"I'm a server and understand but you get a buck tip"

[Emrld]

My biggest issue with the large party instant tip calculation is at lunch hours.

For some reason the few times I have been in a situation of being at a lunch where it was added - it was the worst service ever . . .kinda like they know they will be getting our tip so why not slack on us and earn from others . . .

Dinner - never had this problem - treated as well as the rest of their tables.

[JustAGirl]

Tipping is also a touchy subject for me. I hate it when people say things like "if you can't afford to tip you can't afford the meal" its bs imwo. They can afford the meal, they just didn't have a tip at that time. Perhaps they realize that and will make up for it later? Perhaps they usually tip well above and beyond the 'usual' 20%???

Before I get yelled at... I tip 20%. Higher or lower depending on service and food quality, but its usually 20%. A few times I've realized I do not have enough for a tip. That does not mean I'm going to go to McD's or anything, it just means I'll either make it up next time or I've already made it up by giving them an awesome tip at a previous visit. When gratuities are added to our bill, I make sure everyone at the table knows this and tips accordingly.

I do not think tips should be expected OR required and those in that profession who think that are in the wrong field of work. I have a few waiter friends that feel the same as I do.

I do feel they are getting paid crap pay, and I realize they DO depend on tips, but they chose that job knowing that they are getting paid that way. If you do not like not getting 20% tips all the time, find another job.

[air914]

I definitely feel that waiters/waitresses need to be paid a higher wage - not that tips should be cut out entirely, but I feel tipping should be based on service. I'm really really terrible at math, so I use the tip calculator on my cell phone and usually tip that. I know some people hate that - I just really don't want to sit there and figure out the math (I know, for some it's really easy - not me), so I just use the tip calculator and tip 15% - although I can tip more, and have, if the service was really great. I hate tipping a lot though when basically the waiter/waitress just came by, took my order, disappeared, someone else brought the food out, and they only later reappear briefly to ask if everything is okay and disappear again until I'm flagging down another waiter/waitress to get them so I can pay my bill.

I have also been caught not having enough to tip - or I have like $.50 left and I feel really bad leaving just $.50 - like it's an insult.... rather than not leaving a tip at all.... although I guess that could be an insult too. I've just done it when I only had cash on me and I just seemed to run out of it - or, I knew I had to eat the next day and I needed that cash so i could get something to eat (recently, didn't tip the free shuttle from the hotel b/c I needed money to eat at the airport the next day - I was going to be stuck there 3 hours and no matter what I got, it was going to be a couple of dollars b/c all that crap in the airport is expensive - so I figured I needed that money more than they did at the time - esp. b/c others did tip - I wasn't the only one).

[Becks]

*Feel free to throw rotten tomatoes at me now

A use for this...

[RecoveringKinkoid]

That does not mean I'm going to go to McD's or anything, it just means I'll either make it up next time or I've already made it up by giving them an awesome tip at a previous visit.

So, you're telling us you go to the place and request the same waitress and then pay her back the tip for this meal and then at least 10 percent on the last one you stiffed her on? Well, that's cool, because you know she got taxed on the money she didn't get from you the first time. She paid out of pocket on that, you know.

Me, I'd be afraid to ask for the same waitress I'd stiffed the last time. I'd be embarassed, and I'd be afraid she might recognize me and give me truly horrendous service or worse. But that's just me.

[Emrld]

I am not following how she paid tax on money she didn't earn? Please explain . . .wait persons report the tips they do get - not should have gotten - at least that is the case where I live.


I did have a collage hang out that I had lunch at, at least twice a week. I ordered the same thing, had the same waitress, and always treated her well. Their were a few times that instead of an over 15% cash tip my friend and I would do something else for her. (She was the one who told us we were her favorites and she didn't always expect to be tipped so well) There was the day she was frusterated she couldn't find her pens cause co-workers the night before . . .so the next time we came in we brought in about a $10 assortment of colored pens.

For Valentines we brought her a little plush animal . . .Christmas we gave her a card to open on day off and had $25 in it - day off makes it gift not tip.

So one day I go in and get lunch only to realize after the fact - I have no wallet - it was missing. She said don't worry she would cover me. I felt horrible. She called me that night to see if I had found my wallet (another classmate found and returned it) she also told me I was not allowed to be embarrased and she expected to see me on my next normal visit. - She never did let me pay back or tip for that day. -

[Shabo]

Yeah, she shouldn't have declared tips she didn't earn.

Also, (from what I've found from experience) fellow wait staff tend to be the most difficult to please when it comes to service. They can be the most understanding if you are really busy, but if you aren't, they have no sympathy. They also tend to be the most demanding, as in how they want their food made, how often they want their drink filled, etc. If you meet all their expectations, they will tend to tip handsomely, but if you don't, they're cruel and vicious with their tips.

I have gotten nothing for a tip before, to short-changed on the bill (the restaurant usually discounted the bill so what they left would cover it plus a little for the tip). And yes, I've been left someone's 2 cents before. Each time it happens, the server gets really upset. Especially if it's busy, and we've done all we could for them. We aren't superheroes. Sometimes, it's just the customer being sucky. No matter what, it blows big time since the customer has taken up our table for an hour or more, taken up our time to serve them, and ultimately lost us money that we could have gained if we had had someone else instead of them. It's true that servers only make $2.(random change depending on state), and when customers don't tip, we don't make money. We get taxed on tips we declare, and the taxes are taken out of the measly $2 per hour the restaurant gives us, which means we get around $5 every two weeks in checks. If we don't get tipped, we really don't make any money.

The plus side of this system is that the servers can work it to benefit themselves. Good servers make better money, and the bad ones don't, therefore get weeded out. Plus, getting paid in cash... well, we have our own tricks to declaring tips. I'll just leave it at that.

The down side is that people are not required to tip us. However, since it is expected (especially enough to lower our minimum wage!), then it makes those people who don't do it complete f***trumpets. (I love that phrase!) Good service is so subjective that it makes it hard to say when someone deserves 15% vs. 20%.

To be fair to servers, we work our tails off. We deserve more than minimum wage. We make more than minimum wage, with tips-- even with how little we make per hour from the restaurant. To say that it's unfair that we get tipped and that we should be making minimum wage from the restaurant is, IMHO, unfair. I worked WAY harder as a waitress than I have at any of the other jobs that I had, and I still think that the money I made as the waitress wasn't enough with all the work the restaurant required me to do.

I think that the system works just fine as is, but people need to know that we depend on the tips to make money. If we don't make regular minimum wage with our tips, the restaurant is required to make up the difference. This would raise the cost of the food considerably. So, if you don't like tipping, don't eat at restaurants.

[MrSunshineState]

I believe very highly in tipping. 25-30% is my norm. 45% is automatic for a Hooters girl

[Nayeli_Sabia]

I tip relitively well. I start at 20%, more if it's better, less if it's not(However, I don't blame the server for bad/poor food, that's the cook, not the waitstaff).

What confuses me is tipping a cab. I called a cab once. I was stuck, I had literaly just enough to get to work(No busses in my area at the time). Never taken a cab before. I gave him exact change, and got yelled at for not tipping. He'd already heard me say that I had been called in last minute and that I was loosing money to work! (Cab ride was $25, I made $30 before taxes that day)

[reformedwaitress]

I am not following how she paid tax on money she didn't earn? Please explain . . .wait persons report the tips they do get - not should have gotten - at least that is the case where I live.

Yeah, she shouldn't have declared tips she didn't earn.

In the United States, you are taxed on all tips that you claim. However, you are AUTOMATICALLY taxed on, I believe, an amount equal to 10% of your sales, whether you make that much or not (it might be 8%). So say you have a bad night and have a lot of people who have enough for the meal but not the tip. Say your sales are $800 and you only made $40 (drastic example, but possible). You would still be taxed as if you'd earned $80, I believe, even though you didn't actually make it.

The way the government does taxing of tips is insane. Though I agree with Jester. If a restraunt said they would pay me minimum wage but take away my tips? I'd quit. I average much more than any restaurant's going to pay me hourly and I know that. That's why, while there are times I get annoyed, I try not to b*tch about tips too much.

Though this is a debate we will never ever EVER have full consensus on no matter what. So don't try to change everyone else's minds.

[napoleana]

Not exactly the same thing, but something that's starting to really tick me off, is that when I go out to eat with my close friend and her husband, they don't tip. (Him because he has a bastard image to maintain; she because she always claims she doesn't have much.) Usually, I'll leave the tip. But half the time, she'll try and steal it before the waitress comes by!

She's a wonderful girl otherwise, but seriously needs to recognize that she does not "need the money" more than the crap paid waitress at the cheap-ass Chinese place...


My personal tip amount is the normal 15-20% (usually 20) but rounded up to whatever bills I have available. If I'm eating somewhere cheap, I tip much higher, because a buck is not a tip.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

She's a wonderful girl otherwise, but seriously needs to recognize that she does not "need the money" more than the crap paid waitress at the cheap-ass Chinese place...

Time to break out the cliches':

"Someone who is nice to you but not to the waitress is not a nice person" (or something like that.)

"A man is judged by the company he keeps."

"Lay down with dogs, get up with fleas."

And one from RK "You need some new friends!"

These sound like seriously yucky people.

[BdwayBabu799]

I believe very highly in tipping. 25-30% is my norm. 45% is automatic for a Hooters girl

You sound like a friend of mine. I think I tip pretty nicely but no where near as generous as she does. If the service is good, minumum is 20-25%..I have seen her tip 80% of the bill before, but the service was pretty amazing! I try to do 15-20%, I figure even if the service is not the best I have ever had, as long as I get my food and they are friendly I tip a minimum of 20%.

Now one time, while vacationing, I had horrible service. The food was good but the waitress was very rude, slammed my food down when serving it. I tried to be very polite to no aval. She was just a nasty person. My grandma said when you get service like that leave a penny, I didn't have it in me, so I gave 10% and she chased me out of the restaurant and threw the tip at me she yelled"keep your f***ing money!" I went in and complained to the manager and got my money back. Since then I have been really afraid of tipping bad let me tell you. I also swear to you I was not a dreaded SC to her!

[Dawnchaser]

My grandma said when you get service like that leave a penny, I didn't have it in me, so I gave 10% and she chased me out of the restaurant and threw the tip at me she yelled"keep your f***ing money!" I went in and complained to the manager and got my money back. Since then I have been really afraid of tipping bad let me tell you. I also swear to you I was not a dreaded SC to her!

We had terrible service at a very popular and expensive restaurant in a nearby city. The food was really gross AND the server was incredibly rude and snotty. It defied belief. (The food issues weren't really "fixable" - it just wasn't our type of food at all - our fault for ordering those dishes. I wouldn't have dropped his tip because of that.)

We think it was because we were all dressed down. We'd been driving around all day, didn't have clothing changes with us, and there were no dress code requirements. (We called ahead to make sure.) He just assumed we wouldn't tip.

Anyway, my husband and I left 10% because, like you, we just couldn't stiff him entirely. One friend left a dollar, another nothing.

He followed us outside and down several streets screaming and demanding to know what the deal was. He left right before I gave up and gave him the fight he was clearly looking for. My friend called the restaurant immediately and got an apology and an offer for a free meal...not that we'll ever go back!

One of my co-workers used to be a server at Olive Garden and said that was pretty common server behavior. I've never seen it before in real life (bad movies, yes) so hopefully he is making that up. Made me sorry I tipped anything...

[XXDarrienX]

I have never chased out a customer with a tip and I have I will admit completely forgotten about a table and received a penny as a tip and never forgot that. the other thing I noticed is if the food is taking a long time or is late and were not busy or the cooks mess up the customers generally take it out on the servers as far as the tip goes. The other question, have people actually asked you how much to tip you? On one hand you could be honest or tell them to do whatever they wish. I always hated those questions.


The previous post about claiming your tips based on your sales. That is absolutely correct.