Tipping & waiters

VALID POINT!

I love you like the lexicographer/brother I never had, but shouldn't that be T.E.P.?

 

I only tip 20% at restaurants I go to frequently (Denny's, George Webb, Perkins, ), so the server remembers me. Get great service, and they are very grateful. Now granted, its a 20$ tab with a 4$ tip... .

Quite frankly, at expensive restaurants I never tip 20%. Sorry. You order a 400$ meal, and I am suposed give the waiter 50$! For what? He brought me the dam* food. Yipee. I could see tipping the cook, but that isn't customary .

What makes this waiter's act - literally 10 minutes of work, worth 50$? He worked no harder than the waitress at Denny's. Fortunately for waiters, my cheap*ss doesn't eat at expensive restaurants frequently. I just don't think the food justifies the price...

 

Remember most of the Wait staff is not being paid by the restraunt at all, if at all, i only discovered this a little while ago because in Canada they have to pay minimum wage.. In Texas they make 2 dollars an hour before tips so keep that little nugget in your head

 

Totally understand...

Thats why I like tipping at normal restaurants - they appreciate it.

Does the guy who clears tables make more at the fancy restaurant- nope.
Does the cleaning crew at the fancy place make more...nope.

Is the waiter expected to make lots more -yep.

I will tip 10% at expensive resturants, more if the service is AWESOME - not usually the case.

Quite frankly, I think we should tip the chef, not the guy who brought you the food. Pay the waiter a flat fee...pay the chef in tips.

 

I don't understand why people resent tipping in restaurants as if it's some kind of new custom or rule or something. It's just the cost of doing business, a part of the cost associated with dining in a restaurant. I always tip 20% and I honestly can't remember the last time I was in a restaurant where the service was bad enough that it affected my enjoyment of the meal. You guys must have some real jacka$$ waitpersons out in Cali.

Now if you want to get started on tipping my maid, my gardener, my paper guy, my dry cleaner, my garbage collector--yeah I agree that is annoying as hell.

ps, I gave a waitress a 100% tip last night at a bar just because she was looking very very hot and was very friendly. Good service goes a long way but hot always gets the biggest tips, especially when I've been drinking.

 

I don't return to restaurants where the service is lackluster or apathetic. (Granted, if you are going into a glorified burger joint, you don't expect much, but i still want attentive service without attitude, and if it's a problem, i'll speak to the manager or owner, if necessary- not so much to *****, but to say, hey, make me happy. But, if the place is a zoo, supercrowded, scene kind of place, you cannot realistically expect good service; after all, people aren't there for the food anyway.)
So, what i do is go to restaurants that treat me right, and i frequent them, and i tip heavily, i take care of the staff- so, if i want a known chef to cook me a take out meal, and maybe convince one of the busboys to hop into the car and deliver it to me at my house, done. If i don't really want what's on the menu, done. If i want to take my coffee outside so i don't have to leave the area of my car, or bike, or whatever, done. For this, i willingly pay. These people work their asses off dealing with the public, who generally suck. So, it's the least i can do in consideration.
If i am in a superlux restaurant where the service is stiff and formal, i tip by the book- and discount the wine as part of the calculation, but will separately tip the sommelier. If i am in a superlux restaurant and they blow me away, they're gonna get a serious tip, with my thanks.

 

Bill's comments reminded me of another point. It is not uncommon for me to leave a restaurant if I don't like the attitude of the hostess or the waitperson upon initial introduction. I mean you are setting yourself up for disaster if they can't even make a decent first impression. This used to pi$$ off my ex-wife to no end. I had lunch with her on Saturday and she'd been raving about this place she liked. Well we show up, we're standing around waiting to be seated and I'm looking around. I asked the hostess a question about the menu and she gives me a snippy reply. I turn to my ex and say, uh, you know what, **** them then, there are a dozen places that we can eat around here and not have to put up with that kind of bull****. The hostes says follow me, and I said thanks but I think we're going to try somewhere else. Haha, I thought my ex was going to strangle me.

 

I actually did waitress thru high school and part of college, so I am usually pretty forgiving and generous with my tips.

If I get less than steller service, the first thing I do is look around. Are they shorthanded causing the waitstaff to run their a$$es off or is the waitress simply gabbing with her friends at the next table or on a perpetual smoke break?

The waitstaff at the expenstive places do have to tip out quite a bit. They will usually tip the cook, hostess, busboys, bartender and still have to declare 8% to the IRS.

I will also be the first one to be less than nice when confronted with snobbery. I have never been able to figure out why they feel the need to be snobby--like I am going to give them a larger tip to win their approval? yea right.

 

LOL, i had to look that up...! i never even knew such a person existed... Where do they keep him/her...? In the cellar...? How do you find that person...? Every restaurant i've ever been in had the waiter get the wine... Maybe i should shut up now...

 

When I do circumcisions, I only take tips.

 

I was a waiter for 5 years and I did well. At the end I worked at an upscale steakhouse in Houston. I made $300-1K per night. Just remember the waiter has to pay to wait on you. They pay about 4-5% to the house for the hostesses and busboys so they start out negative. But first and foremost do not tip 15% or more if the service was not great. It just reinforces their bad behavior so that the next guy, or possibly you upon return, will get bad serivice.

 

My uncle has a goodway of giving "tips" for bad service. When the waiter just downright sucks, and I mean the service has to be absolutely terrible, he tips a penny. Except he puts it in a full glass of water, puts a plate over the glass, flips it over and slides the inverted glass onto the table. There is no way to avoid spilling all the water, just to get the penny. It may be a little mean, but is only used when the waiter really deserves it.

 

I must say that I tip well when appropriate. I have had some of the worst service and left little money at which a manager came and asked me why left so little. That is absolutely unnecessary.

When I go to clubs and get a table they automatically deduct 20% for tip. This sucks cause bottle service sucks at clubs and you have tabs of 800-1500 and 20 percent of that isn't a small amount. I feel that a TIP should be earned not expected. I also blame restaurants for this because they pay servers so little money where they rely on tips. Maybe they should pay them more so we don't have the responsibility of paying there wages....

Antony

 

YOU CHEAP BASTARDS MAN UP AND TIP OR COOK THE F*CKING FOOD YOURSELF AND STAY HOME!!!

 

When I was living in NYC, I have always tip the cab drivers. Then one day, an out-of-town cousin of mine pointed out to me that what extra service did the driver do that should they be tipped. I have to admit that she made a very valid point, the driver was doing nothing more than driving, which was his job of choice at that moment, should he be tipped for doing his job? We are referring to going from point A to point B with no luggages of any sort.

Not to take any achievement away from the Ironman of Baseball, Cal Ripkin. But another friend of mine had ask why and what is the big deal about Mr. Ripkin not miss a game for whatever years, wasn't playing baseball his job? Should we all get an award for going to work and doing our job on a daily bases?

 

Yo JP,

That is why I go to In-N-Out, my brutha If I tip, I expect a phone number

Hope all is well with you and the Mrs.

 

Do you ever get stiffed?

 

I tip "well" why? Because I wouldn't want their job....Think of the dickheads they have to deal with...I am also "lucky" enough in this case to live in New Jersey where BYOB is the norm...100 bucks all in chow for my wife and I, drinking a hondo bottle of wine...makes it tough to stiff the help.

Now including the bar bill in the % of tip...lets talk about that!!!!

Potter

 

haha...me too...just trying to act like Donald Trump.


things are going well...trip to texas was...ok, Sonic not as good as IN and OUT but we are going to Nice, Monaco and Paris next week until the end of the month.

Hey will be in Cali in the middle of June to see Emil's new Lambo, need to meet up at Crystal Cove

 

LOL, i feel the same way... i think i'm in the same boat as de993 (except that i was an absolutely horrible waiter) and now that i know all that they really do, i try to make sure that my tip counts - because as every waiter/waitress knows, a lot of tips don't count for much of anything at all...

 

My wife's an actress so before we were married, she waited tables....So minimum tip is 10% with a lecture if they sucked and voice my disappointment to the manager. 15% If they were average and 20% if they were amazing at one of the favorite places for dinner.

Or I have to hear it from the wife J/K actually she's the tough one. If they sucked tell them to there face

 

Why don't all restaurants pay their employees the full wage without having to make their waiters depend on tips. Perhaps make them go through a heavy regime enduring all kinds of restaurant enviorments to ensure that the prospect employee will comply and satisfy the customers needs in both service and quality. Restaurants are cheap, not us. It should all be included. The waiter brings out my food but the chef is the one who actually makes and prepares my food. So why tip the waiter?

...But who cares!.....

We're in the year 21st century. Buisnesses oughta include everything into one price. Isn't that the "thing" now? "Buy "this" and we'll include "this" all for the extraordinary price of $24.99!" Everything nowadays is included in the price except for tips. People shouldn't have to be encouraged to do their job better by tips and restaurants shouldn't be so cheap. Fix that problem and both sides will be happy.

Fact for 5/12/05
Whataburger = ONLY tip-less restaurant in the states; hardly tastes like fastfood. mmmm