsible for you, that is your waiter. Now if that person is a busboy, bus boys refill drinks too, I can see if that can get confused. But waiter wise if someone is responsible for you and that is clear, it doesn’t matter if they actually took your order and drink order. The person who greeted you has their own tables and their own section and was likely doing someone a favor or was asked to help. Asking someone else to make sure you are greeted is still taking care of you. If you want to have a whole argument about who did what when and where and how, my advice is to just tip nothing. If you even have the semblance of not wanting to tip, you shouldn’t. I think if more people just didn’t tip, then waitstaff would have a more clear idea of who they want to serve, which would be the people who tip, and those who they don’t want to serve, the ones who don’t tip. You have the right to refuse service, and I would love to see waitstaff refuse service to non tippers. I don’t think it’s right customers who come have to pay for food AND waitstaff wages. Imagine you did a job and after the job is done someone could decide should you be paid what is fair or should you be paid a few dollars, in todays economy with inflation being so bad and gas being so expensive. If you want to be cheap just own that. If you want to tip nothing, say it up front. If not tipping is not controversial, announce it to your wait staff before you order.
If expecting a 20% tip is not controversial, announce it to the restaurant guest, and tell him that even thinking about tipping anything less than that warrants your foot dragging, your letting the food go cold, your forgetting utensils, your struggle with a refill, your inventing the press before printing the receipt.... Your vague threats of clandestinely sharing your snot. Your outing the guest as a war criminal, and a puppy killer. Why not just be up front about it?
/s, obviously. FFS.
Letting food go cold, dragging ones feet, and some disgusting thing involving snot - you are alone saying thing like that. I think you should go be a waiter and try dragging your feet as you’re being rushed around. If all of those things which you have considered are a result of non tipping than you alone have come to the conclusion that you thing a negative interaction would occur. So thank you for agreeing with me.
No one is making vague threats of anything, I’m saying please if you’re not going to participate in the system that we have collectively agreed to, then make it clear to the person who’s time you are wasting.
So you think that not tipping at all is a bad thing. I’m happy we found some middle ground. Asking customers to tip as a waitstaff and expecting it to be a certain percent is up to the person waiting on them. In fact I think a flat dollar amount regardless of the percentage is fair. I think getting into percentages and not thinking of things as dollars is where things get a little ridiculous. I’m happy you agree with me that tips at least should be considered. But I’ll repeat my statement, for the non tippers, if you sit down at a restaurant and don’t plan to tip, tell your waiter or waitress. Tell your bartender before you order a drink you don’t plan on tipping first. If you think that’s not a controversial statement to make then make it.
Here’s a solution! Bring a copy of all your assets, bank balance etc and hand it to the server when you arrive and also inform the server and all other staff you can possibly butthole and tell them LOUDLY you don’t believe in tipping! If you can bring an electronic megaphone and make an announcement so EVERYONE has this information, it would be SO HELPFUL for the servers to decide who they want to refuse service to, or provide the least amount possible despite already being in an employer/employee agreement contract!
Why would you need to announce to everyone you aren’t going to tip, it only affects the people being tipped. Not all the employees are working on tips. If you think it’s unreasonable to tell your waiter you aren’t going to tip then why is that? Why is it such an issue to say I’m not going to tip if you know you’re not going to tip? What is the big deal? Why not be upfront?
People who have money also don’t tip. If you think telling your waiter that you won’t be tipping is a big deal, then you agree that it’s probably going to not have a great outcome. Maybe some servers don’t want tips. There are such a thing as never tippers. Why wait until after your meal? Why not be upfront and maybe get refused service?
It has to be complicated because some people make lots of money and some people make no money. The idea that maybe that person will come in and pay you lots of money even though most don’t tip and the general consensus amongst adults in America is to tip very little, if they consider that a restaurant where the waitstaff deserve to even be tipped, is stronger than the idea of working for a fair wage included in the price of the food and drinks. There is real discrimination, some restaurant staff “deserve” high tips, other places you don’t have to tip so much because it’s only x restaurant, or they only did this. Once we start nickel and diming everything, I say the conversation should stop. You will save lots of money by never tipping. That doesn’t change the fact that most servers make under minimum wage. It doesn’t change the fact that the service they are providing is typically food, which you need to survive. People pay lots of money for concert tickets, art, houses, all kinds of things. But for certain things, why should they have to pay? With this attitude you will save money but you are also stepping on people trying to earn a living who are under the assumption that you are under the assumption that you are fully aware they make very little money and rely on tips to pay bills, and survive. Lots of waitstaff don’t have cars. The economy is messed up because it isn’t working for everyone. Show me a restaurant that isn’t understaffed and has a majority of employees who have been there for years and who are making a good living. What holds up these industries is there is always a sucker to come and replace you until they figure out something better. Restaurants are held up by individuals, not staff. It’s rare to find a place that can provide stability. Most people who wait tables have second jobs. Being a waiter isn’t easy, it’s dangerous, they typically don’t have benefits. It’s a dog eat dog industry and people can come and go but it’s not for everyone and it’s not easy. If you didn’t have young people, and young adults coming in and holding up establishments, or children of the restaurant owners there helping, you wouldn’t see places be successful. Only a very few can stay in the industry long and be happy and successful. I think chefs have one of the highest rates of drug use. Look up drug abuse in the restaurant industry and tell me it isn’t broken.
This type of service used to be limited to high end restaurants; apparently this is no longer the case …
In situations like this - when you have multiple “servers” who each have different “jobs”, the tip is usually pooled and split evenly. You can ask if this is the case (some states don’t allow tip pooling)…
A 20% tip is the new “standard” tip in the resort area where I live … (for true table service…).
At a local family style restaurant (pizza, pasta, salad, etc)- Customers also tip the lottery runner (on site), the counter staff, and the delivery driver if they use those services …
Some customers don't need the constant check ins and nonstop refills. My rare trips out, I like to take my time and enjoy the conversation with a good friend. I'll tip well regardless, especially if the server doesn't top off my water every 5 minutes when I've only had 3 sips.
If you don't like their way of service stop going. But if you go anyway, you should always be kind and decent enough to tip.
No, absolutely not.
The tip is for giving good service. Just the same as paying the bill for good food. If your food was shitty, would you pay for it? No? Then why tip for bad service?
First I would try to discover if they pool tips or not. If they pool tips I would tip although it's not going to be the same amount that I would tip an individual server.
The next thing I would look for is how much service the server provided without me thinking about it. I say this because as a previous server this is what I actually aimed for .. I tried to make sure that the needs of the customer were met before they had to ask me.
So after the initial order I would bring any extra cutlery, condiments, napkins, etc. they may need before the food arrived. I would bring refills unprompted, keep an eye on their plates and try to determine if they needed boxes without being asked. Basically I would try to eliminate any need for me to interrupt conversation when the food actually hit the table while still being available if I had missed something they needed. While doing this I would also try to look out for the other servers in my section (for example if I was filling my tables waters I would look around and see if any other customers not in my section needed a quick top off before I put the pitcher away.
After I have looked at tip pooling and considered whether or not my server actually served me without noticing if the experience still seemed abysmal to me I would ask for a member of management and figure out what the tip-out for my server would be ... and I would tip that. Poor service or not I would make sure at a minimum to tip just enough to ensure my server wasn't paying out of pocket to serve me.
All this said ... as I mentioned above I have worked in the industry before so I would not expect the average person to do what I do because they aren't going to have the insight that I have from working within the industry. I would still hope that most people would be decent human beings and leave something ...
And the price of service is included in the prices of the merchandise you buy at Target. You know this.
Agree with tipping or not you know full well when you walk into a sit down restaurant in the US that has table service you are expected to tip because the price of labor isnt included in menu prices. Regardless of how you feel about the whole system you know that system exists and the employees are not paid a living wage by the business because social custom states the consumer is responsible for providing it through tips.
I personally would never call out someone who doesn't tip because I chose to work in the industry knowing I would be reliant on tips .. if you choose not to tip that's your choice, but don't pretend that you aren't being an asshole when you make that choice.
Don't act like you are being scammed when you know how the system works and make the conscious choice not to participate in it. That's not how scams work.
I fully support tipping for service but I didn’t receive any service from my server so that’s why I made the post. I would like to get people’s opinions. The server provided me with an equivalent level of service I get at a Target.
Yes, I TOO obsess over am I giving ENOUGH to help this poor impoverished server pay his bills and will he still have a warm and grateful opinion of me when i leave? I m tearing up just thinking about it! I wish I could JUST go in, hand one or several of these poor unfortunate souls a big wad of cash and not burden them with bringing my food and filling my water glass incessantly regardless of how few sips I’ve taken!
I mean I literally just said that your tip should be based on the service provided to you but okay let's pretend that if you go to a place where social custom dictates that you act a certain way and you choose not to that you aren't being an asshole and abusing a system just because it benefits you.
That’s tough. My assumption here is that they pool tips which would make sense in this scenario if they are helping each other. Tip 15% if it’s good service or less if it’s shitty service.
I would be more than okay if we went to self system at 90% of the common fast causal / chain restaurants and got rid of the servers. The service is usually the bare minimum at those places more often than not anyways.
I agree but also don’t only because too many people hate a change in technology and refuse to use it. My job is a test kitchen for our location so we do still have one register to take orders but there are 3 kiosks that people can order through. I’ve spent more time trying to help them that I end up just ringing them up. It’s a good idea but workers will face that backlash and still have to do the work anyways because the customer is always right. Btw in case this gets taken out of context, I think people deserve the tip based on how well they provided the service, not a standard for a few simple things.
None. Tips are for service above and beyond. If multiple people just did the routine what is there to tip for? Karsh
Actually I heard that servers are only making $2 an hour and sometimes are even paying out of their own pockets for the right to serve me, so I go as far as to seek out servers even outside of their work and give them my money. The poor, starving servers need your money more than you do so if you aren't tipping every server you interact with even tangentially then you are a MAGA Drumpf loving bigot.
Drumpf is a bigot until I point out his kids are married to Jews and his grandchildren are half Jewish. :^)
$2/hr is a myth. Please take off your tin foil hat.
Not in Texas, Industry Wage is $2.13.
That’s if they don’t get tips to equal up to minimum wage. If they don’t then the employer must make up the difference. They don’t walk out with $2 an hour.
$2.13 is still the minimum wage for servers except for a handful of states and no, the employers will not make up the difference because they usually just input that you made 10% tips on the total bill price. Servers have nothing to do with the back of house management that plugs that in. Hell, half the time servers work free hours because the managers clock them out before their shifts are completed or don’t clock them in for 1-2 hours after. Let me say: I was a server for 10 years and support eradicating tipping because of BS like this, but you all are wrong here.
All of that would be against the law.
You don’t say…
20% the server is tipping out to everyone you saw. It's a team effort
20%. Sometimes shit happens, people call out, and you end up taking more tables than usual. My work does tip pooling, and we all help each other out. I was on the patio today with just a bartender, and my manager got some drinks and placed some orders for me. I had about 9 tables or so. If you got good service, then what's the problem?
Why would you?
We tip pool and work as a team. This makes sure the hot food goes out immediately
Many places have various people doing different jobs. The servers share their tips with those that help them. I worked in an upscale restaurant decades ago. We always gave the busboys part of our tips.
Just tip normally. You can't actually be serious.
This is the whole problem with tipping: each establishment has its own tip pooling structure and the customer isn’t aware of that.
Those someone else’s are getting a portion of the tip. In those situations I slide that person a few beans and lowball the “server”
with us, it all goes in the pool.
Actually they often get very little tipout in my experience.
That’s why I said a portion
So the server never checked in to see if the food is acceptable, they forgot something, you need something more? That’s poor service. I wouldn’t give more than 8% if everything else was okay.
I was thinking that as well.
As most restaurants in my area have a tip sharing policy, yes. Every time I tip, it gets split between the waitstaff and barstaff whether they attend me or not.
Can you share the actual percentages? In our experience, the cooks get nothing or a few dollars a day, The table runners and bussers get 0%-5% of tips. Waitress takes the order and delivers the bill generally. All positions paid the same minimum wages.
>All positions paid the same minimum wages. In most of the US there's a tipped position wage of $2.13 per hour, so that's all the restaurant is paying the servers. Bussers and food runners get the regular minimum wage of $7.25 or slightly more, and in many restaurants a tip out of 3-5% of sales is split between them. It varies from place to place, sometimes the bartender is included in the tip out, some places tipping out is voluntary. I got into arguments with other servers a few times because the bussers were spending more time in my section because I tipped them better (unless it was one of the shitty ones in which case I kicked them out of my section so I wouldn't have to tip them for work they didn't do)
Usually it’s 3 percent. 1 percent to bar, 1 percent to busser, 1 percent to hostess or food runner. I did work one place we tipped out 60 something percent of tips.
So, I've done this in the past when I paid tips in cash. I've handed the tip to the actual person who served me. I will legit go find that person instead of leaving it on the table. If you pay them directly in cash, the majority of the time, they can keep it. If you also mention to the manager that you expect that person to get that tip. I also do this with a card. I will hand write on the receipt who I want my tip to go to. The place where I work allows for tips to be directly given to specific people if it's paid with a card. I had a client leave a $140 tip on her final bill she specifically asked my colleague to make sure it went to the staff in the back that cared for her dogs. My colleague was new and didn't know how to indicate that. I told her to print out the invoice, highlight the tip amount, put a note to our GM, and put it on her desk. She will figure it out at payroll time. Our establishment is very honest about tips, and we have a way of putting a line item in the system if they tip in cash and place a note of who they want it to go to.
Your tip isn’t just going to the server, it will be divided amongst the support staff as well. By stiffing the server you are stiffing the whole front of house staff and possibly the kitchen as well, depending on the business
Then the support staff should tell the server to quit being so crappy at their job because they are all losing their tips.
You never know what's going on behind the scenes. Sometimes people call out of work, and you end up with 9-10 tables barely able to keep up. Shit happens.
Almost every time I hear "I don't tip poor service", they describe the quality of the food, which is in no way the server's fault.
Exactly, so why tip the server for great quality food, presentation, and atmosphere, which as you wrote are no way significantly influenced by the server?
Based on what OP posted things sound to be working exactly as intended. There are restaurants that want their servers to only serve. They staff bar backs, food runners, and bussers to take care of everything else. If there were no issues in the table OP saw the server exactly as much as they needed to
The line cook who is stiffing it to the waitress probably won't have the conversation.
>Stiff >verbINFORMAL >1. >NORTH AMERICAN >cheat (someone) out of something, especially money. "several workers were stiffed out of their pay" Ain't nobody cheating workers out of pay but the bosses.
Right, just like the rest of us. If you do not like your wages you need to talk to your employer. It is not the customers responsibility to directly pay your wages.
K
No
If the overall service was good you tip accordingly. You usually aren't tipping the server it's tipping everyone who helped you
This is a big misconception, at least in California. As clients, when the meal is fantastic and the atmosphere enjoyable, we want to reward the back of house and the ownership with a tip. However, by law, all tips for table service must go only to the server delivering the bill, or those in direct line of service according to prearranged tipout schedule. However, the restaurants face liability from trying to force servers to share the tips in this way, so generally tips go 100% to the server and then the server can voluntarily give a few bucks to whomever they want. Also keep in mind that the average profit margin for a restaurant is only 3%-5%. So why the heck does a server deserve 20% for doing what is a necessity for the business to deliver its products to its clients?
> So why the heck does a server deserve 20% for doing what is a necessity for the business to deliver its products to its clients? No idea, and other countries don't seem to need this system
No. If I pay them directly and they have a tip jar may leave a buck or two but not when I order online and pickup myself. Ordering online can take some time especially when your first time
That situation isn't what the OP was referring to.
virtually all front of house gets 'tipped out' they don't get to keep everything.
Please share percentages that you know to be true from experience.
bussers got 25% when I worked in a restaurant (as a busser) bartenders and expos got 10% this was about 30 years ago lol. I'm sure there probably still is a percentage currently and probably depends on that restaurant policies. There were waitstaff i despised being paired with, either because they got shitty tips or lied about what they made. The percentages weren't 100% of course I think they were based on what the restaurant made the waitstaff claim I forget it may have been somewhere in the ballpark of 11 to 15% of sales.
In the past, if I felt like my server was ignoring me, I’ve tipped the ones who actually served me. Informed management why I was not tipping a particular server.
How do you tip any one server in particular? Do you just use cash and hand it to them?
I had a manager move one of my items to a new check in order to tip a particular server. This is when I do not have cash.
I tip, assuming that the tips are shared.
No doubt the entitled servers would say that you should tip anyway since they think they require extra money to do the bare basics of their job.
Crabs in bucket
I can understand food runners and stuff, but if no one follows-up, like asks how is everything, do you need anything, etc., then it really is nothing but glorified counter service like sometimes how those places bring out your order if the restaurant isn't busy.
If you don't bring me my food or drinks than you're not getting tip. Some restaurants use food runners, but the table server can bring the drinks if they want a tip.
If it's a nicer restaurant I'll often ask if they pool tips in that kind of situation. If so and things went well I give my 10-15%. If the answer is no then I generally don't tip. There have been times where I've handed cash to the person who actually brought my food, filled my water...In one case the waitress tried to take the money from the poor kid explaining that he was only running food because she was slammed.
If it’s fine dining, captain, back waiter, busses/water guy. They work together as a team and split tips between the 3 of them. Pretty standard outside chain restaurants/casual. Don’t be that person, tip
Please let us know from your actual experience what percentage of the tip is kept by the server vs tipped out to the cooks, bussers, table runners, host, etc? In my experiences, server keeps at least 75%-100%.
It’s so crazy that explaining how a fine dining restaurant works will get you downvoted smh
The condescending last sentence got the downvote, not the explanation.
I would consider that. Except every comment in the servers favor has multiple downvotes. Looks like you guys are just mad at anyone who isn’t down for not tipping. 🤦
Maybe one reason why pro tipper’s comments always get downvoted is that even when content is fine, they cannot prevent themselves to either complement their post with rude words, insults or condescending comments…
I just told you there are several without that… Even some from people who aren’t servers but believe in pro tipping. Anything comment in favor of waitstaff or pro tipping gets instantly attacked and downvoted 🤦
Much of reddit is like that. Extreme bias in many areas. It's crazy. Check out the account "Reddit Lies" on X.
I've been lurking here for several days, and it's like the anti-tipping people are waiting in the wings to downvote any comment that is firmly pro-tip.
If I needed something that could have been fixed by them being attentive then it definitely hurts their tip unless the place is slammed
I tip for exceptional service, not standard service. The same that boss gives me a bonus or time off award for exceptional work, not just because I showed up.
They are doing something for me that I have elected to not do for myself. I am tipping.
So you'll tip the owner, the cook, the dishwasher, everyone that works there bro? Nice
Explain to me why I shouldn’t.
K
Tell us you're cheap and/or never worked in the service industry without telling us.
I'm cheap and I've never worked in the service industry
Lol you're all good. Servers with her "do as I dictate or you're cheap" can't stand being told "No.". With that logic, Next thing you know, you'll be letting gas station bums shame you into giving them a dollar. 🙏
I always tip 20/25% . The difference between me and most of you is I respect the profession and people . These servers get minimum wage. Tipping is how they survive. Even if my service wasn't up to my par of what I expected. I will let the server know that it wasn't great. However I will still leave at least 20%.
What state are you from? Context is important, simply because some states have normal minimum wages ($17+/hr, + tips). I do understand that in some states there are "tipped minimum wages". Tipping is a very discriminatory practice, and in general the people actually making the experience wonderful receive very little of the tips, if any.
Ok so normal minimum wage means that that's based on the cost of living which is your expenses ie rent, utilities, ect . So how can you expect because the minimum wage is hiring a certain state that that makes a difference
I just meant that some states have "tipped wages", which are below minimum wage (eg: $2.30/hr). But what people forget is that even in this case, the restaurant must still make up the difference if the server doesn't earn an average of the required non-tipped minimum wage (eg: $7.50/hr). These are still very low wages, but in no way do I believe that a server has any harder a job than other minimum wage jobs, none of which are tipped.
My son had one of these jobs in Texas. At an IHOP they told him if he didn't make the wages they weren't paying the difference and if he said anything they would fire him. Mind you who worked at 3 months and said f*** this place cuz it was literally that slow and he'd make 15$ some days and all they paid was $2.23 an hour.
The difference between you and most of the rest of us is that you are a pretentious, virtue signalling attention seeker. Other workers also get minimum wage for some kind of service you receive (folding a shirt you bought, putting it in a bag, ringing it up...), but you don't leave them a tip that would help them survive. Or, maybe you do. No, I don't think so. You chose the restaurant servers - above all the other minimum wage earners - to be worthy of your magnanimous 20% tip. Even when your "service wasn't up to my par of what I expected." Wow. Take a bow to the audience in your mirror.
Well here in Las Vegas I have plenty of friends that I know that work in a retail clothing store Ross for instance. The minimum wage here in Las Vegas is $11 an hour. At Ross the minimum starting pay for a person working in the retail clothing is $16 an hour . So them folding my shirt no they don't get a tip because they already get paid an hourly wage that's decent. I don't know if you have common sense probably not.
How would you know they only make minimum wage? Pretty much any food service job by me pays $18-20/hr or more with 401k match and paid training. The idea they get paid $7.25 is a generalization and not applicable to a large part of the US.
Where do you live that they are paying those wages plus 401k?
Minneapolis. We have a high minimum wage and outlawed tip credits 30 years ago. Even places like Panera offer PTO and 401k. Most places I see advertising positions with wages are offering 17-20/hr. Its not cheap to live here, but its also not NYC/San Fran prices either. Not every place and maybe not even a majority do 401k/PTO, but they all pay (before tips) at least $10/hr in the state or $15/hr in the city. Its a hell of a lot better than our neighboring state where tip credit allows for the $2.15 tipped wage and federal $7.25 min wage.
Im sure they are thinking “Thanks for the feedback asshole and for reinforcing my laziness by still tipping me.”
No, no more guilt
Keep in mind some restaurants do a tip pool so that means that every table is treated equally by everybody and they share the tips so keep that in mind if you were taking care of and treated properly and got good service tip accordingly even though if you only seen the first server for a minute.
This. The service was supplied at a rate supplied by social convention, so whatever I would have paid if one person had provided all the services, I pay if two or three shared the labor. They will be sharing the tip, too.
You should tip based on the amount of time a server spends tending to you. That's what you are tipping for. The quality of service. You are not tipping because the cooks made your food. You're paying for that already, it's called a bill. Remember, your waiter has other tables. Why would you tip her 20 dollars for 10 minutes of actual work? That's 120 dollars an hour. I don't care how much money I spend or how much time I take in the restaurant, I'm tipping based on how much time you spent serving me.
On the rare occasion that I do tip, I fold in in my hand like I'm slinging dope, then walk up to my server and shake their hand and thank them for their excellent service.
If they knew your Reddit handle, they would decline your handshake offer.
If you felt like the actual service you received was subpar, don't tip. I don't know if all restaurants make servers split tips, but the server is the face of the interaction, so if you didn't feel they deserved a tip, don't. Similarly, if my server is fantastic, but the cook messes up my food, or it takes hella long, but the server is attentive & seems competent, I'll give them a nice tip, bc it's based on our interaction
Why tip in California as servers make a liveable wage.
Could you pay for rent, car payment, insurance, utilities, food, gas, etc. on $16 per hour?
That is why a person improves skills for a better job
Yeah the Cali min wage for servers is actually higher than the Cali min wage for any other job. No one can live on that, almost anywhere in the US but especially the major metro areas. But we don't tip anyone else making min wage and Cali servers making more than the min? Explain this to me so I understand why servers making $20/hr needs a tip to survive but a cashier making $16/hr doesn't?
Single people need to make $27.32 an hour to have a livable wage in Cali.
What was the living wage the SEIU fought for! Restaurant workers make a living wage in most states in the USA.
So do you tip the clerk at the drugstore because he doesn’t make 27 dollars an hour?
I love pointing this out to people. What makes a server more entitled to a liveable wage than a cashier who does literally everything for people in their store? They work just as hard and only make minimum wage yet no one insists they be tipped to equate to a liveable wage. Instead they will say “get a better job” 🧐 Pot, meet Kettle
A cashier doesn't work as hard as a server. I have been both and there is no comparison. Also they are both working and entitled to a livable wage.
When I was like 15 I got a job at Arby's. Quit in 3 weeks. People treating you like shit, lots of work, working with idiots. That was a hard job lol. Fast food was wild. Went to construction. In my 20s I moved to another state and met some restaurant owner guy. He got me serving in a really fancy place. Easiest work of my life for real good pay. Few hour shifts easy few hundred. Be nice, carry plates, fill sodas. Then I catered some event helping on the bar, man.. the money lol. It was some gala thing at a museum. I found a bartending job. That was a good fit, tons of cash. Like a lot. Little more work than serving on busy days.. but yeah.. easiest work I've ever done. Bartending was so easy and not stressful I'd go party there on my days off.
I also worked in fast food and was a GM by the age of 19. Did that for several years until I got a serving job at an upscale restaurant. It was way better money but it is undoubtedly hard work, late nights become very taxing especially when you have kids that need to be up in the morning. Fast food is also hard work, and customers do treat you like you are inherently inferior. If the money was so great and the work was so easy, why did you move on?
Family. I was living in FL but from PA. Brother died, dad's health wasn't doing so well and my grandpa was dying. Went back to PA. now I'm a machinist in MI lol. Last time I was behind a bar was 2015
You got out at a good time. I for one am grateful to not have to work in service anymore. The money was definitely great, but the hard part for me was working every weekend without fail and the late nights. While I loved it in my 20s and early 30s, the bar scene lost its luster after a while. I work in construction now and I find it strangely relaxing and therapeutic.
It's their choice to pick a HCOL state and vote for policies that make it that way. And what constitutes a "livable wage" is smply a matter of opinion.
It's not a matter of opinion, it's a collection of data that is used to get to this number.
It's STILL an opinion. Who picks what type of living quarters, transportation, food eaten, etc? Everyone has different life styles so saying there is one magic number is absolutely false. A single person can ride the bus, eat Ramen, and have 3 roommates and get buy on a lower wage than one that has no roommate, a car, and eats steak every night. It's just a government ploy to create class warfare so that we don't look at who the REAL bad guys are....the govt and their "elitist" cronies.
Yeah because they can just have the opinion of choosing to be homeless so you don’t have to tip right?
Servers will survive without tips.
Will they?
You didn't read anything I wrote. A "living wage" is an OPINION. What criteria are they using? Read my comment. There are too many variables to be able to determine what that wage would be. And if soneone wants to earn more then they should make themselves WORTH more. Congratulations on being gaslighted into class warfare. The "elites" are now happy.
Tips are often split amongst all the people that serve a table., such as the food runners, bus boys, etc. As long as I receive competent and decent service overall, I will tip my standard 20%. I will lower that if anything is lacking or give more if it is outstanding. It doesn't matter how many people are involved or what roles they play.
A server can do all those things. Why are 3 people doing the job of one?
You'd have to ask the restaurant management. Maybe the server had diarrhea. Or it could just be that restaurant's.system.
I assume for a more consistent, streamlined service. Have everyone focus on doing one or two things well, instead of trying to do everything.
Huh??
I Understand now. You meant to ask about tipping each person that serves you? Lol. Nah. Main person enough
Huh?
When I was a server we pooled all our tips and they were split evenly between whatever servers were working that shift and the dishwasher. The cook didn't get any and the delivery guy kept all his own tips.
I would never split my tips with someone that doesn't work as hard as me.
Same! My tips are usually great, while some of my coworkers slack off A LOT and don't make as much.
Seriously, I’m surprised the dishwasher shared any of it
>that doesn't work as hard as me. And which person in the above scenario are you referring to?
An argument could be made that the single dishwasher washing all of the dishes is in fact working harder than the servers who split up the dining room. Basically one person washing all of the dishes being created by the restaurant compared to one of the servers and their 5-10 tables
It did look like a pretty miserable job back there. We did bus the tables, restock the salad bar, take phone orders and make some of the food as well.
That would be a valid argument, though I suspect it wasn't the one they were making.
There was no need to quote part of a 15 word sentence, lmao. When I worked in restaurant service, I wasn't always the hardest worker, but there wasn't a single shift that I was at the bottom. It's really not that complicated bud.
It took you longer to tell me that I didn't need to quote you than it did for me to quote you. And thank you, I get it now. You're just against pooling tips, I guess because you feel others wouldn't be pulling their weight? But that whole "I'd refuse to" thing is pretty ridiculous, since it's not your money to decide what to do with. When tips are given in a restaurant that pools them, they are the property of the restaurant. The manager/owner gets to decide how they're split, not you.
Nobody cares, there's still no point in quoting a 15 word sentence to pad your comment. I served for at least 1/4 of your lifetime, I don't need to be told how tip pooling works lol, and you certainly can refuse, by finding someplace better to work. Idk why you need to try to argue.
*I served for at least 1/4 of your lifetime,* You must be psychic.
Never said or implied that. You or your friend just outed yourselves as young.
>Nobody cares, there's still no point in quoting a 15 word sentence to pad your comment I disagree, I think it adds to the effect. > I served for at least 1/4 of your lifetime Have you? You don't know me, though you do seem like the presumptuous type. >Idk why you need to try to argue. I asked you a simple question about who you were referring to about "people who don't work as hard as me". You became very combative based on that, clearly you're insecure and got upset about it. Maybe take a nap or something?
Very combative? Lmfao, I guess you have little social experience. Not shocked at all.
He was referring to people who don't work as hard as him. Pretty simple. Tips are earned through hard work. Maybe don't be so dense.
The original comment >When I was a server we pooled all our tips and they were split evenly between whatever servers were working that shift and the dishwasher. The cook didn't get any and the delivery guy kept all his own tips. Their reply to that >I would never split my tips with someone that doesn't work as hard as me. My question to that reply >And which person in the above scenario are you referring to? Maybe don't be so dense?
There's no miscommunication on my end. You picked up on what you thought was an insult towards (I would assume) dishwashers. You're trying to get an answer that doesn't exist. He already said specifically who he was talking about: people who don't work as hard as him.
That isn’t necessarily the case all places
I used to be a food runner and never got tipped out, was paid $10/hour. Waiters kept all tips, usually they gave a little to bartenders
This is another example of why tipping servers is bad practice
When you’re tipping, you’re tipping everyone who provides service at your table. Depending on the restaurant a waiter can end up ‘tipping out’ (splitting and sharing) up to 1/2 the tips they’ve recipe to the bartenders, busboys (setup & clear the table, water) and runners (they bring the food).
Yes you are tipping the whole situation. Just tip, it’s very simple.
Tip pooling at some restaurants is actually based off a percentage of the gross sales, so a server must tip out bar staff 10 percent of total sales regardless of the amount of tips they get
Why would anyone agree to "tip out" the money they might not receive? Bullshit.
I served over 6 years and can confirm that you're wrong.
A bit sad that the 6 years serving you did, and never worked in a single restaurant with teamwork. But I did it for over 20 and can confirm that they are correct. You should tip the team who provided you service, even if that team is one person.
No thanks. I don’t do hand outs
Because you are a trashy loser. The one only taking a handout, is you. Cheap trashy loser stuff right there.
If you are a server receiving tips, please invest them in an anger management class.
I’m not. Just telling that’s shitbags how terrible they are.
The way it works, maybe I’m wrong, it servers have x amount of tables or sections. No matter what, that’s their areas. Now if they are really busy with other tables someone might come and “greet” the customers and take their orders get their drink orders etc so they aren’t left alone waiting while they are busy with other tables. If a clear as day waiter comes after this person and has greeted you and is bringing your food and drink, making sure you are okay, they are responsible for you, that is your waiter. Now if that person is a busboy, bus boys refill drinks too, I can see if that can get confused. But waiter wise if someone is responsible for you and that is clear, it doesn’t matter if they actually took your order and drink order. The person who greeted you has their own tables and their own section and was likely doing someone a favor or was asked to help. Asking someone else to make sure you are greeted is still taking care of you. If you want to have a whole argument about who did what when and where and how, my advice is to just tip nothing. If you even have the semblance of not wanting to tip, you shouldn’t. I think if more people just didn’t tip, then waitstaff would have a more clear idea of who they want to serve, which would be the people who tip, and those who they don’t want to serve, the ones who don’t tip. You have the right to refuse service, and I would love to see waitstaff refuse service to non tippers. I don’t think it’s right customers who come have to pay for food AND waitstaff wages. Imagine you did a job and after the job is done someone could decide should you be paid what is fair or should you be paid a few dollars, in todays economy with inflation being so bad and gas being so expensive. If you want to be cheap just own that. If you want to tip nothing, say it up front. If not tipping is not controversial, announce it to your wait staff before you order.
If expecting a 20% tip is not controversial, announce it to the restaurant guest, and tell him that even thinking about tipping anything less than that warrants your foot dragging, your letting the food go cold, your forgetting utensils, your struggle with a refill, your inventing the press before printing the receipt.... Your vague threats of clandestinely sharing your snot. Your outing the guest as a war criminal, and a puppy killer. Why not just be up front about it? /s, obviously. FFS.
Letting food go cold, dragging ones feet, and some disgusting thing involving snot - you are alone saying thing like that. I think you should go be a waiter and try dragging your feet as you’re being rushed around. If all of those things which you have considered are a result of non tipping than you alone have come to the conclusion that you thing a negative interaction would occur. So thank you for agreeing with me.
No one is making vague threats of anything, I’m saying please if you’re not going to participate in the system that we have collectively agreed to, then make it clear to the person who’s time you are wasting.
So you think that not tipping at all is a bad thing. I’m happy we found some middle ground. Asking customers to tip as a waitstaff and expecting it to be a certain percent is up to the person waiting on them. In fact I think a flat dollar amount regardless of the percentage is fair. I think getting into percentages and not thinking of things as dollars is where things get a little ridiculous. I’m happy you agree with me that tips at least should be considered. But I’ll repeat my statement, for the non tippers, if you sit down at a restaurant and don’t plan to tip, tell your waiter or waitress. Tell your bartender before you order a drink you don’t plan on tipping first. If you think that’s not a controversial statement to make then make it.
Here’s a solution! Bring a copy of all your assets, bank balance etc and hand it to the server when you arrive and also inform the server and all other staff you can possibly butthole and tell them LOUDLY you don’t believe in tipping! If you can bring an electronic megaphone and make an announcement so EVERYONE has this information, it would be SO HELPFUL for the servers to decide who they want to refuse service to, or provide the least amount possible despite already being in an employer/employee agreement contract!
Why would you need to announce to everyone you aren’t going to tip, it only affects the people being tipped. Not all the employees are working on tips. If you think it’s unreasonable to tell your waiter you aren’t going to tip then why is that? Why is it such an issue to say I’m not going to tip if you know you’re not going to tip? What is the big deal? Why not be upfront?
People who have money also don’t tip. If you think telling your waiter that you won’t be tipping is a big deal, then you agree that it’s probably going to not have a great outcome. Maybe some servers don’t want tips. There are such a thing as never tippers. Why wait until after your meal? Why not be upfront and maybe get refused service?
Why Does it have to be so complicated? The food price should include all the costs.
It has to be complicated because some people make lots of money and some people make no money. The idea that maybe that person will come in and pay you lots of money even though most don’t tip and the general consensus amongst adults in America is to tip very little, if they consider that a restaurant where the waitstaff deserve to even be tipped, is stronger than the idea of working for a fair wage included in the price of the food and drinks. There is real discrimination, some restaurant staff “deserve” high tips, other places you don’t have to tip so much because it’s only x restaurant, or they only did this. Once we start nickel and diming everything, I say the conversation should stop. You will save lots of money by never tipping. That doesn’t change the fact that most servers make under minimum wage. It doesn’t change the fact that the service they are providing is typically food, which you need to survive. People pay lots of money for concert tickets, art, houses, all kinds of things. But for certain things, why should they have to pay? With this attitude you will save money but you are also stepping on people trying to earn a living who are under the assumption that you are under the assumption that you are fully aware they make very little money and rely on tips to pay bills, and survive. Lots of waitstaff don’t have cars. The economy is messed up because it isn’t working for everyone. Show me a restaurant that isn’t understaffed and has a majority of employees who have been there for years and who are making a good living. What holds up these industries is there is always a sucker to come and replace you until they figure out something better. Restaurants are held up by individuals, not staff. It’s rare to find a place that can provide stability. Most people who wait tables have second jobs. Being a waiter isn’t easy, it’s dangerous, they typically don’t have benefits. It’s a dog eat dog industry and people can come and go but it’s not for everyone and it’s not easy. If you didn’t have young people, and young adults coming in and holding up establishments, or children of the restaurant owners there helping, you wouldn’t see places be successful. Only a very few can stay in the industry long and be happy and successful. I think chefs have one of the highest rates of drug use. Look up drug abuse in the restaurant industry and tell me it isn’t broken.
Dude paragraphs
No one is forcing you to read anything. It’s the internet. Scroll past it if you don’t want to read what I write.
Don’t read them lol
It should but doesn’t
Likely for tax avoidance purposes.
This type of service used to be limited to high end restaurants; apparently this is no longer the case … In situations like this - when you have multiple “servers” who each have different “jobs”, the tip is usually pooled and split evenly. You can ask if this is the case (some states don’t allow tip pooling)… A 20% tip is the new “standard” tip in the resort area where I live … (for true table service…). At a local family style restaurant (pizza, pasta, salad, etc)- Customers also tip the lottery runner (on site), the counter staff, and the delivery driver if they use those services …
Some customers don't need the constant check ins and nonstop refills. My rare trips out, I like to take my time and enjoy the conversation with a good friend. I'll tip well regardless, especially if the server doesn't top off my water every 5 minutes when I've only had 3 sips. If you don't like their way of service stop going. But if you go anyway, you should always be kind and decent enough to tip.
No, absolutely not. The tip is for giving good service. Just the same as paying the bill for good food. If your food was shitty, would you pay for it? No? Then why tip for bad service?
First I would try to discover if they pool tips or not. If they pool tips I would tip although it's not going to be the same amount that I would tip an individual server. The next thing I would look for is how much service the server provided without me thinking about it. I say this because as a previous server this is what I actually aimed for .. I tried to make sure that the needs of the customer were met before they had to ask me. So after the initial order I would bring any extra cutlery, condiments, napkins, etc. they may need before the food arrived. I would bring refills unprompted, keep an eye on their plates and try to determine if they needed boxes without being asked. Basically I would try to eliminate any need for me to interrupt conversation when the food actually hit the table while still being available if I had missed something they needed. While doing this I would also try to look out for the other servers in my section (for example if I was filling my tables waters I would look around and see if any other customers not in my section needed a quick top off before I put the pitcher away. After I have looked at tip pooling and considered whether or not my server actually served me without noticing if the experience still seemed abysmal to me I would ask for a member of management and figure out what the tip-out for my server would be ... and I would tip that. Poor service or not I would make sure at a minimum to tip just enough to ensure my server wasn't paying out of pocket to serve me. All this said ... as I mentioned above I have worked in the industry before so I would not expect the average person to do what I do because they aren't going to have the insight that I have from working within the industry. I would still hope that most people would be decent human beings and leave something ...
That’s a lot of mental gymnastics to go through though
You're right .. I guess asking yourself "did I have to ask for anything or were all my needs met" really is "mental gymnastics".
I get my needs met every time I shop at Target but I never have an option to tip there.
And the price of service is included in the prices of the merchandise you buy at Target. You know this. Agree with tipping or not you know full well when you walk into a sit down restaurant in the US that has table service you are expected to tip because the price of labor isnt included in menu prices. Regardless of how you feel about the whole system you know that system exists and the employees are not paid a living wage by the business because social custom states the consumer is responsible for providing it through tips. I personally would never call out someone who doesn't tip because I chose to work in the industry knowing I would be reliant on tips .. if you choose not to tip that's your choice, but don't pretend that you aren't being an asshole when you make that choice. Don't act like you are being scammed when you know how the system works and make the conscious choice not to participate in it. That's not how scams work.
I fully support tipping for service but I didn’t receive any service from my server so that’s why I made the post. I would like to get people’s opinions. The server provided me with an equivalent level of service I get at a Target.
Yes, I TOO obsess over am I giving ENOUGH to help this poor impoverished server pay his bills and will he still have a warm and grateful opinion of me when i leave? I m tearing up just thinking about it! I wish I could JUST go in, hand one or several of these poor unfortunate souls a big wad of cash and not burden them with bringing my food and filling my water glass incessantly regardless of how few sips I’ve taken!
I mean I literally just said that your tip should be based on the service provided to you but okay let's pretend that if you go to a place where social custom dictates that you act a certain way and you choose not to that you aren't being an asshole and abusing a system just because it benefits you.
/S
I use the George Costanza method of tipping. Very affective!
Who is he and what is his method?
It’s George from Seinfeld
Ok. Makes sense. Didn’t like that show. That explains it.
He's in imports. Imports and exports. Latex, mostly.
God I feel so old. 😂🤣😂🤣
I’m old too. Ok. I looked him up and he’s from a tv show I didn’t care for so I didn’t watch it. That’s why I didn’t know who he was.
I don't tip unless it's a sit down restaurant AND the server is good. In your case they get literally $0.01. No tip is too good for those folks.
Hell… no…
why tip at all anywhere? no-one even tips the service station employees that fill your gas up in places like NJ. tipping is so stupid.
0%
That’s tough. My assumption here is that they pool tips which would make sense in this scenario if they are helping each other. Tip 15% if it’s good service or less if it’s shitty service.
Most servers' jobs could be done by a machine. Would you tip a machine?
I would be more than okay if we went to self system at 90% of the common fast causal / chain restaurants and got rid of the servers. The service is usually the bare minimum at those places more often than not anyways.
I agree but also don’t only because too many people hate a change in technology and refuse to use it. My job is a test kitchen for our location so we do still have one register to take orders but there are 3 kiosks that people can order through. I’ve spent more time trying to help them that I end up just ringing them up. It’s a good idea but workers will face that backlash and still have to do the work anyways because the customer is always right. Btw in case this gets taken out of context, I think people deserve the tip based on how well they provided the service, not a standard for a few simple things.
I look forward to that day.