Originally Posted by biker1 (Post 1086430)

I believe the law states that the $8.05/hour figure must be met by a combination of the $5.03/hour plus tips (tip credit) or the employer must make up the difference so the employee makes at least $8.05/hour.

Originally Posted by Ozzello (Post 1032937)

I live here full time. When I eat out (several times a week), I tip at least 20%. More if I feel the waitress/waiter provided good service. They don't even make minimum wage before tips. After taxes, most make about 50 bucks a week on their paychecks.

I hear it is common during 'season' for a few of the folks that stay here only a month or 2 during the winter, to sit down with 5, 6 or more people for a dinner, and tip 5 or 10% (or less even), like they do in Canada (where they make a LOT more by the hour) , or in Europe.

A 'comped' tip on your bill would be 18%. I know it isn't because you don't have the money, that you aren't tipping a fair rate. I am going to figure it is because you didn't know, and now that you read this ... you know. In my opinion, tipping a waitress/waiter anything less than 18% is stealing from them.

Most folks do tip properly, and some maybe didn't know what should be tipped in this part of the world. Some of you knew, don't, and never will. I feel sorry for you almost as much as I do for the people who wait on you.

Originally Posted by goldseekur (Post 1087215)

I habe nothing against leaving a nice tip. What I DO NOT like is when the staff assumes that I do not want any change back from the cash I pay the bill with. This happens many times when I pay in cash. Just last night, the bill was $29.87 and I left $40 cash. The waitress did not bring any change back and when I asked, she seemed surprised that I would ask for the change!!:(.

That is NOT their decision to make, but mine unless I say, "Keep the change."

Originally Posted by Skip (Post 1086639)

I think you're right. It's called "minimum wage make up" and it was enacted because some employers decided they wanted to pay some employees only the lower rate so they put out a tip jar at the register. The employers thought they were only responsible to pay the lower rate plus the tips in the jar (which could be zero).

The law was changed so that the employer had to make up the difference between "low" and "minimum" per hour.

Sneaky bosses!

Notice places like Dunkin' Donuts have "tip jars" at the registers?

Go to Europe, especially Holland, and tips are an insult to most workers. They will give tips back to their patrons.

Only the US abuses their employees with low wages (especially teachers).

Skip

Originally Posted by Skip (Post 1086422)

Minimum wage for Florida servers is $5.03, not $8.05 !

Skip

Originally Posted by beachx4me (Post 1087314)

You are correct. I bet my daughter wishes it was 8.05!!! The only time they make more than the minimum is when they are training. After training is through, they go to the minimum plus tips.

For the people who are poor tippers, I wonder who they think they are getting over on??? And then those who brag about not tipping good, it just disgusts me. If people can't leave a proper tip for good service they don't need to be eating out. It is like a package deal.

Many of these folks are working second jobs to make ends meet and/or trying to get their education. Have people forgotten what it is like to be young and struggle to make ends meet. Ok, my rant is over.

Originally Posted by jnieman (Post 1087316)

What about workers who come to your house to do a job. Do you all tip them? I always give them a bottle of gatorade or a bottle of water. Occasionally I will give a tip. It just feels awkward when they just stand there like they are waiting for it.

Originally Posted by Skip (Post 1087586)

Another good question is...

Do you tip the owner of a restaurant when he/she waits on you?

What's your opinion?



Skip

Originally Posted by Villager Joyce (Post 1087651)

McAlisters deli in Brownwood is a no tip restaurant. However, any tips left are give to the Wildwood Soup Kitchen and have been since they opened.

Originally Posted by Midorisour (Post 1087751)

What are your opinions on tipping the shuttle drivers?

Originally Posted by RickeyD (Post 1087654)

I have never believed in tipping, but my wife does. I think she is overly generous and I try to have her cut it down a bit. I feel that the employer should pay for performance, not me. TIPS (to insure prompt service) needs to end. The fact that I'm a patron automatically entitles me to what I'm paying for, IMHO...

Originally Posted by tuccillo (Post 1087794)

Do you not tip in any restaurant?

Originally Posted by Villager Joyce (Post 1087651)

McAlisters deli in Brownwood is a no tip restaurant. However, any tips left are give to the Wildwood Soup Kitchen and have been since they opened.

Originally Posted by jnieman (Post 1087316)

What about workers who come to your house to do a job. Do you all tip them?

Originally Posted by Midorisour (Post 1087751)

What are your opinions on tipping the shuttle drivers?

Originally Posted by RickeyD (Post 1087654)

I have never believed in tipping, but my wife does. I think she is overly generous and I try to have her cut it down a bit. I feel that the employer should pay for performance, not me. TIPS (to insure prompt service) needs to end. The fact that I'm a patron automatically entitles me to what I'm paying for, IMHO...

Originally Posted by redwitch (Post 1088293)

Rickey, I do understand your position but the reality is you only hurt one person -- the server. The company/owner could care less if you tip so long as you don't complain. As a matter of fact, the company will just assume you left an eighteen percent tip in cash and add it to the server's tally to make the minimum wage for that day. Perhaps you could tip the server twenty percent in cash and then go to the manager and demand that twenty percent be deducted from your tab since you don't believe you should be helping to pay the server's salary, regardless of how good the service was.

Thank goodness your wife is a bit more understanding and generous. Blessings to her.

Originally Posted by tuccillo (Post 1088299)

Do you know for a fact that restaurants automatically assume a certain amount of tip for the purposes of meeting the required $8.05/hour figure for salary plus tips? In other words, can they just say the gap between $5.03/hour and $8.05/hour was met without some documentation? If so, the law would essentially have no meaning.

Originally Posted by redwitch (Post 1088543)

Sadly, I do know this for a fact. My daughter works for Olive Garden in Ocala, used to work here in TV but requested a transfer because of the poor tipping. Rarely does she truly make minimum wage since she has to tip out the busboy, bartender, bar back and hostess. This is figured at the eighteen percent of food and beverage totals regardless of the actual tip amount. The same is done for IRS purposes, which is where the calculations for minimum wage are done as well. The only time she has ever received minimum wage on her paycheck was one day when they were exceedingly slow. Her hourly salary, with tips and pay, comes to seven to ten dollars a day less tip out amounts, depending on how people are tipping. She is a good server, not great, but definitely tries hard to keep her customers happy. She would do much better in an Olive Garden out of Central Florida but really wants to remain in this area.

So, folks, please tip your servers well. If under eighteen percent, put it on your credit card. If over eighteen percent, leave it in cash if possible. Do NOT tip for poor service.

Originally Posted by sunnyatlast (Post 1033002)

Once you've been a server, you realize that the servers take all the flak out on the front lines, when the problem is often the cooks and/or spineless shift managers.

Originally Posted by goldseekur (Post 1087215)

I habe nothing against leaving a nice tip. What I DO NOT like is when the staff assumes that I do not want any change back from the cash I pay the bill with. This happens many times when I pay in cash. Just last night, the bill was $29.87 and I left $40 cash. The waitress did not bring any change back and when I asked, she seemed surprised that I would ask for the change!!:(.

That is NOT their decision to make, but mine unless I say, "Keep the change."

Originally Posted by Gerald (Post 1033311)

Who makes up the rules for tip amounts? Why not give 50%?

Originally Posted by Springs1 (Post 1088616)

We have stiffed before when they did that, because that's STEALING! It's ILLEGAL! Did you REPORT the theft? We did. My husband and I rarely pay with cash or gift certificates. Once, back in 2004, we used (2) $20 gift certificates to pay a $34.69 check. Our waiter gave us back a $5 bill, which our change was $5.31. So I go up to him to tell him. Instead of fixing it, he goes to serve a side salad. He finally gave back the change and did say he was sorry, but this was intentional, because he was TOO LAZY to get the change from the bar OR could have gave us OVER if he didn't want to rather than *SHORT US*, he could have shorted HIMSELF, but was TOO *SELFISH* to do so. I don't expect a server to short themselves, just to give the 100% CORRECT amount of change back, NOT to TIP THEMSELVES part of *OUR MONEY* to themselves. So I reported this to the manager and we left NOTHING, NOT ONE PENNY. There's no way it's not intentional since you aren't going to miss 3 coins and 99.99% of the time people's checks aren't exact amounts. I can count on one hand how many times exact where there's no cents on a check amount and we eat out VERY often.

It's OUR job to tip and if they are that selfish and lazy, they should get nothing. I made sure I waited to get the change just so the waiter could get ABSOLUTELY NOTHING so he couldn't steal ANYTHING from us.

What if the customer shorted the bill, would the server want to pay the 31 cents on every customer's bill plus the tip outs? That would add up and NO, they wouldn't.

I can't take 31 cents out of someone's purse or register without getting arrested, WHY can THEY get away with it?

They ARE SO SELFISH. I mean really, when once we got 10 cents over at a place that was a small town restaurant that only accepted cash payments about a couple of years ago we had gone to(our bill was $38.10, paid with (2) $20 bills, got back $2. So because she gave us OVER we tipped her MORE over the 10 cents and it was cool to not have 90 cents in change.

The only reason that happened probably was that because that was closer to the next dollar, but in our case with the $34.69, it wasn't, so that's why he did what he did, due to LAZINESS and SELFISHNESS. He could have given us $6 or $5.50 if he didn't want to get change. Also, it wasn't that busy the time to do such a thing.

Well anyway, my point is, it's a common practice among servers since they don't have a register they have to get the money from their own change bank in their apron pocket or go to the bar to get change. The thing is, STEALING(SHORTING THE CUSTOMER) is ILLEGAL and MORALLY WRONG!

So for 31 cents being selfish, he got stiffed. Does that make ANY SENSE to risk getting a crappy tip for 31 cents you servers out there? Why not just either not be SO LAZY to go to the bar to get change or bring some on you(exchange during non-busy times at the bar) or give us the next dollar then. If he would have given us $6 in change, if the service would have been good otherwise, he would have had over 25% tip. Because of stealing, he got his tip stolen back in a sense. The reason why I say that is because what we did was VERY LEGAL, what he did WASN'T. Stealing is illegal and wrong. He should have been fired on the spot and been arrested for what he did. As I said, I can't go into Walmart take 31 cents out someone's register and not get handcuffs put on me, WHY servers can do this and get away with it? It's a DOUBLE STANDARD! It's not fair.

Most servers are JUST SO SELFISH and LAZY! It's really both. They are too lazy to get change from the bar or bring change on them and they are too SELFISH to think "If I risk giving some of my few coins away maybe I might be stiffed from a cheapskate, but I could get more." No, all they think about is THEMSELVES! Every penny is about THEM. They NEVER can think about OUR MONEY. Then they wonder why they don't get a tip.

While I understand sometimes it may be about that they don't want to make the customer wait 10 minutes for the bartender to get the change, so that's when you short yourself as the server if you want a better tip.

Servers are JUST SO SELFISH today. It's sad. We have been through some mean servers. One at a Denny's said when I had a wrong price "I don't do prices." It's like we don't work here, so if we can see it, SO COULD HAVE SHE. I know she can't fix the price in the computer, but most managers can't either, they take it off the bill at the end. The difference is, if the server CARES about our money, they would have tried to find this issue BEFORE check time and gotten the manager to fix it BEFORE it came to us. It's not our job to check every price against the menu since we aren't earning a tip to do so. They don't care about our money, but they expect us to care about their money. THAT I DO NOT GET WHAT-SO-EVER?

Originally Posted by tuccillo (Post 1088636)

If it was me, I would have told him to keep the change from the 2 $20 gift certificates for the $34.69 check as the change would have covered the tip at 15%. I am sure his thought processes were that you would probably leave the change as a tip so why bother putting 31 cents down on the table just to pick it back up. The fact that he gave you a $5 instead of 5 1$ bills (bartenders and wait staff learn quickly to always give change in small denominations as it is easier to tip) indicates to me that this was his thinking. Is this a bit presumptuous? Sure. But from a pragmatic point of view it makes sense. I round up all tips to an even dollar amount so I really couldn't care less about the change, but that is just me. I have bartended but never waited tables. Most bartenders and wait staff work pretty hard and have to juggle a lot of things. You might want to consider cutting them some slack in the future. I really don't believe there was any malevolence.

Originally Posted by redwitch (Post 1082114)

And please tip on what the tab would have been before specials, comps, two for ones. Our servers work just as hard for your discounted meal as they do for those who pay full price.

Originally Posted by Springs1 (Post 1088656)

WOW, you are condoning THEFT, WOW! So you don't get that what he did was ILLEGAL? He should have gone in handcuffs to JAIL. THEFT IS THEFT.

Can I get something to-go from you as the bartender(let's say you are taking my to-go order in person) and the check amount is $12.30, I give you only $12? Would you still accept it knowing *YOU'D* have to come up with the 30 cents out of YOUR OWN POCKET or would you REFUSE to serve me that item telling me I'd have to have the right amount of change?

If so, what if EVERYONE did that, would you be OK with giving away 30 cents to every customer that came in?



At the time, we had never experienced this since we paid with credit cards ALWAYS or gift cards, so everything was electronic, no actual money was involved, so we never thought about doing that.

Also, why would I do that? The server's job is to work as HARD as they can for their tip to *EARN* it, so it's their job to get your change for you, NOT for you to make their job easier. If I am paying you, I expect you to do the 100% FULL ENTIRE JOB, NOT to SHORT-CUT the job to do it half-fast.

After having that stealing done to us, whenever we rarely paid with cash again, even if we wanted to leave everything, we made sure we got it all back.

Every customer should TEST the server for their HONESTY by getting the change. I will do this the rest of my life to make sure that who I am paying actually is a GOOD person that isn't a thief.



That's ENTIRELY the point, it's being ***********ENTITLED************************ rather than ***************EARNING THEIR TIP***************! IT'S LAZY AND IT'S STEALING.

Also, why not bother to put $6 on the table rather than shorting us?

You can still do the same by adding an extra dollar bill. There's not much extra work to include an extra dollar. It's actually only shorting the waiter 69 cents of his own money since 31 cents was our money.



But WHY act like you get to tip yourself before you even get a chance for the CUSTOMER to actually TIP YOU?

The CUSTOMER TIPS, NOT THE SERVER and it WASN'T "HIS" money at that point.

Why should he have thought he'd get a tip at all? He should be doing his job, then wait and see what the *CUSTOMER* actually leaves the table for you.

His mind should be like a cashier, giving change, that's it. It shouldn't be on "What will the customer leave me" at that point.



NO, it's A LOT presumptuous and it IS ILLEGAL. I can't short the restaurant, WHY can you short me?



NO it doesn't. It would have made sense more to put $6 of change on our table if he wanted a bigger tip honestly. Most people don't want the coins, so by ALWAYS giving more than owed, not only will you see the server is caring and not selfish, but it's almost like they are giving you a gift, so just like when servers have purposely not charged us for things we gave more in the tip, it works the same way.

So he would have forfeited his 69 cents, gained a dollar or two more in the tip. This is more pragmatic. It makes less sense to short the customer to **** them off and end up getting less or nothing or getting written up or fired or arrested for stealing.

So ALWAYS give more than the change. It works a lot better than shorting the customer.



That's not what the waiter did though. That's my point. Rounding up, not down so the customer isn't shorted.



In all honestly, a lot of them are LAZY today. They don't want to write down your order at times(then get it wrong), they don't make sure the prices are correct on your check, they don't check the food in the kitchen before they leave the kitchen with the wrong items or forget your side dish or condiments, etc.

Most are lazy.



Some slack for THEFT. NO. You act like servers are holier than thou like their money is above ours in this life. NO, I won't cut slack for selfish, lazy, and uncaring human beings. How dare you say I should cut someone slack for stealing. I bet you wouldn't want someone to take any of your tips away from you if you were still a bartender.

I only cut slack to people that try to make-up for their mistakes if it is even one. This was INTENTIONAL. You act like the waiter didn't intentionally steal. I mean if this had been an accident like they forgot something that's one thing, this was 100% PURE INTENTIONAL to steal.

I only give slack to people that *TRY* their best, show they care, etc.

For example, after asking for our 31 cents back, he could have fix it right away since it was OUR TURN BEFORE that person's side salad since HE messed up, NOT US and could have given us 50 cents rather than exactly 31 cents to make-up for this. He was TOO SELFISH to do that though. What a JERK he was. I mean really.

He didn't want to have any tip. If he would have, he would have given us 2 quarters(shorted himself only 19 cents and he couldn't do that the SELFISH JERK).

So NO, there's other ways he could have tried to show us that he didn't want to steal and act so entitled.

After I had asked for our coins back, he should have given us over the amount to show how horrible that was to do that to us to STEAL.

HOW can you say give people slack that INTENTIONAL did something as so horrible as to STEAL from you? Maybe you should go with Winona Ryder, because you are all into thinking it's OK to steal kind of thing. I don't care if it's just a penny, theft is theft.

As I said before, he could have forfeited 19 cents of his own money and was TOO SELFISH to try to make-up for it, so I made DARN SURE he got NOTHING at all and A REPORT to the manager.

What is wrong with this world of you entitled service industry workers? I don't understand how you can say I should give someone slack that did a CRIME? This wasn't a mistake like he INTENTIONALLY didn't give us back the change. I don't care what his way of thinking was, it wasn't *HIS* money to TIP with. TIPPING is a thing a CUSTOMER does, NOT the WORKER. A tip is also *EARNED* by doing the WORK of getting change. He was just a SELFISH JERK! I won't give money to anyone that steals. I don't care if it was a penny owed, if they do that, they deserve to go to jail for it just like EVERYONE ELSE that steals in this world. Stealing is wrong, morally and legally.

Originally Posted by JoMar (Post 1087985)

Good for your wife......she understands life isn't perfect. You must drive her crazy.

Originally Posted by Halibut (Post 1088361)

This rankles me, to be honest. The cleaning service we use charges $75 for our two-bedroom place. They send 2 people who are done in about an hour. I know those 2 women are only getting a small percentage of my $75, but feeling obliged to throw in an additional $10 tip irks me. I do it, but I feel kind of ripped off since I think cleaning service fees are outrageous as they are.

And what about someone is works for her- or himself? Their prices are generally lower and it takes them longer, but if they want more money they should increase their fees instead of relying on me to beef up their income out of the goodness of my heart. I don't tip anyone who is self-employed. (Same goes for those who drive people to the airport in their own cars. No tip for you! I do tip the shuttle drivers.)