In my line of work I interact with a lot of restaurant owners. Few are wealthy. Most restaurants just get by.
I brought up the subject of tipping to one local owner. Told him I didn’t like it. He showed me his books, how much he was currently paying his wait staff and we calculated how much his $8.00 hamburger dinner would cost if he had to pay them all the regular minimum wage and the extra taxes that go along with it. It came to just over $10. Then we calculated what the same dinner would cost if he were paying the wait staff what they currently earn in hourly plus tips. It was over $12 per dinner.
The tipping system is actually a pretty clear form of capitalism, as long as you truly participate. I will pay less to a poor performing server and hopefully they will realize this is not the work for them and find another job. I will reward a good server who will hopefully keep up the good work. If d-bags under tip and do not reward good behavior, who do we have to blame for surly wait staff who feel under appreciated and treat customers poorly?
You, sir, should NEVER eat out again until you fully understand this concept. Leaving a 10% tip is the equivalent of telling someone they have done a poor job. A 15% tip is for good, if not necessarily inspired work. I tip 20% when the waiter or waitress has gone out of their way to make my evening a pleasure. This is the way it is. If you do not agree with this system DON’T EAT OUT!
“You, sir, should NEVER eat out again until you fully understand this concept. Leaving a 10% tip is the equivalent of telling someone they have done a poor job. A 15% tip is for good, if not necessarily inspired work. I tip 20% when the waiter or waitress has gone out of their way to make my evening a pleasure. This is the way it is. If you do not agree with this system DON’T EAT OUT!”
So tell me oh enlightened one, who decided that what was a good tip just a couple of decades ago is now an insult? Do you not understand that, with comparable service, when that hamburger cost $5 20 years ago and the waiter got 50 cents, he now gets $1 for a $10 hamburger; an AUTOMATIC RAISE?
We eat out frequently. I leave 10%. That is more than enough and your restaurant friends should be ashamed for not paying decent wages, instead leaving the compensation up to customers who may leave from 0 to 20%.
In fact, maybe I will start up a web site to encourage more americans to fight this stupid belief that 10% is not an adequate tip for superior service...!