Do you think it is reasonable not to tip your server?

[Crothian]

I tip based on service not what people make. What people make is none of my business just like what I make is none of theirs. There is a Sushi place a friend and I go to only at most 4 times a year. Each time the owner remembers us and we get amazing service. It is an expensive meal and I will tip upwards of 40% because it is worth it. But chain restaurants that I might got to once a week or every other week were the service is usually not as good especially considering I'm there when it is not busy so I tip 10-15%. How the food is prepared is a kitchen problem so I don't base the tip off of that but I will ask for a manager if it is under cooked or other problem.

I know it is a tough job I was a waiter one summer and never want to do it again. I reward the good ones.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Good grief -- is the waitstaff minimum still $2.13 an hour? It was that rate 20 years ago when my wife (then girlfriend) was waiting tables just out of college. We both remember well how much that sucked, especially when she pulled a lunch shift in a town that was mostly retirees.

As a result, our tip baseline for average service is 20%. You'd have to give me horribly bad service to tip below 15%, and I'll tip 30-40% for exceptional service.

I do struggle with tipping etiquette for areas where people seem to be asking for tips but no service is actually required -- whether a tip jar at the checkout of a fast food joint, or tipping the for curbside takeaway when picking up a called-in order. I'd hope those folks are not earning the waitstaff minimum, because handing me my order hardly counts as service. Delivery drivers I've got, that involves effort and investment, but handing a bag over the counter isn't quite the same thing. What do you think there?

 

[sabrinathecat]

Is that legal in all states? Paying less than the minimum because you might get tips. I mean, they wouldn't be called tips if all they do is make up the difference between sub-minimum and minimum wage, would they?

Depends on the State. In California, yes, restaurants can pay as little as $6.5 with the assumption that the other $1.5 will be covered by tips.

 

[HardcoreDandDGirl]

Good grief -- is the waitstaff minimum still $2.13 an hour? It was that rate 20 years ago when my wife (then girlfriend) was waiting tables just out of college.

yes, yes it is. To put this in perspective, On my shift at the bar I make $3.00 an hour plus tips and bonus. The bonus is if I push the drink of the week and sell enough I get a $10 bonus per day I make it. Friday nights I almost always bonus out. What I need to push and how much varies by week.

 

[sabrinathecat]

The sad thing is, No matter what minimum wage is set to, it is not a living wage. And I doubt it ever will be.
I think there's an assumption that if you are any good, you will be promoted past minimum wage, or find a better job. Once again, this model is based in a different reality from the one currently available. If there are no promotions, and there are no better jobs, people are STUCK. It isn't that they are 'losers', it is that the opportunities simply aren't there. Believe me, not one of the FoH employees at the restaurant I was working at would stay there for a single extra shift if there was anything better available. The ones who escape were those who had friends who helped them get jobs elsewhere, but that hasn't happened in 2 years. The others ended up moving out of state entirely because California was just too expensive for the crap pay and worse conditions imposed by the restaurant management.

 

[trappedslider]

here is by the numbers http://www.dol.gov/whd/state/tipped.htm and http://www.dol.gov/whd/minwage/america.htm and http://www.minimum-wage.us/

I do believe however that California is going up to 10/hr (2015 or 2014) instead of the current 8/hr which puts it at the highest, the current highest minimum wage is in Santa Fe at 10/hr which itself isn't high enough to even live there.

 

[Klirshon]

For additional information on the subject of tipped wages in the US, I will provide a link. http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs15.htm

 

[Kramodlog]

15% of the bill is my usual tipping, more if the service was great, less if it was terribad. Here the minimum salary for people working for tips is 8,75$ an hour.

 

[JamesonCourage]

On a related note, I worked as a pizza delivery driver years ago, and my expectations varied. If I averaged $2 per place I was pretty happy, but roughly half the people I delivered to paid me less than a dollar. (If I owed them $2.45 back, they'd take the $2, but tell me to keep the 45 cents. So generous!)

Mind you, $2 isn't a great tip, but it added up where I worked, which was pretty busy in the evening. I felt good with a $3 tip, and anything over that was great. I did get paid for gas, but apparently most places pay even less for gas now (7 years later), even though gas prices have gone up.

On another note, I've never really minded when people honestly can't afford to tip. Yes, it'd be nice if they could, but if I got paid in bills and then the last $3 in coins, it's clear that you've scraped up what you can to be able to afford the pizza. Sometimes even poor people need to splurge. It's good for mental health. It makes being poor more bearable in the long run. It gives you a tiny bit of relief, and something to look forward to next time, as sad as that might be. (I say this bit as a guy who lived in his car for 3 years... mind you, it was by choice, and I had a waterbed and wireless internet, but I was still poor.)

Also, if you can't afford much, and indicate that, you always were okay with me. Someone giving a $1 tip and saying "I know that doesn't go far, but..." and then trailing off will get a pass. You gave what you could; you get my thanks.

And children always got a pass on tipping. I just didn't expect them to know that they were supposed to. If someone between the ages of 8 and 15 answered the door, I figured that there was no tip, and I wouldn't get too upset by it. And people might be surprised how often this can happen. (It's not super often, but I wouldn't consider it rare, either.)

The people that I disliked most when it came to tipping were the people that gave me the coins back as a tip, the people that didn't tip (these two made up roughly 50% of the people I delivered to), and the people that literally said "I'll get you next time." Yeah, sure you will.

Overall, though, some people can be amazingly generous. The people that tip $10+ (those are rare, but they do happen, especially on $90 orders) are awesome, and I'll always remember the specifics on those orders over the "here's $0.08, bye." The awesome tippers out there make up for a lot of bad people, and can really turn your day around, as the guy getting tipped. Not just financially (by making up for other tippers), but they can restore a bit of faith in your local humans on a particularly bad day. So, cheers to you awesome tippers.

 

[jonesy]

Over here the minimum for untrained waiters is a bit over 10 euros an hour (about 14 US dollars, I think), and the custom is you tip extra for good service only (and nobody will think you are rude if you don't tip).

As has been mentioned, in some countries tipping is considered downright rude (Italy and Switzerland come to mind). Then there are countries like Spain where they have tip jars for tourists, but locals aren't expected to tip (they are in effect trying to take advantage of those tourists who come from countries with a tipping custom). In Turkey you are expected to tip hotel staff, and in Austria taxi drivers. So the custom varies a lot. In Japan friends of mine were chased down by a waiter who handed them the tip back with a scathing "Do you think I'm trash?" remark.