Master Index of Archived Threads


Gratuity Not Included

d'Kong76 Aug 24 2015 01:39 PM

So this LOL tip thing has gone viral on social media. I generally am a generous tipper even when there are times I'd like smack a server instead of giving them more dough. I can think of one time about five years ago I left like a 0.13¢ (the bill was say $28.87 and I just rounded up) but she was the poster child of bad wait-staffing. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nati ... /32253245/

dgwphotography Aug 24 2015 01:47 PM Re: Gratuity Not Included

If I get truly bad service, and I mean if the waiter or waitress is rude, I still leave 15%. I generally tip between 20-25%, and I would never penalize the wait staff for any transgressions made by the kitchen.

Ceetar Aug 24 2015 01:49 PM Re: Gratuity Not Included

"viral" there's one of these every week. There are whole sites dedicated the them. I used to belong to a livejournal community where I'd read about crappy customers and the crazy/mean things they do. I'm fully on board with eliminating tipping. businesses should be the ones paying their employees, not me.

Frayed Knot Aug 24 2015 02:21 PM Re: Gratuity Not Included

Ceetar wrote: I'm fully on board with eliminating tipping. businesses should be the ones paying their employees, not me. Of course you're going to be paying them one way or the other. Eliminating tipping would just shift your money to the servers indirectly rather than partially directly. On the whole I'd prefer it didn't exist either but I don't see any movement towards making that a reality. But either way, tipping does seem like an odd tradition in that it's used in some areas of the service industry but not others, isn't mandatory yet pretty much is, and the assumption of its use justifies eliminating entire classifications of workers from minimum wage statutes. And the argument that hitting a re-set on the whole system would make restaurant service head straight downhill doesn't say much for the business or the people in it.

d'Kong76 Aug 24 2015 02:35 PM Re: Gratuity Not Included

Tipping is a good incentive to perform your job well, eliminating it would just make for more bad servers. The ridiculous $10 burger would just become an even more ridiculous $13 burger. Waitresses would stop wearing tight revealing clothes and giving breast shots, and we can't have that!! (sorry, that was terribly sexist)

Ceetar Aug 24 2015 02:53 PM Re: Gratuity Not Included

d'Kong76 wrote: Tipping is a good incentive to perform your job well, eliminating it would just make for more bad servers. The ridiculous $10 burger would just become an even more ridiculous $13 burger. Waitresses would stop wearing tight revealing clothes and giving breast shots, and we can't have that!! (sorry, that was terribly sexist) The vast millions of people that need a job are incentive to do your job well, and shockingly, this should be the bosses job, not mine. But because they're basically not paying them, there is zero incentive for them to replace a 'just good enough' worker. And because most people generally do tip 15% anyway, there's very little incentive for them to do better anyway. (whereas, a performance review and a raise might?) your burger and fries is $20, an adult party of two, maybe reaches $50. Most people tip $16-20 on that. Is it really worth working extra hard for another $2 or so?

d'Kong76 Aug 24 2015 03:00 PM Re: Gratuity Not Included

Do you agree with anything these days? lol

Edgy MD Aug 24 2015 03:18 PM Re: Gratuity Not Included

I don't know what hitting a re-set would do, but it seems absurd to step back and think that any human being is working in the US and being paid $2.50 an hour.

dgwphotography Aug 24 2015 03:34 PM Re: Gratuity Not Included

d'Kong76 wrote: Tipping is a good incentive to perform your job well, eliminating it would just make for more bad servers. The ridiculous $10 burger would just become an even more ridiculous $13 burger. Waitresses would stop wearing tight revealing clothes and giving breast shots, and we can't have that!! (sorry, that was terribly sexist) I'll beat F-man to this - I think it was wonderfully sexist...

d'Kong76 Aug 24 2015 03:41 PM Re: Gratuity Not Included

Edgy MD wrote: it seems absurd to step back and think that any human being is working in the US and being paid $2.50 an hour. One of my nif's wifey-poo works ~30 hrs a week at our local diner and makes boatloads of money. The waitstaff fight with each other over hours because it's a cash-cow and my guess is that they don't all pay the proper amount of taxes on what they pocket to boot. Getting stiffed and making silly $2.50/hr may make for some good blogbitchin', but a lot of these jobs have people falling over each other trying to get in on the action.

sharpie Aug 24 2015 04:05 PM Re: Gratuity Not Included

In much of Europe and South America there is not a tipping requirement but often restaurants have a service charge, sometimes for parties of a certain size, sometimes for anyone. Must say I like it better -- the trolling for tips thing is kind of grubby.

Edgy MD Aug 24 2015 04:44 PM Re: Gratuity Not Included

d'Kong76 wrote: it seems absurd to step back and think that any human being is working in the US and being paid $2.50 an hour. One of my nif's wifey-poo works ~30 hrs a week at our local diner and makes boatloads of money. The waitstaff fight with each other over hours because it's a cash-cow and my guess is that they don't all pay the proper amount of taxes on what they pocket to boot. Getting stiffed and making silly $2.50/hr may make for some good blogbitchin', but a lot of these jobs have people falling over each other trying to get in on the action. Sure, there's some good action out there, but taking it out of the restaurant's hands and putting making it the consumer's direct responsibility creates all sorts of problematic craziness: including the tax-cheat scam which, when you think about it, probably robs state and federal coffers of a significant penny.

d'Kong76 Aug 24 2015 05:56 PM Re: Gratuity Not Included

Second it's-always-been-that-way-and-isn't-going-to-change any-time-soon thingy in just one week. But, agreed on the tax thing. I'm holding out for the politician that runs on the ban-the-Kars- 4-Kids-ad-campaign platform.

Chad Ochoseis Aug 24 2015 07:14 PM Re: Gratuity Not Included

sharpie wrote: In much of Europe and South America there is not a tipping requirement but often restaurants have a service charge, sometimes for parties of a certain size, sometimes for anyone. Must say I like it better -- the trolling for tips thing is kind of grubby. Yeah...first thing I've always thought when I've been to a restaurant in Europe is "Holy s**t, check out the prices". Then I take a deep breath, remember tax and tip are included, knock 25% or so off the menu price, and realize that it's no more expensive than the US in reality. Just got back from a vacation in the UK, and tipping is becoming more of a thing there. The $15 minimum wage campaign has found its way across the ocean, and diners are being encouraged to tip 10% on table service as a backhanded way of increasing server salaries. At least, that's what I was told. I was even more clueless than I usually am about how to tip in Europe without looking like either a sucker or a cheapskate.

Fman99 Aug 24 2015 07:26 PM Re: Gratuity Not Included

d'Kong76 wrote: Tipping is a good incentive to perform your job well, eliminating it would just make for more bad servers. The ridiculous $10 burger would just become an even more ridiculous $13 burger. Waitresses would stop wearing tight revealing clothes and giving breast shots, and we can't have that!! (sorry, that was terribly sexist) Don't backpedal!

Frayed Knot Aug 24 2015 08:18 PM Re: Gratuity Not Included Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Aug 24 2015 08:19 PM

sharpie wrote: In much of Europe and South America there is not a tipping requirement but often restaurants have a service charge, sometimes for parties of a certain size, sometimes for anyone. Must say I like it better -- the trolling for tips thing is kind of grubby. Better still would just be for establishments to decide how they need to price their products and charge that price straight up. The 'service charge' thing reminds me of these extra charges many sports teams tack onto tickets, sometimes more than one of them. It would be so much simpler (and at least a tad more honest) if they just quoted the full price up front rather than being told that your $30 ticket is actually $43.50. Not sure why the food industry needs to be so different but I suspect the momentum behind it is too great now to overcome.

Edgy MD Aug 24 2015 08:18 PM Re: Gratuity Not Included

d'Kong76 wrote: Second it's-always-been-that-way-and-isn't-going-to-change any-time-soon thingy in just one week. But, agreed on the tax thing. I'm holding out for the politician that runs on the ban-the-Kars- 4-Kids-ad-campaign platform. You know, it's starting to feel like that jingle has always been there, too.

MFS62 Aug 24 2015 09:26 PM Re: Gratuity Not Included

d'Kong76 wrote: Waitresses would stop wearing tight revealing clothes and giving breast shots, and we can't have that!! (sorry, that was terribly sexist) Watcha' talkin' about, Kase? I worked on a project In Clearwater, Florida over 20 years ago. Our building was across the street from the very first Hooters. I spent every lunch hour there for a week before I realized they served food. Later

Ceetar Aug 25 2015 05:42 AM Re: Gratuity Not Included

Of course, eliminating tipping would also need to come hand and hand with paying a livable wage.

seawolf17 Aug 25 2015 09:22 AM Re: Gratuity Not Included

dgwphotography wrote: If I get truly bad service, and I mean if the waiter or waitress is rude, I still leave 15%. I generally tip between 20-25%, and I would never penalize the wait staff for any transgressions made by the kitchen. This. I don't know that I've ever tipped less than 15%. That's a hard job, one that I would never want to do, and I know that in most cases they're not getting paid enough and have to deal with assholes ALL THE TIME. I'm not going to be party to that.

themetfairy Aug 25 2015 09:56 AM Re: Gratuity Not Included

I generally tip around 20%, unless the service is truly awful. It is the rare, rare time that I don't tip at least 15%.

Ceetar Aug 25 2015 11:35 AM Re: Gratuity Not Included

the better the restaurant the closer I generally get to 15%. I mean, it's not like it's particularly harder to carry a $30 steak from the kitchen than a $10 burger.

d'Kong76 Aug 25 2015 11:40 AM Re: Gratuity Not Included

For my 0.13¢, the waitress was just abominable. Plus, we were seated near the waitress station and had to listen to her carry on about her Fri/Sat with the other girls while our drinks continued to not come and the food showed up cold and then couldn't get a check from her. I'm not going to be a party to that.

Benjamin Grimm Aug 25 2015 11:44 AM Re: Gratuity Not Included

I generally stick to the 15 per cent neighborhood. If the service is really bad I won't hesitate to leave a much smaller tip. I think that's only happened once, and it was a long time ago and I don't really remember the circumstances.

TransMonk Aug 25 2015 11:46 AM Re: Gratuity Not Included

I usually start at 20% (easy to calculate) and go up or down from there...but I typically never go below 15%.

Nymr83 Aug 25 2015 01:04 PM Re: Gratuity Not Included

the whole system is pretty weird. i dont tip my mechanic for fixing the car faster or tip the guy at Sears for helping me find the product i wanted faster. but i do have to tip the food server? why not the guy making the food? and why do i have to tip the valet who drove my car for 15 seconds but not the bus driver who handled my hour-long commute?

Benjamin Grimm Aug 25 2015 01:06 PM Re: Gratuity Not Included

I agree. It's even weirder when you're in a foreign country and you don't know what the customs or expectations are. When I was in Peru a few weeks ago I was never sure if I was doing the right thing.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Aug 25 2015 01:12 PM Re: Gratuity Not Included

This thread brings back warm memories of Hamilton Bennett's whacky extramarital girlfriend affair and the dustup over a 13% tip she got from Melky Cabrera at a Port St. Lucie Chili's.

cooby Aug 25 2015 01:23 PM Re: Gratuity Not Included

After eating at Chili's, Melky probably used the other 2% to go to CVS for some Pepto

Edgy MD Aug 25 2015 01:29 PM Re: Gratuity Not Included

Hambone now married to the "love of my life" (his life, not mine) Kelly Belle. Calls St. Lucie home.

themetfairy Aug 25 2015 01:38 PM Re: Gratuity Not Included

d'Kong76 wrote: For my 0.13¢, the waitress was just abominable. Plus, we were seated near the waitress station and had to listen to her carry on about her Fri/Sat with the other girls while our drinks continued to not come and the food showed up cold and then couldn't get a check from her. I'm not going to be a party to that. That meets my criteria to qualify as truly awful service.

Lefty Specialist Aug 25 2015 02:20 PM Re: Gratuity Not Included

TransMonk wrote: I usually start at 20% (easy to calculate) and go up or down from there...but I typically never go below 15%. This. I normally do 20%. I only left less than 15% once, I think, and it was for truly terrible service that I could directly blame on the server.

Rockin' Doc Aug 25 2015 06:57 PM Re: Gratuity Not Included

I almost always tip 20%. I will tip an extra dollar or two for particularly good and friendly service. I will generally reduce the tip to 15% for minimal or less than desirable service.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Aug 25 2015 10:34 PM Re: Gratuity Not Included

d'Kong76 wrote: For my 0.13¢, the waitress was just abominable. Plus, we were seated near the waitress station and had to listen to her carry on about her Fri/Sat with the other girls while our drinks continued to not come and the food showed up cold and then couldn't get a check from her. I'm not going to be a party to that. Granted, that's terrible. That's also a reason to talk to the manager. People who run restaurants are in the making-people-happy business, and are usually more than happy to hear valid issues with staff/service, so as to address them in the moment AND going forward. If you don't say anything-- and instead send the "message" with a crap tip (in this case, likely deserved)-- then nothing changes, and you go home unhappy.

Vic Sage Aug 27 2015 01:07 PM Re: Gratuity Not Included

alot of places pool their tips, so we're not really rewarding good service or punishing bad, we're just subsidizing the restaurant's failure to pay a living wage, much like food stamps are the way we subsidize WalMart, so they don't have to pay THEIR employees a living wage either. I'd rather pay more for a meal or a pair of jeans, knowing that foreign slave labor or domestic indentured servitude wasn't being used to reduce the price. That being said, i tip [begrudgingly] between 15-20% (depending on factors like service, expense of restaurant, and my mood). I have been angry enough to leave a penny to make a point. And i do believe that its not for the customer to figure out why they had a lousy experience at a restaurant -- that's between the owners, the managers, the wait staff and the kitchen -- but, having had a shitty experience, don't expect me to lay down anything more than i absolutely have to in order to get the fuck out. I'm sorry if that hurts the waiter, but if s/he is getting screwed over by a bad kitchen, s/he's in a better position to force change there than I am. And if s/he is getting screwed due to bad management, there are other restaurants where a waiter will do better because they create a better experience for the diner, and the badly managed restaurant will continue to lose competent staff and end up out of business.

MFS62 Sep 01 2015 08:13 AM Re: Gratuity Not Included

Here's a place that is screwing their own staff out of tips: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/olive-gar ... 16202.html Later

Centerfield Sep 01 2015 10:40 AM Re: Gratuity Not Included

I tip around 20%. If the service is bad, and it is the waiter's fault, I will complain, but the tip is unaffected. I feel like the complaint has more credibility that way. Maybe it doesn't, I don't know. I waited tables throughout college. I found that most people tip pretty consistently well except foreign clientele. It is not their fault, they are not used to it and don't know. Our manager allowed an 18% automatic gratuity for tables of 4 or more. It was posted around the restaurant. On Friday and Saturday nights, it was so busy it was impossible to give the best service to everyone. We all did what we could, and most people are pretty understanding when they see you busting your ass around the restaurant. Some are not, and decide to be douchebags anyway. Once you recognize this you know your tip is screwed for them, and they fall to last on your priority list. Give the other three tables great service, douchebag gets his food last. It was a tough job but I loved doing it. It was fun. It was good money for a student, and when it was busy your shifts went lightning fast. You get a free dinner and you're out in time to join your other friends for drinks afterwards.

themetfairy Sep 01 2015 10:59 AM Re: Gratuity Not Included

I appreciate the places that calculate the tips for you based on 15%, 20% and 25%. It helps you figure out at a glance how to tip and still be able to round things up to the next even dollar.

dgwphotography Sep 01 2015 11:28 AM Re: Gratuity Not Included

MFS62 wrote: Here's a place that is screwing their own staff out of tips: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/olive-gar ... 16202.html Later I have yet to find a restaurant that calculated these percentages correctly, so this is hardly surprising.

batmagadanleadoff Sep 01 2015 11:39 AM Re: Gratuity Not Included

[youtube:dmn4u29l]ZKKxfeNl4uk[/youtube:dmn4u29l]

themetfairy Sep 04 2015 07:42 PM Re: Gratuity Not Included

Much more if you are sitting on a barstool for several hours and drinking lightly while watching the Mets out of town.

Nymr83 Sep 07 2015 10:00 AM Re: Gratuity Not Included

themetfairy wrote: Much more if you are sitting on a barstool for several hours and drinking lightly while watching the Mets out of town. yeah, the tip is higher any time i am watching a game, taking up valuable bar real estate, and barely eating/drinking. then you are tipping not just for the drink but to show your appreciation for the bartender not suggesting you get up (but if he does, no tip)

Frayed Knot Sep 18 2015 09:30 AM Re: Gratuity Not Included

Taking on the culture of tipping: http://ny.eater.com/2015/9/15/9329193/t ... ice-dinner