That's the risk you take being a waiter. If you want a job with guaranteed money, you shouldn't become a waiter. People not tipping is a risk you take when you take that job.
To me, the idea of a mandatory tip is absolutely ludicrous. If I get good service, I'll leave a good tip. If not, I won't. Being forced to reward bad service just isn't right. Also, if a mandatory tip system is in place, where is the incentive for the wait staff to provide poor service? Since they are guaranteed to get their big tip anyway, they can just slack off without any worries.
I know waiters bust their asses in some busy restaurants, but I always thought it was kind of silly to pay someone 20-30 bucks in tips just because they took my order and carried the food from the kitchen to the table. And for some reason the when the price of the food goes up then the walk from the kitchen to the table gets more expensive too. I'm still a great tipper regardless of what I just said, but the whole system seems so screwed up to me.
I waited tables for a couple yrs when I was in college and I disagree. Tips is for service rendered. If a waiter does not provide good service, don't expect good tips. The one who screw the waiters are the owners who pay minimum wage. I agree with Sane, fadeaway, Severe Rockets fan too.
I don't think a tip at anytime should be mandatory - I don't care how many are in the party. That's stupid. I always tip well because I feel bad for waiters/waitresses and what they have to put up with sometimes. However, to say an 18% tip is mandatory is dumb. If it were up to me, I'd just never eat there again, but pay the tip that one time. Restaurants should pay waiters at least the minimum wage and this silliness could hopefully go away. It's gotten stupid to the point that I see tip jars at Subway registers. My first thought is "you've got to be kidding me". Faos, Huh? If I bought food for $10 (including tax) and I see $11.80 on my final bill, I'm going to inquire where the additiona $1.80 comes from. The problem is that the restaurant should've just said the food costs $11.80 I guess. But then you wouldn't be getting as good of a deal or cheap of a meal, right...
Okay i guess i would like to come back from a different point of view since i own a Sports Bar/Restaruant and i guess i see some things from the back end so i will make my opinion on this as well. I have not only owned the bar but i also have to work it sometimes where i make tips etc. There are a lot of different situations that kind of come into effect with the whole tip thing and how much the staff makes. All my waitresses make 2.13 and hour with the exception of a few that have gotten raises, but still it's not that much if you break it down. They basically depend on their tips to make money for the night. The whole rule with minimum wage is that over the amount of hours that they work as long as their tips and the hourly wage we give them comes out to Minimum wage hourly then we are technically paying them the right amount of money and we don't have to worry about the government saying we are not paying them minimum wage. For instance if they work 2 hours they get 2.13 and hour and they have to make at least 3 bucks and hour in tips to fall into minimum wage for those 2 hours that they work so they make an average of 5 bucks an hour....i don't know what the exact minimum wage is but that's just an example. The reason that we don't pay themt hat much is becuase honestly waitresses and bar tenders can make a lot more hourly from tips then they ever do from hourly wages. I mean depending on the night and how busy we are they can easliy walk out with $200 bucks and that is on an 8 hour shift. On the same note they can also walk out with nothing based on crappy tips as well. IT's kind of a give and take when it comes to tipping. On the other hand when we have a club night and we bring in other Bartenders they don't get hourly wages, they are just there to make tips. most bars are really like that. They don't really pay hourly they jsut make tips so you can understand why some of them can be mad if you don't tip them. Basically that is the only way they make money. I really don't know who came up with the idea of tipping but its something that has been carried on and will continue to do so. If i raise the prices of my food to compensate for tips then it will effect my sales cause people will think i am overpriced. Not many people will actually read that it is included much like how people sometimes don't notice automatic grat. I don't like that to be honest with you and i never do it here at my bar cuase i don't feel you should force someone to tip but at the same time it's not a bad thing to tip either. You can really go both ways in this argument of why we don't pay them more and shoud you tip etc....but i don't think you can really find a solution to something that has kind of been implemented into our daily lives and people are used to it. I really could go on and on about cases i have had here but i would bore you to death...but there really is no clear cut solution.
I'm a great tipper, but.... Like most on here I don't agree with the system. Even if your wait-service is really good, if the food is really bad, why should you leave a tip? How else can you impress your frustration with the crappy food? If the wait-staff is dissapointed with the state of the tips due to crappy food, the message will get through - and the food will improve or the restaurant will go out of business quicker. Here's a question for all of you: Has anyone ever left a negative tip? I'm sure you'd get "caught" doing this, but if you think about it, it doesn't say anywhere that the tip has to be positive. I had the absolute worst service the other day and wanted to leave a negative tip but just can't do it - I always leave 15-20% for some reason.
I usually tip well because a lot of my friends are waitresses/waiters. So i kinda feel bad for teh person waiting on us. But if she/he is gunna be an ass and not give us quality service, to hell with the tip. You wont even get spare change from me. I thought that was the whole point of a tip, to reward someone for good service. And plus if you are trying to pay for college by working as a waiter, i suggest not doing it. You are just putting another person inclined to pay for your college, its like you are begging for the money. Fixed income is the way to go. Plus these waiters make a ****load on other tips, so let one or 2 slide, who cares, it ain a life or death situation.
You just called waiting tables working and begging in the same paragraph. They are two different things. You try waiting tables at a busy restaurant and tell me it's not work...
People who dont tip or tip low are A$$HOLES, I know many places that pay people under 3.00/HR they make their money off TIPs.. If you are too stupid to understand what SERVICE is you shouldnt be eating at a sit down...take your dumbass to McDonalds!!! I bet some of you dont TIP the people that cut your hair bring, you a pizza and park your cars...Most of all I hate when people dont tip a people at a restaurant for carry out they get the food ready for you as well ...I hate when people say "OH, lets get carry out because we dont have to tip." I dont think you need to give them what you would if they were serving you for an hour, but toss them a few dollars..
Tips is ****ing ridiculous. Someone else should be paying for it. You have already paid for the dinner and with tax included and than you have to tip also? Not only that, some places are ridiculously over price on their menu.
If an 18% tip is mandatory, isn't ALREADY included on the bill? Or is it up to the customer to figure it out? The guy said he didn't know it was madatory and left just 10%.
one thing that my friend did when i went to visit him was really funny. he is one of those up front people and doesnt care what people say or think. So we went to thir restaurant and he figured how much the bill would roughly be before we even ordered. So he puts out about a 20% Tip on the table which was about 12 bucks. When the waiter came to greet us after he was finished my friend said see this 12 bucks? Well this is your tip at the moment. If i feel that service wasn't good or something goes wrong then i will take a way a dollar each time till your left with your new tip amount. The waiter kind of laughed and was like okay that's cool and just went about his work and i swear it seemed he was working extra fast and making sure everything was right. It was a different approach to the tip situation but i don't think it was something that i would do but it was just different which i liked for kicks.
Another thing I don't understand what's the big deal of this is all about. Usually people in group or others will over tip and it should balance out the undertips.
If I ever have REALLY bad service I take a dollar bill and put TIPS ARE FOR SERVICE, CONSIDER THIS A DONATION!! I hate when I see my food come out and sit under the heat lamp and my server is doing nothing but talking to their firends..
New law: NO TIPS. Anybody that doesn't want to work under this situation, quit. Problem solved, whiny waiters that usually pull in WAY more tan minimum wage get to STFU.
As a former waiter, this hit too close to home for much of my working life. Again, service is one thing. The product, the food in this case, is another. The customer should have had some of the food comped, unless they were acting rude and obnoxious and in fact threw food, in which case I think they should have been expected to pay. There is no excuse for them to act like that. That's a copout. Those people in coffee shops are adequately paid(and then some) for the service they provide. They make coffee, pour it into cups, sometimes mixed with something else and ring it up. They do nothing more than the average sales person at a department store. I see no need to tip them. Who cares if it's a risk or not. You obviously have never waited tables. Try busting your a$$, on your feet for an 8 hour shift when your last party of 9 drunk customers that took up half of your section all night, costing you money every minute they sat there, finally leaves at 1:15am when the restaurant closed at 12am, stiffing you on a $270(a modest $30/person) tab. Waiters know the risk every day. They cater to the needs of dozens of tables where nothing is guaranteed. Large groups that can make or break a waiters shift. Guests usually don't give a damn about the person serving them, so the large party gratuity provides a cushion.....a cushion that would certainly be adjusted by management if bad service was given. Great so lets have the restaurants jack up the prices so that we all have to pay for the ignorance of people in large parties or those that just don't know how to tip. Then everyone can get the same crappy to average service by those waiters since they are guaranteed their tip. Personally I'd rather reward good service and know if I go in with a large party, I will be expected to pay a certain gratuity for good service. Again, that gratuity would certainly be adjusted by management if bad service was given. I never worked anywhere that a waiter would slack off simply because the tip was included. I guess some waiters might think that way, but not many. It's nice having large parties because of the included gratuity, but almost every waiter I know worked that much harder to get additional gratuity and often did. Guests don't know and really don't care about what it takes to meet the needs of large parties. Until you've been there, you really have no clue. Large party or not, I have never had to pay a tip for poor service and neither did the guy in this article. According to the article, he was pissed about the food. It should have fallen on management, not the waiter. The idea that it makes more sense for restaurants to charge more for food in exchange for tipping is absurd. Then there is no incentive for you to get good or above average service. I agree that the system is screwed because there are so many variables, but as an on again, off again waiter for almost 10 years, I never had much of a problem pleasing my guests or making money in the current system. The restaurant will not see your frustration because you left a lowsy tip, only the waiter. If you have a problem with the food, you need to mention it to the waiter to have it brought to management's attention, then they should address the bill. There will always be bad restaurants and there will always be people that need a job who will work at them. Then don't go out to eat if places are over priced. I challenge you to try working from the otherside of the table having to serve someone with your attitude. You wouldn't last a week.
