Gratuity - Tipping - Huh?

talk random
101

Here is my opinion ( yeah i know it doesn’t mean much since i haven’t posted here before - but I have been here awhile reading the forum (great place btw)

I am a college student at a decently priced university (northwestern university - evanston IL) and there are a couple places I got for food when I don’t eat in the dinning halls.
Couple of examples:

I usually go to the local Chipolte: Bill is always $7.88 – Chicken Burrito and chips with guacamole. I usually don’t leave any tip or just toss the $.12 cents into the cup.
Reason: The place is basically a fast food place in and out in very little time. And thus i basically do the: If i didn’t get to sit down and be waited on you only get what the food costs. So the same goes for all fast food restaurants. i.e. burger king and taco bell (the other fast food places that are relatively close)

I also go to Chili’s: which i have to say while i like the food the way they present service sucks. They basically have a person who seats me, a person who takes my drink & food order, someone else bring those to me, the waiter comes back asks if i need anything else, someone else brings that. Other people fill my drinks, I don’t see my waiter again till i get my bill. My problem with this is: I want one person serving me, i feel that if a waiter’s job is to be a host they should be doing the face-to-face time with the customers. I don’t need a guy with a walkie-talkie bring me my drink.
I know this process of many help the customer makes things faster but i want to actually know who is my waiter. Thus, I tip based off the actual waiters service.
10% - good, 12.5% - good, better service = more than 15%.
But if I don’t see my waiter at my table more than 3 times the entire length of my meal they get nothing. I came to sit down to a meal, not have a group of worker bees feed me and get me out as fast as possible.

I also take many of the guest speakers my group brings to campus to Pete Miller’s - a very nice steak place. (http://www.petemillers.com/).

I love their service, very nice, very respectable people (no kids doing the waiting or bussing) and I tip accordingly. When my brother, my mother, and I go our bill usually around $150-200. Tip is usually about $50. So 25%.

I feel that tips should be based off of service. I have worked in the restaurant industry as a busier in a very nice restaurant in Omaha Ne (where I am from) and our pay is also half from tips the waiters receive. Yet i still believe that if the service sucks we all deserve to get docked.

The thing that gets me is that most waiters now believe that just because they got the food no matter how bad the serivice was that they deserve %15. I think that is the flaw in the system. That they think they deserve it no matter what. They are providing a service that is based on satisfaction, I think both parties should respect that. Bad service = bad tip, bad customers = bad service. It should be mutual respect.

102

I guess young people aren’t respectable? Sorry, I disagree. I love to see kids doing work, showing initiative (even though I’m not that old myself). It doesn’t matter your age, as long as you can do the job.

And I need to make a correction to my last post: the tips actually AREN’T taxed and DON’T go into the check. I showed up friday afternoon with about 25 dollars just waiting for me. I was so happy and suprised!

Now I have something new to add and discuss. Well, not really too new to the conversation, maybe. But what merits a tip? (Yeah that’s been asked before). But see, I work in a video store, and our policy is we don’t get tips. Now I don’t care too much, I am (sorta) fine with my liiiiiitle bit above minimum wage (I’m really only there for the free movies). But if we had a little jar, we would get tips, I gaurantee it. The average rental is 4.06 after tax, leaving .94 cents in change. Most people hate getting that; they look for a penny or anything to make it even, and complain about having the change. If we had a tip jar, I bet we would get a lot of that.

Now the question is begging to be asked: do I deserve a tip? A lot of the time, yes. My job, although it might seem easy, is pretty demanding. There is a lot of work and walking around, standing on your feet for 8 hrs or so. While I may not be delivering a movie to someone (although I have many times), I go WAY out of my way to try to make that persons experience renting or buying a good one. I know that most of you will disagree; most people I discuss this with do. Okay lets compare, say, fast food, to restaurant, to my job:

Fast food: RARELY deserves a tip. They often (and yes, this is very general), can barely get my order right, if it’s slightly different than the norm. The service is usually fairly slow; I don’t mind much if they are busy, but when there is obviously not many customers it makes one wonder…
and the servers usually range from fairly nice to just downright horrible. I am always nice to people in any cust. service; I try to be the best customer they have. I have been in their shoes, and I know that a good customer sometimes can be just as brightening as a good server.

Restaurant: Tips are fine. The server is walking around, taking care of my needs, not just once, but repeatedly, in a timely manner. These are all things that one looks for when judging a tip correct?

Video Clerk: How do I measure up? Well, lets look at one typical customer. He/she will walk up to me and start trying to get my attention regardless of what I’m doing; on the phone, counting money, in a transaction, doesn’t matter. I have to decide how to balance all situations effectively and in nice manner. Then they want a specific movie; they don’t know what it is. I can usually help them figure it out; I don’t mind spending maybe five minutes to do this, if I’m fairly free. Then I have to go find this movie; and then maybe they decide to wander off for some reason, and then I have to find them. Oh they want another movie. Time to go look for that, and again find them and take them their movie. Add to this being friendly and taking care to build relationships with most repeat customers; learn their names, find out about them. I know all this is part of the job, but being a waiter, well all of that is part of the job too.
Anyway, I spend sometimes a good ten minutes trying to make one person happy and have a good night. Now this may seem insignificant compared to a waiter, that has numourous tables and spends more time with a customer… well spliting up their various trips it may be about the same. But I have other things to do also, various things tha need done and sometimes many customers wanting my attention and service. Providing ten solid minutes is quite a large part of my time. Thus while I don’t feel a tip is NECESSARY, I believe if we had a little jar, I wouldn’t think it ridiculous, and people would most likely just unload their small change there.

I went to subway today and realized they had a tip jar, and I tipped them, but later wondered why. They made me a sandwhich, took maybe, three minutes? They make it right in front of me, so they can go through each step and not have to remember much at all. It’s all very basic service. So am I wrong to think I might receive a tip?

Sometimes simple thank you’s would suffice, to be honest.

Well, any thoughts?

103

I go to 1 of or both of my video shops basicly everyday.

And while most just serve you, there are a couple of nice guys that sometimes help me find what I am after.

I would tip them from time to time when they do more than they need to.
I am happy to tip anyone when they go the extra mile.

But since there is no tip jar, I would feel stupid trying to offer them a $1-2 tip when I just spent $6. And they would be WTF, you don’t give tips to us.

104

I should clarify what i meant.

Yes i do thing young people can be respectable, yes I do like kids working (when they can handle it) BUT too many kids take jobs they can’t handle, don’t put any effort into the job, just want a paycheck, and don’t focus on school.

I like it when adults serve me because they understand the respect issue a little bit more than the younger generations, mine included. I look at the generational gap and see two completely different work attitudes (in general) the older generation on average has worked hard most of their life and understands good service equal good gratuity. My generation, generally, feels their time is somehow worth more then everyone else’s. That they deserve more money for less and/or sloppy work.

Somewhat off-topic:
Now that is just my take on generations. But I do feel that somewhere the current teenagers and young adults lost respect for what matters: hard work, caring parents, good work ethics, and morality. And all these show in their work and their work product.

p.s. I am only 20. So I am not that old…yet.

When I worked as a busier in Nebraska for a restuarant we got our tips in cash also, but they do show up on your Paycheck/W-2/etc - as taxable income (your manager is keeping track of how much they give you).

105

I went to Home Depot Yesterday to buy Paint with the misses - we’re going to repaint the inside of our house :smiley:
Anyway - on the way out the door, actually inside the little ante-room between the actual store, and outside, there is a little hot-dog cart, complete with an umbrella (even though its indoors), which is owned, and run by these two nice ladies (I believe they take turns manning the cart, in a manner of speaking)
I was starving, and since the hours that I usually work: 11pm - 7am, I almost never get a home-cooked meal, or manage to get to a fast-food place before they close. Thus, I was slavering for a hot-dog as soon as I saw the umbrella. Much to my wifes chagrin, I ordered a regular hot-dog, topped with everything: mustard, tomatoes, lettuce, tiny hot peppers, celery salt, and a bit of sauerkraut. I got my wife a plain hot-dog (she destests mustard, spicy things, and well, just about every kind of condiment you can imagine). The total came to $3.50. I paid with a $5, and since the lady who served me, and made the hotdog was nice about it, polite, and friendly, I dropped my change in the Tip Can. The whole $1.50.
To me, that seems like it takes a lot more work/effort to run that type of business, then simply be a server - I could be wrong. And since their income is directly proportional to the number of items they sell, in the spirit of ‘the little guy’, I felt good leaving my tip. If she had been rude, distracted, or anything like that, I would have left nothing.

Needless to say, it was probably the best hot dog I had ever eaten, so I ran back inside for another one before our cab arrived, and left another Quarter from the change of the second dog.

I guess it hust goes to show that I’m biased towards small businesses :wink:

106

Well of course if anyone goes the extra mile for anything I think I would tip them. But to expect it and get mad if you dont get one is absurd. Afterall my point is it is a gratuity. Now most waiters do the customary thing. Get your food and drinks. Really nothing outside of that. So why the tip? They are hired and trained to do it. Now I do agree that the restaurants puts the server in an odd position if the pay is so low. Because they kind of depend on the customer. Which I think is unfair. But hey. I think the system is set up to offset persons like me with this view. And I dont think it is bad to have this view at all. It’s not like I am a cheap skate. I just dont see the rhyme or reason for it. Unless they go outside the lines to do something.

107

@SeiferTim

I agree in that situation (technically). People that are all commission based get a little more sympathy. Because they dont work for a major establishment and if no one shows up they dont get jack, so thats a lil diff. Which is why I tip bartenders, strippers and barbers.

108

Gotta tip the strippers…
:wink:

109

I thought this story would be an interesting post to add to this conversation.

Man, who faced up to 1 year in jail for not tipping enough, gets a reprieve
http://www.canada.com/news/oddities/story.html?id=a684cd85-aba5-45d9-bbac-a9f0de24cd91

110

Soprano’s Italian and American Grill over a required 18 per cent tip for large parties.

Interesting name for the place…

111

Hmm I received an automail with a different story :wink:
But I’m glad you feel that way, that you may tip if it were allowed.

Although you edited it out… I want to respond to one particular statement, that if someone gets bad service at a video store they will return. This is not true. If someone receives AVERAGE service they may return, or may just flip flop between stores. When its BAD, they immediatly decide they hate you, your store, and the company. They are then probably biased enough to like another store, and not find flaws as much in their work, even flaws that they received from the previous store.

Good service = people tell maybe one person
Bad service = people tell upwards of 7

112

You know I really can’t remember the last time I was out and I received bad service. I think a lot of peoples expectations for what constitutes good service are too high or unrealistic. I mean we’re all human and there’s only so much any one person can do so if a restaurant is packed and the service is a little slower than usual it doesn’t take a rocket surgeon to figure out why.

From my experience inside and out of the hospitality industry I’ve found that 95% of servers really do strive to give excellent service and 100% of servers are fallable. Servers don’t bring you cold food or make you wait on purpose because they don’t like you, this is just the way things go sometimes, and I think it’s ridiculous as a customer for me to expect my service to be perfect.

I think Ethan said it best when he said that he looks at tipping as simply throwing a couple of bucks to his fellow human being. When the service is bad it’s not like the server is clueless to this fact and most times it’s unintentional and out of their control so what’s the point in stiffing him or her? How would you like to be treated if the situation was reversed?

113

word, chrsitmas time comes around i hit my mailman off love love. i love the guy!

114

I hook my mailman up with a beer every now and again. He is hella cool. We work out at the gym too together…lol. I recommend everyone tip their mailman. It is the American thing to do. Back in the day it was customary for the pony express dude to be shown some love.

115

I work sigh at friendly’s. We sell diner (jersey) type food as well as nice ice-cream dishes. I work with mostly young girls about the age of 17-20. I work the ice-cream counter and get paid hourly so I don’t necessarily collect many tips from customers. However, the girls (there are guys too but they are all GAY, so I refer to them collectively as girls) are waitresses, and work for tips.

Now more often then nought, when a customer arrives and requests to be seated, the girls will argue about who gets the table. No, not that they want to take the table but that its the other girls turn and that they should take the table. THEN, they will complain at the end of the night about how little they made. These girls STINK, and should not be waiting tables, and it is reflected in the amount of tips they recieve. There are though a few (maybe one or two) that actually care about doing a good job, and can make in a night $200-250+ in one night compared to the skanks who make about $50. And that’s in a 6-8 hour period.

My point: If the service is demonstrated with a desire to serve the customer, TIP WELL. If not, F’ em they’re not worth it, but leave something as CGuy and Ethan and myself have pointed out.

Side point: Many of you seem to be stuck on the point that no should REQUIRE or DEMAND a tip. Also, no one should be angry if they think they DESERVE a tip despite poor service. Both these points are true. HOWEVER, please tip something, even if it well thought message on a piece of paper telling them the old addage, “You can collect more bees with honey, than with vinegar.” Hopefully, I would want you to leave this message on a crisp one dollar bill but THAT is entirely up to you.

Peace

116

For the whole summer I worked at a deli trying to save money for university. I got paid 7 dollars an hour (Canadian) which is actually under minimum wage, but i got free food so it made up for the 15 cents an hour. The way my deli was set up was that usually 4 people would work in a day, with the day divided into two 8 hour shifts, but sometimes even more people worked. We had a tip mug at the front of the store and some people (usually the same regular customers) would throw a quarter in there. BUt in a whole day we usually got 2 dollars in tips to distribute between 4 or more people. I wasn’t mad at a lack of tips, but it is strange that I could spend 8 hours serving people with a smile, and get 50 cents for it at the end of the day. Yet had I been serving people at a restaurant I would have made a lot more. You might laugh off a deli as simple work, but it’s extremely tedious just like anyother job and there’s a lot to do, and I am doing pretty much what anyother person in the hospitality service does: serve people. I just think the whole tipping thing is messed up. Certain people get it, certain people don’t. I get paid to serve so I serve, u get paid to be a waiter so u wait tables, you get paid to drive a taxi so u drive taxis… why do some people get a bonus and others don’t?

117

I don’t know how it works where you are, but here if you work as a server (waiter/waitress) you get paid far less than minimum wage because gratuity is supposed to be included as part of your pay.

At the restaurant I work in, the servers are required to report how much they earned in tips when they clock out (the computer we clock out on requires them to input the value before allowing them to clock out). This counts towards taxes and whatever just as your regular pay check would.

At my restaurant, servers start out at $2.83 USD an hour… when minimum wage here is what… $5.50 USD or something like that (it always changes). They depend on their tips to pay bills and whatnot.

So basically, tips to them aren’t just ‘extra money’… it is basically their pay… they work to serve you… you pay them gratuity… the restaurant pays them to do what they need to do in the restaurant.

When you work in a restaurant you see things from an entirely different light. For example… this one server at my work had a party of 11 people come in. It was a few adults and some obnoxious kids. She served them with a smile, did everything they asked for, food came out great, no complaints… they left her no tip. So what is she left with? No tip, working extra hard to please a party of 11 who rung up a $90 check, and she had to bus the table after they left (which were quite messy from the kids… and so was the floor) She got paid $2.83 for that.

People who don’t tip are arseholes.

118

Servers who don’t serve well are arseholes.

TD

119

I don’t deny that :wink: But I know for me… their performance and attitude factor into my decision on how much to tip them. If my server sucks… well they get what they deserve.

120

I agree with both Eilsoe and Kitiara.

In Australia we don’t have laws enforcing tipping at all. People still do it, but they’re not required to.