When should you tip a waiter or waitress?

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Originally Posted by MadMojoMonkey

In many states "wage" is total earnings, or "payroll + tips", and it is legal (though I've never heard of anyone doing this) for the employer to collect all tips which are in excess of minimum wage from their employees.

An employer could have a restaurant that did not accept cash, and all transactions were credit/debit. This would mean that all tips are actually handled through the employer. (This is actually common in the 4-star and 5-star restaurant industry.) Since all of the money goes through the employer, the employer can decide exactly how much of your tips you get to have and how much they get to have.

I worked in a place like this where you earned "points" through seniority and training. So while I was working there, I was getting less than 1/2 the share of tips as someone who had been there for 10 years or so.

I'm fine with performance based pay. I'm just saying there are places that handle tips differently than Denny's.

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Dude, what, no. If the employer is keeping any portion of the tip pool, they are breaking the law. This is true for all 50 states afaik, and when it's not, it's a huge exception to the rule.

Awarding points due to seniority is really ridiculous, and really defeats the purpose of a tip pool. A tip pool should encourage better service by encouraging team work, instead of an every-man-for-himself atmosphere. Whoever was running that restaurant sounds like a fucking moran.

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Originally Posted by rong

So in effect, on a slow night you could sometimes be actually tipping the restaurant owner. Well that sucks.

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And herein lies an interesting issue. The employer is essentially guilting the customer into subsidizing his staff. Why would customers not be happier simply paying more for a consistent well trained staff?

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What is to stop a server from just "being real" and doing a good job without acting like the guy from Chotchkies in Office Space?

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You're setting up a false dichotomy, but whatever... the fact is that customers don't know how to appreciate "being real." Some do, but most are looking for some level of Chotchkiness. They are so used to it, that they don't even realize that they are having these demeaning fake interactions with someone every time they go out to eat. And I'd argue that most servers don't even recognize that they are doing it. It is a product of the tipping system.

Then there's the issue of a service economy to begin with. It's such a weird web of nonsense, where a large swath of the participants are expected to be subservient at work, but then want to enjoy the subservience of others when they go out. It's an economy where everyone ends up feeling entitled to be treated like a fucking prince or princess everywhere they go. Then they get their panties all in a bunch when it's not exactly how they wished it would be. Newsflash, you're not royalty.

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With risk and inconsistency comes great reward. Serving can be one of the best paying non-skilled / non-educated jobs on the planet, depending on the restaurant of course.

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It is only a non-skilled non-educated job for shitty servers. It's possible to get these jobs with no skill and no education, because the employer's investment is so minimal.

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It seems like flagrant "up-selling" is a gambit though. If it is off-putting to the customer, that should theoretically reflect in your tip.

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That's why it's a tip-boosting as well as check-boosting trick. Obv you aren't going to get a two top to order five entrees... and why are we even discussing flagrant upselling? The tactic, flagrant or not, is disingenuous and deceitful. It is not good service, and it is a by-product of the tipping scheme. It belies the true nature of a tipped employee, who is not there for good service, but is there to try to fleece the customer.

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Originally Posted by Renton

It seems like flagrant "up-selling" is a gambit though. If it is off-putting to the customer, that should theoretically reflect in your tip.

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I didn't bother getting into how success in accruing tips has so little to do with alacrity to give free refills because I didn't think it's relevant to this particular topic and because I've gotten into it in other threads, but maybe I'll dig it up.

In the meantime, just trust me that these "in theory" postulations on how different things correlate to success in the service world hold very very little water. You see improvement in your wages by doing a whole slew of things that have nothing to do with satisfying guests.

Since we're on the subject, a very effective trick is to convince the manager that there are too many servers on the shift. Managers want to cut hours, so they are easy to convince. When you are successful at convincing them, the worst that can happen is that your tip average goes down, but this is more than made up for by the fact that your overall sales go up significantly. But the best is when they manager cuts too many people, and it is clear to all the customers that there are not enough servers on hand. Your tip average either doesn't suffer, or it goes up, while your total sales of course go up as well. In both cases you make more money, and in both cases the customer gets worse service.


note: Don't stiff your server next time a place you're eating at is short staffed. This could completely be a scheduling error on the manager's part, and the server may have no hand in this.

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Originally Posted by boost

Since we're on the subject, a very effective trick is to convince the manager that there are too many servers on the shift. Managers want to cut hours, so they are easy to convince. When you are successful at convincing them, the worst that can happen is that your tip average goes down, but this is more than made up for by the fact that your overall sales go up significantly. But the best is when they manager cuts too many people, and it is clear to all the customers that there are not enough servers on hand. Your tip average either doesn't suffer, or it goes up, while your total sales of course go up as well. In both cases you make more money, and in both cases the customer gets worse service.


note: Don't stiff your server next time a place you're eating at is short staffed. This could completely be a scheduling error on the manager's part, and the server may have no hand in this.

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This is pretty fucking smart.

Another pro-tip is to always volunteer for the sections with the biggest tables, and/or closest access to the server's station. The bigger tables are really a minimal amount more effort to run than the small ones, and on par once you get good at just bringing them every condiment in the house without being asked.

The manager and other servers love you because you take on the "toughest" section, but in reality, you get the most tables with guaranteed tips (parties of 6 or more, yo!) and the biggest tips. Also, if the gratuity is included in the bill, sometimes the customer doesn't notice, and they tip you twice. win!

I almost always tip in the US.