1% tip, on expensive lunch. **and my rant on pay, gratuity, and salary jobs**

[68mustang]

Your posts are waaay too loong. I guess you didn't work at at place when you were washing dishes that work off of tipshare huh? Just because a waiter/waitress gets tipped 15% doesn't mean they keep it. And if they get undertipped, they are more likely to stiff the others that work there off of tipshare too. You said in your last post that you don't look down on people for what job they do, but you said yourself that if they don't like how much money they make find another job. Seems like you kinda are looking down on them.. But that's JMO.

 

[kd5rjz]

****** service = 10%
good service = 20%
amazing service (which is hard to find) = 30-50%

More like:

****** service = vulgar note on bill and word with manager
good service = $5-10
amazing service = $20

I find it's hard to reward people with percentages when so many of the restaurants around OK are so cheap. If you order a $6 plate at a mexican restaurant and get great service and tip 90¢, lol.

I had such bad service at the Steak and Shake in BA this weekend that I had to resort to the old trick of using a menu to flip your full drinking glasses upside down. Hadn't had to do that in a long time.

And yes, I waited tables through college - and made more money than I did my first few years out of college.

 

[bulbboy]

Karma is *****. Go do that job for a while and deal with the rude horses' asses and cheap douchebags whose only tiny sintilla of power in their miserable lives is to go to a restaurant and order a server around.

I always tip 20-35% unless the server is completely incompetent. The only way I will tip less than 15% is if they have a bad attitude and then I usually say something to them about it.

Total agreement

 

[bulbboy]

More like:

****** service = vulgar note on bill and word with manager
good service = $5-10
amazing service = $20

I find it's hard to reward people with percentages when so many of the restaurants around OK are so cheap. If you order a $6 plate at a mexican restaurant and get great service and tip 90¢, lol.

I had such bad service at the Steak and Shake in BA this weekend that I had to resort to the old trick of using a menu to flip your full drinking glasses upside down. Hadn't had to do that in a long time.

And yes, I waited tables through college - and made more money than I did my first few years out of college.

Classy

 

[kd5rjz]

Classy

Someone's gotta teach these kids. I needed a refill the whole time I was eating to wash the taste of their crappy burger out of my mouth and after I was done and sat around for 10 minutes the waiter finally stopped flirting and refilled our drinks. I wasn't entering in a class contest, I was there to eat and the brain dead jock that waited my table was there to keep my glass full. He failed and got rewarded for his actions.

 

[Hobbes]

Let's get right down to the heart of the OP

for example, if I am on a date, out with some friends, or family and i pick up the tab, maybe we were eating someplace nice or treating ourselves to some drinks, desserts or what not. and the wait staff just did not really wow me, and say the bill comes out to 150 bucks or more for 45 mins of table time, or something, i am not probably not going to leave a 22 dollar tip just because its 15%, nor will i probably even leave 15 or much over 10 bucks. and the way i rationalize it is like this. i look around, and i have noticed that out waiter/waitress has 4-5 tables. then i think "okay, i only make 15 bucks an hour myself, and regardless of how hard i work my arse off, no one tips me any extra." and i figure most places pay their staff an hourly, so i lowball it and assume they are getting 3 bucks an hour, and the rest is left to tips. so i think "okay this waiter/waitress has to pull an extra 12 bucks an hour to meet my pay scale in tips" and if i was setting at their table for 45 mins, i think "hmm. so lets round that to an hour, and assume if all 4 tables left a 4 buck tip and the staff circulates about the same, then that is like making 16 bucks an hour on tips alone." so, i will leave 5 bucks or so, usually I pay with my debit card, leave 5 bucks and some change, whatever rounds my bill up to an equal $X.00, just to make balancing the checkbook quick. and if they pissed me off, or the service was crummy, or something, i will not be scared to leave a buck or two.

so by my logic in cases where gratuity is not included in the bill already, i leave room for the assumption that as i progress in life, and my future career, and make more money, that maybe i will leave more generous tips also.

If you can't really afford to take your friends out and show them a good time, maybe you should agree beforehand that you will pay for the meal if someone else in the party takes care of the tip properly.
It's better than rationalizing and making assumptions that the waiter makes more money than you do.

 

[Honey Badger]

I say serve the guy a Loogie burger the next time he comes in and laugh while you watch him eat it!

 

[MLRyan]

I barback for extra cash on the weekends at a pretty large country bar and I get 20% off the top from my bartenders. Usually pull in $140-200 for 9 hours of "work". Tipping at bars is different than tipping at a restaraunt. For example, you don't have to tip your bartender, but it could mean the difference between waiting 5-10 minutes for a drink(if it's busy) or waiting 30 seconds. When I am bartending, if I see someone come up to the bar and I know that they've already been tipping me a couple dollars every time the last 5 times they've come to me, then they are getting their new drink as soon as the empty glass touches my bar. If someone comes up and they've been using cash and they haven't tipped crap, but they've been ordering 4 different drinks and 6 different shots everytime, they can wait while I serve the people that paid for their service. But again, bar tipping is different than restaraunt tipping.

 

[B96brig4CC]

On average a waitstaff employee works 4 hour shifts.Your head waitstaff works closer to 6. Most go to school and this schedule makes it easy to take classes and work. The rational that they shouldn't make more than you is ludicrous. I was a waiter for 4 years and made good money for excellent service. had fun with my customers and never brought my feelings to work. From my experience as a waiter I am in the boat that unless you are just a complete a$$ hat you will get 15% minimum. My wife always gets on to me when I tip 25% or more. My response to her is "you don't get it". Commission based pay makes you work harder. Prove me wrong on that.... If service is crappy then they didn't work hard enough to make their commission on the sale. If you can't afford to pay for your meal and tip well, then hit the drive through. I as a customer can not justify the rational that if they have 4 tables and everyone tips $4 then they make $16. Some people sit for longer than an hour, that table may not see another customer all evening. If I am out with buddies(usually same place same waitress) we may be there for 3 hours, but you can be damn sure that she was paid for her time. Most places I frequent I know they staff schedule and will plan my meals according to who I know will take care of me and in turn I take care of them. The smallest tip I'll leave is $5 on a short inexpensive visit, even to-go orders.

Try waiting tables or bar backing before you decide what a person is worth.

 

[ronny]

I'm with JB on this one.

So am I, except for that 35% thing.