Anonymous wrote:OP it sounds like you cannot really afford to dine out.

It sounds like you're and idiot handing out money because you think you're being charitable. Do the country a better favor of you're so inclined - start writing checks to the US Treasury to help payoff the national debt while you're at it.

OP it sounds like you cannot really afford to dine out.

How come they can figure it out in Europe? Service is include and you may round up more or less up if you get great service

I don't mind tipping 20%. I eat out rarely because it's a splurge to me. $10/hour is nowhere near a living wage, and even if responsibility should lie with the owner, I'm not going to turn a blind eye and wait for them to fix it. Try being generous - it feels good.

Anonymous wrote:I do not mind paying 20% for service in restaurants. It seems normal to me and fine. I do mind tips for everything else a lot.

It is only normal because some articles you read said that it was. 10% was normal for decades, then 15%. Menu prices increase so you don't have to also continue to increase the percentage.

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Anonymous wrote:For context - my 15 year old works at a hole in the wall Mexican restaurant as the person who hands you your take out order. He literally throws some chips and salsa in a bag and checks the order before it goes out.
He gets minimum wage and keeps tips. He averages $40-50 an hour in tips, on top of $15/hour. While I am happy for him, that much money for his effort seems insane.

I’ve suspected this happens at any restaurant that does more than 20 takeout orders an hour. That worker can make bank with tips compares to a waitstaff for tables. It is simple math. 20-30 orders with tips, even if small, can add up per hour. Which is why I dont tip for takeout.

+1
I used to do the “take out” role on the side of my hostessing job at a sit-down local chain restaurant 30 years ago where it wasn’t a thing to tip 20% or even 15% to the takeout person.
But even still—minimum wage was something like $4.25 and I was making $5/hour while waitstaff were making $2.75 plus tips. And most people would give me $1 or $2 cash or add on $1 or $2 in the tip line of the credit card slip when they picked up their order from me. So I would end up averaging $16-25 an hour (same as a waiter turning 2-3 tables an hour at that time after they tipped out the busser)—and now you can make even more than that as a take out assembler because people tip 15-20% and that’s not necessary.

Anonymous wrote:We have to tip out two food runners, two bartenders and two bussers from your tip. The percentage is ca 7-7.5%.
Do 15% if you must or better, stay home. The reason we have so many workers is that we are busy. But if everyone leaves measly 10%, busy doesn't mean we make money.
Don't think that restaurants are making a bank either. Americans are used to eating out whenever they feel like it and now they have to think before they go out. Well, so does a restaurant worker; all services and entertainment is up.
We still have no benefits like retirement or health. And this increase doesn't even start to make up years of wage theft and not paying the minimum required by law.
You can't pay less than the menu price, but you can take your frustration out on the server.
Whatever was done to us before, should have never happened. I have several zeros in my SS statement even though I worked full time.
Also, if you ever lose your fancy job, you can always come to us as we take people without any experience.
Please stay home. Just like anything else that goes up, you buy less of it or stop buying at all. You don't try to find a way to pay less by taking it out of workers' pay.
There are owners already doing it, believe me.

Seriously this sounds terrible.
You don’t need to stay in this job you hate that doesn’t pay you well or provide benefits, PP.
Since you currently have a job—it’s the best time to look for a NEW job that has benefits! Try applying for work as a customer service supervisor in a big box store or in the sales or customer service division of a large company. You may think you are limited to this one career area, but as a restaurant server, you have excellent customer service experience, sales experience, and even (informal) supervisory experience or team leader experience as you coordinate with food runners and bussers to exceed guest expectations.

Sometimes people get “stuck” in a job they do not enjoy that doesn’t treat then well or provide what they need/want because they are unsure how to get out or are insecure and paralyzed about how to get into a better position. But you can do it—PP. You’re a strong candidate for roles that call for experience in sales and customer service. Even if you don’t have any college courses under your belt, you could probably get your foot in the door working front desk at a hotel (full time usually offers benefits!) or as a customer service agent for an airline (travel perks!)—and then can move up the ranks in supervisory positions.

Don’t get locked into a career you detest by staying in a job you hate, PP. But don’t quit before you have the next job in hand…

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Anonymous wrote:OMG - an additional $4/hour does not equal your proposed 10% reduction in tips per tab. Furthermore, do you think waiters could live comfortably on $10 plus 10%? Try to put yourself in their shoes before you suggest that those of us wealthy enough to eat out regularly should stiff the working class in our high cost area.

Idiotic post.

It's not the customer's job to make sure a waiter can live off what they earn AT THEIR JOB. Take it up with their employer.

10% might be a little low, sure, but the major point being missed is that customers should now reduce their tips propeotionally to the rising base wages. Those wage hikes are inevitably going to get passed onto consumers in the form of higher menu prices.

When's it stop? You're seriously going to sit there with a straight face and tell everyone they should still tip 20% when hourly wages for tipped workers goes to $15/h? How about $20/h? $25/h?

Sorry, but once you start exceeding minimum wage per hour, it is no longer the customer's responsibility to tip anymore. The only reason tipping existed in the first place was because wait staff were paid well below minimum wages per hour. The more that gap closes, the less customers should tip. Admit it, you can't explain why you should tip restaurant wait staff who may soon be earning $20/h at this rate while you never tip the Amazon delivery guy who also makes $20/h even though they both provide a service.

You really suck as a human being. If you are not going to tip, I hope you get the service you deserve.

You are an imbecile.

Do you tip the FedEx guy?
Do you tip the mailman?
Do you tip the driveway repair guy?
Do you tip your roofers?
Do you tip the Amazon delivery guy?
Do you tip the bagger at the grocery store?
Do you tip the mechanic?
Do you tip your kids' teachers?
Do you tip the nurse at the hospital?


Just admit US tipping culture makes no sense. All of those jobs above provide service, yet none of them regularly get or expect tips. Restaurant staff are not something special. Once they start exceeding minimum wages, why is there any tipping? The only reason tipping existed for wait staff was because they were paid far below minimum wage. Once laws go into place forcing businesses to pay them minimum wage, customers are no logner required or expected to tip.

Again, take liveable wage issues up with employers. It is never a customer's responsibility to ensure an employee is paid enough. It is utterly moronic to think a customer should be the ones responsible for wages. Rising minimum wages will get reflected in menu prices. Customers should therefore tip less since the money is going to pay increased base wages. It's really simple logic you seem to have a hard time understanding.

No, because all those people making a LIVING wage. Restaurant workers, like waiters, do not.

I didn't force you to take a job as a server. Wages are between the employer and employee. If the server isn't making a living wage at their job, then they should work someplace where they can make a living wage. I pay the menu prices. As the tipped wage increases, I expect to be able to reduce the amount of tip I leave. Someday I would hope that the tipped wage concept is a thing of the past. Just charge me the appropriate amount. I don't tip the guy at Home Depot for taking me through the store to find the part I'm looking for---it's his job. A servers job is to take your order and bring you your food.

+1
No one is tipping the Gap worker folding clothes. Because it's their job. Why do we tip this specific profession? Because their boss won't compensate them appropriately? Why did you take a job that doesn't pay you a living wage?

Exactly. I think of times of be gone to a bookstore and a worker has spent 15 minutes with just me helping me find a book for my mom based on her preferences. Or the times I've gone to the hardware store and spent 30 minutes with someone walking me through a project and giving me useful advice based on years of accumulated knowledge. I've never tipped in those places and never been promoted for a tip. And as someone who has worked in both a bookstore and a paint store before, I can assure you no one there is making a lot of money.

But apparently in order to be a "good person" I'm supposed to always tip a minimum of 20% at a restaurant no matter if the people who work there make the same wages as retail workers, even if there is no table service, even if there is a service fee, even I had to order from a self service kiosk?

I am at a point where I think the restaurant industry is just broken and I'd be fine with like 80% of restaurants going out of business. If they can't employee people at a fair wage without customers having to pay an be the listed price to augment their compensation, they are doing it wrong. First gure out a better way and get back to me.

We ate at a burger place last night where you have to order from a kiosk at the front of the restaurant (no human interaction), you pick up your order from a counter (no table service) and where I atey meal without water because there were no water cups in the self serve area and when I went to the counter to request one, I couldn't find anyone to ask.

But when I paid for our meal it still prompted me for a tip and the available options were 20%, 22%, and 25%.

Seriously: eff off.

Here's what people are missing from the OP:

Menu prices WILL go up because of the wage increase. Yes, up from the current prices which are already up from a few years ago due to inflation.

If my burger used to cost $15 and now costs $17 due to higher labor costs (and workers are seeing a real increase in their paycheck), it really does not make sense for me to tip 20% *on the already higher price* to compensate the worker.

Add in the practice of charging a service fee (also premised on increased labor costs) while continuing to encourage tipping, and it's just unclear to me what a tip is for other than to compensate SOME workers for service that is above and beyond typical performance

Anonymous wrote:You're cheap OP.

no

Anonymous wrote:For context - my 15 year old works at a hole in the wall Mexican restaurant as the person who hands you your take out order. He literally throws some chips and salsa in a bag and checks the order before it goes out.
He gets minimum wage and keeps tips. He averages $40-50 an hour in tips, on top of $15/hour. While I am happy for him, that much money for his effort seems insane.

I’ve suspected this happens at any restaurant that does more than 20 takeout orders an hour. That worker can make bank with tips compares to a waitstaff for tables. It is simple math. 20-30 orders with tips, even if small, can add up per hour. Which is why I dont tip for takeout.

You're cheap OP.

Anonymous wrote:For context - my 15 year old works at a hole in the wall Mexican restaurant as the person who hands you your take out order. He literally throws some chips and salsa in a bag and checks the order before it goes out.
He gets minimum wage and keeps tips. He averages $40-50 an hour in tips, on top of $15/hour. While I am happy for him, that much money for his effort seems insane.

It's well known that waiters don't want anything to change with the status quo because this line of work earns you more than jobs that pay minimum wage properly w/o tips. Lol at people asking why not choose a different job that pays at least minimum wage (stocking shelves, cashiers etc.), because the answer is quite obvious.

Anonymous wrote:For context - my 15 year old works at a hole in the wall Mexican restaurant as the person who hands you your take out order. He literally throws some chips and salsa in a bag and checks the order before it goes out.
He gets minimum wage and keeps tips. He averages $40-50 an hour in tips, on top of $15/hour. While I am happy for him, that much money for his effort seems insane.

Wow. I'm in the wrong line of work...