Cheap People

[jamimb]

Are you serious? I've left more then that for a $20 meal.

We hardly ever spend over $35 when we eat out so our $5 is actually around 16%.

 

[CathrynRose]

Recent post brought up a pet peeve, waitstaff pooling tips. So I get a great server, tip well, and the bad server gets a cut of that? Not cool. Or I get a bad server, and tip accordingly, as in $0.02, and the good server suffers as well? Not cool either.

How about I give a VOLUNTARY gratuity to the person who actually earns it. Cool?

I never had to pool - I just had to tip out the bussers and bar (and sometimes runners) Which was fine with me... they help a LOT.

 

[CathrynRose]

AHHHH!!!

Serving is physically and emotionally draining. Youre right - you can make a living doing it. I know thats how I supported my kids when I was divorced. However - I could only work nights. My kids were too young, werent in school - and my 'babysitter' was my mother, who worked during the day.

.

Im quoting myself cuz I didnt finish my thought....

Okay - so youre thinking hourly, however, I didnt work 8 hours a day - it was maybe 4 or 5. AND.... not every night was a Saturday or a Friday.... I imagine your $64 / hr server, makes next to nothing Monday nights. I know I didnt....

KWIM?

 

[LotsOfQuestions]

As far as I know the restaurant is not doing anything wrong. I make it a point to ask everyone how the food is and I get the same response, delicious.

How about the level of staffing? You said it was a nicer restaurant, which means the meals are more expensive.

As we have discussed here, the level of service expected in a more expensive restaurant is higher.

If your restaurant is cutting back and not properly staffing enough servers, your customers may be thinking they are not getting the service they are paying for.

If a server is spread too thinly between too many tables, the customer is going to notice, especially in a nicer restaurant, no matter how good the server is.

If you are working in one of the nicer restaurants and every server is seeing 10% or lower tips, your restaurant has much bigger problems.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

We hardly ever spend over $35 when we eat out so our $5 is actually around 16%.

In your OP you said something about eating at Ruth Chris.

 

[Mouse House Mama]

Im so gonna get flamed for this but I think it is really stupid to base a tip on what your meal actually cost. Me and dh go to Ruth Chris and have and lets say we are there 2 hrs and our meal costs $150. 20% of that meal is $30 so even if the server only makes $2 an hour she has just made $34 for our table alone. (she probably made more because she waited on more than one table those two hrs) Thats crazy to me! Even if she only waited on 2 tables for those 2 hrs she made about $64 in 2 hours My dh dosent make that with a college degree. Lets say we go to Olive Garden and receive the same level of service (for most part anyway) but our meal was only $40. 20% of $40 is only $8. So server 1 gets $30 and server 2 only $8 beacuse our food was less makes absolutely no sense to me! We rarely tip over $5 no matter what the meal cost! (unless we are at really upscale restuarant which is rare) We go into applebees and are there for one hour, no matter what we ordered if our waiter only waited on us (when does that ever happen) they have still made $7 or $8 dollars. Not hardly the crime everyone is claiming it to be!!!!!!

You have got to be kidding! If you think it is such an easy job then quit the job you have a degree for and waitress. I am not flaming but waitressing is hard work.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

I'd like to know, for those who have said that tipping is voluntary or should not be expected, how many of those posters have been servers before?

 

[jamimb]

In your OP you said something about eating at Ruth Chris.

Just an example ! I have never been to Ruth Chris . My point was I have a problem paying out a $30 tip just because the meal was more $$$$.

 

[CathrynRose]

If you are working in one of the nicer restaurants and every server is seeing 10% or lower tips, your restaurant has much bigger problems.

Totally agreed.

How many tables do you and others, run a night?

 

[LotsOfQuestions]

Im so gonna get flamed for this but I think it is really stupid to base a tip on what your meal actually cost. Me and dh go to Ruth Chris and have and lets say we are there 2 hrs and our meal costs $150. 20% of that meal is $30 so even if the server only makes $2 an hour she has just made $34 for our table alone. (she probably made more because she waited on more than one table those two hrs) Thats crazy to me! Even if she only waited on 2 tables for those 2 hrs she made about $64 in 2 hours My dh dosent make that with a college degree. Lets say we go to Olive Garden and receive the same level of service (for most part anyway) but our meal was only $40. 20% of $40 is only $8. So server 1 gets $30 and server 2 only $8 beacuse our food was less makes absolutely no sense to me! We rarely tip over $5 no matter what the meal cost! (unless we are at really upscale restuarant which is rare) We go into applebees and are there for one hour, no matter what we ordered if our waiter only waited on us (when does that ever happen) they have still made $7 or $8 dollars. Not hardly the crime everyone is claiming it to be!!!!!!

We hardly ever spend over $35 when we eat out so our $5 is actually around 16%.

You mention that your meal was $150.00 at Ruth Chris.

$5.00 is 3.33%

At nicer restaurants, you are bound to get better service than at a $35.00 meal, so your tip should reflect that.

Sorry, but as much as I believe in tipping for the quality of service receive in addition to the % of the bill, unless the server was picking their nose while serving your food, a $5.00 tip on a $150.00 meal is pathetic.

 

[jamimb]

You mention that your meal was $150.00 at Ruth Chris.

$5.00 is 3.33%

read post above. Ruth Chris was just an example I have never been there before. Like I said above I have a problem with paying out a tip based on the cost of the meal. It's crazy to me. Big deal I was stupid enough to spend $150 on two steaks so now all the sudden a server deserves $30 when I received the same level of service I got at olive garden last week and only shelled out $40. That was my point!!!!!

 

[JulyGirl]

I had $970 in sales Saturday and took home $79 in tips. I was not the only one who had it bad.

Wow. That is pretty bad. I'm sorry to hear that servers, who do a lot of hard work on the job, are being tipped so poorly. Was it always this bad for you, or has there been a change since the economy went downhill?

 

[LotsOfQuestions]

I'd like to know, for those who have said that tipping is voluntary or should not be expected, how many of those posters have been servers before?

Me, me, me

But then that was my personal work ethic.

I never expected tips. And realizing that tips are voluntary and that my chances of getting one improved with the level of service I provided, I worked my butt off and smiled until my cheeks hurt (even when PMSing big time), my back ached, my feet hurt to help raise my chances for great tips.

If I got a bad tip, I wrote it off as the cost of doing business. All companies (and as a server, I was basically my own company) have to deal with bad customers, often having to write off losses.

If I was consistently getting bad tips, I had to look at myself. What was being expected in the job I was doing and how was I not meeting those expectations? Often what I thought should be the expectations of the customer were completely different than what the customer's expectations really were. You have to adapt and change due to expectations at that time.

But I never expected a tip, let alone expected one by providing adequate service.

And I knew how absolutely lucky I was to be making $10 - $50.00 an hour (depending on the night) as a college student.

 

[jamimb]

Sorry, but as much as I believe in tipping for the quality of service receive in addition to the % of the bill, unless the server was picking their nose while serving your food, a $5.00 tip on a $150.00 meal is pathetic.

This is exactly my point why is a $5 tip on a $150 meal pathetic but not on a $25 dollar meal if I received the same level of service???? I have been in WDW restuarants and paid over $100 for a meal and received really really crappy service and on the other hand been to Chili's and spent $25 and had great service but the WDW server should get more just because the cost of the meal was outrageous??? Makes no sense to me!!!!!!!!

 

[HunnyPots]

Me, me, me

But then that was my personal work ethic.

I never expected tips. And realizing that tips are voluntary and that my chances of getting one improved with the level of service I provided, I worked my butt off and smiled until my cheeks hurt (even when PMSing big time), my back ached, my feet hurt to help raise my chances for great tips.

If I got a bad tip, I wrote it off as the cost of doing business. All companies (and as a server, I was basically my own company) have to deal with bad customers, often having to write off losses.

If I was consistently getting bad tips, I had to look at myself. What was being expected in the job I was doing and how was I not meeting those expectations? Often what I thought should be the expectations of the customer were completely different than what the customer's expectations really were. You have to adapt and change due to expectations at that time.

But I never expected a tip, let alone expected one by providing adequate service.

And I knew how absolutely lucky I was to be making $10 - $50.00 an hour (depending on the night) as a college student.

I'm sorry but I find it very hard to believe that you took a job knowing full well what a servers hourly wage was and didn't expect tips!
Of course it's expected! Why else would you take a job that pays so poorly?

 

[CathrynRose]

Why else would you take a job that pays so poorly?

That you work so hard to do?

 

[okeydokey]

The person who goes into a FULL SERVICE RESTAURANT and doesnt expect to tip, unless there is a problem, should be eating at McDonalds.

Any server will agree with you.

I'm not a server and I so agree with you. If you eat at a full service restaurant it is reasonable to figure you will be leaving a tip. Not saying you are required to leave a tip for really bad serive, just saying it is assumed when you enter that kind of establishment that a tip is customary. There is no reason in this country to walk into a full service restaurant and not have an expectation of tipping. To give a compliment to the server and then leave 5% is pretty low in my eyes.

 

[kimluvswdw]

Totally agreed.

How many tables do you and others, run a night?

At any given time so far this season I have not seen more than 15 or 20 tables filled at the same time. There are 5 servers each night.

Like I said before, I get a good tip from about every 1 out of 3 people. Saturday I had a table and the bill was $220, I worked my tail off for these people and got $19. Another table was $143 and I got $7, One table was $70 and I got $12. I give very good good service ans would like to see at least 10% on every table. I still have to tip out 2% of my total sales no matter what the tip is.

 

[CathrynRose]

At any given time so far this season I have not seen more than 15 or 20 tables filled at the same time. There are 5 servers each night.

So - like youre each running 3 - 4?

Do you have bussers?


I dont know. 900 bucks in sales is a great night!!! You should at LEAST be walking out with $100 - and thats the minimum.

If youre truly good at what you do, you need to find somewhere else to work. Honestly.

 

[juligrl]

I hate these threads where servers complain about tips. A tip is just that - a tip! If I were a server I would be grateful for any amount of tip. I mean would you rather have empty tables and no customers for you to serve and therefore no job?