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.........
If you don't like it, eat at home.
But for God's sake, quit whining like a little girl.
I think this country is going to hell in a handbasket and fast. I still treat everyone as best as I can muster and repay good service in kind. Even though in the back of my mind I know more than half of my fellow Americans are entitlement minded parasitic scumbags not to mention downright unamerican, I won't allow them to change who I am.
tipping is bullshit and if I feel the person is a taker ill go Galt.
and the waiter/ess works just as hard if the bill is $10 or $100, so why should the latter get ten times more.
If people want tipping to go away, then restaurants will have to pay servers more and, guess what? Prices will go up.
Why should restaurants expect their guests (i.e. customers) to underwrite their payroll with tips? Tipping is an outdated relic from a bygone age. It pits restaurant clients against people they rely on for what should be a pleasant and safe dining experience. If restaurants can't earn enough with regular pricing to pay their help adequately, they should go out of business.
I simply don't go to restaurants these days if I can avoid it. There are many reasons including long waits for tables, being assigned very bad tables even with reservations (I've learned that people with reservations usually get the very worst seating); terrible uncaring service, credit card rip-off dangers, major parking hassles, etc., etc. Add tipping to the list. Even if service is awful and you don't tip, the waitperson may remember you.
In the words of Penny, the Cheesecake Factory waitress on The Big Bang Theory: "Don't piss off the people who handle your food."
Union member too?,P>
How much do you pocket each year by declaring 'cash tip' on your expense reports after stiffing the waitress? Enough to pay for a few more tattoos, I'd wager.
Mostly problems with logistics. I usually travel alone so for safety sake I usually eat in the hotel restaurant. Safer hotels tend to be more expensive but that beats cheap hotel, walking or cabbing to dinner (added expense), renting a car (seldom cost effective for approved travel expenses), room service is ridiculous. I don’t do fast food because its seldom healthy and requires transportation. No, the safest cheapest route is low end hotels with cafes or restaurants.
For adequate service, I tip 15%.
If the service is better, I tip 20% or 25%.
I never stiff anyone.
What I don’t like is the ubiquitous tip jars in pizzerias dunkin donuts and similar places. I never tip thete, it’s pushy and not appropriate.
For adequate service, I tip 15%.
If the service is better, I tip 20% or 25%.
I never stiff anyone.
What I don’t like is the ubiquitous tip jars in pizzerias dunkin donuts and similar places. I never tip thete, it’s pushy and not appropriate.
So you just “accept”the rules? Bend over and take it?
And i know a few people, a very few, who actually own restaurants and don’t play by the socialist rules...and their wait staff actually does a superb job....because they’re paid properly and get to keep only the tips they earn....
Makes no sense.
Good grief no, not a union member.
But no longer concerned about attitudes regarding my employment. I learned long ago I’m an easy target as a fed. Deep in the trenches of Obamacare but I’ll continue to do my job as I have always done. Seen too many people attached to the gov tit to care anymore if my opinion offends anyone.
The customer is ultimately going to pay the labor costs one way or the other. Frankly, as a restaurant customer, I appreciate the opportunity to give my waiter/waitress a performance review in the form of a tip. As a Walmart customer, a Lowe's customer, etc. I'm also paying the labor costs for the employees, I just don't have as much direct input or feedback into their job performance, short of going to a manager to praise an exceptional employee or complain about a poor one. In those cases, there's a good chance the employee may not receive any benefit for exceptional service, or face any consequences for miserable service.
The fact that you didn't know that wait staff are paid well below minimum wage kind of undercuts your resentful argument.
You like to eat in restaurants and to be waited on. The messed up system is that the salaries of servers come mostly from tips. So if you don't tip for regular service, you are expecting everyone else to pay people to wait on you.
What I don’t like is the ubiquitous tip jars in pizzerias dunkin donuts and similar places. I never tip thete, it’s pushy and not appropriate.
I don't like that either. They have those at places here too in Denver. Noticed one at an icecream shop over the summer...Cold Stone. It would be like tipping at McDonald's.
Government per diem rates are standardized based on locale. Surely you know this. Unless you’re extravagant with your meals you will never use the full per diem. So the leftovers from your cheapskate tips go straight into your pocket.
“I’m very sorry the government taxes their tips, that’s f’d up. That ain’t my fault. It would seem to me that waitresses are one of the many groups the government f’s in the a on a regular basis.”
My daughter is a waitress while working through college at an upscale resturaunt....
She is required to tip out 10% to the busboy’s and bartender on each total invoice, whether the customer tips or not...
She makes everything above that. Normally she does very well but there is always some cheap SOB that leaves leaves a couple of bucks on a hundred dollar meal....then she goes into her own pocket....
Additionally, she doesn’t get paid minimum wage from the resturaunt since they are exempt for having to pay that. The resturaunt lobby successfully lobbied Congress for the exemption to keep meal cost down.
A good waiter or waitress are really individual contractors working for a resturaunt. They really work for the tips, not a minimum wage choice. Christmas season she can clear $1200/week. Of course, she’s lucky in her resturaunt choice.
Plus being 23, drop dead gorgeous with a great personality doesn’t hurt the tips either. She get’s about three marriage proposals every year from customers....
I’m sorry, but waiters and waitresses have to put up with rude behaviors by patrons, including, apparently, you.
Don’t like it? Eat in.
Bon Appetit.
Traveling and eating good is so difficult.
Nearly impossible.
The last hotel I stayed in had a respectable looking restaurant attached to it. I went there one time in my 3 day stay. I brought food from home for the other meals.
This OK looking place served the most disgusting food like substances I had ever seen. The baked potato looked like it was twirled around the planet Mercury for a week. When I asked the server “was this baked today?” she sad yes but it had baked 3 times longer than it should have been. Yet they served it. I did not eat it of course. I subbed steamed broccoli. Looked OK on the top of the bowl but underneath was black slime on some of the pieces. The peas were not green but grayish green as if canned for World War 1. I was there in July. Looks like they made a lasting impression on me. Oh and the belching fat guy that sat behind my booth was a nice touch too.
: /
Yes, I don’t even consider contributing to those tip jsrs. It’s not like I am being served at my seat at those places. I go to the counter, they take my order, and then give it to me and I find a seat. No reason to tip.
I also think that the usual tip rule doesn’t apply at buffets, where you get your own food and they just clear your table and get your drinks. Depending on the price, a few bucks is fair.
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