Rant: Tip Culture

[cardsfansince82]

One time I left a three cent tip at a sit down restaurant on a $15 bill. She deserved to get stiffed, but I still felt terrible about it for the next week or so. Otherwise I don't think I've ever tipped less than 15%. There are some BBQ places here that specifically say not to tip at all, and it's kind of refreshing.

I was left a dime once in a similar circumstance (not all my fault but some). It's better to get stiffed, frankly. I think I threw the dime away or gave it to somebody else. I didn't want it.

I don't remember specifics but trust me it took a whole hell of a lot to get to that point. I was working in the service industry myself at the time so she had all kinds of leeway. She was not just bad, but openly hostile and argumentative throughout and straight up refused to fix anything. We didn't see her again until she dropped off the bills. Then she stood over the table and watched everyone fill out their slip (to give you an idea how unprofessional she was) because she knew what was coming. She saw me fill out mine and grabbed it immediately and yelled for her manager. I explained what happened and walked out. I think the manager offered me some kind of comp but I said I'd rather just not come back again. I definitely watched my bank statement to make sure they didn't change my slip at all.

[stlouie_lipp]

I once took a tip away from a waitress. Now, you have to understand she was a real [expletive]. My friend an I were just served our burgers when she came up, left the bill, and said "my shift is over you need to pay this". Not, "my shift is ending, do you guys mind squaring up with me? Otherwise I could transfer you". No, it was "my shift is ending you need to pay this". Kind of rude, but whatever.

Less than 5 minutes later, as we were still eating she comes back and says "didn't you hear me? My shift is over and you need to pay this". Pretty rude and short, so my tip wasn't going to be great, but I still wasn't going to stiff her. I think my bill was $15 and change and I put a $20 in the little book thing. She comes back over (still eating mind you) and says "it's about [expletive] time, I told you I have to leave. I don't know what your problem is" and stormed off. I chased after her and demanded my change (her tip). It was a pretty heated exchange and her manager over heard it and ripped her a new one.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

Another thing that kind of rubs me the wrong way, generally speaking, is tip amount is based on the bill amount. That kind of sucks for a couple reasons:

1. Regardless, for people working at a higher volume (possibly without the volume) lower cost venue, like a pub with $5 hamburgers and $2 beers or a Mexican joint with $6 all you can eat tacos and $1 margaritas, it seems like you'd have to do a lot of business or rely on people ot tip more than 20%.


2. And, I'm sure in the aggregate this really averages out....But, a server could get shafted taking care of people who are drinking a soft drink, or worse-water, and constatntly needing refills all while adding little or nothing to the tab. On top of that, a lot of places have a wide range of entrée prices. One table could order two $7.99 hamburgers while the table over orders the $30 steak. That, alone, is a difference of a ~$15 tip at the steak table vs $4 or 5 at the hamburger table...all for the same amount of work.

And, extrapolating it over to drinks, I'll use an example from Saturday night. And, fair warning, I've become a tightwad lately. Anyway, Mrs. AW and I went out to dinner and had a $50 gift card. Mrs. AW gets a glass of wine. I get a beer. Then another one. But, the beer is making me cold. So, I just order the bottle of wine Mrs. AW got a glass of, since it would keep me warm and she liked it. Plus, having a bottle of wine is just easier. The server doesn't have to keep getting me drinks and/or coming over to check on us. So, by the time we ordered an appetizer, we've rang up a ~$72 tab without tax or gratuity. Blah blah blah, we ended up with a bill of like $140something and I left him $30. No big deal....But on the way home, I was thinking....damnit, I just tipped more than my steak cost ($28) for what was not an exceedingly difficult table: 4 drink orders, 1 appetizer and 2 entrees and over a third of the tab was the bottle of wine ($52 iirc) meant ot make my and his life easier.

[Gashouse]

Another thing that kind of rubs me the wrong way, generally speaking, is tip amount is based on the bill amount. That kind of sucks for a couple reasons:

1. Regardless, for people working at a higher volume (possibly without the volume) lower cost venue, like a pub with $5 hamburgers and $2 beers or a Mexican joint with $6 all you can eat tacos and $1 margaritas, it seems like you'd have to do a lot of business or rely on people ot tip more than 20%.

I feel somewhat similar, but I also expect better service in a more expensive place. But along these lines, I don't get the expectation that tips at a nicer place are expected to be 20% or more, but tips at a cheaper place can be 15%. For the same percentage, the tip at a nice restaurant might be 3x the tip at a cheap place, but I guarantee the server didn't do 3x the amount of work or give me 3x better service. Build in the extra "expected" percentage, and then I feel like the tip at a nice place is way out of balance.

I also don't get the expectations of tips for taxis and haircuts. Just charge me a fair price and I'll pay it.

[lukethedrifter]

If a waiter makes $30/hr is that too much?

30/hr x working 5 days a week at an avg of 7 hr a shift = around 54k a year. Now subtract 210 for any sick day. How much vacation should a guy take? Let's make it only 2 weeks. subtract 2100. 3 wks, make it 3k. 401k? insurance coverage? Doubtful. very few restaurant jobs offer benefits of any sort.

That 50k isn't nearly as awesome as it sounds. All restaurant service jobs aren't the same. That'd be like saying all desk jobs were the same.

/this might be a different rant

[cardsfansince82]

If a waiter makes $30/hr is that too much?

30/hr x working 5 days a week at an avg of 7 hr a shift = around 54k a year. Now subtract 210 for any sick day. How much vacation should a guy take? Let's make it only 2 weeks. subtract 2100. 3 wks, make it 3k. 401k? insurance coverage? Doubtful. very few restaurant jobs offer benefits of any sort.

That 50k isn't nearly as awesome as it sounds. All restaurant service jobs aren't the same. That'd be like saying all desk jobs were the same.

/this might be a different rant

Not to take away from your point, but how much of that is getting reported and taxed?

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

If a waiter makes $30/hr is that too much?

I don't know if this was directed at me or not. But, that wasn't my point, per se.

I was just trying to point out how basing a tip off the bill is not exactly the fairest way to do it, all the time. I tipped a guy $30 to do no better/worse or more/less of a job than I've routinely tipped guys $16. (Take off the bottle of wine and 11 percent tax $57.72, add a beer $5, subtract the steak 31.08, add a burger $8.88. Total off the tab, $74.92. $140something becomes $70something and boom $16 tip instead of $30 for the same amount of work.

And, this can go the other way too. Had we gone in and not drank, not ordered an appetizer, and ordered cheaper entrees, it could have been an $18 tab. Is $4 on a busy Saturday night enough for the server? I'd argue absolutely not.

[lukethedrifter]

If a waiter makes $30/hr is that too much?

30/hr x working 5 days a week at an avg of 7 hr a shift = around 54k a year. Now subtract 210 for any sick day. How much vacation should a guy take? Let's make it only 2 weeks. subtract 2100. 3 wks, make it 3k. 401k? insurance coverage? Doubtful. very few restaurant jobs offer benefits of any sort.

That 50k isn't nearly as awesome as it sounds. All restaurant service jobs aren't the same. That'd be like saying all desk jobs were the same.

/this might be a different rant

Not to take away from your point, but how much of that is getting reported and taxed?

When I worked as a waiter, I reported nearly all, if not all, of my tip income.

[cardsfansince82]

I'm not sure what is typical, but I know a few people who keep large amounts of cash under their mattress rather than deposit it and risk having to pay taxes on it. Vegas was even worse. You would have thought people were getting sent to concentration camps when the IRS came in and established hourly averages for tipped positions that had gone unreported for decades.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

Going further, and now I've gotten myself all riled up, the tip culture is horrible in this way because servers can't really be objective thinkers. If I go into a restaurant and can't decide between going for the $1 Miller High Life bottle or the $10 Whiskey REbellion, can I really trust what a server is going to say aobut the Whiskey Rebellion? http://southonmain.com/menus/drinks/ Of course not.

Further, it's trickling down to those things we all hate: the 'counter tips' or whatever over the counter places asking for tips is called.

I don't like cupcakes, but Mrs. AW loves them. And, luckily for her and contrarily to the bane of my existence, a place called Gigi's Cupcakes opened up nearby. http://www.gigiscupcakesusa.com/littlerockarkansas Being the loving husand that I am, I of course volunteer one night to go get her a cupcake. And, it was great. Because, I got to go in while they had brought a guy in to teach them how to upsell. I could have listened all night but left when my order was ready. The entire gist of the spiel, however, was to get these 16 year old girls to be cheery and suggest trying more things because more cupcakes is more money and more money is more tips. How do you sell more things? Start off by asking if the customer has ever been to Gigi's before. If not, suggest they try something like this. If they have, suggest they try one of the new cupcakes. If the customer wants 2 cupcakes, tell them they want four. If they want 4, tell them they want 6. If they want 6, tell them they want 10. Etc etc etc. The upside of this is obvious to the owner. The upside, I bet I heard it a million times, for the worker is more tips. "people are more likely to tip if the bill is over $11. and once you get over $20, they're more likely to start giving a percentage. Once you get past $50, you're essentially guaranteed a date with the biebs and anything over $100, well, that includes head from him as well.