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Tipping, a retarded idea or a great business practice?
Vladimir7
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Ok, so I found this new sandwich deli shop near my work last week. I decided to try it out, and went in to buy a sandwich for lunch. To my amazement the prices were fairly cheap (listed price as $3 for a turkey and ham 6" sub)
Anyways I place my order, they whip up the sub and ring up the tally.. $4.5. So I say, woah woah, the listed price is $3 + tax, so about $3.50) how the hell do you get $4.5 for this?
They said 'Oh, we just assumed you want to tip us, so we did the liberty of adding on a $1 tip'.
I said, excuse me? First of all, if I wanted to tip you I would decide how much I want to tip you, and it sure as hell wouldn't be a 33% tip.
Second of all, since you took the 'liberty' of adding on a $1 tip without asking me first, I am not giving you any tip whatsoever.
So I kept going back every day the rest of the week, ordering the sandwich and making a point in not tipping them at all. Each day I was receiving crappier and crappier service (which I assume is because I didn't tip them the other days). By friday I said I had enough of their crappy service and said you just lost a customer.
Which they said 'Good, you never tipped us anyways, we were basically just breaking even with you'
....
So this got me thinking, why the hell do we have tipping in the first place?
I recently visited Australia and there is absolutly no tipping there at all. No one ever tips anyone.
Why the hell don't we do that in NA?
If the general etiquette is to tip 10-15% and is almost expected these days, why the hell don't restuarants just raise the prices across the board by 10-15% and then not expect tips?
Waiters/waitresses ARE DOING THERE DAMN JOB why the hell should they get a tip?
When I worked as a meat cutter at Sobeys, I never got a tip for cutting someone a steak because that was my job and I was EXPECTED to do it.
So, from now on I don't think I am ever going to tip anyone again unless the person does something for me that is NOT in their job description that makes my life better/easier. I have worked at many different types of jobs and never got a tip.. not because I was horrible to customers -- in fact I often received quite a few good compliments from customers -- but because all my jobs are in industries that tips usually never happen.
The only reason I can think of is because minimum wage is lower for waitresses... well why is that? because tipping has become expected.
I find it hilarious how the higher end restaurants have MANDATORY tipping at 10-15%. HOW ABOUT YOU JUST RAISE THE DAMN PRICE ON MY STEAK INSTEAD. I will tip if I feel they did an EXCEPTIONAL job that is above and beyond what I expect from a normal waiter.
What are your guys thoughts?
Anyways I place my order, they whip up the sub and ring up the tally.. $4.5. So I say, woah woah, the listed price is $3 + tax, so about $3.50) how the hell do you get $4.5 for this?
They said 'Oh, we just assumed you want to tip us, so we did the liberty of adding on a $1 tip'.
I said, excuse me? First of all, if I wanted to tip you I would decide how much I want to tip you, and it sure as hell wouldn't be a 33% tip.
Second of all, since you took the 'liberty' of adding on a $1 tip without asking me first, I am not giving you any tip whatsoever.
So I kept going back every day the rest of the week, ordering the sandwich and making a point in not tipping them at all. Each day I was receiving crappier and crappier service (which I assume is because I didn't tip them the other days). By friday I said I had enough of their crappy service and said you just lost a customer.
Which they said 'Good, you never tipped us anyways, we were basically just breaking even with you'
....
So this got me thinking, why the hell do we have tipping in the first place?
I recently visited Australia and there is absolutly no tipping there at all. No one ever tips anyone.
Why the hell don't we do that in NA?
If the general etiquette is to tip 10-15% and is almost expected these days, why the hell don't restuarants just raise the prices across the board by 10-15% and then not expect tips?
Waiters/waitresses ARE DOING THERE DAMN JOB why the hell should they get a tip?
When I worked as a meat cutter at Sobeys, I never got a tip for cutting someone a steak because that was my job and I was EXPECTED to do it.
So, from now on I don't think I am ever going to tip anyone again unless the person does something for me that is NOT in their job description that makes my life better/easier. I have worked at many different types of jobs and never got a tip.. not because I was horrible to customers -- in fact I often received quite a few good compliments from customers -- but because all my jobs are in industries that tips usually never happen.
The only reason I can think of is because minimum wage is lower for waitresses... well why is that? because tipping has become expected.
I find it hilarious how the higher end restaurants have MANDATORY tipping at 10-15%. HOW ABOUT YOU JUST RAISE THE DAMN PRICE ON MY STEAK INSTEAD. I will tip if I feel they did an EXCEPTIONAL job that is above and beyond what I expect from a normal waiter.
What are your guys thoughts?
Vladimir7 on
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Generally, starting pay for a server is $2.15/hr.
Tips work into their pay.
I doubt that tipping as part of waiter/ess salary will ever go away though, since it takes the responsibility out of the hands of the restaurant owner, and gives the customer the option to pay less for the low low cost of being a dick.
...but if it doesn't work out to minimum wage, they're comped to that amount.
That said, the institutionalized tipping is a ridiculous system, but in net it's usually not unreasonable.
Though I find it odd that a lunch counter place would really assume tips. That isn't really common around here. Though your reaction was pretty dickish as well.
But it is customary to tip a waiter/waitress in a restaraunt. They're doing more than just bringing you food. Of course, tipping is on a sliding scale depending on the quality of their service. A particularly bad person will get substantially less than a person who brings me another soda without me even having to ask.
If you were upset that they tried to sneak in that $1 tip, you just quit eating there.
On the other hand, lots of sandwich places around here have tip jars. I always tip the coin-change I get. Because I like being a nice guy and rewarding kick-ass sandwiches.
What really needs to happen is pricing reform in this country. The fact that you can advertise things for well under their actual price, then tack on taxes and fees to make them much, much more expensive is retarded. Things should have to be advertised at-cost.
I've had shitty coffee, but the really good 'ristas can make a difference.
A tip is just that a tip. If you did good you get one. If you didn't you don't. I don't expect customers to pay my wage directly, that is what payroll is for. And places that have a lower minimum wage for "tipping" industries can suck a dick.
I get really pissed at people who expect a tip. I know the price of gas sucks, so guess what, our area pizza places added a selovery surcharge of $1.50 and upped thier prices a small bit. But ifyou assume you are getting a tip and don't start to give me my change, you are not getting my change. Your damn job is to bring me my pizza/chinese/italian whatever.
I alo refuse to eat at places that add a gratuity chage to a bill. Nope not a gratuity if you force me to pay it. I like that some debit/credit machines ask for tip if you want. I hate the ones that make you tell the person running the machine what the tip is, those ones get by passed. I especially love the servers that tell you to skip teh tip section, since you aren't expecting it, I may give you a little more that.
All in all tipping is stupid when expected, it should be voluntary and I will keep doing it that way. I will also often leave some for the kitchen staff. Having been there it really sucks to see teh blonde and dumb bitch who movedmy food from teh kitchen to the table counting out her fat tips when I did all the damn work making it taste soo good she got told about it.
Well, for the first day, I probably would have done the same. Going back for four more days and making a point not to tip at all is more than pretty dickish. There's a Vietnamese place I go to often that I always tip well at, whether I'm sitting down there or getting take out (Though I tend to tip more if I'm sitting down). The food there is amazing and they know me now. I get really fast service and I've never had a bad meal, or poor service. In fact, if I have to wait for take out at all they bring me water and make sure it stays filled.
Frankly, what's the big deal. I mean, I don't like the idea of assumed or mandatory tipping and I wouldn't patron a place that enforces tipping. But what's wrong with it being customary?
Tips are good for a lot of the menial service jobs though. Gives people a reason to do better than the minimum for what's otherwise a pretty crap job.
You can tip at a food place. I don't tip at a deli to which or something I won't return. But I always tip an extra dollar at places I frequent, for example my chinese food place because they treat me really well and sometimes throw in free food.
Anyway, the way the waitress' pay works is they get some stupidly low amount per hour. If they make 0 tips, they earn minimum wage. If they manage to work their way out of the hole the restaurants have dug for them and start getting more than minimum wage, they actually get to keep that. So effectively the restaurant is taking some set amount of their tips per hour. Basically the whole stupid system just boils down to restaurants getting to advertise lower prices than what stuff really costs.
I don't go to Starbucks on a regular basis (or at all, really) so it's kind of a lost point to me. I don't tip the lady at the donut shop for making kick-ass donuts.
I also don't tip the guy at the deli counter at the grocery store for cutting my ham so thin.
I just see it as a different level of food service, I guess.
You can call that dumb all you want, but by eating as a restaurant you are complicit in this system. You should therefore tip.
I live in Ontario, so I don't think minimum wage is any less for a server than any other job (if it is, it is by maybe $1-2)
But I don't think I was being a dick. Why should I tip at a FAST food joint. When was the last time you tipped the cashier at mcdonalds?
It takes them 1-2 min to make a sub and that is there job. there is no way for them to really be exceptional, just a way for them to fuck up.
generally, people who frequent coffee shops are used to something of a higher-level of flavor/service than one can get in their own kitchen.
I mean, I can brew a mean pot of coffee, but if I go to the local java place and get the same thing it is leagues better. It isn't just the quality of the beans, either.
Baristas have levels of skill that really affect how your drink tastes.
It seems to me that in BC a tip is still a tip. And if for some reason it starts tot go the other way I will still do what I do.
I'm also on medical welfare until 2010 because my doctor said I can't work!
...I'm so bored.
Gratuity is usually added, as a service charge, in very expensive stuff, as they know that the buyer will balk at calculating the same percentage of a different amount. Service charges, while not strictly mandatory, are supposed to be payed for all but the most dismal service. The server used "tip" for the service charge because that's the most common term for the money going directly from customer and waiter.
In the U.S, the amount for adequate service is 15%.
No you aren't. The whole job description of the server is to SERVE food. That is their sole purpose of being there (and cleaning up tables)
I highly doubt they would let me go into the kitchen and make up my own food or serve myself.
It's like how I wouldn't go to Quebec and bitch about how everything is in French.
The whole description of their job is actually to cater you to your every need. Trust me -- a waiter does a whole lot more than bring your food out.
This is not true, either. I routinely earned 18-22% of the checks on my tips, and I would much rather get tips than higher pay.
You didn't read what I wrote, did you?
Actually, most waiters and waitresses are expected to do a lot at restaurants, such as acting conversationally, and making suggestions (I usually go w/ a fifth out of lazyness and a general contentment w/ the world, but tipping more for dinner than lunch is is advisable due to the increased complexity of the meal).
I do see some younger people expecting a 10% - 15% tip for just doing thier damn job. I refuse to coddle this sentiment. And talking to older former servers, they seem to agree with me ( anecdoteal I know). there are still may waiters here who think of tips as a job performance mesurement. I know I sure did.
I just wish more people would think of the kitchen staff even teh dish kid. Really teh servers are the front end but they didn't have much to do with how good your food was. There havebeen times when I give mroe money to the server than the kitchen cause it was not the servers fault teh kitchen fucked up. Same in reverse.
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And prep work. Cooks at most places don't make the dishes look good - the wait service does. They also make a lot of the deserts presentable and make your after dinner drinks if the bartender doesn't handle them.
Tips also go to aforementioned bartender as well.
The cooks at the place I served at for a while were making $9 - $10/hr and I worked at a Perkins.
Not high-class dining.
I think you're being kind of a jerk here if you are looking at tipping so narrowly, the attitude and care in which you are attended to can make a big difference in the dining experience, especially any kind of decent restaurant. Did they recommend you a dish, or wine, or a particularly good pairing of wine for the food you chose?
I totally agree that in a fast food environment (like the sub-shop example), expecting a tip is retarded.
If you're a regular at a bar/restaurant and you tip well and get to know people you can start getting some serious comps.
edit: excepting those places where service in included in the bill (e.g. saw this in Spain and Italy), in that case tip if you feel like it, but the bill already reflects service.