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.
FUCK YOU
Haha… Your responses to some of the comments is priceless… I’m on the fence… 2 refills… Better be salt/pepper on the table and a condiment if required… Do Not Linger making it awkward to eat.. I’ve given nothing just because they interrupted everyone I’ve had a bite…. I also tip a bit more if they are making a visible effort.
I have attest to the fact that this was true at the restaurant I worked at.
Many of the girls at the restaurant were not living clean lives and earned their wages in immoral ways. They were very superficial and disingenuous.
I don’t think people like this need to earn more than the average laborer- who breaks their back and earns less than someone who brings in the food.
In reply to Mary
Waitresses are like trained dogs. Their job is so simple a retard could do it. Write down what the master wants, go to the kitchen and have the cook make it. Then you walk 50 to 60 feet back to the table and think you are deserving of a tip. Well I don’t think that deserves a tip. I think two dollars an hour is more than you are worth. I really wish I did not even have to speak with you. Your profession is pathetic and you should be ashamed. I should be able to speak to the cook get my food and not have to even be bothered with you or smell your stinking cheap perfume. Your job is very simple requires no skill or training. Because you make a tiny bit of money if you think I am going to supplement your income you are definitely high on drugs.
In reply to Betty Boop
It’s my money I make the rules. I refuse to tip you for doing your job. I don’t care if you make two dollars an hour it is all you’re worth anyways.
In reply to Stan the Man
I don’t tip because I don’t like to waste my money. Paying a person for doing their job extra money is stupid. I am not the waiters employer. I don’t mind paying my bill but that’s all I’m going to pay. The waiter makes two dollars an hour because it is a. fair wage for such a simple job. Walking less than 100 feet from the kitchen to my table and I’m supposed to give a $20 tip on $100 bill for dinner. Laugh out loud I don’t think so.
In reply to Jill
This whole post has got to be the most successful, money making TROLL ive ever seen.. bravo.. and all the little mini trolls on BOTH sides of the discussion are hilarious as well.. outstanding. I refuse to believe that most of these posts are serious because that would irrevocably damage my view of and hope for society. If you arent a troll, and you are against the initial post.. man, i hope you realize how very much money this dude is taking in from your naivete….
In reply to Betty Boop
before i was a server i never tipped because i always thought, it was a choice and the food prices are much higher than fast food restaurants. the servers arent to blame, its the restaurant making a burger over $10 when you can get one for $1 that pisses me off.
There is Little Training when you already had experience, like a week or 2 weeks but There is Training Required. i know many people waiting 2 years some 5 years to work at olive garden as a server and they are host or to go specialist first. Even i went through the same thing for 6 months. everyplace is diffrent. The Olive Garden i work at Reqiers Training its so retarded.
Its clearly unfair the shit we have to take for such little money when Managers are being stingy, give us a break
In reply to Mary
You all are ignorant assholes.
It’s honestly sad that you make up part of our society.
If you don’t want to tip, stay the hell home. That’s the way it is, for good reasons too, because ignorant fucks, like yourself, come into our establishments, and we have to cater to the soulless, POS person you are.
I’m sorry your girlfriend in highschool may or may not have been a server, and may or may not have fucked around with the buss boy, for which you are now forever permantley scarred. Please, do us all a favor, and choke on your food the next time.
And to the miserable fuck who made the assumption that I have 4 baby daddies and collect food stamps?
– Man, Really? I can’t even get on your level. You’re an ignorant fuck.
And did I mention I’m not even a server?
:))))
Tips are not “rewards” they are income, according to the IRS who makes servers pay income tax on it. If you do not “reward”/pay your waiter, they still have to pay that income tax on at least 8% of your bill in order to avoid getting audited/fined and held libel by the IRS.
In reply to Constance
Tips are not rewards. A diner is made to feel guilty to tip. The waitress makes two dollars an hour because she is totally worthless, stupid, unskilled, no education and screwed up her life. Newsflash I don’t give a fuck. As far as I’m concerned two dollars an hour is more than you’re worth.
In reply to Gunter
First of all, you can go fuck yourself. Second of all, please educate your ignorant self before you make comments like that. I would love for you to wait tables for a month just to understand how fucked up your comment actually is. Most of the “totally worthless, stupid, unskilled, no education, and screwed up” people that you commented about serve to pay for college, support their families, as well as trying to make ends meet. If you have a problem with them serving you, go eat fast food or make your own food at home. That is the whole point of going to eat at a restaurant. You come to not have to do anything but sit your ass down, eat, pay, and get out. Your server does everything to make sure that every piece of your meal is correct, down to the 87,000 extra sides of ranch dressing that you are going to devour. If you think its so easy to serve, get out from behind your computer and try it yourself. That will teach you a little about humility. You will also understand that that person that leaves you $0 on $137, which I’m guessing is you, may very possibly prevent that server from putting gas in her car or worse. Not every server that comes to your table is a high school dropout junkie that has 5 kids with 4 different daddies. Most people are good people just trying to pay the bills just like I am assuming you are. Don’t judge me or any other server because you think that we are beneath you, because hey, were trying to make it through school and life, just like you. Think and educate yourself before you speak. Thank you..
In reply to Hunter
All servers servants are beneath me. I do not tip because I see no value in it for me. It just costs me extra money to pay a girl to bring me food I paid for. Paying extra to have food I paid for placed on my table is very stupid and foolish I refuse to do so. It is no concern of mine that she makes two dollars an hour. For this is all that her services worth anyways. If she has no money for gas or food it is not my problem. And I truly don’t care
In reply to Wolfgang
I’ll give every wait person here a tip. Get a better paying job! I see more lazy waitresses then ones who work hard. Usually I can get more response from a dead dog.
In reply to Wolfgang
I think people become waitresses for one of two reasons. Reason 1 is that they are too stupid to work a cash register at McDonald’s or Walmart. Or the most likely reason is because they choose to make $2.13 an hour (and pocket all the tips) so that they can still receive their food stamps and welfare checks. They are also screwed up bitches who are single because their baby daddies were too smart to stay with them. Fucking losers.
In reply to Jimbo
“I’ll give every wait person here a tip. Get a better paying job!”
Yeah, let’s just go to “job land” and pick from the plethora of wonderful jobs available.
“I see more lazy waitresses then ones who work hard. Usually I can get more response from a dead dog.”
Where the fuck are you going out to eat?
“Most waitresses only claim taxes on $7.25/hr of their wages. Most tips don’t get reported, that’s a fact.”
According to who? You? You’re not exactly a trustworthy person regarding this subject because it’s clear that you have no clue how the restaurant industry works. How do I know? Because you wouldn’t have said any of this if you did. Also, how much do you think they’re making overall? The way you talk about them it’s like you think they make enough to be in the highest tax bracket but they’re paying the same percentage as people in the lowest. It sounds like you’re getting servers confused with CEOs.
“I used to tip pretty good back in the day when I was younger and didn’t know any better. Sure, I’ll still too if I feel I got great service but 95% of the time the service is lousy. Most waitresses don’t check to see if I need a refill and most of the time I have to hunt them down just to get my check. That is bad service that deserves nothing.”
Again, where the fuck are you going where the service is that bad? If it’s so awful, why do you go?
“On the other hand last week I had a great waitress (very rare). She checked on my often and when my bill came she didn’t charge me for like half of the items I ordered, so I left her a $10 tip on a $6 bill (which should have been almost $15). That is how you get good tips. Undercharge for food and that money usually goes into a bigger tip.”
There’s a word for that. It’s called theft. Sometimes you can get a few drinks on the house if the manager is laid back enough. However, no manager would approve someone not charging a customer for half of their stuff.
“It’s too bad they don’t allow smoking in restaurants anymore.”
Take that up with the government because that’s no longer up to the restaurants.
“When they did my philosophy was that I tiped based on how fast I got an ashtray. If the waitress brought one right away I left her $20, if she brought one after asking I left 18%, but if she never brought me one she got nothing”
…You cared more about getting an ashtray promptly than you did about overall service?
“I think people become waitresses for one of two reasons.”
I think your mother was a server and she never loved you. Do you think I’m ridiculous for making such a claim without having any proof? Pot, meet kettle.
“Reason 1 is that they are too stupid to work a cash register at McDonald’s or Walmart.”
As someone who has been a server and has worked a register at a grocery store and at a convenience store, I can tell you with 100% certainty that being a sever is a lot more difficult. As a cashier I just had to greet people, ring them up, occasionally put their stuff in a bag, collect their payment, sometimes give them change and their receipt and collect their signature, and then tell them to “have a nice day”. Serving requires catering to every customer’s whim no matter how silly.
Most people either think of servers as equal to or above cashiers in regarding how intelligent/competent/important/hard working they are, but you’re placing servers way lower. That leads me to believe that you’re either a troll or (like I said before) your mother who worked as a server never loved you.
“Or the most likely reason is because they choose to make $2.13 an hour (and pocket all the tips) so that they can still receive their food stamps and welfare checks.”
Again, where is this information coming from? Plenty of restaurants hold on to your tips and will only give them to you after they report them. Also, credit card tips are automatically reported.
“They are also screwed up bitches who are single because their baby daddies were too smart to stay with them.”
A 100% baseless accusation. This is the second reason that I think that your mom was a sever who hated you. If I’m right, I can’t blame her. If I’m wrong, at least it’s understandable how I came to my conclusion. I can’t say the same for you.
“Fucking losers.”
Says the moron who came up with this bullshit.
In reply to Wolfgang
You are a disgusting person. Karma will take care of you though
In reply to Wolfgang
Go do the world a favor and jump head first off of a cliff.
In reply to Hunter
Go fuck yourself tipping a stupid waitress money is money flushed down the toilet
In reply to King
Someone should stick your head in a toilet.
that is total bull. Most waitresses only claim taxes on $7.25/hr of their wages. Most tips don’t get reported, that’s a fact. If you have to pay 8% of all tabs in taxes then why are we expected to tip 15-20%? I used to tip pretty good back in the day when I was younger and didn’t know any better. Sure, I’ll still too if I feel I got great service but 95% of the time the service is lousy. Most waitresses don’t check to see if I need a refill and most of the time I have to hunt them down just to get my check. That is bad service that deserves nothing. On the other hand last week I had a great waitress (very rare). She checked on my often and when my bill came she didn’t charge me for like half of the items I ordered, so I left her a $10 tip on a $6 bill (which should have been almost $15). That is how you get good tips. Undercharge for food and that money usually goes into a bigger tip. It’s too bad they don’t allo smoking in restaurants anymore. When they did my philosophy was that I tiped based on how fast I got an ashtray. If the waitress brought one right away I left her $20, if she brought one after asking I left 18%, but if she never brought me one she got nothing.
Hey,
I’m Morgan and I am a teenager and I work at a restaraunt/bar and I love my job, I DONT expect people to tip me…now or ever. But I will let everyone know who thinks otherwise, I work extremely hard to be the best possible server I can…I legitimently want people to have a great time and be happy. I am a people person and 99% of waiters/Waitresses are the same… I work doubles two days a week and the rest of the week I work the buffet(which means no tips at all) DOUBLE: 11am-2am and I go to school full time and I pay everything on my own…it’s not anyone’s fault that I have a job that pays 2.13 an hour but it also wasn’t a choice that I made. People on this blog just sound like bullies who need to stop…even if you don’t tip me and call me a retard I’m still gonna try to give you the best service I possibly can…but use your heart and be nice to people…
In reply to MoeMoeCritic
Morgan you can suck my dick. For that I will tip you.
In reply to Frank
Frank, you can go eat a dick. There’s my tip.
In reply to Frank
Fuck you
This whole thing is just rude. It just proves the writer is ignorant in one way or another and has no actual idea how the world works. I don’t even understand the point of posting something like this unless you just want to whine and convince people to be cheap. People don’t have to tip but intelligent courteous people do because they understand how life and money works. I am a realtor but I also serve for the extra money and because the schedule is flexible. To everyone who thinks that every server is uneducated and talentless is just silly. Everyone I work with is either going to college or enjoys their job (which they have the right to). What gives you the right to bash anyone’s choice of work? People should not be identified by how they earn their money, it all spends the same way and in the end we all die and then no one would care if you were a waitress, lawyer, or a crack head because you are dead and your money or how you earned your money is of no benefit to you now, but an impression and how you carry yourself will last forever. If you really like stereotypes then in my stereotypical opinion people who writes blogs like these are probably fat uneducated one minded hillbillies with mommy issues. Or they are so unhappy with their own choices in life that they find servers to be an easy target for bullying. In the end no one really envies or idolizes people like you. Society would be better off if people like you would disappear. This article is stupid. You can try to justify your cheapness with all this nonsense but does it really matter? You know your a piece of shit…. I don’t think anyone needs to inform you of the obvious.
This has to be the most hateful post. I waitress part time and cook full time and although I do completely agree waitressing is easy, there are plenty of things that aren’t great about it. We run around, deal with difficult people, and don’t get insurance. But it’s work, so we take it. I don’t even get paid hourly at my restaurant, it’s all in tips. That being said, I love my waitressing job.
As a cook and a waitress, that whole “spitting in peoples food” is totally nonsense. I’ve never seen that or altered someone’s food because of how they treat me.
I think if you have such an issue with waiters that you need to go write and article about how they don’t deserve money, then maybe you need to go take yourself to the grocery store and make your own food.
If you can’t afford tip, stay home. Your right money doesn’t grow on trees. Visit your nearest Taco Bell. I’m not your mother or your friend or wife, that why I don’t cater to your broke ass for free. Its a service and people who don’t agree with that can go elsewhere. If your food is wrong and your server is terrible maybe a tip is not implied but to expect someone to bring you food, clean your mess and then pay out of thier own pocket to the staff so your disgrace of a human being can eat is completely insulting. Once again Taco Bell!
LOL this whole post and conversation makes me absolutely sick. Contrary to popular belief, I’m a college graduate from a major university and am still in the process of starting my career – not a stupid worthless piece of trash that’s “below” you. I’m making money just as honestly and deserving as the next person. I never expect a tip from anyone, but any person with a soul would tip the person working hard waiting on them. I have served for five years now and can tell you that until you’ve been a server yourself, you have NO idea what it’s really like. Several people will demand things from you as if they’re the only person in the restaurant – meanwhile you’re attending to 20 other guests at a time and trying your best to make everyone happy and your managers are also down your neck complaining about something that’s wrong. This job is tough, you’ve gotta have thick skin and be able to take peoples shit – and not many people will actually last. And walking “100 feet?” I wore a pedometer at work one night to see how much walking I do in a night, and I walked OVER 7 MILES!!!! Does that sound like I’m standing around to you? I am constantly running around getting and making drinks, running food, making change, attending to the 1,000 modifications people ask for, and God forbid someone sees you not smiling while doing so. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy serving. There are some great people who are genuinely kind and make the job worthwhile. I just wish everyone could experience at least once what it’s really like to do this job, and you would definitely take back the horrible comments you made about people trying to make a living just like you. Don’t be ignorant.