Anyone Else Think Tipping Is Unnecessary?

Question

I hate when I go out places and receive lousy service and am still expected to tip! Even when I get good service, I'm not all that thrilled about it...The main argument for tipping is that waiters make less then minimum wage (in Ontario, Canada at least) so thats why you tip...or they make less because of tips, I'm not sure which one came first.

My main complaint is that its not my fault you are underpaid, and why is it MY job to compensate you? Besides, if you want to tip someone, why not a doctor? they save your life, which is a wee bit more important then transferring food from the kitchen to the table

The doctor thing was just an example, what I mean is you dont tip EVERYONE who does ANYTHING for you, so why do waiters get this special treatment?

Answer 1

I agree. I tip, but only because I WANT to not because I HAVE to.

And, I never tip crappy service. They get two pennies on the table.

They take the job knowing they are getting paid a crappy amount. If they do not like the tips they get they should find a better paying job. There are other better paying jobs that will work around your school/college schedule.

Answer 2

The one thing I will say is if you have never been in food service then do not be negative. That is a very hard and unfortunately, unrewarding profession sometimes. Customers can be so demanding and not realize that they are not your ONLY customer. Look at the big picture. If the restuarant is Really busy then you may have slower service, BUT if it is not then your server should be on you like a fly on crap.

I do feel that if you get bad service--don't tip as much. Face it, the average income for a waiter/waitress in the average restuarant (DENNY"S, CRACKER BARREL, etc) is between $40-$70 a day. That is not alot when you take into account that NOW they must claim there tips for taxes. You do the math.

I tell the waiter and or waitress upfront everytime--"Your tip is going to be based on you performance today and the service that I/We get". I usually get really good service and tip as much as 25%.

If you feel that you just really do NOT want to tip like that, that is fine, BUT if you get REALLY GOOD service, at least put in a good word for them to the managment. A pat on the back goes a long way too.

Answer 3

you should definitely tip..and you should adjust that tip based on service...i dont think that you necessarily need to leave 15% but you should definitely leave at least $1 a person (based on the area I live in, of course)...waitresses only make on the average $2.19 an hour...trust me, I was one for 10 years and I was able to continue being one for all that time based on tips I received for good service.

Also, there are a couple members of my family who never tip...they will get up and leave before the rest of us, leaving us to cover their tip and ours...or come up with any excuse they can possibly think of to get out of leaving the tip...I rarely go out to eat with them because of this, and there are other members of my family who feel the same way about them. Do you really want people to think of you this way just over a couple dollars?

As with any job, you should be compensated for it...and the restaurants simply don't pay enough to keep waitresses, if not for tips...if you like the service of the waitresses, so you should leave a tip...the ones that provide habitually poor service are weeded out this way, for the most part. However, I don't feel people should be paid for nothing, either - if the service is lousy, I don't feel you should leave a tip...or leave some loose pocket change, that is really insulting.

When you pay for the meal, that is what you are paying for, the meal...that money also goes to help pay for the other bills of the operation of the restaurant (electricity, management, maintanence, etc.). If you constantly "stiff" waitresses, as it is referred to, they will start to remember you. The waitresses spend the most time on the customers who they know will tip - afterall they are there to make money. By failing to leave tips for the waitresses who deserve them, you are just ensuring that every trip you make there will not be enjoyable.

Answer 4

You should tip...the amount of tip is customarily 15% for waiters/waitresses...20% for a large group. That amount can vary if your service is better or worse than expected. The waitress has little influence over the quality of food. If that is what you are upset about, you should tell the management, not punish the waitress. My wife was a waitress in the US, where they are legally paid far less than the min. wage. It is an accepted practice to tip, and that is how waitresses actually make their money. It encourages them to do a good job for each customer, rather than be guarranteed pay regardless of service quality. In that way, tipping is better than higher food prices to pay for wait staff.
By the way, one reason a waitress gets paid more for a larger group is that a larger group often lingers much longer than individual tables. This reduces the number of customers served, and consequently the overall number of tips the waitress would otherwise expect to receive for the same amount of work. Additionally, although not intuitive on the surface, but from experience, large groups tend also to require alot more wait staff attention than the same number of people in smaller groups.

Answer 5

Introduce yourself a little. What makes you qualified to write this? How does your real life experience prepare you for this kind of story? Shorten your pitch. You've included far too many names for an agent or editor to bother keeping straight. Your story should come off as a tightly contained, well-organized work that is edited and polished to the point of publication now. Fewer compound sentences. Exact word count. Precise offers of sending a professional proposal, with a manuscript to follow if the editor/agent is interested. I will also suggest Terry Whalin's "Book Proposals That Sell" for further tips. Whalin has been a writer, editor, agent, and speaker, so he knows the publishing business well.

Answer 6

I tip 20% for any service related task. I don't tip owners ,I tip the employees.
I find that by tipping good I am remembered and I am assured quality service each time. I get excellent service that combined with my friendly non demanding attitude affords me much more that the tip costs me. I was taught as a child to be a good customer /client by my father ,he treated everyone as if they were special. Why not reward some one for going that extra mile ?

Answer 7

Using a doctor is not a good comparison in this case. When you go to a doctor, you are paying greatly for the services you get, and doctors make more than enough to survive. When you go to a restaurant you are paying for the food, not the delivery of it, and refilling your drink, bringing you condiments. You are tipping them for their services, thus why when you get it yourself, you don't tip anyone. Servers make their money mostly on tips. If you don't agree with paying for these extra services, then eat somewhere else or stay at home. If you had ever worked as a server, you would know realy all the crap from customers like you that they put up with and how hard they work for those tips. I myself have a good job, but worked as a server for many years when I was younger, and when I get good service I leave a realy good tip, if the service is bad, I leave a very small tip, usually $1.

Answer 8

if you get really horrible service don't tip or leave a small tip, actually a small tip is probably more insulting to the person. I was at Applebees once and the lady we had was horrible i mean we got our drinks then never saw her until like 15 min later she asked us What we wanted to eat then 20 min later out came the food and then she was gone.. we had nothing to eat with... 10 min later we had to ask a different waiter for utensils... at the end of the night we left her 16 cents ..in pennies... and a "haha" note.

the whole tipping a dr. thing? why tip a person who is making more on your visit then you do in a month?

Answer 9

I tip 15% waitress. Bartenders get nothing because they act like they're above people. Never reward arrogance. If you can't display a little humility while in a servile position, you are an ***. Min wage is what you agreed to work for. Proliferation of owner greed doesn't solve the problem, rather, it adds to it.

Answer 10

If you get bad service, don't tip or leave a very small tip. When you get good service you should absolutely tip. Just think of it as part of the service you are getting for going out to eat. If you don't want to tip, stay home & cook.

BTW, comparing this to a doctor is absurd. You're comparing a doctor's salary to a waiter's salary?