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What i don't like about it is the awkwardness when you sign the credit card receipt. You feel like the waitress is watching you and will jugde you based on the amount your tipped.
I think you are wrong. I had a girl friend from the South, like Georgia, an American. Before she inherited a large chunk of money from her stockbroker dad, she tipped the same as everybody else. The minute she got this money, for some reason she became frugal, much more frugal. I never know why, but the coworker's were laughing behind her back.
I think it's pretty well known in the service industry that people that are well off are quite often the biggest cheapskates. My best friends dad is a retired millionaire he tries to flat out get out of tipping or will only leave like a dollar for a 70 dollar tab or something. Even when the service is really good.
If he is out of town and he knows it's a place he will never go to again..it's on, the cheapskate in him rises to a whole new level.
Now imagine how guys like him that own a business treat their workers? Exactly why we are in the mess we are in with income inequality.
Servers have to pay taxes on tips as well, even if they didn't get one. They base the tip tax on your sales, so if you stiff the waiter, it actually cost him money to wait on you.
I'm guessing this poster never waited tables. I have. It's hard work and you are subjected to many people like this poster, who undoubtedly demands good service because he believes he absolutely deserves it, but doesn't believe the server deserves to be compensated for it because they are, lazy, entitled and beneath him.
this is a common theme among servers. yes the job is tough. the servers are the ones that the public deals with, not the kitchen staff, and as such the servers take a lot of undeserved crap.
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As to the OP's question, I do believe we should scrap the tipping system and move to giving servers a living wage. I realize this means the cost of a meal will go up a bit, but that's the way it is. Depending on the uncertainty of tips is a tough way to live.
on this i have mixed feelings, from the servers point of view, if you are good at your job, you usually get good tips. for instance back when i broke into the hospitality industry, we had bartender that paid for everything she had with just her tips, and that was working the day shift. that included her car payments, house payments, insurance, gasoline, groceries, etc. in fact the management had to force her to cash her paychecks before they expired. yes she was that good, and no this was not a high end hotel, more like a couple of notches above motel 6.
i have also known servers that couldnt get good tips at a four star resort where tipping was huge.
i can also see the other side of things, ending tipping means no one fights for tables or sections that might be profitable, their paychecks are more consistent, they dont have to deal with getting paid tips on their paychecks and then having that amount deducted so that taxes can be paid on declared tips, etc. but it would mean food prices would go up somewhat.
Seems like an odd system to me ? Shouldn't all low paid service workers get tipped? -people in supermarkets and stores for example.
Good service doesn't depend on tipping. I don't remember any real difference in restaurant service between where I live (with no tipping), and when I was in the States.
I've been to Europe many, many times. Unless you are going to a fancy place, I often found the service at restaurants in Europe to often be lacking and entirely subpar as what you get on an average basis in the US. Sometimes you have to tackle the waiter to put in you order (after waiting 30 minutes with no show) and even when you do that they start walking away. In South America it is even worse. They're much slower. Service in the US (and we're talking just a regular, non-fancy schmancy place) is probably the best in the West, it only gets bested by the types of service you get in Asia, where they wait on you hand and foot, even at a simple place.
Look, if you hate tipping culture and don't want to tip properly....THEN DON'T GO OUT TO EAT! Period. You know beforehand that leaving a proper tip is expected on top of the bill and people need it to survive. Don't go out to eat, go to McDonald's or any other place where you don't have to tip. Really not that hard.
Is the wage considered just a retainer, and the tip considered performance based bonuses?
Minimum wage for servers is less than minimum wage for other jobs. The assumption is that tips will, at the very least, make up the difference.
Actually, completely aside from that, there is an issue with the tipping system in the US that I rarely, if ever, see addressed.
Tips, customarily, are based upon the cost of the meal. This completely ignores the fact that the cost of the meal generally has little or nothing to do with how hard the waiter or waitress must work to serve it.
A far better system, IMO, would be to pay these folks a decent wage, and then, yes, the tips would be a bonus for outstanding service. As it is now, they are essential for them to make even the barest living.
Servers have to pay taxes on tips as well, even if they didn't get one. They base the tip tax on your sales, so if you stiff the waiter, it actually cost him money to wait on you.
Yes, I don't think many people realize this. When they stiff or under-tip a server, they cost that server actual money out of their pocket, because the server essentially must claim and pay taxes on money they never received. That's why I believe the server's base salary needs to be raised.
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