Lets discuss tipping

[Jameseypoo 5,000+ posts]

The main point is... if you don't want to tip, don't go to a full service restaurant. Either make it to-go like you previously said or go to a place where you order at the counter, take your food to your seat, fill up your own drinks, and then throw away your trash when you're finished.

 

[delvryboy 5,000+ posts]

Really? Why? Who is it for?

It's usually the wait staff that puts the order together.

 

[2kchevy06civic 5,000+ posts]

I don't know what's been said and I don't care to read 14 pages but I don't tip if the person doesn't deserve it. I don't see why you should tip someone who gives you shitty service. I'm sorry that they can't get a different job, that's a choice they decided to make for them and them alone. If you can't refill my drinks on a regular basis or get extra napkins etc, I feel you have failed at your job and do not deserve a tip.

Now that being said, the people who actually do a good job and are very friendly/kind I usually give them 20%.

 

[.::DuD3::. 10+ year member]

I don't know what's been said and I don't care to read 14 pages but I don't tip if the person doesn't deserve it. I don't see why you should tip someone who gives you shitty service. I'm sorry that they can't get a different job, that's a choice they decided to make for them and them alone. If you can't refill my drinks on a regular basis or get extra napkins etc, I feel you have failed at your job and do not deserve a tip.
Now that being said, the people who actually do a good job and are very friendly/kind I usually give them 20%.

I'm the same way. You have to show effort to get money from me.

 

[GoochJuice]

The main point is... if you don't want to tip, don't go to a full service restaurant. Either make it to-go like you previously said or go to a place where you order at the counter, take your food to your seat, fill up your own drinks, and then throw away your trash when you're finished.

too all the servers in this thread. i have actually cleaned up my own trash before off my table, wiped the table down, and taken it outside to throw it away, stacked my plates on top of each other with all the forks and spoons and knifes on the top plate, all at full service restaurants. that and a tip that i leave, i would hope you guys never spit in my food as a joke...

 

[mattf 5,000+ posts]

I think some waiters need to get off their high horse. You chose the job, so if you want a tip you better earn it. There is no way I'm giving anyone who does a shitty job a tip just because they expect it.

 

[Duke 10+ year member]

I think some waiters need to get off their high horse. You chose the job, so if you want a tip you better earn it. There is no way I'm giving anyone who does a shitty job a tip just because they expect it.

Well put.

 

[Jameseypoo 5,000+ posts]

too all the servers in this thread. i have actually cleaned up my own trash before off my table, wiped the table down, and taken it outside to throw it away, stacked my plates on top of each other with all the forks and spoons and knifes on the top plate, all at full service restaurants. that and a tip that i leave, i would hope you guys never spit in my food as a joke...

I've never spit in anybody's food or seen food get spit into. However.. at every place I've ever served I have seen food dropped on the ground and put back on the plate by the kitchen people. Has anybody ever seen the move "waiting"... I would say all the places I have served/bartended at are along the lines of this movie besides the grossness they put on people's food.

 

[Jameseypoo 5,000+ posts]

I think some waiters need to get off their high horse. You chose the job, so if you want a tip you better earn it. There is no way I'm giving anyone who does a shitty job a tip just because they expect it.

And that makes perfect sense. Like I was saying, we're pretty much in business for ourselves. We do a shitty job, we go home with empty pockets.

 

[Jmac 10+ year member]

fukk.... 2-3 bucks an hour? what is the minimum wage in america? up in canada, im gettin 8 an hour (minimum wage) plus all the tips i (doing a delivery job)... usually like 40-50 in tips + whater the 8*hours i work is a night

I know ... I think it's terrible how little the minimum wage is in America. $8/hour is peanuts here; I couldn't even begin to imagine how hard it would be to try to make a living off of $5/hour or less ...
Anyways, I tip based on service.

0% for failing to meet expectations

10% for meeting expectations

20% for exceeding expectations

For the record, I get tipped all the time fixing computers and I make a lot more than minimum wage. Makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside to walk home w/ an extra $50-$100 a week.

 

[PowerNaudio 10+ year member]

i love going with my wife to nice restaurants where the waiter/waitress take my order with the most respect with a light conversation and regards to what i want to eat/drink, i mean im not talking about 5 start restaurants. just some of the nice ones around my area. i go to a restaurant first because neither me or my wife wants to prepare a meal, i want to relax eat and drink and you want it to be a treat. i tip the waiter/waitress accordingly, as to how i feel i was treated and served. if they did a great job. they get a $20, if they did a lousy job, they only get $5 , if the waiter/waitress was bad i make sure i dont get him/her next time and tip accordingly to the service, last time me and my wife went to our favorite restaurant they made us feel like we were at a five star restaurant and even the waitress that wasn't serving us came by to see if everything was according to our liking. which just happened to be the same waitress that treated us last time.

i love going there. if they give you a good service, tip them like it, they earned it. they are the only interaction between the food and you. so you never know what could happen to your food in the way from the kitchen to your table.

 

[dbhittin 5,000+ posts]

i think maybe people should get a different job other than relying on peoples tips.. why should i have to pay someone to bring my food to me? thats there job.. id walk up to the counter and pick my shit up if i could

 

[19psi 10+ year member]

I am afraid we have no dined at the same resturants, or had the same experiences. I have not found a signifcant decrease in the quality of service between the $50 per person returant and the $6 per person resturant, except perhaps the atmosphere. And that is not a function of the waiter's service. I found this to be true in the several different states of a variety of cusines at a variety of price points. I believe the server is being tipped for things that are not a function of their performance.
Here's why, I asked several people I know if the tip changes in any of these circumstances

1. Climate of Resturant (too hot, too cold)

2. The timing of the food

3. The quality of tea, soft drinks, mixed drinks

4. The quality of the food

5. The ambience of the resturant

6. Time until being seated.

I asked all the people to list 10 things that influence the tip. 76% of them included at least one item, upon further examination, was not a function of the sever's performance, but of the resturant's performance. Therefore, you are over-tipping if you base your tip on the RESTURANT's perfomance over the SEVER's performance. In which case one can over - or under-tip unfairly. If you are going to tip, you should have metrics which grade the individual's server's performance.

Here is a short list of things that do influence the tip, and are based on the server's performance

1. Did the waiter remember it or write it down. Extra tip for memorizing

2. Did the waiter hand the person the food they ordered, or did the discussion go "Beef Tips?", "Oh, that's John's"

3. Attire of the sever

4. Attitude of the server

5. Did the server chew gum

6. Was the server attentive to one's needs

7. Knowlegde of daily specials

8. Knowledge of the catch of the day...(even though most people don't order it. I don't understand why it matters, but it does)

Needless to say, you will probably say (like my professor) that I need more observations. But he does agree that the majority of customers who tip "on service" (by their own admission) do not accuratley grade the server's performance.

- Does the preparer at Burger King mess up the order or does the counter person record it incorrectly?

And I have never needed help with a menu. I dunno, it's just me I guess.

the reason you don't see a difference in service is becuase the waiters are trying to earn a tip. if htey knew you are a cheap bastard, then your service will ****.

if you consistently go to the same restaurant and repeatedly screw your waiter, they will soon remember you and then you will see the quality of your service decrease. you'll be sitting there with an empty cup, maybe the wrong order, waiting for the check, etc.

that's why waiters get tipped, to make sure that doesnt' happen.

when i waited tables, there were a few people who always tipped like shit, and we remembered them. i made sure to always take as long as possible on everything for them, as i knew it wasn't going to do me any good to be on point at all, as i would receive the same amount of money no matter what. i let their glasses go dry, i delayed putting in their order, i never bussed their table, i never checked on their food, i basically ignored them. i was hoping they would never come back, so that i wouldn't waste an hour on them not making any money while good paying customers were sitting somewhere else.

 

[tRidiot 10+ year member]

^^^ See, that above situation was a challenge to me. When I waited tables, I used to work extra hard for those people to see if I could impress them enough to get a decent tip out of them. I usually managed to do so, I don't recall getting stiffed very many times when I was waiting tables. However, considering the extra effort I had to put forth to get that $1-2 extra, perhaps it wasn't worth it from a time/effort vs. money perspective, but it did make me feel good that they found my service better than my fellow waiters/waitresses who had poor tips before. Sometimes it felt really good when they came back in and specifically asked to be seated in my section.

I always try to keep in mind how hard the work in the foodservice industry is, and try to tip fairly well. I almost always leave 10-15%, and if the service was pleasant and I didn't have to continually ask for drink refills (I empty my tea glass very quickly unless it's a 24-32 oz glass, lol), then I'll usually tip 20-25%. Places that my wife and I frequent I find we get very good service, as they likely remember us as "good tippers". That makes me happy. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

I also currently am working at a restaurant part-time as a steak cook and I know most of our waitresses are struggling to make ends meet... single moms, college students, hell, our dishwasher works 2 jobs and about 80 hours a week. Several of our single mom waitresses are also going to school, trying to get a better career... these girls work HARD for their money, and get treated like shit as often as not. Unfortunately, once people have moved on up the corporate ladder, or if they were fortunate enough in their family's economic position growing up that they never had to resort to foodservice work often forget how difficult and physically exhausting the work is, not to mention demoralizing and disgusting.

Try to remember that these folks are people, too, who are probably struggling to survive alot more than you may be. Being condescending or ambivalent about their efforts says alot more about you than it does about their service.

 

[Jmac 10+ year member]

the reason you don't see a difference in service is becuase the waiters are trying to earn a tip. if htey knew you are a cheap bastard, then your service will ****.if you consistently go to the same restaurant and repeatedly screw your waiter, they will soon remember you and then you will see the quality of your service decrease. you'll be sitting there with an empty cup, maybe the wrong order, waiting for the check, etc.

that's why waiters get tipped, to make sure that doesnt' happen.

when i waited tables, there were a few people who always tipped like shit, and we remembered them. i made sure to always take as long as possible on everything for them, as i knew it wasn't going to do me any good to be on point at all, as i would receive the same amount of money no matter what. i let their glasses go dry, i delayed putting in their order, i never bussed their table, i never checked on their food, i basically ignored them. i was hoping they would never come back, so that i wouldn't waste an hour on them not making any money while good paying customers were sitting somewhere else.

Basically, what you're saying is you're a colossal douchebag ...