Posted on 11/11/2012 12:18:55 PM PST by Badabing Badablonde
I confess. I'm horrid at tipping. I dread that moment when that impersonal folder is placed discreetly at my elbow, and I begin the task of checking the bill and scrutinizing the service. I came in for a meal and I still resent the fact that I can't pay for just my meal.
When I was a kid, tipping was different. I remember watching my dad pay the bill, then as we stood to go he would tuck a few bills under a saucer or a salt shaker. When I asked, he explained that our waitress did a good job, paid extra attention to us, made our meal pleasant, and he wanted her to know he appreciated it. That made an impression on me, because it told me that a job well done had its rewards.
Fast forward to today. We are expected to have our meal selections made in a matter of seconds. Hot plates arrive half way thru the salad, and the bill arrives with a convenient line for a diner to indicate the tip amount. Get us in, get the money, get the next party sat.
Because, you see, a tip today is an entitlement. We are expected to pay extra for the basic service. We are not asked if we appreciate the attention. That is assumed. We are grateful to just get service, and maybe if the service was really bad its acceptable to ditch the tip. Waiters assume we will make up for the deficit in their wages. Because, you know, it's just not fair that they don't make the salary that Joe the Stockbroker makes.
I have my share of tipping horror stories. Like the waiter who waited for me outside the ladies room and demanded to know why his tip was below 20%, forgetting that he got half our orders wrong, wrote nothing down, charged us regular price for happy hour drinks, and we had to hunt him down when we needed him. There was the waitress who believed that because I paid in cash she could help herself to my change.
Spare me the argument that its a poor paying tough job, and just agree with me that some endeavors are just a gamble. Do we sit down at the poker table and blame the other players for hand we are dealt? Do we make the dealer take their cards to give us a better hand? Or do we try to make the best of the hand we are dealt? Do we try to make it up with the next hand?
At least in life, we are not forced to fold. We can play as many hands as we can stand, stay in the game as long as we want.
Anyway, I had my lunch today, the waitress performed her job according to her job description, I made no unreasonable demands, and I quietly added 15% to my bill. But deep down I resent her entitlement attitude that I have to pay for her minimum wage choice.
Preparing for Freeper backlash.........
The regular wait staff know what my group's wants are and as we're walking to the table a simple nod of the head gets things moving. They are also pleasant to all - extra cherries for the little one, etc, etc.
It's Hell breaking in a newbie - but the others clue them in real fast.
Perfect.
First, it is clear you have never waited tables. So you may not know that wait staff get paid very little and are expected to make it up in tips. Some do, some don't. And sad for them, the waiter or waitress gets the blame for everything, even those things that are out of their control.
Second, maybe you should eat at better restaurants. The kind of environment you describe is not one that is conducive to service that should justify a good tip, but then it is also one in which the wait-staff is overworked, underpaid and obviously undertipped.
Seriously, tip well for good service and not so well for bad service. Otherwise someone might get the impression that you have a sense of entitlement yourself—that you are entitled to have people work for you for free.
Sheeeech .... what a grouch.
Sure, unless of course the waitress is one of the millions who have worked their way through school doing so...or a mother whose husband took off...or married mother of six trying to make ends meet...or a hard working person of limited intelligence...or a laid-off corporate employee who would rather work serving pompous, cheap ingrates than take welfare.
Wow, that's pathetic.
It's my money, for now, and I'll redistribute it how I see fit.
Then I suggest you redistribute it to the grocery store and cook your own food. Wait service relies on tips to make their living. And stop couching your incredible cheapness as some political statement; it's a disservice to conservatives.
Exactly. Badablonde seems to think she’s entitled to someone else’s labor.
Maybe she’s a communist?
I pay for the service they give me, not for their life circumstances. If they want a good tip, they should earn it.
You actually stiffed a waitress because of her perceived politics...and you’re proud of it? Pathetic.
How about the restaurants that sneak a 20% gratuity into your bill and THEN add a line for additional tip?
As it should be.
Or maybe just a blonde. (I will duck out now before the plates start flying. And I apologize if I have offended anyone who is a member of the blonde persuasion.)
Pretty much, which is why I have an opinion on this. It’s my job to travel all over the US, stay in hotels, eat in restaurants, and be at the mercy of the service industry. I refuse to be guilted into the entitlement attitude that is degrading our country.
No.. You don’t have to go out to eat at a restaurant.
The majority odd restaurants don’t split the tips properly. They split them evenly, socialist style... When i tip, it’s in CASH and i slip into the waitress/waiters hands or pocket and tell then it is THEIRS and NOT to share it.
Is your employment on your home page current and correct? If so, you get paid by a whole lot of people, myself included, who have never received any service from you or your agency. If we had the option of adopting your philosophy, you'd probably find yourself waiting tables too.
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Yep, and according to your profile it's all paid for by us taxpayers.
Talk about entitlement queens...you take the cake.
No kidding. The poster should just stay home...
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