folks, tip your waitresses ... please!

[seXieleXie]

i guess this is a rant... so um... yeah... you've been warned.

waitresses and waiters are hard working people. we remember your face, your name, how you take your coffee, what dressing you like on your salad and what your favorite soup is. we refill your drinks and take the flack for the slow kitchen staff. we laugh at your jokes, even when they're not funny, and smile even when we've had a bad day and our feet are killing us.
we also get paid next to nothing for all that. i know you're broke, but for the love of god, does it hurt to leave us a couple of bucks to say "keep up the good work"?

*sighs* the prospect of putting myself through college on this kind of money makes me want to become a plumber. i guess a need a new job. *grumble*grumble*

oh and i'm sure this doesn't apply to anyone here and you all tip 15% or more... but in the land of broke college students and cheap professors such a thing is quite rare.

okay... end rant...

 

[KillerMuffin]

We have a rule about tipping. If the service was good, the waiter/waitress gets a good tip. If the service was bad, s/he gets a quarter. We always tip, though. If I understand it correctly, most waitpersons get about $2.10 an hour.

 

[Rambling Rose]

What many people don't know is that waitstaff are taxed on their minimum earnings+8%. What this means is that if you refuse to leave a minimum of an 8% tip, then the server is actually paying to serve you.

I hope your day gets better and that your tips improve!

 

[seXieleXie]

new york state minimum wage is $5.15/hr which is the same as the federal minimum, but since i supposedly make so much in tips i get $4.25/hr

 

[Tim1]

tips

Ive seen some waitpeople who SHOULD pay me to wait on me..They are soooo bad.........BUT that being said...I always leave a tip. It may be a small one but if the service is good and she has a good memory I have tipped as much as 50% . Not a big spender by any stretch....I just appreciate good service and will tip well when I get it.

 

[JazzManJim]

Hon, you have my full support! I'm a part-time pizza driver and a few days ago I posted my "Tip Your Driver" rant. You definitely earn your money....well..most of you.

Not that non-attentive wench who "waited" on me and a couple friends Sunday evening.

Everyone else, though.....

 

[Dillinger]

I'm originally from NYC - as with most New Yorkers, I rarely tip less then 20% ... *smile*

 

[Calamity Jane]

A little note:

Most of the customers are hard working people too. So when we go out to a restaurant to spend our har earned money on food that we're too tired to prepare, take time out to actually provide a service.

spit out your gum
smile
listen when we order our food so the kitchen can make it properly
don't act like we're inconveniencing you
check back and see if there's anything else we need... like silverware
refill our drinks

Stop expecting a tip. A tip is a thank you. So do something to be thanked for. I don't owe you a tip. But you're being paid to provide a service. The tip comes when you go above and beyond what is strictly required, not when you barely meet minimum guidelines.

I'm sure you're a wonderful waitress, and none of this applies to you.

 

[seXieleXie]

the thing that i don't understand is that i'm actually a good waitress. not to sound egotistical but i take pride in a job well-done so i really do remember the regulars and the non-so-regular return customers and what they like. i try to make sure no one has to ask me to refill their drink and i'm always friendly. if i were a crappy waitress i would understand a little more.

and another thing! (wow i'm really on a roll... see what happens when people encourage me to bitch) most of these kids are here on their parent's dime. there are people who charge their lunch to their bursar account. if mommy and daddy will pay for your half-caf, low-fat, no-foam cafe latte and tofu salad, i promise they won't mind giving me a few extra bucks.


i should wear a shirt that says "help the needy this holiday season... LEAVE ME A DAMN TIP"

 

[seXieleXie]

Re: Re: folks, tip your waitresses ... please!

Stop expecting a tip. A tip is a thank you. So do something to be thanked for. I don't owe you a tip. But you're being paid to provide a service. The tip comes when you go above and beyond what is strictly required, not when you barely meet minimum guidelines.

I'm sure you're a wonderful waitress, and none of this applies to you.

well... i don't know if we shouldn't expect a tip. our employers pay us less because they expect us to get tips.

 

[SINthysist]

You see, it's not tipping I believe in, but over-tipping. I think people would want to know that. Let me see your pen.

 

[Calamity Jane]

Re: Re: Re: folks, tip your waitresses ... please!

well... i don't know if we shouldn't expect a tip. our employers pay us less because they expect us to get tips.

They also expect you to do a good job.

I'm not picking on you, I've been there. But it drives me crazy when people expect to be tipped... just for barely doing their job.

 

[JazzManJim]

Re: Re: folks, tip your waitresses ... please!

Stop expecting a tip. A tip is a thank you. So do something to be thanked for. I don't owe you a tip. But you're being paid to provide a service. The tip comes when you go above and beyond what is strictly required, not when you barely meet minimum guidelines.

See, this is the problem. A tip is mandatory nowadays..well..kind of. Federal and State law allows an employer to pay waiters and waitresses less then the minimum wage for the simple reason that they may earn tips. That takes the heat right off of the employer and puts it squarely on the employee.

Unfortunately, there are precious few employers who don't take advantage of that little loophole.

That being said, my minimum tip is 10 percent. That's for absolutely bad service. I figure that even the worst scrubs deserve minimum wage. Basic service gets 15 percent, and it only goes up from there. I *never* walk away from the table without tipping. It's an alien concept to me.

 

[1hotjob]

.

 

[Tim1]

tip

I think so far most all of your replys are right on.....Remember the woman who was tipped a cool million from some guy a few years back?

 

[Gilly Bean]

In Michigan, tipped staff is only required to be paid $2.52 an hour, and they need to claim thier tips as part of thier wages. At the end of the year, it should average out to you having earned $5.50 per hour that you worked, or your employer has to pay up the difference.

Tipping is so common place, that wait staff in most places are paid far less then $3.00 an hour. Maybe more, depending on the shift you work (such as pickingup slower 3rd shift shit), or working in smaller places. Larger places, you make shit, becuase you are expected to earn your tips.

I agree, you shouldn't expect a tip, but I think it is extremly rude not to leave one. Most often, I will leave $1 or $2 if it is shitty service. They still only make $2.52 an hour, reguardless of the service. However, people who are really nice have gotten as much as 25% of the bill. One night, we had a bill of $85, and left $25 tip. Our server was awesome, had everything there when we asked for it. Didn't forget about us, told us if there was a delay on anything, and took the time to talk to us. She did that with every table. Yeah, she was likely rung out at the end of the night, but you better believe she made alot more that night then most the other servers in the place.

 

[LadyDarkFire]

With tipping, what I usually do is always leave the standard 15% tip for any service that would have it expected in their wages. If the service is good, the server gets a larger tip. If the service is bad, I just wait until the waitress comes by before leaving and tell her that, although I left a tip, I was disappointed by the service. Most jobs don't deduct wages for having a bad day, or even a hard day at work, so don't punish your server for having the same.

 

[Calamity Jane]

Re: Re: Re: folks, tip your waitresses ... please!

I *never* walk away from the table without tipping. It's an alien concept to me.

I almost always tip. There have been a couple of times when the service was so deplorable, I felt cheated even having spent my time in a place, and I haven't tipped. But that's extremely rare.

I just truly dislike the 'you owe me' attitude. I make barely $9/hour and I support my kids. No one tips me for a job well done.

 

[kotori]

I'm with Dill

I'm originally from NYC - as with most New Yorkers, I rarely tip less then 20% ... *smile*

we consider 15% punishment for poor service. Even in Ithaca.

 

[Shy Tall Guy]

Re: Re: Re: folks, tip your waitresses ... please!

See, this is the problem. A tip is mandatory nowadays..well..kind of. Federal and State law allows an employer to pay waiters and waitresses less then the minimum wage for the simple reason that they may earn tips. That takes the heat right off of the employer and puts it squarely on the employee.

From Nolo.com:

I work as a waitress and make good tips. But my boss says that because I get this extra money at work, I can be paid lower than the hourly minimum wage. Is this true?

It depends on how much money you make in tips and on the laws of the state where you work. Employers must pay all employees covered by the federal wage law (FLSA) not less than the minimum wage -- currently $5.15 an hour. And some states have established a minimum wage that is higher than the federal one; if you live in one of these states, you are entitled to the higher rate.

However, the law gets a bit trickier when the employee earns tips. Under federal law, an employer is allowed to pay a lower minimum wage -- only $2.13 an hour -- if the employee routinely earns at least $30 per month in tips. However, the employer can do this only if the worker's wages plus tips add up to at least the minimum wage for each hour worked. If the worker ends up earning less than the minimum wage even when tips are figured into the bargain, the employer has to make up the difference.

This is one of the problems with an income tax; there are all sorts of inequities besides the very basic one that the tax rate increases the more successful you are. The purpose behind a tax is supposed to be to pay for costs incurred, not as a penalty for doing well. As such, I support a complete repeal of all income taxes and replace the taxes with a sales tax.

A sales tax is the closest practical tax we can come close to someone actually paying for the costs their activities incur on the rest of society, and is the least punishing for succeeding in life monetarily.

 

[Luke's Angel]

For good service I'll go along with JMJ. 15 to 20 percent.

And I'm another New Yorker. Mind you I live out in the country not in the city. Good luck with the job Lexie.

 

[Dillinger]

OK - what restaurant should I go to so that I can evaluate your service and tip you accordingly? *lol*

 

[Babydoll5272]

I know where you are coming from

As being a ex-waitress of six years I know where you are coming from. Most I say that again MOST good waitresses will put up with alot that the customer doesnt see. Such as if the kitchen gets your order wrong we are too blame! If something else goes wrong that we had nothing to do with we get blamed! I personally was paid $2.10 per hour starting out and when I quit 6 years later was up to $2.60 and hour! Now granted you only have to make $2.65 an hour in tips to make minumun wage but let me tell you there was nights I would work my ass off and was lucky to make $3.00 an hour!!!

Now as a paying customer I know how the waitresses feel I was in your shoes trying to help support my children on tips! Which is HUGE part of are income! So dont say that tips are not required unless you know what that employer is paying their wait staff! And true the employer has to make up whatever he owes the waiters and waitresses at the end of the year, but I know for a fact not all employers do that and it hard to pay bills on anything less!

I understand your plite! That is why I always tips my waiters/waitresses, hairdresser, boy who takes my groceries out, paper boy, and my delivery drivers!!

Happy Holidays hope they will look better to you soon!

DOLL

 

[Dixon Carter Lee]

I was a waiter for about six months. I was 23, in New York, I hadn't made the acting thing happen yet, and I needed work. So like a million other Hamlet-wannabes before me, I took a job as a waiter.

I worked a restaurant right across from the Broadway Theatre in midtown Manhattan (next to that "Flashdancers" place Letterman is always sending his cameras -- the Ed Sullivan Theatre is a block away). Now it's a TGI Fridays, but, at the time, it was a new place with some other name.

I worked the shift just before the 8pm Broadway curtains...so I had all these people coming in at 7:30 saying "We're going to a show at eight and we need an entire dinner, desert and coffee served to us by then!!!!" Freaks.

I hated waiting tables. I was a good waiter, but a bad employee. We had a manager that kept trying to get us to line up the ketchup bottles on the tables so they'd all be in a row, and I kept saying, "You know, that's just not going to happen."

The other waiters were morons. One guy kept ignoring his customers so he could pop outside, have a smoke, and play three card monte on a carboard box set up on the corner. I finally pulled him inside and screamed "Are you from fucking Kansas or something?!"

Frank Gorshin was doing a one man show in town and he'd pop in for drinks and we'd both chat and flirt with the same office girl who always stopped in for a cocktail after work. (Neither one of us ever laid her, but I came close). It was cool listening to Frank go on about acting, and how much he loved playing the Riddler.

I liked working the night shift because nobody ever came in, and I could read fucking paper and eat free cheescake.

Since we got a lot of Tourists I was always coming up against Europeans who didn't tip (because in Europe the tip is often included in the bill). Bastards.

I loved having money in my pocket every night (even if they were just singles), but I couldn't stand the heat of the kitchen, the filthy dishes, the rude customers and having to be polite all the time. Thank God I eventually fell into stand-up so I could get paid to insult the customers.

I got asked to work a sister restaurant down by the Garden one night, since there was a big Knicks game in town. I worked with a professional waiter, you know, the career kind, who knew every damn wine in the joint and had his own expensive corkscrew and could balance plates on his fucking head if he had to. He was amazing, and really seemed to enjoy his job. He got all the hot tables, served all the basketball players, and made a fortune every night. I was seriously impressed that he was good at a job I hated so much.

I did get insurance, though, and I ate for free, and as I was the only waiter with an IQ over 100 I could pretty much set my own hours. I suppose it wasn't such a bad job after all, perfect for me at the time -- still, I could only hack it for six months.

My hat goes off to all waiters and waitresses.

 

[rexfelis]

Tips and restaurant work

I have only once ever worked in a restaurant, and then I was working as a host and in the kitchen, not as wait staff.

I envied the wait staff their better money, but I did not envy them the rude customers. I never became a waiter.

I have seen both sides of it though, since many of my friends and most of my family have been wait staff.

Personally, I always try to leave a tip of at least $5.00 or 20%, whichever is higher. If the service is bad, I leave 15%, and if it is very bad, I leave 10%.

If the service is good, and I have a bit of money to spare, I have been known to tip over 200%. I have actually had waitresses follow me out to my car to return me the money I left because they thought it was a mistake. LOL

There's a Chinese restaurant in town where I go sometimes, and they have a buffet style setup. I usually go there for all-you-can-eat snow crab legs they have each evening. I always request a specific waitress. This waitress, Cindy by name, is always a pleasure to have around. She is always ahead of the game when it comes to service. I know that I will always feel like I am a special guest when I have her as my server. I know I get special treatment because she does things for me that she's not supposed to, like telling me ahead of time when fresh crab is coming out. She even gives me Chinese lessons once in a while. LOL (Not that I remember any of it, but it's still nice.)

Anyway, this particular waitress makes me feel genuinely special, and in return for that, I show my genuine gratitude.