Suu's typical rant on how you should properly tip your waitstaff.

[East Coast Hustle]

It has been a long-standing personal policy of mine that if one of my waitstaff is having problems with a table full of dickbags who are obviously going to leave a shitty tip (or no tip - thanks foreigners!) that that table's ticket will mysteriously keep getting pushed down the dupe rack until all the real peoples' orders have been sent out.

[fomenter]

my last tip job was in a five star and i made 35-50$ a night just busing tables and the waiters were pulling 100-200$ easy.

i am still hung up on the revelation that servers minimum hasn't been universally done away with..  now i need to worry if i am shorting the staff when i travel   

[Golden Applesauce]

GA's rule:  Tip $1.  Do not order more than $5 worth of food.  Finish quickly to avoid taking up any of the waiter's valuable time.

Prepare for the tipping to get worse with the next generation.  Outside of serious math/science students, everyone currently in school uses a calculator for every kind of arithmetic.  I mean, ask them to multiply 2 by 10 and they pull out their calculators.  So unless the service industry manages to popularize the "$2 for every $10, plus $1 for every part thereof" rule, expect people to not tip a percentage just because they don't know what a percentage is or how to find one.

The 2x Sales Tax rule makes sense in states with more regressive tax policies.  I think Tennessee is up to something like 12.5% now, so it's generous there.

[Requia ☣]

Percentage based tipping is *such* a great idea, lets screw over the people who work at the restaurants I can actually afford to go to.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Percentage based tipping is *such* a great idea, lets screw over the people who work at the restaurants I can actually afford to go to.

If you object to percentage-based tipping because it screws over the people who work at restaurants you can afford, I suggest you figure out how to tip those people as if you just consumed a $150 meal.



Seriously, how do you propose tips should be calculated, if not proportional to the bill? Servers who work at inexpensive restaurants usually count on high turnover and volume... yeah, you can eat well at a taqueria for $5 and only tip $1.00, but you get your tacos in a couple of minutes and you don't linger over wine for hours, either. There's a place for both business models, and a lot in between.

[Remington]

I tip $5.00 minimum, even if my meal was $5.00. Above that I tip around 15% or so.

[Z³]

It has been a long-standing personal policy of mine that if one of my waitstaff is having problems with a table full of dickbags who are obviously going to leave a shitty tip (or no tip - thanks foreigners!) that that table's ticket will mysteriously keep getting pushed down the dupe rack until all the real peoples' orders have been sent out.

This is pretty common, actually. If its not the kitchen, its the server who will delegate your order to the bottom of the stack. For example, when I get triple sat (or even if I have waters to refill, or any menial task), If you are a dick things will take a long time. Either that, or I just want you to get the hell out of there, and I dont really care that much. Honestly, for me, the latter is the case more than anything... I figure most people are dicks, I just kind of turn off my soul when I clock in and deal with it.

GA's rule:  Tip $1.  Do not order more than $5 worth of food.  Finish quickly to avoid taking up any of the waiter's valuable time.
[/i]

I seriously wonder where you can go and only order $5 worth of food. Not trying to judge, this just confuses the hell out of me.
Do you only order side items?

Only ONCE did I have an issue with someone giving me the high-horse attitude and pull the, "Just how hard is your job anyway?" bit. Then she didn't realize how SPICY our entree was, especially when I wouldn't refill her water for a while.

There's ways to get your tables back, and I'll sacrifice a shitty tip for it. None of them are disgusting as what they do in Waiting, but at least I know that movie struck fear into the hearts of many people.

That sort of snobbish attitude is something I deal with semi-frequently, despite the fact that the kind of waiting I do is slightly more difficult than most places. Most of the time, however the snobbery takes a different form. We have certain regular customers, who are friends with the owner, that are just hellish. God forbid you break a wine cork, or fail to neglect paying customers in favor of them, you'll have a new asshole.

As far as the Food Terrorism goes, I'll say that most of what goes on anywhere is not nearly as severe as whats portrayed in either Waiting or Fight Club. Most of the places you have to worry about that sort of thing are the places I wont eat at anyway.

i used to bar tend at a bowling alley in the UP^TM

we did get minumum wage which, at the time, was $5.19/hour i think.  

but talk about shitty tips - the regulars (and all the customers were regulars) would should up around 3 or 4 pm and drink til close.  they would leave a dollar tip.  the bowlers didn't tip shit - especially if they ordered food.  the college kids would tip pretty good - but they only came out for $3 pitcher night.  on a *really* good night, i'd go home with $25 or so.

i remember i worked a 14 hour shift one sunday and split 50 cents with the cook.

so don't gimme your crap about not getting enough tips  

/rant

I was a bartender for about two years at a sports bar relatively downtown (they call it NoDo, for North Downtown, fucking retarded considering the area is barely developed.) Anyway, we had a location near a major venue, which was good when we had big sporting events (olympic swim trials, or NCAA basketball finals), but most of the time it was awful. The place was terribly mismanaged and failed pretty terribly after a few years of yo-yoing. Anyway we had the worst fucking moochers you can imagine, and as the place started to go under the management pretty much started giving the house away just to draw in business, and it did, but the wrong kind of business.

When we did a 25 cent wing special for Superbowl Sunday, we were packed door to door all day. Dollar draws, homeless people (from the shelter three blocks away) tipping maybe ten cents a round. People would order 60 wings to go, disappear for an hour, and come back to try to get everything comped. If it wasnt for the fact that I was aware this would happen, and literally conscript my manager to look for them, they would have comped these scammers. The managers there comped everything. It was pathetic.

Anyway, I'm just demonstrating that I can empathize with your statement. There are places that are terrible to work, but even the fine dining establishments are suffering these days, and working in a shithole is no badge of honor. Its just bad breaks.

Percentage based tipping is *such* a great idea, lets screw over the people who work at the restaurants I can actually afford to go to.

If you object to percentage-based tipping because it screws over the people who work at restaurants you can afford, I suggest you figure out how to tip those people as if you just consumed a $150 meal.



Seriously, how do you propose tips should be calculated, if not proportional to the bill? Servers who work at inexpensive restaurants usually count on high turnover and volume... yeah, you can eat well at a taqueria for $5 and only tip $1.00, but you get your tacos in a couple of minutes and you don't linger over wine for hours, either. There's a place for both business models, and a lot in between.

This. Volume of business makes a huge difference.

On a good night, I have maybe six or seven tables a night and can bank one to two hundred off of this, I know people who do the same amount in a night... but wait on three times as many tables. The level of service is a lot less intense, the required background knowledge (or ability to fake it) not as important, and you're on your feet a lot more. None the less, tipping by percentage is a good standard.

Also, in case anybody is curious, I'd say the place where I work is four star at best. Three to Four star, I'm not sure. I didnt think anybody really used this antiquated rating system anymore, but I'm not surprised to find out that I'm wrong.

I can't stand people who need to make themselves feel "above" people doing customer service. Obviously I'm biased because I spent 13 years as a customer service wage slave, but still. Man. Those people cheese me off.

I'm convinced that a lot of people go out to eat simply to feed their ego, they dont care about your service, the food, or anything else. They simply want a venue by which they can spew psychological abuse, or else wield power over another human being. I said it earlier today, when working the shift of the living dead (brunch), that small dicks and money are a bad combination.

Also, I think that my original post in this thread represents what I consider to be standard. However, in practice, my tipping habits tend to be a little bit more extreme. Being that I work downtown, I live downtown, and I eat downtown... I know the people who are serving me, I know the people who are feeding me. The hispanic guy who made my Lamb-Burger? I used to work with him, my girlfriend works with him, and I know he has three different jobs and works over 100 hours a week. The chick serving me, or the guy that made my drink? I probably know them both personally. That being said, I tend to over tip. I'm also more prone to getting the hook up.

(edit: after thinking about my example, I realized that the individual hispanic guy I'm thinking of who works the grill there, is referenced entirely accurately... but at least two of the other hispanic members of the staff at the restaurant I'm referencing, also work in the kitchen at the restaurant where I work. )

[rong]

since we're on the subject of tipping - i have a tipping question:

i sometimes go to the local bar and grill for morning coffee.  now, i think it's important to note that this is true middle of nowhere type of place.  i.e. the bar is the gas station is the general store is the only reason google maps knows where it is kind of place.

the terms for coffee are: go get a cup, they're behind the bar, and fill it yourself.  if the coffee runs out, go ahead and make another pot.  this isn't due to a lazy employee or anything - it's usually the owner and they're busy ordering stuff and cleaning/opening.

coffee is a dollar - free refills.  i usually have 3 or 4 cups.

i used to leave 50 cents or a dollar tip.  but i quit leaving a tip, cuz i was like - if anyone should get the tip, it should be me.

am i out of line for not leaving a tip?

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I'm assuming the $5 food is either cheap take-out (we have tons of taquerias and burrito places around here where you can get well-fed for $5) or food carts. Neither of which really compare with full-service places in terms of tipping expectations.

[Z³]

since we're on the subject of tipping - i have a tipping question:

i sometimes go to the local bar and grill for morning coffee.  now, i think it's important to note that this is true middle of nowhere type of place.  i.e. the bar is the gas station is the general store is the only reason google maps knows where it is kind of place.

the terms for coffee are: go get a cup, they're behind the bar, and fill it yourself.  if the coffee runs out, go ahead and make another pot.  this isn't due to a lazy employee or anything - it's usually the owner and they're busy ordering stuff and cleaning/opening.

coffee is a dollar - free refills.  i usually have 3 or 4 cups.

i used to leave 50 cents or a dollar tip.  but i quit leaving a tip, cuz i was like - if anyone should get the tip, it should be me.

am i out of line for not leaving a tip?

Based on what you describe, I dont think you're out of line.
If it were me, I'd tip 50 cents every time.

[Z³]

I'm assuming the $5 food is either cheap take-out (we have tons of taquerias and burrito places around here where you can get well-fed for $5) or food carts. Neither of which really compare with full-service places in terms of tipping expectations.

That sounds fucking awesome.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I'm assuming the $5 food is either cheap take-out (we have tons of taquerias and burrito places around here where you can get well-fed for $5) or food carts. Neither of which really compare with full-service places in terms of tipping expectations.

That sounds fucking awesome.

It really, really is. There are a fuckton of non-fast-food places within walking distance where you can get a meal for under $5.

[East Coast Hustle]

troof.

Portland is full of good cheap eats.

[Z³]

troof.

Portland is full of good cheap eats.

I like food.

[rong]

i really wish there was a Mr. Falafel nearby.