Tipping at resturants

I'd say 95% of the time that is definitely the case. My wife used to work as a waitress. She had to drive about 30 miles to get to the restaurant, and sometimes she would wait on a table for a full meal, being efficient and pleasant, and she would only get a dollar tip. Sometimes her evening was just about enough to cover gas. Would any of you like to work essentially for free??

BTW, she eventually quit that job to work at a grocery store for minimum wage. Why? She took home more money.

People, if you at all have the ability to tip, please do.

 

Okay, let me go a step further. I worked at a radio station. We had a trade out at a small reastruant. I could eat lunch free Mon - Fri. On Fri I would eat at about 3 pm. On Mon I would eat lunch at 10 am. That would be in case I didnt eat on Sat and/or Sun. At BK what it cost for a "meal" I could eat at the all-you-can-eat salad bar. I tried to do that once a month.

I will agree that my circumstane at the time was an exception not the rule.

Salty

PS, I did not run the waitress to death. In fact, I prefered to be left alone. </font>[/QUOTE]My philosophy breaks down in this case. I was referring to people who had the ability to pay 5 bucks to get a fast food meal but choose to pay 15 to eat out whenever they can't pay a tip to the server.

 

Did someone say they didn't want to tip? I must have missed that post...

What I DID read was the AMOUNT of tipping depended on the service.

When I was a waitress and gave lousy service, I didn't expect a tip. Of course, I was an excellent waitress!

 

I Am Blessed, I think it was cojosh's post.

 

My apologies. I DID miss that post.

And I will add - shame on you!

Did you ever think that these people could not get another job, for one reason or another?

Many college students work in restaurants to help pay their tuition.

A single mother, with little or no education, works at a restaurant to support her children.

The reasons people work at restaurants are legion.

Where would we be without servers???

Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door.
James 5:9

 

Awww! Thank you! You just made my day!

Actually, my user name comes from the fact that I have 16 beautiful grandchildren.

I will be a Great Grandma in March!

§ue (I AM blessed!)

 

Sue, the unknown little secret that most bosses don't tell their waitresses...if your tips don't average to minimum wage, your boss has to make up for the difference. It's the law.

HOWEVER! I didn't work as a waitress because I wanted minimum wage. I worked because at times I could make $100-$150 an hour. I enjoyed it, and did an excellent job. The people who would request me, and got the service I provided, were the ones who would, listen up everyone, TIP WELL!

Like someone else mentioned, I dreaded working Sundays. I'm not allowed to tell you the names I had for Christians back then, especially the ones who left crummy tips INSIDE of tracts! That was THE worst. I used to threaten to put all the Christians on one side on Sundays, and make the waitresses who had complaints against them work on the Christian side. (joy of being the head waitress)

But anyhow, tip the waitress! Especially at cheapie places that sell meals for $5 - $12, the waitress is NOT going to be making much, and sometimes the cost of wearing clean decent clothes and keeping up your car to GET there is as much as you make when you get a place full of Christians...I mean, bad tippers.

 

**********************Simply because you don't want to tip is another way of saying

I'M CHEAP!
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I din't say I never tipped, I said I rarely tip. You want to know why? Read this post by Gina L:

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HOWEVER! I didn't work as a waitress because I wanted minimum wage. I worked because at times I could make $100-$150 an hour. *************************************************

Wow! My opinion stands folks. You can say shame shame all you want.

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And I will add - shame on you!

Did you ever think that these people could not get another job, for one reason or another?
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Did you ever think that working as a waiter/waitress, not knowing if you were going to bring home minimum wage is a type of gambling. That's right. It's like playing the lottery. People are just out there hoping that someone will give them enough money to live on.

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Many college students work in restaurants to help pay their tuition.
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Well, after they get their degrees they can come back to those restaurants and leave tips.


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A single mother, with little or no education, works at a restaurant to support her children.
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Maybe instead of leaving tips we should give all of our tip money to her.


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Where would we be without servers???
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Probably better off. I'd be at home eating where I belong and not getting fat.

Folks, I'm not trying to offend but this subject is one that I've discussed with waiters/waitresses many times. I always come to the same conclusion.

"Tipping" is a term used by corporations that can be defined as: fooling the workers into working for nothing and fooling the customers into paying the workers wages.

 

Well, if you think you're better off, cojosh, I'm sure all of the servers will agree that you should do what is better for you and stay home.

 

Even if it may not be the best set up...isn't it better to tip your server for their work, rather than come off as cheap? Isn't it better than continuing the thought that Christians are cheap and do not appreciate the hard work of their server?

 

I think we get better service because of tips. What incentive would a server have to give any better than average service if their wages were at a guaranteed point? I do think that a lot of servers get poor tips, so I'm a big proponent of tipping. Nevertheless, if your service is terrible, then by all means, don't give a good tip.

Don't kid yourself; we could ask the restaurant to pay the servers better, but then you'd have to pay the same price regardless of the quality of service. I don't want that. Case in point: look at the difference in service you get at a fast food restaurant compared to a normal restaurant. As long as we have a system of tips, then the server has the incentive to give you good service because they don't want to risk working for free. But to make the system work we need to tip our servers unless they give us truly bad service.

As far as getting very large tips, some restaurants and some regions of the country have patrons who tip better than in other places. By and large, servers aren't in it to get rich.

 

Like it or not, restaurants operate on the concept of tipping. If you aren't going to tip, you shouldn't accept such services. Using those services is part of an unspoken bargain, and you have broken your end of the bargain and been dishonest by refusing to tip.

 

Amen, Gina. You hit the nail on the head. Right or wrong, like it or not, tipping is part of the way the restaurant system works. If anyone has an honest conviction that this is so wrong they can't be a part of it (by leaving tips), then by all means don't be a part of it - stay at home and eat, go to your in-laws, or eat at a place that doesn't expect/require tipping!

 

Whilst I do tip generously, it does not alter the fact that it must always be my option to tip or not. I should not be called a cheat or dishonest because an industry is dishonest and totally disregards the hard work of its employees.

Cheers,

Jim

 

I was a waitress for a while. We tip well.

 

For one thing, it lets you reward good service.

Take pizza drivers for example: They provide their own vehicle, their own gas, etc., and must maintain a good driving record, as well as be intelligent enough to learn maps, areas, etc. I worked as a trainer for a national corporation in the metro DC area, and I will tell you that maybe 1 out of every 20 applicants were able to do that work. They work for minimum plus tips. If you don't want to tip, go pick it up yourself. If you get rude service or cold food, don't tip and make a phone call. (Trust me, management can cull out the scammers, and they are anxious to correct a problem.)

If I can't afford a tip (or just don't want to leave one), I will hop my happy little self into the car (or taxi), go to the grocery store, and buy food. Cans don't require refrigeration.

I've seen sales slump over a mere 3% increase in prices. I could imagine what would happen if one company decided to do the "right thing" and raised their prices by 20% to pay more. They wouldn't be in business very long.

Now, I was very good at what I did, and I was paid very well for it, as well as getting a lot of tips because I was good. However, the average person working for tips is not capable of that, and the ones that are leave because of lousy tips.

Now, I for one, was diligent enough that everyone always got my best effort. However, for the most part, waiters, waitresses, pizza drivers, etc., remember lousy tippers, and your service will be provided accordingly.

If you don't want to tip, please stay home.

Edited to add: Tipped employees have to report tips. If you don't, you will be audited. If you're audited, the IRS will go into the computer records (or written records) and will charge your income tax based upon 20% of the sales you served. Too bad cheap tippers don't realize what the IRS does.

 

Which is exactly what you get when a restaurant automatically adds a 15-20% "tip" to your bill.

This is one of my pet peeves because you have absolutely no control over the "reward" you deem appropriate for your server. (One small step towards socialism--make everybody EQUAL!)