It never fails to shock me how a tip is demanded in the US. People simply refuse to listen to reason when we (yes, there are others!) tell them that leaving a tip isn’t necessary. Well, I’m hoping for too much here, but if you’re a waiter, here are 5 reasons why I will try my best not to give any money to you and why the reasons for tipping are crappy.
1. You act as if you’re my best friend
Just leave me alone ok? I don’t want to bloody chit chat with you. I want food. FOOD! Get it? It’s a restaurant. I go there to eat. I go because I want either Italian food, Chinese Food or something else which I can’t get in a McDonald’s. So I come to a restaurant to fulfill my cravings for it. I will pay for what I value – food. Not you.
Christ, you offend me – kneeling down next to my table, pretending to like me and chatting as if you’re my best friend when it’s obvious that all you’re after is the tip! I’m not a bloody money bag you know. I will pay the bill which includes the cost of the food, the environment and the salaries of the people involved – nothing more.
The only way to get money out of me that I don’t have to legally pay is by prying it out of my cold dead hands…
Bottom line: I don’t want to know your name, or interact with you for any longer than I have to in order to place my order. As far as I’m concerned, you’re the equivalent of a conveyor belt that brings me my food and a computer into which I input my order. Of course, I won’t be rude. But don’t expect me to interact with you any more than I would with some stranger.
Image Credit: cafemama
2. You don’t get paid enough
And this is my problem how exactly? It’s astonishing that customers are expected to make up for your employer’s cheapness in not paying you a decent wage. Please include the full cost in everyone’s bill thank you very much. I’ll pay it because I have to and the charge is there for me to see.
What’s really funny here is that no one seems to criticize the employers! All criticism is reserved for non tipping customers instead of the owners of the restaurant for not paying a decent wage. Wtf! Could it possibly be because you guys know you can make much more by tips and under report your income to the IRS?
3. You’ll spit in my food if I don’t tip you?
And I’ll shoot your kid if you don’t give me a million dollars. Seriously, am I even hearing this right? You’re actually using the threat of blackmail to make me pay you? Well as long as you’re openly claiming to be a criminal it’s all right I guess.
Fortunately that’s why I prefer buffets. Listen apart from it being illegal, this shows your poor integrity. But if you spit in someone’s food because they didn’t give you money you didn’t earn, then you’re a loser and deserve to be a waiter for the rest of your life.
4. Bringing me my food isn’t worthy of being paid extra
Did you cook it? Did you invent it? No. You picked it up and brought it to me. While it might not be easy, there are plenty of jobs which are much worse – shop floor workers for example. And I’ve been a shop floor manager, so I know. Face it – compared to other jobs, being a waiter is unskilled. You get paid what the market will think your services are worth. You don’t deserve more for your work over and above what your employer should pay you.
5. Money doesn’t grow on trees
I expect you to be grateful and pray for me at night if I tip you 10%. Be happy I gave you anything at all. I worked for the money in my wallet and by giving you some I didn’t have to, I’m doing you a favor. Learn to remember that when people give you something they don’t need to, it’s a favor. You don’t complain that they didn’t give you more!
By the way, the same thing above applies to all professions that demand tips including those on cruise liners.
So now that you understand why I won’t give you money you don’t deserve, stop with the “oh how could you?” attitude. I can. And I will.
Update: Here’s a rebuttal of the many silly justifications for tipping that people have given in the comments section.
That’s why we have a gratuity for people like u . Don’t worry karma Is a mf it has clearly already hit u back
Well, how about this.
If you don’t want to tip the people who run back and forth to ensure you receive adequate and decent service (which is NOT part of your bill for the food), than you can do everyone a favor.
You can
(1): Stay home and cook your own dinner
(2): Get fastfood
(3): Get your food to-go
or (3): If you insist on going in a dine-in restaurant, where servers RELY on tips to survive, than when you walk in, request to speak to a manager before you are seated. When the managers approaches, make them aware that you have no intention on tipping their servers who are running back and forth for YOU, and instead, you would like to retrieve your food and beverage yourself, and would also like to clean up your mess at your table before you leave. After all, the service you are refusing to pay for would normally do all of those things.
THAT WAY, you don’t stiff any servers who deserve their tip.
But somehow, I don’t foresee that you are going to get your own food, serve YOURSELF, and clean up your own mess before you leave.
If you want to be a cheapskate, don’t waste a servers time or take up their table.
In reply to Brittney
I have a fairer solution. When a waiter comes to me, they make it clear that a tip is expected as restaurant policy. Or have it written in the menu.
Nothing is “understood”.
In reply to bhagwad
You are skating around the point. You are PERFECTLY AWARE that a tip is expected and is the norm for America.
You are cheating the system.
You CLEARLY have made it obvious on your blog and thread that a tip is expected (and that you don’t agree). You made a blog even stating why you REFUSE to tip. (All points you made on the blog suddenly are irrelevant, and now it is a matter of your legal requirements??? Interesting.) You know that the tip is expected, and you can’t back out of that point.
You are trying to find excuses for your actions and justify them.
Maybe in another country, it’d be different. But in America, THESE are the normals, THESE are the standards.
I’m sure if EVERY customer were like you, and felt that they aren’t legally obligated to tip (although some restaurants tip 15% automatically so people like you can’t stiff their waitstaff), than waiters wouldn’t be getting paid 2.13 an hour.
I see you argue the point a lot that the restaurant owners need to pay the waitstaff better… Or that maybe the waitstaff need to union together and demand more money. But before that would ever happen, have you considered that waiters and waitresses would just DEMAND that a set tip percentage be added to their bill? Many restaurants already do this.
And if people like you continue to stiff waiters, maybe MORE restaurants will enforce an automatic 15% gratuity OUT OF YOUR POCKET and add it to the bill…
With you being as cheap as you are, you should hope that never happens (and that WILL happen before the waiters are ever boosted up to minimum wage). And when and if that happens, you will be FORCED to pay gratuity, even more than you might normally, and the restaurant and waitstaff are covered and not obligated to treat you any sort of way, because they no longer have incentive.
The restaurant won’t have to pay, like you say they should.
In the end it will be YOU paying, and paying more than what you would have had to had you been a decent tipper to begin with.
In reply to Brittney
Brittney, I’ll ask this AGAIN for the billionth time, in California, tipped and non-tipped employees are all paid minimum wage. Does this mean I don’t have to tip in California?
It isn’t understood. We are speaking about LEGAL precedents.
I have no problem with the automatic 15%. In fact, I think it makes things so much easier and throws out any awkward feelings between a waiter and the customer.
I have no problem with ME paying, however if something is voluntary, I don’t care how cheap it is, I still won’t pay unless I have to. Auto grat is legally required for me to pay, so therefore I will pay it.
In reply to bhagwad
Says the guy who DEMANDED that the tip for the housekeepers be taken off the bill for the cruise he went on.
In reply to bhagwad
A waiter or waitress does NOT have to tell you to tip, that is against a servers etiquette. So you might want to check on that. It is universally known in this country they work for tips. As in areas where they are getting paid at least minimum wage then I can see a point, but most of us make $2.13. We might not only take care of you in the dinning room, but also assist with your food without you having any idea. We also have to clean the bathrooms that you people destroy, and our sections including cleaning up your mess as if you were 2 years old, and didn’t know how to eat. When your order is wrong, guess what the underpaid employee that you are about to stiff in most cases catches it and tries to fix it immediately. Just remember that servers, not the manager or the establishment, have the federally regulated right to refuse service to anyone. Hopefully your image will circulate and more people will start refusing to serve your cheap a**. BTW, yes I copied your little ridiculous self and forwarded your pick on facebook. It would be nice to see you sit at a table and the manager has to wait on you. Once again, Just SAYIN…………………….
In reply to Jason
Very well said!
SIMPLE! YOU’RE INDIAN … hehe
In reply to aduc
Aduc–I think the Klan has another opening.
What’s up with this racism? Is this white power or something?
I totally agree with you. I will only pay tips when I go to high end restaurants like those in luxurious 5-star hotels.
Wow. I am completely astonished at the ignorance of this post. You, and the people that agree with you, sound like terrible human beings. You have no concept of empathy, that much is obvious. However, there is nothing that can be said by me that hasn’t been said by someone else, that will get through to your tiny little brains.
In reply to melissa
empathy is not clearly outlined in the laws of capitalism or our western form of life. As you can tell, the West has no problems with importing goods from China/India that are manufactured by children for a wage of abour $1/hour. Your computer probably contains such parts. Please, spare the empathy.
American farm workers make about $3.00 and hour, what about them?
I will ask this again, for the ZILLIONTHT time. In California, where all tipped and non-tipped employees make minimum wage, do I still have to tip since they are making the federal minimum wage?
PLEASE ANSWER.
I can only say this, you are obviously from a third world country! This is America and servers work for a servers minimum wage because our law allows it. Yes our bosses have to compensate us if we don’t make minimum wage at the $7.25 and hour. Secondly, not all of us do this because we can under-claim our tips. A** Hole I pay $200 every year to get my taxes done, as I am a full time student and don’t want to mess something up. Lastly, don’t judge those that choose to wait on your sorry a** when you visit an establishment that customarily works for tips. Oh, one more thing I may only be a server in your eyes at that moment, but I also help out in the kitchen! So yes jack A**, I probably did help cook or create your meal. Go back to where you came from, cause that’s probably where you belong. Just saying……. You got a jacked idea. Have a good one! F*ck tard
I LOVE your blog, and agree 100%. To all you whiny, pathetic, begging waiters/waitresses out there: YOU CHOSE THIS JOB.
At the end of the day, we got to keep our money, and you got no tip. Sucks for you; cry me a river. Get an education and / or a better job.
We come for FOOD, not your fakeness for OUR money.
The true colors of waiters and waitresses come out when they don’t get tipped, and that is EXACTLY why I never tip– because I see who you people truly are — UNDESERVING of tips! You come on these blogs and trash non-paying customers.
HOW ABOUT WE NEVER COME TO YOUR RESTAURANT EVER AGAIN– and put that company OUT OF BUSINESS ALL TOGETHER? Would you rather have that?
If you OFFER me to eat in, I’ll accept. If you offer me water at no charge, I’ll accept. I order food– and intend on paying for it. Therefore, since I’m paying for it– THE FOOD NEEDS TO BE BROUGHT TO ME SOMEHOW. Whether boxed and brought to the counter, or walking 13 steps to set on my table. You ask me if I want desert… therefore you are offering to get it for me IF i’ll pay for it. I take you up on your offer, and I intend on paying for it, therefore it NEEDS to be brought to me somehow. —THIS IS YOUR JOB. –WHICH I DO NOT PAY YOU FOR. I DID NOT CHOOSE TO EMPLOY YOU. I pay for the food—I can’t just go back into your kitchen and grab it myself!
God damn idiots! And remember… at the end of the day you won’t get MY tip. You’ll be the one angry, crying, bitching… so I win:)
#SCAM
In reply to Jendel
Just so you know, you are absolutely correct about the fact that this is the job i chose. And, also, just so you know, i have a masters degree in internet security. I could work for the federal government if i wanted, and, as a matter of fact, they try to recruit me at least twice a year. Here’s the rub, i enjoy my job. I love being a server. I dont complain that you left a shitty tip, i complain that you are a shitty person. I provide a service. Just like you do. No matter what job you do in America, you provide a service. You expect to be paid for that service. Servers are no different. And, as for your food having to be ‘brought to you because you paid for it’ why dont you try to get that same service from your local grocery store. Or maybe your wife, if some other idiot is dumb enough to marry you.
In reply to Dionne Cay
You fail miserably. There is nothing you said that matters; nothing you said that could possibly change my mind; no argument whatsoever.
CUSTOMERS. ARE. NOT. RESPONSIBLE. FOR. PAYING. FOR. YOUR. SERVICE. WHAT. DON’T. YOU. UNDERSTAND.
It’s that simple. Tipping is OPTIONAL. …i.e. NOT required. Therefore, IT…IS…NOT…CUSTOMERS’… RESPONSIBILITY… TO…PAY… YOU…FOR…YOUR…SERVICE…
Where is your common sense? CUSTOMERS ARE NOT YOUR EMPLOYERS. YOUR BOSS IS YOUR EMPLOYER. How much simpler does it get?
Plus, you retard, read the name, JENDEL. JEN-DEL. …FEMALE. you dumbass.
Mentioning a grocery store, McDonald’s, etc., is completely irrelevant. Where is your logical argument, MR. Dionne? Again—CUSTOMERS. ARE. NOT. YOUR. EMPLOYER… THEREFORE. IT. IS. NOT. OUR. JOB. TO. PAY. YOU.
The word “tip” was not originated to be a “required” or “obligated” courtesy. It was simply meant to be a COURTESY. …i.e. OP-TION-AL.
#BAMdonePROVEN
Typical tightwad sand nigger. Why am I not surprised?
In reply to Leo
more klan openings?
Leo, lynch anybody lately?
In reply to Common Sense
Nope, just never known a sand nigger that wasn’t a tight wad. I don’t care if you do it in your own country, because I don’t give a shit about India or any non-first world country. If you don’t like the customs of this country, get the fuck out and go back to your mudhole and curry. Stick to your Hindu princess and arranged marriages. This is not the country for you. No reason to lynch anybody, I’d never risk going to jail for a brown person. Are you kidding me? We’d rather you just stick to your own country and let the white man lead the way like he always has.
While I agree on the points that you are trying to make, I would have to disagree in the way you wrote this article. I don’t know you personally but this post makes you sound like an ass, which I am probably sure in person you are the total opposite. But as a formal Food and Beverage Manager for the InterContinental Hotels in Puerto Rico (which is part of the United States for those who don’t know), I have always told my 70 employees that anyone who is caught asking, demanding or adding the gratuity to any customer would be fired on the spot, no matter how big the party was. I’ve always reminded them that a customer is NOT obligated to leave a tip, and if they do leave the waiter gratuity to remind themselves that a tip is a gesture (gift) from the customer as an appreciation for their service. Demanding a customer to leave money for bringing their plate of food and soda to the table than forgetting about them the rest of their dinner looks poor on the restaurant, the hotel and themselves.
While I am not for OBLIGATED GRATUITY, I would have to say that you really are underestimating the skills of waiters. I’ve been everything from a waiter, to a bartender, to supervisor, up to management until I quit the F&B Industry, and let me tell you, being a waiter isn’t easy. Waiters have to deal with every type of customers, you have the GOOD, those who are great to serve and are a delight which makes you go the extra mile for them, the BAD, those who have an attitude problem and always find something negative to say, they want their order in 5 minutes and claim they’ve been waiting for 30 minutes, they make your enjoyable night turn sour in seconds with criticism, but yet come back every week or every other day, even thou they claim they hate it and always ask to speak to the manager. Than you have, THE UGLY, these are folks that will do and say everything in their power to get the restaurant to give their meals for free, they are rude and disrespectful to the waiters and supervisors. I’ve had customers who actually don’t hide their racial comments or thoughts about the waiters who attend them and make unnecessary comments about the profession they have chosen to them, my waiters had to literately hold their tongues so not to tell the the customer to go fuck yourself, these types of customers are the worst, and the majority have to be escorted off the premises when you tell them they have to pay their bill, so they make a show in the middle of the restaurant because they know they don’t have the money on their credit cards to cover the food price, at times the police has to get involved. These are the people who LOVE to take advantage, especially to new and experienced waiters.
Besides dealing with rude and sometimes hostile customers, waiters also have to deal with the bullshit from the cooks in the kitchen. Cooks are (and I include myself because I’ve studied culinary arts and also have worked in the kitchen) a breed of our own, we get insulted very easily, especially if ANYONE criticizes our food. If a plate is sent back because the steak is not cooked the way the customer wanted, or it’s too salty or they thought they wanted that plate but changed their minds, some cooks (not all) will actually make the customer wait forever for their new plate of food, to show the customer a lesson, this has nothing to do with the waiter, but the waiter is the one who receives all the heat from the customer. If a cook doesn’t like the waiter, they will also take forever with that specific waiters order just so the waiter can look bad to the customer. I’ve had my shares of settling arguments between cooks and waiters, it’s like dealing with a bunch of kindergartens. The kitchen and wait staff are ALWAYS butting heads, its the never ending drama.
As for a waiter treating you as their best friend, to be honest they hate it as much as you do, they really don’t give a shit how many tourist attractions you’ve seen, or that you are celebrating your 256 days of dating, but its company policy to treat the customer as a friend. When people go out to eat, they expect great service, they want to enjoy their dinner and feel great that they just spent $50 on two hamburgers and two sodas just because the hamburger had avocado. Going to a restaurant is an escape of everyday life, in a world filled with assholes people want to be treated good and important by other people, even if its just for an hour or two. Call it a mini vacation from reality. So waiters are taught (and expected) to treat their customers as if the client is the center of their world. Which may aggravate you, but most customers enjoy the attention.
Now to end my way long explanation about waiters, we come down to the waiters salary. In the United States a service employee’s (who receives tips) minimum wage salary is different from a regular employee’s minimum wage pay. So by law, restaurant employers ARE paying waiters fairly. My waiters (even thou their checks are $0, because it goes into taxes) make minimum $900 a week in tips, which is GREAT pay for a profession that doesn’t require skills. Don’t be mislead that waiters cheat the IRS by not claiming how much they take home in tips, the IRS monitors how much the restaurant makes, they use a chart to determine approx how much a waiter would take home in tips and the waiter gets charged, either by having the money deducted from their pay checks or they pay at the end of the year with their taxes. Most restaurants a POS (Point of Sale) system such as MICROS, that has every employee on file by name, MICROS card, voids they’ve made, how much revenue they make daily, weekly, monthly and yearly. The accounting department (of the hotel) tracks everything the waiter sells, and are charged taxes on how much they sold whether or not they got a tip for their service. So if you are a waiter that makes a huge revenue for the restaurant but get lousy tips your ass out when tax season comes. This is the United States laws. In Europe and other countries, waiters actually have to study to become waiters, most countries consider the service to be a form of art, so the waiters there make about $15USD an hour, since they get paid so well they serve for the love of serving and not the necessity.
If thats how you feel, then you should learn how to cook all the foods you like to go out to eat. That way, you can tip yourself, and save some money on both ends. Dumbass!! Its not the employers who make the wage laws, its the federal government. The law in some states says that tipped employees be paid a smaller wage. Its not the employers. On another note, what most people dont realize, being a server is a skilled job. It takes skill to put up with the likes of you idiots and not choke the f@ck out of you. It is more than just bringing you your food. We have to be nice, entertain, and then clean up after you. In some restaurants, servers have multiple tasks, not just bringing you your food. They set up everything for you, bring it to you, clean up after you, and set up for the next person. If you had a maid, you would pay her, whats the difference?
In reply to Dionne Cay
I agree on a wage with my maid in advance. I pay her exactly that – nothing more and nothing less. Similarly, I agree to pay what’s on the bill when I go to a restaurant.
Nothing more, and nothing less.
In reply to bhagwad
Not quite the same. A maid is paid for her service. When you pay your food bill, that does NOT include service fees. So you are not paying in full. Many restaurants will print on their receipts or post up somewhere in the restaurant that *Gratuity is not included in the Bill*.
DING DING DING, we have a winner.
This is a signal that they are letting you know that you Service is not being paid for from the money you spent on your food.
AKA: Leave a tip.
Cheapskates.
In reply to Brittney
Please! A waiter is the employee of the restaurant. I do business with the restaurant, not with the waiter.
Why is a server different from a cashier at Walmart? I do business with Walmart. Why should I care if the cashier is underpaid.
Not my problem.
In reply to bhagwad
So when a waiter, who’s income is solely customers tips, is taking your order and bringing you your food and refills and getting anything else you request, you are not doing business with the waiter?
When you dine out, you are engaging in business with the restaurant who provides the food AND you are doing business with the waitstaff who provides the service and cleans up your mess when you are done.
A server is different from a cashier at wal mart in many ways.
1. Most servers makes BELOW minimum wage (with some exceptions) whereas ALL walmart cashiers make minimum wage or more.
2. You do not engage the service of a cashier. They have one post, stand in place and scan items. At a restaurant, a server is your servant for the time being.
The only way a Wal Mart employee and waiter could be compared is if the Wal Mart employee shopped for you. If you gave them a list of your items you’d like, and they actually got a shopping cart and did the work for you. Otherwise, they are not even comparable so I’m not sure why you try to relate them.
Shopping, you get your own crap. Serving, you don’t.
I truly hope you get a good taste of karma.
In reply to Brittney
Wow – you’re actually debating this? You mean the restaurant is not your employer? You mean if you refuse to do your job you can’t be fired? Gimme a break. You are very much an employee of the restaurant. If I go to Olive Gardens, I care two hoots about who my waiter is. I do business with the restaurant – not with any specific person.
Again, waiters making below minimum wage is not my problem. I go out to eat – not to ease the burdens of the world.
Nitpicking about the actual work of a waiter vs Walmart cashier is equally irrelevant because you do what your employer tells you to do. Walmart cashiers are not required to get my goods. Waiters on the other hand are required to bring me my food. Why should I come between a contract between them and the employer?
I am not a waiter’s employer. I owe them nothing.
In reply to bhagwad
Actually, a restaurant is NOT my employer, because I am not a waiter/waitress.
At no point did I say that an employee is not employed by the restaurant.
At no point did I say that a waiter can’t be fired by their employers at the restaurant.
And give ME a break, when you go to Olive Garden and request someone bring you your beverage, refill it, or ask for any other specifics from that individual, you are going BEYOND simply getting the restaurant food, you are engaging the service of a waiter.
At a job interview for being a waiter/waitress, the employer makes clear that the waiter will only make 2-4 dollars from hourly wage, because they expect the waiters will make up the rest in tips.
When you ENGAGE in using a service you aren’t going to pay for, you are making it your problem.
How so, you may ask? Well, when you take up a table in someones section, and take up an hour of their time, and you do not tip them, that is a table that they could have served someone who would leave them a tip. You are robbing the server of making their living. For you to actually compare paying for services YOU ARE UTILIZING to the equivalent of easing the burdens of the world, is just completely unbelievable.
That is like me taking my car to get serviced… the actual oil change only costs 20 dollars or so, but they charge me $50 to pay the people working on my car. But I say I want to only pay for the oil itself (You want to only pay for the food itself) not the service and work that is involved in it. That is not right, and is not how the economy functions. If every place tried to function in such a manner, our country would be in chaos.
Without that service, their would be no product. It is only logical that you pay for both.
Don’t mistake that just because an employer does not pay their waiters minimum wage, that you leaving a tip would be considered “easing the burdens of the world”. You aren’t donating to a homeless shelter or anything, simply paying for services you used VOLUNTARILY.
As I’ve said before, just make it clear and fair for everyone and say that you are not going to tip BEFORE you accept the service, that way you get the adequate service you desire. Nothing in life is free.
Also, I was not nitpicking about the differences between Wal Mart and waiters. I was responding to something you keep saying… “Why shouldn’t I also tip Wal Mart employees” etc etc. You keep repeating it. You say there is no difference in the two contracts, and there absolutely is. If you think otherwise you are crazy. If you wanna get technical about the contracts, you actually ARE coming in the way of the contract when you don’t tip, which is what the waiter is told to expect in the waiting industry.
Your 5 point on Why You Won’t Tip Again?
(1)You act as if you’re my best friend:
Well, since how you are one who is for “contract agreements”, part of their contract is to make the customer feel part of the family. Dining out is not just about “getting food” (that is what grocery stores and fast food are for), it is for the entire experience, including a friendly waitstaff. So really, they are just doing their job that they were hired for. So now you are telling them not to do their job specified in the contract? No point here.
(2): You don’t get paid enough:
In America, these are the standards, and they work. Does it mean it’s the BEST system? No. I agree. But should you contribute to the problem by NOT tipping? Hm, that doesn’t make you any better.
(3): You’ll spit in my food if I don’t:
Well, how many people have actually spit in your food for not tipping? None, I’m guessing. Wanna take a wild guess why? Because you get your food and service BEFORE the waiters discover that you haven’t tipped them. So again. No point here.
And I will say, to the people here who said that they WOULD spit in your food, it’s not for the fact that you don’t tip. It is for your hateful attitude as a human being.
(4): Bringing me my food isn’t worth you being paid:
Who are you to judge what is worthy of payment? Every service has a price. And let me assure you, waiters do MUCH more than just bring you your food. In many instances, they even help prepare it. They also bring you drinks, refills, any odd request you make, they check on you to make sure you are completely satisfied with every aspect of your meal, and at the end of the night they clean up your mess. Shall I go on with what more they do that bring food??? Again. No point here.
(5): Money doesn’t grow on trees:
Of course it doesn’t. Al though it is made from it, if that is any conciliation. Waiters know this. If they didn’t, I think they would be out picking money off trees, instead of working in a restaurant getting paid $2 an hour. They are working for their money. So again, no point here.
So really, with me debunking every argument/excuse you’ve made as to why you won’t tip, you really could have just made this blog a lot shorter and titled it “THE ONE REASON I WON’T TIP YOU”
And that reason??? “Because I am not legally required to.”
End of Blog.
In reply to Brittney
But I say I want to only pay for the oil itself (You want to only pay for the food itself) not the service and work that is involved in it.
This is absurd. I will pay whatever is on the bill. If the restaurant wants me to pay the waiter separately they are more than welcome to present me with the bill.
On the one hand you agree that I’m not legally required to tip. On the other hand you say I should pay nevertheless…I find this puzzling. Which rational human being will part with money that they do not have to?
And to make matters worse instead of being grateful for a 5% or a 10% tip, waiters demand more! It’s just incomprehensible.
Perhaps we need to clarify terminology. When I give money that I am not legally required to pay, it’s called charity and a donation. Am I legally required to tip waiters? Of course not! Therefore money given to them is charity. I don’t care how hard they work – I’m not here to dispense social justice. I’m here to take a service and pay the bill presented to me.
Nothing more. I don’t know how much clearer I can get.
Nothing in life is free.
Then don’t offer it for free! But if you’re giving me free service I will obviously take it. And not presenting me with a bill is the same thing as giving me free service. Money only leaves my hands when I’m legally required to pay for it. But this is irrelevant. The restaurant requires waiters to serve me – it’s not as if they do me a favor.
There is no contract between me and a waiter. It’s not written anywhere, no bill is presented…nothing. Ergo, no contract.
In reply to bhagwad
I’ve been following the back and forth on this for a few weeks now, and it all comes down to a simple fact, Bhagwad, no matter how much you try to justify your attitude: You’re cheap, not only with your money, but with your heart and view of life. You aim for legal and rational arguments, but every time you respond, you reveal your poorly contained disdain for servers/waiters/bartenders. You obviously consider the people serving you below you.
Unsubscribing from notifications on this “blog” … it was fun reading the responses for a while, but it’s become repetitive, and your responses have become increasingly pathetic. Thankfully you represent a tiny portion of society.
Your negative attitude is one thing, but your negative impact on the world you inhabit is so, so sad … and you’re obviously not even aware how awful your day to day actions are on the people you encounter.
And I pity you for that.
In reply to Brittney
The waiter is employed BY the restaurant, see their tax papers.
I live in California. All tipped and non-tipped employees are paid minimum wage.
I will ask this in all caps.
IF TIPPED AND NON TIPPED EMPLOYEES MAKE THE SAME, DO I STILL HAVE TO TIP AT A RESTAURANT?
PLEASE FOR GOODNESS’ SAKES ANSWER
In reply to Common Sense
The waiter may be employed by restaurant, but they ARE taxed on tips that the government assumes they are making. So when someone stiffs them, that is money that is coming out of the waiters pocket.
I tip because I know that here in Florida, servers are making below minimum wage, and I know that they rely on tips to survive. If I can’t pay for their service, I will not eat out. Period.
Most restaurants WILL add on a receipt when gratuity is not included. And in California, if the server is making minimum wage than it isn’t as necessary to tip.
I do not believe that waiters are above anyone else who works a minimum wage job, so I don’t think that they need to be tipped on top of making minimum wage. But in that case, based on if the service was good, and I had a waiter who was very attentive, I would still tip a few dollars at least to show my appreciation. As an American custom. Gratuity= Grateful for exceptional service.
And honestly in the big scheme of things, there are more good tippers than people who bail out on tipping anything at all. It isn’t the measly 5 dollars you didn’t leave for the service that ticks everyone off, but instead is the attitude that is presented. The ungrateful, unhumane, “I’m entitled to your service for free” attitude and belittling waiters.
SOOOO many comments on here are bashing the waiters, saying that it’s THEIR fault that they aren’t getting tipped. Even if they provide great service.
People wonder why waiters get attitudes when a tip isn’t left. Well, when you only make $2.13 an hour (which is the majority of waitstaff), and your paychecks are only $50 a week, you rely on every tip to help pay your bills. And when people send you on the run around, and you have to be nice to even the DICK HEADS, and get their sauces, and then clean up their mess, and they don’t leave you ANY form of gratitude for your service, those servers have a right to be ticked. I would be too. And I am not speaking for the servers making minimum wage.
In reply to Brittney
You fail.