tipping? yes, no, where?

[PapaDisco]

On 7/28/2018 at 4:30 PM, bpm32 said:

Has the tipping percentage gone up in the US? I feel like it used to be 10-15%, but the standard seems to be 15-20% now. It’s probably just that 15% is harder to figure when you’re drunk than 20%, so I blame math.

When I was waiting tables back in the 70's/80's it was 10-15% and a 20% tip was blowing it out of the park.  Restaurants pushed for the 15-20% for gawd knows what reason: perhaps to continue subsidizing their employees.  When I was waiting tables, even at 10-15% I was making a seriously good living and splurging at Christmas for the whole family.

I like people to make a decent wage, but the weird attitude of restaurants shaming patrons into paying their staff is absurd.  In Asian tipping is non-existent or minuscule.  I'd prefer the restaurant to set total price and leave it up to me to add 0-5%.  20% is an Absurd service tax to be adding to every meal out.  Also tipping on the after-tax amount, and the hyper-priced wine.  Taxis in Asia don't get tipped at all.  Neither the bellhops.  It's a much more relaxing experience for the guest.

Most of the time I get a decent, congenial server; but not someone who adds 20% to the value of the experience.  I pay the extra 15-20% as convention, but it is a seriously weird convention and restaurants really need to pay their people properly and not guilt their patrons into doing it for them.

[Fuzz AI]

24 minutes ago, JackofSpeed said:

But then you’d be tipping on tax which most try to avoid! Unless you want to do the math to discount 10.25% (sales tax in Chicago) lol

And that's even more reason to get rid of tipping.

[Fuzz AI]

At least with earning a straight wage, you know what you are getting from week to week, as opposed to wondering if you can afford rent next week. And I hardly doubt that the tipping culture would evaporate overnight if a fair minimum wage was applied. Your tips may go down, but a fairer system would be in place for all staff.

[anacostiakat]

There was a proposed measure here to increase the minimum wage for restaurant workers to $15.00 per hour.  The opposition claimed that by doing so prices would rise forcing some out of business as well as affecting tipping.  I have no problem with raising the minimum wage.  You can always tip if you want to.  Or not.

It failed.  A lot of the workers were against it.  Especially the bar tenders.

[Lotusguy]

There was a proposed measure here to increase the minimum wage for restaurant workers to $15.00 per hour.  The opposition claimed that by doing so prices would rise forcing some out of business as well as affecting tipping.  I have no problem with raising the minimum wage.  You can always tip if you want to.  Or not.
It failed.  A lot of the workers were against it.  Especially the bar tenders.

Of course - I wonder what percentage of service employees report all of their cash tips as income...

[Ender1553]

Agreed, but I wonder if the wait staff would be opposed to becoming straight wage earners, perhaps  they can earn more when they are receiving tips for top service at higher end restaurants

On that note, I worked at an Indian food resto in college that I'd regularly only make $30 a night for a 4pm-10:30 shift, and be expected to come in early to help the bus boys roll silverware (at ~2/hr while the busboys weren't tipped employees).

 

On the other hand, a few years later I worked as a server in a bar as a second job and made more working just fri/sat night than I had in my previous job working 40 hour weeks. (Bad night was making

 

(Boo, cut off the rest, edit trying to recreate)

 

 

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[joeypots]

I think that most servers  in good restaurants in the US  prefer to be tipped than salaried. I think I got $2.13 an hour and declared my credit card tips to the feds. The low hourly paid my taxes on those tips. Cash tips were never declared. That's the system. Some places, I've been out of that game for a long time, share tips to a greater or lesser extent. I always tiped the bus and the bar tender. We made good money back then for the work we did. Bartenders could make real money. Restaurants that catch on are money machines. Start up is risky as hell and most fail and  many places make all of their profit on alcohol with food being a break even.  I live in a resort area and good restaurants here keep wait staff for a long time. People earn a living wage from  tips and I think if the system was changed to a salary system those people would move on.

[PapaDisco]

Same here.  I made waaaaaaay more than minimum wage when I was waiting tables (mid to upscale restaurants, can't vouch for budget places).  There was no question I could pay the rent and virtually no uncertainty in the income.

[topdiesel]

I don't care about social pressure.  I tip those who earn it.  My tip is based on service provided 0-20+%.  I have tipped 100% on exceptional service, but that is super rare and should be the tippers choice not requirement.  If the service is so bad that I won't return, then 0 tip.

When I was younger, I was a pizza delivery guy, Server in lower level restaurants and a server in a very expensive upscale steak house ($200+ a night and a free meal).  Made really good money the more upscale I got, but delivering pizza pays the bills. 

Just like the job you have, there are people who do it well and people who shouldn't be doing it.  The more you tip crappy servers, the more they expect.  If you tip poor service, you are really hurting the establishment.  Crappy server makes decent money=crappy server stays at establishment and drives away good customers.  

Cost of living is a poor argument.  Food is a cost of living.  Food prices go up=tip goes up (if you tip the same %) along with cost of living.  The tipping norm has gone from like 10-15% for decent service to you have to tip 15-20% no matter what service you are provided.  Just add the price to the food if it is required.

[Akela3rd]

I don't care about social pressure.  I tip those who earn it.  My tip is based on service provided 0-20+%.  I have tipped 100% on exceptional service, but that is super rare and should be the tippers choice not requirement.  If the service is so bad that I won't return, then 0 tip.
When I was younger, I was a pizza delivery guy, Server in lower level restaurants and a server in a very expensive upscale steak house ($200+ a night and a free meal).  Made really good money the more upscale I got, but delivering pizza pays the bills. 
Just like the job you have, there are people who do it well and people who shouldn't be doing it.  The more you tip crappy servers, the more they expect.  If you tip poor service, you are really hurting the establishment.  Crappy server makes decent money=crappy server stays at establishment and drives away good customers.  
Cost of living is a poor argument.  Food is a cost of living.  Food prices go up=tip goes up (if you tip the same %) along with cost of living.  The tipping norm has gone from like 10-15% for decent service to you have to tip 15-20% no matter what service you are provided.  Just add the price to the food if it is required.

And an extension of this last point is the "service charge" which is becoming more prevalent in mid- range UK restaurants - 12.5% automatically added to the bill. When the bill arrives the question is now not how much do we tip, but is it already included? If not, normal rules apply.

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[CaskStrength]

I wish we would just do away with it.  I've seen some profiling happen where servers are less attentive towards visible minorities and the very elderly,  based on the expectation of a poor tip.  Thankfully it only happens occasionally, but if I see clear evidence of it, I'll tip the bare minimum to cover an average tip pool for the kitchen.  Otherwise, I usually go with a flat 15% as the minimum wage for servers is reasonably decent compared to most places.