Tipping/Gratuity on Restaurant tab - FIL tipped 11-12%!

[Anonymous]

There is a lot of dishonesty
The price of the meal is what you are buying.
To not tip is not criminal activity, and hardly stealing.
Why is it the customers duty to pay the salary of the wait staff when they are salaried workers?
Waitress is not a beggar woman.

According to the links about the restaurants, staff get average about $25 to $35 per hour.
That is not bad. As a customer you should be told beforehand what you are expected to pay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is a lot of dishonesty
The price of the meal is what you are buying.
To not tip is not criminal activity, and hardly stealing.
Why is it the customers duty to pay the salary of the wait staff when they are salaried workers?
Waitress is not a beggar woman.

According to the links about the restaurants, staff get average about $25 to $35 per hour.
That is not bad. As a customer you should be told beforehand what you are expected to pay.

they are not salaried, unless you consider less than minimum wage to be salaried. they pay taxes on tips, so the IRS and everyone else assumes that they are going to be tipped. to not tip is criminal because you are stealing from the servers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a lot of dishonesty
The price of the meal is what you are buying.
To not tip is not criminal activity, and hardly stealing.
Why is it the customers duty to pay the salary of the wait staff when they are salaried workers?
Waitress is not a beggar woman.

According to the links about the restaurants, staff get average about $25 to $35 per hour.
That is not bad. As a customer you should be told beforehand what you are expected to pay.

they are not salaried, unless you consider less than minimum wage to be salaried. they pay taxes on tips, so the IRS and everyone else assumes that they are going to be tipped. to not tip is criminal because you are stealing from the servers.

FYI
As a waiter in college I made a little more than $3 an hour at Clyde's in. Basically enough to cover my taxes. In addition to screwing the waiter for not tipping you are also screwing the bus boys, any back waiters, the bartender who you didn't see pour your drinks and the dessert chef who plated your food - all of whom I was required to "tip out" from my nightly tips.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone making blanket statements about an entire race/ethnic group/age group, whatever: MORONS. Your limited experience (and it is limited, despite your belief otherwise) tells you only about the specific individuals with whom you were in contact. If I were going to use my experiences to draw similar "IT MUST BE SO" conclusions, I would say that all old white men like to sexually assault women, Mexicans are all hard workers, homosexuals are all extremely intelligent, white women are all self centered and bitchy.

But I am smart enough to know that none of the above statements is a true statement about ANY group. They may be specific about individuals, but I can't apply experiences with individuals to label a group as a whole. That would be asinine.

how silly. so why is that we (US Govt, countless other organizations) perform countless studies and issue countless reports about the different levels of achievement, income, education levels, consumer habits, etc., amongst the various ethnic groups in this country? Of course not EVERY member of such group hits the # on the nose, but there are enough cultural differences between us where we can learn something from each other and learn more about ourselves. Who cares if blacks AS A GROUP ON AVERAGE don't tip that well? How is that racist? It is simply a matter of statistics. I'm more curious to know the reasons why. Walk around and survey every waiter in town if you like.

Statistically, do African immigrants tip differently than African Americans? Does it matter how long an AI lives in the US?

this is the PP. I have no idea, but my personal opinion is that african immigrants share little culturally with african americans as a larger group. primarily because there isnt 400 years of slavery and its aftermaths overhanging every dealing.

"They do so, Lynn says, largely because it’s expected and diners fear social disapproval. “It is embarrassing to have another person wait on you,” the psychologist Ernest Dichter told a magazine reporter in 1960. “The need to pay, psychologically, for the guilt involved in the unequal relationship is so strong that very few are able to ignore it.” Ego needs also play a part, especially when it comes to overtipping, according to the Israeli social psychologist Boas Shamir." http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/magazine/12tipping-t.html?pagewanted=4

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

how silly. so why is that we (US Govt, countless other organizations) perform countless studies and issue countless reports about the different levels of achievement, income, education levels, consumer habits, etc., amongst the various ethnic groups in this country? Of course not EVERY member of such group hits the # on the nose, but there are enough cultural differences between us where we can learn something from each other and learn more about ourselves. Who cares if blacks AS A GROUP ON AVERAGE don't tip that well? How is that racist? It is simply a matter of statistics. I'm more curious to know the reasons why. Walk around and survey every waiter in town if you like.

good point!!!

[Anonymous]

So sad that an honest question on tipping from the OP turned into a racist rant on tipping stereotypes. Why did it have to go in this direction?

And I pretty much tip 20% always unless service was abysmal. Wife thinks I'm crazy, but I feel strongly about it. When someone is making less than minimum wage and still can't keep all their tips and is taxed on the difference, well they deserve the tip. We are hardly rich, but wouldn't you rather be a good tipper than a bad one? To me, it's just the right thing to do.

[Anonymous]

Thanks, PP. Let's end it on that note. Good night!

[Anonymous]

Can't resist--as a waitress and bartender at a restaurant on Rockville Pike, and a well known waterfront restaurant in DC I can tell you that on average:
Who are the best tippers? Those who appeared to be more "regular joe's" or "rednecks"--yes, really!! Why? Maybe they had worked a job like that before as well...who knows? Maybe htey are the ones who appreciate a blue collar type job, I don't know, but that is what I observed.
What kinds of groups did you not want in your section/table?
-a group of 2 or 3 women--we would call them "campers" They'd ask for a booth, get all comfy, talk for over an hour after the meal, maybe have some coffee, and "camp out" at your table after the meal was over. You could have turned your table one or two more times, but these ladies still left 15%, but sat at your table for 3 hours.
-black people--not all, but most. Worst was I got a $2 tip on $98 once for two people--who had a nice meal and drinks and champange. Really. they must have thought $1 per person was the norm. And yes, my black waiter friends did not want to have blacks in their sections either. And no--it wasn't the service, I was a good waitress then, as I am a great salesperson now who gives exceptional service.

I never treated people any differently on how they looked, because you never know how people will tip. I gave equal service to everyone, but after a few hundred experiences, you see patterns.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The white servers I knew were always careful to never stereotype, especially black people. (this is all in Mont Co by the way)

I am telling you again, it was the black servers who wanted to avoid black customers the most.

Sure maybe this was just one restaurant at one period in time. Then why are others saying the same thing?

I'm on the side of "stereotypes are not helpful" and "there's no way this stereotype is true across the board"... but if this is a GIVEN in the restaurant industry, particularly in areas with a lot of black people, then why NOT talk about it?

So is it true that all white people blow their nose at the dinner table right after they eat? I've seen that in the restaurant industry many times as a server in MoCo..

What a silly thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can't resist--as a waitress and bartender at a restaurant on Rockville Pike, and a well known waterfront restaurant in DC I can tell you that on average:
Who are the best tippers? Those who appeared to be more "regular joe's" or "rednecks"--yes, really!! Why? Maybe they had worked a job like that before as well...who knows? Maybe htey are the ones who appreciate a blue collar type job, I don't know, but that is what I observed.
What kinds of groups did you not want in your section/table?
-a group of 2 or 3 women--we would call them "campers" They'd ask for a booth, get all comfy, talk for over an hour after the meal, maybe have some coffee, and "camp out" at your table after the meal was over. You could have turned your table one or two more times, but these ladies still left 15%, but sat at your table for 3 hours.
-black people--not all, but most. Worst was I got a $2 tip on $98 once for two people--who had a nice meal and drinks and champange. Really. they must have thought $1 per person was the norm. And yes, my black waiter friends did not want to have blacks in their sections either. And no--it wasn't the service, I was a good waitress then, as I am a great salesperson now who gives exceptional service.

I never treated people any differently on how they looked, because you never know how people will tip. I gave equal service to everyone, but after a few hundred experiences, you see patterns.

how racist of you to make that observation!

[Anonymous]

The funny thing is not one previous server said "all Black people don't tip" which would truly be a racist statement, but simply shared their observations that the majority of bad tips or no tips came from Black people (as well as other groups-where is all the uproar about stereotyping Europeans-nowhere, cuz it's not a badge of being PC). Sometimes it just is what it is. If you are Black and tip well, that's great but it doesn't change actual experience. If I go to Italy and come back and say, "gee, lots of those folks ride scooters", is that a racist statement?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can't resist--as a waitress and bartender at a restaurant on Rockville Pike, and a well known waterfront restaurant in DC...

would you call those who tip pre-tax cheapskates?

i always tip 20% pre-tax but if most servers (secretly) think i'm a cheapskate then i shouldn't eat out as often.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can't resist--as a waitress and bartender at a restaurant on Rockville Pike, and a well known waterfront restaurant in DC...

would you call those who tip pre-tax cheapskates?

i always tip 20% pre-tax but if most servers (secretly) think i'm a cheapskate then i shouldn't eat out as often.

Very insightful-maybe you shouldn't eat out as often. At least you recognize.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can't resist--as a waitress and bartender at a restaurant on Rockville Pike, and a well known waterfront restaurant in DC...

would you call those who tip pre-tax cheapskates?

i always tip 20% pre-tax but if most servers (secretly) think i'm a cheapskate then i shouldn't eat out as often.

Very insightful-maybe you shouldn't eat out as often. At least you recognize.

So empty restaurants would help waiters?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
they are not salaried, unless you consider less than minimum wage to be salaried. they pay taxes on tips, so the IRS and everyone else assumes that they are going to be tipped. to not tip is criminal because you are stealing from the servers.

FYI
As a waiter in college I made a little more than $3 an hour at Clyde's in. Basically enough to cover my taxes. In addition to screwing the waiter for not tipping you are also screwing the bus boys, any back waiters, the bartender who you didn't see pour your drinks and the dessert chef who plated your food - all of whom I was required to "tip out" from my nightly tips.

Yes it is criminal, minimum wage is salaried. Ask the illegals who stand at the road side and are willing to do a days worth of work for next to nothing.
$3 per hour ag Clydes's? That was your choice. Work at campus and you get more.

The bus boys, back waiters and bartenders are not my responsibility.

If I walk in to a restaurant to buy a bowl of soup or a sandwich or occationally a burger, then the prices on the menu is the only thing that is legally binding.

The restaurant owner is the one who pays the wages and collects the profits.


Did you ever consider demanding more pay because the tips were too small? The law says if ther are no tips the restaurant is obligated to pay the minimum wage.