[zcaveman]

Originally Posted by memason

Sorry Opus, I'm not picking on you.... Why in the world would you leave anything for poor service?

What is a tip for anyway? Who should you tip? ...your hairdresser, waitress, waiter, hostess ??, guy who washs your car, the guy who drys it, the guy sacking your groceries.... My problem is, it never ends!

I guess I'm a bad person, but I would never consider tipping a person in a donuts shop, no matter how long I used their time...that's what they're there for and the last time i looked, they were called employees and should be paid a fair salary by their employer...

do you tip the counter person at Panera's ? How about Starbucks ? SHould I tip my Sales Rep, when I'm there in May???

Sorry for the rant...I'm just really confused by some of the comments . . ..

Thanks to that post I have a question about tipping. When they replaced my carpet and vinyl I tipped both of the workers $5. When the guy does the annual A/C maintenance I tip him $5. When the guy washes the house, I tip him $5. Ditto the cart repair guy on the at home tuneups, etc. The cleaning ladies get $2 a visit.

The wife always tipped the hair dresser when she went to one. When I was a kid, I was always given an extra quarter to give to the barber. I have been cutting my own hair since 1970 so I have no idea what the tip would be now.

The yard guy and the paper deliverers get $20 at Christmas.

Is this out of the ordinary?


BTW: When I go down for a pizza or Chinese takeout, I usually put something in the tip jar.

[swrinfla]

I was slow to adopt a more-than-15-percent attitude. But, as time goes on, the 15% I was brought up to expect seems inadequate.

Many of you will know that most, if not all, cruise lines now charge an automatic "gratuity" fee, per cruising guest per day. After my initial objection to this policy, I was persuaded that many of those who participated in providing my comfort did not receive their proportion of what they should! Should I wish to donate to a specific worker's personal bank account, there was nothing to stop me!

Now, I hear that many corporate entities (that is, The Boss) demand that individual tips be turned in to be pooled.

I do NOT think this is fair. Most often, we tip based on what our individual waiter/waitress has done for us, personally. The less-than-capable server on the other side of the dining room doesn't really deserve any part of my money!

Ah, well, I'm pretty removed from the 21st Century actuality, so why should I care?

SWR

[devyn0204]

Tip should be 20% I am a server and I have to tell you we make less than minimum wage, it is hard to work in the villages out of season there have been a lot of weeks i have worked long hours to come home with less than a hundred dollars for a whole week. I don't think a lot of people know how to tip, and we have to tip the bartender, the hostess, the busser and the food runner. We work really hard and 20% for good service is good I dont think people realize we have to tip people out too we have had people come in and run up a high beverage tab then we have to tip bartender for the drinks she made us and not get a tip so we lose money taking some tables.

[K9-Lovers]

Originally Posted by Regor

Some one isn't telling the truth around here. I talk to lots of waiters and waitress's and they all say that Villagers are horrible tippers!

Do those particular waiters/waitresses give good service? If not, maybe that's why they don't receive good tips.

[chuckinca]

Originally Posted by zcaveman

i was always given an extra quarter to give to the barber. I have been cutting my own hair since 1970 so i have no idea what the tip would be now.

$5



.

[beartrack]

I have spent my entire adult life in the restaurant business. Over the years restaurant owners have used tipping to exploit their employees. Oh it started off innocently enough but has become a way for owners to not give the hardest workers in the business a fair shake. Servers get no overtime pay or healthcare or vacation time or sick pay or pension or 401K or any other benefit that would be normal on most other jobs. And to add insult to injury, even if they are lucky enough to work in a place that is busy and they make good tips, the owners say, "Hey you have to pool your tip money with all the other servers" that simply means that the best server in the place is penalized for being the best, and bringing in good money, and the bad server is rewarded for being the worst. Heard enough yet? Well there's more. After the pooled tips are shared equally, all servers have to tip other employees for helping them. Like the bartender, the bus people, the expediter and others. All of these people are being paid less then minimum wage, because of tipping, so that the owners can make more money.

I could go on forever on this subject but, I'm sure that I am boring some of you to death. please accept my appology for this rant. It just galls me when someone says, "I didn't get good service, so I didn't leave a tip" It has been my experience, that when the service is poor, it is almost always the fault of management. Did they hire enough people? Do they expect too much from the people they did hire? And finally, did they take the time to train these people properly?

I know that nothing can be done to change this situation as it has been going on this way for years and the owners would say "If I have to pay higher wages and benefits, I'll have to go out of business". I would hope that everyone that reads this, would be just a little more generous when tipping but, more importantly, the next time a server comes to your table, remember some of the things that you have read here and treat her/him with more dignity and the respect that they earn and deserve.

Thanks

[Lou Card]

Great information for everyone to read and follow. I use a 20% rule, but a minimum of $5. Yes that means a $9 meal comes to $14 with the tip. Just think about how a server makes a trip to get your drink order, then one to deliver the drink and get your food order, then to deliver your food, then to check on you to see that everything is all right, then to bring your check and in many cases to take your payment and return with that. Remember that we all go to restaurants to sit and enjoy the meal, otherwise, we would go to fast food places all the time. Right or wrong, as the customer, we are responsible for the salary of the wait staff.

If you don't like the service, tell the manager, but a tip is rent, food, car payment, utilities, child care, medical etc. etc. etc. for many waiters.

[redwitch]

My first job was as a server at Denny's. I then "moved up" to a small family restaurant in Southern California when I went to college. From there, it was at a bar as soon as I could figure out how to get a driver's license saying I was 21 (pretty easy back then). Serving food was HARD work! I still remember it and even some of my customers.

My daughter served for about a year at Applebee's in TV. She's looking for a job now and will probably end up serving again.

While some Villagers are good tippers, many aren't. Some still think 10% is a good tip. Some feel that it is up to the owner/company to pay a decent salary so they don't tip at all. (Guess that teaches the owner a lesson, all right.)

If it is bad service, I don't tip or leave a nominal amount to let them know the lack of tip was deliberate. If the service is okay, 20%. If better, usually 25-30%. If I am eating alone, I mentally double the price of my tab and tip accordingly. It's not the server's fault there is only one person at a table for 2 or 4. If my friends and I are taking an exceptionally long time, I will always add to the tip since the server is losing money.

I do ask if the tips are pooled or if they have to tip out other staffers. If the answer is yes, I ask if it is possible to give the server a tip that is not pooled if there is a pooled tip left as well. I've actually asked for the manager and told him I am giving my server an additional tip that is NOT part of any pool -- the pool didn't serve me and the extra work my server did for me as greatly appreciated. (Please note -- additional tip is the key word. The pool gets 15%, my server gets an additional $1-5. Not much, but a little.) One manager told me I couldn't do that. I replied that if I found out the tip that I had personally handed to the server and said was specifically for that server alone was then put into a pool, I would call the police for theft. I think pooling is an obscenity. Ditto a server having to pay part of the salary if co-workers. Restaurateurs who follow these policies should be hung from very high rafters by their absolute shortest hairs.

I also agree that tips should not be added to the credit card. You'd be surprised how often the server never sees that tip at all -- it is pocketed by the manager, who is also woefully underpaid (but still makes a lot more than the servers).

It does seem that TOTVers tip higher than most Villagers. I think what it really is that our parents' generation rarely tipped and, if they did, it was 10%. Baby boomers are more willing to tip 15-20% and most TOTVers are baby boomers.

[Larryandlinda]

Originally Posted by elevatorman

If you have good service at a restaurant what do you tip? I know it depends on a lot of things. But on average, what amount?

especially on credit cards we round up from our normal 18-20% to an even dollar amount to make it easier to malculate billc

when someone tries to get AR about that 'every penny thing' we whip out whatever it takes to avoid that awkward time- and energy-wasting activity .

a dollar might hardly buy the gas to get out of the parking lot!

puh-leeze

L&L

[Larryandlinda]

Redwitch quote:
I also agree that tips should not be added to the credit card. You'd be surprised how often the server never sees that tip at all -- it is pocketed by the manager, who is also woefully underpaid (but still makes a lot more than the servers).


whoa! we had no idea!
when the server takes back the signed receipt indicating the added tip they can see the amount

seems like a savvy and deserving waitron would keep at least a rough mental tab on these and seek a fair remuneration.

There is an ongoing move to reform the tipping/tax situation which can be a cash cow for many 'lowly' wait staffers - many who are grinning all the way to the bank - most of which are piggy banks that the IRS never sees.

We are generous tippers but the tax thing and now this credit card tab thing are cause for concern

The tax dodge is also a huge cash cow for the resturanteurs, no?

L&L

[Larryandlinda]

Originally Posted by salpal

If the server is an older person (50 plus) as I am, I generally tip more than 20 percent. They are not working that tough job because they want to. Guess it is partly guilt and partly counting my blessings.

Our kids and younger employees use '50-plus' and older person in the same phrase from time to time and we raise the brows!!

in this forum 50-and -better or 50-plus can easily mean 'younger person'

We digress.
Back to the tipping....
A fist job for one of us was as a professional dish machine operator at 16.
It and busboy were lowly, even at the stead $1.25 minimum in 1966.
The dishroom was just nasty - smelly, wet shoes, and those chemicals we fed the machine would certainly be considered hazardous today by OSHA.

At least the buspeople got to see the light of day and living people.

It was huge and really appreciated when the waiters and waitresses would throw us some change they would share with their tips - we were overwhelmed. They got very little - this was a lunch room at a large department store and we remember the norm being 10 percent on a good day.

Oh, one day I learned the dish job was not as bad as it could have been...my best friend acted up and talked back to a superior and was demoted to the incinerator - yes, most trash for the entire store was burned - this was not a desirable position even when it was not 100 and humid in a DC summer.

L&L

[redwitch]

Originally Posted by Larryandlinda

Redwitch quote:
I also agree that tips should not be added to the credit card. You'd be surprised how often the server never sees that tip at all -- it is pocketed by the manager, who is also woefully underpaid (but still makes a lot more than the servers).


whoa! we had no idea!
when the server takes back the signed receipt indicating the added tip they can see the amount

seems like a savvy and deserving waitron would keep at least a rough mental tab on these and seek a fair remuneration.

There is an ongoing move to reform the tipping/tax situation which can be a cash cow for many 'lowly' wait staffers - many who are grinning all the way to the bank - most of which are piggy banks that the IRS never sees.

We are generous tippers but the tax thing and now this credit card tab thing are cause for concern

The tax dodge is also a huge cash cow for the resturanteurs, no?

L&L

Some restaurants have the policy that customers take the check to the cashier directly. Frequently, a server doesn't have time to open a paybook to see what the tip is (and, technically, they shouldn't since it implies they expect a tip). It's also pretty common for the customer to leave the slip/paybook on the table and someone other than the server will take it to the cashier. So, it's really not hard for the server to never see the tip amount.

As to the tax issue, barring really high end restaurants, it really doesn't make all that much difference. The IRS now takes a set percentage (I believe 15-18%) regardless of what is actually tipped. So, if a customer tips 10%, the server loses an additional 5% of the tip; if 20%, the server gains 5%. Not a lot of difference. The restaurant is the one that calculates what the server earned for tips. So, it is not difficult for the restaurant to do the calculations in such a manner that the credit card fee is also included in taxable income for the server.

Another scam restaurants use is charging the server for a meal whether a meal is eaten or not (with no discounts -- even customers get coupons, but not servers).

Servers really do get cheated a lot. Sadly, more than they even realize. Remember, most severs are uneducated and unskilled. They don't have anything else to fall back on unless they're going to college and this is how they're paying for tuition, etc. The other real exception is the high-end restaurants. Servers there can make over $75,000 a year between tips and salary, but we're talking the tab is $150+/person -- not a TV type restaurant.

[Russ_Boston]

Originally Posted by redwitch

I also agree that tips should not be added to the credit card. You'd be surprised how often the server never sees that tip at all -- it is pocketed by the manager, who is also woefully underpaid (but still makes a lot more than the servers).

Red - wouldn't that be theft also? When Linda was a server they had to reconcile all electronic payments. In other words the hostess/manager would run the payment through and leave a copy of the receipt along with any tip in a section for her to pick up. Even if it was a 'no tip' the receipt would be there to indicate such.

I would think that the server would know what's coming if they collect the card or would at least ask to see all receipts for card paying customers if they pay at the cashier.

[redwitch]

Originally Posted by Russ_Boston

Red - wouldn't that be theft also? When Linda was a server they had to reconcile all electronic payments. In other words the hostess/manager would run the payment through and leave a copy of the receipt along with any tip in a section for her to pick up. Even if it was a 'no tip' the receipt would be there to indicate such.

I would think that the server would know what's coming if they collect the card or would at least ask to see all receipts for card paying customers if they pay at the cashier.

It's supposed to be that way but electronics has changed it a lot. Used to be, everyone had their individual book w/numbered sheets so that you could tally your stuff. Now, it is done by the cash register and, usually, the manager. It is not uncommon for the server to never see the total tally slips any longer -- credit card tips are included in the paychecks minus appropriate taxes. Also, the tipout to co-workers goes out of the daily tips (which means the cash tips). Mind you, theft of credit card tips is not that common but does happen. What is common is for part of the credit card fee the restaurant is charged be deducted from the tip. So, if someone uses Amex where the fee is 20% of the total bill (sans tax), 20% of the tip is deducted.

Another common event is either the busboy or another customer to take the tip directly off the table. I actually caught a woman taking her husband's tip, as well the tip left by their friends. I stopped her at the door and demanded she put the tips back or I would have told her husband and friends.

Most good servers happily give their busboys and hostess some part of their tips. Dishwashers used to make a full minimum wage as opposed to half-wage for servers. I believe that has changed since the tipout is now required rather than voluntary.

I try hard to give the server the tip directly and make sure the tip is going to the server -- not the restaurant, not co-workers, not the Feds. It is a hard, miserable job that can be made extremely difficult with bad managers and rude customers.

(If y'all can't tell, this is a big issue to me. It was before my daughter became a server and became even bigger after when I saw some of things that occur today when it comes to tipping.)

[swrinfla]

I have just re-read this entire post, because I thought I'd voted and commented but couldn't remember when.

I am now extremely distressed that I've not 1) tipped enough, 2) made sure the tip was collected by the server, 3) understood that the tip added to the credit card bill might never make it to the server! I am frankly appalled at how shabbily the really hardworking servers are treated!

Seems to me they should be paid the minimum wage, to begin with, then should be able to pocket the cash tips earned. Dishwashers and others not having contact with the customers should be compensated with a higher basic salary.

I will have to seriously rethink my overall tipping policies, which I'm afraid have been pretty miserly!

SWR