Do you think Americans are over-obsessed about tipping?

Question

It seems like everywhere i go someone is looking for a tip and if i dont tip them a "decent" amount i will get crap service. i hear all these people tell me that they get minimum wage and they live on tips but its not my fault they chose to work that job. think about it. if someone makes $7.50/hr (California minimum wage) and they serve 6 people in an hour (which is very low) and each person tips $1 (which is crap according to most people) they would be getting $13.50/hr and that is a lot of money. i am not poor but i dont think that you should always tip that much (15%) cause over time its a lot of money. just my 2 cents.

and what is with the 15% thing? so if i buy a $100 steak (if that exists), that means i have to tip the waitress $15 for a steak that a chef slaved over to cook? all she did was bring it to me. i agree with the guy that said tips shouldnt be expected. if you expect everyone to tip you at least 15% then why even work hard. might as well spit in their food and serve them dog poop. tips should be worked for. if you work hard to ensure a customer has a great time and didnt expect a tip when you helped them, you will get a big reward and i have nothing against that.

also for the people who talked about people getting 2 bucks an hour. thats because where they live 2 bucks an hour is enough to live. here in california 2 bucks an hour is proabably the same as 7 bucks an hour.

Answer 1

I agree with you that tips should be for exceptional service. Unfortunately some states don't have to pay minimum wage to servers because the tips are considered to be part of their regular pay.

They should not give you bad service for not tipping them. It's supposed to work the other way around. If they give bad service they don't deserve a tip. Adding to the obsession, some people give $1 and one penny to tell the server they were disatisifed with the service, but they realize the server needs to earn a living. I don't do the one penny thing. They have to try fairly hard to not get any tip at all, but some have unfortunately succeeded.

Tips should not be expected. That defeats the whole purpose which is to encourage good service.

I also don't think the price of the meal has anything to do with it. I knew a guy who didn't tip the server who poured his coffee because the breakfast was free. 15% of zero is zero. I also don't want to reward a restaurant for overcharging me for the food.

Answer 2

Theres pros and cons of waitresses. But $7.50 is alot here in Georgia minimum wage is like $5 and some change (i dont kow because I dont have to work) But I would probably just tip someone like $2 since they make that much. Though my mom always leave at least $5 dollar tip. But if they do a really good job $6 and ^. But yea I understand where your coming from.

Answer 3

I no longer live in California but live in a southern state. The average tip around here is two bucks for a couple and that's it. They can during their shift serve as much as a hundred people and this gives them a very nice income. They make a little over minimum wage here plus tips. We have become a Nation of service jobs as all the factory jobs have gone overseas thanks to Bush. The day will come when there will be no tips because no one will be able to afford to eat out.

Answer 4

People who work in the service industry don't make minimum wage. They make less. In Florida, where I live, a server in a restaurant makes $3.55 an hour. My mother, who works as a massage therapist at the Ritz-Carlton, makes $5.58 an hour. My cousin used to work as a cocktail waitress for $2 an hour. After getting about $2.15 cents in tips one night (for a grand total of $14.52 -- after taxes -- which isn't enough to buy milk, bread and eggs, much less pay rent), she quit and found a better job. (Okay, she was fired for dumping a drink over the head of the guy that tipped her $0.15. She still says it was worth it.)

If you don't want to tip, then frankly you shouldn't be getting services from an industry that relies on tipping for workers' financial success. Instead of going to an upscale restaurant, might I suggest Burger King? You get what you're willing to pay for.

Answer 5

I agree. I tip servers (they only make a little over $2.00 an hour), but at Starbucks, where they are making $8.00 an hour, they are not getting my tip! If they want to make more, then they should get a different job. It urks me when I see tip jars out when the person is making more than $2.00 an hour.

Answer 6

Tipping, in my opinion, is a matter of generosity...vs. a business transaction.

Ideally, I'd like to see everybody earning $1 million a year...so I do what I can to help folks earn money.

If I had millions of dollars in the bank, I'd probably tip most waiters $100 dollars for a $20.00 meal...they'd probably appreciate the money more than me...and could probably put it to better use than I could.

Answer 7

Restaurant workers are subject to a different minimum wage standard, which was 3 bucks and change when I last looked it up. This is why tips are key to their finances.

Answer 8

In the interim, make sure that you don't pay twice; once when you give it yourself to the waiter and then you find that it is charged in the bill. It happened to me a week ago.
No one in Japan pays tips to the waiters.

Answer 9

they don't make minimum wage. around here they make $2.15 an hour. that's nothing.
if you can't afford the tip go someplace that you don't need to tip.

Answer 10

It's obvious you've never waited tables before. You have no appreciation for how hard that job can be.

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