Yes, tipping at a fine restaurant doesnt compare to tipping the pizza guy. 
But you do you.
But you do you.
TIPPING - - SO OUT OF HAND NOW it's absurd!
- Thread starter chief38
- Start date
The owner of a self service business with a tip jar is putting the onus on the customer as the bad guy rather than taking the blame for paying low wages lol
In this part of the world tipping is not really known, and yet more and more frequently tip jars are appearing on bars and at service desks in the hospitality sector here.
On our 2018 trip we arrived in Albuquerque in constant light rain. We checked into our motel which was alongside a takeout. When I walked next door to grab our dinner I saw a group of around 4 or 5 hanging around a small table. When I left with our food was followed outside by one of them who muttered something to me about how the staff relied on tips to make a living. A bit intimidating to a Kiwi who comes from a culture where tipping is not common and had been told you tip "for service".
In Knoxville last year we stopped off for a coffee at a small place that would not take anything bigger than a $20 bill. All I had on me at the time were $50 and $100 notes so I used a card. It was one of those large screen terminals with the tip request option.
I must make a mental note for next year's trip to regularly call into banks and break those big notes down to more reasonably sized ones, as I know that where I do my currency exchange I'll just be given a stack of $50ks and $100's.
On our 2018 trip we arrived in Albuquerque in constant light rain. We checked into our motel which was alongside a takeout. When I walked next door to grab our dinner I saw a group of around 4 or 5 hanging around a small table. When I left with our food was followed outside by one of them who muttered something to me about how the staff relied on tips to make a living. A bit intimidating to a Kiwi who comes from a culture where tipping is not common and had been told you tip "for service".
In Knoxville last year we stopped off for a coffee at a small place that would not take anything bigger than a $20 bill. All I had on me at the time were $50 and $100 notes so I used a card. It was one of those large screen terminals with the tip request option.
I must make a mental note for next year's trip to regularly call into banks and break those big notes down to more reasonably sized ones, as I know that where I do my currency exchange I'll just be given a stack of $50ks and $100's.
Yes, tipping at a fine restaurant doesnt compare to tipping the pizza guy.
But you do you.
I think they compare. I treat them, in terms of the tip, exactly the same. I don't expect the same service, anymore than I expect the same quality of food, but, if they're pleasant and trying, they get 20%.
That's me doing me.
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Very true, when my daughter was 15 she started waitressing at a family style restaurant and seldom made for than $50 a night in tips. When she was 21, she was asked to work at a high end restaurant and did, make the big bucks. Pretty much paid for her last two years of college. Plus partied every night after the restaurant closed!
I almost always tip 20% rounded up to the next dollar. However, of I am in a group where we get charged the 18%, that's all they get. . Self service places, whede the machine asks for the tip, maybe 5% or so. I liked it in Spain and other European countries where the price is the price and a Euro for exceptional service was the rule.
It would be fine with me if US restaurants raised their price 20% and paid a better wageand eliminated tipping.. Of course, all these servers knocking down $500a night in busy places would be screaming blody murder when they get their $20 or $25 per hour and no tips.
Robert
It would be fine with me if US restaurants raised their price 20% and paid a better wageand eliminated tipping.. Of course, all these servers knocking down $500a night in busy places would be screaming blody murder when they get their $20 or $25 per hour and no tips.
Robert
Bully for you.
Services such as this and Uber Eats were handy for guys who worked unplanned double shifts covering for a missing coworker.
The gripe here is prepaid tips i.e. bribes. I know the ones who used this service would have raised hell at the thought.
You are correct.
BITD, at my first real job working for AT&T, we sent the foreman
to get food while working an all nighter to restore service after a major cable failure. Diners were open around the clock.I think they compare. I treat them, in terms of the tip, exactly the same. I don't expect the same service, anymore than I expect the same quality of food, but, if they're pleasant and trying, they get 20%.
That's me doing me.
Was talking more of the dollar amount, not percentage, but didn't make that clear.
Ingramite
Member
Every once in a while these tipping threads float to the surface. I look at them, I don't know why. I realize that either you get it, or you don't. If you don't get it, there's not much that you could read that would ever compel you to reach for your wallet.
I worked my way through school by part time gigs in the service industry. I know the front of the house and the back of the house. I worked for petty bosses who demanded favors from waitresses in order to get a "good shift". I worked in places that taxed tips on a percentage of the cash register at the end of the shift....and blamed it on the IRS.
I didn't specifically seek out these places but I have heard all about them from the folks that I worked with. That leaves me to believe that it's really not all that uncommon in the industry.
Today people can operate for days on end without a single dollar of cash in their wallet. I know because I've done it myself. Everything is paid electronically and it is a great convenience. This is facilitated by POINT OF SALE software like SQUARE......and these tipping screens that infuriate you are just a part of that POINT OF SALE program. If you don't want to tip, then just ignore them. If you are a miser looking for justification to stiff someone....this is your chance. But understand that your waitress didn't dream up and install that POINT OF SALE program on the restaurant cash register.
Is the glass half empty or half full?
It depends on which side of the bar you are working.
Are you doing the drinking or the pouring?
Today a few "nice" places here don't even list the prices on their menu. A couple just notate "POR" or price on request. Now, that's disturbing. Of course, the first time I noticed this on a menu I had to ask. Prices are rising so fast that the restaurant would go broke printing new menus every week. This practice was once reserved for selections like "Catch of the Day" or "Market Pricing".
I worked my way through school by part time gigs in the service industry. I know the front of the house and the back of the house. I worked for petty bosses who demanded favors from waitresses in order to get a "good shift". I worked in places that taxed tips on a percentage of the cash register at the end of the shift....and blamed it on the IRS.
I didn't specifically seek out these places but I have heard all about them from the folks that I worked with. That leaves me to believe that it's really not all that uncommon in the industry.
Today people can operate for days on end without a single dollar of cash in their wallet. I know because I've done it myself. Everything is paid electronically and it is a great convenience. This is facilitated by POINT OF SALE software like SQUARE......and these tipping screens that infuriate you are just a part of that POINT OF SALE program. If you don't want to tip, then just ignore them. If you are a miser looking for justification to stiff someone....this is your chance. But understand that your waitress didn't dream up and install that POINT OF SALE program on the restaurant cash register.
Is the glass half empty or half full?
It depends on which side of the bar you are working.
Are you doing the drinking or the pouring?
Today a few "nice" places here don't even list the prices on their menu. A couple just notate "POR" or price on request. Now, that's disturbing. Of course, the first time I noticed this on a menu I had to ask. Prices are rising so fast that the restaurant would go broke printing new menus every week. This practice was once reserved for selections like "Catch of the Day" or "Market Pricing".
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We go out to dinner at least once in every two weeks and have seen what you posted above. I also see some items on a menu listed as Market Price.
I usually tip fairly.........However! If my water/Tea glass stays empty. The tip goes from very low to zero.
I always order an ice tea at dinner. Many times including the last three nights, the bill came without the charge.
We always have the bill corrected and still tip correctly. The waitstaff seems surprised when we do so. I guess folks like freebees.
Stingy, tight? Hardly.
We always have the bill corrected and still tip correctly. The waitstaff seems surprised when we do so. I guess folks like freebees.
Stingy, tight? Hardly.
For medical reasons, I had to lay off alcoholic beverages entirely. With my medical issues, it pretty much leaves me with drinking unsweetened ice tea. At the service club I frequent the staff has been really great about keeping a jug of unsweetened ice tea ready for when I come in. Based on the price of the ice tea, a regular tip would be pretty skinny. I decided that the staff really does me a big favor by having good unsweetened ice tea available, and that they shouldn't suffer financially for my health issues. So my solution was to still tip the staff based on if I was still drinking beer. It doesn't break me and their assistance in improving my health is worth paying the tips as if I was still drinking beer.
daveyc
Member
Do you think one should feel compelled to Tip waitstaff in a state where servers are paid the difference between the tips they make and minimum wage on nights where they may not average whatever the minimum wage for that state is?
daveyc
Member
I remember when I was a young fella, there was this old timer who my dad would have breakfast with on the weekend. His policy was to put 3 one dollar bills underneath his coffee cup. every time his cup became empty one of those bills went back into his pocket. Of course, the staff knew his policy.
This was back when a full breakfast cost about $5-$6.
I think that a prearranged tip based on customer expectations is a much more fair proposition.
This was back when a full breakfast cost about $5-$6.
I think that a prearranged tip based on customer expectations is a much more fair proposition.
I was going to write that I don't ever feel compelled to tip, that it is always a choice, but then recalled how sometimes restaurants assign themselves a tip and you need to pay attention not to tip twice. If the tip is in there when they present you with the check, that's compelled.
But, to your question, I would say that just because waitstaff is guaranteed minimum wage would not dissuade me from choosing to tip. Minimum wage is lousy wages. So, sure, I would tip 20% for an expected level of server service, as usual, even if I knew waitstaff was guaranteed minimum wage.
I agree with this, but since it isn't generally how we do it in this country, think that we should continue tipping as individual diners.
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Ingramite
Member
Atta boy!
See, a question like that.....
I can't tell if that's a wedge or a chisel you got there in your hand.
Do you keep up on that type of intel to beat a tip?
I mean I would't even have thought of this angle.
In my feeble eyesight, beginning your question by asking if someone should feel compelled to tip, that sort of jams a stick in my spokes. I don't ever feel "compelled" by anything other than a job well done.....I don't keep up with what the state Wage & Hour Board is up to.
I'm glad that after 60 years in the workplace I've finally been promoted to working retail. No expectation of a tip there by God.
bulletslap
Member
Loyola Johnson on WFAA ?
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