Which would you prefer:

[vraiblonde]

A regular restaurant where you tip your server; OR
A restaurant where the prices are noticeably higher but tipping is not expected?

When I waited tables I always made WAY over minimum wage most days. In the mid 80s I'd pull down $75-100 in a 5 hour shift, and that was just a pizza joint. When I'd sub in at one of the Solomons restaurants I'd walk out with a couple hundred. This was when minimum wage was $3.35/hr. So wage instead of tip is a bad deal for servers, even sucky servers. Even AFTER you cut in the cooks and busboys. It confuses me why any server would want a wage instead of tips.

But just as a customer, which would you prefer?

I'd rather tip because I like rewarding good service and would probably tip anyway if my server was a super star. Plus I know I'd get sticker shock from the high prices and would never go to that restaurant no matter how good it was because I'd essentially be tipping even the crappy servers who did nothing for me.

 

[TPD]

I kinda like the European model where tips aren’t expected and if you leave a euro or 2, it is appreciated.

 

[Grumpy]

If wait staff goes to a wage, then, I think, a vast majority of them get into a "I don't give a chit" attitude and the service sucks. Even tho we go out often nowadays, it's still special and hope that we are treated as special guests. I want the option to tip good for great service or to leave a lower tip for lousy service. I always tip but my tips can vary between 5% and up to 40%.

 

[Merlin99]

While we’ve got an open thread on the subject, when did 30% become the standard tip? I was always told 15% for good service, but now I’m seeing that if you’re not going to leave 30 you shouldn’t be going out at all.

 

[WingsOfGold]

No problem tipping, 20 or 22 percent if they are good and they usually are. Less if not. I do NOT tip chineeee take out, they probably own the joint and they owe ME!

 

[Merlin99]

i forgot to add, I’d rather pay more and not have to be judged by some teenager.

 

[SamSpade]

I'm still shaking my head at the price of all restaurants these days. When the cheapest item on the menu is like, a burger, and it's running close to twenty bucks with a drink, yeah, I'd rather not futz with a tip.

 

[glhs837]

I dont mind tipping at a place where I sit down, but I really need to not be asked at a place where I'm not getting table service.

 

[vraiblonde]

when did 30% become the standard tip?

Never. Don't listen to people on the internet because they're mental cases. Standard tip is still 15-20%.

So-called "servers" on Reddit or wherever else dipshits hang out are all, "Oh if you can't afford to tip big don't come at all!" completely forgetting that if we don't come out at all, they definitely get no tip.

 

[Scootboot]

I always liked my dad's idea although I don't think he ever did it. He said you should put what you think the tip will be on the table for the server to see at the beginning of the meal. If the service is good you add to it but if service is bad you start taking away. Let them see they are sucking at the time. I really don't mind tipping but the suggestions on the receipt of up to 30% bugs me. I also hate all the registers at takeout places asking if you want to leave a tip.

 

[Hijinx]

When a glass of tea costs $2.50 and I order water I suppose the wait staff believes me a cheapskate, but got dammit I refuse to pay $2.50 for a glass of colored water, and sometimes that isn't brewed but instant. I always tip 20% or nothing if the service is that bad.

 

[BOP]

A regular restaurant where you tip your server; OR
A restaurant where the prices are noticeably higher but tipping is not expected?

When I waited tables I always made WAY over minimum wage most days. In the mid 80s I'd pull down $75-100 in a 5 hour shift, and that was just a pizza joint. When I'd sub in at one of the Solomons restaurants I'd walk out with a couple hundred. This was when minimum wage was $3.35/hr. So wage instead of tip is a bad deal for servers, even sucky servers. Even AFTER you cut in the cooks and busboys. It confuses me why any server would want a wage instead of tips.

But just as a customer, which would you prefer?

I'd rather tip because I like rewarding good service and would probably tip anyway if my server was a super star. Plus I know I'd get sticker shock from the high prices and would never go to that restaurant no matter how good it was because I'd essentially be tipping even the crappy servers who did nothing for me.

As someone who spent many years of my life working in restaurants in all positions, I have mixed feelings.

My best money came in tip-sharing places, hands down.

I tip $5.00, even on a low-dollar meal. I had a bowl of soup or something at Boomerang's the other day. It was $6.00-something, which meant the server made almost as much as the meal cost. If I tipped based on whether I got good service, or even liked the server, there's some of them that would go hungry, based on my tips.

Which leads me to this: the vast majority of servers in this area, at least, don't deserve to be tipped. Some of that is personal motivation and personality, but a lot of that is piss-poor training.

 

[BOP]

If wait staff goes to a wage, then, I think, a vast majority of them get into a "I don't give a chit" attitude and the service sucks. Even tho we go out often nowadays, it's still special and hope that we are treated as special guests. I want the option to tip good for great service or to leave a lower tip for lousy service. I always tip but my tips can vary between 5% and up to 40%.

Too many of them have that attitude now, and yet, they still EXPECT to be tipped.

 

[vraiblonde]

the suggestions on the receipt of up to 30% bugs me. I also hate all the registers at takeout places asking if you want to leave a tip.

I ignore that. I'm not susceptible to sales pressure.

 

[dgates24]

“Don't listen to people on the internet because they're mental cases”.

I love this, Vrai! You are SO magnificently qualified to make this declaration. Slow clap.

 

[BOP]

vraiblonde said:
“Don't listen to people on the internet because they're mental cases”.

I love this, Vrai! You are SO magnificently qualified to make this declaration. Slow clap.

Is this sarcasm?

 

[dgates24]

Oh no, not at all. She has an order of magnitude more experience dealing with the nutties than any five of us combined, making her vastly more qualified to make this statement.

 

[herb749]

I always liked my dad's idea although I don't think he ever did it. He said you should put what you think the tip will be on the table for the server to see at the beginning of the meal. If the service is good you add to it but if service is bad you start taking away. Let them see they are sucking at the time. I really don't mind tipping but the suggestions on the receipt of up to 30% bugs me. I also hate all the registers at takeout places asking if you want to leave a tip.

Its the Dominos ad where the guy keeps getting a tip screen. It must be standard everywhere you go now.

 

[Clem72]

While we’ve got an open thread on the subject, when did 30% become the standard tip? I was always told 15% for good service, but now I’m seeing that if you’re not going to leave 30 you shouldn’t be going out at all.

You think 30% is high, wait until "no tax on tips" and you are expected to give 50% no matter how shitty your service is because your servers are now self employed and are actually paying the restaurant $1 per table to "rent" that table, and their pay is now entirely tips.

 

[vraiblonde]

You think 30% is high, wait until "no tax on tips" and you are expected to give 50% no matter how shitty your service is because your servers are now self employed and are actually paying the restaurant $1 per table to "rent" that table, and their pay is now entirely tips.

I actually like this idea, kind of like how your hair person rents the chair as a subcontractor instead of being a full employee of the salon. If you're good at what you do you should be able to make top dollar doing it.

Not sure what "no tax on tips" has to do with it, though, and anyone who cowers before some service provider's outrageous "expectation" deserves to get taken. Nut up or shut up.