Community Chat

[happycat]

If I couldn't afford to leave a tip, after paying for my meal, I would go to a cheaper restaurant. I've been out to eat with people who leave skimpy tips or one person, one time who said she coudln't afford to leave a tip, so I left plenty for both of us. I'm not a fan of cheap/no tippers.

[Cakers3]

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@TenderMercies wrote:

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@Cakers3 wrote:

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@TenderMercies wrote:

Tips should be added automatically to bills in restaurants.  The idea of tipping servers came from the need for servers to be complimented equally during shifts that may vary in attendance of guests.  The idea was that you get paid for the work you put in rather than getting a flat rate to sit around doing very little during certain hours while others run around busting their humps during other hours.  Put a sign on the door that says the restaurant adds 18% gratuity to the bill, and if the guests don't like it, they can eat somewhere else.  

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@TenderMercies  I disagree with the automatic 18% although that is common in restaurants serving parties of 6 or more.  The 18% is added to the bill, no questions asked. 

It isn't up to the restaurant to decide how much a customer "should" tip; tips are about service, although I agree about the large party.

I think putting up a sign put all the emphasis on the tip and not the service.

Talk about greed and entitlement on the flip side of the coin.

jmoymmv

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@Cakers3 People are heathens, and as this thread progresses, this will be proven.  Tips should be added to the bill.

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@TenderMerciesHeathens?  LOL  So only non-believes don't tip?  I don't follow.

I don't think snarly, poor service waitstaff deserve an automatic tip.  Good service deserves a tip, imo.  But I'm not about to force other customers to follow what *I* think should happen.

[Cakers3]

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@happycat wrote:

If I couldn't afford to leave a tip, after paying for my meal, I would go to a cheaper restaurant. I've been out to eat with people who leave skimpy tips or one person, one time who said she coudln't afford to leave a tip, so I left plenty for both of us. I'm not a fan of cheap/no tippers.

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@happycat  Oh boy did this bring up a memory from the time a group of us "girls" would get together to get a bite to eat.  One ALWAYS brought "just enough" money for her food and never left a tip. 

Considering nobody brings the exact dollars for a meal-she wouldn't even leave the change. 

And yes, she could well afford it more than some of the others in our group.

[Isobel Archer]

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@Alison Wonderland wrote:

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@Isobel Archer wrote:

Just read another article that Starbucks is closing in 150 locations due to rises in minimum wages.

Those of you upset about oppressed servers might want to direct your wrath there.

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It's about more than minimum wage. They're closing stores in markets where they aren't seeing growth and that are already saturated with Starbucks stores. When they were growing a lot, they made a habbit of opening two stores on the same street on opposite sides, so that it was easy for drivers in either direction to stop and get back on the road. Where my parents live, they've got a Starbucks in the main grocery store and a full Starbucks across the street from the grocery store. There's also a Peet's coffee in the same strip mall as the grocery store that's across the street from the Starbucks. And less then a mile down the road there's another full Starbucks.

Where I am, there's a Starbucks inside the grocery store and around the corner from the grocery store in the same strip mall there's a full Starbucks.

They also had a lot of unexpected expenses in the last two quarters. They  took a big hit after some of the things that happened in their stores and faced boycotts, then took a financial hit when they closed 8,000 stores for a few hours this quarter to do some training that I imagine cost them a considerable amount of money to develope on top of loss of the stores closed for the training. They've had a rough 2018.

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CEO Kevin Johnson was quoted as saying that stores were closing in "major metro areas  where increases in wage and occupancy and other regulatory requirements are making them unprofitable."

So it seems that wages are a factor.

[Cakers3]

Poor Starbucks.  Not.

[luvdoodles]

I totally agree with you. Why should they have to be penalized. Most waiters/waitress are wonderful and work their butt off. 

[Isobel Archer]

I have no idea what a server "should make" or what he/she "deserves."  It would seem that as in other occupations, it would be what the market will bear.

Once they set themselves up as "deserving" - and getting - minimum wage - causing the employer to more than quadruple their wages, - and as a result to raise prices, it seems a bit much to then insist that diners still "owe" them more - and apparently according to some - this is regardless of actual "service."

I totally get that for many apparently, minimum wage will be a significant decrease from what they are now getting.  $12.50 is less than half a over $30.  But if to pay for the quadruple increase the restaurant is now on the hook for, my meal jumps from $15 to $20 (a 33% increase) - or at a "nicer place" from $50 to $75 (a 50% increase), are diners  then obligated to add an additional 20% on to that because if they don't, they are greedy, insensitive, and entitled - and shouldn't be eating out in the first place?

Seriously?

[Yardlie]

My nephew worked his way through college as a waiter. On a slow weekend night, he made $250 in tips. His average was $300, and many nights it was $400+. He had to give a certain percent to the hostess, the dishwashers, the bussing people, etc. Even though he is working full time at another job now, he still works a couple weekends a month as a waiter to help pay college loans. At the place he works, he was required to start as a dishwasher and work his way up so that he appreciated the other staff and didn't try to cheat them. If they were found cheating, they were fired immediately. He said he much preferred this system to minimum wage as prices will go up, people will eat out far less, and it will hurt the economy in the long run. 

[SahmIam]

Two things:

1) I'm not a fan of automatically adding the tip to the price as I won't tip for poor service. Nope. Not happening.

2) That said, I do have a exception to that rule: Room service.

I often travel with my son for his medical care. Depending on the amount of time we will be somewhere it may be an extended stay location or a standard hotel. When the latter, I make sure they have 24 hour room service or at least a full service restaurant with room service provided. None of the places we've stayed have NOT added a tip automatically to the room service order. It states at the bottom and it's usually 18%. Depending on how the first time we're served goes, I either tip nothing extra OR I tip 20%. I have found that there is HUGE difference when I tip that extra amount:

*special orders are no problem no matter what it may be

*extras arrive with the meal

*the food arrives fresh, hot (or cold) and FAST

*serving staff bends over backwards to get us anything we may need

*we find that we get better service all around 

Now, I say this because when you're in a hotel for medical reasons, you will and do meet others there for the same purpose and you hear people talk about where they're staying. My son has often commented that we get great service but others at the same place don't based on what he has heard from fellow patients or when sitting around waiting and hear others complaining.  Yes, tipping DOES make a difference in this situation and that's WHY I tip: excellent service. You want that extra tip, then you  have to earn it. Mediocrity becomes the norm when you're automatically rewarded for it.

[Lipstickdiva]

A couple of years ago I was in the Finger Lakes region of NY. A couple of the restaurants we went to had a large sign indicating something along line of  they paid their employees a livable wage and tipping was not required or expected.