Does anyone still tip waiters/waitresses?

[Bartholomew]

I just find it unnecessary to pay extra money for someone to bring me my food. Anyone else?

Almost all of the United States uses a tipping system to compensate waiters, so if you're not tipping, they're not getting paid.

I worked in a restaurant in a tipping role and think that the tipping system is stupid. People don't do well at their jobs to make a few more dollars or cents, they do well because they want to stay employed and get ahead.

If the tipping system is eliminated, the prices of the food will go up accordingly to compensate. I don't see the problem with that.

However, to refuse to tip even though that's the current model of how these people get paid is ridiculous. You must be trolling. I tip 20% consistently unless the service is terrible (because it's easy to calculate in your head; I usually round down to the nearest dollar or .50 cent mark). If the service is particularly good, I'll round up to the next whole dollar.

 

[Kura]

I tip for just that.. service! Enjoyable service and being able to make my dinner out a comfortable and warming one. I would not tip for someone just to "bring me food." I do tip on most occasions but I actually have been trying to make it a point more often NOT to tip if I am dissatisfied with my server. I used to feel bad because I always thought it was customary.. but really? Minimum wage or not.. if my server puts in minimal effort to make my dining experience a good one, I don't owe them any more than what the chef is putting out.

I think it's stupid that people say we're obliged to tip based on wages. When was the last time you tipped a musician, a web designer, or an artist? People expect those services for free and it's disgusting.

 

[Bartholomew]

I tip for just that.. service! Enjoyable service and being able to make my dinner out a comfortable and warming one. I would not tip for someone just to "bring me food." I do tip on most occasions but I actually have been trying to make it a point more often NOT to tip if I am dissatisfied with my server. I used to feel bad because I always thought it was customary.. but really? Minimum wage or not.. if my server puts in minimal effort to make my dining experience a good one, I don't owe them any more than what the chef is putting out.

I think it's stupid that people say we're obliged to tip based on wages. When was the last time you tipped a musician, a web designer, or an artist? People expect those services for free and it's disgusting.

Um, do you realize that waiters, bussers, and runners make BELOW minimum wage? Waiters make about $2/hr. without tips. The system is designed for restaurants to exploit the workers. That's why you should always tip even if the service is bad. Send them a message that the service was bad with a 10% tip, but don't tip nothing. Assuming you're at a restaurant for an hour, anybody, even the worst servers, deserve to be paid more than $2 to be there, take your order, submit it, bring you apps and drinks, check on where you're at in your meal, give orders to the kitchen, check on the status of your food, bring it out when it's ready, get you the check, and process your payment. Not to mention all of the stuff that runners and bussers do, who are also paid based on the tip you give the waiter. And also not to mention all of the behind-the-scenes work that waiters do and don't get paid any more for, like polishing utensils, managing the condiments, cleaning the coffee machine, etc.

If you understand all this about how the system works and what servers have to do, refusing to tip is ludicrous and even malicious.

 

[Kura]

Um, do you realize that waiters, bussers, and runners make BELOW minimum wage? Waiters make about $2/hr. without tips. The system is designed for restaurants to exploit the workers. That's why you should always tip even if the service is bad. Send them a message that the service was bad with a 10% tip, but don't tip nothing.

Ever heard the term "starving artist"? It's that term for a reason. Most people in the art field are expected to do internships with NO PAY for at least a year. At least less than minimum wage is better than no pay at all!

I will not tip if the service is bad because clearly that person does not care enough about their job to actually do it properly. If there is a problem with the kitchen, I realize that it's not the waiter's fault- I will tip them. If there's a problem with the water, then there are plenty of other people out there that would happily take that job and take it with pride and enthusiasm. I am not lowering my standards or the standards of other customers that grace that restaurant.

You also have to realize that in the UK, most of the time it's not standard practice to tip all the time. However, in Canada and the US it is. Most of the time, I will tip, like I said, but if my wait staff is (for example) rolling her eyes at me and stomping her feet like a child, for a simple request like getting me actual cutlery for my table, I will not tip. This:

I find it specially cruel to keep the workers in underwater wages to be able to mark your dishes cheaper and then expect the customers to pay more than that so the workers can have real salaries. I'm kind of glad that in Europe we are used to having real prices and not needing tips, so they can be used as a reward and not as a hidden tax you have to mentally add to know how expensive your dinner is actually going to be.
You know, I happily tip the guy in the newsstand I go to every morning who knows me by my first name and has my newspaper waiting for me as soon as he sees me walking down the street, but a regular waiter who does nothing out of the ordinary other than serving me my food? They should be giving a decent, worthy pay, but that's it. A shame things aren't that straightforward in the US :(

I'm no money dispenser and I work full time too. I believe that you get back what you put into something. And minimum wage pay is usually determined also by the level of skill required for the job- and you don't necessarily need a degree to be a server. If it's less than minimum wage, they should be raising that with workplace rights- and not me, the customer.

Also I don't know where you're getting this $2 an hour thing from, but all my friends who have been waiters have been paid about $10/h. If cleaning up the place is part of their job, and they've accepted that job, I don't see why I should pay them any more of my (also) hard earned money. A tip is for the service, not for making sure the dishwasher is turned on.

Also, I'm not going to hand someone money just because I pity their wage. That's basically panhandling- and I am not looking to do that when I decide to go out for a meal.

 

[Bartholomew]

Ever heard the term "starving artist"? It's that term for a reason. Most people in the art field are expected to do internships with NO PAY for at least a year. At least less than minimum wage is better than no pay at all!

Internships both give one valuable experience (on paper at the very least) and lead to well-paying jobs. There are no such rewards from a restaurant job aside from the monetary compensation, so that comparison actually works in favor of my argument. If you're not tipping waiters, bussers, and runner, they're getting nothing aside from the $2/hr., which is a joke in exchange for human labor in the 21st century.

I will not tip if the service is bad because clearly that person does not care enough about their job to actually do it properly. If there is a problem with the kitchen, I realize that it's not the waiter's fault- I will tip them. If there's a problem with the water, then there are plenty of other people out there that would happily take that job and take it with pride and enthusiasm. I am not lowering my standards or the standards of other customers that grace that restaurant.

Anyone who works at any business that your money goes to may also care very little about their jobs and perform them poorly, but you don't pay less for any other products or services because of that, and those people still get paid their salaries or wages. If an employee performs poorly, restaurant or not, the ultimate judge of their performance and employment is their manager. You are not deciding whether or not someone remains employed, although I can tell you would like to; you are simply deciding how much the person gets compensated for their work. Why this is in the hands of consumers is beyond me, but the way the system works in the United States, I think it's malicious to choose not to tip.

Also, do you ever have a crummy day and perform your job a little worse than usual? I feel that everyone does. It's just that waiters are the only ones whose compensation suffers because of it. Like you said, there are a lot of other professions that perform services and don't operate based on tips, so they don't have to be "on" all the time in order to get paid. This is why the tipping system for restaurants is unfair.

You also have to realize that in the UK, most of the time it's not standard practice to tip all the time. However, in Canada and the US it is.

Yeah, I know. I don't like the tipping system, but until it changes, I'm going to keep tipping.

 

[Captain Gizmo]

If you don't wanna tip, then that's your right, no one is forcing you to tip anybody. But let me ask you this.

If you're working and you work your butt off and then your boss comes up to you when your shift is done and then tells you "I don't think I should give you your salary, I find it unnecessary, I don't feel like I owe you anything."

You would be frustrated because you worked your butt off for that person and that person didn't decide to pay you, right? Well that's how the waiters feel. The thing you gotta realize is that when you pay for your food, barely nothing OR nothing from that money is going to the waiters, the only thing that they get paid from are the customers who are tipping them. Also, being a waiter IS a real job, just the method of payment is different. You get breaks, vacation time, flexible shifts and you got co-workers and a a boss that tells you what to do. It's got all that? Okay, then it its a real job.

 

[Nihilego]

Something I've seen a few times now is comments about how waiters are paid below minimum wage / not paid properly by their bosses / need tips to make up their wage / etc. Can someone explain to me how it is legal in the US to pay below minimum wage? That's a totally new concept to me and something which I always assumed was against the law. @__@

 

[Bartholomew]

Something I've seen a few times now is comments about how waiters are paid below minimum wage / not paid properly by their bosses / need tips to make up their wage / etc. Can someone explain to me how it is legal in the US to pay below minimum wage? That's a totally new concept to me and something which I always assumed was against the law. @__@

They're just workers in a different category. The legal minimum wage for this category is much lower than for the typical part-time worker because it operates based on tips. That's just how it is. Probably after a lot of lobbying from restaurant owners associations.

Keep in mind, a restaurant owner can choose not to operate his restaurant based on tips, and some do. Maybe like one or two that I've ever heard of.

 

[donavannj]

Something I've seen a few times now is comments about how waiters are paid below minimum wage / not paid properly by their bosses / need tips to make up their wage / etc. Can someone explain to me how it is legal in the US to pay below minimum wage? That's a totally new concept to me and something which I always assumed was against the law. @__@

At one point information on this was readily available, but now I'm no longer finding it very easily, so I'll go by memory. Basically, while the minimum wage at the federal level of the US is $7.25, there is an exception made for waiters/servers since they are expected to receive tips in addition to their hourly wages, so they have their own minimum wage set, but I think this is on a per-state basis.

Oh, wait, found details on compliance assistance that lists job types that are exempt from the minimum wage portion of the law (don't have time right now to tl;dr it for anyone): https://www.dol.gov/compliance/laws/comp-flsa.htm

Anyway, I tend to tip my servers since I usually want to be able to eat at places again without worrying about my server giving me awful service the next time. I don't tip a consistent percentage, though. I just base it off of what I have available.

 

[Guy]

I tip the pizza guy, I tip my hair dresser, I tip the taxi driver, I tip the waiter/waitress. If someone is providing me with their services, then I believe they've earned something from me in return. Many waiters and waitresses make up most of their salary from tips, so I believe it's important to help them like they've helped me, especially if they're really trying and working their tail off.

 

[Ivysaur]

I'm kind of glad I found this thread now because I was planning on visiting the US next year and probably I would have been considered the worst restaurant customer in the world.

At one point information on this was readily available, but now I'm no longer finding it very easily, so I'll go by memory. Basically, while the minimum wage at the federal level of the US is $7.25, there is an exception made for waiters/servers since they are expected to receive tips in addition to their hourly wages, so they have their own minimum wage set, but I think this is on a per-state basis.

Oh, wait, found details on compliance assistance that lists job types that are exempt from the minimum wage portion of the law (don't have time right now to tl;dr it for anyone): https://www.dol.gov/compliance/laws/comp-flsa.htm

Anyway, I tend to tip my servers since I usually want to be able to eat at places again without worrying about my server giving me awful service the next time. I don't tip a consistent percentage, though. I just base it off of what I have available.

I find this absolutely disgusting, cruel, inhumane and a bunch of other words I'm not going to type. Whoever created a system like this deserves to be deprived of any salary in a similar fashion.

 

[Nick]

I do. I actually leave very, very generous tips (especially at hair salons). Even though it's common practice where I live, I think it's a nice little surprise for them to get one $10+, which is how much I usually tip.

 

[acatfrommars]

Working with food and customers, I know how much it can suck. I personally try to tip m waiter or waitress with a generous tip, especially if they do a good job.

 

[Kura]

Internships both give one valuable experience (on paper at the very least) and lead to well-paying jobs. There are no such rewards from a restaurant job aside from the monetary compensation, so that comparison actually works in favor of my argument. If you're not tipping waiters, bussers, and runner, they're getting nothing aside from the $2/hr., which is a joke in exchange for human labor in the 21st century.

Anyone who works at any business that your money goes to may also care very little about their jobs and perform them poorly, but you don't pay less for any other products or services because of that, and those people still get paid their salaries or wages. If an employee performs poorly, restaurant or not, the ultimate judge of their performance and employment is their manager. You are not deciding whether or not someone remains employed, although I can tell you would like to; you are simply deciding how much the person gets compensated for their work. Why this is in the hands of consumers is beyond me, but the way the system works in the United States, I think it's malicious to choose not to tip.

Also, do you ever have a crummy day and perform your job a little worse than usual? I feel that everyone does. It's just that waiters are the only ones whose compensation suffers because of it. Like you said, there are a lot of other professions that perform services and don't operate based on tips, so they don't have to be "on" all the time in order to get paid. This is why the tipping system for restaurants is unfair.

Yeah, I know. I don't like the tipping system, but until it changes, I'm going to keep tipping.

There is no guarantee for a high paid job from an internship- nor a job at all. Because, hey, they can just hire more interns and don't actually have to pay someone, right?

You're putting up a huge argument against someone who actually tips (and tips well) 98% of the time. You can continue tipping all you'd like for every time you go out. And I'll continue tipping where I see fit. I'm glad I don't live in the US, and I'm glad that when I have visited the US, I did not have to go out to eat. Funnily enough I feel like I'm one of the very few people in the UK who actually tip their hairdresser or driver (or even pizza delivery man), for example. A LOT of people don't at all. Even when in a small group of people at a restaurant, I am the one that usually leaves something when everyone else leaves nothing. You're not going to change my opinion, however. You can have pity on someone else's wage, but cruel or not, I don't believe it should be my concern, especially in a country I don't even live in.


I just stumbled across this picture and found it was appropriate to fit my opinion:

 

[antemortem]

Why in the world would you not? I'm not reading any other responses, but I'm sure someone's said that's how most waiters and waitresses make their money and it's very true. Not tipping your waiter is incredibly rude in my opinion, especially if they were attentive and kind. It's a giving gesture and one that should even be required. It's an odd stigma when you put it the way the OP has described, but still.

 

[Ivysaur]

Why in the world would you not? I'm not reading any other responses, but I'm sure someone's said that's how most waiters and waitresses make their money and it's very true. Not tipping your waiter is incredibly rude in my opinion, especially if they were attentive and kind. It's a giving gesture and one that should even be required. It's an odd stigma when you put it the way the OP has described, but still.

Again, this is a cultural thing. In Japan, tipping is pretty much insulting the worker. In Europe, tipping is strictly a reward for superb service, and the custom for everything else is just rounding up the price to the nearest full digit and leaving the coin change. In those places, nobody will bat an eyelash if you say you don't tip because you are not expected to.

In the US, "tipping" is a code word for "paying your waiter", so yes, not paying your waiter is very rude. But this is a good example of cultural differences. If any of you Americans come to Europe and leave a €10 tip, people will probably ask you whether you are rich and use notes to light your cigarrettes or they just served you the best meal of your entire life and then some. If I traveled to the US and left just spare change, the waiters would probably spit at me.

 

[Andrew]

I always leave a tip. My cousin is a waitress and she, like others, have said that tips are how she makes her living. I would feel like an awful human being if I essentially received service from someone and then didn't pay for it. If the service is bad, the tip will reflect that. I'll leave a smaller tip, but I'll still leave something. Not tipping just seems rude to me.

 

[antemortem]

In the US, "tipping" is a code word for "paying your waiter", so yes, not paying your waiter is very rude. But this is a good example of cultural differences. If any of you Americans come to Europe and leave a €10 tip, people will probably ask you whether you are rich and use notes to light your cigarrettes or they just served you the best meal of your entire life and then some. If I traveled to the US and left just spare change, the waiters would probably spit at me.

So it can't even be seen as simply a kind gesture? :v

 

[mikey]

Yeah, I always tip. Mostly out of habit, but also because its just nice to do since most of the money they earn are from tips. Also, being a waiter/waitress isn't as easy as it looks.

 

[Kevin]

Hm... I would, if I paid when I go out to restaurants. Usually my parents pay for the dinner (I don't have a job).