Tipping in restaurants
 

Have you noticed the food prices in restaurants have gone up dramatically. I'm not sure everybody knows this but last fall, 2024. Florida enacted a law mandating restaurants pay a base wage of $9.98 to their wait staff and a guarantee of $13/hour when combined with the tips.The law gave restaurants time to change their menu prices so they could pay the base wage.
So, why are we continuing to pay 20% tip when there is already a built in tip in the menu prices?
NOTE: the base wage is also going to go up to $10.98 this fall

In what way is a tip built into the menu prices? The minimum wage was increased but there is still a lower tipped minimum wage in anticipation of the servers receiving tips in addition.

When there is no longer a tipped minimum wage and all employees receive the same minimum wage then I will reconsider tipping.

Tipping
 

Great information. Clearly, that additional $3.02 will more than compensate for any tips any server could gain in an hour. No more tipping necessary at all!

I have zero doubt that, when the "No tax on Tips" is passed and active... that restaurants will decrease prices. So workers will have more $$$ in their pockets, restaurants will lower their wages, and costs - then pass that on to the consumer...

....sure

recently went to TooJays with a $15 off $40. Their prices are much higher than before. But the coupon made it nice. Other than the terrible service in BW location. One server for the entire restaurant. slow. Couldn't blame her (April) - she was running her butt off. Apparently the other server (who was there when we arrived) left - leaving April to cover 12 tables. We did leave a nice tip for her.

To clarify, the server receives at least $13 per hour, even if they receive no tips. The $13 is the minimum wage, and if the server receives no tips, the restaurant is required to make up the difference, but the server still receives $13 per hour. The reason for the $3.02 difference is that, if the server receives at least $3.02 per hour in tips, the restaurant does not need to make up the difference.

Tips aren't supposed to be part of a server's paycheck from their employer. They're supposed to be in ADDITION to it. As a "thank you" from the customer directly, for doing a good (or better) job. There are people with extreme views in either direction:

People who think it's good to give at least 20%, and up to 40% of their tab, usually because they want to show off how generous they are. Those are the people who think they can buy their way into heaven.

People who think that they shouldn't tip at all, because the boss is paying the employee, and the employee is owed nothing by the customer. Those are the people who don't think they have to earn their place in heaven.

And then the people in the middle like me: old-fashioned. Traditional. If service is adequate, no complaints but nothing spectacular, I tip 15%. If service is good, but not great, they get 18%. If service is outstanding, they get 20%, plus one penny, plus a compliment to the manager to let them know their employee was responsible for maintaining high standards for their restaurant. If service was BAD, they get no tip, and a complaint to the manager.

I tip curb-side folks if they have to come out in the rain. I toss the change into the tip jar when I buy something at a take-out joint that has one - sometimes. Those are people who are already earning minimum wage or better, they are not "tipped employees."

Tipping is for good service
 

My opinion is that tipping is for the good service of the wait staff - not "my" attempt to pay their wage. Wages and menu prices will adjust based upon market conditions and is not my concern - I can choose to pay the menu price or not. However, I am careful not to calculate my tip on the bill total which includes tax, only calculate on the total before tax. I tend to tip a smaller percentage at high dollar restaurants If you look at a $70 bill and tip 20% - that's $14. If you then consider that a server can probably take care of 4 tables in an hour - that's a total tip amount of $56 - not too bad.

Edited

When wait staff is overpaid, this sends a message to the manager that the manager doesn't have to pay them what they're worth because the manager will instead rely on customers to pay it.

Then you end up with underpaid wait staff and high turn-around, who get angry when they're not overtipped, because their manager refuses to pay them what they're worth.

I know this because I've worked in restaurants that operated like that. As a former server, I expect my boss to pay me a fair wage, whether I get tipped or not. If I do a BAD job, I expect to be fired. If I do my job, or better than my job requirement, then I expect my boss to pay me my worth, and allow those tips to be a bonus - and not my expected pay.

Every person who overtips their server is actually hurting them, and giving their boss an excuse to not pay them well.

Also - always pay your tip in CASH.

That is very true.

Because the restaurant now has to pay the server a minimum of $9.98 instead of the $2.13/hr they've increased the menu prices.
This being the case, I've reduced the amount that I'm now tipping. What irritates me is they still have the 18, 20, 25% tip suggestions at the bottom of the receipt.

Wow! This doesn’t mean that at all. I assume you “jest”? Some of us might have a wife/husband who worked their way through college working in
a restaurant. Maybe an Aunt who only received S.S.and she supplemented income by waiting on tables. I could go on but by now you can see where I’m going. “Money is like manure, it does little good unless it’s spread around.” Anonymous

I honestly don’t know how people can survive on $13 an hour.

And to have to deal with the “General Public” , no thank you! You couldn’t pay me enough!

Ya’ll ain’t right !

If the rent goes up and the owner has to increase prices then you'll tip more.
If the price of food goes up and the owner has to increase prices then you'll tip more.
If the cooks get a raise and the owner has to increase prices then you'll tip more.
If the owner wants to go on another cruise and he has to increase prices then you'll tip more.

But if the owner has to increase prices so that the lowest paid employee can have an increase equivalent to about one month's rent ($1/hour) then that's a bridge too far and you will penalize the employee. Got it.

Fortunately, not everyone will share that opinion. Regrettably, some will.

I worked as a first responder for many years. No one ever tipped us for saving their lives.

What city did you work in where first responders were paid less than minimum wage with the understanding that tipping for their services was customary?

I, as always, tip according to service received. The menu prices and wages are not set by me. I just decide if I want to come in and eat in the first place. The owner determines the menu prices, and the service determines the tip. Period.

For what its worth, servers in Villages restaurants make a lot more than $13/hour. More like $30. It is usual for a server working a double shift (lunch and dinner, 11-3, hour break, 4-9) to bring home $250 - $300/day in tips alone after paying out hosts and bussers. The hourly wage is on top of that. Some experienced servers that can handle more tables make more than that.

My data comes from two daughters who work at two different villages restaurants.



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I believe you missed the point entirely. Pay people properly for the work they do and a verbal "Thank you" (acknowledgement and appreciation) should be all that is expected. Giving people money for doing their job (tipping) is demeaning. Both to the server and the customer. Food service is honorable work and deserves fair payment, not "tips" like an organ grinders monkey tipping his hat for coins. It's a bribe. It's a scam.

I don’t think I missed the point at all.

But as for missing a point…. What you write sounds nice (in an insulting kind of way) but it doesn’t reflect today's reality. Tipping may be a bribe and tipping may be a scam but tipping is customary in the US and tipping often provides a major part of a server’s income.

A person working full time hours at about $10 per hour is earning approximately $20,000 per year.

If you think you could survive on that annual pay, then don't tip at all. Otherwise, cough up some tip money.

Personally, I have never understood the concept of tips being used to supplement a worker's pay. No other industry suggests I pay extra for the businesses work force. Restaurants just have awful business plans if they have to rely upon the largesse of their patrons (which they do).

Well said.

Sorry, I think you did.
The expression used to describe how I view tipping, "in an insulting kind of way", is a reflection of how I feel everytime I am emotionally blackmailed into participating in this caste system practice of rewarding the menials/servants for performing some service out of the goodness of their hearts, or out of fear of rebuke. Waitstaff are very important to restaurants and deserve proper pay based on the difficult and diverse aspects of their jobs, not basesed on the price of the item the customer choice of food. As said in an earlier post, weird business model.

What happened to 15% for a tip? They have a built-in system of getting more money - when restaurants raise their prices the tip is raised too. But really I don’t like tipping. For example, we just had a mini-split put in our garage. The guy worked until 8 p.m. Should we have given him a tip? How much?

The idea that some people get tipped and others don’t is bizarre.

And most servers don't work 8 hour shifts, 5 days a week...

I would wager his hourly rate was just a bit higher than that of a server...

:1rotfl::1rotfl::1rotfl:

When the wife and I eat out, exactly who am I trying to impress when tipping?

The server? Someone I'll probably never see again or have them remember me that next time I dine there?

I've been lucky enough to have made a good living for the last 40 years. I have no problem sharing some of that. During Covid, I tipped like Ray Liotta in Goodfellas... Why? Because I could. And because those I tipped were having a hard time making ends meet due to Covid restrictions.

Oh, and I don't believe in heaven (just like you don't)...

Like this post! Wouldn't it be nice if if the ones you have so generously helped support didn't need the tip money because they were being paid properly by the business that values their employees.

That's a completely different discussion... But sure. Why not...

So wait staff serves 5-10 tables in an hour, and you believe they only deserve $3. I am so hopeful that you are less than 1% who deserves to eat out, yet no matter how well the service was…stiffing the waitstaff is appropriate. Because that $3 an hour built in tip would equate to .30 per table.

I know people under tipped in TV, but that basically your theory tells the waitstaff they are useless and undeserving.

In 40 plus years after countless 13 hours of trauma surgery, not at any time did anyone in the room think they deserved a tip, for saving an infant, child, or adult.

We always thanked everyone in the room for their dedicated work, and sometimes a nod to what ever higher being you believed. We believed it was a team effort no matter the outcome. The hard moments always came in the waiting room full of family members.

I have watched ignorant, arrogant and entitled people treat wait staff so poorly that for no amount of money would I do that type of work. Not only do they have to wait tables they also have to clean the mess up after the customer leaves. I watched a family make such a mess at their table, it took 3 servers 10 minutes to clean up after the pigs.
I once worked in retail for a, thank God, brief time and I made the decision that I would only work that kind of job if I was starving.
I know in many other countries the tip is included in the meal price and in the past, it was usually 15%. If you receive terrible service, you still pay a 15% gratuity. With our system you can let the server know their performance was subpar by reducing the tip amount. It doesn't matter what system is used, you are going to pay a gratuity.

Tell that to the people who used to work at Gator's Dockside. They got the "tipped employee" minimum (which was lower than the regular minimum). All tips were pooled for each shift, and the cooks and host got a share of the pool even though cooks and host were both paid the regular minimum.

Sometimes, servers would go home with just minimum wage, because another server might have earned NO tip at all, but they'd get an equal share of the tip pool. A bad server might not last long, but however long they did last, affected the pay of everyone else on the shift.

You can if you want to, but they aren't "tipped employees." It's an actual category in the Federal Labor Department laws, and in every state that has a labor department (Florida does not have a labor department).

Tipped employees can be paid less than minimum wage, as long as their total pay including tips comes to minimum wage or higher.

So if minimum wage is $15/hour - and tipped minimum is $10/hour...

Then if you work your shift and combine your tips for the shift with your $10/hour pay, and it comes to only $13/hour total...then your boss has to kick in the other $2/hour, for a total of $12/hour.

If you work your shift and the combined total comes to $15/hour, then your boss only has to pay you that $10/hour.

If you work your shift and the combined total comes to $50/hour, then your boss still has to pay you that $10/hour.

A lot of people see it as out of control.

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And you know as well as I do, and as well as everyone else does, that the pandemic and shut-downs was an unusual circumstance. Most people were out of work entirely, and those who were working in tipped service positions were taking huge risks, and dealing with insane employee shortages because many quit or were too sick to work (or died).

During normal times (which we have now, thankfully), overtipping can be (not always, but can be) harmful to the employee's bottom line, and healthy for the employer's bottom line. This is completely reverse to the intention of tipping.

Absolutely out of control imho. What started as a "thanks, keep the change" Gratuity has morphed into cost saving for business pushed onto customers to cover what should be covered under business expenses/wages. When and why did this happen? Make one wonder how some can keep the lights on.

Let's do a little math $13 X 8Hrs. = $104.
Assuming the person works 5 days a week that comes out to $520.
Let's all assume since in today's world $520 a week is not a living wage, the person deiced not to take a vacation.
So, a person working for $13 an hour working 52 weeks a year will earn $27,040.
That is not a living wage that is why I always leave a tip.

You try living these day on $15 per hour!

Do you leave the same tip at McDonald's or Wendy's where the employees make the same amount?