HERE’S A TIP: NOT LEAVING ONE IS LEGAL

ABAJournal ^ | September 24, 2004 | Stephanie Francis Ward

[azhenfud]

"Bottom line tip or keep your sorry self at the house."

If you've the service to match your attitude, your suggestion to stay away is the best tip of the day.

[macrahanish #1]

Enjoy you $15.95 hamburger!

[JanetteS]

So let's say you bust your butt all night serving tables, refilling drinks, running other servers food, helping keep all the customers happy (whether they're in your section or not) and busing tables (because as usual, at least one busboy didn't show up).

Another server always disappears when it's time to run her own food, never runs food for anybody else and always charms the busboys into cleaning her tables first.

Is it fair that she makes more than you in tips because she whined to all her customers that she's a single mom and only makes $2.13 an hour?

[billorites]

"The tax, tip, wait, parking, etc. just make eating out a hassle."

Parking?

I never go to any restaurant where I have to get out of the car.

[jpsb]

And yall that expect great service, great entertainmanet, lot's of free stuff, low low prices and NEVER tip can stay away from my bar. The folks that do tip carry the load for all the non tipers like you. These girls LIVE ON THEIR TIPS, that is how they feed their babues and pay their bills. Unless the service was terrible there is NO EXCUSE for not tipping. Go sit at home by yourself.

[AggieCPA]

"Tell that to the single moms in my restaurant who barely make ends meet."

Well Boo Hoo Hoo, they get special consideration because they managed to reproduce? "You birth it, you own it," don't come whining to me because you got knocked up or chose to procreate with a loser.

[Ghost of Philip Marlowe]

If the restaurants want to ensure their wait staff receives a decent wage, they should pay them more. A gratuity is just that, a perk in addition to wages. Anyone who bases their income on gratuity alone is not making a smart bet.

The problem with a 'service charge' is that it enables the restaurant to slap a fee on a larger party, unfairly punishing people for having one more person in their group than the 'cutoff' allows. Also, there is no guarantee that the entire service charge ends up going to the wait staff.

Believe me, I bar-tended for 7 years. Restaurants don't really give a darn what waiters and waitresses make. To them, they are paid by their tips. I didn't work with a single person in F&B who didn't love the money they were making in tips.

I wouldn't patronize restaurants that employ a service charge.

And you wait staff complaining about getting stiffed...shut the hell up or we'll start calling the IRS and informing them how you only declare 30% of your income. What you lost in getting stiffed you more than compensate for by not declaring.

[AggieCPA]

Yes, service is bad, but when I get "extra cute" AND good service, well.....Cha-CHING for the server!

[mysterio]

Didn't these guys already debate this exact same topic?

[blinachka]

I waited tables and tended bar for quite some time. The establishment I worked in added an 18% service charge/gratuity (whatever you want to call it) for parties of 8 or more. My attitude about these parties was to give them extra special service, although I always did my best to give all of my guests great service...granted there are times when things out of your own control make the diners' experience less than what you wish for it to be (and there are also persons in the world who just should NEVER go out to a restaurant as they are never satisfied with anything...and then there are the persons who go out, eat and drink a lot, say everything is great until the bill arrives! Then suddenly things weren't so great after all and they start complaining to the manager. My old manager was very good with these people but he always knew when they were just looking for a comp! ...but one could write a book on all of that!)

Anyway...as I was saying, I always tried to be extra attentive to the larger parties as I considered the fact that if this large group had a positive experience and were happy with their service, they would return, and in turn recommend the restaurant to others. It's just good business to give extra-special service to the parties that are large enough to have the service charge added. Most of the time I ended up getting an extra 5 - 10 % on top of the service charge and when these groups returned, they'd request that I be their server. So it was very beneficial to me money-wise.

And it is true, waiting tables is NOT easy...at least not in a higher-end, busy restaurant. It's the job a a good server to make it look easy though. The best ones always make it seem simple...

[doc30]

If restaurants paid their employees a decent wage, they wouldn't need to beg patrons for extra cash. My wife is Japanese and when she was in school, she was a waitress in Tokyo. Back then, they got paid $9/hr and no tips. In Japan, you are paid for your work and the concept of a tip is foreign. Sometimes an American would leave a tip and no one knew what to do with it except run to the door to give it back. I think it ridiculus to have to pay extra for service in a restaurant, and even some counter staff at fast food places have tip jars (the local Subway and Starbucks come to mind).

[pkp1184]

First of all, my restaurant doesn't have busboys. We bus our own tables. Second, all I am saying is GIVE SERVERS THE BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT SOMETIMES. We don't do it because we enjoy it, and we certainly don't enjoy waiting on pompous customers who consider us their "servants." Jeez, I hope none of you EVER come into my restaurant.

[Bella_Bru]

Most of the nicer restaurants I've been to have a little note on the menu that says something about parties of 6 or more will automatically have a gratuity added to the bill. If you don't like it, don't eat there. But even crappy places like Denny's have that as well.

[DaiHuy]

this is a great scene from Resevoir Dogs about tipping.



NICE GUY EDDIE
C'mon, throw in a buck.

MR. WHITE
Uh-uh. I don't tip.

NICE GUY EDDIE
Whaddaya mean you don't tip?

MR. WHITE
I don't believe in it.

NICE GUY EDDIE
You don't believe in tipping?

MR. PINK
(laughing)
I love this kid, he's a madman,
this guy.

MR. BLONDE
Do you have any idea what these
ladies make? They make sh*t.

MR. WHITE
Don't give me that. She don't
make enough money, she can quit.

Everybody laughs.

NICE GUY EDDIE
I don't even know a Jew who'd have
the balls to say that. So let's
get this straight. You never ever
tip?

MR. WHITE
I don't tip because society says I
gotta. I tip when somebody
deserves a tip. When somebody
really puts forth an effort, they
deserve a little something extra.
But this tipping automatically,
that sh*t's for the birds. As far
as I'm concerned, they're just
doin their job.

MR. BLUE
Our girl was nice.

MR. WHITE
Our girl was okay. She didn't do
anything special.

MR. BLONDE
What's something special, take ya
in the kitchen and suck your d*ck?

They all laugh.

NICE GUY EDDIE
I'd go over twelve percent for
that.

MR. WRITE
Look, I ordered coffee. Now we've
been here a long f**kin time, and
she's only filled my cup three
times. When I order coffee, I
want it filled six times.

MR. BLONDE
What if she's too busy?

MR. WHITE
The words "too busy" shouldn't be
in a waitress's vocabulary.

NICE GUY EDDIE
Excuse me, Mr. White, but the last
thing you need is another cup of
coffee.

They all laugh.

MR. WHITE
These ladies aren't starvin to
death. They make minimum wage.
When I worked for minimum wage, I
wasn't lucky enough to have a job
that society deemed tipworthy.

NICE GUY EDDIE
Ahh, now we're getting down to it.
It's not just that he's a cheap
ba*tard--

MR. ORANGE
--It is that too--

NICE GUY EDDIE
--It is that too. But it's also
he couldn't get a waiter job. You
talk like a pissed off dishwasher:
"F**k those c**ts and their
f*cking tips."

MR. BLONDE
So you don't care that they're
counting on your tip to live?

Mr. White rubs two of his fingers together.

MR. WHITE
Do you know what this is? It's
the world's smallest violin,
playing just for the waitresses.

MR. BLONDE
You don't have any idea what
you're talking about. These
people bust their a*s. This
is a hard job.

MR. WHITE
So's working at McDonald's, but
you don't feel the need to tip
them. They're servin ya food, you
should tip em. But no, society
says tip these guys over here, but
not those guys over there. That's
bull*hit.

MR. ORANGE
They work harder than the kids at
McDonald's.

MR. WHITE
Oh yeah, I don't see them cleaning
fryers.

MR. BROWN
These people are taxed on the tips
they make. When you stiff 'em,
you cost them money.

MR. BLONDE
Waitressing is the number one
occupation for female non-college
graduates in this country. It's
the one jab basically any woman
can get, and make a living on.
The reason is because of tips.

MR. WHITE
F*ck all that.

They all laugh.

MR. WHITE
Hey, I'm very sorry that the
government taxes their tips.
That's f**ked up. But that ain't
my fault. it would appear that
waitresses are just one of the
many groups the government fu*ks
in the a*s on a regular basis.
You show me a paper says the
government shouldn't do that, I'll
sign it. Put it to a vote, I'll
vote for it. But what I won't do
is play ball. And this non-
college bullsh*t you're telling
me, I got two words for that:
"Learn to f*ckin type." Cause if
you're expecting me to help out
with the rent, you're in for a big
f*ckin surprise.

MR. ORANGE
He's convinced me. Give me my
dollar back.

[MissouriConservative]

"Don't want to tip? Don't eat out."

Don't tell me I have to pay someone something when it is not deserved. Don't hold me hostage to something that is extra and not part of my bill. If your service is good, I MAY tip you and I may not, that is my CHOICE. Last time I looked, tipping was not a requirement to eat out.

[jpsb]

I am very friendly, and by bar is one of the most popular in my area. But as a bar owner, tipping is a pet peeve of mine. I understand being down on your luck, or not getting paid until friday, no problem. But there are some people that NEVER tip, and when I find out about it, I let them know that they are no longer welcome. Tipping is not a city in China.

[AggieCPA]

I agree with you in that 15% is usually the base tip. However, if I'm by myself that goes up to 20 - 25% because it really is as easy to wait on one table of two than just me.

If they are reasonably (not bugging me every 15 seconds) attentive and, above all, friendly, I often go 30%.

"Cute" helps bump it up too.

However, if they are hanging on the bar chatting with their co-workers and I can't get my iced tea refilled? 10%.

[Sloth]

The restaurant want the customer to get good service and be inclined to return, but the manager cannot possibly monitor the staff 100% of the time, so they "outsource" the job to the customers, who gives feedback based on the service they receive... So they aren't passing off the cost, they are simply passing off the judgement of how much each server deserves.

Eating in a restaurant should not involve acquiring job responsibilities. If they want me to do personnel evaluations for them, they need to pay me.

Just pay the servers adequately, raise the prices and leave me be.

[doc30]

20% for a tip! I thought the max was 15%! Back in the '80's it was 10%. When will it be 25%!

[MissouriConservative]

"I think it ridiculus to have to pay extra for service in a restaurant"


I could not agree more. What if every business did this? You tip the car salesman because he got to you quick? They are there to serve food, that is there job. Pay them a good wage and toss the tips. It's a type of extortion in my mind.