Comments on: Why Should You Tip?

By: formerserver

formerserver — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 22:00:50 +0000

Okay, this is coming from a former server who knows the laws. If your boss decides not to inform you then they are ripping you off. If you get paid 2.13 an hour and do not make a combined total of the minimum federal wage for the hours you worked (7.25 per hour) then the boss has to make up the difference on your paycheck. IF you do not report him/her then that is your fault. Now I know in reality if you do say something then most likely you will get less shifts which just goes to show how a lot of restaurant owners want to get away with not paying their fair share of a salary to employees.
Employers would not have to hike their prices either. They would merely not make as much money. Welcome to the real world of owning a business!
Please quit whining and complaining that your job is worth more than the next person who has to please their customers and also multi task as much as you do. I used to be grateful for the times I made a minumum of $20 an hour but I never felt that I was entitled and I also never felt it was the customer’s responsibility to make sure I took home fat wages. And the servers who complain that they don’t take a paycheck home should be logical enough to realize that normal employees don’t take cash wages home every night in their pocket. Plus normal wage employees pay FULL taxes on their income. Servers get away with only having to report full credit card tips because it can be tracked by an IRS audit. Cash tips are usually reported to the discretion of keeping off of a radar from the IRS. And NO you do not have to pay taxes on sales from customers who do not tip. Quit saying that if someone does not leave a tip that you are legally obligated to pay taxes. Normally your employer uses (let’s say an average of 8% total sales you report as tips) just to keep the IRS off your and her back. So if you did not really make that much and also keep a record book then you win against the IRS because they cannot prove otherwise. They can only prove credit card tips.
You all sound like a bunch of entitled spoiled brats. Be thankful for the money you’re making now and save it. You do not work harder than most people who have to multi task and treat customers well. The cooks in restaurants work just as hard as you do and do not feel they need to make over $20 an hour.

By: Megan

Megan — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 23:04:17 +0000

I am a server. I get paid $2.13 per hour. If you tip on your credit card, we get less on our pay check. Where I work, if you don’t get tipped, you make no money. If you leave NO TIP at all, it costs the server money because we have to pay for a small percentage of our sales. If your service is terrible, I understand if no tip is given. But if your service is good, leave 20 percent please. I’ve worked a 4 hour shift before and left with less money than it takes in gas to get there.

By: fc

fc — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 15:59:44 +0000

I think some waiters and waitresses think they are owed tip i usually tip 15% to 20 % and still get shitty service because i’m black, even black folks that wait on you think they are gonna get stiffed i’m done with restaurants that require tips i will do take out so i won’t have to tip.

By: Rick

Rick — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 21:45:30 +0000

Melvin you Rock !!!
I hate waiters who think they are entitled to get a tip…
Why should I pay for your wages? That’s your employers responsibility… not mine…
It’s your obligation to provide excellent service…
Most waiters complain about making less than minimum wage… well guess what? You can’t make less than minimum wage and that’s the law…

By: Rony

Rony — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 04:20:41 +0000

If paying a reasonable wage would mean skyrocking food prices – I wonder how the heck all those countries (like mine) where tips are NOT required – manage to still have world class restaurants, world class service and reasonably priced meals! I agree with those who say that the employers are skimming it at the expense of their customers.
I dine in restaurants from your basic Denny\’s through to first class and expect the same quality of service. In 90% of cases that is what I get – and NO TIP EXPECTED.
Hit your employer up for a decent wage or go to another job where they will pay you a living wage.

By: omcdurham

omcdurham — Mon, 16 May 2011 07:54:34 +0000

So, restaurants have the ability to sock away perhaps 10% of their sales, if they do it all correctly. 30% to food and beverage costs, 30% to overhead, and 30% to labor, as current practices dictate. That means servers getting a pittance from the boss, while the boss relies on the customary 20% tipping practice to compensate his front-of-the-house employees. If a \’living wage\’, i.e., $8-$10 per hour were paid to the servers/bussers/hosts/runners, etc: the tipped employees; the restaurant concept in America would cease to exist. Menu prices would either go through the roof, or many restaurants would close because it would be unprofitable to remain in business.

Melvin, economics dictate this system…please understand it.

Also, you are starting to remind me of church people that tell a server up front that there will be no tip because of their belief that nobody should work on Sunday…WTF! If people should not work on Sunday, stay away from restaurants, whereby your presence requires people to work (FOR TIPS, ASSHAT)!

Servers have memories like elephants, and remember shitty people; not just bad tippers, but shitty people like yourself. I love people, and I\’ve met some pretty interesting folks, both good and bad, in this industry. Believe me, every server has a mental rolodex, charting all customers that cause either euphoria, or rage…Kinda like a bipolar thing! If you stiff a person on the wrong day, that person could just go crazy-depressed on every other customer for the rest of the day…bad for a place you might like to frequent. Customers might tend to stay away from a situation you helped create by just being your self-absorbed, egotistical, non-tipping dickhead that you already claim to be.

The American system is not the best, but it is what it is. If you don\’t like it, buy a stove and a microwave, and maybe some expensive Emirilwear, or All-Clad cookware…your position on tipping won\’t change the change the industry, but maybe it will allow you to rejoice once again at owning some overpriced shit that you can use to iron your expensive shirts!

By: WaitressGal

WaitressGal — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 21:44:33 +0000

Melvin is right on tipping is not mandatory (unless there is a large party gratuity added to the check), but stiffing a great server who made you feel welcome, always gets your order right *even when you make it the most COMPLICATED order in the world*, entertains your children, keeps them calm, cleans up after them, makes sure you get your food out with the right timing for your needs and makes sure hot food stays hot and cold food stays cold, brings you refills before your glass is half empty, laughs and smiles at your “witty” comments, brings you an accurate check in a timely fashion *even when you want to split the check 50 ways only telling us this AFTER the entire meal* and we thank you and welcome you back warmly and even tell them to ask for yourself so you can make sure they get the best experience every time, is WRONG. We make 2.13 or less an hour unless you serve at a fine dining restaurant (like a 5 star or diamond hotel). Tips are our income. Our LIVELY HOOD. If you don’t tip us, we just PAID the restaurant for you to eat there. We are required to tip the other staff 3% to 12% of the amount of SALES we generated, not the tips we generated, but the sales. So 20-50 dollars of our tips is automatically the restaurants. Then we also pay taxes TWICE on those tips. So, tip according to service. If it was shit tip nothing to 10%, if it was good 15% if it was excellent 20% or higher.

By: Melvin

Melvin — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 23:59:32 +0000

In Melvin’s Defense

i’m glad someone here has some sense and can understand that tipping is not required.

Waiter

of course those kinds of comments really make me want to start tipping. i would obviously want to reward people who find such things acceptable and humorous. if you can’t be professional all the time you have no business working in a position that deals with customers directly.

By: Waiter

Waiter — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 08:32:25 +0000

for those of you who say you don’t tip, or tip poorly, I really hope you don’t frequent the same restaurants on a regular basis. If you do, there is a really good chance that you have eaten anything from boogers, to spit, to urine and fecal matter. When some less then reputable waiters see someone come in who has stiffed them time and time again… there is a really good chance you are eating one of the above things.

We had a cook at a restaurant get fired for shaking his dandruff off on someones pasta. So enjoy someone else DNA in your food, and hope it is just dandruff and not semen.

By: Enlightened Tipper

Enlightened Tipper — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 18:49:12 +0000

When I walk into a restaurant I expect to be served in a timely fashion with hot food and refills. The waiters expect to receive a good tip. If my expectations aren’t met, then theirs won’t be met either. I refuse to pay 15% for terrible service. That just tells the staff they can serve my food to me however they like and when they feel like it. Like what was said before, good service deserves a good tip. Excellent service deserves an excellent tip. I’m not going to tip just to avoid foreign substances in my meal. If the service was that bad I probably wouldn’t go back to that place anyway.