Because what originally started out as a reward for exceptional service has become obligatory. Worse, servers universally decided about five years ago that cheap was 20% and a good tip was 30% (instead of 15% and 25%)... right about the same time it became chic to order off the wall instead of getting table service. I've also noticed that service has declined in general and surliness has increased - all while feeling entitled to more money. The rest of the world doesn't do it this way. Servers get a living wage and if they deliver exceptional service they get a small gratuity. I don't begrudge anyone making a living, but the system is bullshit. Tips also provide a marvelous way for the restaurant to skim off the wages of the employees - so you get pissed off paying $2 for someone to hand you a Jack Daniels on the rocks and the server gets pissed off because of that $2 they're only making $125. The whole system is bullshit.
The system is only broken because people feel compelled to tip 20% no matter what. My tipping works as followed: Horrible Service: 10%
Decent Service: 15%
Good service: 20%
Great service: 25+% Rarely do I tip less than 20% but if I do, I the experience was likely bad enough that I've spoken to a manager. -Most people don't do this, they just leave the 15-20% and kick the can down the road to guys like me. I'm fortunate to be able to eat in some nice restaurants from time to time. In fact, last night I had the Chefs tasting menu here. -Where you live you are swimming in 5 star restaurants, we unfortunately are not... but this one was fantastic. The server received a 25% tip which was more than justified. When he walked us out of the restaurant, he passed the fireplace where our coats were being "warmed" next to the fire and helped us in to them and then gave us some scones for our morning coffee. -Top notch. The system works in these types of restaurants. It's broken at Buffalo Wild Wings. At places like that there is a sense of entitlement. "I'm going to give you lackluster service and you're going to tip me 15-20% regardless" is the mindset. -I would agree that the system is bullshit in those types of places. It works well in fine dining though.
If I go to a restaurant and buy a bowl of corn chowder and a glass of water, the restaurant is into me for $6. Let's say I give the standard of 20% - that gets you $1.20. I'm not the kind of asshole who tips coins, which means I'm tipping $2. You're getting a 33% tip for bringing me two things and we're both feeling ripped off - you because I only left $2 and me because fully 1/4 of my meal price was your surly, unthankful service. If I go to the same restaurant and buy the surf'n'turf and a flute of roederer, the restaurant is into me for $85. Let's say I give the standard of 20% - that gets you $17. You've still brought me two things - but now you're making $8.50 per serving vessel. Yer damn skippy you're happy - you made "case of beer money" bringing me two damn things. Me? Well, there's no kind of service you can legally give me that will make me happy, particularly since in order to drink that glass of roederer over we involved the sommelier who I also have to tip. It makes more sense to tip at Subway than it does to tip at Spago. At a 5star the guy who brings me my food is just bringing me my food. At Subway I'm determining if I want e.coli or not. Pay an hourly wage that makes sense, just like the rest of the world. If I think you went above and beyond, I'll slip you a little something. Otherwise just f'ing figure it into the cost of the food.
But then, you're still going to be "tipping" because the restaurant is going to have to pay these people more money. When they have to do this, the prices go up. 6 or one half dozen?
Half dozen of the other, please. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tip_(gratuity)#Tipping_in_other...
Point 1: places like B-Dubs isn't worth it not simply because of the system but because of the jacked up prices on mass produced food. It's better to save your cash for the places that are worth it. I think I correctly read this point in your post. Point 2: I am always delicious. With coffee or otherwise. I think I also correctly read that in your pos--what? What kind of harassment...?!
1. A place like B-Dubs isn't about the food, unless you're not a fan of food. It's about meeting up with friends and watching sports and drinking. The overwhelming majority of people there go for this reason. If you're going to B-Dubs for the cuisine, you have a whole slew of other problems beyond tipping/service. 2. I'm not sure I get this part?- I think I also correctly read that in your pos--what? What kind of harassment...?!
You said scones are delicious. My name is Intimidating Scones. I made a joke that I'm delicious which is borderline sexual harass--OH NVM! I'm not funny!!
Agree 100%. A tip is entirely optional in NZ, and servers are paid the same as anyone else. Service is not always as prompt and butt-kissy here, I must admit - but they also don't try to hustle you out the door so they can turn the table, either. Service is definitely not as good as in the US though, in general. Better, in better restaurants, as you'd expect.
Service varies a lot on where you are. It's much better in the south. It's better in Seattle than it is in Portland, and it's better in Portland than it is in Los Angeles, and it's better in Los Angeles than it is in Vancouver BC and it's better in San Francisco than everywhere listed above. There's a very real reason to tip well - if you're at the establishment regularly, getting a regular waiter or waitress who knows you're worth serving is stellar. You get the good table, you get prompt service, you get personal attention, if you mention it's an occasion they'll hook you up with little treats, etc. In Hollywood, where "lunch" is where things happen, it's entirely appropriate to have a good line on a good waiter in a good restaurant because having the meal go well helps having the deal go well. But there's a world of difference between tipping "extra" - 5%-10% - for that kind of service and the basic, surly not-paying-attention you get at Applebee's. Yet if I pay 25% at Kate M's I'm paying $7.50 and if I pay 20% at Applebee's I'm paying $4. So really, the actual tip between "you suck" and "you rule" is $3.50. And that's bullshit.
Portland's service is terrible. In other places I have lived a server makes $2.15 an hour, in Portland they make $9 an hour. The higher minimum for servers here disincentivizes hustling to pay your rent. A good cook might make more then $10 an hour if they are lucky here, but $11-12 is pretty standard in the rest of the nation. Cooks starve so that servers can take home $20-30 an hour with the minimum subsidy. As someone who works service 15% is fine, even if I am giving top notch service to demanding people I don't mind a 15% tip. At the bar tip a dollar a drink or drink beer. Your pours will be shit if you tip any less. As a bartender the dollar a drink is fine but I don't really care all that much, it's the $20-$100 dollar tips that really line my pockets. Why people tip 100-500% is a mystery to me, but I will treat you like a fucking king if you are that guy or gal.
That's you, though. I regularly read or hear complaints from those who argue that 15% is insulting. Not only that, but now you're saying 15% is okay... when the base wage is 4x as high as it is elsewhere! Which is something that has never been made known to me in all the times I've dined in Portland. The system sucks. It's a terrible maladaptation of free market principles.As someone who works service 15% is fine, even if I am giving top notch service to demanding people I don't mind a 15% tip.
I've taken to giving 20%, regardless of service, except in the rare case of being at a cheap breakfast place where 20% amounts to a pittance. I think in this way you can pay the "real" price of the meal without playing the charade that tipping is an acknowledgement that the service was good. Clearly if tipping ever served this purpose, its not how it is presently.
| rare case of being at a cheap breakfast place where 20% amounts to a pittance.| You shouldn't feel especially bad here. Breakfast joints are high volume quick turnaround places where the diners don't sit very long at all. I've known more than server that absolutely refused to get a job at a nicer place than the diner they were working at because the tips were more reliable and added up in the aggregate. they could always count on a solid breakfast rush that didn't vary from day to day. I usually default to 20% plus all change leading up to the next dollar in diner settings. There isn't really even an opportunity for a cheap breakfast place to give you "great" service, -they just have to not fuck it up by forgetting drinks or screwing up orders, etc.
...and I give 25% but I still resent the kabuki, especially when I know the establishment is skimming off the tips, the busboy isn't bringing me my water because he thinks my waitress is cheating him and the manager keeps coming by to see if I really did order two glasses of wine or is the waitress skimming?
When I used to barback I treated the bartenders at our club as my customers. When you look at it this way it's hard to fuck it up and not deliver awesome service that will make sure you get paid...even by the ones that have zero problem not tipping the house prescribed amount. Some employees don't get that they have more than one type of customer, and if you're getting tipped out, the person handing you your money is most definitely your customer, -more so than the guy in the booth.the busboy isn't bringing me my water because he thinks my waitress is cheating him
This is crass, but what the hell.... I totally misread this at first to read I went from being a bus-boy to being a manager at a fine dining restaurant. Most people bus tables or bar-back as a stepping stone to waiting tables or bar tending. It's a sort of farm system for talent in the restaurant. The cream will rise to the top. -ew. But kleinbl00 is right that when you are a bus-boy or "servers assistant" as we called them, you will take better care of the servers that take good care of you. It's in the servers best interest to take good care of the bussers.When I used to bareback I treated the bartenders at our club as my customers
It makes for a very different sentence when you add the "e".
I loved being a bar back at the club I worked at, -the physicality of it. The place was a zoo and was packed all the time. It was quite a workout. The best part of that job was we were only open Friday and Saturday and I made easily over 300 a night. Like every club, it's hot then it's not, but for the first year it was open it was insane. Regarding your point about taking care of each other, I busted my ass and somehow I ended up banking more than some of the bartenders each night after they had all tipped my out collectively. But the service industry isn't defined by the good times or the bad timed, but by the average over time as you know :) we had a couple backs that just showed up and got tipped out accordingly.