The Bad Tip Follow-Up - What Can I Get You Folks?

5-26-2010 @7:01AM gobo said... Then you should be ashamed to show your face in a restaurant anywhere in the world.

5-26-2010 @7:19AM Matt said... Agreed. Tipping is just that, payment for going above and beyond what's expected.

@gobo, tipping is a decidedly American phenomenon. It's actually much more enjoyable going out and not having to evaluate a server's performance.

5-26-2010 @7:59AM Lianne said... @Matt
Yes, it is an US custom, and if you're dining in the US you need to be aware and follow this practice. In the US if you go to a sit down resturaunt the tips are the server's wage. I don't think this is necessarily correct, but that is how it is so if you had satisfactory service a 15% should be minimum.

5-26-2010 @8:02AM gobo said... @matt, it may be an American invention (that's debatable) and is most pervasive here, but it's expected nearly everywhere in the world except for countries that figure gratuity into the bill (which I much prefer, myself). In the US, your server needs tips to supplement their salary. That's how it works. If you refuse to tip in US restaurants, you should be refused service. End of story.

5-26-2010 @11:54AM Matt said... A mandatory gratuity isn't a gratuity then!

5-26-2010 @5:45PM Matt said... The whole concept of a tip has been so distorted. It's time to end such a custom. For example, I only patronize a coffeehouse where they baristas are paid a wage and do not ask for further compensation (what is being called a tip). I've grown so accustomed to it, I'll probably start skipping tips at other coffeehouses if I do patronize. If people started questioning this idea of a mandatory tip, it would come to an end in short order. But people are too busy trying to look compassionate/generous with their boastful 20+% tips.

5-26-2010 @7:41PM gobo said... Matt, that's because some of us ARE compassionate and generous when given good service, and like to reward it. If you want to punish your waiters everywhere you go because of your selfishness and greed, that's your choice. I'm glad I don't have to eat with you.

5-27-2010 @4:41PM Rebecca said... @FS Are you aware that most servers only get paid $2.13 an hour? If you got paid $2.13 an hour for taking care of customers, wouldn't you appreciate a tip for your hard work? I truly hope you never eat at any restaurant! If you are that cheap, you shouldn't go to a restaurant and expect people to wait on you. McDonalds may be more to your taste.

5-26-2010 @8:14PM lisa said... Do you know that servers make $2.13 an hour the most a server will make according to the Federal govenment is $3.63 and we get taxed on the sales we make not the money we have in our pockets.

5-26-2010 @8:20PM cgirl84 said... You should not be eating out. Having smeone wait on you is part of the experience. So if you dont like tipping...get it to go. A server typicaly makes 2.13 an hour. You know when you have to tip. Don't be an idiot.

5-26-2010 @8:22PM Unidol said... FS did you know that Uncle Sam assumes that every single person leaves a tip so server must pay tax on your bill wether you tip or not. I shouldn't have to help pay for your meal out. I have a family to support. Most servers make anywhere from $2.13 an hour because again the goverment assume you got a large tip. People like you suck big time. If you get crappy service I can see not tipping, but to just not tip period is just being an Ass.

5-26-2010 @8:25PM Chas said... As a bar tender, I thought you should know...The average hourly rate of pay for a server or bar tender in the U.S. is a little over four dollars an hour. You may ask yourself why anyone would work for that measly amount and the answer would be a resounding...We don't. We are in a "service industry". It is well known throughout the world that tipping is a part of the whole experience. Why don't the restaurants just pay me more? If they did, your burger would be a little over twice as much as you're paying now. I'm not talking Mickey Dee's either, I'm talking about a mouth watering piece of 100% all beef Angus cooked to your desire with all the fixings. All you have to do is sit there and eat. Let me do the running and, please allow me to pick up after you. Not just a little but let me get everything out of your way, while I'm at it, I'll keep an ice cold beverage on the table in front of you. You don't even have to go to the fridge. What's that? You need Mayo? How about some steak sauce? Sure...I'll be happy to do these things for you. Just try to remember...We've been trying to get restaurant owners to pay us more for decades now. Thus far...It just hasn't happened. So, when we really work hard to make your experience a pleasant one (and most of us really do!), we appreciate your gratitude! To insure proper service...T.I.P.S.

5-26-2010 @8:53PM Kirstahn said... so FS I should have to wait on you hand and foot, make sure youre food is cooked right and is hot, kiss your ass, and you not tip me?? i hope youre not a regular at any restaurant because I guarantee your food isn't as "quality" as you think

5-26-2010 @11:24PM Mike said... Nobody saw Reservoir Dogs....? Really?

5-26-2010 @8:40PM Fox said... The trouble with tipping anymore is that restauraunts have seen it as an excuse to pay waiters/waitresses a very small wage so that often waiting staff depend as much on their tips as they do on their paycheck. My little sister once worked in a very fancy restauraunt that would keep track of their workers tips and then subtract them from their paycheck! if restauraunts didn't indulge in this cheep practice than tipping could go back to being a reward for a good server, at this point in time I always feel obliged to give a tip because I hate the thought of even a poor server struggling to make ends meet.

5-26-2010 @8:46PM Sam said... Well I've never been a server, however I'm a life long patron and I always tip well and "round up." 20% for good service, and 25% if I'm with a large party and the server has really been running around. Conversely, I've left 15% at times when I received lousy service and I shouldn't have. I'm always pleasant to my server, sometimes the server will just have a bad attitude.

What really gets me is:

1) When you see a "tip jar" on the counter of a deli and you're expected to tip the guy/gal who is making your turkey sandwich. Isn't that their job to make it and wrap it up for you to go? Why should I tip them for doing their job? I'm not being served at a table, I'm walking out with my food in a bag.

2) I was dining in a NYC restaurant last week and had an "18% gratuity" automatically added to the tip and it stated so on the menu, regardless of how many people are in the party. It was just me and a friend, and the waiter literally ignored us, walked past us when our glasses had been empty for quite a while, then "threw" the food on the table and tried to rush us off the table. For that we had to give him an 18% tip. Even though the food was good, I will not be going back because of the service.

I know there are many cheapskates out there who refuse to tip for good service and that is just wrong. Cheapskates stay home. If you can't afford to tip, then don't eat out. However, tipping should not be automatically added to a tab but should come along with good service.

6-02-2010 @2:28PM Kim said... At the restaurant my daughter works at, not only is the tip most of their salary (they get about $2 per hour from the management, but they are forced to tip out on their total receipts to the bartenders, kitchen help, runners, hostesses and managers to a tune of almost 9% of the total bill for each table. If you leave no tip, my daughter actually has to pay to wait on you. It is this way in many large restaurants where the tip-out to other staff (who do make minimum wage or more) is mandatory and automatically deducted by management at the end of each day.

5-26-2010 @8:56PM Lisa said... ive waitressed for almost 10 years now and ive made the most and least an hour ive seen lol.. at charlie browns in jersey i made $1.88 and hour and here in FL at chilis i made $4.13 an hour... gotta tell you tho it doesnt matter what the hourly wage is.... your check is still nothing. its all about the tips. and if youre not a good server then you wont make any money and should probably find another job...

5-26-2010 @9:01PM crystal said... First of all, it's people like you that make serving a person unpleasurable. You said that servers are required to get paid the minimum wage which is true and untrue. The job only has to pay 2.13 an hour on top of tips as long as the amount of tips equals the federal min wage. Can you please do that math?! That means the server only has to make $5.12 PER HOUR to get screwed by being paid $2.13....SO you may not "get tips" while at your job, but i'm willing to bet you make a hell of a lot more than $2.13 an hour.