Tips and the injustice of a gratuity system.

[SEVERUSMAX]

Seriously. It works well for a larger restaurant, where there are more than enough patrons to make up for the few misers who fail to tip well. But for a smaller one, it's just another form of very cheap labor. God help anyone stuck in such a job. Such places are the best weapon in the arsenal of the liberal Democrats in their regular pushes for a hike in the minimum wage- except that they are exempt from it. Perhaps instead of raising it, they should reduce the exemptions instead, so that no one is virtually unpaid for waiting tables and such. Talk about the working poor. It's one thing for a teen (perhaps why they are preferred to work there), but quite another starting on the college level and when you really need a living wage.

God, I am starting to sound like a liberal Democrat!

 

[Sherry Hawk]

I dunno, Sev...one of the best paying jobs I ever had in college was waiting tables.

It's not a job everyone can do, but even in a smaller restaurant (like the one where I worked), I was bringing home beween $150-250/wk just in tips, and that was only part-time, and twenty years ago.

I'd do that type of work again, even though it is tough as hell on your body.

 

[elsol]

Seriously. It works well for a larger restaurant, where there are more than enough patrons to make up for the few misers who fail to tip well. But for a smaller one, it's just another form of very cheap labor. God help anyone stuck in such a job. Such places are the best weapon in the arsenal of the liberal Democrats in their regular pushes for a hike in the minimum wage- except that they are exempt from it. Perhaps instead of raising it, they should reduce the exemptions instead, so that no one is virtually unpaid for waiting tables and such. Talk about the working poor. It's one thing for a teen (perhaps why they are preferred to work there), but quite another starting on the college level and when you really need a living wage.

God, I am starting to sound like a liberal Democrat!

Actually the biggest difference is the expense.

The labor is less the more expensive the restaurant... in the sense where less means less physical work and running around versus more 'hostessy' work. In a restaurant with runners, the waiter essentially takes an order and reads the people for whether they want 'lots of service' or 'go away'. As you get into the more expense restaurant, you get a clientele more likely to tip well even if just for 'show'.

At the more expensive restaurants I worked, I knew several people that worked friday, saturday, sunday six hours a day and were brigining in 25K+ (that they were 'reporting').

I pretty much only eat in expensive restaurants now, saving the little meals at cheaper places for one very nice meal at an awesome place. I tip well because I've been there, I've done that, it sucks. Even down to pay credit, tip cash, and go ahead and tip on alcohol.

 

[SEVERUSMAX]

I dunno, Sev...one of the best paying jobs I ever had in college was waiting tables.

It's not a job everyone can do, but even in a smaller restaurant (like the one where I worked), I was bringing home beween $150-250/wk just in tips, and that was only part-time, and twenty years ago.

I'd do that type of work again, even though it is tough as hell on your body.

Must just be the nature of the particular restaurant. The one in question has a chronic trouble with it. Or is the issue with the waitress herself? That could always be. She does tend to have a rather sour disposition at times, even if she is mostly a good girl.

 

[Sherry Hawk]

Must just be the nature of the particular restaurant. The one in question has a chronic trouble with it. Or is the issue with the waitress herself? That could always be. She does tend to have a rather sour disposition at times, even if she is mostly a good girl.

The waitress is most of the equation. You have to be cheerful, outgoing, solicitous, as well as a mind-reader pretty much all of the time.

The restaurant is some of it, of course, but a good waitress can make damn good money.

 

[SEVERUSMAX]

The waitress is most of the equation. You have to be cheerful, outgoing, solicitous, as well as a mind-reader pretty much all of the time.

The restaurant is some of it, of course, but a good waitress can make damn good money.

Well, you see, that makes good sense. I know this one gal, a Tejana girl and a bit of a tomboy, with a very friendly nature and sassy manner. She always got good tips, at least from me. I know another, just to reinforce the idea that it is attitude as much as looks, who was conventionally probably twice as good-looking as the other (not that the tomboy wasn't a looker herself), and usually nice and helpful, but she had more than a few prima donna moments. I seem to recall a friend of mine having a rather negative impression of her and being ill-disposed to tip her well. Quite the difference, one must admit.

 

[Selena_Kitt]

From Reservoir Dogs...

Nice Guy Eddie: C'mon, throw in a buck!
Mr. Pink: Uh-uh, I don't tip.
Nice Guy Eddie: You don't tip?
Mr. Pink: Nah, I don't believe in it.
Nice Guy Eddie: You don't believe in tipping?
Mr. Blue: You know what these chicks make? They make shit.
Mr. Pink: Don't give me that. She don't make enough money that she can quit.
Nice Guy Eddie: I don't even know a fucking Jew who'd have the balls to say that. Let me get this straight: you don't ever tip?
Mr. Pink: I don't tip because society says I have to. All right, if someone deserves a tip, if they really put forth an effort, I'll give them something a little something extra. But this tipping automatically, it's for the birds. As far as I'm concerned, they're just doing their job.
Mr. Blue: Hey, our girl was nice.
Mr. Pink: She was okay. She wasn't anything special.
Mr. Blue: What's special? Take you in the back and suck your dick?
Nice Guy Eddie: I'd go over twelve percent for that.

Mr. Pink: I'm very sorry the government taxes their tips, that's fucked up. That ain't my fault. It would seem to me that waitresses are one of the many groups the government fucks in the ass on a regular basis. Look, if you ask me to sign something that says the government shouldn't do that, I'll sign it, put it to a vote, I'll vote for it, but what I won't do is play ball. And as for this non-college bullshit I got two words for that: learn to fuckin' type, 'cause if you're expecting me to help out with the rent you're in for a big fuckin' surprise.

 

[R. Richard]

Mr. Pink: I'm very sorry the government taxes their tips, that's fucked up. That ain't my fault. It would seem to me that waitresses are one of the many groups the government fucks in the ass on a regular basis. Look, if you ask me to sign something that says the government shouldn't do that, I'll sign it, put it to a vote, I'll vote for it, but what I won't do is play ball. And as for this non-college bullshit I got two words for that: learn to fuckin' type, 'cause if you're expecting me to help out with the rent you're in for a big fuckin' surprise.

I am not current in the situation. I once owned a night club. I paid the pittance everyone else in town paid. However, the waitresses [cocktail] made pretty good money on tips [They drove newish cars and wore expensive stuff off shift.] At that time there was a government regulation that said if the waitress reported so much in tips, everything was OK. Each and every girl knew exactly what the 'legal limit' was. The legal limit was WAY below what the girls were really making.

 

[Huckleman2000]

Where this system really gets my goat is when you're in an expensive joint, and a tip of the usual percentage comes out to $30-$50!

so, if I left $25 for a starter, a nice dinner and bottle of wine, dessert - at a less expensive place, that's a $15 tip. Just because it's an expensive joint, the same service is worth double?

Why have I felt like a cheapskate when leaving a $30 tip?

 

[Sherry Hawk]

Where this system really gets my goat is when you're in an expensive joint, and a tip of the usual percentage comes out to $30-$50!

so, if I left $25 for a starter, a nice dinner and bottle of wine, dessert - at a less expensive place, that's a $15 tip. Just because it's an expensive joint, the same service is worth double?

Why have I felt like a cheapskate when leaving a $30 tip?

It might make you feel better, Huck, to know that waitresses make around $2/hour, and usually the nicer the restaurant, the harder you work because the patrons expect more.

 

[glynndah]

I once worked in a restaurant where management totaled your tickets for the night and charged you a percentage (1 - 5%, maybe) to be put in a kitty to pay for the bus boys. Yep, you gave part of your tips back so the owner didn't have to pay the busboys full wages because they "worked for tips", too.

 

[The_Fool]

Just for a counterpoint, in Germany (at least when I was there) the tip was added to the bill. The variance was to "round-up" to the next mark or leave an extra mark or two. That was it.

 

[R. Richard]

I once worked in a restaurant where management totaled your tickets for the night and charged you a percentage (1 - 5%, maybe) to be put in a kitty to pay for the bus boys. Yep, you gave part of your tips back so the owner didn't have to pay the busboys full wages because they "worked for tips", too.

In my nightclub, the waitresses split their tips with the bartenders. The place mostly ran on a cash basis, so the tip splitting was 'voluntary' and on the honor system. However, if a girl short changed the bartender on tips, the bartender short changed the girl on service. There were no mental giants among either the waitresses or the bartenders. However, I found that the employees could estimate a girl's tips quite closely, through good nights and bad nights.

 

[SimpleGifts]

Quote from Heinz Beck, chef of La Pergola, the only Michelin 3-star restaurant in Rome. He commented as to why the restaurant adds a gratuity automatically and shares it equally among all waitstaff working that night:

"The compensation system in America [where waiters typically receive low wages, little or no benefits, and work primarily for tips from customers] is very wrong. You are motivated to work only for compensation. High-tipping tables will receive attention, and the others, perhaps unknown, will suffer. This is also indicative of someone who does not love their work. If you are only working for the money, then you do not love your work."

Not agreeing...but an interesting viewpoint.

SG

 

[slyc_willie]

Quote from Heinz Beck, chef of La Pergola, the only Michelin 3-star restaurant in Rome. He commented as to why the restaurant adds a gratuity automatically and shares it equally among all waitstaff working that night:

"The compensation system in America [where waiters typically receive low wages, little or no benefits, and work primarily for tips from customers] is very wrong. You are motivated to work only for compensation. High-tipping tables will receive attention, and the others, perhaps unknown, will suffer. This is also indicative of someone who does not love their work. If you are only working for the money, then you do not love your work."

Not agreeing...but an interesting viewpoint.

SG

Mr. Beck has an understandably jaded and stereotypical viewpoint. A professional will treat all of his or her guests the same, regardless of any advance knowledge that a particular party is 'cheap.'

I've been working in restaurants off and on for several years. I've been a bartender, waiter, cook, etc. I much prefer being on the floor (i.e., waiting tables). It's a decent living (I take home around thirty grand a year on an average of 35 hours a week) and I don't take my work home with me. I'm one of the lucky ones who has a set schedule and numerous benefits (free food, time off whenever I want it -- as long as it's not on a major holiday).

Personally, I do not like any concept of 'automatic' gratuity. At my restaurant, we recently instituted an automatic gratuity of 18% on parties of eight or more. To me, that goes against the concept of earning one's money. I see it all the time; servers who have an eight-top which they ignore because they know they're getting that automatic eighteen percent, and spend their time with the one or two other tables they have, working up their tip.

About a week ago, one of my servers (I say 'my' since I am a trainer and basically one step away from management) had such a situation. She is a particularly self-imporant and lazy person who is constantly calling on other employees to help her out since she spends so much time flirting with the men at her tables.

She had a party of eleven, all women, celebrating a brithday. I noticed, throughout the meal, that these eleven women rarely had their drinks refilled unless I or someone else did it, and that a few of their orders were incorrect because their server did not write it down. On top of that, but their hapless waitress spent most of her time sitting down in a booth with a trio of hunks in her section.

At the end of the meal, the server dropped off the check, with the 18% gratuity included. Naturally, the woman who was paying complained. I happened to get there before my manager, and since I have the authority, I took off the gratuity the lazy server had applied and informed the woman to 'tip however you feel is apporpriate.'

Ten bucks on a tab of $146.

I thought that was appropriate, too.

The server raised holy hell about what I had done, but after I explained to my manager what poor service the party had received -- my words backed up by a few others -- my manager told me I was right and let the matter drop.

Now, obviously, of course, I am all for the concept of tipping. In most states, servers make $2.13 an hour. Only a few states provide minimum wage to servers. Texas is not one of them. But tipping should reflect the service given, and I can testify that most guests understand that philosophy. After all, I average seventeen dollars an hour in tips alone, and that is because I am good at my job.

If you go out to eat, and receive bad service, by all means, reflect that in your tip. I once had a very amiable and funny waiter take care of me and a date, and while he made us laugh and was overall very entertaining, he got both of our orders wrong and never checked back until we were halfway done. He did not even notice that the food he dropped off had been replaced by another server whom we flagged down.

I gave him ten percent, the tip written in on the credit card slip, and my date and I sat for a few minutes while we finished our coffee. He approached the table with a perturbed look and asked if there was anything wrong with his service.

I told him: "You were a very friendly and funny guy, but you got our orders wrong and didn't bother to check back. As a person, you're a great guy. As a server, you suck."

Around four or five months later, I went back to the same restaurant, by myself, and happened to get him again as my server. This time, he was very attentive and professional, and didn't make a single mistake. I tipped him twenty percent.

The tip should reflect the service. Period. Not everyone is cut out for that kind of job.

 

[sereneone4u]

As a SAHM who used to waitress, I tip 25%. I am so thankful to be waited on, one would really have to mess up not to get a good tip from me.

 

[Darkniciad]

Quote from Heinz Beck, chef of La Pergola, the only Michelin 3-star restaurant in Rome. He commented as to why the restaurant adds a gratuity automatically and shares it equally among all waitstaff working that night:

"The compensation system in America [where waiters typically receive low wages, little or no benefits, and work primarily for tips from customers] is very wrong. You are motivated to work only for compensation. High-tipping tables will receive attention, and the others, perhaps unknown, will suffer. This is also indicative of someone who does not love their work. If you are only working for the money, then you do not love your work."

Not agreeing...but an interesting viewpoint.

SG

Any server following that philosophy would be missing out with me. You don't get any cheaper looking than me. Good service is usually good for 25%, and I've been known to drop more than 50% on a pretty lil' thing who went above and beyond the call of duty ( In another state in a resturaunt I knew I'd never be in again, before you get any ideas ) She actually ran out front of the hotel and got me a Dr. Pepper from the machine, even though I'd settled on a Coke from the available choices. That is service. I was only 15 at the time, and traveling with the Scouts to an outing in Minnesota. Hardly a likely prospect for a big tip score.

Top that off with her being hot, wearing perfume that smelled like heaven, and having a smile that lit up the whole room, and it was worth every dime. (Even though I had to mooch smokes for half of the next week)

 

[Vermilion]

What I hate is in hairdressers when you tip, the tip goes automatically to the person who cut and styled your hair, even if it was the trainee or the Saturday girl who took your coat, got you a drink, asked fi you were ok and washed your hair.
I used to be that Saturday girl - I always make sure half the tip I leave goes to the girl who washed my hair - as long as she was pleasant and did a good job.
I once got a trainee who was monosyllabic, rough to the point of pain and splashed water in my face so my makeup ran. She got nothing.

x
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[S-Des]

What I hate is in hairdressers when you tip, the tip goes automatically to the person who cut and styled your hair, even if it was the trainee or the Saturday girl who took your coat, got you a drink, asked fi you were ok and washed your hair.
I used to be that Saturday girl - I always make sure half the tip I leave goes to the girl who washed my hair - as long as she was pleasant and did a good job.
I once got a trainee who was monosyllabic, rough to the point of pain and splashed water in my face so my makeup ran. She got nothing.

x
V

We don't have that here (at least not in the places I've been to). My barber (usually a woman) always gets a big tip (far more than 25%) because someone who does a good job at taking care of you deserves more. My pet peeve is Starbucks. It's $2 for a cup of coffee ($4 for a specialty drink) and you're supposed to tip for someone taking 30-45 seconds to get it for you? Come on...

 

[Vermilion]

We don't have that here (at least not in the places I've been to). My barber (usually a woman) always gets a big tip (far more than 25%) because someone who does a good job at taking care of you deserves more. My pet peeve is Starbucks. It's $2 for a cup of coffee ($4 for a specialty drink) and you're supposed to tip for someone taking 30-45 seconds to get it for you? Come on...

you have to *tip* in *Starbucks*? They don't even come out from behind the counter!
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[S-Des]

you have to *tip* in *Starbucks*? They don't even come out from behind the counter!
x
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Well, you don't 'have to'. I never do (next they'll be asking for a tip at McDonalds). But there is a tip jar out there, encouraging people to give them extra money. It's a lovely way to try to make you feel like shit when the person in front of you tips, then you ask for your 8 cents in change.

 

[Vermilion]

Well, you don't 'have to'. I never do (next they'll be asking for a tip at McDonalds). But there is a tip jar out there, encouraging people to give them extra money. It's a lovely way to try to make you feel like shit when the person in front of you tips, then you ask for your 8 cents in change.

Bah - most of the servers in Starbucks don;t even speak Englush fluently over here.
x
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[angelicminx]

LeRuse and I have discussed this many times. He has some wonderful little stories he tells about his experiences, and he's had plenty. In his 61 years I think he's done just about every job out there, at least once. He was a 'mixologist' at one point, a term I'd never heard until I met him, but have seen mentioned on Lit since then.

One story he tells, I don't recall the exact job he was doing, he was virtually ignoring someone who I would consider dressed like a 'bum' in favor of someone dressed to the nines. His boss pulled him to the side and asked what he was doing. Bossman then proceeded to tell LeRuse that everyone who came in was to be treated as if the were 'hundred-dollar tippers'. It turns out that the 'bum' was a loaded big shot around town and left a huge tip for just a few drinks.

We go to restraunts now and I get tickled by the waitstaff. LeRuse tells them upfront, 'your tip depends on how well you suck up, I don't want my wife to want for anything'. He makes a big game of it, with plenty of humor. At first, the staff went along with it as if they were just humoring an 'old man', but they have quickly learned how generous he can be. It's not unusual for LeRuse to leave a 25-30% tip.

Remec can attest to LeRuse's generosity and sense of humor. (Ah, the memories created.) We went to Denny's in Chicago and placed an order to go. LeRuse ended up leaving a $10 tip on a $25 order.

At one of the more expensive places here, we had a nice conversation with our waiter. Turns out that when he gets his paycheck it's stamped 'void'. The whole thing goes to pay his income taxes. His only pay comes from tips. LeRuse went through his 'sucking up' spiel and, through conversation, made the waiter laugh. The waiter kept our glasses full, brought extra bread and salad, and made sure we didn't have to ask for anything. We spent $60 on the meal, and left $40 for a tip.

Anyone who has met and gone anywhere with LeRuse knows that he's not one who is easily forgotten.


ETA: I forgot to mention, he's told me that in his overseas travels he learned that in most places the tip came first. The better the tip, the better the service.