Embarrassing Tipping Incident

[CJsoccerchic]

Re: Embarrassing Tipping Incident

Not to get on everyone's bad side.... But MOST who did leave feedback, have NOT been waitresses or bartenders...
I've done both and have to say that 10% is terrible - I DO agree that the owner running out was BAD!!! A BIG NO-NO!!!!!
ANd I forgot who mentioned it, but YES, it is law that waitresses DO have to pay taxes on the 15% whether they make it or not. So next time you guys go out to eat and you get good service. tip nicely - you' d hate to think that the waitress was paying taxes for your lacking of tipping well enough. It makes me upset to think that I PAID [tax dollars] for someone to eat at my table (when they don't tip good or not at all)
I have never said someone didn't tip enough though... and even though I may have been disppointed, I always smiled and said thank you.

[sweeps]

Re: Embarrassing Tipping Incident

Hi CJ. Not disputing what you're saying, but is there an official source you can point me to which talks about this required 15% tax law? It seems odd to me and I'd like to read more about it.

[robex]

Re: Embarrassing Tipping Incident

I'm a restaurant manager and there's NO WAY I would ever question a customer on a tip amount. If someone didn't leave a tip, and I knew them, I would certainly ask if everything was okay with their service and food, but I would never let on about a tip amount.

When I waitressed, we had a regular customer who was a poor tipper (if he tipped at all!), and one day he gave me $30.00 on a $29.75 bill and told me to keep the change. I pretty much tossed the quarter back on his table. After he left, I found a $5.00 tip there, and he always tipped me well after that.

Tips are an extra bonus to your wage. Waitresses do work hard, but in my restaurant they easily walk out with $80.00-$100.00 after a 6 hour shift...their wage is $9.00 an hour, on top of that! That's good money, in my opinion.

[Ima saver]

Re: Embarrassing Tipping Incident

I was a waitress and we never said anything about anyone not tipping enough/ In fact, where I live, the tip was pretty much the same, $1. It didn't matter if it was 2, 4 or 6 people, it was always $1.
We had one family of 6 that came in several times a week and never tipped a dime. I did not do anything to them, but I did not run to give them extra bread and cokes like they always wanted. An adverage day or week night, we made about $20 in tips.

[BTC]

Re: Embarrassing Tipping Incident

If you had any balls, you would have whacked her like Christopher & Paulie.

[bama20]

Re: Embarrassing Tipping Incident

did not know about the 15% taxes and the government. i was a waiter for about a year and that was some hard work. it really was the pits when you got stiffed by your customers at your table. another thing that made me mad is when they would just sit there and talk and not leave. this killed my turnover and cost me lots of money.

[lucasrd]

Re: Embarrassing Tipping Incident

I don't believe in tipping a % of the bill. I just tip based on how long I was there and how much work the waitress/waiter does.

Little known fact...sure waiters and waitresses make below minimum...however, if their tips don't add up to an average of minimum wage, the restaurant is required to pay them the difference....

So people!! DO NOT FEEL OBLIGATED TO LEAVE A TIP!! I feel this has become too commonplace...if the restaurants want to make more $$, they should charge higher prices. A tip should not be expected...it should be a reward for excellent service!!!

[Ima saver]

Re: Embarrassing Tipping Incident

I don't think whacking people would solve anything! Most of the time, the owners could care less what people tip. I have had busloads of people come in. The meal was included in the price of the bus ticket, so they figured the tip was too. I worked the whole bus load for nothing!

[lucasrd]

Re: Embarrassing Tipping Incident

most restaurants here include the tip in your check

I don't eat at places that do this...I think it is WRONG!

[Ima saver]

Re: Embarrassing Tipping Incident

No, I don't like that either!!

[debtdude]

Re: Embarrassing Tipping Incident

I had a waiter run me down as I walked to my car with my date. When I was computing the tip, I had two stacks of cash - one that was to go back into my wallet and one leave on the table - enough for the bill and a nice tip. I left the wrong stack and it appeared I was paying $15 for a $30 meal.

I quickly apologized and gave him the correct amount of money.

[pyotr]

Re: Embarrassing Tipping Incident

The restaurant payment system is based on giving the wait-people a portion of their wages, then incentivizing them to do well with the customers by making the tips be a large part of their actual wages - they do have to report these and pay taxes on the tips in aggregate. If you read Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickel and Dimed - you can get a sense of how wait-people depend on your tips to make their wages. I believe in tipping at least 15%-25% as long as you were treated decently - if you're not willing to participate in these tips, I say go eat at Subways or places like that instead. If your waiter is grossly rude and obnoxious, I believe you can give them like 10% or less to show them how badly you were treated - I've done this in an upscale restaurant once where the French waiter was so rude and dismissive that I gave him a $1 tip for the $100 meal. In a nice restaurant with outstanding service giving something like $25 for a $100 meal would be average tipping I think.

[Ima saver]

Re: Embarrassing Tipping Incident

Lisa, I totally agree with you. My restaurant just about killed us with all the side work. We had to do all the cleaning, they hired no one else to do this. I waitressed 20 years ago, and made $2.01 and hour. The wages have only gone up 12 cents in 22 years??
This is not fair! I left my waitress $6 for a $10 bill the other night and she said, hey that is too much. I told her I was trying to make up for all the cheapskates that should not eat out. If you can't afford to tip, you can't afford to eat out. Go to McDonald's!!

[Ima saver]

Re: Embarrassing Tipping Incident

BTY, my restaurant never made up the difference in my tips. They might have if I asked, but I would not have had that job very long, and jobs were few and far between in the boondocks!