I’m sick and tired of the new debit machines at some fast food restaurants, which send me directly to a tip screen where you actually have to press a button to skip giving a tip. It’s a little presumptuous to think they deserve a tip for passing food over a counter. Tipping should not be expected, it is for a server who does a good job serving you. Things like correct ordering, making sure your glass is never empty, an easy-going and polite disposition, and maybe even a little witty banter. These are some of the reasons why people get tips, not just showing up to work and ringing things through on a cash register. If you want tips, go get a job where you deserve one. —Sick of tipping for everything
This article appears in Nov 11-17, 2010.
Get over it. It’s a programmed option for convenience. Pressing one more button isn’t going to kill you. What if you’re paying by debit and want to leave a tip and have no cash on you.
You’d probably flip out in the UK. Many restaurants tack on a percentage for a tip and it’s added to the bill with or without your say-so.
Hey, if a person is able to take your order on that cash with a smile and not screw it up, you should tip them. It’s the same as a waiter/waitress, except they have to cram their customer service in a shorter time frame. I always tip no matter the situation.
hey Pearlstar I wish you would come to my work. I go above and beyond, always have a smile and never get a tip. Of course I don’t serve food so my customer service isn’t worth the extra money I guess
I think the tip options are good, but why on EARTH do they have them at fast food places, or food court places? If they’re going to do that, why not put them everywhere like the grocery store or retail places. I can guarantee I did a lot more physical labour checking out and packing people’s groceries than some random putting a big mac in a bag.
Some advice …work in the service industry and then we will see how fast you change your “No tip”policy.You go work out there and put up with alot of BS that people give servers day in and day out.I am so sick of people complaining about having to tip someone that has waited on them.I worked piss poor hours in the service industry and relied on my tips to survive from pay cheque to pay cheque.I had to deal day in and day out with ignorant assholes that thought the world owed them something and snot faced teenagers that never tipped me a damn cent when they were the only table I would have for hours.I am so sick of people like you thinking that tipping is some sort of forbidden sin and servers should be grateful and bow down to people like you….
I think it’s more of a bother to ask your server to add on a tip than it is to skip the tip screen – especially if you’d rather not do the math and can choose the percentage option.
Ankh, no one made you be a server. I too have been a server, but the bs was not enough to make up for tips, and nor should have I expected customers to compensate for my boss who paid me shit wage. Plus, what pisses me off is that when I was a server I declared my tips because it’s the right thing to do… Most servers don’t and get free money basically that doesn’t contribute to the rest of society.
Agreed. If I sit down to eat and the server brings me a meal, serves me drinks, and cleans up after me, that deserves a tip. Slingimg a sandwich, burger, or coffee out a window does not make the experience personal enough to tip that person. The only reason they put a prompt on the debit machine is to guilt trip people into subsidizing the wages of the workers the company is too cheap to compensate fairly. In a country where education is free, and student loans favour the students whose families don’t make a lot of money, I guess I don’t really feel responsible for someones poor career choices.
Tipping is rampant these days. I don’t think tips are necessary for fast food or coffee service. When I am at a restaurant for an hour and require multiple visits to my table i.e. order taking, bevereges, apps, entree, perhaps dessert and/or coffee, a tip rewards good service. Getting a take-out order, coffee and dognut, etc., that require minimal service, are not that tip-worthy IMO, any more than tipping a store clerk for ringing in and bagging a pair of newly purchased shoes.
Maybe it is their tactic to prevent people from using the plastic on a $5 purchase, because the store gets charged fees every transaction. But yeah, asking for tip at fast food “restaurants”…I don’t get it either.
They want us to tip them so that the employers can feel justified in paying them minimum wage. I would never, ever tip at a fast food “restaurant”.
Christ, don’t bitch out the people serving you for this. Dumbasses, THEY didn’t add the tip option to the debit machine. Chances are the manager did or it came like that.
Our debit machine has a tip option. We’re not FORCING it on you. But we have had plenty of customers say that they wished they could’ve left a tip but they only had debit. Well, huzzah, there’s an option now!
I can’t believe hitting “OK” is THAT much of an issue for you.
Also: the tip that you’re inputting on the machine at the fast food place probably isn’t going just to the person handing you the food — it’s probably also going to the person in the back that is making the food.
Oh, btw, I’m not saying that everyone deserves a tip no matter the service, etc. So I’m not getting into that tired argument on here. I’m just pointing out why the OP is being a moron.
it’s another technology…control yourselves
I’d like to see a “-” sign available for TIP. Service sucked? Tip = -$4.00
The whole “coffee” thing… have you people ever worked at a Tims? We make the coffee, the donuts, hell, everything in the store that isn’t in a bottle/can, and most of us work our asses off, especially considering theres that lovely timer in the drive through that we have to pay attention to, and its not like we get tipped 5 bucks. We’re lucky for fifty cents. Maybe McDonald’s employee’s have it easy, but Tim’s is practically slave work.
David Swick reported in the Halifax Daily News on September 19, 2003, that Tim Hortons donuts were to be remotely factory-fried and shipped, frozen, to Tim Hortons outlets in Atlantic Canada, where they would then be reheated at the push of a button. Yeah, pushing a button deserves a tip. I don’t think so.
You think they decorate themselves? Not to mention you still have to stick them in the trays to put in the oven, along with every other baked good in the store. Then we get to completely clean the out back area, after making sure the store is completely stocked, for the next shift that comes on. The stores not just donuts.
Here’s a free tip, sebastian: shut up.
Ive worked in the service industry. Putting shit in a tray and cleaning up after doesn’t deserve a tip. Its your job. you get paid for your job. Dont like it? Get a better job you dipshit. I didnt bust my ass all day so i could give you what i earned because you chose to be a lifer at tim hortons.
Ya just can’t win… next bitch… it’s a plastic society, if you don’t have a tip option on your debit machine then obviously you don’t want one since it’s clear nobody carries cash anymore.
And if you can’t afford to tip EAT AT HOME. Simple.
Suck it up, sparky. In Europe tips are mandatory, added to your bill, and the French waiters over there are flat-out RUDE. Guess that would really cause you to blow a gasket!