I don't understand tipping culture...

[Flames66]

I don't tip as a matter of principle- and i have a worked in restaurant before. When you pay money in a restaurant you're paying for a product and a service which is covered under the price of the food you order from the menu. Unless the food is priced in such a way that it doesn't include the service then i have no objections to tipping. Otherwise you are just paying twice over for a service you paid for when you ordered the food. As a customer, it feels like deceitful behaviour.

Your first problem might be being Australian, where the average wage is high enough that people in the service industry can actually get by on just their normal pay.

In the US, people who are in "tipping" jobs can get paid as low at $2.50 an hour, though their employers are supposed to be legally required to ensure they get the federal minimum of $7.25 an hour if their tips don't cover it.

This is why i would tip in America, but not anywhere else that pays it's staff at least minimum wage. I don't think it's a fair system at all though. I'm even told you're expected to tip the barman every time you order a drink.

Out of interest- do you feel the price of an item of food in a typical restaurant covers both product and service or just product?

I won't tip if I ever travel to America out of principal. I will not pay extra for service on top of the already extortionate mood cost unless they went well above and beyond what they were required to do.

 

[In Search of Username]

Because it's a shit job with low wages and if you're the kind of person who complains about the service you get from people working in it you're kind of an arsehole. Most people working as waiters do not want to be, and they do not do it to provide you the best possible service, they do it out of necessity.

 

[Daniel Ferguson]

If it's mandatory, it's more like a tax than a tip. A tip by definition is a bonus for a good job, a good attitude, a good handling of something going wrong, etc. As far as I can tell, anyway.

Tips are actually optional in Australia. I think...

 

[HardkorSB]

Why not get rid of tips, increase the cost of all the meals by 5-10%, and then pay the waiters more?

I think it's mainly because tips aren't taxed and the restaurant owner spends less.

Don't forget, servers must tip out their bussers, bartender and the other various behind the scenes staff (usually a guy who keeps the slide stocked and clean). It's usually a percentage of the servers sales that must be paid out (2-3%). This means if you leave no tip the server will have to pay out of their own pocket to the other employees. If you stiff a sever on a $100 tab they will still have to "tip out" 5-6$ to the other staff members.

Is that even legal? I think the owner could go to jail for this in the UK (where I live) and Poland (where I grew up). I assume that they do this in the US but this kind of stuff wouldn't fly in other places.

Your country sounds cheap and unappreciative.

Yeah, how dare they pay the employees a full wage? They should instead pay them 1/3 of a wage and force "mandatory charity" on the customers. That's the way of the future.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

I've always felt that a tipping job wasn't a guaranteed wage, it was performance based wages. Better job you do, better pay you get. Instant feedback, the employer isn't really paying you, you're being compensated by customers based (for the most part) on your work ethic. Good waiter/waitress = higher paid by tips. Bad waiter/waitress = should look at a different field to work in.
In food service you can't expect tips, you have to earn them. Sometimes you get stiffed. But it still ends up being dependent on you.

 

[Mobax]

Waiters pretty much live off those tips so think of it as helping out another human being in rough times. Anyone who has been a waiter will know that it is very helpful to tip good.

Which makes it quite disgusting when you find the manager of a place pocketing a large percentage of tips taken in before dividing among the staff. :I

Dividing tips among the staff always seemed like bullshit to me: I tipped THIS guy because he did a job, the rest of them didn't earn it.

I worked in a upscale restaurant years and years ago. And tips were divided by percentage amongst all staff. Dishwashers got the smallest %, and it went up, with head cooks getting a higher percentage. Obviously the servers/waiters still kept the lion's share of their tips. But with all the serving staff giving a bit into a pool, all the other employees get rewarded for doing a good job. After all, if you have a great meal at a restaurant, the server has almost nothing to do with your actual food. The cooks make it, the dishwashers made sure you had clean dishes. The bussers made sure your table was set when you arrived. The bartender made your drinks etc etc. It's a whole team effort, so really it's bullshit not to share the tips.

 

[Sectan]

Your first problem might be being Australian, where the average wage is high enough that people in the service industry can actually get by on just their normal pay.

In the US, people who are in "tipping" jobs can get paid as low as $2.50 an hour, though their employers are supposed to be legally required to ensure they get the federal minimum of $7.25 an hour if their tips don't cover it.

As low as $2.13 in my case. Speaking as someone who just became a waiter, it fucking sucks, and you have no chance of survival if people aren't tipping well.

I feel a bit torn on this subject because I simultaneously despise my customers for having to rely on them, and hope they tip me well. It wouldn't be so bad if the manager wasn't there, taking his cut.

All of this in mind though, I still don't believe in tipping if the service isn't good. But no matter what, just be polite and don't be unreasonable.

I work in retail so I don't have to worry about tips, but we have a big ol' sign on the wall that has all of the OSHA and job regulations. One of the things I always see is "Servers can be paid a little as $2.13, but must be earning at least minimum wage if tips do not cover the rest." Is this a Minnesota only law or are restaurant owners just breaking the law by not paying and nobody's reporting it? Or are people knowingly walking into minimum wage jobs and getting pissed when the tips don't give them a larger paycheck to take home?

 

[Blow_Pop]

As a former waitress who worked her ass off and barely got tips thanks to managers giving her really shitty sections and then still had to tip the bartenders(luckily didn't have to split with cooks or anyone else) and barely left with $10 IF she was lucky (and this was at a more upscale kind of venue), the US pays terribly in most states for waiters/waitresses. Not only was I expected to take food/drink orders and make sure they get in the system and then get out to the right people, I also had to watch how much people were drinking and cut them off when they had too much. Not only that, I got treated like I was a whore (constantly getting sexually propositioned and guys pinching my ass and slapping my ass half the time to get their meals/drinks for free) and constantly berated by my managers for not being able to do as great of a job as everyone else starting from the first day I started work with no experience. And any time I complained to management about being sexually harassed I was told to deal with it myself. At the time I was a college student. Barely even making minimum wage. There was NO way I could have lived off my paycheck alone. For those who are saying that people who work minimum wage jobs aren't in desperate/dire situations, NONE of you know that for a fact. Some of the shit that wait staff in the states have to deal with is utterly appalling. I can't speak for other countries as I've only ever lived in the US and have never had the money/means to travel. Anyone who thinks being a waiter/waitress is easy, in my opinion, has never done it. Or if they have, they've been in a really nice area with people who, in general, aren't dicks. People are dicks to people in the service industry. Particularly the restaurant side of it. And I've found people from other countries don't understand tipping culture because they tend to have a wage that their restaurant employees CAN live off of. Minimum wage in the US started out as a wage you could support yourself on. Now? Depending on where you live and what your state's minimum wage is, you can't.

But I agree with people who say that waiters/waitresses who barely do the bare minimum of their job shouldn't be tipped. But then you also have to take into account how busy the place is too. Sometimes your wait staff only has time to do the bare minimum because they are stretched thin at their job due to call outs or bad scheduling and the place is busy. In which case, people are utter dicks about tipping.

 

[thethird0611]

Apparently we tip because the restaurant owner is too cheap to pay his wait-staff a decent wage. Which ought to be illegal, if you think about it.

Actually, I would argue that if nobody ever gave a tip, waiters might actually bother to fix the broken system and force management to give them an actual paycheck...

So, like, we're enabling the owner's bad behavior by tipping.

Sounds good. You go ahead and tell most waiters and drivers that they are going to make less money because you dont like tipping.

Oh, and yes, most waiters and drivers make more than minimum wage. Ive worked in both a driver heavy store (managed), and had many friends who were wait staff.

Your first problem might be being Australian, where the average wage is high enough that people in the service industry can actually get by on just their normal pay.

In the US, people who are in "tipping" jobs can get paid as low as $2.50 an hour, though their employers are supposed to be legally required to ensure they get the federal minimum of $7.25 an hour if their tips don't cover it.

On top of that, if you're dealing with delivery, a lot of the drivers pay their own gas. So they're even more in the pocket if not for tips.

Yep. Out of pocket. Even though my drivers made more than me (a shift manager) after their gas. Yep. Totally bad. Happy employees suck.

EDIT: Oh! Gas is also tax deductible to. Many of my drivers kept record of their mileage for tax breaks.

 

[irok]

What if I was to say we don't tip in New Zealand, at all , for any reason at any time. I believe staff are paid fairly enough to not need it and its just never caught on in our culture.

 

[WanderingFool]

I tip based on the service I recieve. If its a place that has a self-serve buffet, and they dont do anything but refill your drink, I may give them a doller or two, but thats it. If its a place that they bring me my food, and comes by every so often to check if I need everything, they get a tip of atleast 15%. But I never tip more than 6% at places where tips are pooled.

 

[Tanis]

Waiters, legally, can be paid WELL below minimum wage.

As a result in order for them to make minimum wage they NEED tips.

 

[Verlander]

It's the price of living in the free market guys, you do the work and the boss gets the money. It's the only way to be! [/sarcasm]


At least in the UK we have a decent minimum wage (although still not good enough, needs to be tied to inflation). Tips only go for exceptional service. That way it actually means something. Tipping on principle is retarded

 

[Verlander]

It's the price of living in the free market guys, you do the work and the boss gets the money. It's the only way to be! [/sarcasm]


At least in the UK we have a decent minimum wage (although still not good enough, needs to be tied to inflation). Tips only go for exceptional service. That way it actually means something. Tipping on principle is retarded

 

[ninjaRiv]

I'm British, so I don't tip. I think those who feel entitled to it can fuck right off, no matter how little they're getting paid. They're entitled to better employees and pay, not extra money from the customer who's already paid for the service. Tips should be reserved for outstanding service or special times of the year (I tip the pizza guy during xmas time. Which is the only time I order pizza...). Not everybody can afford a tip and saying you want, nay, DEMAND a tip just because you don't earn a lot is complete bullshit.

 

[kickyourass]

I'm assuming you live outside of the US, because here it's completely legal to pay them FAR below minimum wage, it's shockingly common for servers to get payed roughly $2 an hour (Minimum Wage is $8 for reference). This means most servers are literally living off of tips, you don't tip they don't eat.

Unless the service was truly abysmal it's generally assumed that you'll tip at least a little because you understand that tips make up the majority of their income. If you don't, you're kind of a dick.

 

[verdant monkai]

I tried to start this trend when I visited New york last week, although now I am back in the UK and cannot continue it.

Whenever someone says "how was the service" or even worse "the service was not included" dont tip them. Only tip those who do a genuinely good service and dont pressure you. If they complain tell them why they are not being rewarded, this will make the tip a nice surprise and make the service actually good.

 

[Bradmaster Flash]

UK resident here. I only ever tip if the service is EXCEPTIONAL. I've already paid for the service, it's included with the price of my food. If a waiter/waitress goes out of their way to provide a good, friendly service, then of course I'll tip. Otherwise, no.

If a restaurant actually requests a tip, either through the waiter/waitress, on the receipt, or on the menu, I will instantly set my mind on not paying the tip. I'm not obligated to pay something like that, and I don't think people should request something which is supposed to be completely optional. I feel sorry for people in America who have to live on funding under the minimum wage, but that's not my place to pay, it's the employer's. Take it out on them.

 

[Evil Smurf]

I'd tip if I did not live in Australia.

 

[Vausch]

When you consider that many tipping jobs only pay 3 dollars an hour (sometimes less)

You must be shitting me. Im assuming you can still claim welfare on a wage like that? In the uk if you work 15 hours or less a week you are still entitled to state welfare (its not much but its something)

$3 = £2...minimum wage in the UK is about £6-7 an hour or about £5 if you are under 18 (i may be wrong but thats a rough estimate). £2 an hour is dredful. JSA (job seekers allowance, which is basic unemployment benefits) gives you £50 a week. If you worked full time youd only get slightly more than that

Nope. Minimum wage law in Idaho is $7.25 hourly (well over half our workforce makes that), and for service and tipped positions it's $3 hourly. You can claim welfare, in fact in some cases that's the only way you can break even. That 3 dollars and hour isn't even a cheque, you don't get paid for some of those positions and all of it goes to taxes. Sometimes it's even a bill.

There are people in the US that work 50+ hours a week but are still on welfare.