Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire The Restaurant 'Server' Tipping Con

yep, so no tip costs them money!

Can't answer for Bluedreaux, but I tend to tip heavily, especially for good service (up to 50% and even beyond), especially if I plan to be back, because it gets me really good service and wait staff that crawl all over each other to serve me.

It's a great way to become a regular of the best server in the house, which is a good place to be; and if the best server and the second best server have no tables left and you get a noob, the folks who know you will make sure the noob knows the score, and you'll get the best service the noob knows how to provide.

Once a noob didn't listen and gave Penny and me lousy service anyway, so we left her a two-cent tip, and our regular server sought us out next time we were there and told us a fascinating story.

Figuring out the smallest tip you can possibly leave is one way to live, but life can also be interesting over on the heavy-tipping end, lemme tell you...

If anyone thinks that the average person waiting a table is getting rich on that job, you are out of touch with reality. I know some people that work in some fancy places that probably do pretty decently, but waiting tables isn't the most lucrative way to support yourself typically. They are getting less than minimum wage and pay taxes on the difference - whether you leave it there or not.

That is the how the pay is structured for that job in this country. If you don't agree with that, you are certainly entitled, but if you get reasonably good service, plan on tipping in a reasonable manner or go to the drive through. Don't punish the person working for a system that they have no control over.

Why does it seem folks here view being a waiter or waitress as a true means for upward mobility? Perhaps basketball and football are proper, and statistically viable means for financial freedom? Laffin'

As has been said, play stupid games win stupid prizes. Don't complain that you're 'broke' when you only make $2/hour plus tips. Go out and get a better [bleep] job instead of expecting any tips at all. Why should I tip any service worker? They know their job is an exchange relationship, where they trade their time for money. It's not my fault folks are too stupid to realize better opportunities.

A 'server' isn't an end-all be-all goal in life. It is a mediocre, at best, stepping stone for teenagers who want to buy their first car; not for a grown ass adult 'contributing' in society.

I got in the habit of putting a zero on the credit card tip spot and leaving the tip on the table in cash. I figured it was better for the server because they got to throw it in their pocket and didn't have it tracked electronically for tax purposes. I quit doing this a couple of years ago after (at a Chili's ironically) I had one of them alter my credit card ticket and write a 2 in front of the 0, giving them an extra $20 tip on a $40 check that I'd already left $10 cash on the table for. I didn't notice it until I got the CC statement a few weeks later and hadn't kept any receipts so I just let it go, I didn't go back and raise hell about it. It ended my leaving cash on the table if I pay by credit card though, now the tip goes on the card instead.

Maybe they actually had the stones to move out of their folks basement.....

I can't stop laughing...



Travis

I"m still wondering, why we have anything in this country thats not paid in full up front...

I mean even a hunting or fishing guide is getting paid well enough to make a living.

I don't mind tipping for work well done ABOVE and BEYOND, but I"m tired of paying for food and then because somewhere along the line someone decided to make the wait staff rely on tips almost as a whole... its BS.

Its like a local dealer that ads a misc charge to all service bills... WTF is that we asked... oh you know, squirts of oil, shot of grease, pays for rags to wipe off the grease, grease cleaner, paper floor mats etc... BS, I've never paid that part... figure that crap into your bill, don't call it a misc charge and add it on top of my bill. We take it off and write a check and have never had to fight it more than that.

I understand the side of the employee and will always tip and generally try to do so very decently, but I fail to see why the system was set up that way.

Just like our tax system but I digress.

Did you want us to charge you per towel, shot of grease, or solvent cleaner usage? Just like the hospital?...each aspirin, cup or tissue.
Trust me, a small misc. charge is cheaper and you will only bitch about 1 thing instead of each little individual piece.


I don't get it...
The $120 per hour is fine, but the $2.40 for supplies is killing you?
I've seen places that don't have misc. fees.....
Each "sqirt" of the panther piss can is selling a "can" on your bill. That alone is more than your misc. charge.

Agreed. What goes around comes around. Everything we do has value, some more some less. I prefer to pay it forward.

I expect to have to tip when eating out a restaurant where someone serves you and keeps checking on you. That is part of the gig. I tip according to how I am treated and how the service is. What I won't do is go to a restaurant where they have an automatic 20% gratuity built into the bill for parties of X or larger. That just means that the server can treat us like crap and STILL get a nice tip! If I see that on the menu I call the manager over and tell them that I don't want that built into the bill I get. Most of the time they go along with it, a few times we have gotten up and left. I always pay my tips in cash and I line out the tip line and fill in the bottom line of the CC receipt on occasions that I pay with a card.

Sometime the server just expects a tip is automatic. sometimes when the service is terrible, the tip reflects that. Just as when the service is excellent, the tip reflects that as well.

Okay Dudes,

So I took a break from the restaurant scene and ordered a Domino's tonite. Everything is fine.....including the timing and Brooklyn-style pizza.

But.............I could see it in his eyes and facial expression..........he wanted 20%........and he expected it........

I wont eat at a place with a mandatory tip rule. As a rule the service is poor the food is bland, and the prices are too high.

Lower Minimum wages for serves suck, in my neck of the woods they get the minimum wage.

I tip based on the experience, it is easy to get 20-25 % out of me, but I don't care about social justice and will walk out leaving you what you were worth to me if you show a real lack of service. And. forgetfulness is a lack of service, you have a pen and a piece of paper.

Good for your niece, but.
The whole concept, of restaurants not paying a decent wage and the customer in turn overpays for bringing a plate of food, is screwed up. Take the guy working for Discount Tire makes maybe 10-12$ a hour ~$80 a day. Do you tip him...no not after paying $1000 for a set of tires...but you sure expect him to torque the lug nuts right.

When you say �the old standby 15%� I�m here to tell you the �old standby� was 10% for many decades.
10% is still the starting point with me. Do a good job, don�t let my water glass go empty and your up to 15% pretty fast. 20% or more takes something noteworthy.

Lets do the math, because almost nobody does.

40 hours a week times minamum wage of $8 is $320 a week.
I believe most states allow the owner to subtract some wages in lou of tips, so lets call it $200

�BUT� , you say, my girlfriend/kid/aunt Flo only gets 20 hours a week ! Not my problem, tell her to get a second waitress job.

Anyone faster than a gut shot sloth can wait on 5 tables an hour. �But� you say, the restaurant is slow and she works the graveyard shift. Once again, not my problem, I just want a burger.

Average plate at a greasy spoon ( I assume she works at a greasy spoon) is about $9, and a soda is another $2, so $11 per person. Average table is 2, so lets do that math

Average check, 2 X $11 = $22, so a (cheap) 10% tip should be $2.20

Times 5 tables an hour 2.20 X 5 X = $11 and hour, X 8 hour day = $88, times 5 days a week

88 X 5 = $440.00 a week in tips !!!!!! Plus the $200 paycheck and that�s $640 a week.

Wholy krap, your girlfriend/kid/aunt Flo is making decent money with 10% tips, (is she holding out on you ?)

Why are they complaining ?

Want more money ? Here are a few tips that are worth more than 20%

40 hours is for union workers, try 50 or 60, get a second job if needed.

Don�t skrew my order up (this aint rocket science, just pay attention)
And DON�T let my drink run dry, be around with an offer of refills before I run out.
Smile, act like your happy to wait on me. I don�t care what your problem is, I have problems of my own.
Take a look at my plate while your carrying it to my table, and if it�s wrong, GO FIX IT.
Take a bath before you come to work, and brush your hair and your teeth.
Basically, this is your job, take it seriously.
If you do, you can actually make decent tip money.

Does anyone else resent it when you pay your bill to the server and they ask "will you be needing your change?" I normally tip @ 20%, but when that happens, I automatically reduce the tip to 10-15%. I think it is rude and classless when they do this.

And if servers made minimum wage, which in most states they don't, your "math" would maybe be close.

In NH a server is pad $3.27/hr. And in case you don't know or have never done it, waiting tables isn't easy job. So now go apply your math and see what that same server makes.

I waited tables for a little while and my wife did for years. So perhaps we're a bit more empathetic but we generally tip at least 20% unless the service is truly bad and if it's good service often 25% or more.

I generally tip 20%, sometimes I'll tip more, for example a seven or eight dollar dinner special w/tea ain't unusual in Tex-Mex restaurants around here that requires as much work from the wait staff as an $20 meal somewhere else.

Sounds like a cool device to me.

Birdwatcher