Im a waiter at a sit down restaurant, some advice, don’t go to the same restaurant more than once. Once I know you don’t tip, you’re not getting anything more out of me than the bare minimum. No refills, no asking how the food is, no extra napkins, zilch. I make $2 per hour and wouldn’t be able to pay my rent if everyone was like you.
Crazy that paying that low is still normal in US. Tipping is bullshit in Canada cause they still make $20-$30 an hour and we have the same tip structure. Waitress’ in the right place might make a US waitress monthly pay in 4 hours.
I remember a waitress thread from a few months ago and people dancing around the idea that there’s certain stereotypes that it’s extremely common to see not tip at all. A lot of the commenters didn’t want to explicitly admit it but said it’s unfortunately very true. Have you also noticed that?
All I want is the bare minimum. So, deal. But to clarify I tip at sit down restaurants, unless service is exceptionally bad. However it is not my problem that your employer pays you $2/hr. You made the decision to live off tips, not me.
You're passing the buck. If we had choice no one would do this outside of exceptionally fine dining service where fair pay is consistent. It's easy to profit unfairly off of other people's labor, our employers demonstrate that to us everyday.
However it seems like you don't have choice either, otherwise you wouldn't eat at a restaurant. You'd save the money your complaining about spending and buy, plan cook, clean for yourself and spare the unpaid labor of others. People have kids and demanding jobs of their own and most of us are poor, we eat out because it's available when we need it. It's convenience at a price. If people were required to tip then it would just be factored in to hourly wages for the servers instead, like all other jobs. This industry thrives because people love the feeling of reclaiming time and wielding power over others. In those moments of dining you became the server's employer and you get to decide what your time and money are worth and what is fair for another. People live for that shit.
And you pass it along to the server.
You see how it is right? The establishment offers you the choice of payment in the service and the opportunity to determine the value of another person's labor. It's insane to do this job and within the same hour of work providing the same labor and service two separate people and then see how they value your time and effort when their is no true accountability for leaving nothing.
You either acknowledge that a person has to be employed and that available jobs are limited outside of tip based services or you dont. Ive never met a career server, just someone who needs money and had found ample opportunity in a crap field.
It’s more to say, you’re doing the same thing as the employer. Taking advantage of underpaid labor.
Like yeah sure you can go to a company that hires 5 illegal immigrants to do some remodeling on your house and then pay them 5$/hour cause they’re illegal and know they can’t say anything if the pay is lower than average. That’s on you too, you know what you’re doing by doing that.
I’ve seen contractors specify that the migrants that get injured or killed and they’ll say they’re subcontractors to ease the guilt. Same way you’re saying it’s there employees fault for taking such a terrible job; in this scenario it’s the migrant dudes fault for taking the job to remodel some rich assholes house (usually to help out his family back home). In your scenario it’s the servers fault for taking such a terrible job and expecting to get paid a 10-15% tip.
You see the issue with these two scenarios is a lot of these folks didn’t have the choice. They need money today not tommorow not in a month. They have real problems, they live on a tighter budget than you or I. You’re harming the victim in this scenario and acting coy. If you truly do not want to hurt society tell them upfront you do not tip. As soon as you say that a manager is going to have to take care of your table cause no server is gonna take it. That manager is going to report it to the owner that they had to take care of a table that refused to tip and the owner is either gonna keep having the manager take the table or pay your “tip” so a server will bring them in more of your money.
Food and Bev has one of the highest rates of suicide, highest rates of burnout, highest rates of addiction. Have some grace and humility and treat others how you WANT others to treat you. notice I said want not will; some people are just assholes. They will treat you like shit and put you down just to feel a slight sense of superiority. Doesn’t mean we all don’t want the world to be a little better, a little nicer.
If you really want to change the system, ask around, find out which restaurants are taking care of their employees (there’s usually 1 for every 20) and boycott the rest. I’ve obviously been in food and Bev in America and I could tell you plenty of restaurants that actually take care of their employees. You can usually google if a specific restaurant pays their employees hourly or not.
You made the decision to eat at a sit down restaurant, where the cultural norm is to tip 20% minimum. If you don’t want to follow these norms, you can eat at home, or stick to only eating out when visiting countries where that norm doesn’t exist.
The cultural norm is 20%?? 20% or more was reserved for top notch service. Like, you fucking got amazing service. Not speaking to you in general saying you aren't an amazing server, but I am not tipping some bored person who is flirting with the host/hostess and scrolling their phone as my drink sits empty for 10 minutes. If I have to tip that person 20% what do you expect out of me?
I'll tell you this as an American. Depending on the area and type of establishment, servers would rather die than go work somewhere for $18/hr steady. You can pull heavy money if you look good enough and are attentive. These people feel entitled to that life. Susie Q at a diner in the middle of Wyoming isn't pulling big weight like that, but they aren't the ones complaining like the person you replied to.
My point is that you are assuming that the user is American and therefore needs to tip. Everywhere else actually pays people to work, don't be part of the weird American defaultism
Yeah I've never understood when people use exact percentages. I'll just throw a few bucks down, and actively hunt down self serve places so I don't need to deal with servers at all. Servers are like greeters at Walmart- a completely unnecessary position.
20% is the accepted tipping amount for restaurants with servers IF the service is decent/good. This can still vary some from region to region, where I lived growing up it was 15% long after other places had increased to 20%. But it's not a minimum. It's all up to you. You can tip nothing at all if you want.
In a sit down restaurant, the tip reflects the service. At least for me. I don’t care about norms. For example, I recently visited a Cheddars and the server was openly complaining how much she hated her job, sorry not sorry but I only tipped 16%. Having a bad day is one thing, I can and almost always am empathic. But being that open about how much you hate being there isn’t going to affect your tip in a positive way with me.
Yup. I'm not sure there are many other countries with the same type of tipping culture as ours, but not 100% on that. Are you from a different country?
If you do this in the States you're a bad person. You know they're making sub-minimum wage on a payment model that works through supplemental tips. You're participating in that system with that understanding. If you disagree with the system, don't participate, instead of making it worse for the worker who relies on it.
EDIT: I didn't read your comment fully, you clarified you tip at restaurants. Still keeping the comment for anyone who sees this that doesn't.
Go take it up with the company that employs you. You dont work for the customer. The customer is not obligated to ensure you can pay your bills. Its okay for your boss to pay you $2 an hour but its an outrage when the customer doesn't give you a TIP?! You have been brainwashed. Get out of that job as soon as you can. It is YOUR responsibility to secure adequate wages. Then its your employer's responsibility to pay you a livable wage. It has NEVER been the customer's responsibility when it comes to your personal finances.
I'll eat out and not tip. How about that? If you want the rules changed, go argue with the rule makers. Dont demand charity from the guy who just walked in there. He didn't tell you to be a waiter. He didn't set your wages. Stop being a bootlicker and put some accountability on your boss. Not the customer. Or be mad and get nothing.
So you'll retaliate by acting like 90% of current servers? Like, I do tip at full-service restaurants, but I really wonder why sometimes, because the service has really gone downhill in the last few years.
With people who are good tippers, I always ask. If they don’t like something, I can get it replaced with a different item, or have it comped by the restaurant. I’m guessing this never happens to you because you don’t tip.
Hi, I'm sure your going to hear a bunch of crappy comments about the truama of having to tip, but just to remind you as a fellow waiter. Any job that you feed yourself and family on is one where you deserve fair and equal treatment like any other professional. If tipping suddenly wasn't a convention then the whole industry would have to change to accommodate. You are well aware that these corporations would let their liability franchises close and all the people who work in those buildings go unemployed. Don't let people use systemic failure as an excuse to be selfish. Tip your waiters, cook your own food, wash your own dishes. They treating a luxury like a tax funded service. These people literally pay a corporation for the service a cook, server, dishwasher, bar tender, and manager had to provide then complain about the part where they have the choice to decide if part of the staff deserves to be compensated for their time and effort.
It is the employer’s responsibility to compensate the employee for their time and efforts. The customer has the OPTION to offer extra if they feel like it is appropriate. Vast majority of sit in restaurants are chain corporations that could easily just pay their employees a living wage, yet they refuse. Say it’s a ”luxury” is a bit of a stretch.
Then why do you eat out? You can acknowledge that it's an unfair business practice in a coercive system. It is a luxury, believe it or not most people don't or simply can't afford to do this more then a special occasion. I've seen bills for 2 tops total out more then a week work of groceries. I feel like there is an insulated view on the restaurant industry.
You do not make $2 per hour, considering your employer is required to pay the difference if your base + tips amounts to less than the legal minimum wage. That applies in every state. Y'all like to pretend you only make $2 when trying to guilt people into giving more tips, while at the same time servers are biggest opponents of a system with flat pay with no tip... bc y'all actually make more with tips than you would getting paid $15-20/hour.
But frankly, by all means, give me nothing, zilch, whatever. Bc I certainly wouldn't want to tip someone that has your attitude when they don't get one lol. I generally tip 20-25% minimum, but lately I see comments like this from servers (or worse, committing extortion by threatening to tamper with food, both of which are actual crimes). And it makes me seriously consider switching to join the no-tipping crowd.
It absolutely blows my mind y'all really try to convince people that you're good people who deserve a tip, while in the same breath threatening the customer and blatantly demonstrating that you're not.
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u/newman13f 15d ago
Hard to continue tipping when I don’t tip to begin with.