Can someone please explain to me why we’re supposed to tip people? According to the knower of all, Wikipedia:
A tip (also called a gratuity) is a voluntary extra payment made to certain service sector workers in addition to the advertised price of the transaction. Such payments and their size are a matter of social custom. Tipping varies among cultures and by service industry. Though by definition a tip is never legally required, and its amount is at the discretion of the patron being served, in some circumstances failing to give an adequate tip when one is expected may be considered very miserly, a violation of etiquette, or unethical.
I understand the theory behind tipping. People in the service industry who give excellent service get a little extra reward. The reward will give them incentive to continue to perform in an exemplary manner, creating a positive cycle of great service. Too bad reality is nothing like theory.
In reality, tipping is nothing more than a system of blackmail instituted by food servers. You tip us, and we’ll make sure your burger isn’t basted in the cook’s special sauce. Servers figure out in about 20 minutes that they’re getting tips pretty much no matter what.
Think back of your last 10 trips to a restaurant. How many times would you describe the service as excellent? Maybe I go to crappier restaurants than you do, but I honestly cannot remember the last time I got excellent service. That’s not to say I get bad service, it just isn’t outstanding. So why is it I have to tip for average service? Why am I rewarding mediocrity?
Restaurant owners have embraced our willingness to tip. They’ve responded by paying servers everywhere next to minimum wage. The customers directly subsidize the living standards of underpaid wait staff. Is this right? One of the reasons why serving is an attractive career choice for young, uneducated women is because the customer pays them money simply for looking pretty. Often, they can make a decent wage doing something that, frankly, isn’t a very difficult skill to master.
Sure, it’s a racket. We tolerate it because we’re scared of the consequences, and because we feel compelled to. Let’s at least be honest about the whole thing.
Why am I expected to tip my server or my hairdresser, yet not the cashier at the grocery store? I worked in a grocery store for more than 5 years and even if the cashier gave service that went above and beyond expectations, she never got rewarded. It’s the same with people who pump gas or who find that tough to find product at Walmart. Those people are providing service as well. Why don’t they get tipped? Where’s the line? Why is the line where it is? It’s because it doesn’t make sense.
It’s not like people in other industries haven’t tried. I was in 7-11 the other day and noticed a tip jar next to the till. Explain to me why an employee at 7-11 deserves a tip? I poured my own slurpee and then came to them to pay! How do I figure out a tip on a $1.39 slurpee? 15% of $1.40… here’s a quarter. Don’t spend it all in one place. Why is it culturally acceptable for me to not tip at the 7-11, yet it isn’t at a restaurant?
The bottom line is I’m not a welfare program, or someone’s parents, or a business subsidy program. I don’t know why I should be responsible for bringing someone’s wage up to a minimum living level. I don’t get why I’m expected to give a reward for very average service. And yet I’ll keep doing it, because if I don’t, I’ll be labeled as a cheap asshole.
Am I the only one who thinks the system doesn’t make sense? Or am I just a cheap idiot? Feel free to call me names in the comments.
It's all about incentives. Tipping gives the incentive to the server to provide good or even excellent service. Without tips there's no incentive and the service will only get worse. Imagine the waiter/waitress gets normal pay. The cost of going to a restaurant now goes up by 15-20%. You'd still pay the same amount to go out to eat but instead the person serving you doesn't feel any reward for dealing with the complainer or the person that makes them run back in forth to the kitchen 10x. Then your service suffers because of other people's bad behavior.
The cashier is like apples and oranges. Maybe if you walked into a grocery store sat down and gave them a list and the cashier went and brought you all your groceries. Then it would be comparable.
All commissions, bonuses and tips are incentives designed to nudge people to provide better service. It doesn't work in every job and there might be downfalls to this technique as well that's why things will always be changing.
I agree about the incentive comments- in theory. In reality, servers realize very quickly they will get tips for very average service.
As for prices going up, if I tip 15% for a $10 meal, it costs me $11.50. If the restaurant increases prices 15% to compensate for the lost tips, I still pay $11.50. The only person who pays more is the crappy tipper.
I'd love to see a restaurant experiment with a non-tipping business model, just to see what happens.
That's my point, the consumer pays the same price. Now put yourself in the shoes of the waitstaff. There's no incentive to truly do a good job. Just get people their food and get paid. The people who suffer are the average people. What happens is a couple of assholes (maybe only 1) come in demanding everything, complaining about everything and that person serving them hates the night and everyone else suffers. If they have individual incentives by each customer they serve then one bad apple doesn't ruin the bunch.
well, tips were suppose to be an incentive (extra bonus) to do good job but greedy restaurant owners made a trick to replace the tip as a part of employee’s income to save their wage payment. Which makes tip as mandatory (in employee’s view) as their income but not incentive to do good job. Honestly, in food menu price it include all cost of materials to make food and service price they charge customer.
Frankly speaking most of food industry, only costs about 30% or perhaps below of menu price for their cost of material and employee’s wage and there should be no need for tips to make employee’s income coverage. Such excuses as employee receive below minimum wage blah blah blah so we should give tips to cover their income or we should pay for their service is b.s because that’s what restaurant owner suppose to do. In my personal opinion, idea of tip as mandatory(in employer, employee and overall society) should be disappeared
Tipping and good service are not related at all. Go to Japan. There is no tipping. Period. But the service and positive attitude in restaurants is twice as good as anything you will receive in North America. Go to China. Again, no tipping. Service not quite as good as Japan (but I cut them slack a bit since most service staff are straight off the farm). But again, service in decent restaurants in China is way better than anything received in North America. Some of the worst attitude/service I’ve encountered has been in NYC restaurants. However, for some odd reason 20% is expected. The whole mandatory tipping culture is just wrong.
Exactly. And when tipping is institutionalized/expected, it loses its incentive value. I’ve had PLENTY of crappy/rude waitpeople serve me, so apparently the “incentive” of the tip didn’t do a damn thing. Furthermore, without tips, the boss FIRING THEM would be a very effective incentive for servers to do a good job. As it should be.
John Wilson is my new favourite commenter.
Actually there is evidence that the opposite is true: monetary incentives demoralize an activity, and therefore make the service worse. Only structure and ethics really improve things.
Incentive? That is ludicrous! Any employee who has to be given incentive should be fired! Why should I, the customer, pad someone else’s paycheck for the sake of incentive?
This guilt trip crap is beyond insane. Tip your server so the cook or the server won’t spit on your food, or worse….fine, then I’ll eat at home.
If dealing with one bad apple makes you carry a grudge for everyone you deal with throughout the day then you certainly shouldn't be in customer service – and be fired.
Something I forgot about in my original post is the tax avoidance that exists when employees don't pay tax on tip income. Check out this paper for more info.
http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/files/the…
He also does a nice job of squashing the giving tips=more incentive for better service, because tipping is so ingrained in our culture.
[...] Uproar on his argument against tipping. This is a great topic and I’m always asking myself: why doesn’t the restaurant owner [...]
I agree. These tipping "requirements" are nothing other than blackmail. Why shouldn't we expect and receive excellent service all the time? Why should anyone have to worry that if you don't reward your server, then next time, they might just spit or do worse in your food?
Another peeve in the tipping area is haircuts. People are so used to tipping, that almost everyone also tips the OWNER of the establishment when they are also cutting hair! That makes not sense at all. I am sure that the owners smile internally every time they get a tip.
recently on Reddit.com, was a rant about customers coming in just before closing time and then not tipping.
the post is here: http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/bgi6h/…
there were lots of people with very passionate beliefs about tipping and closing times.i got onto the tipping aspect and got into a heated debate here: http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/bgi6h/…
In the interest of full disclosure, I’m currently a member of the service industry, and as such, may be viewing the article with a slight degree of bias. That being said, I agree with the argument you’ve presented here in many respects, but have to take issue with a couple of points:
1) “In reality, tipping is nothing more than a system of blackmail instituted by food servers. You tip us, and we’ll make sure your burger isn’t basted in the cook’s special sauce. Servers figure out in about 20 minutes that they’re getting tips pretty much no matter what.”
A good waiter–hypothetically speaking–will have a work ethic that’s no different from that of a good grocery store cashier or Wal-Mart aisle attendant. That is to say, their primary (if not sole) concern should be attending to the needs of their customer base, and they should derive their satisfaction from the sense of a job well done. To imply that all waiters’ professional commitment hinges entirely on additional monetary incentives (as in the above statement) is to make a gross generalization about the character and scruples of an entire workforce. Secondly, many waiters–myself included–never EXPECT a tip. If anything, we expect the opposite. A large number of people share your sentiments about gratuity; in some cases enough so to refrain from tipping altogether, regardless of whether or not the service was satisfactory.
2) “One of the reasons why serving is an attractive career choice for young, uneducated women is because the customer pays them money simply for looking pretty. Often, they can make a decent wage doing something that, frankly, isn’t a very difficult skill to master.”
The first point isn’t entirely unfounded…I’ve definitely seen it in action on more than one occasion (in fact, a lot of waiters get hired on the same principle). Bearing that in mind, however, it’s also been my experience that the sort of person inclined to base their gratuity around their server’s physical appearance is often the sort of person who’s inclined to make crass, off-handed remarks on the same subject throughout the course of their meal…in which case, what would usually be considered a tip becomes something more akin to hazard pay. And regardless of how attractive a waiter may be, if they’re completely (or even partially) inept, eventually the customer will reconsider their gratuity…another concept I’ve happened to see in action. As for the second point of the above statement, this strikes me as another gross generalization. Certainly, many restaurants–particularly major franchises–aren’t particularly demanding of their staff. As such, in these instances, the skill sets may not be difficult to master. However, if a waiter happens to be employed at an upscale restaurant, the job requirements tend to become considerably more complex and specialized. To wit: the restaurant I’m employed at currently has a wine list consisting of 68 wines by the bottle, 17 wines by the glass, plus a selection of limited/seasonal offerings that are rotated on a quarterly basis. Having to memorize vintages, tasting notes, and pairing suggestions (along with other bits of trivia like terroir) can prove quite cumbersome. I suppose I should thank my lucky stars that I’m not one of those poor bastards that has to know his way around a truffle grater.
The bottom line is this: no waiter is going to turn down a tip. As you mentioned above, we’re often working for minimum wage, and an extra buck here or there really helps if you’re trying to buy groceries or pay down a student loan. But at the end of the day, it’s just a job like any other…and any waiter worth his/her salt will take pride in their work, and will respect the fact that you’re spending YOUR hard-earned money at their place of employment. Just try to reciprocate that respect in turn.
Restaurants are very expensive to run and still maintain a good profit margin. The work can be quite hard and demanding (ask anyone with a 5 table section that just got triple-sat at the same time). If they don’t get a tip incentive, they need to be paid a living wage, commensurate with the level of complexity (like knowing the wine list, understanding the dishes and food sources to answer questions).
If restaurants had to pay a good wage, most of them wouldn’t have enough of a profit margin to justify owning one. People like to go out, and not have to clean up the dishes afterwards. Restaurant prices would increase greatly if servers were paid, say 8-20$/hour. Most of the public would be effectively locked out of the restaurants that could afford to stay open. It would be extremely fancy restaurants, or home cooking—no in between, and mostly for special occasions only.
You can resent the tipping, but remember: it gives YOU the power & control, as a customer. If you’re not treated right, you can make a decision. How many places of business let you decide that if your customer service agent was inept or an asshole, they deserve less money? Democracy in action I say.
@OP & WordPress directly: This is a really old topic. One way to avoid really old topics that have been done before is by speaking to different people, and getting their points of view. The OP may have a circle of loyal friends or influencers that haven’t changed much over the years, or they may be very young…try talking to people of different age groups with different backgrounds, to get different data sets about a problem. What it boils down to is that nothing’s for free, and good service deserves to be rewarded.
Sometimes some little report comes along that makes me very very aware I live in the best nation in the world (New Zealand).
In NZ tipping is frowned upon and discouraged at every turn because we the people believe in paying a living wage to our workers.
It is most definately not the job of the customer to make up for the greed of employers who do not have the social conscience to pay their workers a living wage.
totally agreed.
some people replying here have said how non-tippers create a bad effect on the waiter's mood and the ripple effect gives bad service to the rest of the customers. well if that is how reactive a waiter you are then you are a terrible employee and will not last very long. your job is to treat each customer individually, not to "bring your baggage" from one table to another. we're all human, yet that doesn't mean you can smear a bad experience from one table to another just because you didn't get your gratuity. would the waiter like it if the customer had a bad day and took it out on the restaurant workers?
if your employer keeps you in work this way, he's a terrible business person and won't last long if he lets his workers turn the whole place into a "newton's cradle" of reactions from one table to another.
as a waiter you would best be someone who can provide the best service you can from one table to another WITHOUT effecting other tables. these customers are not here to compensate for your financial or job decisions, YOU are responsible for your life.
if you made bad decisions, you live the consequences of your actions, you can ask for help, but you certainly DO NOT demand that every customer give you 20% extra just because you are having a bad life and you think you did an awesome job writing down the dinner order and carrying a plate to the table.
the customers are not responsible for your decisions and current state.
Oh how easy it is to spot someone who has never worked as a server.
Yeah, there’s stuck-up people like who got to work cleaning toilets instead (without a tip of course).
How easy it is to spot someone who feels entitled.
i sure wish i could live there based on what you just said…that is the way it should be!
I agree. Each table is full of individuals. I had a very rude drunk guy at one table. He was making prejuidiced remarks and being a bit obnoxious to other guests. I kept my cool though, and gave them very good. service. One of his friends came up to me and said “make SURE you give ME the bill when it comes”…and he left me 25%.
I just give everyone good service. If they are a crappy tipper, it speaks more about them than me; I make out good overall no matter what. Even if a table is PURPOSELY trying to be troublesome (sending me back for little extras over & over when they could have told me several things on one trip, asking a lot of questions, divas that want to be pampered), I always balance their needs out with those of my other tables. I never overly focus on one or the other, even if I recognize a repeat customer as a good tipper. It’s all about balance.
Yes, some people have had a bad day and are trying to take it out on me. Handling them has become actually boring; there are specific strategies for handling bullies, troublemakers, antagonizers…they are not the normal customer but you do get them. Many of the strategies involve not giving them the reaction they are looking for, playing stupid at cutting remarks and asking them to explain or repeat themselves, deferring to management, etc…
“Because the willow tree bends, it does not break in the hurricane…”
It’s always bothered me a little bit that tipping is percentage based. If I order a $20 steak I am expected to tip $3, but if I order a $10 cheeseburger I’m supposed to tip $1.5? Why? The service was exactly the same regardless of which item I chose off the menu. It’s not like the wait staff worked twice as hard because I ordered a steak rather than a cheeseburger.
I agree completely that tipping, in modern day practice, has simply become an excuse for restaurant owners to subsidize their wait staff’s wages. I once worked as a pizza delivery driver and when I asked why I’d only be paid minimum wage, the manager’s response was “Well, you’ll actually be making more because you’ll get tips.” He essentially spelled out that he isn’t going to pay me adequetly for my work and that it was going to be the responsibility of the restaurant’s (often unreliable) customers to pay my living wage.
Generally when I tip, I feel like I’m doing it because it’s expected of me rather than because I want to. I’ll gladly tip when service is good, but 90% of my dining experience has been “What do you want?” “I’ll have the chicken sandwich” ten minutes later someone other than the waiter brings me the chicken (has it become a new restaurant standard to have the cook staff bring out the food? this happens nearly every time these days, and I never saw it 5 years ago), ten minutes after that the waiter returns and asks if everything is fine, I say yes, then the bill is dropped and I never see the watier again.
I’ve also worked in another restaurant where tipping was discouraged (“We do not accept tips” signs posted, etc). As an employee, I was actually paid 20% more there than at my other service industry job. I preferred this system much better. In this scenario, I was doing my job simply to do a good job. I wasn’t constantly trying to impress the patrons to “earn” their tip. I simply did a good job, and I was paid a fair wage for doing so. I wish more restaurants would embrace this way of doing business.
I agree that restaurant owners should pay their employees a better wage, thus eliminating the need for tips. Also restaurant owners are not required to pay minimum wage here, most pay about $3.50/hr. I have worked as a waitress before and where I live, you are taxed on 20% of what you serve….whether you get that much in tips or not. Some weeks I would bring home a $2.50 paycheck!
It high time for some reform in this area. Customers are paying more than what they have ordered and waitstaff are paying taxes, usually, on more than they take in. The only winner in this game is the restaurant owner!
[...] possible, giving extra money to a server wouldn’t be the most effective use of resources. As I’ve argued before, I think tipping is basically an institutionalized form of blackmail. You tip your server, they [...]
Wait staff are usually paid poorly it is also social convention in most westernized countries. If you don`t like it don`t eat out as only a real bastard stiffs their server.
The real bastard is the one who pays them poorly – the restaurant owner.
So we should do things because they’re “social convention”? Really. I see that you use cultural relativism when it’s expedient for you. So is female circumcision in Africa OK because it’s a “social convention”? Lame argument you just made. And as for non-Western countries, there are billions of people around the world who don’t have to tip. It’s just we, the stupid Western ones, who got suckered into this whole tipping meme–all to our detriment.
then move asshole.
You really have attitude and a sense of entitlement….I live in Canada and the majority of people working in restaurants where I live are not going to college/university and judging from your spelling and sentence structure, you aren’t either.
Since tips are "voluntary" there shouldn't be laws that allow employers to include it as part of the payment. In other words, they should have to pay minimum wage regardless of the situation.
Or they can simply state up front that they're adding the tip to your bill, and you're obligated to pay it.
I wonder how much business I’d get if I started a sit-down restaurant that states up-front that tips will to be accepted and should not be given.
Angelo- I’d love to see somebody do that.
If the food is good, and ambience is plesent- I’ll go.
Tipping may not even benefit the server. It may serve to subsidize the business owner. I'll explain. In Iowa, the minimum wage for restaurant servers is less than the minimum wage for everyone else. If customers don't tip enough to make the server's hourly pay equal to that of workers in other occupations, the employer has to make up the difference. It could be that a tip contributed just enough so that the employer didn't have to pay extra. It could be it didn't benefit the server at all. Of course, this depends on the honesty of the server in what he or she reports to the boss.
I think exceptional service without expectation of a tip is the minumum expected by the customer. Personally, I've never experience service great enough to warrant any tip at all. Accurately taking the order, then bringing the food…that isn't very challenging.
I have thought about telling the server what I'd expect before I leave them my hard-earned money. I'd want a song, a dance, a joke, some flirting or cleavage. Of course, those last two items would be expected only from female servers.
-Why customers shouldn’t tip:
1) Why should I pay more for a meal than the cost on the menu?
I don’t pay more than the posted price of groceries at the store?
I don’t pay more than the posted price of household products at Target
I don’t pay more than the sticker price for a car
2) Customer service workers in other industries aren’t tipped
office workers
grocery store workers
they give you directions
they check your groceries
they make sure you get your “rewards”.
3) Restaurant workers are already being paid by the owner
I’m not their employer, I didn’t hire them
4) Restaurant workers are earning at least the state or federal minimum wage
They voluntarily take those jobs
No one guarantees them that they will earn more than wages
If they want to earn more
ask the owner for a raise
look for another job.
5) Restaurant workers should tip customers for spending money in the restaurant
This ensures that restaurant workers will continue to have a job
you do pay more than the posted price- sales tax, and other taxes that are incorperated into the price. There is an unfortunate cultural inscentive to advertize a low price, and add as many fees as possible. This exists because we tolerate it, and often reward those services that offer a lower advertized cost.
your extremely ignorant. first of all the majority of workers in the service industry are young girls who are working their way through university. our tips pay our bills first of all and second of all. ALL restaurants require tipping out back of house staff and bartenders. so when an asshole leaves no tip on 150$ bill I lose 4.50$ out of my own pocket after my 3% tip out. people are ignorant and selfish. in a day and age where education is ridiculously expensive and price of living continues to rise i agree with previous statements. if you can’t afford to tip or don’t wish to, go to mcdonalds or stay home and cook a damn meal yourself. also if you recieve shitty service thats fine as well. but i sure as hell don’t want to be a server my entire life. its a means to an end and i do my job damn well but am tired of all the ignorant idiots in the world who make arguements such as this one and then come in and leave no tip. (even more frustrating working in a fine dining establishment) anyways just stop being a selfish jerk. thanks. and my jobs 50 times harder than a fucking grocery clerk.
Idiot. Servers (in virginia) make $2.13/hr.
The reason that $10 burger isn’t $17 or $18 is because the servers expect to get paid by their tables for providing the service. If a tipping system didn’t exist, you would be paying almost twice as much for your food, and your servers would be free to give you shitty service because they would be making 9$ an hour and would have no interest in the quality of the service. People that complain about how the system devised by “greedy restaurant owners” “forces” them to tip their tables “extra” money on top of the bill are MORONS.
If servers were paid an honest wage by the hour, you would be forced to pay for your service (through the higher price of the food) and your servers would have no incentive to provide excellent service. What’s the point, when shitty servers get paid as much as good ones? The tipping system lets you decide how much your are willing to pay for service, instead of the restaurant forcing that charge on you through the food.
The only problem are pompous jerks like you who (without ever having worked as a server) decide that tipping is for shmucks. I honestly hope that your next server pisses in your soda.
Servers get paid almost HALF of what minimum wage is, currently in CT $5 and change an hour. Elsewhere in the country I'm sure it's significantly less. Maybe it's not your fault that we get paid so little, but it isn't ours either. You're paying for a service. My customers come in to my restaurant to eat REGULARLY and ASK FOR ME, because they like me as a person and we have developed a relationship, and I DON'T do it for a tip, I do it because I'm a people person and I like them. Generally their check isn't more than $25 anyway so it's not a matter of mooching, it's a matter of common courtesy. And as far as I can remember, tipping gets you better service of ANY kind, food, seats, your car detailed better etc etc etc.
Maybe you receive less than outstanding service BECAUSE you don't tip well, or at all, or you treat the servers where you eat like you think their job isn't hard and if you think the job isn't difficult to master, put my apron on one night and try and handle ten or more tables at a time, while remembering EVERYTHING every single person asks of you every time you step foot on the floor, carrying 30+ lb trays of a food/drinks at a quickened pace through basically an obstacle course WITHOUT spilling it on your unattended children, delivering it all correctly and in a timely manner, dealing with obnoxious or rude customers (reminder I didn't personally cook your steak too much, so if there's an issue go yell at the guy on the grill with 20+ tickets for here AND to go that all need to be done in 45 mins TOPS), all while your boss hovers over your every move trying to dictate how to do your job when you have a better concept of that then they do, keeping a smiling on your face and agreeing with everything YOU say and want.
Maybe I don't need to take calculus or physics to be a server, but it doesn't make it EASY. Don't want to tip? Don't go out to eat. Or launch a national campaign for raising server minimum wage, which may I remind you is LESS than actual minimum wage.
Oh, and I don't really care for kissing your ass when you're a jerk because I need you to leave me 20% so I can pay my electric bill either.
It doesn't sound like you're very happy as a server. Hopefully you find something that better suits your fancy soon.
If serving is such a difficult job, why can restaurants continuously get help at wages that are less than minimum wage? I'll admit that serving is physically demanding, but it certainly isn't difficult. The principles of supply and demand dictate people are paid what they're worth, and those principles state serving isn't worth very much.
Like I said in the post, I generally don't receive poor service, I just never receive service that is worth getting excited about. I pretty much always get service I'd rank at 5 or 6 out of 10. And don't worry, I do tip 15% or so on average (generally rounding up the bill to the nearest $5 or $10). I just don't like it.
You are a terrorist.
I don’t mind paying more so that you/other servers get a normal wage. I mind having a crooked system where the price of the meal isn’t stated in the menu and is up to me to figure out, after I pay the stated price. And waiters should be providing good service because they’re paid by the employer to do it, they shouldn’t decide on whether or not they want to do it based on the tip.
why doesn’t your employer pay you a living wage? That is the question being asked.
It’s your employer’s fault. Talk to him.
I love how this still gets comments a whole year later. Thanks guys.
“Don’t want to tip? Don’t go out to eat. Or launch a national campaign
for raising server minimum wage, which may I remind you is LESS than
actual minimum wage.” The only reason servers make less than minimum wage is BECAUSE the employers have figured out that the customers are subsidizing that wage by paying tips. It’s a chicken or the egg problem. If it weren’t for the tipping culture American wages would be already be higher than what they are. You were hired by your employer to do a certain job and that employer should be paying you a living wage and not assume that it will be subsidized by customers. In many countries to tip a server would be considered an insult.
Err – usually the people who’s salary is in question do the fighting to raise their own wages via unions. You’re expecting the customers to fight YOUR fight for you to raise YOUR wages? What kind of elite workforce do you think you are?
“Tipping gets you better service of ANY kind”? That may be true, but ONLY IF the business accepts tips in the first place. I’m an English teacher at a community college, and I sure as HELL don’t get tips. I can go above and beyond and work myself half to death, and NO, I don’ get tips or anything extra whatsoever. But you know what? I don’t complain about it because I strive to be accountable for my life decisions. So should YOU, GER.
Nobody MADE YOU be a server. You CHOSE to enter an occupation in which you KNEW that you’d make less than minimum wage, which was 100% YOUR choice and is 100% YOUR problem. Also, you place the responsibility for the whole tipping debacle on the customer rather than on your boss, where it belongs. The boss is using US and YOU to his/her benefit and like it or not, you are blackmailing your customers into paying you extra for doing your job the way you should do it anyway. So you serve things? Who cares? UPS serves up packages, Greasemonkey serves up oil, I serve up essay assignments, and none of us gets tips.
Routinely, I even find restaurant bill slips that put the tip line BELOW the tax line, and some slips actually state that the after-tax amount is the “base.” For years, I tipped on tax without even noticing! Finally, I got a brain and got wise to this trick (tipping on tax). Yet I bet you LOVE when customers tip on the after-tax amount without knowing it. And I bet you assume you’ll get a 20% tip no matter what, which is the new meme around here in the Denver area. Well screw YOU. If you want to make more money, go to college.
Furthermore, you’d have to admit that cute/female servers get bigger tips than uncute/male ones, and that tipping as a percentage makes no sense, when 15% for a cheeseburger is way less than 15% for the lobster, when the plate weighs the same and requires the same effort to serve.
So yes, GER, servers like you get all uppity when challenged on the idea of tipping, because you’re in total denial. You have a hard job that pays crap, just like mine does. At least I take full responsibility for my occupational choices.
[...] Why I Hate Tipping- I think tipping is basically an institutional system of blackmail, and only do it grudgingly. This one is worth a read just to read the comments calling me a cheap bastard. [...]
[...] small town we were treated like crap. This is yet another reason I think tipping is basically an institutionalized form of blackmail. Luckily, we had that exchange after we had gotten our [...]
I completely agree
The practice of tipping is wrong on so many levels
1: Relying on tips amounts to begging for one’s wages and as you say amounts to blackmail. Would you like some snot in your soup on your next visit? Just don’t leave a tip.
2: It allows employers to legally justify not paying their employees minimum wage because patrons are doing it for them. Only illegal aliens earn less.
3: It amounts to bribery and would not be tolerated in any other industry.
4: It is discriminatory: e.g. attractive female waitresses tend to bring home more in the form tips than their male or not-so attractive counterparts doing the same job.
5: The practice is of dubious origins. In the 1800s customers would “tip” (that is “bribe”) service industry staff to ensure halfway decent service. Also in the late 1800s migrant blacks would hang around near hotels and train stations asking travelers and guests if they needed help with their bags. At the time the hotels and train stations would not offer these people jobs, so these people had to rely on whatever the traveler felt like paying them. Over time this practice became a socially acceptable form of “earning” a living.
Tipping should be forbidden in the service industry and to suggest that someone should not frequent restaurants and/or bars or “put up with it” simply because they resent the practice is a cop-out and being willfully blind to what is a corrupt practice.
[...] most popular post, by far, was this rant against tipping. I can’t remember the motivation behind it, but clearly I was mad at some waitress. She [...]
Couldn’t agree more!! Many countries, Australia and Japan for example, don’t practice tipping and service is nonetheless outstanding most times. Nothing is more annoying at the end of a nice meal than trying to figure out the percentage of extra cash to leave for what may have been lousy service anyway.
dont know where youve been in asia. but the service i recieved in Southern and Southeastern Asia was atrocious.
i just returned frrom china qingdao to be exact, and tipping is so rude they will slap your hand straight away!
the tip is to return for more service from their business…now not to mention they eat human babies and all parts of a cat or dog and penis from a dog thus look it up weird foods in china and its as real today i was just there!, but i agree i took the month there and said what positive can i take from red china…well i thought a bunch about the tipping, i agree, i have many times tipped and yet i struggled all year to get by…it is not up to me to make up for what they do not get paid, besides the business owner in most cases is from china or someplace outside the usa and gets all kind of our tax money, and then we tip..i do not tip anymore, i am going to spend the next year to save in my savings account what i would normally spend tipping see how much i have after a year..
i am against it by far ..what bunch bullcrap tip for poor service and 90% time it is and so i say you want more money get a diff job, or do not work for min wage, sooooooooooooooooooooo no more tipping from me, i have removed it from my life and look forward to bettering my life, as i am sure i struggle more than most of the people i tip.
i agree with you …i see it this way if i tip one min wage person then i should tip them all, beside the waitress does not even cook your food! she walked 3 feet for you. what a joke ..i do not tip anyone at mcdonalds nore any one else who makes min wage, SAY NO TO TIPPING, THE TIP SHOULD BE YOU RETURN FOR MORE FROM THAT BUSINESS….
I completely agree!
yes they waste no food, i should not said the baby thing because that may not be true, but they waste no food, no money no product, they are very honest people. as a whole very active, they have people who sweep the streets, not machines.of course the population is 500 million so they have a law of one child per home at thank goodness for them doing something about it. when you go to get cold medicine it is herbs and teas not chemicals.
local medicine is herbs etc that work teas not stuff to kill you…. they have a bunch of respect for things verses out standard rude wasteful ways in the usa.
btw i am seaangel not sure why it posted greaterreality then posted as seaangel, anyone have the answer
yes they waste no food, i should not said the baby thing because that may not be true, but they waste no food, no money no product, they are very honest people. as a whole very active, they have people who sweep the streets, not m
achines.of course the population is 500 million so they have a law of one child per home at thank goodness for them doing something about it. when you go to get cold medicine it is herbs and teas not chemicals.local medicine is herbs etc that work teas not stuff to kill you…. they have a bunch of respect for things verses out standard rude wasteful ways in the usa. i know i was just there in qingdao for stem cells for my family member, also they hold the cures to many sickness.
Financialuproar, you’re not cheap at all. Tipping is f’n bullshit and I hate ppl that say “if you can’t afford the tip, then don’t eat out”. Although I hate tipping, just like you I end up doing it to avoid the consequences like evil stares and such. And trust me, we aren’t the only ones that feel that way.
Financialuproar, you’re not cheap at all. Tipping is f’n bullshit and I hate ppl that say “if you can’t afford the tip, then don’t eat out”. Although I hate tipping, just like you I end up doing it to avoid the consequences like evil stares and such. And trust me, we aren’t the only ones that feel that way.
You are absolutely correct! Tipping is a means for the employer to continue to pay low wages and pocket more profits.
The price of a meal, or hotel room, haircut, is all one should pay, there is no excuse to paying more than the advertised price.
Tipping is a bribe so the staff won;t spit in your food the next time you visit.
[...] writer? I understand every post can’t be a hit. Hell, my post popular post to date is when I bitched about tipping. I’m the first to admit it’s probably one of my weaker posts. But at least I’m [...]
Tell that to the service industry that only . . pays servers $2.13/hour. (Atleast in nc). I certainly could not live on that. Could you? And if you are saying to yourself: well that is not our faults”. Well it’s not servers fault either. Even if they paid servers minimum wage, food prices would skyrocket, and no one would go out to eat. No it’s not an ideal job. No one asked for it to be this way. However, until the day restaurants everywhere can pay there servers 10/hour which is the standard for living in nc, tips are greatly appreciated. If you want to go out to eat and not tip, go through a drive through.
If it is so corrupt, why don’t you talk to the head honchos of the food company and tell them to change something? Don’t you think people have tried that before? It doesn’t work. So if ask yourself: “why do
you have to tip?”. Ask your self: why do we have to serve you. Why should a server waste her time on you and bust their butt to give you good service when you can’t even spare the extra 5 dollars? And if you can’t afford it. Don’t go out to a restaurant to eat.
[...] I’ve wrote before, I think tipping is kind of stupid. In theory, your little financial reward is supposed to make your server try harder to impress you. [...]
the problem with the incentive argument from commenters is that it shouldn’t be the consumer/customer that is ‘required’ to provide incentive. the worker gets paid by the employer. that is incentive. if it’s not enough then that isn’t the customer’s fault. if employee doesn’t perform well they get fired. that’s life. or at least should be…
You are a cheap asshole. A lot of severs work there ass off only to be tipped cheaply by assholes. Many servers like me only make$2.13 an hour. Quit being so cheap.
No Marc, actually you’re the asshole for writing that. You’re an asshole who thinks that your underpayment by your employer is supposed to be everyone else’s problem. Not that I blame you–the employers and the politicians have made it legal to bend people like you over, and then make you think that all the customers are the “bad guys.” Maybe you should start blaming the people who are raping you, not the people who spend their good-earned money to patronize the place you work.
Well at least people like me do our part to not help them rape you–I avoid eating at any place where I have to tip, and it’s getting easier all the time. There’s more and more quality food that doesn’t require a tip.
In Texas, servers make 2.13 per hour. There is no way to live on that wage. Tips are a crucial part of our abilities to care for our families. If the tipped employees became minimum wage employees, (7.25 per hr in Texas) all of the good servers would turn to other professions and the same teenagers serving your burgers at McDonald’s would be the ones serving you in any upscale establishment as well- you wouldn’t want that would you? Because I can personally guarantee I for one would be the first to leave the restaurant industry- and then you would still be pissed and bitching because your 16 year old server was the worst server you ever had, AND you had to pay more for your meal, because you insisted on this particular business model.
Stereotyping all McDonald’s employees as 16 year olds who don’t take their job seriously really hurts your case. If what you say is true (and no, I don’t believe it for a second), then obviously the market would pay you more than minimum wage.
Why not put the blame where blame is due? Start bitching to your employer that you don’t make enough money and stop acting entitled.
I work at one of the busiest restaurants in Chicago. We do about 25 million in sales annually. What most people don’t realize is that a server tips out about 8-10% of their sales every night. I personally have to tipout a busboy, bartenders, barrista, wine steward, stockers and food runners every night. If a guest leaves less than 10% I actually end up paying to wait on that table. Fortunately, I wait on mostly well educated, decent human beings so for me personally, making over six figures annually is a reality.
Congratulations on making a 6-figure income. I think you’re missing the point: this isn’t a customer vs waiter battle. This is a waiter vs employer battle, where the employers have found a way to make you blame customers when you feel they didn’t tip you enough. The relationship a customer has with your employer basically boils down to this: 1) patronize the establishment, 2) don’t patronize the establishment. Only you are in a position to complain to your employer about your wages.
What in gods name do you do for work? Because the ignorance you show in this post is disgusting.. waiting tables is a means to make a living.. if you claim it is all uneducated women, would you rather them go on welfare? Tip the server so they can pay their bills.. maybe they didn’t give you A+ service because you’re an @$$.
[...] is it about tipping that infuriates so many people? Make a post about tipping on a popular website with a comments section, and you’re [...]