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> I don't know why these waiters and bartenders feel they deserve these huge tips for doing their jobs.
Maybe because they are paid minimum wage, or in some cases less?
I tip the 15% or a bit more.
I do believe (possibly as a consequence of FoodTV) that some of the trendy restaurants are getting above themselves, and this may have rubbed off onto the servers.
15% is par for table service in the US.
10% (a lesser rate) is par at the bar or counter (for a lesser level of service).
Want to pay more as a customer? Good for you.
Want to expect more as a "server"... don't.
I'm guessing we are talking about different kinds of places. Since it's not uncommon to eat a full meal at a bar, the concept of "lesser service" doesn't apply to what I am talking about.
And if you're really leaving $.70 on a $7 beer, then.....good luck with the second round.
My DH and I recently returned from a trip during which we spent one day exploring New Orleans for the first time. We do dine out fairly frequently but not normally at very upscale establishments, more middle of the road places. On this occasion, however, our kids gave us a $50 gift card for an upscale restaurant in the French Quarter and we used it for brunch. Without the gift card, the bill would have come to $73 for the two of us, and I tipped according to that amount, not the $23 balance after the gift card, obviously. I tipped 20%, which is what I normally tip anywhere we go, so around $15.
After we got up and were leaving the restaurant, I looked back and saw the server quickly pick up our check and look it over and then gesture to a co-worker that he wasn't very pleased, or at least that's how it appeared based on his facial expression. Is 20% not considered an adequate amount in better restaurants? Did I offend this server? I honestly thought I tipped an adequate amount. We weren't messy or demanding in any way, just ordered, ate neatly, and left.
Maybe I'm reading too much into this, but if we ever to go an establishment like this again, I would like to know if I did something wrong. Any thoughts?
In my opinion if you tipped 20% of the entire bill you were well with in the acceptable amount. We normally tip 18% in a standard restaurant, 20% in an upscale and less if it is a buffet or the service is poor. I think the tipping game is really getting out of hand. Yes, the wait staff normally works hard and they depend on tips for their living, but enough is enough.
You have been more than generous. If the waiters are not happy, that's their own problem. If they think tips are not enough, they should get more skills to secure better paid jobs.
It is normal practice to tip 15% on pre-tax bill (not after tax). Customers are not there to make the waiters happy. Sometimes the world becomes backwards.
Actually depending on where you live or are eating 15% is no longer normal. It should be but is not. Now, on your other point, yes the tip should be before taxes: that is how hubby and I normally do it, but our kids think we are cheap or should we say too frugal.
I'm guessing we are talking about different kinds of places.
Nope. The type of place is NOT the difference. Denny's or white table cloth "upscale" as the OP phrased it...
the difference is only in the tab amount that the tip rate will be applied to.
Quote:
Since it's not uncommon to eat a full meal at a bar (or counter),
the concept of "lesser service" doesn't apply to what I am talking about.
Of course it applies. The bartender (or counter waiter) isn't running around the room
and back and forth between the kitchen with each course the way a table waiter would be doing.
They're rarely need to leave the bar (or counter) at all.
Again... do a good job and you'll usually do better than the par (I usually did).
But there is no basis to *expect* more as some sort of norm.
Mr Rational, have you never dined at the bar of a restaurant before? The bartender is serving the meal and attending to the diner the same as a server is (and just like on the floor, the runner is the one dropping off the food).
I spent many years in the industry, yes, from tourist places to craft cocktail bars to fine dining. You? Industry people tend to be good tippers so it's hard to imagine one condoning a sub-par 10%.
Mr Rational, have you never dined at the bar of a restaurant before? The bartender is serving the meal and attending to the diner the same as a server is (and just like on the floor, the runner is the one dropping off the food).
I spent many years in the industry, yes, from tourist places to craft cocktail bars to fine dining. You? Industry people tend to be good tippers so it's hard to imagine one condoning a sub-par 10%.
The entire notion of tipping has come a long way from the days of it being a token of appreciation, to an expectation of actually making a good living waiting tables. I knew a woman who worked nights as a waitress, she was earning far more in tips than her day job paid-- at Boeing. I'm a pretty generous tipper, but, I sure don't go along with the idea that the staff should set that rate, that determination is solely up to the customer. I've witnessed plenty of poor waitstaff, their ineptitude only outshone by their bad attitude.
I'd think that in this day and age we'd all be better off not tipping the waitstaff unless we also tip all other service personnel. Oregon has no self service gas service, so, should all those Portland waiters and waitresses be tipping their gas attendant? Should we tip the deli worker at the grocery store when they fill our order? Do we want to tip all workers, or just those who go into the "traditional" tipping jobs? It is your job to serve the food, it is your bosses obligation to pay you, boss can't afford to pay? Then get out of the business or begin to demand better wages. Don't take this ugly refusal to pay better wages to the customer, who simply wants to eat and go about their day.
Here we go again. Server-bashing. Before that gets out of hand, realize that the WHOLE system has to change if we are going to quit tipping servers. I thought it was common knowledge by now that servers in many states only make $2.13 an hour. So they need tips to even make it to minimum wage. This is the fault of our system and the wealthy bureaucrats who make the wage law, allowing restaurants to get away with underpaying.
So do away with tipping and pay the servers a living wage. But nobody wants to do that, do they? I'd like to see some of you server-bashers walk a mile (or 3 or 4 in a large place) in their padded shoes. It's not an easy job, and no, not everyone can do it.
Servers in the US "expect" a tip for good service because they assume that guests understand that by entering a sit-down restaurant, they are entering into a well-established social contract, that the guests are not cheapskates, and that the guests will not attempt to show their displeasure towards said social contract by stiffing the server, because obviously, this does nothing except stiff the server, not the system.
Obviously, sometimes servers are wrong.
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