Agitated Customer Leaves Note Expressing Feelings Against Tipping Servers

Opposing Views ^ | 06/04/2014 | By Dominic Kelly

[Responsibility2nd]

A picture circulating online shows what appears to be a note left for a server at a restaurant in which the customer rants about why they decided not to leave a tip.

Although the source of the letter has not been confirmed or reported, the picture has angered people all over, with many saying that a liberal-minded person had to be responsible for writing it.

“I do not tip anywhere because the law governing tipping causes pay inequality between servers and kitchen staff,” wrote the anonymous tipper. “My meal was made possible by an entire team of kitchen staff, servers, managers, and the establishment itself. Therefore, everyone involved should be paid appropriately out of the cost of the product I purchase. I find it unreasonable that only servers have legal rights to earn tips. Therefore, I do not tip and ask that the establishment raises the cost of food and drinks to pay everyone appropriately for their work. Tipping also encourages both customers and servers to stereotype and discriminate. Appropriate salary for servers should be the responsibility of the establishment and not the mood, or habit, or any random decisions of the customers.”

Sites like Tell Me Now have started to speculate who the letter could be from, and, according to them, it has to have been written by a liberal.

“It’s one thing to have certain beliefs when it comes to equality and what not, but to punish someone who did a good job for you because you think someone else is getting screwed is ridiculous,” writes the website. “However it falls right in line with the liberal/progressive mentality, which is bring everyone down to the lowest common denominator so that nobody feels like they’ve been treated unfairly. These people are going to be the death of this nation.”

The picture has now gone viral, and even though nobody seems to know for sure if it’s even real, it has undeniably sparked a heated debate on income inequality and wages in America.

 

[soycd]

Yes, expecting tips when the service is expected to be good makes sense only if they go out of their way to enhance already good service.

[dmz]

Could easily have been a European transplant . . . in many European countries tipping is not a big thing.

<><><><

Because the tip is already added to the total.

It is broken out on the reciept.

[GeronL]

I can’t afford it for one.

The thing that bugs me, though, is these people are supposed to be paid by the employer and they agreed to these wages, right?

They need to talk to their employers about their pay, IMO.

and mandatory tipping is not tipping. Do these companies avoid higher taxes by pretending these are tips?

[Pikachu_Dad]

Many waitstaff are working for you for free if you do not tip.

The $2.xx/hr they are ‘paid’ is withheld to pay their assumed taxes. So their net check is $0.

If you are not tipping, shame on you.

[PJ-Comix]

A liberal justifying his cheapness. A political way to get out of paying a tip.

[GeronL]

They need to talk to their boss about that.

[Political Junkie Too]

The real question regarding whether this is true or fake is that this would have to have been a premeditated event.

Somebody printed this letter in advance at home with the intent of bringing it and leaving it at a restaurant. This is not something that someone did spontaneously at the restaurant.

So, is that premeditation a liberal or conservative trait?

-PJ

[The Unknown Republican]

Because the cook does not normally have to put up with the likes of the person who wrote this letter.

[dmz]

The thing that bugs me, though, is these people are supposed to be paid by the employer and they agreed to these wages, right?

<><><<>

Yes, the wait staff agreed to the lower hourly pay because they can make it up in tips.

You cannot actually be that disconnected from the real world, can you?

[txmissy]

Not sure how it works elsewhere, but when my daughter worked at a sushi restaurant, the chefs/cooks made a (pretty nice!) salary and the servers were paid minimum wage plus tips. She had to share her tips w/the busboys.

[READINABLUESTATE]

Another useful idiot.

[miele man]

I don’t think you are a detective and I’d bet you didn’t stay in a Holiday Inn last night but you make a good point about the paper not being folded.

[Ditto]

Why should the cook who prepares the food earn less than the person who takes the food to the table?

They don't. Cooks have a higher wage than servers, and depending on the type of place, a far higher wage. Servers typically have a sub-minimum wage and make up the difference with tips. In most places, servers will split tips with bus boys and other serving staff.

[Buckeye McFrog]

Servers who earn tips generally get SCROOOOOD by the Feds on their taxes with the tip credit.

[GeronL]

I was talking about the businesses that refuse to pay the servers what they should. Do they do this to avoid paying more taxes?

[Nifster]

I am not talking about mandatory anything. If I chose to eat out, I tip. I have worked as wait staff. Places that pay a flat hourly (like fast food places) don’t allow tipping. Sit down restaurants include tips in the count towards your hourly wage. Sometimes waiting tables is the only job a person can do. You are told about the wages ahead of time that doesn’t mean you don’t take a job. You are delusional if you think the sit down restaurant industry will change that wage rate.

Tips are tips (I guess you think adding on a set tip for a large group is a bad thing.) The employee pays taxes on them and some pay checks are at zero because the feds take so much from an assumed check. You pay no tip and the feds assume that employee made at least an 8percent tip and withholds taxes at that rate.

We do not live in Europe where tipping is often not done. This is the USA it is not only traditional but rather a sign of good manners that you tip. If you don’t you are just flat out a cheapskate. I have found that people who are tight with their money tend to be tight with other things as well.

You may disagree with the way restaurants are run but it is the way they are run. It is better if you don’t go to a sit down restaurant.... money wise and attitude wise

[Fledermaus]

A moron wrote that.

[Jeff Chandler]

A good server will also tell you what not to order if you know how to ask the questions.

A server who helps me save money on the meal gets the money saved added to the tip. I do not tell them this ahead of time.

[Steve_Seattle]

In the places I go to, I see tips going into pockets and sometimes bras. I don’t think they are being split with the kitchen staff.

[Jeff Chandler]

I guess you think adding on a set tip for a large group is a bad thing

It is for the server because we tip GREAT for good service. Unless the tip is set ahead of time, then they get what is set.