[Image-1]
So you decided to go out to eat this evening! Congratulations! Instead of staying home and cooking something or ordering delivery, you’ve chosen to sit in a place with nice atmosphere and have a live person come and wait on you, bringing your food, making sure you are having a good experience, refilling your drinks…that person likely makes minimum wage and is on their feet all day working in a fast-paced environment. If you got your food in a reasonable amount of time and your server was pleasant, you owe them a tip! 20% is generally accepted as reasonable but 15% is also acceptable. Anything less than that (or no tip at all providing above conditions were met) means you are a cheat S.O.B and should stay home to eat next time. —Serving up some truth
This article appears in Aug 18-24, 2016.
Why do servers think they are special? There are a lot of other minimum wage jobs out there where employees don’t get tips who work just as hard or harder.
Tipping only normalises unfair wage practices. If you wan’t your server to make $10 to $15 an hour instead of $4 an hour, then don’t tip.
Yes OB, from your perspective but maybe – just maybe – your service didn’t warrant one. Receiving food in a reasonable period of time is the kitchen, not you. Refilling drinks is the standard part of your job. I expect you to be pleasant. Please explain exactly what you did – above and beyond your job – to deserve a tip.
When I choose to sit in a place with nice atmosphere and have a live person come and wait on me, bringing me food, making sure I am having a good experience, refilling my drinks…that person likely makes NOTHING and is on her feet all day working in a fast-paced environment. If I got my food in a reasonable amount of time and the server was pleasant, I give her a hug and a kiss ans say ”Thanks Mom, see you next week!”
Tipping is at the diner’s discretion, it is not mandated by law, it is a choice just like it is your choice to be a waitress/waiter. Consider tips a bonus, they are not part of your income dear.
Like it or not, this is how the industry works. Abolishing tips will lead to higher prices to pay the higher wages. That or much worse service.
20% is not standard though, 15% is. I’ll go down to 10% if you really suck, up to 20% if you’re really good. I’ve tipped nothing before because of how bad the service was. Only once though, at a Lone Star in Ottawa.
Your choice to flog meals, Serving, so don’t give me that shit about being on your feet all day. I’m not paying 20% on top of some overpriced meal for your friggin’ tender tootsies. Here’s some truth for you: you’ve just given me another reason to either eat at home or order take-out.
That Lone Star is sometimes understaffed to handle the volume of eaters that show up there.
I’ve worked in the industry for years, often earning more per shift than the paltry salary offered by the employer. When out, I tip generously. I know how gruelling it is during an 8 hour shift in a busy establishment. I only have one question for the OP. When did tipping become mandatory?
This bitch and the expected tipping custom in Canada bothers me so freaking much!!! We’ve adopted a 15 to 20 percent tipping culture because that is what our American neighbors do and for years we’ve seen it on tv etc. What people don’t realize is that American servers actually make much less than minimum wage in the service industry and tipping actually supliments their income and is not actually an extra most of the time.
In Canada, our servers make at least minimum wage. To be relative to the states our servers should actually only get tipped about 5 percent. Most people don’t realize this and think a small tip is insulting.
In Canada we actually have one of the most inflated tipping standards in the entire would. Most countries don’t have a tipping culture at all.
So please stop friggin bitching about your tips!!! and stop being so friggin entitled!!!
You refilled drinks and smiled because it’s your job. You get paid to do it. End of story.
I’d rather see restaurants abolish tipping and pay staff an appropriate wage. Tipping amounts to a “hidden cost”. I’d rather see the real cost of the food. And, I don’t buy the tipping promotes good service line. There are lots of businesses where the staff are on salary and the service is fine.
I’m sorry I didn’t know I was swimming in money. we are taxed to death and our economy is shirking be thankful for what you get.
Also, the government taxes servers’ tips. If they audit the restaurant and learn your sales total they’ll expect you to have claimed ~15% of that as tips.
Yea oceanchick that wasn’t the case in my no-tip experience.
Maybe they are on a tight budget and can’t afford to tip but wanted to actually get out for once. Stop expecting tips from everyone.
Oh no, someone I don’t know thinks I’m cheap because I don’t want to pay 35% more than my meal is actually worth. Who cares? I win, you lose, now get me my refill.
So if I give you 14%, I’m a cheap SOB but 1% more and you’d be ‘satisfied’, fuck you OB. It’s an entitled attitude like that which makes generous tippers like myself not want to give you a dime. “Should stay home to eat next time”.. Yes, and next time you should stay in school kid.
Flowery, servers make minimum wage, not $4.00/hr. In the fast food industry most places do not allow tipping and those working at arches, king, queen, or red head, work as hard if not harder than those at other restaurants.
Tips are considered income from Canada Revenue at tax time. Nothing worse than a cheap son of a bitch.
Nothing worse than a demanding SET server.