Tipping: Should it be one-size-fits all?

[cityimrov]

When I go to a very popular chain restaurant (thank you gift cards!), I pay around $18 for SYSCO or similar food filled with preservatives that I could buy at the grocery store frozen food section for $3 - $5.  If I want a drink, I then add $3 for soda I could buy at the grocery store for $1.  If I add dessert, I then pay $7 for a slice of cake I could get from the frozen food section for much cheaper.  In some cases, the frozen food section might even taste better!  The atmosphere is pretty bad too but they do have a whole bunch of customers.  To make a long story short, the restaurant owner doesn't pay much for food compared to what I pay them so I expect the rest of the price I paid to be covered in service. 

Well, what I expect and what happens in reality is different.  I keep hearing these sob stories and everything from waiters at these places blaming the customer for not tipping.  It seems as a customer, not only am I suppose to pay a lot more for bland food, I'm also suppose to supplement the services provided by tipping 15%-30% of what I paid (not what things cost them).  If I don't, then, well, the waiter spits in my food next time? 

Why is the customers usually blamed instead of the restaurant owners?  Why doesn't the wait staff usually demand the restaurants owners to pay them more instead of blaming the customers when they don't tip much? 

Just to add, I'm not blaming all restaurants.  At some restaurants, I can tell the time, energy, and resources to make my meal and keep up the restaurant's atmosphere makes it well worth the price I pay for food.  I'd gladly help pay for service I was given since you could tell the money was well spent on other things.    I'd also gladly accept higher food prices instead of tipping so that the service staff is well compensated. 

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

Apparently someone just went to lunch with [REDACTED] at [REDACTED] and is pissed off that their bill was $[REDACTED], and their server, [REDACTED], was a snobbish bitch.   





(ps, just finished reading the [REDACTED] resignation letter)

[tufsu1]

there are lots of people in this town who go out to eat and don't tip....so here's the deal...if you can't afford (or don't want) to tip your servers (who make about $4/hour), then eat at home!

[Ajax]

When I go to a very popular chain restaurant (thank you gift cards!), I pay around $18 for SYSCO or similar food filled with preservatives that I could buy at the grocery store frozen food section for $3 - $5.  If I want a drink, I then add $3 for soda I could buy at the grocery store for $1.  If I add dessert, I then pay $7 for a slice of cake I could get from the frozen food section for much cheaper.  In some cases, the frozen food section might even taste better!  The atmosphere is pretty bad too but they do have a whole bunch of customers.  To make a long story short, the restaurant owner doesn't pay much for food compared to what I pay them so I expect the rest of the price I paid to be covered in service. 

Well, what I expect and what happens in reality is different.  I keep hearing these sob stories and everything from waiters at these places blaming the customer for not tipping.  It seems as a customer, not only am I suppose to pay a lot more for bland food, I'm also suppose to supplement the services provided by tipping 15%-30% of what I paid (not what things cost them).  If I don't, then, well, the waiter spits in my food next time? 

Why is the customers usually blamed instead of the restaurant owners?  Why doesn't the wait staff usually demand the restaurants owners to pay them more instead of blaming the customers when they don't tip much? 

Just to add, I'm not blaming all restaurants.  At some restaurants, I can tell the time, energy, and resources to make my meal and keep up the restaurant's atmosphere makes it well worth the price I pay for food.  I'd gladly help pay for service I was given since you could tell the money was well spent on other things.    I'd also gladly accept higher food prices instead of tipping so that the service staff is well compensated.

Is this Mr. Pink? 

[ac]

Planet Green- How To Sell, Trade Your Gift Cards

Problem Solved!

[cityimrov]

there are lots of people in this town who go out to eat and don't tip....so here's the deal...if you can't afford (or don't want) to tip your servers (who make about $4/hour), then eat at home!

So why don't they ask for more money?  Like $8/hr or $10/hr?  It's not like the restaurant can't afford to pay them more. 

[Jimmy]

They can ask.  And the owner can say no.  It's a minimum wage and it's very, very low.  The convention is that we make up the difference (at least) with our tips.  This convention is reflected in the law.  Servers minimum wage is lower than the minimum wage for other workers.

If you don't want to tip 15%, at minimum, don't go out to eat.

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

Is this Mr. Pink?

HAHAHHAHA

http://www.youtube.com/v/Z-qV9wVGb38?

[ac]

If you don't want to tip 15%, at minimum, don't go out to eat.

This.  Also, if you already know the score with the quality of fare at said "popular chain," why would you expect the quality of service to be any better than the food? A business that cuts corners and does things on the cheap (regardless of popularity) is, well, just that.

To not leave a tip, or a reduced tip without at least letting someone know something is wrong and allowing a chance to correct it just makes the customer look like the a-hole.

[JaxNative68]

Is this Mr. Pink?

HAHAHHAHA

http://www.youtube.com/v/Z-qV9wVGb38?

+1

[JaxNative68]

Please remember the staff doesn't set the prices or control who and how the food is prepared, the owner does.  The waiter gets taxed based on 15% of the food sales they ring up.  Taking out price and/or food preparation anger on the waiter's tip is wrong.  The only thing that should have a bearing on their tip is how their service was to you.  If you have issues with the taste of the food you were served, ask to speak to the owner or the chef and voice your displeasure.  If you have issues with the price of the food you were served, ask to speak to the owner and voice your displeasure.  If you have issues with the food and the price, maybe you should be making a better decision on where you eat.  Keep in mind a 15% tip is for standard service, if the waiter's service is above and beyond standard, your tip should be higher.  If the waiter's service is below standard and down right poor, let them know it with a less than 15% tip - and you should probably let the owner know as well.  If you have a problem with tipping, you should be staying home to eat.  I believe there is already a lengthy thread on MJ about tipping.  It might be a good read for you.

[KenFSU]

What bothers me is the encroachment of the "service tip" into other areas. For example, you go out to lunch somewhere with counter service, such as a Moe's or Jason's Deli, and when you get to the cashier, they give you a receipt to sign with a line for the tip. That is a terrible, very uncomfortable position to put the consumer in. Either you have to pay an extra dollar to be a nice guy, or you have to actively refuse to tip by crossing through the tip line or marking a "$0" in that field. This really bothers me, as does the fact that it seems like everywhere I go these days -- grocery store, movie theater, coffee shop, etc. -- asks me (loudly, in front of other custumers) to contribute to some random charity or cause that I know nothing about, nor do I know if and how much of my donation will actually go to said cause.

For the people who say if you don't agree with tipping, you shouldn't go out to eat, I respectfully disagree. I tip, because it's the custom and because I would like to be welcome back, but if someone chooses to not support such a goofy system, where restaurant management can get away with working their employees (er, "independent contractors") 60 hours a week below minimum wage with no benefits and expect the customers to pay their employees (largely tax free!) good for them. It's the only way things are going to change. Just because something is a social convention doesn't mean it's necessarily right. If enough people stopped tipping, there would be fewer servers willing to do the job, and thus, restaurant owners might actually be worked to treat them with the dignity and benefits of other classes of workers.

[cityimrov]

They can ask.  And the owner can say no.  It's a minimum wage and it's very, very low.  The convention is that we make up the difference (at least) with our tips.  This convention is reflected in the law.  Servers minimum wage is lower than the minimum wage for other workers.

Why would I normally go to that restaurant in the first place?  This sounds borderline unethical.  In fact, I'm conflicted on what to do now.  If the owner is this mean, why in the would people give cash to that restaurant then?  Why do they go there?  This is rewarding very bad behavior.  I dislike patronizing these places.  Next thing you'll be telling me is they don't even provide health care, vacation days, sick days, etc. 

Can I at least get the cash back from the restaurant who issued the gift card so I can get some value back?  Giving a few hundred dollars to a bad organization who gives nothing back just doesn't seem right. 

If you don't want to tip 15%, at minimum, don't go out to eat.

That doesn't make sense either and I think it's plain rude and mean.  If your going to argue that, at least make it fair.  For example, if I stay at a restaurant for 5 hours, that means I should pay more for service.  If I stay 5 mins and go quickly, less for service.  If my order is complex, more, if not, less.  If I need the waiters attention for my entire stay at the restaurant or I'm taking up major space another customer can that they can't help others, then I should pay way way more for the service than the food itself otherwise I'm abusing the space!

[ac]

Yes, I'm sure the majority of folks who object to tipping where service is rendered are making the above sociopolitical statement. Damn the man, and whatnot.

I'll have to remember that the next time I feel compelled to leave my extra 15-20 cents on the dollar; that it's really in the server's best interest that I don't.

Brilliant!

[ChriswUfGator]

I tip unless there's a reason not to. If the server's a dick I'll leave $0.02. If he's a total douchebag I'll leave $0.02, write a list of "Things Not to Do as a Waiter" on the receipt, and hand it to the manager instead of the server. Good service = 20%+ these guys make no money other than your tips, hourlies at restaurants are insanely low and have been that way forever. I personally think the tipping system makes plenty of sense, if the guy's a dick the customer can punish bad service. Which, in itself, encourages good service. I like that part of it.

About this extension of tipping to other areas, I agree it's annoying. Unless it's service at a sit-down restaurant, or unless it's something like hotel employees or a delivery driver, then I see no reason to tip people just for doing random crap that they were already being paid to do anyway. I have noticed, like the other poster, that many places are adding tip lines where there shouldn't be any. If it's a bonafide server at a sit-down restaurant, then they make chump change as hourly wages, specifically because the business relies on tips. So I'll tip them, happily. But I am still not sure why I should tip anyone for handing me a bag of takeout food, or for operating the cash register at Subway. Unlike a real server, you didn't do anything for me that you weren't being paid to do anyway.