Learn How to Tip!!

[jayel]

About two months ago, a waitress accidentaly dumped my soda in my lap, management comped the meal, and she got a 20%-25% tip from the original bill. Her service was great, the spill was an accident.

Sorry in advance for threadjacking, but...

Wow, flashback!

I waitressed at On the Border Mexican restaurant for a few months when I was ninteen. Once I was bringing two customesr refills on their cokes and after I set the first one down on the table, the tray went off balance and the second coke spilled right in this poor guy's lap! He didn't yell or anything, just asked for some napkins, which I brought. I couldn't face billing them after that, so I got the manager to comp the meal. Guess what? They still tipped me! I wouldn't have been mad if they hadn't, but it made me feel so good that they did, because it showed they weren't too angry. The only bad thing was getting back to my other customers who had seen the whole thing and were probably afraid of me!

[nattie]

I'm a server,we remember those who tip well and those who don't. I personally won't mess with your food if you tip poorly but I won't go above and beyond for you...for those that do tip well, I'll do whatever possible to make you happy. Tip your server, trust me...today I tipped 10 on 21. It was good service and I was happy to leave that 10 to her, she deserved it.

[Qwakkeddup]

Just to remind people, we're here to discuss sucky customers and not to change society. Whether or not tipping should be the cultural norm in the US is not a suitable debate - it is, and that's the world we try to live and earn in. If you want to change the world, speak to your local politicians.

If this thread degenerates further into debate on those lines, we'll close it. Keep it to the SCs, please.

Rapscallion

Sorry, My bad.
How about I throw in the SC at a diner who, on the busiest night, went ballistic on the waitress, manager and the customers at the next table. His OWN daughter,, still in diapers knocked her apple juice in his lap.
The table behind him tried to intervien before the manager came out.
SC Bawled the waitress out at the top of his lungs. Poor girl was in tears, and she wasn't even at the table when it dumped. I put a good tip down for her that night. She kept on serving us with red puffy eyes and a somewhat forced smile. BTW the was thrown out.

[varmintjane]

I'm not too angry at this customer, only because I don't believe she was malicious. Just stupid..

I don't think they were stupid, probably just ignorant. A lot of people don't know that servers make less than minimum wage or that servers get taxed on a percentage of their sales and not the actual amount that they were tipped. They don't realize that by leaving a bad tip the server is paying out of their own pocket for the "privilege" of serving that table. I agree that tipping is an incentive for good service, but if restaurants were forced to pay minimum wage to servers, food prices would go up (more than it would cost to tip in the first place), thus creating more SCs. SC will not tip well regardless of whether they got good service or not, there is no way to appease them.

[MadMike]

I don't think they were stupid, probably just ignorant. A lot of people don't know that servers make less than minimum wage or that servers get taxed on a percentage of their sales and not the actual amount that they were tipped. They don't realize that by leaving a bad tip the server is paying out of their own pocket for the "privilege" of serving that table. I agree that tipping is an incentive for good service, but if restaurants were forced to pay minimum wage to servers, food prices would go up (more than it would cost to tip in the first place), thus creating more SCs. SC will not tip well regardless of whether they got good service or not, there is no way to appease them.

That's how I was. I'd leave a few bucks, but that usually came to a percentage that I am truly embarrassed to even mention. I wasn't a bad customer, I just simply didn't know any better. My ex tried to correct me on that one, but since she found fault with pretty much everything I did, I figured she was full of shit, and pretty much blew her off.

It wasn't until I started coming here that I fully understood how servers get screwed on their wages, and I was shocked to say the least. I make sure to tip around 20% now, except for when I get truly shitty service, which has happened maybe twice in the last six years since I started coming here.

[Palsgraf]

I stand corrected: "Ignorant" would have been a more appropriate word to use than "stupid." Thanks.

...but at least there was a tip to go back to. From a lot of stories here, a tip (no matter how small or big) is a rare occurance. I don't feel its justified to moan because its 1.6% under the 10% advertised recommended generally accepted to be a decent tip. ....

A minimum in the U.S. for acceptable to good restaurant service is 15%. Less than 10% is insulting. 20% is a "good" tip.

Tipping is not "to be limited to when the server goes out of their way and you know they've gone out of their way to make you happy." It is "for everyday" ... if you are being 'served' everyday.

Back in college, I remember being told "Sorry, I don't have enough for a tip," by people whom I'd delivered several Supreme pizzas to. "Well," I'd think, "Why did you order all those pizzas with all those toppings on them if you can't afford the tip?!"

Another favorite was, "I don't tip - I'm a poor college student." I thought, "Yeh, me too. That's why I'm working ... to make money to pay to go to school here." I probably heard that one more often from kids whose parents were paying to send them to school!

When I wanted pizza, I'd go buy the cheapest frozen ones at the grocery store - because I didn't have the extra cash for the delivery charge. Even now, we go pick-up our pizza (to save five bucks). I believe that if I can't afford the tip, then I can't afford the delivery. And if I can't afford a 20% tip in the restaurant, then I can't afford to go out for dinner. Period.

Tips are part of the server's income, and part of the support staff's income. I've worked at restaurants where the servers pay a 3% "tipshare" - a percentage of their sales that is divided amongst the support staff: busboys, bartenders, and host staff. The problem is, when someone left me less than 3%, that meant I was actually paying to wait on them (to make up the difference between their tip and 3%).

This one knucklehead I waited on about six years ago ordered two of our enormous monsterours-sized hamburgers. (Just one was too much food - enough to make anyone sick). "I want you to bring them out together on the same plate, right next to each other ... but don't bring them out at the same time - I only want one right now." Huh? Yes, he obviously wasn't firing on all his cyllinders. With an appetizer or two, drinks from the bar, and desserts, he and his date had a check for about about $62. It should have been a $12.40 tip ... but since he left me less than $1 (after telling me again & again how great everything was), that meant I had to pay the difference to wait on them.

My current employer doesn't collect tipshare, so I directly tip my busboy 20% of my tips (stiffing me stiffs him too!) and tip my bartender 5% of my liquor sales.

True, if I went back to working at the hotel I wouldn't be collecting tips ... but I'd also be getting paid at least three to four times what I'm currently being paid as a "tipped employee."

I've waited on people who think "Hey, he did a really good job - let's leave him $5." However, if it's on a $100 check (5%), then I probably did a lot more work than I did for the 5$ tip on a $20 check (25%).

The problem comes when the check gets really big. For example, take a $500 check for a banquet. The person paying the bill thinks, "Well, um, let's give them forty bucks; that's a lot of money, they'll like that." Well, a "good" 20% tip would be $100. Between three servers that's only $33.33 each before tipping out the busboy, bartender, banquet manager, etc. They would have made more if they'd taken several smaller tables over those same two hours. But what if the customers left only $40? That's a lot of money, right? That's $13.33 each, and then tip-out the busboy and the bartender and ... Hey, there enough left to cover minimum wage?

And don't think that giving compliments will compensate for an inappropriate tip. I go to work to make money, not to collect compliments. While it's nice to hear that everything was great, most of us know when we've done a great job (and when we haven't!), and the more compliments we hear from the same group, the more we beign to fear that those compliments are our tip-substitutes. I'd like to see the look on these SC's faces if, on payday, instead of being given a paycheck the boss told them, "Well, I just want to tell you what a great job you're doing ... keep up the good work!" Maybe there should be a Hallmark card for it: "We would pay you for your work, but telling you what a wonderful job you're doing means so much more to us!"

Okay, now I'm rambling.

My point, if I remember, is that I'm not as annoyed at someone who tips poorly out of ignorance as I am at those who do so intentionally (oftentimes with some made-up complaint/excuse).

[marcus]

I must admit, as a Brit, I never really understood the concept of expecting a 10% or 15% tip and getting all huffy because you didn't get it.

Phrases like "Tipping badly out of ignorance" freaks me, in fact, it makes me want to go to the next restaurant and not tip at all. Hell, why should I?

Other than the "Golden-Coral" type restaurants where the staff only work for tips (Presumably because most of them aren't US citizens and not allowed to be there, let alone work) I don't see that I MUST tip.

If the price of the meal is 35$ on the menu, then why should I leave the restuarent $41 light?

Tipping in any other country you care to mention is a personal thing. If the waiter was particularly good, fast, pleasant or whatever, they get tipped. When they are slow, surly or generally miserable, they for sure will not. Seems to me that tipping in the States is mandatory regardless of service levels.

Seems to me that if you don't like getting bad tips, go work in another job.

[pbmods]

Jackpot Tipping

One concept described in Customer Service for Dummies (actually a pretty neat book; it also describes strategies for being a better customer, not just a better SP... hm....) is called "jackpot tipping".

With jackpot tipping, you decide how much you should tip based on the quality of service you received like normal. But if you decide to tip less than 15%, you add the amount that it would have taken to get to 15% to your jackpot.

As an example, if you have a $20 meal, a 15% tip would be $3. But let's say that the service was really lacking in some respect, and so you decide only to tip 10% ($2). You'd then add that last dollar to your jackpot.

When you are served by an individual who provides excellent service worthy of a super tip, give him the jackpot.

I think if more people subscribed to this idea, waitservice jobs might be a bit more interesting, financially....

[Barefootgirl]

Seems to me that tipping in the States is mandatory regardless of service levels.

Seems to me that if you don't like getting bad tips, go work in another job.

While its hardly mandatory, tipping "heavily" as we might see it, is the decent thing to do in US restaurants. Although the US has a minimum wage, it also has a rather unpleasant exception for waiting staff, who do NOT have to be paid the minimum wage. Some waiting staff are only paid $2-3/ hour basic, as their tips are expected to make up the bulk of their income.

I find this loophole immoral to say the least - its grossly unfair to waiting staff - however, I feel its just one of those quirks of a flawed foreign system that I have to put up with in order to have a more comfortable experience while abroad.

Incidentally, I have been a member of this site for YEARS and I have never once seen a post that said in essence, I was a grumpy cow, brought their order wrong and snapped at them and they were mean enough not to tip me! When a waiter compalins aobut a bad tipper, there is normally an underlying subtext suggesting that they held up their end of the contract bybeing a good waiter, yet the customer failed to keep up theirs by not tipping.

[Canarr]

Incidentally, I have been a member of this site for YEARS and I have never once seen a post that said in essence, I was a grumpy cow, brought their order wrong and snapped at them and they were mean enough not to tip me! When a waiter compalins aobut a bad tipper, there is normally an underlying subtext suggesting that they held up their end of the contract bybeing a good waiter, yet the customer failed to keep up theirs by not tipping.

Now, that's hardly conclusive proof that it was as suggested. Not everybody has enough capacity for self-criticism to actually say, "Okay, I didn't deserve a tip this time, my work was shoddy".

[LostMyMind]

I'm quite simple, I tip base on the service not the cost of the food.

You can't tell me it takes more work to deliver a $20 dollar lobster plate than a $5 dollar meat loaf plate. If a server dote on me and perform service, then I tip heavily. If I see the server only to take order and to deliver the food. Tip is on the light side, if any. Not just waiters, barbers too, I tip my barber almost 100% of the bill. Why, that barber paid attention to me and what I wanted for almost 15 to 30 mins for a $7 to $10.

I understand that waiters are paid by tips, which baffles me why I have to track down a waiter and they get ticked when I don't tip them much.

[Rapscallion]

Now, that's hardly conclusive proof that it was as suggested. Not everybody has enough capacity for self-criticism to actually say, "Okay, I didn't deserve a tip this time, my work was shoddy".

Hmm, none of us are perfect. We sometimes have off days. We have an Oops section for just that reason.

http://www.customerssuck.com/board/f...splay.php?f=19

Rapscallion

[Kelly Lynne]

Edit: Sorry...I added this post before I saw Rapscallion's post asking us to stay on topic. Feel free to ignore this...

I realize that people like to be tipped. And that, in the US, tipping is considered something you always do no matter what because of those ridiculous laws you have there that make it possible for you to earn about $2 an hour. But I do find the notion that people think they deserve to be tipped for doing their jobs and not anything special at all to be absurd.This sense of entitlement is just horrible.

For two bucks an hour, decent service *is* above and beyond. Granted, it would be more reasonable for waiters to be paid a real wage than to expect that to come from the customer. I agree with you that the law that allows waitstaff to be paid much less than minimum wage is stupid. But really, it would come from the customer either way. If you eat at a restaurant where the waitstaff makes five-something an hour rather than two-something an hour, I'm sure the difference will be reflected in your bill.

I think everyone who does a decent job deserves to actually get paid. Because of the way we have tips set up in this country and the way minimum wage laws work, tipping is part of the way you pay for a service received, just like paying your bill is. The only difference is that you can choose not to without any repercussions and you get to set the price for that service yourself.

[ringo]

I never know how much to tip as a customer. I usally leave about $3-5. I havn't seen to many "sucky customers".

As for laws in the US.

A tipped employee engages in an occupation in which he or she customarily and regularly receives more than $30 per month in tips. An employer of a tipped employee is only required to pay $2.13 per hour in direct wages if that amount combined with the tips received at least equals the federal minimum wage. If the employee’s tips combined with the employer’s direct wages of at least $2.13 per hour do not equal the federal minimum hourly wage, the employer must make up the difference. Many states, however, require higher direct wage amounts for tipped employees.

Wages - Tips
Table of Minimum Hourly Wages for Tipped Employees, by State

[Canarr]

Interesting, ringo; but how is that determined? The employer would need a way to track his staff's tips, otherwise he'd have to take their word for it (and, yes, people lie. Even waiters).

Or is that one of those laws that's nice in theory, but never really applied?