How do you feel about tips in restaurants?

[RallyCola]

i saw this story and found i quite funny because i am one to leave notes on bills as well. then when i saw that she was fired, i believe that applebees showed that a $34 customer is more important to them than good PR. They should have stuck by their employee AND their policy of adding gratuity to bills of large parties. Perhaps her error was leaving the customer's name/signature on the bill but still, dismissal was excessive.

Now, as for tipping. I tip well when deserved and I tip poorly when deserved. I start at 15% and go up or down if I am impressed or depressed with the service. The largest tip I have ever left was somewhere around 40% of the bill because I know that I drank much more than that for free. I have never left $0 for a tip because when service is horrid...nothing gets your point across like a penny. Leaving no tip could mean you are just cheap and don't tip. Leaving a penny as a tip and a note about the terrible service gets a manager to look at the ticket and the employee.

[TSPornFan]

People should not have to tip. We tip because these companies are legally allowed to pay these people awful wages. Our representatives should change the law and make these greedy companies pay better wages.

[RallyCola]

People should not have to tip. We tip because these companies are legally allowed to pay these people awful wages. Our representatives should change the law and make these greedy companies pay better wages.

PEOPLE DO NOT HAVE TO TIP. It isn't required, just expected.

it figures you'd say something like this.

[amberskyi]

PEOPLE DO NOT HAVE TO TIP. It isn't required, just expected.

it figures you'd say something like this.

What exactly is wrong with the point he's trying to make? He's basically saying that they should pay waiters/waitresses more so they don't have to survive off of tips (cause there's people like you who don't think it's mandatory).no one can live off of $3 dollars a hour and that's pretty much the standard wage for a waiter in the us.
It doesn't really surprise me tho that in this shit country we not only pay the people who serve us shit but give them shit for expecting a tip.

[Jericho]

I find the idea of tipping distasteful, especially when it's expected.
Pay people a living wage!

[Jericho]

Also, whom do you tip?
Your waitress, cab driver, the guy who carries your bags to your hotel room?
what about the guy who picks up your garbage, your postman, bus drivers, do you tip them?

[RallyCola]

What exactly is wrong with the point he's trying to make? He's basically saying that they should pay waiters/waitresses more so they don't have to survive off of tips (cause there's people like you who don't think it's mandatory).no one can live off of $3 dollars a hour and that's pretty much the standard wage for a waiter in the us.
It doesn't really surprise me tho that in this shit country we not only pay the people who serve us shit but give them shit for expecting a tip.

i subscribe to the theory that employers pay you just enough money so you don't quit. if your incentive in the service industry is to exceed a customer's expectations because your pay is dependent on it, you may be more motivated to go a good job. waitresses, devoid of the need for a tip, would be inclined to offer little more customer service than the check out girl at mcdonalds.

amber...as a person who provides a service to others and may likely be tipped...i can't see why you don't see how this is a much better alternative to paying higher wages and negating tips all together. the best waitresses at the finest restaurants can pull in a ridiculous amt tax free

it is no different than a real estate broker or car salesman...pay is dependent on performance. it's the way it should be. his point is stupid. a tip is nothing more than "commission pay" over base

[Prospero]

Tips? Yes, to Garbage collectors at Christmas (or they strew all your Rubbish across the garden), window cleaners, milkman, postman, the paperboy..... and in hotels yes, the bellboy and the porter who carries your luggage, and room service and the maid. cabbies.

Anyone on here who has ever frequented female escorts in London will also be familiar with the 'something for the maid" thing too - a tip you're more or less obliged to ay upfront for the old gal who shows you to the escort. Not encountered that in years.

I'm with Rallycola on tipping in restaurants. A derisory tip for wretched service does get the point over... but as I said earlier restaurateurs should pay their stuff a decent wage.

[RallyCola]

oh...i never "tip" escorts. that's where i draw the line. i will tip someone who is working for a company and whose wages are largely out of their control except for going above and beyond the expected level of service. independent contractors who set their own rates are not people who should be tipped, IMHO. having never visited a brothel and only indie girls, i've never had to tip the maid so to speak.

[RallyCola]

... but as I said earlier restaurateurs should pay their stuff a decent wage.

what is a decent wage?

the federal minimum wage is $7.25. Even if you triple it...i wouldn't consider that a decent wage. you need to pay people commensurate with their skills and education and more importantly how easily replaceable they are. If tomorrow, a waitress decided she would only work for Applebees for $10 an hour, plus tips...the sad fact is that there are people who would undercut her and and do it for less. There will always be more people in need of a job than there are jobs available.

I don't think restaurants are under any pressure to increase wages. they are under pressure to ensure the restaurant is full and profitable because then the hourly wage they pay their servers is completely inconsequential. Only when restaurants suck and no one wants to go there, can the hourly wage be important.