What I want to know is

I can't leave $100 or $1000 tips like you see on tv. But it was great weather day last fall and I packed up the motorcycle and went on a long ride. Stopped in a small town and the only place to eat was a mom and pop shop. Young high school age girl waited on me. She was nervous forgot silverware, ketchup, and lemon for my tea. She apologized each time and I could tell she was embarrassed. By the time I was done no else was in the place. Paid my bill at the register and didn't put a tip on the ticket. Went back to the table and finished my tea and took a 20 dollar bill and wrote on it keep working hard honey and you'll be fine and put it under the plate and left. Few minutes later I was half a block away and heard mister! Hey mister! THANK YOU SO MUCH! With a huge grin on her face. Over my life and while traveling for work I left a lot of 20 dollar tips with encouraging notes hoping to bring a smile to someone who may be having a shitty day it's usually in places where you know people don't get 20 dollar tips from one person. It makes you feel good when you can makes someone's day. IMO $20 smiles are bargains and I buy them when I can.
 
Steverino said:
Be that as it may, not tipping here in the States is beyond uncool.
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I almost wrote a long response, but it just isn't worth it.
Because at the end of it I'll be labelled a communist, and after 60 years most Americans still don't know the difference between communism and Social Democracy.
Until you guys understand this, it's pretty much impossible to discuss politics with you.
 
DdBob said:
I'm thinking if you left 5 singles on the table as this guys suggests (or any number..let's say ten) and then you started taking away dollars for "poor" service"....well shit I'm thinking you are probably gonna get a a booger, a crotch rub, a finger from the ass or any other number of "kitchen" secrets reserved for only the best customers. I mean hell if I was a waiter and somone was fucking with me like that I would give them the wortst service ever (plus a booger in their burger) cuz they could take their tip and shove up their ass....don't need it, it's only one tip from some asshole who thinks they own you *spit*
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I'd stand there and wait until the bills were gone and then start serving them properly and nicely.
High road them right to humility city.
It might not work but I'd feel okay about it.

I've worked in restaurants and hospitality.
Some people are generous and some people are cheap.
Having worked in the industry, I understand. So, I'm generous when it's deserved and I rarely find reason to give less than 15%.
 
dodgechargerfan said:
I'd stand there and wait until the bills were gone and then start serving them properly and nicely.
High road them right to humility city.
It might not work but I'd feel okay about it.

I've worked in restaurants and hospitality.
Some people are generous and some people are cheap.
Having worked in the industry, I understand. So, I'm generous when it's deserved and I rarely find reason to give less than 15%.
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The good thing with our (the scandinavian one) model, is that everyone gets treated the same.
Everyone is happy and had a good night out. What problem?
 
Dexter Inferno said:
I almost wrote a long response, but it just isn't worth it.
Because at the end of it I'll be labelled a communist, and after 60 years most Americans still don't know the difference between communism and Social Democracy.
Until you guys understand this, it's pretty much impossible to discuss politics with you.
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I do believe there's another thread for that, anyway. I thought this thread was about crappy tipping.
 
I couldn't Imagine dining some place where every waiter can do a half assed job and be paid the same.
 
Dexter Inferno said:
Sigh.

The model we have over here is somewhere in between. And we get fucked over much less by the big corporations than you guys do.

Meanwhile you've as a nation given the Donald notice that he can fuck you guys in the ass whenever he wants to. And that can really be whenever.
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Well he can only fuck so hard before we can impeach his ass. Most countries don't know how really hard they're being fucked and they would also be surprised at how much they're paying other countries to do the fucking. Also the fucking price is going up.
 
Dexter Inferno said:
The good thing with our (the scandinavian one) model, is that everyone gets treated the same.
Everyone is happy and had a good night out. What problem?
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Yep, I get that too.
And I get that cost of dinner would go up to cover the higher wages. I'm okay with that as long as the right checks and balances are put in place and the servers get paid properly.
The problem really lies in changing the culture of tipping. At the heart of that culture is the owner trying to manage labour costs and most of them pulling as many tricks as they can to keep costs low. Tipping is just an accepted trick.
The reality is that labour costs are a percentage of overall costs.
Percentages don't have to change in order to get rid of tipping. So, it should be a moot point.
If labour cost is 25% at minimum wage, but servers get tips, a wage increase AND a revenue increase can keep that labour cost at 25%.

However, a good server can make a LOT more money in tips than they do in wages.
Raising prices by 20% isn't going to translate into the same take home pay.

Consider a pretty common scenario:
A server juggles 4 tables over two hours. Easily done.
Those 4 tables each spend about $100 and tip $20.
The server makes $40 an hour, plus their wage.

Most servers can juggle more than 4 tables and they work more than two hours a day.

I know servers that live off of tips working four days a week and only about 4 or 5 hours per shift.
And I mean live. They make $300 on a bad night.
 
yea.....that's pretty stupid and likely to backfire.

when i'm at one of my favorite mex eaterys, my bill is generally about 8 bucks, so no i'm not leaving a fiver on that total.
 
Help!I'maRock! said:
Eons ago, I dated a girl who was a waitress at a high end midtown steakhouse. She pulled in $1500 - $2500 per week. It was midtown and she was hot. But that's not everyone.
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I'm talking about a dude with buck teeth, but an outgoing personality. He works at Hy's steakhouse. So, yeah, upscale and the prices getbthe tab up there where 20% turns out to be a lot.
 
mikesr1963 said:
I couldn't Imagine dining some place where every waiter can do a half assed job and be paid the same.
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I can't either- I've dined all over western Europe and I've never had bad service. You're looking at it backwards. In Europe, waiting tables isn't just a shit job done by unskilled workers or college kids- servers are supposed to be professionals, and they're paid that way. I couldn't imagine working in a profession where my pay was up to the arbitrary whims of the general public and luck of the good night/bad night draw.
 
dodgechargerfan said:
Yep, I get that too.
And I get that cost of dinner would go up to cover the higher wages. I'm okay with that as long as the right checks and balances are put in place and the servers get paid properly.
The problem really lies in changing the culture of tipping. At the heart of that culture is the owner trying to manage labour costs and most of them pulling as many tricks as they can to keep costs low. Tipping is just an accepted trick.
The reality is that labour costs are a percentage of overall costs.
Percentages don't have to change in order to get rid of tipping. So, it should be a moot point.
If labour cost is 25% at minimum wage, but servers get tips, a wage increase AND a revenue increase can keep that labour cost at 25%.

However, a good server can make a LOT more money in tips than they do in wages.
Raising prices by 20% isn't going to translate into the same take home pay.

Consider a pretty common scenario:
A server juggles 4 tables over two hours. Easily done.
Those 4 tables each spend about $100 and tip $20.
The server makes $40 an hour, plus their wage.

Most servers can juggle more than 4 tables and they work more than two hours a day.

I know servers that live off of tips working four days a week and only about 4 or 5 hours per shift.
And I mean live. They make $300 on a bad night.
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You see, that's where we differ. In our world, tips aren't necessary.

Waiters here already have higher ground wages and aren't dependant on tips from anyone.
And that's the main difference. In the US they depend on tips to survive.

The scenario you post: in Norway, that server would have the same wage whether he/she serves 4 or 10 people - enough to get by at the end of a working day, maybe more.
They're paid by the hour rather than the number of customers served. And that's the same for any kind of job, whether it be in a restaurant or shop or office.

The way of working is entirely different, and our way is the better one as far as being more equal for everyone.
 
Beyer160 said:
I can't either- I've dined all over western Europe and I've never had bad service. You're looking at it backwards. In Europe, waiting tables isn't just a shit job done by unskilled workers or college kids- servers are supposed to be professionals, and they're paid that way. I couldn't imagine working in a profession where my pay was up to the arbitrary whims of the general public and luck of the good night/bad night draw.
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Well, I haven't dined all over Western Europe, just London, Brussels, several little towns in Belgium, Luxenberg, Germany, and Paris France when I lived over there for 13 months. I wasn't impressed every where I went because some of those places I expected to be spoiled a little. I'll pay extra for it and in the U.S. most will and by spoiled I don't mean being called cute names and such. So when I was told I didn't need to tip I said don't worry. I hardly ever have shitty service in the U.S. and here I've had sit down dinners in 31 states.
 
Prages said:
Wasn't this in a Seinfeld episode?

Regardless, I generally start at 20% and only leave less if service is terrible. I'll leave more of service is great.
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Same here. It's usually only a few bucks more and if you can't afford that then maybe you SHOULD be eating at home.
 
tompetty said:
Isn't an "appropriate tip" aprox 10% ?

So if two are eating for $50..??
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I typically tip 20%. If the service is meh they'll get 15%. The only time I ever stiffed somebody on a tip was when they disappeared for two hours after serving our food, never came back for drink refills, and we couldn't even get the check until we got the manager involved.

I worked in food service. Sometimes it's simply impossible to give perfect service no matter how hard you try, but I can tell if the wait staff is at least trying, and that's why I tip the way I do. It's rare that somebody's not working their butt off in a restaurant.
 
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