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| A receipt. Photo: Rick, Flickr |
"Writers of almost all the nations in the world have denounced the custom, but there will never be any change, for the reason that there is not enough profit in the restaurant business to allow paying the waiters good living wages," wrote bartender extraordinaire Harry Johnson in 1882.
In the eyes of many, the practice of tipping is inequitable but unavoidable. Some even find the custom downright strange: Outside of restaurants, it's pretty much impossible to procure any goods or services without first committing to pay a certain price. For example, try paying for your next movie ticket after the film.
If a restaurant patron bolts without paying his bill, he's committed a crime. Even if he thinks his steak was overcooked and his salad was soggy, protocol calls for him to ante up for whatever he ordered (unless he's sent it back). But if he stiffs his server, he's exercised his prerogative.
So here's a radical suggestion: Why not make service a menu item?
Many American restaurant-goers still flinch at the thought of what in France is called a servis compris system, in which a gratuity -- usually 20 percent -- is automatically added to a bill. This is perhaps because it violates our national "earn your keep" ethic (or because it's sometimes exercised in a sneaky fashion). Particularly in this economy, it's hard to fault the consumer for blanching. Diners are looking for a way to stay in the driver's seat, so what if we considered the opposite of servis compris -- pre-tipping.
Pre-tipping would require diners to commit to a certain tip percentage up front, as in "I'll have a glass of Pinot Grigio, the chicken Caesar and 20 percent worth of service." While the advantage for servers is obvious (they know how much time to devote to a table), such a system would also create tremendous flexibility for eaters, especially those on a budget, by allowing them to save money on tips.
In an ideal scenario, the diner could tip, say, 5 percent so long as she was willing to do things like fetch her own water pitcher and wait longer for plates to be cleared. On the flip side, she could ensure a more special evening by pledging a 30 percent tip. (Of course, this would require a good leap of faith on the part of the diner that the server would come through).
It's a fairly out-there idea. What do you think? If you're someone who always leaves 20 percent, would it trouble you to announce your intentions before the meal? Do you think this would cause the caliber of service to decline, or could pre-tipping help mitigate the sometimes testy relationships between servers and customers?
7-15-2009 @4:15PM Pyrofish said... It would go both ways. We have servers in this town that are so dumb, I don't think they know they're doing anything wrong. Then others are just so great, I don't think it would matter what they were tipped, they would still give great service.
After a meal with really crappy food I ask for the owner or manager or just don't come back if the meal was cheap too. After a meal with really crappy service, I feel almost vindicated to leave a smallish tip. I always tip something.
I know a guy who puts the tip out on the table and tells the waitress for everything she does that he doesn't like, he'll take away a dollar. It's an embarrassing move, but it seems to work.
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7-15-2009 @7:01PM MM said... It's all in your perspective. This proposal trusts wait staff to follow through with excellent service even though their compensation is already set. Our current system trusts the customer to compensate fairly even though they've already received their (presumably excellent) service.
I'm pretty sure most of us customers would rather trust ourselves, just as waiters and waitresses would rather trust themselves.
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7-15-2009 @5:01PM slamb2002 said... As an economist, a tip at the end of a meal is a pure expense, provided you are not going to return to the restaurant. If you do return, it will keep the spit out of your food. Tipping in advance will only help if you anticipate bad service.
At a bar, with my first order, I leave a large tip. It ensures that future drinks will come with amazing speed, often with as little as a glance or gesture.
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7-15-2009 @5:07PM scb said... While this works far better at a bar, if I know I am going to be there a while I will tip really high on my first drink with cash, then I open a tab, which will get me good service the rest of the night. Giving the guy $6 on a $4 beer strait off let him know I will take care of him if I am taken care of.
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7-16-2009 @10:36AM D said... Personally, it's a great notion. Kinda like socialism. It's awesome in theory, but in practice is a disaster. I have absolutely no faith in the general food server to provide adequate, much less, good service. Of course unlike most people I tip a set dollar amount dependant on service that has no bearing on what I ordered. It's rare, but it has happened, where a server was so great that I left a tip that was almost equal to the price of my meal. I've definately also stiffed a waitress on a 100+ dollar ticket because her service was so deplorable.
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7-15-2009 @5:30PM Mandy said... I always thought that in France, the service was included in the price of each item. In other words, an entree might be 20% more than it would in a restaurant that expected tipping -- not that 20% was added on top of the cost of the food.
That system sounds great to me, especially since that money is used to pay wait staff decent wages with good benefits. Pre-tipping, on the other hand, sounds a little crazy to me. Right now, a patron can choose what kind of service they want by choosing what type of restaurant to go to. If they want to fetch their own water, they can go to a restaurant without table service.
As a customer, I don't want to go to a nice restaurant and see people getting up and down every time they want something. If I was a waiter, I wouldn't want someone tying up my table while they did my job.
So my preferred system would be having the wait staff paid well from the restaurant, with menu items priced to support those salaries. Until that happens (which I know is unlikely), I think people should choose restaurants where food plus appropriate tip fits their budgets.
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7-15-2009 @6:03PM jon said... @Mandy
What? Run a restaurant like any other business? Treat a waiter like any other employee? That's madness! Madness I say!
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7-15-2009 @7:50PM Alex said... In the UK the 'optional' gratuity is used by restaurants to top up staff wages to the minimum level. This is unacceptable on several counts.
1. If you employ staff you expect to pay, as a minimum, minimum wage. You should not budget to pay below minimum wage and count on spare change to make up the difference!
2. As an employee, you expect to be paid, at least, minimum wage. If customers leave tips, you expect those tips to be on top of your minimum wage, not contributing to it.
3. As a customer, when you leave a tip, you expect it to go to your waiter on top of his or her pay.
As a customer, I go to a restaurant and expect to receive the same service as people at the table next to me - not some bizarre system where people splashing cash before the meal MAY get preferential treatment. There's no comment in the article about how customers would deal with the situation where they've tipped generously up front and received service below their expectations.
Pay staff properly, as an employer outline your expectations of those staff, and tips are then icing on the cake.
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7-15-2009 @10:17PM doug said... Here in Australia we don't have a culture of tipping. the means that the wage is all factored into the cost of the meal. The downside is that it's hard to give simple feedback on poor service (an American friend of mine explained how he'd leave a small tip when he received bad service to make sure they knew he hadn't just forgotten) The upside is that the servers' lively hood doesn't depend on the generosity of the patrons and it's easy to send a good message for great service, something that I do at times.
Pretipping seems like the worst of all worlds, I'd rather s sign saying "an x% gratuity has been included in the cost of the meals" as per @Mandy above
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7-16-2009 @12:36AM Sarah said... Lord no. That is just a horrid idea.
I tip based on not only on service received but where I am at as well - by that, when we travel and encounter good service in economically depressed areas I leave larger tips. I base my tipping on how genuine the service is - mistakes happen, things get forgotten and that is OK - if they check up on you, keep the ice tea flowing and don't just wander off and forget you.
Treat me like family and I will tell many how much I loved it. I will also show my gratitude for it by tipping well (well above 20%)
If on the other hand you plop down at the extra seat and lean over the table, reeking of booze and grab onto my thigh you will get NOTHING. (Yes, this happened to me in a place that is considered to be a higher end restaurant. Mr. Drunk Waiter not only forgot our drinks twice, he had to come back and retake our order...then brought me the wrong meal! He got a big fat ZERO tip. I was beyond horrified at our "service".)
Tips are a bonus IMO (in our state wait staff has to be paid at least minimum wage, which is one of the highest in the country). Work hard, be rewarded.
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7-16-2009 @1:41AM RJ said... I was in Greece a couple of years ago and I found that there is NO incentive for wait staff to do anything once you put in your order. It could take an hour to get served, and another hour to get your bill...What can you do if you don't like it? Not come back? When you are a tourist that's pretty likely anyway isn't it? I found that service was generally lacking and not as attentive or a willingness to come back to the table and find out if everything is ok, etc. I am glad we live in a culture that manages meals and tipping the way we do...
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7-16-2009 @4:30AM Aris said... I would say your experience in Greece was not poor service, but just the way things are there. Greeks typically don't go out to eat and then leave. Eating out is a social experience, and not rushed. Waiters do not hover and chit-chat - they bring you your food, and you spend several hours with your friends or family chatting, eating, and drinking. Even after the meal is done, it is not unusual to sit at the table with a drink for an hour or two - and the waiters will (typically) not rush you away either.
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7-16-2009 @6:30AM Clara said... I live in New Zealand and, same as Australia, the wait staff's pay is factored into the cost of the meal, along with GST (Goods & Services Tax) and everything else - basically, when you sit down and order from the menu, the prices you see is exactly what you end up paying on the bill. Having travelled in quite a few countries, most recently the US, I have to say this is the most logical and hassle-free system! With the prices most restaurants charge I don't think there's ever justification for paying wait staff minimum or below minimum wage and presuming people must tip to make the job bearable - it's the restaurant owner's job to work out their pricing properly to ensure it's enough to cover their costs!
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7-16-2009 @9:36AM nobodees Bidnezz said... Let's say for a moment we go to the pre-tipping mode. How are you going to guarantee the restaurant has employeed someone who isn't going to spit in your food, hit on your date or *groan* anytime you request a beverage refill? Not.going.to.happen. Perhaps in some of the upper quality restaurant, but surely not in your basic restaurant where 80% of the staff is college students and actors.
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7-16-2009 @9:52AM Noreen said... You have chosen to work for someone who doesn't pay you minimum wage in the hopes that, by being nice to strangers, they will give you money. Some of them aren't going to. If this is going to cause a hardship in your life, may I suggest you find a line of work where you will recieve a regular paycheck for regular work? Because I don't think that saying "Hey stanger, tell me how much money you're going to give me, so that I can decide how nice I have to be to you" is going to be really successful.
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7-16-2009 @10:09AM matt said... I'd pre-tip at a place where I felt I had some assurance of good service, for example, if I had been there many times before. But, unlike most other kinds of business I patronize, I go to lots of different restaurants and bars and have a lot more "first time in this place" experiences at them than I do at say, bike shops or barbers. There is more risk for me, the customer, at a new restaurant than any of those other places. Crappy service ruins the evening, could ruin a date, and makes the night out an aggravating waste of time. Being able to tip based on service makes me more likely to be adventurous with trying a new place, knowing I'll have some ability to do financial damage control if it ends up being a bust.
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7-17-2009 @4:11PM Kirk DeCardenas said... I don’t think pre-tipping would be practical because it would involve some complex social interaction between customer and waitstaff that may not be comfortable depending on the people involved. I think it might keep people away from restaurants if it became the common practice.
I do think that servis compris could work. If people felt like they weren’t getting 20% worth of service, market forces would take over and people would stop going to a restaurant or people would request a different server.
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7-16-2009 @11:49AM amanda said... Silliness.
In a service job, the employee, be it a waiter, a cab driver, a manicurist, or a delivery boy, is counted on to do their job in a social setting where they must interact with patrons. It is up to the patron's discretion to reward the server who excels in both aspects -- the actual job and the interaction.
I tip more to cab drivers who are pleasant and ask me how I am.
I tip less to delivery boys who give me a bag soaked in spilled soy sauce.
Unfortunately, even a good server can have a cranky, demanding patron who tips poorly. This is the way of the world, and all a good person can do is not replicate that behavior when it comes time for them to be served.
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7-16-2009 @12:32PM Theophylact said... I haven't stiffed a waiter in over 40 years, and then it was only after complaining bitterly and repeatedly to the management about his failure to bring us menus, to take our order, to bring our meal in time for us to attend a movie that we had allowed a margin of 2 1/2 hours for. Generally I tip 20% of the total bill after tax and beverage.
I would definitely prefer service compris along the French and Italian lines.
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7-24-2009 @11:05PM Duke said... I only tip based on service. If the server sucked, they don't get a penny, if they were great they get a great tip. Rewarding people just because they don't make enough money is ignorant, it gives that person no incentive to do their job correctly and leads to an expectation that no matter how I do, I get more money.
I don't tip at buffets, because no one serves me or checks up on me.
I don't tip in multiple wait situations, if one person takes my order, another brings my food and yet another pops in to check on me I don't really consider any of those people to have been working hard enough for me to earn extra money.
And if you think not tipping means you're going to get bad service the next time, then you're either going to the same restaurant too often or you live in a tiny little town, the wait staff at any of the places I go to changes so frequently that I never see the same faces, except when I go to a favorite place, and get the same waitress, but she's always there because she's good at her job and she always gets a very generous tip from me.
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