Tipping in restaurants

[kaytieeldr]

Of course I don't want it cut into but I always order salad without dressing, my vegetables with no butter, and any entrée that comes with sauce to have the sauce on the side. All of those can be seen.

Dp you mind if I ask how often you have been served a wrongly-prepared dish, compared to how many meals you've eaten in restaurants in your life?

 

[FireDancer]

No. The gratuity IS based on the service - or do you tip the food prep personnel as well?

I tip based on the total experience, this is my prerogative. You can choose to tip based on service, that is your prerogative.

Dp you mind if I ask how often you have been served a wrongly-prepared dish, compared to how many meals you've eaten in restaurants in your life?

I don't have statistics but it happens enough. When everything is good, which is the majority of the time, then they are tipped accordingly.

When there is something wrong with the order it is often when I ask them to omit something which really annoys me. I am willing to pay the same amount for less product and less work yet they screw it up and then don't notice before I get it.

When someone screws up a customer order it should be discovered before it gets to them. I manage a lot of projects at work, many of them with 3rd parties. When one of those 3rd parties mess something up I expect a call explaining the mess up and what they have already done to begin to correct it. This is the same thing I expect from everyone I give business to personally and professionally. Mess ups happen, like you said, but they are to be caught and either corrected or the steps already taken to correct them before I discover them. I don't care if it is a $20 meal or a multi-million dollar project.

There are people who come across as expecting gratuity. Gratuity is optional an must be earned. Different people will have different criteria for gratuity and that is ok, but it is not mandatory. Mandatory gratuity is an oxymoron.

 

[bicker]

Gratuities are not optional in our society -- they're discretionary. There is a difference.

 

[disfan07]

We usually tip closer to 20% usually. But that is because of my food allergies and 99% of the time, they are very helpful and very accomidating.
We have tipped 15% afew times when it was like pulling teeth to get ingredient information.
We do tip 25% occasionally. We have one restaurant that we frequent near us and we ahve never tipped less than 25% because they are always absolutely amazing when it comes to knowing what does and does not conatin what I'm allergic to. The restaurant itself has an allergy pamphlet that tells you what what major allergens are in each meal but ehy always go check to make sure nothing has changed and they are always very nice adn very attentive about it.

Before my food allergy diagnosis, we never tipped more than 20%. usually in the 15-20% range. Now the norm is 20-25% for us and we have tipped 30% recently.

My grandpa normally tips about 30%. sometimes more. BUT....if service is absolutely horrendous, he will tip more like 5%. I have never personally seen it happen adn my mom said that she has only ever seen it happen twice so it must take a lot to get my grandpa to giv a bad tip.

 

[Springs1]

No, but those examples you are giving are paid more then waiters, and most in that position are not allowed to take tips.

What they get paid a hour an ZERO to do with what service is being done. If it's the same or less amount of work being done, WHY one person should receive a tip from you, and the other shouldn't based on what pay they make? The SAME or LESS EFFORT was being put into the tasks, WHY unfairly pay them more just because they aren't getting more from their employer?

WHY not tip fairly, that if fast food workers(not including Sonic of course) don't get tips, no one else should in this world either that does the SAME OR LESS AMOUNT OF WORK.

Think about it. Let's say I get a pasta dish from Applebee's to-go and pick it up inside. That's LESS WORK than a McDonald's cashier had to do getting me all those things for my hot cakes and sausage. HOW is that "FAIR" to give them a tip for doing almost NOTHING compared to that McDonald's cashier that did WAYYY MORE WORK? It's not. That's why people shouldn't base their tipping on what they get paid an hour when tipping for take-out, they should be basing their tipping on what amount of WORK has been done if it is MORE than a fast food cashier(not including Sonic) does.

What's fair is fair and what isn't, isn't. It's not fair that I give that bartender at Applebee's a couple of bucks for handing me that pasta dish, yet I cannot tip the person that did MUCH MORE WORK, it's just not. What they get paid an hour is MEANINGLESS to this conversation. It's all about what ((WORK)) did they put into it.

Don't you think you should tip more if let's say you order something that requires the server to do more work when you are dining inside? I would want to pay the server and have paid servers more when they went all out for me vs. times where I may have ordered a dish "AS IS" when I didn't ask for much or any refills even. It make sense that if the person went through more trouble for you, don't you think you would want more money if you did more for the customer? I would hate to know if I would go all out for a customer getting them this and that, giving them good service(let's say they gave me a comment about that my service I would have provided them was excellent), then the tip comes, it's not even 20%, which I would think if I had an excellent review being that I would have gone all out for them by them being a more needy customer than some such as getting them lots of refills, extra condiments, etc., I would feel I would have DESERVED MORE than 20% considering I would have been told in their opinion the service was excellent?

Now I wouldn't feel if I would be a server that if I would have just served them pasta dishes and not much refills, that even if they would say I was excellent, that I would feel I would deserve more than 20%. WHY? I didn't hardly do any **WORK** compared to the first time I would have served them getting them lots of things. See where I am coming from?

WHY should I give a bartender for a to-go order or a to-go server for a to-go order a tip for doing the same exact or less amout of work that fast food cashier(not including Sonic) does? It's not fair if I tip them, it's not. They are doing the same tasks or sometimes even LESS things for their money.

That's why if someone let's say gets a beer at a nightclub(meaning they are being served it, they are being handed it right by them that the bartender doesn't have to walk anywhere to serve it to them like a server does or like a bartender would if you would be actually sitting at the bar), no tip should be given. What did they do? If it was in a bottle, they grabbed a beer from the refrigerator and popped the cap. Then they rung you up and gave you change. LESS WORK than a McDonald's cashier does, that's for sure, so WHY should I tip someone that does that, huh? If they get draft beer at a nightclub(usually in a plastic glass), they are doing less work than it takes to give you a cup with ice and root beer at let's say Wendy's(most Wendy's don't have self serve soft drink stations). I wouldn't tip for that either, because it's not fair I tip that bartender for providing me LESS WORK than a Wendy's cashier did for doing MORE WORK. It's just not fair to tip someone that gave me LESS WORK that took less EFFORT to give me. Basing tipping on what a person gets paid an hour is VERY unfair and I think it is stupid. Customer can control how they tip as far as how fair it is to tip one person or another. The employer is not being fair to the to-go server or bartender if they are only getting $2.13/hr, which some bartenders and to-servers get minimum wage plus tips or close to that. How is that the CUSTOMER'S PROBLEM that their employer isn't paying them fast food worker pay? It's not the customer's responsiblilty to pay them for doing the same or less amount of work, it really isn't. That's not our issue as customers.

Don't you think when you work that if you did more work you should get more? Don't you think it's unfair that you did more work serving that food and drinks at Wendy's that you don't receive a tip, but that to-go server gets a couple of bucks for handing me a pasta dish? You don't see that at all?

 

[MIGrandma]

Knowing and doing are entirely different things. You apparently assume every cook in every kitchen is 100% perfect - that they are, therefore, superhuman and never make mistakes.

Guess what. Nobody's perfect. Yes, the server can reasonably be expected to correct an error once it has been discovered. But based on your posts you, and FireDancer, expect the server to know when they pick up the food that it's been prepared wrong.

I am more than happy to correct mistakes that I could not see. I usually try to give a table 3 or 4 minutes before I go back to check on them and make sure everything is all right. But there is no way that a cook, even a great one, is going to get every single order done perfectly every single time. That is a ridiculous assumption. And if a server can't see that something is wrong he/she can't fix it before it's taken to the customer. If I can see that something is wrong (ex. cheese on a burger when no cheese was ordered) I won't even take it out. I'll tell the cook and ask him to fix it ASAP, then I go to the table and explain to the customer what happened. But if it's something I can't see, it's up to the customer to let me know when I check on them.

 

[LoraJ]

We tip 20% on the bill including the tax. I tip 10% for to go orders and tip at least $5 for delivery.

The other day I was really annoyed at Dave & Buster's. I ordered a drink at the bar and paid cash. They guy told me how much it was and then I left him $2. DH told me later that the price included gratuity, so I double tipped the guy. Everyone was leaving him tips and the bartender was trashing the receipts and not giving them to people. The drink menu did not have prices in it, which is why I did not catch on. Next time I go there I am using a credit card. They should put a sign somewhere saying gratuity included. That bartender has quite a little racket going on there.

 

[kaytieeldr]

WHY not tip fairly, that if fast food workers(not including Sonic of course) don't get tips, no one else should in this world either that does the SAME OR LESS AMOUNT OF WORK.

Uh, look, if you don't want to tip, fine.

But turn around your 'theory'. Let's make it "if table service* servers get tips, fast food workers should as well; after all, they do the same or less work and fair's fair".

Of course, your 'theory' completely ignores the fact that the table service server does more work. In the fast food restaurant, it's the cashier's JOB to ALSO grab the food and bag the order. When you walk up to the counter, YOU then go get your own napkins, straws, condiments, often drink. The cashier simply selects and bags already-prepped food items, takes your money, gives you the bag and any change.

The table service server who takes a to-go order has to place that order using exactly the same procedure used for seated diners. She can't simply press a photograph on the cash register and expect to turn around and grab the already-prepared item off the shelf. She has to check on your order while also serving her in-house customers - it's not just sitting under the heat lamps waiting for her.

She has to 'deliver' the order twice - once when the food is ready, checking it and packing it (correctly, by the way, with heavier items on the bottom because, sakes alive, the customer whose dessert got crushed would be on the phone screaming) and including any/all needed items for which the kitchen isn't responsible, and a second time delivering it to the customer just as she does with her seated customers.

I haven't seen any server suggest tipping the normal 15%-20% for a dine in meal when they process the order for the customer who, in my opinion, is likely as not getting the order to go simply to avoid tipping (not that they'd mind ) - they're just saying they wouldn't mind a couple of bucks' as a token of the customer's gratitude for the service received.

Interesting that you exclude Sonic workers from your nontipped fast food assumption - why? Because they deliver the food to you? Well, guess what - in the restaurant, the server is delivering the food to you. Yes, really.

 

[Springs1]

Well, when it's obvious that the to-go customer is telling HER her service to them is not worth anything...
Um, possibly because, despite the proliferation of tip cups at fast food locations now, tipping for fast food is NOT customary?

Tipping for fast food isn't customary has NOTHING AT ALL to do with tipping THE FAIR WAY, based on being fair and what **AMOUNT OF WORK** has been done.

Wrong. IT'S NOT FAST FOOD. It's table service food that the customer opts, for whatever reason, to take home instead. Often, frankly, that reason is to avoid tipping.

FOOD IS FOOD, fast food or not has NOTHING at all to do with the AMOUNT OF WORK AND EFFORT that was put into it. WHY would any mention something like this?

You have no idea why the order was put in at x time.

YES I DO. I am not stupid, please don't act like I have no knowledge about to-go orders. I have read comments on message boards about what goes into them.

You also have no idea that/whether your watch matches the register's time - you know, the time that matters?

While that is true, I can still ask the to-go server or bartender what time do they have on their register before I would make a complaint.

I don't know where you get the idea that the quoted poster thinks people tip based on other peoples' service.

Read this and you will understand completely:

A couple of extra $$ from the customer was really appreciated, especially since getting their order ready was taking time away from my sit-down customers who might be needing refills on their drinks, wanting dessert, etc.

The dining-in customer's service is being altered she is saying that we should consider that as to-go customers, which we shouldn't since that has nothing to do with "OUR" service, we don't think about that or even fathom considering that concept. She considers it, because that's her way she makes the most money is the dining-in customers, not the to-go customers, so she's only concerned with making money and not about anyone else's feelings or time or service.

People should tip on their own service - and yes, that includes to-go or take-out from a table service restaurant.

WHY? They didn't do ANY MORE WORK than a fast food cashier does when you pick up your food INSIDE that is? It's the same or less work, so no tip should EVER be given for that, otherwise, it would be VERY UNFAIR to.

Were you provided with service?

Fast food counter service is what I am being provided when I pick up my take-out order at the counter, nothing more and sometimes even less service than fast food cashiers do.

You strongly seem to be advocating NOT tipping on service YOU receive.

Not tipping for FAST FOOD CASHIER type of service. If I get more service than a fast food cashier does to hand me my food at the counter, I will tip, such as Sonic or if they deliver my food to my house or car if the order is correct that is.

I'm confused. Did the other customer get TWO orders of chips & salsa and never any ranch?

Sort of. Our waitress took their order, they said they wanted chips n' salsa with a side of ranch. Another server(a waiter) delivered them the chips n' salsa without the ranch. The guy customer at the table said to that waiter "I ordered a side of ranch." Then, obviously no communcation was given, our waitress brought them out another set of chips n' salsa thinking it wasn't even delivered yet without the ranch of all things. That meant, she didn't even compare her written order to what she was bringing out and wasted her time once again, because the order wasn't obviously correct. I know she didn't say she was sorry for it at that time, because we were right next to them as I would have if I would have been the waitress in that situation.

I said "Taking away time from your other customers has ZERO to do with service."

Fine, it doesn't.

If you agree with me, WHY are you asking me "I don't know where you get the idea that the quoted poster thinks people tip based on other peoples' service?"

Now do you see where she gets that idea from?

YOU should be tipping for YOUR service - even if it's carside to go, or you walk into the restaurant and place a take-out order.

Placing a take-out order walking in is EXACTLY like fast food cashier service at the counter, so NO, I wouldn't want to tip unfairly that if I can't tip that Wendy's cashier to put together my burger as she did for me, I am sure not going to tip a to-go server that isn't bringing my food to my car or house. Handing the food to you right at the counter is just like getting your food to-go at McDonald's. WHY should anyone tip for sometimes LESS WORK and EFFORT being put into the job even? At Applebee's, they have an all-in-one napkin-utensil-salt n'pepper packet bag, which McDonald's cashiers have to give you the utensils in separate boxes as well as sometimes they keep the salt n' pepper packets behind the counter.

Nobody - including her - indicates the to-go customer should tip because she can't service her tables at the same time she's servicing the to-go customer.

Then what do you call this?:

A couple of extra $$ from the customer was really appreciated, especially since getting their order ready was taking time away from my sit-down customers who might be needing refills on their drinks, wanting dessert, etc.

Taking time away from my SIT-DOWN CUSTOMERS. What does that say to you? Saying that indicates her sit-down customers have more importance to her, which we all know it's due to her tips she would be making with them vs. the little if any tips made from to-go orders. As if to-go customers are chopped liver and the dine in guest are kings or queens is the way I take it.

The latter should tip because they received service from a server at a table service restaurant - maybe not as much as if they dined in, but a couple of bucks for being on the receiving end of service is, as she states, appreciated.

WHY? FOOD IS FOOD, DRINKS ARE DRINKS REGARDLESS OF WHERE THEY ARE SERVED. THE SERVICE IS THE SAME OR LESS.

That's the fast food restaurant employee's job.

I am not understanding what you mean by this?

You have NO idea how much work the table service restaurant server did to place and prep your order.

YES I DO. If you are so smart, tell me all the things necessary to give me let's say 2 pasta sides to-go for example. Some of the condiments for certain orders are already pre-poured and just have to be taken out the refrigerator when ordered.

So, from this description it sounds like she does everything she'd do for a seated customer except clear the table - and you don't think that's worth a tip????????????????????????????????????????

NO, she didn't do much of anything like a seated customer. Where have you been? Do you EVER eat out, EVER?

1. Refills - none
2. Checking up on the customers - none
3. Bringing food to a person's table is NOT the same at all as having to walk yourself to the counter to pick it up, is it?
4. Bringing you the check and then making a trip back to ring it up. Then making a trip back to give you your change or credit card receipt.
5. Bringing things that are mistakes back and forth to a table if they are any vs. the counter where there is not much walking involved.
6. Bringing drinks from the bar to your table if they were ordered.
7. If you ask for extra napkins or a condiment that wasn't ordered when you originally ordered, that takes extra trips to the table vs. the counter, less walking.
8. No bringing you refills on free bread or chips n' salsa if it's free if it's a certain restaurant that has that, which means more walking.

Clearing the table is NOT service unless I am still there, so WHY mention that? Service is what benefits the customer, so if you are talking about clearing the table after I have left, that's not part of my service is it?

So I have NO CLUE WHERE do you get that she does everything except clear the table? She doesn't do very much for a to-go order unlike customers eating inside. Think of the walking back and forth to the customer's table vs. just talking a few feet at the counter. NOT THE SAME AT ALL. Especially, do you realize how many free refills people get at table service?

As are you.

WHY shouldn't I considering it's MY SERVICE? I am not tipping based on someone's pay. I am tipping based on the amount of WORK and EFFORT they have provided me. I compare it to other people in this world that do the same work for no tip and tip fairly. If I can't tip the McDonald's cashier to serve me that hotcakes and sausage, I am certainly not going to tip the to-go server at Chili's to hand me that pasta dish. It wouldn't be fair if I did.

You obviously have no table service experience.

NO, you obviously have no table service experience to say that to-go service is the same amount of work(except for clearing the table) as a dine in customer has. No one in their right mind would say that if you had table service experience, as a customer or as a server. Do you think refills are no work? Obviously you do. You think bringing the check to the customer's table is no work, then making another trip to the table to get their method of payment, and then bringing back their change or credit card receipt is no work? Look at all those trips. Where have you been all of this time? Do you EVER eat out?

Split tips are policy at some restaurants, and many bars - and there are no fights. Really. Why in the world would you think fights would suddenly break out among mature, experienced adults???

NO, tipping OUT from SALES, are at MANY restaurants, NOT splitting the tips evenly. Most restaurants don't have splitting tips. They have the servers tip out of SALES, NOT TIPS, a certain percentage to the bartender, hostess/host, busser, bartender, food runner if there are any(some restaurants have other servers running each other's food, which in that case, no tipping is involved with that other server), etc.

As far as fights go, if that were so, they would be, because if I served more to-go customers than you, WHY should you get part of that tip that (I) did all the prep work for? Adults don't fight, give me a break? Most people that work in restaurants aren't mature adults, they are just getting out of high school or just starting college.

That's why they have a policy that servers tip-out from sales at most restaurants and not from the tips themselves, because one person may say they did more work than the other. They may say how unfair it is that they get part of my tip and all they did was bring them a straw for example.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Think about it. Let's say I get a pasta dish from Applebee's to-go and pick it up inside. That's LESS WORK than a McDonald's cashier had to do getting me all those things for my hot cakes and sausage. HOW is that "FAIR" to give them a tip for doing almost NOTHING compared to that McDonald's cashier that did WAYYY MORE WORK?

How? You tell the server what you want and it magically appears on the podium moments later, all packed and ready to go? Really?

Again, fast food workers earn at least minimum wage. Restaurant servers don't. Go ahead - refuse to tip; continue making excuses to justify your refusal to tip anything to a restaurant server for taking, prepping, packing, and delivering the order.

But stop arguing this point of view as if it's legitimate, or in ANY way considerate of the service received.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Don't you think you should tip more if let's say you order something that requires the server to do more work when you are dining inside? I would want to pay the server and have paid servers more when they went all out for me vs. times where I may have ordered a dish "AS IS" when I didn't ask for much or any refills even. It make sense that if the person went through more trouble for you, don't you think you would want more money if you did more for the customer? I would hate to know if I would go all out for a customer getting them this and that, giving them good service(let's say they gave me a comment about that my service I would have provided them was excellent), then the tip comes, it's not even 20%, which I would think if I had an excellent review being that I would have gone all out for them by them being a more needy customer than some such as getting them lots of refills, extra condiments, etc., I would feel I would have DESERVED MORE than 20% considering I would have been told in their opinion the service was excellent?

Huh?????? I'm wide awake, and I'm intelligent, and statement makes no sense.

 

[kaytieeldr]

That's why if someone let's say gets a beer at a nightclub(meaning they are being served it, they are being handed it right by them that the bartender doesn't have to walk anywhere to serve it to them like a server does or like a bartender would if you would be actually sitting at the bar), no tip should be given. What did they do?

Let me try this again. YOU ARE BEING PROVIDED A SERVICE by SOMEONE IN THE SERVICE INDUSTRY WHO IT'S CUSTOMARY TO TIP. Period.

Please stop trying to justify your refusal to tip.

 

[MIGrandma]

Huh?????? I'm wide awake, and I'm intelligent, and statement makes no sense.

You're catching on.

PM me, if you want, and I'll fill you in on details.

 

[Springs1]

Of course, your 'theory' completely ignores the fact that the table service server does more work.

No they don't.

When you walk up to the counter, YOU then go get your own napkins, straws, condiments, often drink.

Not all condiments. I have had MANY of times asked McDonald's and Burger King cashiers over the MANY YEARS get me a cup with some tartar sauce, mayonnaise, and mustard. I have also many times gotten extra special sauce for the big mac many of times as well, which lots of times the CASHIER did that for me, NOT the people in the back.

As far as drinks go, at most Wendy's and in the malls, there are no self-serve soft drink areas, so the cashiers STILL fill your cup with ice and drink for you.

Until all fast food restaurants have self-serve soft drink areas, I will still count that as the same work at as a to-go server has to do.

Sometimes if they are out of napkins or straws, the cashier behind the counter has to get you them. I have had to do that before.

The cashier simply selects and bags already-prepped food items, takes your money, gives you the bag and any change.

Some of the food is not already prepared. As I stated before, the KFC CASHIER I SAW WITH MY OWN 2 EYES, put in the bucket my chicken, biscuits in the container with the thong, and my baked macaronni in the container.

I also have had a Wendy's cashier put together my burger RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME AND MY HUSBAND. She put together his too. She didn't cook my burger just as the to-go server didn't cook the burger, but she actually put that burger together, which the to-go server doesn't.

She filled my cup with ice and dr. pepper. My husband got diet cup with ice in a cup. She rung us up and gave us change. The only thing she didn't do was give us the fries, that's it.

The table service server who takes a to-go order has to place that order using exactly the same procedure used for seated diners. She can't simply press a photograph on the cash register and expect to turn around and grab the already-prepared item off the shelf. She has to check on your order while also serving her in-house customers - it's not just sitting under the heat lamps waiting for her.

The fast food cashier has to check on the order. Where do you get that from they don't?

The food isn't sitting under heat lamps all the time at fast food restaurants. As I said before, the cashiers have put together our food before.

She has to 'deliver' the order twice - once when the food is ready, checking it and packing it (correctly, by the way, with heavier items on the bottom because, sakes alive, the customer whose dessert got crushed would be on the phone screaming) and including any/all needed items for which the kitchen isn't responsible, and a second time delivering it to the customer just as she does with her seated customers.

The person at a fast food place would be screaming as well. I see no difference in the service here.

The fast food cashier has to check the order twice if they want to do a good job. WHERE do you get that fast food cashiers shouldn't or don't check the orders?

I haven't seen any server suggest tipping the normal 15%-20% for a dine in meal when they process the order for the customer who, in my opinion, is likely as not getting the order to go simply to avoid tipping (not that they'd mind ) - they're just saying they wouldn't mind a couple of bucks' as a token of the customer's gratitude for the service received.

WHY? They aren't doing more work than a fast food worker(not including Sonic), so WHY should I tip for a to-go order when I pick it up inside?

Interesting that you exclude Sonic workers from your nontipped fast food assumption - why? Because they deliver the food to you? Well, guess what - in the restaurant, the server is delivering the food to you. Yes, really.

NO, NOT REALLY. If they are handing me the bag at the counter, HOW in the world is that the same as BRINGING it OUTSIDE in the HEAT, COLD, RAIN, ETC.? It's NOT!! How is it the same as taking your credit card or cash and having to go back inside to ring you up, then having to go back outside to bring you your change or credit card receipt w/credit card back?

Now Sonic now-a-days does have a credit card machine at the terminals, but if you pay with cash, they have to make an extra trip to give you your change.

The server isn't delivering food to me at the counter, I am WALKING TO GET IT MYSELF. HOW is that delivery? It's not.

If I get a pizza delivered to my house, that's delivery. If I get my to-go order brought to my car at Applebee's car-side-to-go, I am getting my food delivered that I don't have to get out of my car unlike if I go inside to pick up the food. Then I am doing all of the work walking inside to get it, so HOW in the world can you call that "DELIVERY?" Fast food cashiers hand you the food in the same exact manner, no more, no less.

 

[paintnolish]

I would LOVE any of you that justify baseless poor tipping to spend one night serving. It seems that'd be the only way you'd understand. I worked in fast food when I was a teen. It was not nearly as demanding as serving in fine dining. Before that, I also worked at a family restaurant and can tell you each experience got progressively more difficult, requiring more knowledge and work.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Basing tipping on what a person gets paid an hour is VERY unfair and I think it is stupid.

Refusing to tip, and attempting to lamely justify this refusal, is what's stupid. You KNOW it's customary to tip restaurant servers and bartenders and cocktail servers - but because YOU don't feel they did "enough" work, you refuse to tip.

You're being provided with a service - whether it's somebody processing your takeout order from start to finish, or preparing a drink (ANY drink, since it's not the bartender's responsibility that you ordered something you consider 'too easy' to deserve a tip), or bringing you a drink and a napkin. In this country it is customary to tip for these services.

Don't you think when you work that if you did more work you should get more? Don't you think it's unfair that you did more work serving that food and drinks at Wendy's that you don't receive a tip, but that to-go server gets a couple of bucks for handing me a pasta dish? You don't see that at all? ?

If I had more responsibility, more duties, sure. But simply because I can process the work faster than the person next to me? No.

But we're not talking about the business world. The Wendy's worker isn't doing "more" work to serve you. They're doing their ASSIGNED work. You seem to think the fast food worker does more work than the restaurant server. You forget, among other things, that the fast food worker is serving ONLY you and satisfying only YOUR needs during YOUR direct transaction. The restaurant server is doing work especially for you - atypical work, given that the typical work a restaurant server does is serve seated customers - in addition to giving all those seated customers the proper attention.

You have special requests dining in a restaurant and feel the server deserves a higher tip? Great. Why don't you feel that your ULTRA special request - placing, prepping, and delivering YOUR order - is deserving of SOME gratuity, i.e. [monetary] display of gratitude???

But, given your outlook - go ahead and tip the Wendy's worker. Simply because it's not customary is NO excuse not to tip

Tipping for fast food isn't customary has NOTHING AT ALL to do with tipping THE FAIR WAY,

Again, go ahead and tip the fast food worker.

The dining-in customer's service is being altered she is saying that we should consider that as to-go customers, which we shouldn't since that has nothing to do with "OUR" service,

Fine. Forget what you inferred from what she said. You are getting service in a table-service restaurant. Tip. Period.

Handing the food to you right at the counter

That's not 'the counter'. It's the podium. Its primary purpose is as the Greeter Station. Table service restaurants don't HAVE a 'counter'; no server can take an order and select and pack it within steps of the customer and within full view of the customer and within just a minute or two. It all requires MORE work in a restaurant than in a fast food location. And, so, you tip for service. Well, not you - but many people.

That's the fast food restaurant employee's job.

I am not understanding what you mean by this?

The fast food cashier is also the fast food order-packer. It's all a normal part of the job - to do both/do it all. The restaurant server's normal job is to serve customers seated at tables. They are providing YOU with special service by taking and processing your order.

Again, don't tip. But stop trying to justify your refusal. Or eat at Wendy's.

YES I DO. If you are so smart, tell me all the things necessary to give me let's say 2 pasta sides to-go for example. Some of the condiments for certain orders are already pre-poured and just have to be taken out the refrigerator when ordered.

Thanks. I actually am pretty darned intelligent. But since I don't have restaurant experience, I'll have to defer to a server on this one - although MIGrandma gave a pretty clear overall example a few pages back.

I wouldn't want to tip unfairly that if I can't tip that Wendy's cashier to put together my burger as she did for me,

Next time I go to Wendy's, I'll go inside and make a SPECIAL request - and see if the cashier puts together my burger.

Never have seen that, at least not in any location concerned with health codes or sanitation.

Do you think refills are no work? Obviously you do.

No. Nobody (from what I can read) is advocating tipping 15% or 20% or more for a take out order*. I believe the exact words - with no qualifiers, no excuses, no explanations - were, "a couple of bucks would be appreciated".

Again, if you choose not to tip for take-out, just don't.

*Not that anyone would object to being tipped more

 

[Springs1]

Again, fast food workers earn at least minimum wage. Restaurant servers don't.

Not always, read and weep:

http://www.fohguild.org/forums/general/29367-take-out-tipping-9.html?highlight=takeout

06-28-07
Korioni said:
“I currently work for Chili’s, and this is how it goes:

Hostess: starts at 7.50 an hour
Busser: 2.80 an hour + 2.5% of the restraunt’s total sales during their shift, split between any bussers clocked in. (the later comes directly out of the server’s tips)
Server: 2.15 an hour + tips.
Cook: Starts at 8.50 an hour.
Bartender: Hourly wage and gets a portion of their sales.
Expo: Hourly wage and gets tipped out by servers.

TOGO: 7.00 per hour + their own tips(not tipped out by servers)”

So GEE, SOME of these TO-GO servers get paid MORE than MINIMUM WAGE.

WHY should it matter WHAT amount they make per hour if the SAME OR LESS amount of work has been provided? HOW is that fair for the CUSTOMER to tip someone based on their pay instead of the work when the person that does more work doesn't get a tip? It's not fair or morally right.

delivering the order.

They aren't "DELIVERING" my order if I go inside to pick it up off the counter.

 

[Bay Hill]

10th Anniversary Trip...12-31 Dec 09

 

[Art 1]

I tip 20%, why not.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Until all fast food restaurants have self-serve soft drink areas, I will still count that as the same work at as a to-go server has to do.

Then START tipping the fast food worker. Don't claim you can't, or don't, or won't, simply because it's not customary.

Some of the food is not already prepared. As I stated before, the KFC CASHIER I SAW WITH MY OWN 2 EYES, put in the bucket my chicken, biscuits in the container with the thong, and my baked macaronni in the container.

Because all that is part of that worker's job/job description.
Did you tip her?