Tipping, automatic gratuity for large parties

[Aloysius]

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Tipping is silly. I tip, and so do most people that I know, however it has gotten out of hand. In the old days, servers got less than minimum wage if anything at all from the restaurant. They were working for the tips. Now, in Oregon at least, servers get minimum wage from the restaurant. Once you start tacking on 15-20% of every bill, these guys are making good money provided they work at a moderately priced place. Sometimes I get into a discussion about it with someone at my table. They are always pleading the case for the servers. "They get paid crap. They work is really stressful and dealing with idiots all the time sucks." Well what about our friends at McDonalds or Carl's Jr? That job is way worse. At Carl's some guy brings me my tray when the food is ready. Even better, when I have finished my soda, I can go get my own refill instead of waiting around for an overworked waiter to refill it for me. Nobody tips them. They are essentially doing the same job. Don't tell me about quality of service either. Sure I have had better service at a slow restaurant. But its not substantially better. My order gets messed up approximately the same amount of time at each place. The servers in a slow restaurant are slightly more friendly, but I have had bad ones there too. The servers that get hired at the highend steak houses or italian places or really nice "take a date" there places have great servers who know about wine, and different cuts of meat and other things about the menu. These guys are making a career out of the service industry and probably deserve a little extra, but the waiters down at Applebees or Chilis or other places like that are little better than the staff at a fast food joint. Tips should not be required.

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So you just stiff the waitstaff at Applebees / Chilis etc?

Curious,
-Al

[Scotch78]

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Are you saying youre not obligated to pay as in dont eat there if you dont like it. Or do you actually mean you can eat there with the 8 and you can have a choice in not paying the mandatory tip?

rJ_

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I'm saying if you decide not to pay the "mandatory" tip you will never have to. This may or may not apply to situations where you rent a room, set a menu and agree to things beforehand.

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If the menu states that there is a mandatory gratuity on large parties, or for any other particular reasons, then you are legally obligated to pay it. Once it is published on the menu, it is considered just as much a part of the prices as the cost of the food.

However, if you feel that the service truly did not merit that gratuity, most managers will accomodate you with a lower percentage. And as to wine . . . tough [censored]. No, it doesn't make sense to tip $20 on one bottle of wine that just has to be opened and poured when you'd tip the same amount on a couple of five-course meals, but that's just life and restaurants.

Scott

[A S U]

I think auto-grats are the gayest thing ever. However I don't understand the argument about tipping less cause they are just pouring the wine. It's easily the same amount of work carrying a few dishes as opening and pouring the bottles. Service is service.

[Austiger]

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I think auto-grats are the gayest thing ever. However I don't understand the argument about tipping less cause they are just pouring the wine. It's easily the same amount of work carrying a few dishes as opening and pouring the bottles. Service is service.

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I was just about to say that. The waiter doesn't just swing by the restaurant, pour a couple of drinks, grab the cash and leave. They are there for setting up and closing down the restaurant. They have a job to do to make you're experience a good one. If you are spending X amount, you should tip at least X x 15%. It shouldn't matter if X is mostly wine, or mostly food. If that's what you are spending, then that's what you should tip.

Automatic gratuities are simply necessary to avoid situations where a waiter gets shafted. It's one thing to get stiffed on a party of 2, but when a big party takes up a waiter's section all night and leaves him like $5 or something, it's just not right.

[By-Tor]

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Automatic gratuities are simply necessary to avoid situations where a waiter gets shafted. It's one thing to get stiffed on a party of 2, but when a big party takes up a waiter's section all night and leaves him like $5 or something, it's just not right.

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I'm sorry, but the occasional stiff is the cost of doing business.

And I personally do not care about their time involved to setup/break down for service. That's called overhead.

If a resturant is so scared that they may occasionally get stiffered on a tip, they shouldn't be in the resturant business in the first place.

[MD2020]

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Automatic gratuities are simply necessary to avoid situations where a waiter gets shafted. It's one thing to get stiffed on a party of 2, but when a big party takes up a waiter's section all night and leaves him like $5 or something, it's just not right.

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I'm sorry, but the occasional stiff is the cost of doing business.

And I personally do not care about their time involved to setup/break down for service. That's called overhead.

If a resturant is so scared that they may occasionally get stiffered on a tip, they shouldn't be in the resturant business in the first place.

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Yeah, that 19 year old who's trying to make some money for college totally deserves to be [censored] over.

And if she doesn't like it, well, it's a tough world, missy. Deal with it.

[By-Tor]

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Automatic gratuities are simply necessary to avoid situations where a waiter gets shafted. It's one thing to get stiffed on a party of 2, but when a big party takes up a waiter's section all night and leaves him like $5 or something, it's just not right.

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I'm sorry, but the occasional stiff is the cost of doing business.

And I personally do not care about their time involved to setup/break down for service. That's called overhead.

If a resturant is so scared that they may occasionally get stiffered on a tip, they shouldn't be in the resturant business in the first place.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, that 19 year old who's trying to make some money for college totally deserves to be [censored] over.

And if she doesn't like it, well, it's a tough world, missy. Deal with it.

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Always provide great service and it works itself out. The 'big tips' will far outweight the stiffs in the long run.

[Austiger]

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I'm sorry, but the occasional stiff is the cost of doing business.

And I personally do not care about their time involved to setup/break down for service. That's called overhead.

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Yeah, I know what it's called. It's just an explanation for ppl. who don't understand why they should have to tip on wine.


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If a resturant is so scared that they may occasionally get stiffered on a tip, they shouldn't be in the resturant business in the first place.

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Agreed. And people who have a problem with tipping, whether voluntariy or automatically included, shouldn't be dining out in the first place.

[rJ_]

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Yeah, that 19 year old who's trying to make some money for college totally deserves to be [censored] over.

And if she doesn't like it, well, it's a tough world, missy. Deal with it.

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They are not getting screwed over or stiffed. There is no obligation to tip (outside of when stated mandatory).

There has only been 2 cases where I left zero tip and that was for extremely poor service. However, when I hear people talk of the obligation to tip it seriously wants me to not tip at all. If more people didnt tip, then maybe they would stop "expecting" it and work a little harder.

rJ_

[thedustbustr]

just to clear this misconception up. if a waiter gets stiffed on a party that took up most of her night, it is likely that she will have zero profit for the night. roughly 3% of their food sales go to the host/dish boys etc, regardless of actual tip sizings. I have heard of at least one instance where a waiter was given a $100 tip on a $6000 bill, and left with $5 for the night, and her manager simply didn't care.