Since when does Waitress = Slave?

[AmethystSquirrel]

the percentages kind of make me wonder... when i was younger, 15% was considered a good tip... now it's up to 20%.... when is it going to hit 30%, or even 40%? why don't restuarants just start paying their servers normal wages... i guess this may be more for fratching... but to be more on topic, i think that if you're going to a place where they pay servers under min. wage, then you should know to tip.

I do a sliding scale with tipping, I walk in and it's 15% for typical service; if the server is a brat, it goes down, If the server is great or does that something extra I go to 20-25%.

Usually I double the tax (I live in an 8.5% tax area)

[otakuneko]

I don't leave change in the tip, just bills. I figure if I were a server I wouldn't want the various quarters, dimes, and nickels that a stickler for the exact percentage might leave.

But for me the bill is only a secondary concern when figuring the tip.

[MadMike]

This bugs the crap out of me. I hate the laws that allow employers to pay sub-minimum wage to tip earners. The worst bit is most people don't know this is happening. They think their servers are making at least minimum wage and that the tip is just the bonus. I know it isn't. I don't think everyone needs to work as a waiter to know this - I think people need to be informed.

That's how I was. I'm shamed to admit I was a crappy tipper for the longest time. It wasn't until I started coming here (roughly 7 years ago), and found out just how badly severs get shafted. Now I normally tip about 20%, unless I truly received horrible service, which has happened once, maybe twice. But that's a whole other story.

[Mordecai]

I don't leave change in the tip, just bills. I figure if I were a server I wouldn't want the various quarters, dimes, and nickels that a stickler for the exact percentage might leave.

I never could understand why some people could be so stingy like that. Sometimes I have so many people paying me with there spare change that I feel less like a cashier and more like a coinstar.

[Aislin]

I had a waitress in an upscale establishment tell me this was her first shift in a week because places in Vegas are cutting hours so bad. She was incredible. She made our brunch the best every but the hostess could have cost her a tip if we had been typical SC.

They gave us lunch menus instead of the brunch menu so I ordered a lunch item not served at brunch or dinner. Poor woman had to come back and ask me to pick something else because they had given me the wrong menu. You could see in her calculating the chance of getting a good tip as 0%.

I had her recommend something and it turned out perfect. She told us about the city and gave us great travel advice and was a joy to have serve us.

Well, when the bill came we tipped almost 30% because she deserved it and we figured she would have to tip out on the drinks we had ordered. (my boyfriend and I have both done food service.)
She came back to the table and hugged me as I was getting up to leave. Apparently no one else had been tipping her or the other woman covering the other side of the place and frankly 2 of the other tables were pigs with piglets.

[DataJager]

Tipping is not just a city in China.

Though I have been known to be a complete ass about tipping in some cases, it's never because the food quality or speed. Usually, it's because my Dr. Pepper glass was never re-filled. Once back in the days of yore when I worked as a waiter, the kitchen took forever on some poor guy's food and I got stiffed. While I sympathized, it wasn't a fun day.

I think waiters really should be paid about $7 an hour, but still get tips. Making tips mandatory would just make the job bad for people who are really good servers. No one would tip over the 15/18%.

But honestly, if you can't wait for good food then there's always the pig's trough. Feel free to go cool your head in it.

[Lace Neil Singer]

That sounds like the people who used to come to the pizza takeaway place where I used to work and expect instapizza; and who probably head to Burger King and throw a tantrum if their food doesn't magically teleport from the grill to their tray. -.- As for tipping; a friend of mine reckons that the customers who look really rich are the ones who will always stiff waitstaff, cuz that's one of the reasons they're rich; they save money by stiffing servers. And then they go around whining about the terrible service they always receive at restaurants.