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.
Well Bhagwad Jal Park, I suppose if you had your way in life, everyone would clean your nose and wipe your ass for free considering you think your some high and mighty blogger with delusions of divinity.
And by looking at your website http://www.bhagwad.com/ I certainly can see that you are some self-absorbed asshole that thinks that he’s entitled to get everything for free.
Ok then what makes YOUR employer have the right to pay you? Stay home, make your own food, and clean up after yourself. You’re an absolute moron. What’s even funnier is you having to create an “article” about this. Obviously people don’t like you, even when servers are forced or you wouldnt have taken the time to write this. How about do your “job” and state the facts that YOU know and not assume you know how the serving industry works JUST because you go to eat, obviously alone. You are absolutely pathetic.
If you ever come to my table, with this weak, cheap-ass argument, you’ll be chillin for a while. No, I won’t spit in your food, but I won’t take your order either. So, as you sit there all pissy with your self-righteous self, wondering why the hell no one is serving you, think about your cheap, ignorant post. I hate the tip system. I also agree employers should pay them a decent wage and offset the cost with a raise in the cost of your meal. I get it. Why are you, the customer, responsible for paying for an employee’s salary? It sucks. However, you little tit, this is the system upon with the service industry is built. Act like a grown up, tip your 20% and shut your dumbass mouth. Seriously though… Whinny little bitch.
You are exactly what is wrong with this world. Servers live off their tips to pay their bills because usually their checks are voided after taxes and everything else comes out, and if there is money on there it’s only about $20 for two weeks because the hourly wage is only about $4 an hour. And that’s not the employer being “cheap” that’s a corporate and state law that every restaurant has to follow. If you “can’t afford” to tip then I’m sure McDonalds is right around the corner where you can order off of the dollar menu. Do the job that a server does for a week, and you’ll be begging to go back to your cushy job because obviously you’ve never worked in the customer service industry and have had to deal with assholes like you. Do the entire human population a favor and never step foot into another sit down restaurant again you ignorant pile of scum.
First off, you are a pile of human shit for posting this. Maybe before you start digging into the people who wait on you, you should try it out for yourself, you worthless waste of space. No waiters/waitresses don’t make your food, but they bring it to your ugly fucking face and have to deal with you, so for the love of god, don’t act like they don’t deserve at least 20% . I bet you like it when kids have cancer too.. Piece of shit.
In reply to Rachael&Rachel
Tips stands for To Insure Prompt Service. As a culinary student I had to take a class called food and beverage operations. This class was meant to prepare the students for front of house jobs like serving, bartending, hosting, and even busing. When people go out it is not just for food. They go out because they want to relax and not have to worry about doing something their self. The actual job of a server is a lot harder than most give credit for because there are a lot of expectations for what they will do. The list includes being knowledgeable of the menu, anticipating the customer’s needs, giving that quick service while still personalizing the meal, taking care of any complaints, maintaining a calm friendly apperencey (no matter how busy), and making sure the wait for food is a bearable as possible. There is a lot more but people expect to be treated like a guest. And as for the statement about not claiming tips, that is something that is no only illegal but can get you fired. All tips must be claimed. And if the hours we work and the tips we make don’t equal minimum wage then it will be made up for. But most people tip so that 30 minutes to an hour that waiter spent on serving you was done for free. You can have your opinion about serves but know that I have worked 12 hour shifts with one 30 minute break and I had to be on my feet the whole day. I have worked other jobs and my only advice is before you judge a job you need to work it. Put yourself in someone else’s shoes.
In reply to Lora
First of all (tip) is a made up acronym from an uneducated waitress or waiter . The word insure has to do with insurance such as the house was insured for $1 million. The proper acronym should be (tep). Ensure Is the word you’re looking for. The waitress better give me amazing service with no tip to (ensure) she still has a job. You are not even worth minimum wage, expecting a 20% tip makes me laugh. Culinary college should be renamed clown college.
In reply to Dr. Mariachi
You are a cheap dick. Servers do a lot more than ” bring you food.” We have to clean up your mess when you leave, refill your 20,000 beverages that you suck down like a fat pig, and ensure you have all the proper plateware and utensils before your food is delivered. We are also your kitchen liasion who helps the kitchen to make your food with your pain in the ass alterations. If you don’t want to tip for being taken care of properly, I suggest you start going to fast food you, cheap asshole, or serving yourself, but definitely don’t show your cheap face at my place of work.
In reply to Rachael&Rachel
You are unskilled labor. I am not going to give you a tip or 20% for doing a silly lowlife job. That bottle of wine I ordered is probably your weekly wage. I’m glad I don’t have a lowlife job like you. I have pride so I made something of my life. I don’t want to hear the excuse that you’re trying to do something else. I don’t give a shit to me you’re scum.
In reply to Deb
Have you people stopped to realize that perhaps some servers are actually college students in the process of making something for ourselves? You can’t seriously expect a 20 year old to be pulling in a six figure income while attending a University. Sorry that not all of us have mommy and daddy to pay our bills and wipe our asses all the way through grad school. I can tell that some people commenting here just suck as people and I hope you go bankrupt or at least robbed and murdered so you can for once learn that life isn’t always equal or easy.
In reply to Deb
Its not a low life job most people work as a server because it helps pay for college or stuff happens in there life that they have no control over so they do what they needs to get by in life so they can take careof the stuff they need to you ssaying this is just ignorant if you don’t want to pay a tip don’t go out. I’mpaying for college this way and iI have to clean tables, sweep, vacuum, set the tables, and do the dishes before the next customer comes. I promise you not everyone can be a server.
In reply to Deb
Who would bring your snobby ass your “I’m so cultured” bottle of wine if there were no silly low life people to serve you?
In reply to Servergirl
I would rather go to the wine cellar and select it myself. That way the uneducated servant girl doesn’t have to touch it. A fine bottle of wine deserves to be handled by cultured upperclass hands.
In reply to Edward
All of you pompous assholes are hilarious. Not one of you would have the balls to say any of this to your server or bartenders face, let alone speak to us outside of our establishment in such a manner.
You WILL tip my employees or you simply won’t have the pleasure of dining in our establishment.
Not all restaurant and bar owners will bow down and apologize if our employees speak their mind, when in the right.
In reply to Deb
Deb, you maybe able to afford an expensive bottle of wine, but clearly you were not raised to be a decent human being. I don’t know if your little mind has the capacity to understand this, but life does not play out the same way for everyone. A majority of those, “lowlifes,” are college students paying their way to be part of our society. Those, “lowlifes,” are getting their education so they can be great leaders, school teachers, doctors, and who knows maybe one of those lowlifes will snatch up your job. Some of these lowlifes maybe people from other countries, who are trying to better the life of their children or looking for new opportunities. You never know, maybe your server is a dentist in Mexico, or an architect from Turkey. There is this little phrase taught to kindergarteners, “Don’t judge a book by its cover,” but I guess you must have missed that day in school when they taught it or you were too busy drinking your expensive bottle of apple juice.
Secondly serving is not an unskilled job. It requires the recognition of facial expressions, memorization, time management and emotional dissonance. Servers have to deal with people like you, who for some reason place yourselves on this high pedestal. We have to memorize the menu front and back, including all these absurd modifications that can be made to the menu. As servers we have to do our absolute best to make sure that you are happy with you experience. We have to coordinate with the back of house to make sure your food is coming out at a proper time, and that all modifications have been made. The dinning area has too look impeccable. I don’t know if you realize this but servers tend to be helping out more than one table at once. They have to remember the needs and modifications of every table they are serving. Servers have to put a smile on their face even when they feel like crying or feel sick as can be.
With that being said, please use your brain next time and don’t be so closed minded.
In reply to Didi
The Department of Labor classifies servants, servers, waitresses, and waiters as unskilled labor. It goes on to say no education or formal training is required to perform those tasks. People that were architects, or doctors Outside the USA are nothing here because their education was a joke. You are a joke for saying being a waitress is a skilled job. No tip required for doing your job.
In reply to Deb
All the people who are bitching about not tipping are people who probably work at walmart for a living. Please remember that ppl that work in the industry are human beings and you are no better than us. Chances are we make more money than you do. So stfu and stop being so damn cheap.
In reply to Rachael&Rachel
shut the fuck up bitch why do you faggots tip anyway? fuck ’em
In reply to Rachael&Rachel
I would just like to point out that if there wasn’t this “lowlife job” you wouldn’t be able to go have a night out to relax and enjoy yourself. I am a server and I am doing it because I have to work to pay for college and I can’t work a 9 to 5 job while going to college. I am making something ofmyself but I have to get the education to do it. I will not be a server forever and I thank God for it. I see no reason why people feel the need to talk down on a serving job. It pays the bills and works around my college schedule. I don’t expect a 20% tip, I just want to leave the restaurant that day with money I didn’t have before I walked in. So at least try to understand that us “lowlifes” usually are making something of ourselves we just have to go to college to do so.
I have A Great idea, If you hate being “demanded” to tip in the US how about you get the fuck out, you foreign piece of dog shit. People like you deserve nothing more than for your server to spit in your food. Have A good day. Ignorant fucking bastard. Get the FUCK out of America.
In reply to Jayme
Actually you can thank your lucky stars that YOU are in America. No where else in the world is tipping considered acceptable. Go be a twat somewhere else you pathetic piece of shit. You are not entitled to live in this country any more or less than any other citizen and neither is he. Also, spitting in food is a fucking felony you “ignorant fucking bastard” so have fun doing that prison time. And I tip, so double fuck you.
this post is nothing but ignorant and rude. Whoever you are is stuck up and doesn’t deserve the work waiters put into making sure you have a good restaurant experience. My fiancé is a tipped employee and he makes a lot less than minimum wage because of it. Not because he’s scum but because we have to have income while we both go to school. When he has people who don’t tip him it makes it harder for us to pay rent, buy groceries, feed our son, etc. you low life ignorant people are getting a service, people are going above and beyond for you so appreciate it.
WHhen you don’t tip, it costs most of us money out of our own pocket. Many automatically have a percentage that is taken from our sales to the bartender or cooks and from there if you don’t tip you just cost us that percentage. If you don’t like to tip, don’t eat out. This is why there is an amazing place called a grocery store and an awesome invention called a stove. If you like the service of your food being cooked and handed to you and drinks refilled without getting up then you should properly pay for this service.
In reply to JUST WOW
If you don’t like waiting on me hand and foot with a no tip, get a real job. You’re just an unskilled piece of shit that thinks he is entitled to a tip. Nothing you do requires any skill at all. The meager amount of money you make is an overpayment for such ridiculous services.
In reply to Rose
Before saying that serving is an unskilled job, I hope you’ve done it before. If you didn’t, which I’m sure you’d say you did (even if you didn’t), then your statement is irrelevant.
In reply to Rich
Being a waiter is so hard and complicated Duhhhhhhhh. I have to write down what you want to eat that is so hard. Then I have to bring it to you. I might even have to refill your drinks. Even though I didn’t graduate high school this job is so hard. Even though it doesn’t take any training at all, and mentally handicapped people do it it’s so hard. I’m so lazy I don’t want to make anything out of my life so I do this job. Then I have to clean the dirty dishes from the table. I even had to to bring you dessert. Oh my gosh then you wanted coffee. I even had to ask if you wanted decaf. Now tip me 20% on a $200 meal because I feel so entitled. I did my job so I should get a tip. I spent about 10 minutes serving you. Even though I did nothing special I should get a tip. All I did was bring you your food don’t give me $40
In reply to Dufuss
You, sir, are a pompous imbecile. Do you realize that most servers are college students trying to pay their way through school so that they can make something of themselves other than an under-appreciated servant to stuck-up, self-entitled snobs such as yourself? By the way, going to college requires a high school diploma, so I guarantee that many of the servers that have had the distinct displeasure of serving your sorry ass are educated perfectly well. Fuck you, and stop eating out if you can’t handle being a decent human being without such a shitty attitude.
Listen you flaming bag of dog shit. I’m going to give you a slight pass because your from another country, obviously one with poor values. Nobody spits in your food you simple minded prick, we just say ” oh look, the fucking deush bag that doesn’t know how to tip is here”, then we flip a coin to see who has to wait on your cheap ass. Your the fucker that goes to the bathroom while on a date, and the WOMAN at the table your with hands me a 10 and says “sorry I noticed he didn’t tip”, that’s why she never called you back jackass! YOU are lowlife scum, not the waiters/waitresses. We work much harder than you ever have for even longer periods of time. You can’t just judge peoples jobs when you’ve never worked them, which judging from your attitude you would fail miserably and probably make 10% which is what you give you turd in a urinal!!!!!!!
This whole post and every single comment is a disgrace. Everyone bickering back and forth as if they’re rude ass opinion means anything. If you don’t want to fucking tip make food at home. If you want to downgrade the job position, work it before you open your stupid ungrateful mouth. It’s a shame and it’s fucking disgusting how some people think. If you’re oh so fucking high and mighty with a great job then good for you but not everyone gets everything handed to them. There’s people above you so don’t step down upon your own goddamn servers it’s not like they have to service you anyways.