Cheap People

[Cool-Beans]

Maybe it is because I waitressed, but I tip well. They'd have to be pretty awful for me to tip 5%. I think that in my entire life I've only tipped poorly once and not at all once. And I've done a LOT of eating out.

I'm also of the opinion that if you can't afford to tip the server, you should take the stuff "To Go."

But restaurants, like everything other non-necessary thing, take a hit as countries start to sink. When all the money is going to the government, there is less to spread around.

 

[Cool-Beans]

I think NY Disney Fan is living his/her life through Steve Buchemi in Resivar Dogs (sp?). The anti-tipper! Obviously NY has been born with a silver spoon in his/her mouth and has never had to put in a hard days work. Sad.

I always think of Reservoir Dogs when this comes up.

I like that movie and I LOVE that opening scene!!!!

 

[barkley]

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?

there are plenty of people who take lousy paying jobs for a variety of personal reasons, and most if not all except the f/b service industry come without any concept of tips. look to childcare workers, elderly care providers (non medical skill), non commissioned retail-all of whom often work for basic minimum wage (and as many of us have pointed out-it's not the case in all states that their are different tiers of minimum wage with f/b servers receiving a lower rate). they like a f/b server know up front what their base wage is, what the duties and challenges of the job are, and accept or decline employment on that basis.

my experience working in the industry leads me to believe that it is the rare server that does not make well over federal minimum wage when their tips and base salary are combined together, but like in most professions they place a mental value on their skills and because their employers fail to pay it they believe that their employer's customers must.

i honestly thought it was facinating some years back, when in the town we then lived in a national restaurant chain decided to try a pilot project. the project entailed slightly adjusting their menu prices up to facilitate doubling the wage of their traditionaly tipped employees. in exchange tipping was not permitted. it was a total failure. not because the customers complained (they loved it), because the f/b servers despite now receiving double the hourly wage any other minimum wage employee received (with absolutly no change in job duties) still perceived themselves as inequitably compensated and quit in droves to hire into much lower paying jobs where they once again expected their employer's customers to help them achieve what they desired in compensation.

 

[TwinsinCA]

I'm also of the opinion that if you can't afford to tip the server, you should take the stuff "To Go."

I have heard people say they expect tips for THAT too, which is ridiculous to me. I get take out often because it is cheaper and I don't like to eat alone. I will usually tell them to keep the change, but I wonder if that is a slap in the face (For instance I ordered Calamari to go and it came to $9.23 or something. I gave her a $10 and said she could keep the rest -- is that ok or a slap in the face for a to go order?) Sometimes I give nothing extra. It just depends.

I have to mention one thing that happened at TGIFriday's. I ordered something to go. The cost was about $7. I gave the guy a $20 and he came back with change for the $20. He never took out the cost of the food - presumably this would make it easier for me to tip! I WISH I had not given him anything extra but I felt so put on the spot that I did. I have never set food in that restaurant since.

Regarding the buffets. The only one I frequent is Souplantation. I pay at a register when I arrive, I have to get my own drinks and keep them refilled. The only thing that is done for me is that my dirty plates are removed. Why should I leave 15% for that?

For regular full service situations I always leave 15-20.

 

[CathrynRose]

I have heard people say they expect tips for THAT too, which is ridiculous to me. .

Its not expected - but at Outback, for instance - they bring it to your car, they make sure yor order is right, they pack up all the condiments, etc etc...

I tip for to-go's too (just a few bucks) - but I will admit to being an over tipper.

For me - a few bucks isnt anything - but to them, it could make their night. KIWM?

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

Without reading all ten pages, I have noticed the same problem. I work at a local restaurant and the lack of money is part of the reason I'm leaving (a very small part, but that's another thread- literally). In Missouri, you are paid $3.33 an hour by the restaurant and the tip makes up the rest. Because I work(ed) in a restaurant with a bar, I have to tip out two percent of my total sales to the bar tender. The other day that equaled $4 out of my $25 I made that night, it was a huge difference. We are slow right now because the university is out of session, but people are also tipping less.

In my server training, it specifically states that we should not expect tips. I'm sorry, but I do. They do not pay me minimum wage- my tips are supposed to make up for that. For income purposes, I have to declare my tips. You don't declare what you actually made but a percentage of your total sales (8-10% depending on the restaurant) which assumes that people are tipping you. As I mentioned, tip out works the same way, it's a portion of our sales, not our tips.

I am a big tipper precisely because I have been a server and I know how little we get paid. (I have worked for two other restaurants.) I know many people who are trying to raise children on the money they make serving, and it's very difficult. Forget paycheck to paycheck, many times we are simply living day to day. It's hard to put money away when what you make barely covers gas and a meal.

 

[C.Ann]

The more expensive the meal, the longer you sit at the table. At Applebee's, you're in and out within an hour - At Ruch Chris, 2 hours. Servers make more money with more tables. If the food is cheap, it's usually fast, and they can turn more tables, and have the opportunity for more tips. Having been a server, I always tip more if I stay a long time, since my server lost money not turning my table.

I have a Master's Degree, DH has his MBA, and I think being a server has been one of the hardest jobs either one of us ever had!

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I tip according to the cost of the meal and the type of service I receive.. However, I would never tip more simply because I took my time while eating my meal..

 

[Rella Bella]

I think that's an unfair statement. If you pay your restaurant bill in full without tipping, they aren't exactly going to make you wash the dishes, or stop you from leaving.

No, but you are taking advantage of the server/s if you don't tip. In our culture the servers make most of their earnings in tips, the wages are pathetic. It is beyond inconsiderate to sit at their table, (usually they are assigned several) request their time and service and then walk away.

If you don't want to tip 15 to 20% eat somewhere that doesn't have servers... like McDonalds.

 

[Master Mason]

I don't mind tiping if I get good service, and will generally be in the 15 to 20 percent range. I do however hate that resturants will automatically add around 18% to your bill as a tip if you have more than a few people in your party. The tip is supposed to be payment for a job well done, and should never be guarenteed.

 

[Mickey's Neighbor]

I haven't read many of the responses. Even though the gas price increase has hurt us and we don't go out as much as we did before we always tip well, usually 20%. I figure the servers are hurthing as much as we are from the price of everything.

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

We tip ok.

We give 15%-18% for adequate service, 20% if the server at least gave a smile and refilled our drinks once, and 25 - 30% for excellent service.

However, I have no problems leaving 0% for the surly server that prefers to chat with the hostess while I am trying to track him/her down to get a drink, find our food or get the bill.

TIPS stands for To Insure Prompt Service. If I have to track a server down a couple of times, they are not getting a tip.

While there are plenty of cheap patrons out there, and I feel for the hard working servers, there are also as many servers who feel that a tip is their right and they should get it no matter how they treat the customer. No service, no tip from this patron.

In many states servers do not make minimum wage from the restaurant. I make $3.33 an hour. I then have to declare 10% of my total sales as tips for income purposes. I have to tip out the bar tender 2% of my total sales, even if the only drink I sold all night was a beer, and if we have a busser they get 2% of my total sales. I have no problem with tipping 10% for bad service, but I do have a problem with leaving no tip since they are declaring a percentage of that sale for tax purposes. If there is a problem I talk to the manager, which is much more effective than stiffing them. If somebody stiffs or undertips me, I don't know if it's because of bad service or because they don't have the money.

$2-$3 an hour is all you get paid? How do the owners get a way with this? Is this industry standard in the US? I am just wondering why the restaurant owners do not just pay more per hour - my 16 year old DD makes $8.25/hour + holiday pay + tips (which usually equals out to another $5/hr) because she just works in a diner.

Maybe a lot of non-US citizens do not realize how little the workers are paid.

This is standard for my state. Every restaurant I have worked in I did not make a minimum wage base salary. I figured out my salary from the last night I served, and it was 8.58 an hour after I tipped out the bar. I only get schedueld to serve two nights a week, and support a third. As I mentioned on another thread, the past three times I worked support I was turned away within less than ten minutes, I spent more money on gas going in than I made for the whole three minutes I was on the clock. When I do serve, I am cut from the floor sometimes within an hour or two of arriving because we are slow during the summer (we are a university town). I rarely work more than four hours, so many times I'm lucky to be able to afford gas and food. I would never be able to pay my rent and tuition if this were my only source of income.

There is a minimum wage, state and federal but for positions that are customarily tipped, the wages are significantly lower. DS's girlfriend goes to school full time and works part time as a waitress. She brings home $150 to $300 per night, depending upon which night and how busy they are.

I want to work where she does! Due to the slowness now that the university is out, I'm consistently making about $20 a day, and I'm doing extra side work because not as many servers are being scheduled.

This is the first time I have ever heard someone say not tipping is immoral. I have never had a discussion about morality that involved tipping.

There are a lot of different reason people tip or not tip.

Not tipping (to me) is immoral. As a server, I declare a portion of your sale as income to the IRS and am taxed on that. I worked with many single moms in my time as a server, and they could barely afford to feed and clothe their children. We always try to give good service, but there's a lot that goes on behind the scenes that guests don't see.

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 have never worked in a restaurant that pooled tips for servers. We do a tip out to the bar and bussers, but my tips do not go to any server but me.

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?

I am grateful for a small tip vs. not tip, but seeing as I just had to give the bar 2% of your total sale as a tip out, and declare 10% to the IRS so they can tax me on it, I am always disappointed by a small tip. I take it very personally. I had a table of two the other night. I was giving them attention without being obtrusive. The man was drinking a lot, and I kept refilling his glass (we are trained not to get it less than half full). When I did so I tried to be unobtrusive so as not to bother them, and he told me to quit refilling his glass. I cleaned their plates in a timely manner, etc. etc. I was as polite as could be. On the way out they told me to have a good evening, and I assumed they were happy with their service. I got less than $2 on a $30.00 bill. I worked my butt off for that table and was somewhat offended. I had to declare $3 in tips to the IRS for that table, so I am being taxed for money from that sale that I never received. This is one of the reasons I am leaving my job (not the only). I can't afford it with how slow it is and how little some of my guests tip.

I don't mind tiping if I get good service, and will generally be in the 15 to 20 percent range. I do however hate that resturants will automatically add around 18% to your bill as a tip if you have more than a few people in your party. The tip is supposed to be payment for a job well done, and should never be guarenteed.

The tip should be expected because I am taxed on the amount the government perceives I will earn from your table- whether I do or not. The reason we do this is because despite the fact that it takes much more work to wait on one big table than several small tables, they frequently will tip LESS. The restaurant has to make it worth the server's time and energy to serve that large table. I have personal experience with this:

I worked at a Dennys and the daycare center where the owner's daughter went brought in 30 kids for ice cream sundaes. My section was closed early and I had no other tables so I could concentrate on them. Serving 30 kids plus staff and parents was tiring and time consuming. The owner had to pay me out of the restaurant's profits for that day because they pretty much stiffed me on the tip.

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

I would like to second Cathryn's point about how physically demanding it is. I am 4'10", so not a big person at all. When I deliver your food on those big honking trays, it is very difficult for me to balance and lift it. You can't see it, but at our restaurant the ice machine is down a steep flight of stairs. When it's time to refill the ice I have to haul up two buckets that are over knee high to me from the downstairs to the upstairs and then dump it in. It takes a lot of upper body strength that I do not necessarily have. On a busy night I run around like a chicken with my head cut off tryin to keep up with my tables.

I started having knee problems in 06 while working at Disney. It went away (for the most part) until I started waitressing when it flared up again. I now have to have surgery in August to fix the problem. I have to deal with several power-hungry managers, and it is very stressful. I am leaving my job because frankly the lousy pay and hours is not worth the bad personal dynamics and the toll it is taking on my body.

 

[barkley]

Without reading all ten pages, I have noticed the same problem. I work at a local restaurant and the lack of money is part of the reason I'm leaving (a very small part, but that's another thread- literally). In Missouri, you are paid $3.33 an hour by the restaurant and the tip makes up the rest. Because I work(ed) in a restaurant with a bar, I have to tip out two percent of my total sales to the bar tender. The other day that equaled $4 out of my $25 I made that night, it was a huge difference. We are slow right now because the university is out of session, but people are also tipping less.

In my server training, it specifically states that we should not expect tips. I'm sorry, but I do. They do not pay me minimum wage- my tips are supposed to make up for that. For income purposes, I have to declare my tips. You don't declare what you actually made but a percentage of your total sales (8-10% depending on the restaurant) which assumes that people are tipping you. As I mentioned, tip out works the same way, it's a portion of our sales, not our tips.

I am a big tipper precisely because I have been a server and I know how little we get paid. (I have worked for two other restaurants.) I know many people who are trying to raise children on the money they make serving, and it's very difficult. Forget paycheck to paycheck, many times we are simply living day to day. It's hard to put money away when what you make barely covers gas and a meal.

you may want to research the federal tax laws regarding your tips-if you worked at this job last year you may be eligible to amend your return and possibly get some money refunded if you reported 10% of your sales vs. your actual tips AFTER you did your tip outs (if overall your total tips for the year were less than 10% of your sales). the 8-10% rule applies to how employers have to report tips, not employees. employees are supposed to keep daily records of their tips and the only taxable portion for federal taxes is the ACTUAL received tips MINUS any tip outs. since you are planning on leaving the place anyway you might also want to contact your local labor board-if the employer was doing your payroll based on more income than you actualy received, you might have gotten charged more than you should have for your portion on certain state and federal employee paid payroll taxes. the labor board can look into it and might require an audit to see if you are eligible to lost wages ( i know of some servers who did exactly this when the restaurant they worked for had the same kind of system-they were working the least tipped shift so their employer always reported their income as too high, the labor board did an audit and the employees received some fairly good lost wages).

 

[barkley]

just as an fyi-the irs has a realy handy reference material available on the internet: PUBLICATION 1872 TIPS ON TIPS. it tells what's required of food and beverage workers as far as reporting goes, what's required of their employers AND it talks about the practice some have spoken of where their employers require reporting of tips at a set percentage of their sales-and how an employee must sign an agreement to let their employer use this method.

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

I have worked in three separate restaurants, and each one I reported a specific percentage, either 8 or 10. From talking to my friends who work other restaurants, this is true for almost every restaurant. I cannot recall ever making less than my reported tips, normally I make more since the tipping standard now is around 15%. I will say that as gas prices go up, my actual tips are getting closer and closer to the amount of my reported tips.

 

[chyam]

I've done waitressing so I am always try to be fair but I also weigh things out...a good server is worth 15% but look at it at another angle. If a server in a "good" restaurant has say 5 tables and each table stays on the average of 1 hour and their respective bills are around $100.00 that means that server is making about $75.00 an hour! In a casual restaurant I usually leave a tip of at least $1.00 per person at the table with a minumum of $2.00 if I am alone. Alot depends on the turnover in the restaurant too. But when you look at it from this angle you see a different side .
But of course that does not change the fact that some people don't tip.
I do have to agree that alot of people have had to tighten their belts, and I guess if they can't afford to eat out then they should stay home, but look at it another way, at least they are creating "some" income for the business and in turn helping to pay the servers salary...it doesn't make it right, but many people are having a tough time, and perhaps that trip to that nice restaurant maybe for a birthday or anniversary dinner, that perhaps they really can't afford but are trying to celebrate anyways.
According to the news dining out is on the decline because of the economy.

 

[declansdad]

well thats a perfect example of someone that should have MORE class....what gives you the right to tell someone to eat at mcdonalds? Tip what you like when you go out to eat but to tell someone to eat at mcdonalds? oh pleeez I tip what I feel they earned not a penny more.If they did great than I will give a great tip...If I get very bad service they will get .50 cent.
I see what all the talk is about now....

Thank you.

 

[CathrynRose]

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I tip according to the cost of the meal and the type of service I receive.. However, I would never tip more simply because I took my time while eating my meal..

But you took up their table. We would only be assigned 3 - 4 tables a night. If you hog a table all night, Im losing money. KWIM?

If you don't want to tip 15 to 20% eat somewhere that doesn't have servers... like McDonalds.

Thats what I said!

The owner had to pay me out of the restaurant's profits for that day because they pretty much stiffed me on the tip.

My manager did that for me, as well. Its a shame.

If a server in a "good" restaurant has say 5 tables and each table stays on the average of 1 hour and their respective bills are around $100.00 that means that server is making about $75.00 an hour! .

1 - A 'good' restaurant wont give you 5 tables during the busy time.
2 - 75 / hr - if you worked 8 hours a day - servers generally dont AND
3 - Theyre only making 75 /hr FOR an hr. That doesnt happen all night, and every night of the week.

I had to be very good about managing how much I made. A Saturday night's tips would be no where near, a Mondays.

Just because they make $75 / hr - for an hour - means nothing.

 

[Master Mason]

The tip should be expected because I am taxed on the amount the government perceives I will earn from your table- whether I do or not. The reason we do this is because despite the fact that it takes much more work to wait on one big table than several small tables, they frequently will tip LESS. The restaurant has to make it worth the server's time and energy to serve that large table. I have personal experience with this:

I worked at a Dennys and the daycare center where the owner's daughter went brought in 30 kids for ice cream sundaes. My section was closed early and I had no other tables so I could concentrate on them. Serving 30 kids plus staff and parents was tiring and time consuming. The owner had to pay me out of the restaurant's profits for that day because they pretty much stiffed me on the tip.

I am sorry, but the tip should never be "expected" the tip should be earned. Yes I agree it is bs what happened at your denny's example, but that does not mean that, I should then be "expected" to pay for sub standard service either.

And also, by son and future daughter in law both waited tables while they were in college, so I have heard the horror stories as well.

 

[CathrynRose]

I am sorry, but the tip should never be "expected" the tip should be earned. Yes I agree it is bs what happened at your denny's example, but that does not mean that, I should then be "expected" to pay for sub standard service either.

.

Did you read my story way back a few pages?

I had a 12 top - who wanted seperate checks. The manager checked to make sure everything was great, before we tacked on the 18%. Everything was WONDERFUL! I was great! Blah blah blah.

They only asked for seperate checks to avoid paying 18%.

My manager had to pay for my tip, that night. Thats absurd.