Tipping in restaurants

Well, it's not how it's supposed to work, so you're right in thinking that.

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My attitude is thus; pay the house for the meal, pay the waiter for the service. If you cannot afford to do both, eat/drink at home. I also tip in cash whenever possible so that service staff can pocket it rather than report it if they want to. These people do a hard job and make shit for it...and unlike other hard/shitty professions are expected to have a smile on their face the whole time. I'll give them something extra for a nice attitude.

As it applies to bars...I'll pay to be first in line when it comes to getting a refill from a bartender. I'll also pay for the privilege of being taken care of properly when I show up; as in, I get a table, I get my drink refilled first, I get smiles from the waitress etc. Also, bartenders tend to generously pour for people who tip them well. If one plans on going into a bar more than once it pays to groom the service staff.

As it applies to restaurants...if I see my server working hard on my behalf I'll leave her something beyond the 15% that's expected. Also if I ask special services of her, I'll likewise tip her for doing it. And again I'll tip in cash if I have it.

These people do a hard job and don't make much. If I can't afford to give them something extra for being nice to me, I'll eat/drink at home.

If I were to write some of the strange things that come under my eyes they would not be believed. ~Cora M. Strayer~

On the other hand it's a job that most people tend to do only for a few years before moving on to higher paid work. More and more jobs are demanding smiles on peoples faces, a lot of people work hard for low pay and no tip, generally longer hours too.

Does anyone ever tip supermarket staff?

Am I a good man or a bad man?

I'm curious, have you ever worked in the food service industry?

The reason I ask is that when I encounter people with this perspective, they have it mostly because they have been on the other side of the counter, so to speak, and know personally what a struggle it is.

Very fair point. I'd say the difference there is, though, that those people generally are paid minimum wage or more, whereas servers are paid far less.

edited 3rd Feb '13 9:43:30 PM by 0dd1

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Having done both jobs, restaurant/bar work is harder.

If I were to write some of the strange things that come under my eyes they would not be believed. ~Cora M. Strayer~

Imagine if you had to accept sex as payment and they insisted on tipping you 20%...

Quod gratis asseritur, gratis negatur.

"Really, I'd just like to leave with my money, please..."

"Oh, come now! I didn't order a big sausage pizza for nothin', big boy!"

Too obvious?

edited 3rd Feb '13 9:49:05 PM by 0dd1

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How's the 20% going to work?

You put on a timer and when you're done you check how long you took and then do 20% of that...?

No, wait, this is off-topic and Nunnery material and silly in every way. Sorry about starting it.

Quod gratis asseritur, gratis negatur.

"I don't know how I do it. I'm like the Mr. Bean of sex." -Drunkscriblerian

I can feel my brain leaking out of my ears...

=*cough*= So... on topic: I don't think pizza guys are paid less than minimum wage, though, and rely less on tips. Or is that different in the US too?

edited 3rd Feb '13 10:04:37 PM by IraTheSquire

My British experience with pizza tipping is that it's pretty sparse, but when you get them they can be reasonably good. Or you can ask for one and generally get 10%.

Am I a good man or a bad man?

I actually work at a pizza place, but I don't know how the delivery guys are paid. I feel like it'd be rude of me to ask one of them "SO HOW MUCH YOU GET PAID" though.

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It also depends on the state. Some places have minimum wage for everyone, and some places allow employers in certain fields to get paid less.

"I don't know how I do it. I'm like the Mr. Bean of sex." -Drunkscriblerian

At least in South Carolina, while restaurant serving staff can be paid at lower than minimum wage with the expectation that tips will make up the difference, delivery drivers are not given any exception to minimum wage laws.

As for supermarket tipping in post 28, generally only for those who help customers put the purchased goods in the car. A lot of chains around here have signs up discouraging tips, but few pay attention to those signs. However, there's not an expected percentage for figuring a tip, and from my experience at the task if there was any tip at all (usually not) it usually only came up to one or two dollars at most, and it was often less than that. (One time I was tipped a whole 25 cents, helping with an order that had filled 2 shopping carts. Yeah, that made me feel happy...)

In regards to the porn derail: I Need a Freaking Drink now... and there's none to be had. Asshole.

edited 3rd Feb '13 10:45:07 PM by Nohbody

All your safe space are belong to Trump

And that is why I thinking tipping on the whole is a bad thing. The assumption of tips creates a toxic atmosphere that promotes this way of thinking and undermine the entire concept of a minimum wage.

And I've got to question the basic assumption behind thing. Why does paying a waiter for their service have to be done separately as opposed to all the other overhead costs folded into the cost of the meal?

Do you tip a cashier at a store for ringing up your purchases? Do you add something extra on to your next phone bill because you got through a quick and easy solution for your problem when you called tech support? Do you tip the receptionist at your doctor's office for booking your appointment? And if not, why are restaurant wait-staff so different from other service positions?

I would tip 5-10% in Britain, and 15-25% in America.

I don't recall ever not tipping, though I would not tip in Britain if the service was atrocious and/or the food was terrible, and I would not tip in America if the serving staff murdered my family.

edited 4th Feb '13 12:33:29 AM by Achaemenid

Schild und Schwert der Partei

People generally don't tip over here in the Netherlands. Waiters are already being paid to do their jobs, and minimum wage is perfectly serviceable around here. If someone has a job, they shouldn't need to beg their costumers for extra.

Yeah the problem is mostly "server's wage" being lower than minimum wage (which is itself not viable for subsistence) based on the expectation of X amount of tips, followed by the restaurant taking the tips.

I've always thought it was odd that people expected tips tp make up the difference. There are such things as cheapskates, or people who can't afford to tip much or anything. Course, we have problems with a crappy minimum wage already, and people assuming those doing certain jobs are either going to move on or simply aren't doing a job that's worth much.

Also, I have never heard of anyone tipping the grocery guys. Like, ever.

It strikes me as insane that you can have an entire section of jobs that aren't paid the minimum wage. That seems to rather defeat the point of having a minimum wage. Now in the UK it's normally a 10% tip, I know when I went to Rome we didn't tip as it was noted that a service charge was included.

“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran

This

and this

and this

is why the USA will be consumed in a holy hellfire of ungentlemanliness. Also, it's why everything in post 5 is "nice in theory, not what's actually happening in practice".

A lot of privately owned restaurants I've seen in western NC have a tip "pool." Waiters aren't allowed to pocket the tip; rather, they have to place it in a communal pool that is divided amongst the entire staff, sans owner, whenever payday comes around. From what I've heard from acquaintances working under the system, it means everyone is payed less because tips are also divided to backroom staff and anyone receiving part of the tip is payed the usual waiter' minimum wage of $2.13 an hour. Seems to provide many with heavy incentive to pocket cash tips and report that the table didn't leave one (which screw over non-waiter staff further).

The restaurants in question here always have a very poor employee retention rate.

edited 4th Feb '13 6:11:26 AM by carbon-mantis

... da fok? I knew minimum wages in America were pretty bad, but this is ridiculous.

It depends on the state, but yeah. Most states allow restaurants to pay their servers less than minimum wage.

"I don't know how I do it. I'm like the Mr. Bean of sex." -Drunkscriblerian