[Giupy]

Well, yeah, I had replied to the guy saying it the first time.

And do you genuinely believe that? I'm really sure they just say the food is cheaper and charge the exact same price. That way restaurant owners don't lose anything and employees gain something... All at the client's expense.

Also, how do you even know the employees get to keep the tips? I know a lot of places that either make them leave a part of it or make them split it among each other, which I don't really find fair.

Additionally, regarding the lost tax dollars, that's called fraud. That's not legal. Tips should be documented, it should be printed on the receipt. If it goes by a mandatory percentage sort of standard, it has to written on the receipt. Either that or you have to write it yourself, if you choose to leave a tip. That's the normal way.

 

 

[jmills8]

Well, yeah, I had replied to the guy saying it the first time.


And do you genuinely believe that? I'm really sure they just say the food is cheaper and charge the exact same price. That way restaurant owners don't lose anything and employees gain something... All at the client's expense.


Also, how do you even know the employees get to keep the tips? I know a lot of places that either make them leave a part of it or make them split it among each other, which I don't really find fair.


Additionally, regarding the lost tax dollars, that's called fraud. That's not legal. Tips should be documented, it should be printed on the receipt. If it goes by a mandatory percentage sort of standard, it has to written on the receipt. Either that or you have to write it yourself, if you choose to leave a tip. That's the normal way.


 

True it is fraud but its a norm. How do I know cause my ex was a waitress while going to college. My Brother was a waiter, my friend was a dish washer during high school. Usually waiters keeps the tips and they will give some to the dish washers and other employees. Some restaurants will jointly collect the tips and give all equal shares but that doesnt always works out. Certain tables hold greater value and certain time slots makes more tips.I am not thinking or guessing I am telling you from experience. One can just go to Subway or Pizza Hut and pay no tip if thats better for you and your date. The way I did it was to date educated high paid women so they pay and I tipped.BTW they tip bartenders alot more than they do the waiters.

 

[Giupy]

I think you missed the part where I said that I was bartender for over seven years. I made three times my pay in tips, but I always got 100% what was mine, no sharing or having it taken by my employer and that was with putting up crazy hours, immense overtime and offering top-of-the-line service However, that was back when my country had no regulations regarding tips. That was ten years ago.

We actually used to document how much we made just to able to keep track of how the employees were doing, but that's it. It was clear that some were doing better than others.

If an employer is as much of a behind to take away the hard-earned extra from someone who is making minimum wage, then just be fair about it and report them to the authorities. It is my understanding that when you report someone for tax fraud, you get to keep a percentage of what they were taking under the table. Whistle blowing seems to have its benefits, even if it is shunned upon.

 

[WraithApe]

One can just go to Subway or Pizza Hut and pay no tip if thats better for you and your date. The way I did it was to date educated high paid women so they pay and I tipped.BTW they tip bartenders alot more than they do the waiters.

 

 

[jmills8]

Thats what she said.

 

[AAJoe]

I've been against tipping for ages. It isn't that I don't leave tips, but I would support legislation to get rid of it. Granted, its a minor problem in a world of major problems, but the end of the day studies simply show
 
1) It doesn't improve service on average.
2) It removes clarity from who is getting paid.
3) It gives restaurants a reason not to pay better.
4) It places the burden of supporting the employee on random customers.
5) It's basically sanctioned tax fraud. Not that I mind someone who makes as little as a waitstaff getting away with a little tax evasion, but we can at least call a spade a spade.
 
Would food prices go up if you removed it? Sure. How much? More than 15%? If so it means their waitstaff were underpaid!
 
Look at it this way: Lets say an item costs 1.00
 
With tip you pay 1.15. 
 
Now the waiter in question has made their wage + 15 cents.
 
Now you get rid of tipping and require the employer to pay "living wages" (just for the sake of argument as opposed to min wage).
 
We can look at 3 possible outcomes:
 
1) The living wage is higher than the tip amount, which means their wage + 15 cents was not enough to live on, prices go up more than 15% to cover OR (and more likely due to competition) the difference comes out of the business owners' side.
2) The living wage is the same as the tip, nothing changes in your final bill (1.15) or the waitstaff's pay, but now the waitstaff have less variation from paycheck to paycheck on average.
3) The living wage is LESS than the tip. Either the employee's wage goes DOWN or, to keep staff, the employer pays higher than the living wage. Prices likely rise between 0-15%, making the food cost the same or less.
 
In all 3 scenarios I think the consumer wins. The waitstaff or business may win or lose, but the consumer (me) wins.
 
Also, for the record, there's no law against tipping even if it isn't expected. If you go to Europe and someone is super on the ball and awesome they're certainly not going to refuse a couple extra Euros as a thanks.
 
Again, end of the day, its such a minor issue compared to, say, the fact that small businesses are taxed more than employees or that you get a tax benefit for your mortgage interest... if you want to talk about weird US eccentricities

 

[noxa]

Sorry I'm heavily against tipping, it's their job, they get paid to do it, that's why there is a minimum wage. Wish I got a tip everytime I dealt with someone at work but I don't because I'm already paid to do that as it my job. Always though tipping was a super strange practice.

 

[Spareribs]

 but in reality theres no tip on the expensive bottles.

This article disagrees with your point. According to this article it says to tip on expensive bottles of wine. That $1000 or $2000 tip for that $10,000 bottle of wine will hurt my wallet and I will cry.
 
In my opinion, if a customer buys a $10,000  bottle of wine, the restaurant should give some type of commission to the waiter. 
 
The link:
 
http://www.itipping.com/tip-guide-restaurant.htm

 

[rroseperry]

Sorry I'm heavily against tipping, it's their job, they get paid to do it, that's why there is a minimum wage. Wish I got a tip everytime I dealt with someone at work but I don't because I'm already paid to do that as it my job. Always though tipping was a super strange practice.

In lots of states, waitstaff are exempt from minimum wage requirements because of tips. There are restaurants who don't allow tipping and they tell you upfront that 18% gratuity is being added to your bill. That's fine with me. But considering how little some waitstaff get paid, I really do not mind tipping.

Also it's a service different from the other people you may have working relationships with, you know?

 

[Spareribs]

Another weird thing about tipping is that when I was in high school and college, I used to never tip or I would just tip like a dollar because I really had no idea.
 
There was never any solid information on how to tip. It's like learning sex education. A lot of the info was ambiguous. They don't teach it in the school system so I did not know. 
 
I finally learned through word of mouth as if it's a like a secret underground thing as if I was learning the price of marijuana.

 

[Giupy]

  Another weird thing about tipping is that when I was in high school and college, I used to never tip or I would just tip like a dollar because I really had no idea.
 
There was never any solid information on how to tip. It's like learning sex education. A lot of the info was ambiguous. They don't teach it in the school system so I did not know. 
 
I finally learned through word of mouth as if it's a like a secret underground thing as if I was learning the price of marijuana.

That's amazing... Not the strange learning process, but the fact that you had enough money left to tip during high school and college, because I didn't

 

[AAJoe]

This reminded me of another bullet point reason I dislike tipping.
 
Lets say the chef screws up your order, the hostess is rude, or any number of things go wrong that has nothing to do with your waitstaff.
 
Why, exactly, is my primary recourse to punish the person who doesn't make minimum wage for something that isn't their fault at all?
 
It seems to me the kneejerk reaction is simply to leave a low or zero tip when service is bad, which is fine if the waiter/ess in question is taking a nap or something... but I see a lot of people not really consider all the possible blame points before making their tip decision.
 
Also I am REALLY against mandatory 18% or the weird people out there (sorry!) who think 20% is normal. I mean come on, is it that much harder to serve a large table? And why would the % you tip go up, the price is tied to inflation. It isnt like they added some feature to your meal... Upgrade to Windows-Server 10! Now on roller skates! (That was a mixed metaphor)
 
-Joe

 

[rroseperry]

It really is harder to serve a large party than a small one.

People are completely arbitrary on how they tip, but until every restaurant pays servers more, tips are important parts of people's incomes.