Which tend to be full of 10p pieces and coppers, not pounds. I'm talking about the people in this thread who leave several dollars for a barista, and I genuinely don't know if the same systemic underpayment applies to them as it does to wait staff.
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TIP WARS: WaPo food critic says you have to tip 20 percent, no matter what
- Thread starter Syriel
- Start date
I subscribe to the 15% rule. If they're great servers they get more.
I know that struggle. I waited tables back in the day. But you're not getting a 20% tip if you suck.
I know that struggle. I waited tables back in the day. But you're not getting a 20% tip if you suck.
It just depends on what the particular state law allows.
Under our federal law any employee who gets more than $30 in tips per month is considered a tipped employee and can be paid WAY below minimum wage (like $2.13/hr in some states). If their daily tips + the $2.13 isn't enough to give the employee an average hourly wage to meet the minimum wage ($7.25 in some states), the employer just needs to pay them the difference. So in some states, baristas do get paid peanuts and rely on tips.
For a huge national chain like Starbucks in the US, the minimum wage is generally $10+ across the nation, so they don't rely on tips as much as say a small mom & pop coffee shop in Alabama. Chain like Starbucks often provides their employees some level of benefits as well.
Thanks for this. It's an absolutely crazy situation, though - especially when you consider that $30 a month is about $1.50 a day if you only work weekdays. Someone could make that much in tips by rummaging in the seats, so for a waiter there's basically no hope of escaping the system unless your employer shifts to the Starbucks model.
It's fascinating to see, as an outsider, how intractable this problem is for you folks.
All the states just need to do what the more progressive states in our country are doing and fast track a minimum wage of $15 or even more.
But the issue is that in very backwards states that are controlled by our conservative party, they only care about making the business owner rich, the labor be fucked.
Or they could just update the federal minimum wage and that would automatically force all the states to have to have to comply.
The fucking federal minimum wage hasn't been increased in a decade! It's ridiculous.
I don't tip in percentages at all. If I get a restaurant bill over 45,95 € I'm going to hand over 50€ an be done with it. I'm not going to whip out a calculator in a restaurant and pay some odd sum so they have exactly 15% or 20 % tip. This is fucking ridiculous.
I usually tip double tax.
If we ate a meal that was $100 and I was in an out in 45 minutes you're not getting $20 for it. I'm not rich enough to be paying waiters $20+/hour.
I was a waiter for years too so I get that it's tough and you're reliant on tips, but I have bills too.
If we ate a meal that was $100 and I was in an out in 45 minutes you're not getting $20 for it. I'm not rich enough to be paying waiters $20+/hour.
I was a waiter for years too so I get that it's tough and you're reliant on tips, but I have bills too.
Nah. You get 10% if your service was good, 5% if below average and 0% if bad. I maybe round up to something like 12% if it was exceptional.
This is considered normal to generous where I live (Europe) and really anywhere else in the world I travelled to so far with the sole exception being America.
So for you special people I up everything by 5% so I tip between 5-18%. Definetly not 20% unless it was the best meal and service of my life and definetly not static either. Currently I always had solid service over there so I always tipped my 15%
This is considered normal to generous where I live (Europe) and really anywhere else in the world I travelled to so far with the sole exception being America.
So for you special people I up everything by 5% so I tip between 5-18%. Definetly not 20% unless it was the best meal and service of my life and definetly not static either. Currently I always had solid service over there so I always tipped my 15%
In ten years if you don't buy the waiter the same food you just got you'll be a cheapskate.
Nah, sorry I still subscribe to the idea that tipping is extra for good service. If the service is good, then the tip is good. If it isn't, it's not. I hate the idea that customers are put on guilt trips. Not saying that the restaurant industry couldn't pay better, but wait staff make at least minimum wage. Lots of people make minimum wage. Raising minimum wage is an entirely different conversation.
Pay your fucking workers a decent wage. Do what you have to do, raise prices or whatever. But this shoddy medieval fucking practice in 2019 serves no one except cheap ass restaurant owners. It's not charming, romantic, or any other positive soulful spin you want to put on it -- it's economic escapism in full effect, with bad overall effects.
The same for delivery. I find it super sleazy that companies like Seamless/Grubhub have taken the tipping paradigm into the delivery arena. WTF. You could have been a changing force to get people paid decent wages, but instead they just re-emulated the waiter situation for something that is not even equivalent. Something that used to be a cash transaction is now mainly through digital payments, with fees attached etc. etc.
The same for delivery. I find it super sleazy that companies like Seamless/Grubhub have taken the tipping paradigm into the delivery arena. WTF. You could have been a changing force to get people paid decent wages, but instead they just re-emulated the waiter situation for something that is not even equivalent. Something that used to be a cash transaction is now mainly through digital payments, with fees attached etc. etc.
If service is bad on part of the server I tip less, that's their bad. If it's bad on part of the chef, I'll tip 20 and above. Speaking as a former server, you know when you give bad service personally
here the norm is 15%, i always tip 15%
there is only a single time in my life where I didnt tip. Had absolutely absymal service with friends. Food came cold, no water refill, one of my friend had an issue with his dish, called the employee multiple times and after 40mins she still didnt come to our table to help him out, he had to get up and go see her. After like 1h she comes to our table and says ''hey are you guys done, some other people are waiting to eat''.... lol
there is only a single time in my life where I didnt tip. Had absolutely absymal service with friends. Food came cold, no water refill, one of my friend had an issue with his dish, called the employee multiple times and after 40mins she still didnt come to our table to help him out, he had to get up and go see her. After like 1h she comes to our table and says ''hey are you guys done, some other people are waiting to eat''.... lol
This seems fair to me. Much of the time it's not the waiters fault if service is bad, and everyone deserves a fair wage. One thing I'm not sure about is if I should tip when I'm just picking food up from the counter.. Tons of modern registers have an option for it, usually I'll throw a buck to them out of guilt.
I can't speak for all restaurants, but where I used to work I had to tip out the kitchen and bussers (and bartenders if you ordered a drink to go) on take out meals and was still taxed on the tip the government assumed I made.
It wasn't a huge deal because we didn't do that much takeout. Also to note, this was in Quebec.
this is such a fucked up mentality when tips simply bring pay up to minimum for many people.
Tips are nonsense, but it's the current system and it will take a long time to change.
If I am eating at a Chili's or equivalent franchise restaurant chain, I usually have a 15% baseline. They aren't really giving me great service and I am not really expecting it from them either. Mom and Pops or nicer restaurants I start at 20%.
They get minimum either way, but I'm not gonna reward bad service (and I mean bad service, not a slow kitchen or a busy dining room). 20%+ for good service, 15% for ok service, 10% for poor service.
As I understand it, here in Texas, servers can make as little as $2.13/hour. Minimum wage (which is NOT a livable wage, IMO) is $7.25/hour. If the server doesn't make enough in tips to bring their wage up to $7.25, then I believe the employer has to pay the difference. I have no idea what the numbers are like on that, but I imagine most servers manage to make somewhere between $7.25 and $10/hour.
As others have said... the system is fucking bullshit, but it's the system that exists today. I don't know how you change a system like this that, IMO, is broken.
But if I have the luxury of being able to eat out, I can tip servers accordingly.
I never worked as a server, but I've had friends in the business. I worked retail for a bunch of years, and made an OK wage there... but man... the general public can be a bunch of assholes. Some of the hot takes in this thread are no exception. :) I think there's just a general difference in attitude between people who have lived the retail/server life, and those who haven't.
As others have said... the system is fucking bullshit, but it's the system that exists today. I don't know how you change a system like this that, IMO, is broken.
But if I have the luxury of being able to eat out, I can tip servers accordingly.
I never worked as a server, but I've had friends in the business. I worked retail for a bunch of years, and made an OK wage there... but man... the general public can be a bunch of assholes. Some of the hot takes in this thread are no exception. :) I think there's just a general difference in attitude between people who have lived the retail/server life, and those who haven't.
Yeah, I've always thought waiters/waitresses in expensive restaurants (where I'm from in the UK) have a good job and get paid probably the highest out of all non-professional non-skills based jobs - because of their tip PLUS minimum wage. If I were unemployed, I'd much rather go for waitressing than work for only minimum wage in retail.
Tipping is bullshit. Mos of the time the service is shit and you're just expected to give tips, so the original idea behind tipping has all but disappeared.
I prefer countries that don't have tipping, though it's sad to see them going towards that direction (of tipping).
I prefer countries that don't have tipping, though it's sad to see them going towards that direction (of tipping).
Not necessarily.
There's a great ramen joint near me (HiroNori) that doesn't let you tip at all. They already have a service charge. The receipt states no tipping. The service there is amazing, and there's always hour long lines to eat there...because the food is good.
I believe Sugarfish, the chain, is similar. They don't let you tip-- or at least, they used to not. The cost of that is already added on.
Neither of these restaurants have any issue staying afloat, the service is always excellent.
If you want to stick to the tipping system, fine. But if you do that, you can't really complain about people who don't tip as well as yourself because there IS a viable alternative in the United States and you're contributing to the problem.
Of course, the real secret here is how awful most restaurants are. If you can't afford to stay in business because your food isn't good enough for someone to be okay with paying $x, that's on you. If someone is dumb enough to be okay with paying $15 plus $3 but not okay with paying $18, then they're fucking morons and I don't see why everyone else has to suffer for their stupidity.
Only way to change it is to stop, whenever possible, frequenting businesses with tipping in place. It's a system I want nothing to do with, so I never really eat out and order takeout rarely
Fuck tipping
EVERYTHING is overpriced in NYC, is the problem (starting with housing but that's a discussion for another day)
That's fine, as long as those that refuse to tip stay out of restaurants where they're expected.