Don't forget to tip your waitstaff at non Disney restaurants!

[shellybaxter]

I don't think anyone should feel guilty about not tipping more if you are on the dining plan. I mean 18 percent is added to the bill, but if you get a server who goes way and above it would be nice to slip her a 5.00 or something.You have to at LEAST claim 8 percent of your sales for the day. Even if you don't received 8 percent in tips on the dollar amount you sell. Which never happens because usually good tippers take care of the bad tippers or stiffers. I can't tell you how many times people come in and their bill is 40.00 and they leave 2.00 that is a bunch of crap if you can't afford to tip right when you have gotten excellent service then cook breakfast at home. Sorry if I offend anyone but we work VERY hard for our tips and there are still lots of people out there that believe its 1950 by the tipping standards. I work at a local breakfast chain and I make 2.13 a hour plus tips, but I don't see a paycheck it all goes to the taxes. So what tips I make is what I count on each day.

I don't mean any offense. I tip well - always at least 20% - sometimes as much as 30%. But tipping is supposed to be a thank you from the patron to the server for taking good care of them. Tipping is not required. Paying the bill is all that is required. I think that the legal sub minimum wage unfair and servers should unionize and lobby for its repeal. It doesn't exist in California so it is possible to do away with.

Regardless if my server in any way made me feel that I was required to tip I would probably not do so as I would see their actions as rude.

Can someone explain to me why the customary tipping percentage should increase as it does? I remember as a young girl the custom was 10%. And then in my early 20s it became 15% and has recently (within the last 5 years) risen to 20%. But as a percentage of total cost should the tipping amount simply rise with the increases in food costs? Can anyone enlighten me.

 

[JoiseyMom]

The OP is correct. We realized this last year when we dined at the Maya Grill. We saw the receipt, well actually 2 of them, one had the full cost of the meal, which was about 150.00, the other was what the restaurant actually got from Disney, and that was about $75.00 or $80, and the tip for the waiter was on the lower amount. We then tipped above what the DP tip would have been. The Non Disney owned restaurants get a negotiated amount of money, not the acutal amount your meal costs. This is why Pepper Market has restrictions on desserts for the DP.

 

[DiszyDeanette]

I don't mean any offense. I tip well - always at least 20% - sometimes as much as 30%. But tipping is supposed to be a thank you from the patron to the server for taking good care of them. Tipping is not required. Paying the bill is all that is required.

This always bothered me when I was a server. I was required to pay taxes on a percentage of my sales, no matter if I actually got the money or not. Theoretically, if nobody tipped me all night, I would have to pay taxes on money I did not have. It's federal law that I pay the IRS, but not that the customer pays me. Not that I ever really came out on the wrong end of the deal, but it still bugged me.

 

[shellybaxter]

This always bothered me when I was a server. I was required to pay taxes on a percentage of my sales, no matter if I actually got the money or not. Theoretically, if nobody tipped me all night, I would have to pay taxes on money I did not have. It's federal law that I pay the IRS, but not that the customer pays me. Not that I ever really came out on the wrong end of the deal, but it still bugged me.

If I were a server I'm sure it would bug me too. The problem is a political one. I suppose it would be more fair if tips were somehow monitered by the restaurant and acurrately reported to the IRS. Then servers would only have to claim what they actually made. However, I suspect that some would have to claim more this way.

Either way I don't think patrons should feel obligated to tip if they don't want to. If a tip is required then it should just be included in the price of the food

 

[Buzzandthemermaid]

To me this situation says Non-Disney Restaurant=Drama. I am paying for the DDP because I want the hassle-free 'cruise experience' at WDW. I don't want to worry about if my servers are getting their due. For December, we'll be doing Le Cellier, Kona, Capn Jacks, and Cape May. From what I've heard on the DIS, these are all Disney-owned and my future selections on the dining plan will stay that way.

 

[headoflife]

I am really confused. When we went in August we dined at Wolfgang puck Cafe on the dining plan. I really liked our server, and had heard there was a question as to the amount of tip servers at non-Disney restaurants received. I asked our waitress if she was tipped on the total menu price of what we ordered. She said that she was, and at the end of the night we saw an itemized bill with total cost and tip % on it. I would cetainly have tipped more (though we did add a few dollars) had I thought she was getting $3.00.

 

[bicker]

My guess is that the server was simply making a play for a bigger tip. Even nice people gotta eat. Thanks to BuffaloGal, we know that Disney restaurants tip their servers the full 18% (split with other service personnel, just like a meal paid by credit card or room charge). We know that at non-Disney restaurants, there is a discount applied to each meal that exceeds a certain amount, so the only question is whether the non-Disney restaurants tip their servers on the non-discounted amount or the discounted amount -- a marginal difference. $3 per person is pretty close to par for the course for a $25 meal, after you tip-out the bartender, food runner, busser, etc.

The key point here is that the Dining Plan includes gratuities for good service. Surely, folks should tip extra for extraordinary service, but for good service, no Dining Plan patron should feel even the slightest bit obligated to tip extra.

 

[allflgirl]

My husband and I ate at Wolf Gang Puck a couple of weeks ago on DDP. When we signed our receipt, the total came to around $75. We both had an appetizer, filet and dessert and knew our total was around $120 before taxes and tip and questioned the manager before we left to make sure we didn't get the wrong bill. I wasn't concerned as much about the amount as was I the tip for the server since he should have received a tip on the $120 and not $75. The manager confirmed to us that we did in fact receive the correct bill and that the $75 we saw on the bill was what they will be billing back to Disney. He also mentioned that no matter what our amount came to, the server gets a flat $5 per head on the DDP.

We'll I'm glad we talked to the manager before we left, because I was under the assumption that 18% would be added to our bill anywhere we ate on the DDP. We ended up leaving another $10 to cover the $20 that the server should have gotten for our meal. I don't think it's fair that the server be stiffed his tip just because of DDP.

 

[KCMiller]

This always bothered me when I was a server. I was required to pay taxes on a percentage of my sales, no matter if I actually got the money or not. Theoretically, if nobody tipped me all night, I would have to pay taxes on money I did not have. It's federal law that I pay the IRS, but not that the customer pays me. Not that I ever really came out on the wrong end of the deal, but it still bugged me.

I wish everyone realized this, and understood that servers ARE TAXED as if they are always tipped - tips don't go into some secret pocket as a treat. To put it very plainly, at the end of each night, the restaurant totals everything a server sells (their check total). Say it was $1000. The percentage the IRS assumed a server has been tipped is based on that amount, and they tax servers income as if they make 15% (as I recall, or it might have been 20%). And so does the restaurant, where the standard is to tip out out the bartender and the busboys 15% and 10% of that 15%. When I waited table, if a customer stiffed me, or left 10%. I was still taxed as if I got an appropriate tip, and still had to 'tip out' the bar and bus. And restaurants are required to do this, for their own accounting and tax purposes. Disney cannot keep tips from servers - it's against the law, and for the pittance that tips end up being, they wouldn't risk the fines in Federal Tax Court.

Not that I would have done it, but I understand sometimes a server playing on the sympathies of customers. The indignity of feeling like you had to do that to make up for someone elses rudeness, the feeling that you had to sit up and beg for someone to treat you with respect, that's why I got out of that business. And that's why servers are the best customers. We know and understand good service, we know and understand that sometimes, stuff happens in the kitchen thats NOT the servers fault, and we tip appropriately and well.


KC

 

[bicker]

Did the manager indicate how much the food runners and bussers get there?

 

[bstnsprts]

The issue here is not that customers are stiffing the waitstaff, rather Disney, and, or, non-Disney owned restaurants are stiffing the waitstaff. Dining with my DDE Card or any other kind of discount, I would tip on the actual total, not the discounted total. In this case it would seem that either Disney, or the non-Disney owned restaurants, have decided to tip on a discounted total or just institute a flat rate tip. The patron using DDP has no responsibility to make up this difference. The waitstaff should be taking this issue to management, not the customer.

 

[Lewisc]

Customers that believe the server deserves more than an included tip are always free to add to the tip. 2005 the server got a 15% tip, I normally added to it since I normally tip more.

It sounds like the non-Disney restaurants base the tip on what Disney is paying the restaurant. The servers primary argument is with Disney and the restaurant. I wouldn't add any tip if the server demanded or even begged for it BUT I would otherwise I'd add an extra cash tip since the included tip is less than I'd normally tip.

The issue isn't that customers are required to add to the tip but rather some customers may chose to do so.

The issue here is not that customers are stiffing the waitstaff, rather Disney, and, or, non-Disney owned restaurants are stiffing the waitstaff. Dining with my DDE Card or any other kind of discount, I would tip on the actual total, not the discounted total. In this case it would seem that either Disney, or the non-Disney owned restaurants, have decided to tip on a discounted total or just institute a flat rate tip. The patron using DDP has no responsibility to make up this difference. The waitstaff should be taking this issue to management, not the customer.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Hmm... unless things have changed, the employer reports assumed/approximated/estimated 8% of each server's total sales to the IRS in tip calculations. This is an average of half the patrons tipping nothing and half tipping 15%. On the other hand, the server is required to report 100% of his/her actual tips on the tax return.

 

[Lewisc]

Hmm... unless things have changed, the employer reports assumed/approximated/estimated 8% of each server's total sales to the IRS in tip calculations. This is an average of half the patrons tipping nothing and half tipping 15%. On the other hand, the server is required to report 100% of his/her actual tips on the tax return.

Correct. A server is free to document total tips of less than 8% but most earn more.

The only example I read is with take out service. Some restaurants include those sales and many (most) guests don't even tip 8% to the restaurant employee that hands them the bag of food or even takes it to your car.

 

[DiszyDeanette]

Hmm... unless things have changed, the employer reports assumed/approximated/estimated 8% of each server's total sales to the IRS in tip calculations. This is an average of half the patrons tipping nothing and half tipping 15%. On the other hand, the server is required to report 100% of his/her actual tips on the tax return.

8% is the magic number to keep the IRS looking the other way. Most restaurant owners/managers really want to avoid the IRS giving anybody there the 'hairy eyeball' so to speak, because it can and will cause a chain reaction of audits throughout the company. I worked in plenty of restaurants that automatically claimed 10% for you, just to be sure the IRS doesn't come sniffing around. And this was the 90s, I can't imagine it's gotten any less severe. Plus, as Disney servers have pointed out on these boards, they rarely deal with cash, and ALL credit cards have to be claimed, no matter if they are 5% or 30% of your sales. (Oh, but if it's 5%, and that's all you made, you'll still be taxed at a higher income than you earned. Then again, that would be a seriously lousy server!)

 

[2GuysSeattle]

Come on! I wasn't born yesterday. Of course the server was making a play for a bigger tip! It's illegal for the restaurant, or Disney, to withhold any of the server's tip.

 

[BuzzAndWoodyBoy]

We just got back yesterday and ate at both Raglan Road and Wolfgang Puck's. There was an 18% gratuity line on both of our checks and for both the part we payed (alcohol) and the part the DDP payed. I actually thought it was kind of sneaky to add the 18% automatically to the liquor part of our check. At Wolfgang Puck's my DH didn't notice the line that added the tip so he tipped again where it said tip on our receipt (you know the one you sign with just a total). I noticed at Raglan Road and went back to look at the WP receipt and there it was. I just didn't realize it was customary to add 18% to a bill that I actualy had to pay.

By the way the 18% was added on to our liquor in the Biergarten and Marrakesh also. I wonder how many people inadvertantly double tip at these places when they order alcohol...

 

[ReneeA]

We just got back yesterday and ate at both Raglan Road and Wolfgang Puck's. There was an 18% gratuity line on both of our checks and for both the part we payed (alcohol) and the part the DDP payed. I actually thought it was kind of sneaky to add the 18% automatically to the liquor part of our check. At Wolfgang Puck's my DH didn't notice the line that added the tip so he tipped again where it said tip on our receipt (you know the one you sign with just a total). I noticed at Raglan Road and went back to look at the WP receipt and there it was. I just didn't realize it was customary to add 18% to a bill that I actualy had to pay.

By the way the 18% was added on to our liquor in the Biergarten and Marrakesh also. I wonder how many people inadvertantly double tip at these places when they order alcohol...

Everyplace we ordered drinks from - even the poolside bar - added an 18% gratuity to the check.

 

[BuffaloGal]

We just got back yesterday and ate at both Raglan Road and Wolfgang Puck's. There was an 18% gratuity line on both of our checks and for both the part we payed (alcohol) and the part the DDP payed. I actually thought it was kind of sneaky to add the 18% automatically to the liquor part of our check. At Wolfgang Puck's my DH didn't notice the line that added the tip so he tipped again where it said tip on our receipt (you know the one you sign with just a total). I noticed at Raglan Road and went back to look at the WP receipt and there it was. I just didn't realize it was customary to add 18% to a bill that I actualy had to pay.

By the way the 18% was added on to our liquor in the Biergarten and Marrakesh also. I wonder how many people inadvertantly double tip at these places when they order alcohol...

We are being forced to do this. Got told that we had to add gratuity to the alcohol split off on Dining plan meals, so it should be everywhere. Not completely understanding why, except it means that WDW gets to make interest off of my gratuity for a week to 11 days.