the trick is to leave a 12.5% tip.

I don't care that she asked. Big friggin deal.

I cared that my uncle was going to leave her a good tip.



What's your job? If you failed to meet the standards performance, would you get a raise or bonus? I don't think so.

Waitresses make less than minimum wage in most places. Your uncle was just trying to help her pay off her BA in Communications with a minor in American Studies.

a fact that irritates the hell out of me. Why is it our job to pay your employees, restaurants?

I lol'ed.

It's hard to make money in a restaurant! They gotta pay sweat shop wages to the waiters!

actually it is. restaurants are the textbook example of an almost-perfectly competitive market.

Clearly I was implying I don't consider her asking "who's got what" as a factor in the quality of her work.

I see absolutely nothing wrong with her asking that, it just makes sure everyone gets the right food put in front of them.

No, it reflects very poorly on the quality of her work.

It *shouldn't* be a factor. If it is, you confirm. "You had the XYZ, right?" You don't ask "DUR WHO HAD THE ..."

Pick a point. Be it north, the entrance, whatever. The chair closest facing that direction is #1. Clockwise, 2,3,4....

NOT that hard to do, considering ITS HER JOB.

if it's hard to make money in a restaurant, then capitalism says there should be no restaurants. Not make everyone else supplement a profitless enterprise. Sounds like communism to me.

IF YOU GIVE TIPS, YOU'RE SUPPORTING COMMUNISM.

(but srsly, charge more for the food if you have to. A tip by nature is given to show that you appreciate someone's extra effort to serve you. not an entitlement because they don't get paid enough as it is. It's cheating us as consumers, cause we're being socially pressured to pay someone else's employees, and cheating the waiters and waitresses because they should be making tips *on top of* their wage, not in place of it.)

On another note, how do you all feel about places that add it into the check automatically? I refuse to eat at places like that once I discover they do it.

[concerning the should she/shouldn't she ask debate; I think there's nothing wrong with the waitress saying something like, "ok you had the xyz, right?" as a confirmation to make sure she doesn't mess it up, or even asking if she has no idea. But Squirrel King is right that if she automatically knows without having to ask, it demonstrates an extra attention to detail and commitment to her work and to serving her customers that deserves recognition. In short, I wouldn't see asking/clarifying as a bad thing, but I probably would see not needing to ask/clarify as a good thing.]

Isn't that in effect the same thing as charging more in order to pay the waitstaff?

it could be argued that it is ultimately. So why go through all this social pressure bull****? Just charge more in the first place, rather than make me feel "obligated" into supplementing your employee's wage. At the very least, it saves me the hassle of doing the math.

In any other industry, you would think it odd. Imagine, for example, that you were grocery shopping. You see a loaf of bread for 70 cents, and you think to yourself, "hey that's a good deal." You carry the loaf of bread up to the front, the clerk rings you up, adds the tax and whatnot, bags the bread... then expects you to give her another 15 cents for doing so. If you wanted to charge 85 cents for the bread then just do it in the first place!

I find it interesting that Squirrel King was in the restaurant industry himself. In my limited experience, the only people I know who've complained about poor service (when I personally had no issue with it) are those in the service industry.

I guess it comes as part of being more able to recognise a bad job when you've done it yourself.

Tip!?

*sigh* I wish people tipped me.

I do not leave a small tip if I am poorly served. I think it's rude to leave just a few coins or or pocket lint. If service was not satisfactory, I leave no tip, and speak to the manager. If service was satisfactory, I leave the standard 15%. If service was above average, I leave an appropriately high amount. I am a fairly generous tipper.

We have minimum wage, so I generally tip on cuteness and write it off as an investment. Although so far the returns have been mediocre.

I don't know why, but when I read the OP I can only picture it said in a George Constanza nasally whine.

Quit *****ing.

I usually tip more than 15%. Places that do that factor in 15%. At those places, the waitresses get smaller tips from me.

I give waitresses 15% of my tip. How has no one made this joke yet?

You're coming across as going nuts over a very fine line

In pretty much every state in the US (and maybe every single one, not sure if it's a federal law or not), if a server cannot make enough in tips to cover minimum wage, their employer has to cover the difference, so they never really make below minimum wage. A lot of people seem to overlook that fact when talking about servers and how they "make below minimum wage".

Consequently, if a server isn't making enough tips to cover minimum wage, they're probably not going to be employed very long.

Yes but, see what I said above. I'll re-quote.

I only tip in scrabble tiles. If they do a particularly good job I'll leave some blank ones or a Q or X or something, but if the service was horrible I'll drop some E's and A's on the table and be on my way.

What about the I's? I's are pretty terrible.

MadQuack you could have picked a better thread to poest in -_-

oh I guess you did nvm

omq

Oh man I forgot all about omq!

I generally only tip 2.00$ regardless of the bill, unless the waiter had a great personality. The last time I was at a restaurant my bill came to 210$ and I only tipped 5 dollars. I mean, the service was OK but our waiter was annoying. Considering the the atmosphere and the classiness of the place, he acted like he was serving us at a sports bar. I'm an sh**y tipper and I know it!

fixxed

While I do think the $2 on a $210 meal is pretty crappy, I don't understand the logic of 15-20% tipping. I went on a date to a sushi place, and the bill ended up being like $60. The service, however, was no different than if I had gone to Chili's or Applebee's or some other type restaurant. He wasn't terrible or anything, but it the same service I would have gotten if dinner had ended up costing $25. Why, then, should I tip the waiter $7 more because my sushi is overpriced?

I leave a minimum of 20% which is the standard in the U.S. If the service is bad, which is rare, I'll speak w/ or email the manager (I've only had to do this a few times). If the service is bad twice I don't eat there again. I think that quite a few of you are overlooking the fact that the tip you're leaving isn't just for the server. It's quite common for a server to share their tips w/ the hostess, the bartender & the bus-gals/guys, etc. I'm personally disgusted by people that don't tip properly & wish there was a hell & a place in it reserved just for you.

It's called regular hell, you have your own little "I'm entitled to everything" section though.

If we have a bad waiter but good food etc., my boyfriend will go out of his way to make sure to tip the cook and bartender but not the waiter. Sure, they can share their tip with the waiter, but the waiter has to be pretty awful for him to do that. We've both worked in restaurants (waiter/cook), so it's kind of an insult when it's obviously the waiter just doing a crappy job. :/

Wow, you're the definition of douchebag. Seriously.

yeah he kind of reminded me of the redneck guy from the movie Waiting.

This is one of my personal favorites. The sad thing is that she's reinforcing the idea that blacks don't tip well. The responses are quite good as well.

Wow

.

Why? I said I'll tip a waiter if he/she is nice, friendly and makes me feel comfortable etc. But will I go over 5 dollars? No way. If you actually knew me you would know that I'm definitely not a douche bag.

I don't tip waiters/waitresses because I don't eat out.

I went ziplining the other day and tipped them $20 cause it was awesome.