You never tip do you........??

[TheDieselTrain]

I was quite humored by this line I was given tonight. So it was $2 beer night (on select items) at buffalo wild wings and I got a few of them all from different bar tenders and one of the girl employees said that to me. Well i'm sorry if it makes me an asshole butttttttt...... If I tell you what I want and you decide to leave the bar and get around to getting me my drink like 3 min later thats stretching it and then try to call me out on it and somehow being suprised.....ugh you're not even a blonde so I cant even give you that excuse. I was ready to give her what she wanted too till she decided to open her mouth.

Now i've never been one dependant on one for my paycheck but last I checked tips should actually be earned not a foregone conclusion.

[The Booty Disciple]

You had to wait 3 minutes for a beer?

I'd have asked for a manager.


















































(This post is dripping with sarcasm.)

[chazraps]

THIS IS HOW TIPPING WORKS:

20% - Excellent Work.
15% - Average
10% - Horrible

0% - Unmentionably wretched BUT ONLY FOR SPECIFICALLY RARE HORRID OCCASIONS!

I've only ever NOT tipped twice in my life, once was when there was a dead insect in my chimichanga and the waiter tried to talk me into thinking it was no big deal, and the other when when a waiter not only took forever, but barked and sarcastically yelled at all of us from the minute we sat down. Again, that's TWO TIMES out of 24-and-a-half years.

Conversely, when service is above and beyond the call of duty, I reward that accordingly. When I have an order that's difficult or the restaurant is busy and the service person is fantastic, I've tipped up to 40% for a job exceedingly well done.

Point being, if you tip 10%, they get the message. That's how things work. At a bar, tip at least a dollar.

[Cranjis McBasketball]

I like you man, but it's starting to seem like every time you leave the house, something happens in which you feel victimized.

Anyway, I tend to always tip like a motherf***er at the bar. One, it gets you good service if you go back and get to know the girl a little. Then, continue to tip well. Only once I have I never tipped and that was because she took our order, came back with the beer and never returned. When we went to leave, we ran into a waitress we knew, she asked why we were leaving so soon and I said, "We'd like to stay, but we haven't seen our waitress in over an hour." She said, "Oh, I know who that is. Don't worry about paying". So we didn't pay for our beer and that waitress was never seen at that place again.

[Deleted]

May 26, 2011 1:37:59 GMT -5 TheDieselTrain said:

ugh you're not even a blonde so I cant even give you that excuse.

...........................................................

Seriously though, you had to wait 3 whole mins? God I'd love for that to be a cause of complaint in some of the places I've been to

[Brick Killed a Guy]

My system has usually been the following (at restaurants, at least):

Excellent work - 30%
Average - 20%
Horrible - 0%

Completely unexcusable - call their boss or just leave 2 pennies on the table if you're in a hurry.

[rapidfire187]

The tipping system is BS IMO. I've worked as a pizza delivery guy that got paid MORE than what minimum wage was at the time, and was reimbursed for gas mileage, and still got an average of $2 per delivery in tips.

Then there's waitresses that are making $2.50 an hour or whatever it is that the federal government has decided they can legally be paid...and they're probably getting around the same as what I was as a pizza guy. Totally unfair.

On top of that, it's bull s*** that customers are expected to pick up the slack for business owners. What is it about servers that makes their job inherently different from every other job in the world? They work just as hard as anybody else, yet you're allowed to pay them $4 less than the national minimum wage? And your customers are supposed to pick up that tab? Bull s***.

Tipping should be a totally voluntary action on the customer's part. Tips should be earned, and they should have absolutely no relevance to your actual hourly wage. Yes, I tip...but admittedly a lot of times I'm just giving away $5 or something for service that was adequate at best because I feel guilty if I don't.

[The Booty Disciple]

Upon re-reading the original post, Diesel, I'm not sure what was going on. You ordered your drink, meandered away for a moment, and then came back and she said this? If that's the case, then I need to retract my earlier statement. If you hadn't paid for the drink, why would you tip?

But if it's just you getting up in ire about waiting a couple minutes on your beer, you'll get little sympathy from me. That's hardly a lengthy period to wait for a drink, particularly if they've got several orders to fill. Not sure about your particular establishment, but most restaurants that have a bar (particularly chains like BWW) do not have their servers pouring drinks. So the bartending staff, regardless of how many, have to deal with the bar patrons as well as the orders coming in off the serving floor. The bar may not look busy, but you may not be seeing the bulk of their orders coming in from the floor.

As far as tipping goes, keep in mind, as a guy who has worked off and on in bars and restaurants for nigh on 14 years, I can tell you that we remember the people who tip well, and the people who tip poorly or not at all. All you 15-20 percent types are well appreciated, but you, unfortunately, won't stick out in the rapid turnover of customers we're used to. But if you tip highly and treat us well, a good server will return the favor with a positive experience and excellent service. If you don't leave a tip or insult them by leaving two pennies instead of taking a moment to speak with a manager, expect a similar reputation from ALL the staff in a particular joint. We have LONG memories about that stuff.

EDIT: No, the logic is backwards there, rapid. The customer is voluntarily tipping, which is incentive for positive service. You're right, often, since tips are de facto expected in many places, people give only adequate service, in which case an adequate tip is fine.

But the customer is NOT expected to pick up the difference. In fact, the difference is required to be paid by the employer if the server doe not make minimum wage. However, the caveat to this is that as a server, you have to declare 100% of your tips for that to happen. If you declare all your tips, you are taxed on all of them because it's considered income. Hence, when tipped in cash, at a decent place and where they're making decent money, servers will only tip a certain percentage of their floor sales in order to avoid being taxed on what is effectively pre-earned income. I won't speculate to the legality of that, but it makes it easier for the business owner/employing agency to get away with not making up the difference in wage.

Also, be wary of places that add automatic gratuity for parties. Some places will do it with larger parties of 8, which I find to be an okay practice, but if you see an "automatic gratuity" or similar charge on your bill when in a party of less than 6 or just added for the hell of it, keep in mind you are NOT required to pay it, and in many, many establishments, that means pooled tips, which is something I'm fully against when you have an open serving floor, as it turns into a situation where no matter the service provided, everyone gets the same tipout at night. Not groovy.

[Cela]

May 26, 2011 16:36:02 GMT -5 The Booty Disciple said:

Upon re-reading the original post, Diesel, I'm not sure what was going on. You ordered your drink, meandered away for a moment, and then came back and she said this? If that's the case, then I need to retract my earlier statement. If you hadn't paid for the drink, why would you tip?

But if it's just you getting up in ire about waiting a couple minutes on your beer, you'll get little sympathy from me. That's hardly a lengthy period to wait for a drink, particularly if they've got several orders to fill. Not sure about your particular establishment, but most restaurants that have a bar (particularly chains like BWW) do not have their servers pouring drinks. So the bartending staff, regardless of how many, have to deal with the bar patrons as well as the orders coming in off the serving floor. The bar may not look busy, but you may not be seeing the bulk of their orders coming in from the floor.

As far as tipping goes, keep in mind, as a guy who has worked off and on in bars and restaurants for nigh on 14 years, I can tell you that we remember the people who tip well, and the people who tip poorly or not at all. All you 15-20 percent types are well appreciated, but you, unfortunately, won't stick out in the rapid turnover of customers we're used to. But if you tip highly and treat us well, a good server will return the favor with a positive experience and excellent service. If you don't leave a tip or insult them by leaving two pennies instead of taking a moment to speak with a manager, expect a similar reputation from ALL the staff in a particular joint. We have LONG memories about that stuff.

So, refill the coke and don't get pissy when we say our food is undercooked.

[The Booty Disciple]

May 26, 2011 16:41:02 GMT -5 Cela said:

May 26, 2011 16:36:02 GMT -5 The Booty Disciple said:

Upon re-reading the original post, Diesel, I'm not sure what was going on. You ordered your drink, meandered away for a moment, and then came back and she said this? If that's the case, then I need to retract my earlier statement. If you hadn't paid for the drink, why would you tip?

But if it's just you getting up in ire about waiting a couple minutes on your beer, you'll get little sympathy from me. That's hardly a lengthy period to wait for a drink, particularly if they've got several orders to fill. Not sure about your particular establishment, but most restaurants that have a bar (particularly chains like BWW) do not have their servers pouring drinks. So the bartending staff, regardless of how many, have to deal with the bar patrons as well as the orders coming in off the serving floor. The bar may not look busy, but you may not be seeing the bulk of their orders coming in from the floor.

As far as tipping goes, keep in mind, as a guy who has worked off and on in bars and restaurants for nigh on 14 years, I can tell you that we remember the people who tip well, and the people who tip poorly or not at all. All you 15-20 percent types are well appreciated, but you, unfortunately, won't stick out in the rapid turnover of customers we're used to. But if you tip highly and treat us well, a good server will return the favor with a positive experience and excellent service. If you don't leave a tip or insult them by leaving two pennies instead of taking a moment to speak with a manager, expect a similar reputation from ALL the staff in a particular joint. We have LONG memories about that stuff.

So, refill the coke and don't get pissy when we say our food is undercooked.

I don't. I always advise people to order their steak a level under what they think they want. We can always throw a burger or steak back on the grill, but we can't uncook it because you're not aware of the difference between medium and medium-well.

But hey, I liked serving. I liked the service industry in general, because 96 percent of the customers are pretty reasonable in the places I worked (that is, locally owned and not corporate or franchised, so we made our own rules and adapted to our own situation). It's how you react to the 4 percent that make life miserable (justified or not) that shows who can actually work that industry well and who is a transient employee.

[Kash Flagg]

Quit being cheap and tip. 3 minutes is nothing.

[Tim]

LOL

[The Booty Disciple]

I love the idea of someone suddenly having their schedule tight up so that 3 minutes is a long time between round 4 and round 5 of beer in a night.

"Wow! I'm gonna be late! I had time to wait for the previous beers, but man, this one is going to push my entire night of beer drinking and wing eating back!"

I'm not putting you down, Diesel, but for some reason, the idea of you being late to take a picture with some girls because you had to wait a couple minutes for a beer is making me laugh.

[Ducky Momo]

Looking back I usually tip anywhere from 30 to 55 percent. I never noticed a change in service. :/ And I'm really nice to the workers too, even when they mess up I never care and I'll say it's OK.

[The Booty Disciple]

May 26, 2011 16:51:11 GMT -5 Ducky Momo said:

Looking back I usually tip anywhere from 30 to 55 percent. I never noticed a change in service. :/ And I'm really nice to the workers too, even when they mess up I never care and I'll say it's OK.

Don't think that goes unappreciated.

[Feyrhausen]

Tipping really is necessary these days, which is a shame. Servers should be paid a fair wage, with tipping as a bonus for better service. But we have a tipping society set up now. And the government, to make sure they get their cut, now tax servers based on them being tipped 15% of their sales. So if a cheapskate does not tip, the server loses money. Tipping should be an automatic 15% for basic service, better for better service. 10% for bare minimum service, less than that it is okay not to tip, but you should speak to the manager to explain your problems. Otherwise the server may just think you are a cheapskate and not be encouraged to change.

As for pizza, yes drivers usually make a decent wage, a delivery charge, and tips, but dont forget that besides gas they pay for increased wear and tear on their vehicles. Constantly starting and stopping, turning on the engine multiple times a night, etc can really shorten the life of a vehicle. So if you get your order complete, hot and fresh, tip well, especially if you are far from the store.

[hulkblood]

Ive always wanted to know this but how does the pay system in the USA work?

over here in the UK we have the national minimum wage which means employers are bound by law to pay a reasonable wage so people can cover the cost of living do you guys have something like that?

[The Booty Disciple]

May 26, 2011 17:01:34 GMT -5 @hulkblood said:

Ive always wanted to know this but how does the pay system in the USA work?

over here in the UK we have the national minimum wage which means employers are bound by law to pay a reasonable wage so people can cover the cost of living do you guys have something like that?

National minimum wage is $7.25/hour US, which is mandated by the federal government. Unfortunately, that doesn't cover tipped employees. Bartenders, servers/wait staff, anyone that makes over a certain amount (depending by state, at least when I was in management) in cash gratuity can be paid as little as $2.13/hour. Ostensibly, as I stated above, the employer is supposed to make up the difference if one doesn't make it up in gratuity, but again, that can only be accomplished of an employee reports a net income (100 percent of tips included) over the entire pay period. That hardly ever happens, since it's easier and more lucrative on a good day to simply declare a set percentage of sales.

Keep in mind, there are some states that enforce the federal minimum wage for tipped employees too, but they're few and far between. According to most of the trade information I read when I was working in the industry, tipping percentages there are often lower as well.

The hell of that situation now is that with credit/debit becoming more and more widespread as primary ways to make payment, the gratuity is added in to the total check amount in the POS system, and is automatically declared on many systems. The gratuity is paid out at the end of the shift when the employee does their audit and reconciles with the register. Thankfully, there's often an option to simply declare a certain percentage of their credit/debit sales, however, there's no guarantee that they'll make the assumed percentage in gratuity.

[kdawg]

Also keep in mind as well, if tipping ceased to exist or no one ever tipped ever again, what do you think would happen to menu prices? They would go waayy higher, as the prices would be passed along to the customers to make up for the employer/restaurant having to pay each employee more (since no one tips anymore/tipping suddenly ceases to exist) since servers/bartenders would just be making a standard wage of say $12-$15 an hour (just an example, could be more).

Also, OT but, often times, people take a servers tip out on them through no fault of their own. Burger/steak wasn't cooked correctly, food was luke-warm/cold, hair in food....that is all kitchen side and a server shouldn't be punished for something that isn't their own fault to begin with. Now, if one of those issues came up and the server does nothing about it to correct the situation, get a manager involved.

Also, when they check to see if "everything is ok/tastes well", if there is a problem, SAY SO, as sitting their stewing and leaving unhappy, without the servers knowledge, then tipping awful is uncalled for. Its your own fault if you don't say anything to anyone.

Also, don't wait until you have either completely finished your meal or close to it to THEN complain that you didn't like it. "Ohhh......by the way......I really didn't like blah blah....."(then why did you eat nearly the whole thing if you didn't like it. It looks like your just trying to get something for free).

[rapidfire187]

May 26, 2011 17:01:08 GMT -5 Feyrhausen said:

As for pizza, yes drivers usually make a decent wage, a delivery charge, and tips, but dont forget that besides gas they pay for increased wear and tear on their vehicles. Constantly starting and stopping, turning on the engine multiple times a night, etc can really shorten the life of a vehicle. So if you get your order complete, hot and fresh, tip well, especially if you are far from the store.

Oh don't get me wrong, I totally understand that and it's why I tip delivery drivers so well. I bought a used car with 30,000 miles on it specifically for pizza delivery back in 2006, and that car has been dead for 2 years now.

But I think the point remains. Is it really fair for delivery drivers to make $100 in tips and mileage on a Friday night when a server is making the same thing but is also earning $4 an hour less? I really don't think so.

And before someone jumps on my case saying "no pizza delivery guy brings home $100 a night". It's possible. I did it damn near every Friday and Saturday back in 2006 and I live in a small town. I know that the economy has gotten worse since then and back in 2009 the most I ever made in one night was $75, but again..I live in a small town. I'm fairly certain that in a bigger city, I could have easily made $100 + on weekends. Then again, I was a damn good driver and generally earned a good bit more than my coworkers because I was very fast, and was great with customers. Domino's was a f***ing awesome job for a youngster.