Today is “National Food Service Employees Day” and we are excited to look back and reflect on the history of Tip20, and the positive impact that we have had on consumers and helping fellow waiters, waitresses, bartenders and managers all make the service industry a little bit better.

Our article about “Why you should tip” as been viewed thousands of times and has been frequently reposted across the world wide web.

We’ve covered important server topics such as handling campers, How to tip on free and discounted meals, how to handle difficult management situations, your legal server rights, service industry wages and so much more.

We’ve had a lot of fun too! We enjoyed visits from reality show celebrities, interviews from magazines and newspapers and we’ve been talked about on radio stations across the country. We have even been included for reference in a few educational text books! We have developed a great relationship with many other industry bloggers over the years too. It is great to see our industry getting the attention it so deserves and letting the world know that serving is a “real job” for many of us!

Working in the service industry can be very grueling. Typically working the hours when everyone else is playing and playing while everyone else is working. We do long shifts often with no breaks, but it can also be very rewarding and profitable. We’ve had great stories about restaurant guests going way over the top both in good and bad ways. We have also seen how the economy forces restaurants to raise prices and that raised and prices often gets taken out on the servers tips.

When Tip20 was started back in 2002, the mission was to educate consumers on how, why, where, when and who to tip and also to educate servers and bartenders on how to earn their tips and be better at their jobs. We have always felt that tips should be earned and not be just automatically given. Although tips are a critical part of every server’s income and in fact one of the biggest reasons to show up for work, tips in reality are a gift from the consumer who has been satisfied with the services they received from their server or bartender.

Our article on “tipping and taxes” has helped thousands of servers to get a better grip on their taxable income, what needs to be reported and what doesn’t. We have answered hundreds of questions e-mailed to us or post our discussion forum and throughout the blog. We listened to your feedback we try to make changes to Tip20.com to improve the speed and security and informational value and are offerings.

As we approach our 10 year anniversary next year in 2012. We are looking to further growth, development, change and more robust, interactive, useful information for our readers. Over the month of October you can expect to see some changes around Tip20, a little bit of a facelift, some simple overhaul and most importantly more regular content for you to learn from and enjoy.

A as we grow, we would very much like to have your input as to what is important to you. What would you like to see, what are you are not finding other places on the internet and basic overall feedback. Do you have an article to contribute or opinion to share? Send it in! We’ll ensure you get proper credit!

We will be integrating Facebook and Google+ more prominently in our site so it will be easier to share articles and information you like with your friends and coworkers. You will see improved product offerings for things like shoes, insurance options, job searching, etc. So if you haven’t subscribed to our feed you may want to now as we will be offering special offers for our subscribers. Also while your at it, please follow us on Twitter and Like us on Facebook!

So the team here at Tip20! would like to thank you Service Industry for helping us make it to where we are and keep us going long into the future!

A Tip20! Original Article, by Tom Mason

Paying your bill may seem like a mindless and mundane procedure when you are dining out, but the way in which the process happens can make life easier for everyone involved. The following are some tips for streamlining the bill payment at the end of your meal.

1. Don’t be afraid to ask for your check. The server appreciates knowing that you’re ready for your bill. Servers do not want to continuously bother you to see if you are ready for your check, but they don’t want to make you wait for them either.
2. If paying with cash or credit card let the cash or card stick out of the check presenter a little and place on the edge of the table. This will let your server know you’re ready to pay.
3. Pay promptly even if you plan to stay at the table for a while longer. Often the server may be just waiting to leave at the end of his or her shift and can cash out his receipts after all bills have been paid. Even if you intend to sit for a while your server can get their accounting done while they wait for you to conclude your visit.
4. If you are going to be sitting for a long time (in the industry this is known as “camping”) let your server know. If you are the servers last table, they may want to leave. Your server will make sure that you have everything you need before he or she goes and will likely tell another server to keep an eye on you for any further needs you may have.
5. When paying cash always use the smallest bills you have available and let the server know if you need change back. Exact change is always appreciated.
6. When paying with a check it is a good idea to ask if checks are accepted first and also automatically include your home phone number and address and any other information that may be helpful or required.
7. If you know you are going to be splitting your tab different ways among the parties at the table, let your server know when you sit down. It may make a difference how they ring your order in to speed up the payment process at the end of your meal.
8. If you know you are going to be picking up the tab for the entire table, discreetly (or not) let the server know in advance. This will help avoid the uncomfortable situation at the end of the meal with a fight over who will pay the bill.
9. If you were planning to pay your bill with a credit card it is a nice thing to do to leave your tip in cash. Some restaurants will take fees out of servers tips when paid by credit card.

Please just be courteous and considerate of your servers time. A servers section has a limited number of tables. Servers only make money when they are “turning” tables so if you are going to take up a table for a long time, it is a nice gesture to give a little more of a tip to help the server make up some of their potential lost revenue.

Shout out to Tim at the CG for the idea for this story.

by Kathleen Harris, Used with Permission

The top 10 things I wish people knew about waiters:

#10 – I have to tip out 3% of my GROSS SALES (not tips – sales!) to other staff. The percentage depends on the restaurant but in many restaurants the waiters are truly the ones paying the hostesses, busboys and we have to tip the bartenders too (even though they make a ton more than us)! (Hostesses & busboys are also getting $2.13/hour plus some of my tips, there is a reason they are all 15.)

#9 – Min. wage for a waiter is $2.13/hour and the government takes all of that. My paycheck says “This is not a check” on it each pay period. Please stop reading me the riot act that you make $5+/ hour and I make $5+/hour so why should you tip me more? I DON’T make $5/hour, also see #10.

#8 – Regardless of what I make the government assumes I make 10% per table and taxes me accordingly. Please get off your high horse about waiters reporting honestly. After #10 and #8 I’m almost always taxed over what I make. If I can use the occassional cash tip to try to slide that back down to what I really make why are you all riled up about it?

#7 – I really appreciate that 20% tip but you sat at 1 of my only 2 tables for 4 hours on a Friday night. You might have given me $4 on a $20 check but you probably cost me about $60 so don’t see me doing cartwheels over your 4 bucks. Don’t get me wrong, you have the right to sit there, and I will courteously wait on you. But please be aware that you are really hurting me financially. Is it possible that you could do your taxes, grade that paper, or read that book at home? at the bar? in a park? maybe the library? Or maybe a random Tuesday? Do you HAVE to sit there on a Friday night? I know that you don’t care, but when someone is mean to you at your job because THEY don’t care repeat after me: Karma. You’re getting what you’re spreading.

#6 – Sections vary per restaurant too but the average Applebees type I probably have 3 tables. In an upscale place 2. In a really upscale place 1. Just so you know why we don’t seat you when there is 1 person there wanting enough tables for a party of 20. When the other 19 arrive you can sit. Otherwise 10 servers are going on welfare while you sit at your enormous table all alone.

#5 – I’m sorry the kitchen didn’t cook your steak right, I’m sorry management said something that annoyed you. They are both on salary and quite honestly probably don’t genuinely care. I am not on salary and I did my best to fix it. Don’t punish me for their bad work. You never saw the over cooked chicken fingers I refused to bring out. You didn’t see the really rare steak that was suppose to be well done that I told them to keep cooking without even attempting delivery. I don’t have xray vision and if you needed to cut into the food to know that it was wrong, then I didn’t know either. Think of the average amount of mistakes your office makes a day and then the amount you see when out. That discrepancy is because I’m fixing it before you even see it.

#4 – Let me fix it. I can’t know something is wrong if you never tell me. Your salad had the wrong dressing (it was blue cheese and not ranch, well, it was white to me. I don’t dip my finger into your salads!) the steak was a little over cooked, your sundae had nuts and you’re allergic so you just pretended to be full. Then it’s bill time and you’re mad. Maybe you just left 5%, maybe you read me the riot act about everything that was wrong then. Would it have killed you to tell me? I would have cheerfully gotten you a new salad, a new steak AND a new dessert. But the menu says “with nuts” and I assumed that you wanted it that way. You would have been a nut-lover and mad if I left them off just in case. Say it with me “no nuts please” and if the kitchen puts nuts on it and I don’t notice (cause, hey that happens sometimes, sometimes you have to assume that the kitchen followed the instructions, I don’t have it ALL memorized) then let me know and I will take it back. I am committed to making you happy – you pay me. But sulking helps neither of us.

#3 – If I ignored your dry drink glass, if I was rude about getting you a new sundae, if I rolled my eyes when you said “no tomatoes” etc then I can see a lesser tip. I’m not defending those who did bad service. But I didn’t do those things. Hell I’ll get you a new dish if you simply don’t like yours. An experiment gone awry. But if in the end of the day you just had a bad night out (maybe you fought with your honey over the entree) but I did my job, then 10% covers my expenses that is for bare boned I officially did my job service. 15% helps me pay a few bills of my own and is for good service. If I killed myself for you 20% is what I need to really survive.

#2 – Lets recap those expenses: the government is taking taxes on 10% even if you stiff me; I have to give 3% to other staff so I’ve only made 7% now;

am I in a dress shirt? Yeah they make me dryclean that at 1.50 a shirt; if I’m in a normal shirt I still need to wash it and chances are I live in an apt at 1.50 a load. We all have to wear clean clothes to work, but I don’t come to your work and have a food fight in your cube and then make you sweep and scrub up after my sick or exuberant baby. Have you priced dress shirts lately? Butter sauce doesn’t come out you know; did you sit for 4 hours nursing a cup of coffee? Have you heard of coffee bars where they like that? You cost me at least 3 other tables. Sort of like when your coworker sat on documentation you needed and cost you the sale, the promotion, the raise. Did you like being cost stuff because someone elses actions? Yeah, me neither.

I have a Masters degree. Yeah that’s right, a Masters. If the server looks past college age they probably have a brain and an education. Did you read about all the layoffs in the papers? Have you flipped through the help wanted PAGE lately? Serving you a burger isn’t my dream job, it’s what I do to eat. Stop saying “Well you chose it” No actually I chose to be a billionaire financial tycoon, sadly that was taken. I would have a nest egg going if I could get you to pay me. You need to leave what you feel is right. But if you leave me 10% I may not eat this week. If you stiff me, you stole from me. Just as if I walked into your home or work and took that money from your drawer. I still had to pay coworkers, I still had to pay taxes, and I still had to wait on you instead of the guy who would pay me and clean up your wreckage. I PAID MONEY TO WAIT ON YOU. You can pretty much guarentee who ever you are, I didn’t like it.

And the #1 thing waiters wish they could tell you: IF YOU CAN’T AFFORD THE TIP, YOU CAN’T AFFORD THE MEAL!

New York Times
By STEVEN A. SHAW
Published: August 10, 2005

WHEN Thomas Keller, one of America’s foremost chefs, announced that on Sept. 1 he would abolish the practice of tipping at Per Se, his luxury restaurant in New York City, and replace it with a European-style service charge, I knew three groups would be opposed: customers, servers and restaurateurs. These three constituencies are all committed tipping – as they quickly made clear on Web sites. To oppose tipping, it seems, is to be anticapitalist, and maybe even a little French.
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But Mr. Keller is right to move away from tipping – and it’s worth exploring why just about everyone else in the restaurant world is wrong to stick with the practice.

Customers believe in tipping because they think it makes economic sense. “Waiters know that they won’t get paid if they don’t do a good job,” is how most advocates of the system (meaning most everybody in America) would put it. To be sure, this is a seductive, apparently rational statement about economic theory, but it appears to have little applicability to the real world of restaurants.

Michael Lynn, an associate professor of consumer behavior and marketing at Cornell’s School of Hotel Administration, has conducted dozens of studies of tipping and has concluded that consumers’ assessments of the quality of service correlate weakly to the amount they tip.

Rather, customers are likely to tip more in response to servers touching them lightly and crouching next to the table to make conversation than to how often their water glass is refilled – in other words, customers tip more when they like the server, not when the service is good. (Mr. Lynn’s studies also indicate that male customers increase their tips for female servers while female customers increase their tips for male servers.)

What’s more, consumers seem to forget that the tip increases as the bill increases. Thus, the tipping system is an open invitation to what restaurant professionals call “upselling”: every bottle of imported water, every espresso and every cocktail is extra money in the server’s pocket. Aggressive upselling and hustling for tips are often rewarded while low-key, quality service often goes unrecognized.

In addition, the practice of tip pooling, which is the norm in fine-dining restaurants and is becoming more common in every kind of restaurant above the level of a greasy spoon, has gutted whatever effect voting with your tip might have had on an individual waiter. In a perverse outcome, you are punishing the good waiters in the restaurant by not tipping the bad one.

Indeed, there appears to be little connection between tipping and good service. The best service in the Western world is at the Michelin three-star restaurants of Europe, where a service charge replaces tipping. As a customer, it’s certainly pleasant to dine in France, where the menu prices are “service compris,” representing actual totals, including the price of food, taxes and service.

Tipping is hardly the essence of capitalism. Actually, it would seem to have little to do with capitalism at all: it is – supply and demand be damned – a gift, a gratuity decided on after the fact.

Waiters and waitresses also believe it is their right to be tipped. A tip, while a gift, is a strange sort of gift in that it is a big part of the server’s salary. In most states, servers don’t even get paid minimum wage by their employers – there is an exemption (called a “credit”) for tipped employees that allows restaurants to pay them just a token couple of dollars an hour (as low as $1.59 per hour in Kansas and $3.85 per hour in New York City). They are instead largely paid by tips, to the tune of $26 billion per year.

When you talk to servers, you’ll find that most believe they make more money under the tipping system than they would as salaried employees. And that’s probably true, strictly speaking. The tipping system makes waiters into something akin to independent contractors. And in most any business the hourly wage of a contractor is higher than that of an employee. Yet in most businesses, people choose to be employees.

That is because those who wish to guarantee their long-term financial security sacrifice a little bit of quick cash for longer-term benefits like health insurance, retirement plans and vacation pay. But, of course, most servers see themselves as transient employees – waiting tables before moving on to bigger and better things.

Still, this may not always be the case. The large number of waiters I see in their 40′s, 50′s and 60′s put the theory in doubt. While kitchen workers trade low wages and no tips for a future in the business – the opportunity to rise in rank, to one day run a kitchen – what calculation do waiters and waitresses make? Under the tipping system, it seems, they’re trading a little extra now for the promise of nothing later. With his announcement, Mr. Keller has sent a signal to his culinary colleagues that there just might be a better way.

For their part, restaurateurs believe it is their right to have consumers pay servers, so they don’t have to pay their employees a living wage. They prefer the current system because it allows them to have a team of pseudo-contractors rather than real employees.

But that too is shortsighted. Over time, as in any service-oriented business, waiters loyal to the restaurant will perform better and make customers happier than waiters loyal only to themselves.

In this, the world’s most generous nation of tippers, most restaurants don’t even offer service as good as at the average McDonald’s. While it lacks style, service at McDonald’s is far more reliable than the service at the average upper-middle-market restaurant. This is not because the employees of McDonald’s are brilliant at their jobs – it’s because they are well-trained and subject to rigorous supervision.

And come to think of it, at McDonald’s there is no tipping.

Steven A. Shaw is the author of the forthcoming, “Turning the Tables: Restaurants From the Inside Out.”