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Well... If the prices get jacked up, restaurants will lose business so prices have to be kept reasonable.
Not necessarily so. In Europe it cost more to eat out than it does in this country, mainly because the servers' salaries are higher and thus calculated into the cost of the entire meal. Yet people still go out to eat and upscale restaurants still thrive.
Right now, servers get less than minimum wage with the rest coming from tips. If servers have to receive a larger hourly rate, the money that used to come from tips will have to come from someplace, hence jacking up food prices.
Well... If the prices get jacked up, restaurants will lose business so prices have to be kept reasonable.
I think that rather eating out would go back to the way it used to be, something people did as a treat, not something they do often and take for granted, like it is now
Not necessarily so. In Europe it cost more to eat out than it does in this country, mainly because the servers' salaries are higher and thus calculated into the cost of the entire meal. Yet people still go out to eat and upscale restaurants still thrive.
Right now, servers get less than minimum wage with the rest coming from tips. If servers have to receive a larger hourly rate, the money that used to come from tips will have to come from someplace, hence jacking up food prices.
My daughter would have HATED going to a wage vs. tips. In a 6 - 8 hour shift, she would usually make $150/$200 in tips. What restaurant is going to pay their servers $25-$30 an hour?
All I know is that the OP had better never return to that establishment. If that server or any of the other staff who were on that night recognize him, his food is going to be seasoned with phlegm.
So that's the kind of people that work in the food industry? Disgusting, no matter what a customer may have said or done.
Location: The Chatterdome in La La Land, CaliFUNia
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dblackga
My daughter would have HATED going to a wage vs. tips. In a 6 - 8 hour shift, she would usually make $150/$200 in tips. What restaurant is going to pay their servers $25-$30 an hour?
WOW! That's a lot of money ... Spare me the "poor waitress/waiter" story ....
You just reinforced this belief that people who use dining certs don't tip. It was a free meal, right?
NO, actually we bought $100 gift certificates to get the $20 free gift certificate deal they had a christmas time FROM HIM even BEFORE we got seated. I guess you can say $20 was free out of the $34.69 if you look at it that way, but anyone that doesn't see that gift certificates are a method of payment not a discount is just plain stupid.
How did I reinforce that? So 31 cents he really wanted rather than nothing? I doubt that was his plan that he wanted a 31 cent tip, I mean really you can't even buy anything with 31 cents by itself. He was just too lazy to get the change from the bar or bring some change on himself and decided to not give us coins because he was selfish to tip himself PART OF THE TIP that we were going to give him. I made him get the 31 cents and made sure he knew what he did wrong by telling the manager about the theft. He could have given us $6 change and decided to forfeit his 69 cents of his own money, which by doing that would have made his tip increase in size to show he wasn't selfish. Instead he chose to steal it tip himself instead of letting **US DECIDE THE TIP AS IT IS SUPPOSED TO BE DONE**.
Even if a penny was owed in change, if my server didn't return that penny, they'd get stiffed and I would make them get the penny, because that's OUR MONEY, NOT theirs to do anything with. WE TIP, NOT THEM! If you get change everywhere else, why because a person makes tips that you wouldn't get your full amount of change WITHOUT having to ask for it?
This is why I think customary tipping should be done away with as this practice can penalize a server should they not receive the tips that the government expects them to have .... Anyways ... I, as a customer, will tip as it is expected but I do NOT feel that servers deserve 20-30% of my bill! When will this end? Are we going to eventually get to 50%???? It really should NOT be the customer's responsibility to pay a server a portion of their wages.
I agree this tipping practice and the penalizing of such by the IRS should be done away with.
And I agree it should not be the customers responsibility to pay a server a portion of their wages.
Here in California, that is not the case because our servers make minimum wage. But I hear other States jip their servers paying them beans expecting the customer to make up the difference.
I guess we will have to disagree that servers deserve 20-30% BUT I will add a trick we've came up with.
90% of our dining out in restaurants is at the Sizzer (a buffet). We order one drink, and one water. Our server(s) never seem to mind re-filling it for us and the $2.75 we save helps us pay the tip. We also try to remain in the same servers section so they know we tip well. And don't mind the sharing of a drink.
If anyone else here has tips upon how to save money at restaurants, I'd love to hear them. I suppose I should start a new thread.
I watch out for Sizzler coupons which pop up rarely.. and if possible, eat during lunch hours instead of dinner because it's $2 less per person ($9.95 versus $11.95)
WOW! That's a lot of money ... Spare me the "poor waitress/waiter" story ....
It's a nice restaurant. If you're going to be a server, serve in high-price restaurants. :-) She worked four times a week during school. Figure $150 a night, that's $600 a week. Plus she paid taxes on that, and shared with the busboys. Paid 1/3 rent in her apartment. Paid for books and most school expense, such as her service sorority, etc. Paid for clothes. Paid for car, gas and insurance. She even paid for her dog, when she couldn't resist (THAT was an eye-opener -- the "free" puppy ended up costing $1,200 in vet bills her first day!) Paid for extra travel, and stashed some in savings, anticipating graduation and needing downpayment on an apartment, etc. She would certainly have had a hard time raising a child on that, for example. The owner of the restaurant has had the restaurant for years, and treats the staff well -- mostly college kids, with a couple of older people who have been there for years. She worked there for three years during college.
If she had been working in a sandwich shop, an Applebees, a coffee shop or a Mexican restaurant, I suspect her take would have been much different.
For what its worth, in my years in the industry I have never even heard the rumor of this happening in any restaurant I have worked for. That is not to say it has never happened, but it must be very rare, in my opinion. Fast food joints run by immature high schoolers may be another story.
If you stiff a waitress, leave her no tip or a very poor tip on a huge service, or otherwise humiliate her or get her in trouble with management for a petty reason, you are far more likely to simply drive her to tears (this I saw on a regular basis) than get her to mess with a customers food.
I've heard of it. Stiffing servers and sending food back are risky propositions in New York, depending on the establishment. Obviously, it's less likely to happen at a high-end kind of place, but if the OP's meal was only $14, I doubt it was a five-star restaurant or Zagat rated. Regular bar and grill? Yeah. No. Do the right thing and leave some kind of tip.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BOS2IAD
Not necessarily so. In Europe it cost more to eat out than it does in this country, mainly because the servers' salaries are higher and thus calculated into the cost of the entire meal. Yet people still go out to eat and upscale restaurants still thrive.
Right now, servers get less than minimum wage with the rest coming from tips. If servers have to receive a larger hourly rate, the money that used to come from tips will have to come from someplace, hence jacking up food prices.
The other thing is that in Europe, serving is actually considered a career, and patrons tend not to treat servers like, well, like the OP did, like second-class citizens. Patrons don't come off with the entitled attitude and throw hissy fits over chump change like $6 US.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chatteress
WOW! That's a lot of money ... Spare me the "poor waitress/waiter" story ....
Actually, it may be good money, but it also has to be tallied and declared to the government monthly. It's not as though people just pocket all the money given to them as tips. They pay taxes on it.
Folks, if you're not satisfied with the service, leave a below-average tip, like 10%, or talk to the manager, but remember that you have bad days at work, too. Also, the OP should have considered that the restaurant may have been understaffed that night, and that's not something the servers have control over.
Stiffing a server entirely? No, that is just wrong. They still took your order. They still put the order in. So what if they didn't kiss your behind and hold your hand through the meal? Honestly, the OP sounds childish. "Boo hoo, she didn't come around asking me how I am! WAAAAHHHH!" It doesn't occur to him that in some places, servers are not supposed to do that. They are supposed to watch discreetly for signs that you may need something and not interrupt your meal. The best servers do exactly that, and seem to appear right when you need something. It's not magic. They were keeping an eye out from a distance.
I think anyone who thinks tips are optional really needs to consider that servers make anywhere from $2 to $5 an hour in basic wages as a salary. A lot of them cobble together a work-week through two or three jobs, none of which offer any benefits or paid time off. Unless a server cusses you out, hits you, or otherwise lashes out at you; sneezes or coughs on you or your food; or gets their fingers in your food or drink, stiffing them completely is really a petty, childish thing to do. Heck, I've dumped men over that. It's ugly.
Last edited by Lilac110; 01-25-2015 at 10:50 PM..
Reason: type much?
It's a nice restaurant. If you're going to be a server, serve in high-price restaurants. :-) She worked four times a week during school. Figure $150 a night, that's $600 a week. Plus she paid taxes on that, and shared with the busboys. Paid 1/3 rent in her apartment. Paid for books and most school expense, such as her service sorority, etc. Paid for clothes. Paid for car, gas and insurance. She even paid for her dog, when she couldn't resist (THAT was an eye-opener -- the "free" puppy ended up costing $1,200 in vet bills her first day!) Paid for extra travel, and stashed some in savings, anticipating graduation and needing downpayment on an apartment, etc. She would certainly have had a hard time raising a child on that, for example. The owner of the restaurant has had the restaurant for years, and treats the staff well -- mostly college kids, with a couple of older people who have been there for years. She worked there for three years during college.
If she had been working in a sandwich shop, an Applebees, a coffee shop or a Mexican restaurant, I suspect her take would have been much different.
Or work in a resort town that caters to an expensive hobby like skiing. My sister made money hand over fist waitressing and bartending in Vail, Colorado. Imagine making $300 on a weeknight in the early to mid-80s. Her weekend money was just sick. She would work Wednesday through Sunday and ski on Monday and Tuesday.
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It doesn't occur to him that in some places, servers are not supposed to do that. They are supposed to watch discreetly for signs that you may need something and not interrupt your meal. The best servers do exactly that, and seem to appear right when you need something. It's not magic. They were keeping an eye out from a distance.
