Tipping is stupid

[Bamspeedy]

Waiter takes your order, gives it to cooking staff, brings back food for you. How is that any different to McDonalds?

EDIT: coupla xposts.

Good point about the couple of feet. I guess you could even sit down while waiting for the fast-food order, but kinda pointless when you only have to wait 15 seconds.

At a fast-food restaurant does the waiter check up on you to see if you are satisfied with the food, need a re-fill on your drink, or need a few more napkins? No, you have to know all that ahead of time.

 

[mrt144]

If you're a BYOB you just serve food and no liquor. People can bring wine or beer and they'll serve it.

They seem to be most prevalent in big cities like Philly, NYC and Chicago right now. Could be economics but I think a lot of people prefer to drink their favorite wines.

So trend may be a combination of things from economics to the notoriously difficult process of getting a liquor license to some chefs, who've worked under great chefs at the bigger places, simply can’t afford the dram shop insurance when they open a small place of their own. There are even some places that will have liquor licenses that still allow you to byob to drive more revenue during the week.

I've only encountered this at a few places here in Seattle and they haven't been BYOB only.

 

[warpus]

The BYOB thing in Chicago was cool - you get to drink exactly what you want and likely save some money in the end.. One drawback I can think of is that your beer will start getting warm if you have a bunch of bottles - unless they put it in a fridge for you if you ask, I suppose.

 

[Zack]

Why TiP? I hate people who service me becuase they do this as their job not as a gratitute, I demand from their a service but I won't pay them for it. I have friends who said that they get so much money from tips and would hate to work in the kitchen, these guys get no tips...
So why tip the laziests slobs, for people that give me signs that they want their tip, I just become extra rude and demand more services!
I am not mean but tipping is arragogant and exploits people's feelings, of course I feel no shame only anger.

Where do you expect the waiters to get the money from then? Many waiters don't aren't paid minimum wage by the resteraunt; the make the majority of their money off of tips. Do you think it is stupid that you get paid money for your job?

 

[Genocidicbunny]

What annoys me is those places that tell you what the suggested tip is on the receipt, but they calculate it from the price with taxes included.

In general though, I dont mind tipping 5-10% of the meal cost, 15% is the service was good, and 20% if Im a regular/service was excellent. There are other times when ill order something custom and when I do that, ill tip extra too, since the waiters should generally share the tips with the cooks, busboys, etc.

There's also the fact that in the US, tipped jobs have to be paid only a minimum of 2.13$ per hour, as long as their tips add up to more than 7.25$ per hour. So, its a small price out of your pocket, but it may help that waiter/cook/busboy make their rent for the month.

 

[Lillefix]

Reading all this; it makes me think that the American system, where the waiters have to rely on tipping to make a living, is simply f***ed up.

JUST GIVE THEM A DECENT SALARY.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

Reading all this; it makes me think that the American system, where the waiters have to rely on tipping to make a living, is simply f***ed up.

JUST GIVE THEM A DECENT SALARY.

hear hear.

Tips should be something of a bonus for good service, not a necessity.

 

[Speedo]

Reading all this; it makes me think that the American system, where the waiters have to rely on tipping to make a living, is simply f***ed up.

JUST GIVE THEM A DECENT SALARY.

Are you kidding? If tips were eliminated, most servers would be making around minimum wage. With the tip system, I know more than a few people who average $20+ an hour in tips.

 

[warpus]

Reading all this; it makes me think that the American system, where the waiters have to rely on tipping to make a living, is simply f***ed up.

JUST GIVE THEM A DECENT SALARY.

I don't think there's a way to change that now without some sort of a violent overthrow of the establishment.

People not used to the system here (in North America) will often find it backwards, probably even stupid, dishonest, and exploitive. This feeling only gets stronger when they hear that the reason tips are expected is because the people they're tipping aren't getting paid very much, if at all.

Obviously there is some injustice in there somewhere, and obviously the restaurants are exploiting the situation for their own economic benefit. But they are also doing it out of necessity - they need to remain competitive in the industry. If not, the shareholders would get annoyed, the CEO would lose his job, etc.

The third point of view to consider here is people who have done the job themselves or to a lesser extent have a close friend or family member who has. I am in this position myself (my sister used to be a waitress at a family restaurant, have several close friends who used to do the same, bartend, etc.), so I haven't really experienced the hardships first-hand, but have heard people complain about them.. a lot.

So you have three different views there, and most people fall into two of them. I think it's important to remember that most people agree that the system, the way it's set up, is stupid... But whichever view you take, the other views aren't any more wrong than yours.

Are you kidding? If tips were eliminated, most servers would be making around minimum wage. With the tip system, I know more than a few people who average $20+ an hour in tips.

1. From what I understand only a small minority of people who get tipped make a really good living.
2. I know that Europe is different, but waiters in a lot of places there make well above minimum wage. Obviously some restaurants have found economic benefits to paying waiters a decent wage there.

 

[Huayna Capac357]

Shareholders? CEO? I doubt that the diner near my house has those.

 

[Esckey]

One thing to add. Should ask the resturants if the cooks get tipped out. While many cooks get paid above normal, some places still get paid crap. And to reiterate, tipping prevents waiters and cooks from being dicks

 

[Drewcifer]

Cooks almost never get tipped out in my experience but their hourly pay is higher.

The tipping system probably provides a higher standard of living for servers than anything a union could get for them. Professional servers can make $40k to $60k a year for what is essentially a part time job that requires no formal education, that is not a bad deal.

As far as BYOB goes, in many states a restaurant or bar is not allowed to purchase liquor if they are late on their liquor sales taxes or are past due with wholesalers. In this case BYOB nights allow you stretch your limited supply of liquor until you can get caught up on your bills.

 

[aelf]

The tipping system probably provides a higher standard of living for servers than anything a union could get for them. Professional servers can make $40k to $60k a year for what is essentially a part time job that requires no formal education, that is not a bad deal.

Well, you take either job security or the chance to earn more, I guess.

I support the tipping system in general, but you can't complain if there are bad tippers or people who don't tip at all. That's just how it's going to be. That's why it's better for tips to be given on the basis of good service, and not just any service, but on top of a fair wage.

 

[Jazzmail]

1. there is absolutely no point in going to a restaurant that is less than good
2. nobody can mess with you if you're never coming back anyway

therefore

3. tip only if the service is good

 

[Mise]

Good point about the couple of feet. I guess you could even sit down while waiting for the fast-food order, but kinda pointless when you only have to wait 15 seconds.

At a fast-food restaurant does the waiter check up on you to see if you are satisfied with the food, need a re-fill on your drink, or need a few more napkins? No, you have to know all that ahead of time.

Alright, but you're pointing out differences between fast food and a proper restaurant, and saying that we should tip in one but not in another. I mean, I honestly don't feel that the serving staff in restaurants I go to (and I'm not talking about the cheap ones, the ones that are supposed to be a bit classier...) actually stand out as being soooooo much better than at McDonalds that I should tip them and not McDonalds staff. For that matter, I get far more personalised help when I go to a shop and ask about a product that's on sale -- yet I don't tip those people. Why not?

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Most likely. Philadelphia is much like this.

The only reason to do BYOB is if you don't have a liquor license.

If you do have a liquor license and have a BYOB night, you're losing out on a ton of profit, since the profit margin on drinks is far, far better than on food.

We experimented with BYOB here. The problem was, as said above, the profit margin on alcohol is much higher than on the food; however, some customers like to have their favorite wine with a meal (particularly if it's a special meal like an anniversary or birthday). So... the solution was a "corkage charge" where there was service to pour the wine and recork whatever might be left over at the end of the evening so the customer could take it home.

Thing is, it's illegal to transport alcohol in vehicles here, unless it's stored somewhere out of reach, like the trunk. Nobody wants to contribute to being responsible for DUI.

For that matter, I get far more personalised help when I go to a shop and ask about a product that's on sale -- yet I don't tip those people. Why not?

1. They get a decent wage that's often above the minimum.

2. Some of them are on commission, so if you purchase from that individual salesperson, you're directly telling the management to give them a tip.

3. There are other ways to be nice to a salesperson: go to that person's supervisor or manager and tell them (in writing, if possible) what great service you got from Salesperson ___. This could lead to Salesperson ___ getting a bonus, a raise, or even a promotion.

 

[Mise]

So why can't restaurants pay their staff well, instead of using tips as an excuse to pay low wages?

 

[Valka D'Ur]

I don't know. I wish they would. At least the labor laws here in Canada mandate that they HAVE to be paid the minimum wage. Most places pay a bit more than that, and the workers can earn incremental raises based on how long they've worked there.

 

[Mise]

I don't know. I wish they would. At least the labor laws here in Canada mandate that they HAVE to be paid the minimum wage. Most places pay a bit more than that, and the workers can earn incremental raises based on how long they've worked there.

See, this makes sense!!!

 

[JerichoHill]

So lost in all the falsities in this thread is that restaurants in the US have to pay their wait staff Minimum Wage if their tips + base pay do not cover what Minimum wage would be for their shift. Thus, if say, Min Wage is 8 bucks an hour and a waiter works for 5 hours, they might get a base pay of 2 bucks from the restaurant. If their tips are not 32 bucks, the restaurant makes up the difference.

As a former bartender, I'd be very unhappy to see the tipping system go away. I could pull down 500 bucks on a Friday / Saturday night shift EASY, and when I was bar tending regularly was pulling in 1000 a week. That's a nice salary! Plus if you're a social person you basically get to talk and interact with folks the whole night, and you meet a ton of people, the regulars become friends, and you meet ladies.

(Note: I did bartending while in college: Being an economist pays much more)