Cheap tippers tick me off

a reply to: JAGStorm

My family went to a restaurant in Florida which was a buffet. The only thing our waitress did was bring us our drinks, and none of us are drinkers so all she brought us was our glasses of water. We had to get up and serve ourselves at the buffet. What was outrageous is once we received our bill, we noticed they tacked on a 20% tip! Really??? I can understand tipping under normal circumstances, but a buffet? That's just robbing the customer of table service they never received.

Tips should be done away with and restaurants need to start paying their waiters and waitresses an acceptable hourly wage. It seems like there's more and more jobs that are expecting tips. I worked in a restaurant during my high school years and I remember the waitresses always complained the worst tippers were usually the patrons who were upper class!

I was Waiter....you can tell when people are affluent or not with one glance...judge accordingly....of course everyone CANNOT AFFORD TO TIP.

nvm, no point.

a reply to: JAGStorm

In other words, don't stink. Don't be like Mr. Pink.

originally posted by: CriticalStinker
I worked as a server, bartender and eventually managed at a country club.

Bushwood?

originally posted by: trustmeimdoctor
Well I didn't steal anything. It would appear I pay what I'm asked to pay. I see no reason to tip a waiter more than a janitor, bank teller, or gas staion clerk. I'm not stiffing anyone. I have zero obligation to pay people money that isn't on a bill. All complaints about wages should be addressed to the bosses of these employees. I'm not interested in what people are getting paid when I am buying something. It's a clever way of tricking me into paying more money. It's stupid and sad that people act like this is some moral thing.

I had an acquaintance like you. It took one time for all of us to never offer to invite him out with us for food or drinks. When he asked why I told him as bluntly as possible.

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus

originally posted by: CriticalStinker
I worked as a server, bartender and eventually managed at a country club.

Bushwood?

Not quite that nice.

originally posted by: CriticalStinker
Not quite that nice.

Did you at least have a stoned groundskeeper?

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus

originally posted by: CriticalStinker
Not quite that nice.

Did you at least have a stoned groundskeeper?

It would be easier to list off who would have peed clean than vise versa.

originally posted by: Sabrechucker
I go by the standard 20%. My rule is, never blame the waiter/waitress for a under performing meal, they didn't cook it. If your going to go out and spend a hundred or more on dinner, pay the guy/gal 20 bucks, they make minimum. However I have given 5 bucks to a few who we're just terrible.

If the food is bad, it's not their fault. If the food is wrong ... that's different.

The only way bad food (overcooked steak) can be connected to the wait staff is their reaction when they ask you to check and you tell them it's overdone.

originally posted by: abe froman
a reply to: trustmeimdoctor

If you really believe that, that's fine.

However, please let your server know that before you order.

Not my problem.

How's this for new age tipping strategies? For the tippers who like to tip heavily, but find regret into those decisions at times when 'tipping standards' are put into play. How is a server to know that a good tip is even coming? Here's a proposal that works for both the giver and receiver of tips:

Estimate the approximate tip prior to ordering. Lay out the full amount to be earned/tipped in small denominations. Explain to the server that the money is for them barring good service standards are met. If a mistake is made on behalf of the service, remove one portion of the amount in front of the server. If they correct the error, put it back if satisfaction settles in. If the error pisses one off enough, just keep pulling the amount down until comfort sets in. This both helps the customer and servers communicate the dilemmas of tipping in an easier format.

Once a server sees your tipping standards change, the service changes with it. As rude as it may seem to practice, it actually is a way to communicate customer service expectations in a middle ground way. It also helps the service staff better understand exactly what causes people to tip differently... helping eliminate the assumptions involved.

The reason this method is credible is due to the reality that non tippers use the 'end game' tip to their advantage selfishly. Even if they're just cheap or live with unruly demands of servers, the fact that they get to hide their selfish acts by blaming others is a horrible standard for servers to adhere to.

You never know... by the time a server sees the tip pile dwindle down to nothing due to whatever reasons, one just may find a manager intervene or possibly a free meal. Just imagine... better service for being honest and forthcoming... go figure!

REPLY TO: Wheresthebody, re: everyone who eats out should be forced to spend a year working in the service industry

One full day should do it for most people. Or, have them spend a week working retail or food, the week leading up to Christmas. If those people continue to not tip because they "shouldn't have to worry about the financial situation of their server" or because they "shouldn't have to tip for what they already paid for" then those people are beyond hope. Destined to be ugly people on the the inside all their lives (and probably ugly on the outside too, bcause of their inner deformities).

a reply to: KansasGirl

Oh the poor food service people. What about everyone else? Shouldn't we all get tips? For example I gave a nice tip to this waitress several times. She comes into my auto parts store and asks if I can put in a battery. We don't work on vehicles here. I just wanted to be nice and did it. What do I get for a tip? Absolutely nothing. Yet I should still tip food service people every time? They aren't special, so no.

I suppose the negative side to this whole tipping culture in the US would be waiters and waitresses assuming what kind of tip you'll give beforehand and then serving people accordingly.

My brother was telling me about a waitress in some Las Vegas restaurant who at first was extremely friendly and politely explained to them how although she knew Aussies don't tip, that it was kinda expected in the US... She then went on to almost deliberately give the worst service imaginable.

I guess from her experience of serving international tourists, she assumed that all she had to do was school them on how tipping was an expected custom and they'd give her a decent tip, out of respect for local customs, no matter how good or poor the service was.

Of course, the other possibility is that she could have just been a crappy waitress... lol.

Just a thought.

a reply to: JAGStorm

Considering restaurant bills have gone up with inflation, why in the blue hell did the expected tip percentage also go up the past 20 years or so? 10-15% was standard 20 years ago. So if your meal tab was $10, you left an extra dollar or buck fifty and were done with it. Now that same restaurant tab is going to be $20 in most places, but the expectations are now to tip a minimum of 20%!?!? Screw that! If a waitress goes above and beyond, keeps my iced tea full, keeps the idle banter to a minimum, and doesn't eff up my order, I'm happy to give her a 20% tip. If the service is marginal, we're down to a 10% tip, if it sucks, I pay my bill and walk out knowing I'll not be eating there again anyway.

And when in the blue hell did we start tipping various individuals already making a paycheck off your general bill? Hotel maids, tattoo artists, babysitters, fishing guides, taxi driver, barbers... bite my ass if you think I'm going to pay the agreed rate on a service, which you receive your paycheck out of, and then tack on some arbitrary percentage of gratuity simply because "Oh, look at that... YOU DID YOU JOB I WAS ALREADY PAYING YOU FOR!!! Praise be to Jesus, give that person a tip!!!" That's asinine. Do your job, earn your paycheck, keep your hand in your own pocket.

a reply to: burdman30ott6

If a waitress goes above and beyond, keeps my iced tea full, keeps the idle banter to a minimum, and doesn't eff up my order

I'm with you for the ice tea, but another Joe might say the waitress wasn't friendly enough because she didn't talk enough, so they tip a little less. Maybe she put your order in right but the cook didn't, but you'll tip a little lower anyways.

This is exactly why it should be done away with. They should be paid an appropriate wage. If they do a bad job the customer should complain and management should take action based on the complaints like any other job.

I do agree with regular jobs getting tips, since they already make a wage I think that is different. I'm still pretty generous with most services, but that is just me. I feel with those it is a choice, but since wait staff don't make minimum wage, it is different.

I guess it all doesn't matter, pretty soon robots will be taking our orders and bringing them out and people and their power trips will be a thing of the past. If you think service is crap now, just wait.

a reply to: JAGStorm

You were free to find another job, as are others. There are plenty of career types out there to chose from.

a reply to: Subaeruginosa

I understand why people go to Vegas if they're coming to the states... It's an adult play ground.

I just hope we don't get gauged off of Vegas though. I don't think that's an accurate reflection of most of America.

I mean, while people who stiff solid waitstaff on tips are real bozos usually, it also shouldn't be up to the public and what's essentially charity to pay people's wages. The concept of tipping culture has never made much sense to me.