Restaurants should be forced to pay their wait staff a decent wage, not the $1 or $2 /hour and expect the customer to supplement with tips.
2006-09-14 06:00:56 · 12 answers · asked by credo quia est absurdum 7 in Dining Out ➔ United States ➔ Cincinnati
This is a confusing phenomenon. I think good staff should be paid a good wage, and the tip is supposed to be optional from the customer if they feel they have received "exceptional" service from the server. I was a hairdresser for many years, and they receive tips as well. However, we did receive normal or above normal wages for what we produced. If a customer was happy with their service, which was paid separately, they could choose to tip to show their appreciation. Tips should not be expected for substandard service. At the same token, employees should be appreciated and paid accordingly. After all, "what is good for the goose is good for the gander!" If the restaurant has a good server, they will more than make up the money with a happy employee and happy customer. Everyone's happy!
2006-09-16 16:20:16 · answer #1 · answered by daff73 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
This question pops up again and again, and it's a legitimate one. We go to a store, and some nice saleswoman helps us pick out a sweater...we surely don't tip. So why is it that we have this system in America where the restaurant selling us the food pays our server $2/hour and we shell out an additional 20% of the bill so that they can earn a living? It's seemingly odd, but I have some thoughts for you on this one...
Let's say we moved, tomorrow, to a system where tipping just didn't happen in restaurants because the restaurant paid them a competitive wage. The first thing you would notice when we went out to our favorite little burger joint is that the prices on the menu have now jumped by about 30% on every item. Your $7 burger is now $9.10, and the $2 soda is $2.60. Hmmm...we aren't really saving any money, are we? Taking solace that we at least now know what the meal is going to cost, we wait to be greeted. And wait. And wait. Finally the server makes it to our table, takes out a notepad, and says, "Hi, what does everyone want for dinner?" taking notes and scrambling away. No helpful suggestions, just a human relaying messages to the kitchen staff. Hopefully, we don't need frequent soda refills, or we're going to be thirsty for a while (This is about how a meal goes in Australia, where tipping is mostly nonexistent other than telling the server to keep the change) . When our bill comes, the total comes to $23.40. One of us recalls the "good old days" when the bill for the same meal was $18, the server was much more prompt, and a while lot friendlier, and when we tipped for that speed and friendliness, our bill still came to only $22.
The American tipping system works. Overall, we're paying less (even after we leave a decent tip) than we would if we paid the restaurant extra for the food and let the restaurant pay the server. Additionally, when we encounter the less-than-stellar server, we get to help weed them out of the system by virtue of them making inadequate money. The only time the system fails is when folks (it doesn't hapen often among the culturally aware, but the people do exist) who eat in restaurants pocket the menu price savings AND fail to share that savings with their server by tipping reasonably for good service.
At least as far as the U.S. is concerned, the day that tipping went away would be the day that all of the very skilled servers out there (who can really make a very good living by virtue of their skills) find their way into another industry, and left us all wondering what happened to the attentive service we used to get.
2006-09-16 19:31:08 · answer #2 · answered by Cincinnati Food and Wine Guy 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Your not. I agree that an establishment should pay its employees a decent wage. If you don't like the wage or think you can do better, basic human instincts should tell you to look somewhere else to make your living. Right?
People have a choice of what they want to do for a living.
If you end up doing this for a living then what can I say. If I don't tip, or I leave you a very poor one, there is a reason for that. I am making a statement to you, a very powerful one at that. The final say will always be in the consumers bill fold.
2006-09-14 09:52:58 · answer #3 · answered by Ross 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
My opinion exactly. We tip in UK as well of course, but I was surprised by the obsession with it in America, particularly in that you have to tip bar staff.
They say you are basically buying the service seperately. Then why don't they get you to pay the brewer seperately (and differentiate how much you pay based on how much you liked the beer). Maybe they could also make the customers pay the painter/decorator who did up the bar.
Let's just break it all up into seperate components then we don't have to pay anything to the owners at all.
Radioradioradio: Yes it would be pretty fookin stupid. So why are bars and restaurants allowed to operate in this way? The idea of a business is the business incurs costs to sell you something and hopefully makes a profit if it's succesful. There's no reason why the service ought to be seperate from the food.
2006-09-14 06:37:28 · answer #4 · answered by DS 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I agree the minimum wage for waiters and waitresses should be raised. Since the vast majority do very little and rely on people leaving a tip regardless if they deserve one or not.Then maybe the management might actually hire people who are qualified to wait on people. I for one am fed up with lousy service from some woman who thinks if she rubs your arm the last time she visits your table you will think oh my goodness she likes me , I am going to leave a big tip. Or the waitress who blatantly pins a photo of her kids to her chest so we will all feel sorry for her for having five kids all with different fathers. Least we forget the glorious ones who bring your food then run by as they ask is everything all right or even worse the ones who serve the food and stand there while you take the first bite and ask is every thing all right while you are still chewing.What a sorry excuse for waitresses and waiters we have in this country.
2006-09-16 21:33:24 · answer #5 · answered by windyy 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
If you wait on tables and receive a minimal hourly wage and the only way to make a living is to collect GRATUITIES, then wouldn't you give the best service possible? A gratuity is showing your gratitude for the service. I don't 'stiff' (not leave a tip) for poor service. The server might think you forgot or don't know how to tip. The US penny is the most powerful message you can send to a server, both good and bad. If you tip a 'waitron unit' a penny, it is like punch in the nose. When you leave 15% and a penny, it is one of the best complements.
2006-09-16 17:42:01 · answer #6 · answered by golden_retriever4u 2 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Ok, let me kind of break this down for you....when you go out to eat at a "Sit Down" resturant, you are not paying for the food, you are paying for the atmosphere. You go to these resturants to recieve the service, to be "waited" on...that is why your pay the "Tip", the reason why the resturants do not pay all of their employees minimum wage is because they all do not give the same service. The better the service the better the tip, the better the service, the better the atmosphere for you to go to this "Sit Down" resturant! I worked in resturants for years and if we all got payed the same, like McDonalds or Burger King...so tell me to want good service or just your food....you make the choice!!
You know I wish that we could do that....break it all down seperately, do you realize though if you did that....you would have to do that in every single industry....buy gas, pay the gas company, employee at the gas pump, trucker who brought in the gas....so on and so forth. If you think anbout it that would actually be pretty darn idiotic wouldn't now.
2006-09-14 06:34:06 · answer #7 · answered by radioradioradio 2 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Listen. If you don't like the service you get, then don't leave a tip. If the service is GOOD, then you SHOULD leave a tip. Maybe you aren't the most pleasant of customers in the first place, and maybe the wait staff feels they don't get paid enough to wait on you, anyway.
2006-09-15 15:43:09 · answer #8 · answered by IthinkFramptonisstillahottie 6 · 1⤊ 3⤋
This is just a question for showing that you are a cheap creep, you tip for service, not to subsidize wages.
2006-09-14 08:43:03 · answer #9 · answered by momcat 4 · 2⤊ 2⤋
you should have a regular wage just like every other business, and do away with tipping.
2006-09-17 14:30:19 · answer #10 · answered by Mom 5 · 2⤊ 2⤋