Category: Grub Garage
I am in disagreement with someone on this. I say if it's a sit down restaurant, and the employee is waiting on you, where most likely salary is sub minimum wage and tipping is part of their income, then yes, 15 or 20%, 10% if the service was really bad.
But a small neighborhood ice cream shop, or neighborhood fast food restaurant and you're eating there or getting take out? I didn't get tips...it wasn't allowed when I worked entry level wage in an amusement park cafe...and I don't believe in tipping where 1) not only is the person probably getting an hourly wage, and 2) most employees in these venues are in their teens and most likely working part time, not paying the major expenses like rent, at least not a big percentage of 'em. Also how much tip is someone going to get off a $2.50 dish of ice cream?
When the venue has a cup by the cash register, do you guys tip? To me, this is a sign of a 'tin cup' mindset, and it doesn't even go to a particular server necessarily but probably what fills the cup gets divided. Tipping an individual whose job it is to personally serve a person or family at a table I can see...again tips are a big part of waiters and waitresses' incomes. But the cashier at the local ice cream or sandwich shop? It just isn't something I always do and am confused about whether or not to do it. Is it mandatory in some places?
I've never heard of tipping being mandatory, nor do I think it should ever be. Tipping is a customer's way of saying what they think of the service they received. But I also feel like your assessment about smaller venues is overly harsh.
A couple years ago, I worked for a blind vender. I was in the cafeteria of a very large Federal building. We weren't a sitdown place with waiters and waitresses either, but there was a cup for tips on the counter by the cash register, which is where I worked. Yes, we got hourly wages, but they were only subsistent. I mean that to say that they were only just above minimum wage, and no benefits were offered through our boss, so it really wasn't enough to support oneself off of. Not all who worked there were irresponsible teens, as you put it. Most were actually adults who, for whatever reason, coudl not get those higher paying jobs. So, even though the tips were divided among us, I'm glad we got them. I do not in the slightest see it as tin-cup mentality, as you describe it. Have you ever worked in food service? Perhaps if you have, you would be a little more compassionate on this kind of thing. And do you really know what expenses those workers have in their lives and don't? Do you know their personal stories? Gotta show this to my friends who think I'm overly hard on food service workers. You make me look downright bleeding heart.
Personally, I don't like the tip cup where all tips are shared by all the servers, because to me, tipping is a thank you for good service you received from the server who served you. However, I'd rather contribute something to that tip cup than nothing at all, unless the service was downright horrible. I don't believe tipping should be mandatory, because, again, you shouldn't be required to give extra wages to a person who didn't provide decent service. However, I'll conclude by saying that unless the food was horrible, and the service matched it, a tip is the best way to show your appreciation.
I tip in any setting that serves me. Not like McDonalds and places like that, but when a server serves or their is a tip cup as sister Dawn pointed out. For service to be bad you really have to pretty much ignore me, then I'll not tip. If I notice the place is packed and the server is doing his or her best, but I'm not getting anything but my asked for service I tip. I don't care what they earn, their expenses, I tip for the service.
As a matter of fact, Sister Dawn, I HAVE worked in fast food restaurants, as a part time worker, both as a teenager and as an adult, and we DID NOT get nor were we offered tips. We got minimum wage part time work,and that was it. I don't recall calling any of those teens "irresponsible" either...simply stated that as a rule they were part time workers and not breadwinners. I don't expect someone whose working hours are limited by federal law to 20 per week during the school year to be paying rent or other living expenses, and neither myself nor the teens in question are blind. A blind vendor I understand tipping, or a hairdresser, whose paying rent for her chair. These are kids working part time for pocket cash. As far as adults, I have served sandwiches when I didn't have any other job, and we weren't tipped. I don't believe the national chains mandate it. IMO the more people ask out of entry level employers the less these jobs are going to be offered, or they're going to go strictly to adults with high school diplomas as has happened in California with the raise of the minimum wage. I see no problem with being paid an hourly wage without a tip, plus you wind up penalized...especially in a high tax state...less at tax time. No one was saying don't pay a wage or fire the people, I just don't think it should be required to tip in these venues.
At a place with full wait service, I tip the server 10 to 20%. If there's a jar, such as at the Starbucks I frequent, I put my change in. At a fast food place, cafeteria, or kiosk, who are you supposed to tip? When I order delivery, and there's no specified delivery charge or minimum order, I tip the driver as if she were a server in a dining room.
I don't think it should be manditory, but for the most part I tend to tip as long as they haven't been utterly horrible to me because, waitressing jobs are honestly pretty bad, people are often rude to them because there's something wrong with their food which is most often not their fault and they earn pitiful amounts of money.
If a tip is manditory, its called a price, and paying the price of your food, is always a good idea. Now it may be "tip included" which is basically the same thing as a price, just the wait staff gets part of it. I personally tip between 10 and twenty percent, but I've tipped as high as thirty for exceptional service or if I had to ask for help with something that isn't exactly the waiter's job, like reading the menu.
Also, I have to disagree with the idea that part time workers aren't bread winners, and are only teenagers working for pocket change. You should step onto a college campus and see how many of them work part time jobs to put gas in their cars, pay for books, school supplies, and even rent in some cases. In my college, there are numerous rooms shared between four or so people who all have part time jobs. Really the only common job that is held purely for pocket change is a paper route when your in middle school. Otherwise, you usually have some sort of expense that you need capital to cover, whether it be a car or an education or what have you. To say that they all simply work for pocket change is rather belittling don't you think?
Yes, I do tip, and when I ran a vending operation only the hired workers took tips, not I. Sometimes that was a sacrifice to me, but I felt it my obligation and duty as a business owner to do my best by my people, which included paying workers' comp insurance for which I got laughed at by several conservative types. Because I made that proper investment, when one of my employees did get hurt, she got the treatment she would otherwise have not gotten, and was even back to work very quickly.
And yes, I do tip: people who work in those venues work very hard and don't get paid that well.
I, too, worked in the back at a McDonald's when I was in college: loading the freezer, filling fry racks, packaging, unpackaging, cleaning / scalding equipment, pretty much anything for which you need no eyesight to do, meaning no grill, no cash register, etc. This was when I was in college. But just because I worked where nobody including the manager got any tips doesn't mean I myself wouldn't tip.
In fact, some more of these small businesses *should* be putting out a tip jar IMHO, because the proprietors and their employees all live close to the edge.
I am glad to purchase from local operations, and because of my year having to work at a blind vending operation I now would go out of my way to patronize their establishment, and yes, tip them.
In this country, Sqid, you would be shocked: out where I live we have a lot of homeless youth, living in transitional shelters, who work at these establishments. I see them and as the father of a teen, I'm grateful my daughter isn't among them: but I certainly wish them the best; it's a tough load. And it's not always obvious. Many many working families look the 'normal' part while everything's coming apart at home. Not only was I there for awhile, but I know many who are there right now: hard-working people who have lost in this economy for one reason or another. Like you, I used to be opposed to an increase in minimum wage, thinking it would price people out of businesses.
A. I've been there now.
B. I've been there now as a business owner. Why do conservatives, including what I once was, belly-ache about minimum wage but call price hikes in food / gas / all the rest of supplies just par for the course? It's called use your Excel program, your head, your bookkeeping resources, and make the most of what you have. In one unit I ran I did everything not because the big bad boo-hoo regulated something away from me, but because it was the most expedient strategy to extract and squeeze what meager profits I could get out of it. That was six days a week, 12 hours a day plus the obligatory bookkeeping.
More often than not, you get what you pay for: I usually hired someone at a bit over minimum and with a bit of work plus Craigslist got 'er done.
There are a lot of people really stuggling, and a buck dropped in the jar can really help.
I tip 15 to 20 percent in a sit down restaraunt. I don't tip though at subway or any fast food places like that. but if its waiters or waitresses or a bar tender then I always tip. There's been a few times where my service was so bad that I didn't tip at all, but that's only been a few times.
I agree with Alicia on this. If the food and the service is good and the waiter/waitress makes you feel welcome then by all means you should leave at least some tip. But if the food and service are poor and if the one waiting on you doesn't make you feel welcome then they shouldn't expect to get any of my money, at least no more than the actual cost of my meal. A sitdown restaurant is, however you choose to look at it, providing a public service. So if you're an employee your behavior should reflect that and encourage customers to return to do business in the future. I've been to quite a few restaurants I wouldn't want to revisit and I never left tips because I never felt that the quality of the experience warranted it.
Sit down restaurants: Tip 20% if the service was good, 10% if it was bad, 0% if it was terrible.
Fast food, takeout, corner shop or food cart, etc, WITHOUT tip jar: No tip.
One of those places WITH tip jar: Whatever metal change is left over from my purchase, and maybe a dollar or two if I REALLY like the place or go regularly.
I agree with all that except one thing: Why tip at all if the service was bad? I'll give a very generous tip if the service was exceptionally good, and a decent one if the service was average, but I don't think anything below average deserves a tip, at least if the bad service was the waiter or waitress's fault. if the food was bad but the service was good, I'll still tip. the server doesn't cook the food, so it's not their fault if that part of your experience is less than satisfactory.
I tip approx fifteen percent unless the service is poor.
ok i tip 20% and have gone as high as 30%. Here is somethingyou may not be aware of. If you use a credit card don't have someone write the tip amount in on the receipt. If possible pay in cash. This is because in many places the gratuity we on the cardwhich we intend for one particular person is split among the entire weight staff and not given to the person for whom it is intended. additionally if it is on the card the server has to pay taxes on it. until recently i didn't know these things so thought i ought to pass them along.
Why should i tip some snotty brat with a superior attitude who is n starbucks barista? May be it's different in your neck of the woods, but around here in DC, most of them seem to think that they were anointed by a higher power and are doing me a big favor by pouring me over priced coffee drinks. If they are nice I have tipped but that has been very rare in that particular establishment.
In many restaurants, if the group is over 8 or 10 people they add the tip in as part of the price. That's fine with me. Dealing with a big party can be confusing so they shouldexpect to be rewarded accordingly.
Sorry but that makes me sick.
I couldn't agree more. It's one thing if the food was poor but the actual service was reasonable. I might even tip, albeit a small amount, if the food was good but the service wasn't great. But if both the food and the service were substandard then a restaurant shouldn't expect to get any extra from its customers.
I am a minimalist, and don't happen to agree with tipping, I'll pay what the price of the food is. okay that's fair but any extra. no, that's my money and you don't get to touch it. It's called mine, not yours and it's not my job to tip it's the employers job to do so. I'll usually criticize very loudly if they do a poor job and complain very viciously to the manager. If I go a lot to a restaurant and I like someone well I make friends with them, that's all I'll give, I won't sacrifice my earnings or my money. sorry, no.
sounds like I wrote it is the employer's job to tip but I mean to pay them they hired these workers.
Wow. I hope that people working at the places you frequent don't assume that all blind or visually impaired people have an attitude like yours. You really should tip unless the service is poor. Wait staff work their asses off and have to deal with a lot of crap including long hours, drunk/picky/rude/demanding customers, and people who don't tip. Keep in mind that in many places, owners are not required by law to even pay minimum wage to wait staff. So, even though you may go to a high end establishment, your waiter or waitress may only be making $3.30 an hour before tips. If you can afford to eat in a restaurant where you are waited on, then you can afford to tip them. If you choose not to tip anything on a regular basis, even when the service is good to outstanding, then you're a selfish asshole. And you better not come back with some lame ass argument like oh, I don't care, they are just waiters and can't get a decent job. That is not true, especially in today's economy. Some people waiting tables have BA and even masters degrees or phds. Also, some are students trying to make their way through school without starving. Just some things to consider.
I usually tip 4 dollars over whatever my meal is if the service is good. If they got to read something or something like that I can go as high as 8.
If I am by myself I will generally tip higher than the 15 percent if I'm not in a wi fi place and the wait staff reads out the menu and stuff for me. I only had one protest to that in a upscale pub, and I just came out and said: It took you awhile to have to read through some things since I hadn't been here before, and you got a lot of thirsty and hungry people you had to get to. This was above what you usually have to do, so that would mean above what you would usually get.
That is just how I've always seen it, I guess. I didn't wake up and have an aha moment or anything, just has always made the most sense to me.
I agree that it should be the employer's responsibility to pay their wait staff at least minimum wage, but if the service is really good along with the food, I don't mind tipping 10 to 15%.
I'm definitely in favour of tipping approximately fifteen percent assuming the food and service are at least decent. If it's a little slow (busy night or whatnot), or the food's just a little off, I don't mind; everyone makes mistakes and gets busy and it doesn't mean they aren't working their tails off. As for bad service or bad food...that's a bit different, and how I tip depends on the response I get. With bad food in particular, if the waiter's courteous or tries to do their best to help when I've said I can't/won't eat what I've got on my plate, then I'm much more willing to work with them; they, after all, aren't cooking the food. If I'm getting a lot of attitude for no good reason, then kiss a tip goodbye.
My way of seeing it is just this: people who work at restaurants do have a job, but as has been said multiple times they aren't always paid or treated very well. A perfect example of the latter would be a customer who, as Rachel demonstrated rather beautifully, would complain loudly or viciously over what might have been an honest mistake. I am paying for good food and service, and I have a right to voice displeasure if I don't get what I pay for, but there's a great lot of difference between making my displeasure known in a constructive manner, and simply abusing the person who screwed up. The latter is an excellent way to make people feel bad, and a really good way to attract vengeance if a cook gets wind of it; I've heard far too many gross stories, both from average people and from those who have worked in kitchens and observed it, to want to go and do that. Simply put: given the pay and work conditions of most of these people, I'm willing to tip at a sit-down restaurant because it's what seems right to me.
Incidentally, I'm among that group of people who will tip more if the food is particularly good, or if the service involves something like, say, reading off a menu. I took someone out to dinner last year, and our waitress pretty much had to read everything out because we were both visually impaired and couldn't find any menu beforehand; I was happy to tip extra then, because she went above and beyond what she had to in order to ensure that we got what we wanted...we had a lot of questions. Heh.
Totally agree with the last poster. I couldn't have said it better myself. Blaming a server for bad food is like paying a knife for screwing up a surgery.
On a similar vein, wtf is up with these numbskulls who find thanking the wait staff, or bell boy, or consierge, out of protocol? I always thank them. It doesn't matter that their job is service, I am being served, and civilized humans thank people who serve them.
Some people need a rectal encepholectomy!
I don't hold the wait staff responsible for the cook, so I tip, unless the wait staff's service is bad.
Leo, I feel much the same way. You thank a person for service, whether that's the clerk in a convenience store who helps you out, or whether it's a cabbie who gets you where you want to go, or a waiter who delivers the cheque after a good meal. Civility is lacking in this day and age, I find, particularly among those who believe themselves entitled to things which are privileges instead of rights.
I've seen that entitlement mentality among the wealthy as much as some profess it to be among the poor. An ingrate's an ingrate, no matter the income or status.
you guys who under tip should be shamed of yourselves. i'm embarrassed for you. As my daughter says "being kind and polite costs nothing, and the dividends are incalculable." If something isn't up to standard feel free to complain, but please remember that the person you are dealing with has feelings and like someone said is only the grunt doing the work. Bitch to the manager or the front office. Keep your whining and moaning away from the wait staff.
When the server loves what he/she is doing, the job is viewed as the highest calling. My god daughter went to school to be a police officer. while in college she waited tables in a fairly upscale establishment to help with tuition etc. after graduation, she decided to keep her restaurant job because "as a cop i don't get to do as many different things. a good server is a psychologist, cheer leader, educator, and a whole lot more."
I have never heard of not thanking someone who is providing a service. also if it is a sky cap at the airport or bell cap on the train for god sake tip him too. these people aren't working these demanding low paying jobs because they enjoy getting a good physical workout. A
On and one more thing for the person who said "i give four dollars and maybe five if it's a good day," get a tip calculator and use it. that's pure lazy cheap assedness. If you can't or won't afford a tip calculator here's a quick and dirty way to figure out what you give. say you bought a dinner for $12. 10 persent of $12.00 is $1.20 Half of $1.20 is $.60 $1.20 +$60 is $1.80 or a fifteen per cent gratuity. If you want, and you should, to pay 20% for outstanding service, just multiply 10% by two. So you would tip $2.40 for your 12 dollar dinner.
Oh and another thing, not tipping the server because your dinner sucked is ridiculous. What i have done in the past is tipped the waiter and had a sighted person write my concerns on the back of the check. i direct these to the chef or the manager. if you don't have a sighted person there, get the chef's name and e-mail or mail your gripes to the source of your misery.
Two woots to the last post! Clearly, some people like the last poster are far more eloquent and better at describing these things than I am.
Thank you and again thank you
acleo thanks for the kind words. i wasn't eloquent. i was mad. another thing my friend has told me, which may stir aup a storm of controversy is that she is not thrilled if she gets disabled or women tables. both are notoriously lousy tippers.
Though I firmly stick to my stance that one size does not fit all, I understand the concerns here. Some disabled people seem to think they shouldn't have to tip because they're at a disadvantage, and some women seem to think they're above tipping because they're, well, women.
Really? I wouldn't have guessed about disabled. But chicks? They usually tip, I thought. They're the ones calling us inconsiderate and insensitive, so I'd have thought their tips would have been above average.
Interesting.
Well, this chick generally tips about twenty percent if service is good or excellent. Sometimes I tip fifteen percent if it's just okay, and less only if it's poor. Oh, and as another poster said,
I don't blame servers for lousy food if they're willing to work with me on getting some improvement.
oh guys it is a well known fact that women are lousy tippers especially if the server is a female. i've been around the block several times ands that has been the case since the dinosaurs freely roamed the earth. I'm not agreeing with the practice. I'm just saying......like little sneezer i tip 20% or 15% if service isn't so hot. however, i have friends who, unless i shame them in to changing, give the barest minimum. i think subconsciously it is a superiority thing. you know I have a real job or a rich husband and you are a poor slob waiting on me.