I totally don't understand tipping... HELP!

[Jesda]

It's zero sum, not worth getting worked up about.

Way to kill a fun topic, snapple jerkintosh.

[Murdered_T]

Legally, no restaurant can make you pay gratuity, with that being said, coming from someone that has always done some gig in the business, not everyone there is there because they con not move up in life, some people, as in myself, like the fast cash at the end of the night, and your basically getting paid to hang out. Right now I bartend on the weekends, I pull about 600 a weekend, on top of the personal training I do during the week, and I love the atmosphere. Now in regards to tipping, if the service sucks, I do not hardly tip at all, and my friends are like, "your in the industry, how can you do that" If the service sucks, it sucks, plain and simple, but if the service is great, an you feel no need to tip, well f*** you. IF YOU CAN NOT AFFORD TO TIP FOR GOOD SERVICE, DO NOT GO OUT. I don't care if any of you have a problem with that saying, but it is true. I have only gotten stiffed ONCE in 6 years, ONCE, so I can tell you I am good at what I do, but 2 dollars on a 70 dollar bill is unacceptable, stay home and get a sixpack you stupid jackwagon. My time is worth money, and that is just the way it goes, thats the way its been, and thats the way it will go. I don't care if you do not tip for crappy service, but ill be damned if I sit here and let you say "All tiping is pointless, blah blah blah" shutup and learn to tip.

[rc1honda]

Since no one posted this yet Ill just leave this here

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-qV9wVGb38[/youtube]

NSFW language

[Jesda]

Legally, no restaurant can make you pay gratuity,

But they'll sure as heck try:
http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/bethleh ... ly_dr.html

One day after District Attorney John Morganelli announced he was recommending two college students who refused to pay a tip at the Lehigh Pub be cleared of criminal offenses, Bethlehem police have officially withdrawn the charges.

In a news release issued this morning, Bethlehem police say they are dropping the theft of services charge against Leslie Pope, 22, and John Wagner, 24. The two claimed they received horrible service Oct. 23 when they went to the restaurant with six other people.
As a result, they paid the bill, but refused to fork over a restaurant-imposed 18 percent gratuity. Police were called, and they were hauled off in a cruiser. Morganelli said Monday he felt the criminal charges were not warranted because gratuities are optional.

Police said this morning they are taking the advice of Morganelli, who said the case would not make it past the district court level.

[MinisterofDOOM]

well first of all, idk where everyone is getting their numbers are but federal minimum wage is 7.25

Tips can count toward minimum wage. So tip-centric jobs can earn less than $7.25 an hour as far as wages go. A LOT less.
http://www.dol.gov/elaws/faq/esa/flsa/002.htm

Just for the sake of trivia, when I used to deliver pizza, my wage was slightly more than minimum wage, plus I generally got tips. But a lot of those tips went right back into my gas tank. Technically, Pizza Hut paid me cash per delivery for gas, but it wasn't really enough to cover my actual gas costs (and that was when I was driving a fuel-efficient 4-cylinder 2wd pickup).

[Ozzie]

Legally, no restaurant can make you pay gratuity, with that being said, coming from someone that has always done some gig in the business, not everyone there is there because they con not move up in life, some people, as in myself, like the fast cash at the end of the night, and your basically getting paid to hang out. Right now I bartend on the weekends, I pull about 600 a weekend, on top of the personal training I do during the week, and I love the atmosphere. Now in regards to tipping, if the service sucks, I do not hardly tip at all, and my friends are like, "your in the industry, how can you do that" If the service sucks, it sucks, plain and simple, but if the service is great, an you feel no need to tip, well f*** you. IF YOU CAN NOT AFFORD TO TIP FOR GOOD SERVICE, DO NOT GO OUT. I don't care if any of you have a problem with that saying, but it is true. I have only gotten stiffed ONCE in 6 years, ONCE, so I can tell you I am good at what I do, but 2 dollars on a 70 dollar bill is unacceptable, stay home and get a sixpack you stupid jackwagon. My time is worth money, and that is just the way it goes, thats the way its been, and thats the way it will go. I don't care if you do not tip for crappy service, but ill be damned if I sit here and let you say "All tiping is pointless, blah blah blah" shutup and learn to tip.

I hope that wasn't directed at me.

[AZhitman]

But they'll sure as heck try:
http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/bethleh ... ly_dr.html

I think I'd be suing the city on that one... or at least making sure EVERYONE knew how I was treated by that particular restaurant.

[TOMMY VERCETTI]

The base commissary has people who take your stuff to the car for you that work purely for tips. I carry my own stuff.

The whole "your food is cheaper" argument doesn't work if you are tipping. If I buy a meal that on the menu costs $60.00 but then tip 20% it costs me $72.00 Now if that server serves 20 parties that night at that rate they have made $240 in tips If they make $4 an hour and work an 8 hour shift that's $32. That's $272 for a nights work, $34 dollars an hour. That is substantially more than I make an hour and I have a s*** more responsibility that a frigging waitress and i can't hide my earnings like someone collecting tips can. It's BS. Pay the waiter, say, half that, $17 an hour. That costs the restaurant $136. Divide that by that same 20 parties for $6.80 per party. My $60 meal is now $66.80. I'm fine with that. If the waiter kicked a**, I'll chip in the extra $5.20.

^^^^ Amen on this!!

[PoorManQ45]

I have to ask you guys that averaged 15-25 an hour on tips. Do you think you would have been satisfied with $17/hr with no tips?

[krimsonviper]

Legally, no restaurant can make you pay gratuity, with that being said, coming from someone that has always done some gig in the business, not everyone there is there because they con not move up in life, some people, as in myself, like the fast cash at the end of the night, and your basically getting paid to hang out. Right now I bartend on the weekends, I pull about 600 a weekend, on top of the personal training I do during the week, and I love the atmosphere. Now in regards to tipping, if the service sucks, I do not hardly tip at all, and my friends are like, "your in the industry, how can you do that" If the service sucks, it sucks, plain and simple, but if the service is great, an you feel no need to tip, well f*** you. IF YOU CAN NOT AFFORD TO TIP FOR GOOD SERVICE, DO NOT GO OUT. I don't care if any of you have a problem with that saying, but it is true. I have only gotten stiffed ONCE in 6 years, ONCE, so I can tell you I am good at what I do, but 2 dollars on a 70 dollar bill is unacceptable, stay home and get a sixpack you stupid jackwagon. My time is worth money, and that is just the way it goes, thats the way its been, and thats the way it will go. I don't care if you do not tip for crappy service, but ill be damned if I sit here and let you say "All tiping is pointless, blah blah blah" shutup and learn to tip.

Oh I'll give you a tip Tom.

[Murdered_T]

Legally, no restaurant can make you pay gratuity, with that being said, coming from someone that has always done some gig in the business, not everyone there is there because they con not move up in life, some people, as in myself, like the fast cash at the end of the night, and your basically getting paid to hang out. Right now I bartend on the weekends, I pull about 600 a weekend, on top of the personal training I do during the week, and I love the atmosphere. Now in regards to tipping, if the service sucks, I do not hardly tip at all, and my friends are like, "your in the industry, how can you do that" If the service sucks, it sucks, plain and simple, but if the service is great, an you feel no need to tip, well f*** you. IF YOU CAN NOT AFFORD TO TIP FOR GOOD SERVICE, DO NOT GO OUT. I don't care if any of you have a problem with that saying, but it is true. I have only gotten stiffed ONCE in 6 years, ONCE, so I can tell you I am good at what I do, but 2 dollars on a 70 dollar bill is unacceptable, stay home and get a sixpack you stupid jackwagon. My time is worth money, and that is just the way it goes, thats the way its been, and thats the way it will go. I don't care if you do not tip for crappy service, but ill be damned if I sit here and let you say "All tiping is pointless, blah blah blah" shutup and learn to tip.

I hope that wasn't directed at me.

no it wasn't directed at you, I am all with you for not tipping someone based on crappy service, but if I sit with you, and everything is on point an you dont have to ask for anything amd we actually make good conversation. I would be expecting a good tip. This is directed in general to people that believe they don't have to tip no matter if service is good.

[Murdered_T]

I have to ask you guys that averaged 15-25 an hour on tips. Do you think you would have been satisfied with $17/hr with no tips?

yes, because its steady, some nights are 15-25, and some are also 5-10. Some nights I take home 60, the next 200. Its not like I pay my bills with it, its extra money, its nice to have fast cash in between paychecks.

[wingFeather]

The staff I really feel bad for are fast food servers. No tips at all, and they often have to put up with more demeaning customers than in a sit down restaurant.

[Murdered_T]

yeah I feel worse for those guys, esp people working drive through.

[RCA]

I'm more worried about the drinks tipping..... I'm gonna go broke!
Do the bellhops get angry if I carry my own bags to my own room?

Like I said, I think I will have to make sure I am with someone so they can help me out with the tipping thing.

I'm gonna make more of these threads as I think of stuff..... so bear with me.

Buy drinks in rounds...

One person orders 6 drinks and then tips $10. If the bartender thinks that isn't enough, he will probably not give you priority service. But that's fine because you won't be ordering drinks any time soon.

In NJ, drinks cost around $8 each so I usually tip $2 a drink but I think that is an exception. When your at NICOfest $1 tip is fine.

[Ozzie]

no it wasn't directed at you, I am all with you for not tipping someone based on crappy service, but if I sit with you, and everything is on point an you dont have to ask for anything amd we actually make good conversation. I would be expecting a good tip. This is directed in general to people that believe they don't have to tip no matter if service is good.

See, I don't tip at all, because it doesn't apply to me. We don't tip here.
That's the reason I started this thread.... I wanted to get a better idea on how it works, how much, and when.

It seems I won't have to bother, as most of my trip won't be spent in and around places that require tipping.

[crazspence]

well first of all, idk where everyone is getting their numbers are but federal minimum wage is 7.25

Tips can count toward minimum wage. So tip-centric jobs can earn less than $7.25 an hour as far as wages go. A LOT less.
http://www.dol.gov/elaws/faq/esa/flsa/002.htm

Just for the sake of trivia, when I used to deliver pizza, my wage was slightly more than minimum wage, plus I generally got tips. But a lot of those tips went right back into my gas tank. Technically, Pizza Hut paid me cash per delivery for gas, but it wasn't really enough to cover my actual gas costs (and that was when I was driving a fuel-efficient 4-cylinder 2wd pickup).

well what do ya know, i learn something new everyday.

[Looneybomber]

Tipping is an awesome idea if it's done right.

What used to be a tip for good service was 10%, but now greed has kicked in and the minimum is 15% and good service is 18%!? Anyhow, on to my .02

I've never worked in the food industry, but I've worked sales, which is the same thing. Commission based income. It gives a person incentive to work hard if they want money. If they don't want money, that's fine, slack off and earn next to nothing. I'm now hourly and I do my work, set my night shift crew up for success and that's it. In a 12hr day, I spend 4-8hrs not working. If I was payed commission or "tips" I would be doing a hell of a lot more work in order to get more money.

Same can be said about piece work, like what mechanics do. While my dad worked at a Ford dealership, it wasn't uncommon for him to earn 24hrs in an 8hr day. Sure customers got mad that they paid $220 for 2hrs of labor that only took 30min, but what'a ya do?

Oh, I think I have only once stiffed someone and it was on an $83 bill. I could go on and on at how bad the service was, likely because the guy that cleans tables and didn't speak english brought the food and not the waiter, but suffice it to say, my wife's purse was empty of change and so were my pockets that night. Probably some pocket lint too.

[Murdered_T]

just tip, life goes on, just effing tip.

[Jesda]

"just the tip, baby"

[SILVIAJayS]

Clearly I should quit my education and become a bartender. $600 a WEEKEND? I don't even make that in two weeks, why the hell am I tipping you? Too bad no one randomly decided landscapers should be tipped. I spent 8 hours a day this week in 115 degree heat index, and the chick who has to walk 20 feet from a kitchen to my table three times in the A/C gets a 1/4 of my last hour's pay?

f*** that. I agree, tipping = extortion. Totally ridiculous and unfair.

[PoorManQ45]

One person orders 6 drinks and then tips $10. If the bartender thinks that isn't enough, he will probably not give you priority service. But that's fine because you won't be ordering drinks any time soon.

In NJ, drinks cost around $8 each so I usually tip $2 a drink but I think that is an exception. When your at NICOfest $1 tip is fine.

That is ridiculous!

You're giving a 25% tip per drink for someone to simply mix a couple liquids!

At most, I will tip 10%. $1 per $10. I feel that even that is excessive.

I seriously do not understand why you guys are defending this crappy tradition.

There is no validity to the idea that without tips you would not receive good service.

Someone previously answered my question about plumbers and electricians not getting tips. The response was that they are already charging so much that they shouldn't be tipped. The problem with that is that the company typically charges ~$100/hr for an electrician, but pays the electrician ~$15~$20/hr. So this circumstances are the same as servers. The company is charging a large amount for the product/service, but paying the worker a very small portion.

Why is it that we expect good service from electricians and plumbers then?

If you pay an employee properly, you can expect good work from them. If they do not meet your criteria, they will not have a job for long!

[Jesda]

Stingy bartenders suck. At times I've been tempted to report my card as stolen (to prevent them from charging me for the drinks at the end of the night) and walk out. I guess that wouldn't be entirely ethical or legal. Waiting for a new card to come in the mail would also annoy.

[AppleBonker]

I've had numerous occasions where I tipped a bartender generously over the course of a couple nights and wound up getting undercharged on later visits. They would conveniently forget to charge me for drinks, or charge for singles when I was ordering doubles and so on. This allowed me to spend less in an evening and they would see a larger percentage of my total expenditure.

Also, I try to a huge a-hole most of the time to servers. I tend to make fun of them about everything and am usually obscene. I like to tip well to make up for this. Most of the time, they actually seem to enjoy a break from the monotony of the average table. That, or maybe I have some special sauce in my food...

[PoorManQ45]

I've had numerous occasions where I tipped a bartender generously over the course of a couple nights and wound up getting undercharged on later visits. They would conveniently forget to charge me for drinks, or charge for singles when I was ordering doubles and so on. This allowed me to spend less in an evening and they would see a larger percentage of my total expenditure.

So what you're saying is that you are bribing the bartender into shorting the business that he/she is working for?

[AZhitman]

^ For once, your inquisitiveness and propensity to question others is making sense.

Don't get excited, the sun shines on every dog's a$$ from time to time.

[Jesda]

So what you're saying is that you are bribing the bartender into shorting the business that he/she is working for?

Dont you wish this worked with cops? lol

[AppleBonker]

So what you're saying is that you are bribing the bartender into shorting the business that he/she is working for?

Since I'm not explicitly requesting it, I don't know that it counts as a bribe. If that's how they want to take it, it is merely their interpretation. Additionally, I think most bars are ok doing this. And I know a lot of bartenders get a bit of flexibility like this. Keeping customers happy makes for more return customers. The more times I show up, the more money they make. One visit at $20 in profits is not as beneficial as 5 at $10 (just making up numbers).

[AZhitman]

True - And when you consider you're paying $5-$8 for something that literally costs 50-80 CENTS, I'm sure they're fine with a little fudging for a good customer.

[Encryptshun]

Don't get excited, the sun shines on every dog's a$$ from time to time.

Okay, now that is FUNNY.