Tipping while on the dining plan

[darnheather]

In UK we tip whatever amount we feel the service was worth, there is no fixed cost at all.

A percentage of the bill is a ridiculous way of doing it.

Its just a product of the tipping culture in USA. They just wanna tip everyone for simply doing their job

And I'm sure servers in the UK actually make a living wage. If restaurants wanted to pay waitstaff a living wage then the price of the meal would increase overall. So we pay tips and that makes us feel good because we know it's going directly to the person who served us not to the management/owners. It works in the US for those reasons. In the end though the price would be the same if not more if we didn't tip.

I know this thread is going to get locked, but I have to say not tipping at all just sounds mean and stingy to me. As a waiter didn't you (OP) ever have a bad day? Accidentally spill the soup, focused on bills so you forgot to bring out the bread? Service would have to be non-existent (to the point I had to get up and get my own drinks, ask the kitchen for my food, etc) before I tipped less than 15%. 20% is my norm.

 

[Zeppelin]

from what I read she states she does not feel she should have to tip on the amount of the bill, she stated it doesnt matter if you are serving a ten dollar burger or a hundred dollar shrimp sandwich you should not have to tip on the amount..Server has to pay taxes on the amount of the bill, so yes it does matter how much you tip..If you get bad service then leave less or in my eyes leave a penny, if you leave a penny the server knows they thought your service was bad..if you just leave abuck or two they think you are just cheap..Now me, its takes a horrible horrible server for me to leave less then twenty percent, but then again I am a server..

correct- she used it as a lead into an example of getting crappy service...

I know i am gonna get flamed for this but i really dont feel i should let the amount of my meal decide how much i should be obliged to leave the waitstaff. I have prevously waitressed in my past and i understood that the guest has no legal responsability to tip me for my service they are only required to pay for their meal. I accepted the position knowing the sad pay i would be receiving and still chose to accept the position. If i get crappy service on a $ 100 meal i am not going to leave more than a $5 tip maybe because the cost of my meal does not reflect on the service i received. It took the waitress the same effort to bring me a 10 dollar meal as it did to bring a 100 dollar one. Does anyone agree with me?

it reads to me its about the quality of service...

 

[ABtwinmommy]

Calling you cheap is an observation, not an attack. You're trying to do some internet debate kung fu here to cover up the fact that you're wrong. Tipping works the way it works whether or not cheap tightwads like it. If you want to pretend you got bad service to screw your server out of wages, that's on your karma, not mine.

Have a nice life being cheap. Maybe don't eat at sit down restaurants if you don't like tipping. The dollar menu at McD's might be more your style.

Who is pretending? Have you not ever received terrible service before?

I tip based on the service I recieve. 18-22% for satisfactory service. More for great service. Less for bad service. 99% of the time service is satisfactory or better. But on the rare occasion I receive really bad service, yes my tip will reflect that. I don't think that makes me cheap. Tips are not mandatory. I am not going to hand money to someone that made my dining experience terrible, sorry. And waitstaff should know that goes with the territory of the job they CHOSE to take. If you want a good tip from me then do a good job. I realize that many times they get stiffed from people they work hard to serve. Again, goes with the territory. Sorry for those people but that has nothing to do with me or the tip I leave. For me, good job = good tip. Bad job = bad tip. And I do mean a truly bad job. I am not nitpicky to justify leaving a bad tip, by any stretch of the imagination.

That said, I have to agree with the OP. I don't really get why the "rule" is a percentage of the bill necessarily. Especially at buffets where the "serving" is minimal. That is not to say I don't follow the "rule" (except with very poor service as stated above). But I don't really agree with it. Why should the tip be based on the price of food at a given restaurant? What does that have to do with the effort of the waitstaff necessarily?

 

[nikkyluvsmickey]

Something that has not been brought up in this wonderful discussion so far is the fact that at some restaurants servers HAVE to "tip out" other positions based on the amount of their sales at the end of the shift. For example the bussers and the bartenders. If you have never worked in a restaurant you probably would not know this. So lets say the total for your meal was $100 and your server has to tip out the bartender and busser 1% of your total....$2 not much but that comes out of the server's own tips so if you do not tip at all your server just had to pay $2 to serve you...the higher your ticket total the more out of pocket your server is. Where I live servers get paid $2.13 an hour. So if I had to wait on you at that hourly rate and then pay an addition $2 of my own money to serve you that would not be comforting at all IMO.

I am well aware of tipping out policy and you are incorrect the restaraunt does not go by what tip u were expected to receive they take the percent from your actually total from the evening. So if i received 100 bucks for the night they take the percent from that not from the expected tip per check that is rediculous

 

[nervous1sttimer]

I am well aware of tipping out policy and you are incorrect the restaraunt does not go by what tip u were expected to receive they take the percent from your actually total from the evening. So if i received 100 bucks for the night they take the percent from that not from the expected tip per check that is rediculous

You might think it is "rediculous" but it's actually how it works in 99% of restaurants. If it doesn't work that way where you work, consider yourself lucky (or ask yourself why your restaurant doesn't work the same way as 99% of other restaurants and does that say something about the establishment's quality/business practices).

Do you know how many people would lie about their tips if they could tip-out bar and kitchen only on their take? Management makes it a percentage of sales for a reason. Patrons like you screw servers. Servers like you screw bartenders. Been there, seen that.

 

[lauradis]

Wow its not shut down yet.. Mod must be off having fun today.

 

[thornton0511]

I am well aware of tipping out policy and you are incorrect the restaraunt does not go by what tip u were expected to receive they take the percent from your actually total from the evening. So if i received 100 bucks for the night they take the percent from that not from the expected tip per check that is rediculous

I think maybe you misunderstood what I was saying. If I was a server and I sold $700 worth of food/drink in one shift at the end of the shift I would have to pay the bartender $7 and the busser $7 or 1% of my sales for the shift. That $14 comes out of the tips that I received for the evening from customers. So what I am saying is that the amount you tip should depend on how much your total bill is because the higher you bill the higher the tip out is going to be for your server to have to pay. And this is not unusual at all.

 

[nikkyluvsmickey]

I think maybe you misunderstood what I was saying. If I was a server and I sold $700 worth of food/drink in one shift at the end of the shift I would have to pay the bartender $7 and the busser $7 or 1% of my sales for the shift. That $14 comes out of the tips that I received for the evening from customers. So what I am saying is that the amount you tip should depend on how much your total bill is because the higher you bill the higher the tip out is going to be for your server to have to pay. And this is not unusual at all.

I guess things are different in texas cause here in n.y. it is not done that way the tips are put into a jar in office as tables are cleared and then counted at end of night and then percentages are doled out to the bartender and bus help.

 

[thornton0511]

I guess things are different in texas cause here in n.y. it is not done that way the tips are put into a jar in office as tables are cleared and then counted at end of night and then percentages are doled out to the bartender and bus help.

No worries every place does it somewhat different I'm sure. I think at the end of the day we can all agree life would be more simple if companies would just pay all of their employees a just rate and not leave it up to you and me to determine what they should be paid lol

 

[markmcalear]

On average I will be in the restaurant for an hour yet my tip is expected to exceed the average hourly wage!?!?! Madness!!

 

[nikkyluvsmickey]

No worries every place does it somewhat different I'm sure. I think at the end of the day we can all agree life would be more simple if companies would just pay all of their employees a just rate and not leave it up to you and me to determine what they should be paid lol

Agreed

 

[lizzi6692]

Something that has not been brought up in this wonderful discussion so far is the fact that at some restaurants servers HAVE to "tip out" other positions based on the amount of their sales at the end of the shift. For example the bussers and the bartenders. If you have never worked in a restaurant you probably would not know this. So lets say the total for your meal was $100 and your server has to tip out the bartender and busser 1% of your total....$2 not much but that comes out of the server's own tips so if you do not tip at all your server just had to pay $2 to serve you...the higher your ticket total the more out of pocket your server is. Where I live servers get paid $2.13 an hour. So if I had to wait on you at that hourly rate and then pay an addition $2 of my own money to serve you that would not be comforting at all IMO.

This and servers are taxed on a certain percentage of the food sales at their table. That is the main reason tipping should be based on a percentage of your bill rather than a set amount, because that is how the server is taxed. Whether or not you tip that much they are required by law to claim it as income. And while tipping out policies may be different at different restaurants, the way servers are taxed is not.

 

[lizzi6692]

No worries every place does it somewhat different I'm sure. I think at the end of the day we can all agree life would be more simple if companies would just pay all of their employees a just rate and not leave it up to you and me to determine what they should be paid lol

And while that sounds great, how much would customers complain of a sudden the cost of food went up 20% to make up for not having to tip?

 

[nikkyluvsmickey]

And while that sounds great, how much would customers complain of a sudden the cost of food went up 20% to make up for not having to tip?

Evrything goes up gas,rent,groceries i think the world will live if waitstaff get paid a real wage even if the cost of the meal increases.

 

[MolonLabe]

On average I will be in the restaurant for an hour yet my tip is expected to exceed the average hourly wage!?!?! Madness!!

Order cheaper food then.

"average hourly wage"? Where? That doesn't even make any sense.

If you can't afford to tip, eat somewhere else. Stop stealing from the waitstaff.

 

[lizzi6692]

Evrything goes up gas,rent,groceries i think the world will live if waitstaff get paid a real wage even if the cost of the meal increases.

Things rarely go up 20% all at once. And it would put a lot of strain on small businesses in particular because they would lose customers because of it(and unlike larger businesses they don't have the ability to lose money for any length of time while kinks are worked out of the system) and then jobs would be lost as a result to make up for it.

 

[mom2my3kids]

The whole point of serving is the better you are the better tips you make..trust me I would not serve tables for minimum wage...I just work at a local breakfast place I dont do bad, been serving fifteen years so I know what I am doing..But I am not perfect I do make the rare mistake or someone just drinks down the soda so fast you have not even put the order in..so things do happen..Its the reason I stay, they are very flexable and with kids and vacations that helps..plus a majority of people are not jerks you meet alot of nice people..Everyone have a great day as I am sure this is going to be locked soon...

 

[nikkyluvsmickey]

Things rarely go up 20% all at once. And it would put a lot of strain on small businesses in particular because they would lose customers because of it(and unlike larger businesses they don't have the ability to lose money for any length of time while kinks are worked out of the system) and then jobs would be lost as a result to make up for it.

I disagree if the customer goes in willing to pay for the price of the meal and the tip originally but now finds the price is just for the meal why would they be upset? If i think the meal is too expensive i wont order it i will order something else but at least i am not obligated to pay the waitress to bring it to me. I dont think people will stop eating out if this practice changes.

 

[nikkyluvsmickey]

The whole point of serving is the better you are the better tips you make..trust me I would not serve tables for minimum wage...I just work at a local breakfast place I dont do bad, been serving fifteen years so I know what I am doing..But I am not perfect I do make the rare mistake or someone just drinks down the soda so fast you have not even put the order in..so things do happen..Its the reason I stay, they are very flexable and with kids and vacations that helps..plus a majority of people are not jerks you meet alot of nice people..Everyone have a great day as I am sure this is going to be locked soon...

I would serve tables for minimum wage anyday over working at wendys or some other fast food place.

 

[mom2my3kids]

I would serve tables for minimum wage anyday over working at wendys or some other fast food place.

LMAO yeah okay you go right ahead..