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.
I just love that your picture is here. You will likely get the service you choose to pay for.
Just tell the server up front that no matter what you are not tipping them. This allows them to pay attention to other customers and not give a flying fuck about you.
Of course you wont do this… because you are a coward.
In reply to EC
I believe you have it backwards. Waiters should tell the customer upfront that they expect a tip and tell them exactly what they charge. And present a bill for their services.
Of course they won’t do this because it’s easier to guilt the customer into tipping far more than they deserve.
In reply to Bhagwad Jal Park
So if a server walked up to your table and said that their service charge was 18 percent of your purchase price and added it to your bill you would have no problems paying it out?
In reply to justwow
Absolutely not! It would be even better if they just increased the price of all their menu items by 18% so I can know the true price when I browse their menus on the website.
That way I can do a real cost to cost comparison and avoid those restaurants that fall outside my budget.
Oh wait, that’s how all businesses are supposed to work!
How about you just go back to wherever it is you’re from? Probably somewhere where the women are lower than scum and are expected to serve you for nothing in return.
In reply to Jessica
Interesting – how do women come into this? You might want to check out other posts on this blog where I’m a staunch advocate for women’s rights, animal rights, and gay rights.
Guess it’s easier to just label someone a monster when their views don’t agree with yours huh? Sorry to deny you that satisfaction.
Was my post deleted? Go back where you came from if you don’t like the way things work here. That’s the great thing about this country, if you don’t like it, LEAVE. No one cares enough to stop you.
In reply to Jessica
Huh – like you said it’s a free country. And I’m using that freedom to stay here, obey the law, and most importantly, not tip. Suck it up. If you want me to tip, go lobby the government to raise waiter’s wages. Your problem, your headache.
You do realize if employers paid the servers what they should that prices would triple. Order out and take it home, that way you don’t have to tip.
In reply to SMH
Really? That’s funny because here in Cali waiters get AT LEAST $8/HR (Minimum Wage) PLUS undeserving tips from people and the prices haven’t tripled.
Nice try.
In reply to Wolf
I think that person was saying prices would triple, not because the cost of the food, but because of the loss in profit. If they run things like that in Cali, GREAT. But nearly everywhere else, the tip system is in place. It is where waiters earn their income.
So, say that the restaurant biz changes and there is a mandatory $8/hr per waiter, plus an optional tip in ALL states. All fine and well, but the problem with that is that it would lose profits for the restaurants who currently rely on the tip system to pay their waiters. I’m not implying that the restaurants still won’t be making a surplus of money if they were to use that system, but think of it as a “demotion” on the business end.
Say a restaurant is pulling in $800,000 a year while paying their waiters $2/hr. If they had to QUADRUPLE that number, to $8/hr per waiter, they lose a lot of their profit. And in ANY industry, you want your profit numbers to stay up and go even further up, never down.
So it’s only logical that a business that has already experienced that much profit by paying only $2/hr to their waiters would happily increase prices to KEEP that profit or increase it, if they were ever to use the California system.
So basically, YEAH, it’s possible in many situations to pay minimum wage to the waiters and keep prices pretty consistent, but at what cost? The cost of profit for the bigger guys at the top of the Food Chain. So it just wouldn’t happen.
You are in idiot to think this is an unskilled profession… please do this for a month and tell me how you feel. I would hate to be your bellman, hair dresser, valet or any other job that you may get tipped for. Most people that actually work in the service industry are working their way through school and it gives the flexible hours they need. There are also many servers that have degrees that love and enjoy the hospitality industry including myself. I actually do love to meet new people from all around and have become friends with some of the people I have met. I no longer work as a waitress but when I did I busted my ass working long hours hoping my smiling face can make someones day even though I would be worn down from a day of classes and an 8 hour shift with a very short break. Sorry that you seem like a bitter jerk when he goes out to eat, but some people actually like to talk to their server especially if they are dining alone. Many people also fail to realize we also tip out to others in the restaurant, the bartender, the expediter, dishwashers etc. I have worked many times where I have paid out more money than I made that night and I don’t bitch about it, it comes in full circle and those are my helpers and they deserve a cut. You need to learn some manners
In reply to Jackie
Try doing manual labor or a trade skill job for a month and tell me how YOU feel… not getting tipped and working MUCH harder. Bellman, hair dressers, valets or waiters shouldn’t expect tips or get upset when they don’t get them.
When it becomes the norm to tip ALL people you do business with, THEN you might have a case. Until then you’re just an imbecile if you think you’re entitled to extra money when others aren’t.
The day I get tipped for the products I make in my trade skill job, I’ll CONSIDER tipping a waiter for bringing me food/drinks.
Send a tip to the farm workers who picked all the produce that you’re buying. Send a tip to the construction workers that built your house/apartments. Send a tip to the auto workers who assembled your car. Send a tip to the Janitor in any business you’ve used a restroom in. Send a tip to the welders who built the bridge you’re driving over. Tip the cashier at each store you purchase something from. Tip the truck driver who delivered the fuel to the gas station each time you fill up.
And that’s a fraction of the people who NEVER get tips for the jobs they do. But wait!… You’re the special ones right? The ones who deserve it the most? The only ones that should be up in arms about someone not leaving tips for their JOB?
Some serious chin checks are in order here…..
In reply to Wolf
Hearing you compare every day jobs being tipped to waiters being tipped made me curious of the difference in wages. So I did some research, you may find interesting.
Farm Workers- $5-$18/hr
Construction Workers- $7.65+/hr (depending on experience and skill; many make MUCH more)
Auto Assembly Line Workers- $13-27/hr (as of 2011)
Janitors- $12/hr on average
Welders- $10-50/hr (depending on experience)
Truck Drivers- $19.15/hr (mean average as of May 2011)
Waiters- $2-4/hr + tips
So… YEAH. Those people are a fraction who never get “tipped” for the work that they do. But guess what? They are WELL compensated for the work that they do, so tips aren’t necessary. Waiters are not compensated for their work the majority of the time, unless they are TIPPED. It has nothing to do with waiters and valets and hairdressers being “the special ones”. It’s the fact that THESE are the people who RELY on tips to survive and pay their bills. These are the people who aren’t compensated for their work by their company. The tip system allows US, the customers, to compensate these people for SERVING US and WORKING FOR US, and gives us the chance to pay them based on how good of service they’ve provided.
I’m not saying it’s necessary to leave a $20 tip etc, but leaving $5 is NOT asking much. Some people don’t leave ANYTHING for their waiters, and there have been plenty of nights when I see someone work 8 hours and come home with $30 after working shifts where people sit in their section all night, have them run around like their personal servant, leave them a huge mess to clean up, and don’t leave them a single damn penny.
The fact that probably bothers me most is when people like you try to make waiters sound like they think that they are entitled to money they didn’t earn or have any right to. Well buddy, why don’t you do a job for $2/hr and have to work for customers to earn the rest, and the customers USED your time and service yet they don’t compensate you?
More than anything, it just shows how shitty of a human being some people are. That people have to be FORCED to be a decent person, have to be LEGALLY REQUIRED to pay for the services they use. That is just SHITTY.
I agree, there are some pretty nasty waiters out there who DO have an attitude and think they are all high and mighty, but you will find these people in ANY profession, and they express their “entitled attitudes” in different ways. In the waiting business, it’s people who aren’t happy with a 10% tip because they think they deserve 20%. I agree, that’s shitty. But who is ANYONE to pass judgement on waiters as a whole because of a few lousy self-entitled assholes?
Waiters work for their money, and when they don’t get paid, they have a right to be angry. Luckily, just as there are select asses like you who think that waiting is a profession below you, and people like you who who think that tipping those who work for YOU while you sit in their section at a restaurant isn’t the right thing to do just because you aren’t legally required to do it, there are plenty of other people who DO do the right thing and compensate people for their work, because they understand the system.
I would be happy to see karma come back though and bite you all in the ass who think that you are above any waiter or think that these working people don’t deserve to be compensated for their work.
In reply to Brittney
I believe the main point is that waiters should be compensated by their employers. Not the people visiting the restaurant. That’s like me paying the wages of a walmart cashier. If he/she is getting low pay, it’s not my problem. It’s between them and walmart.
Similarly the wage of a waiter is between them and the restaurant. Even if they worked for free, it’s not my care. The waiter is just an arm of the restaurant. I do business only with the restaurant itself. Not the waiter per se.
In reply to Brittney
“I’m not saying it’s necessary to leave a INR 1,071.07 ($20) tip etc, but leaving INR 267.77 ($5) is NOT asking much.”
Your waiter buddies don’t seem to agree with you. I have seen waiters give customers the shitty look even after they left a 10% tip. For these waiters anything less than 20% is not gonna cut it. If the food bill runs up high, a 20% on top can be a hefty amount if the work done by the server is minimal, there’s no justification for it. Some dishes are really expensive but it doesn’t take extra work to bring it to table does it?
Obviously not everybody is gonna agree with the current system because its built on sucking the customer dry and that is why the arguments in this blog have spiraled out of control. Unless we have a system that’s fair to both parties, you are always gonna have people that stiff servers because not everybody wants to throw away their hard earned cash.
In reply to Andy
I don’t care if my “waiter buddies” don’t seem to agree with me. As I have said, there ARE self-entitled assholes in the profession who think they deserve a huge chunk of money when, in many cases, they don’t. I don’t care if they don’t agree with me, because the people who wouldn’t are the STINGY, and they are not the waiters I am defending. There is a HUGE difference in tipping $5 and tipping $20 just because you’re bill is high.
Now, I agree that each waiting job is different, and should be compensated as such. For example, waiting on a single man drinking coffee and eating a donut should require less of a tip than waiting on a family of 10 who has the waiter running around with request after request. Different jobs, different skill needs on the waiters part, so they should call for a different sized tip. I personally don’t agree with having to tip more just because a dish costs more. And I think as long as you tip 5 or 10 bucks, it shouldn’t be an issue. If the waiter is ungrateful take it back.
I understand though how that system works in higher end restaurants. My mother for example has been waiting tables for almost 20 years, she has worked her way up in the waiting industry, and in return works at an oceanside, oceanview restaurant. One of the best restaurants in town. The customers usually are on the older side and are middle/upper class or rich. A lot of them are snowbirds flying down from the North for Winter. The cheapest dish there at dinner is above $20. And because this is a higher end restaurant, with top knotch service and atmosphere, the customers ALWAYS tip in relation to their bill. I’d say easily over half of the customers are overly generous tippers, and my mom makes GREAT money working there. She maybe gets stiffed twice a year, if that. Because at that restaurant, people pay for the best of everything, including dining staff. But just as any other profession, she worked her way up, she is one of the best at what she does, she plays the part of hostess/waitress/even manager on occassion. So why should my experienced mother be payed equal to a waiter just starting out, or equal to a waiter who is not as good at the job as she is??? Her tips, working at a high end restaurant, allow her to make the money that she has been working towards her whole life. Waiting is a VERY difficult profession, and mastering it takes a lot of skill.
And I agree with your last statement. There needs to be a system in place that is more solid and fair. But just because the system isn’t that way now, does not mean that people need to treat servers like they are beneath them or not worthy of money they’ve worked for. Leaving not even a couple bucks… that’s just heartless.
In reply to Brittney
Here in Cali, waiters get minimum wage ($8/Hr). They still believe they’re entitled to UNEARNED money. What’s your defense for them?
And the employee isn’t working FOR US, they are working for their EMPLOYER. The customer is doing business with the employer. Unless you OWN the place of business, you aren’t doing your own business with the customer, you’re doing business with the customer on behalf of your employer.
If you have a problem with your pay then take it up with your employer. THEY are the ones responsible for your shitty pay. Not me or anyone else.
I’m not saying that getting payed under minimum wage is acceptable, but that’s not my responsibility to compensate you for less than desirable working conditions. That’s you and your co-workers responsibility to organize and mobilize to fight for an acceptable wage.
Many other jobs have had it WAY worse than you can even imagine, and have overcome those bad conditions by organizing and mobilizing, look up some history sometime. The farm workers in the 60’s weren’t begging at the grocery stores for people to compensate them for their shitty pay and working conditions, they came together, marched, protested, and fought politically to get some equality and basic needs.
Go look up the UFW and see how it’s done.
In reply to Wolf
Wolf–i’ve been saying the SAME thing about here in Cali–they make minimum wage!!!!!
Best quote–Unless you OWN the place of business, you aren’t doing your own business with the customer, you’re doing business with the customer on behalf of your employer.
nice!!!!
This article is so damn stupid, plain and simple. I cannot understand people who try to justify their reasons for not tipping with the same five arguments that every other cheapskate uses. Yes, we are paid very little. Our fault? No. Like it or not, you not tipping is screwing us over for something we cannot control.
The beauty of working as a waiter is the flexible schedules, so no matter where we’re at in life, we can always find a serving job. So simply getting another job isn’t always possible.
And finally, if that extra $5-$10 is gonna break you, perhaps YOU’RE the one who should reconsider what you do for a living.
To the last person. The reason why you can get any server job is because the minimum wage doesn’t apply. That being said, training to give good service should be a part of a restaurants overhead. Unless it says that good service will cost X, why should people give you extra money. Because you say so?
Thanks in part to modern technology like e-la carte, restaurants don’t even need waiters and waitresses. Just put your order through a touch screen and all that you need to do is just get the food from the kitchen and bring it to me. That simple.
I think the person who is stupid is you because you seem to be awfully demanding by saying the customer has to give you free money that is not yours. That is the problem.
Simply demanding that hundreds of thousands of people to simply seek different employment is completely ludicrous. I’m really appalled at the amount of people who seem to agree with you. Sickened, by your lack of compassion for those out there working two to three jobs just to stay afloat and having jack wagons like you come in and give them a hard time.
I don’t think any of you realize that if restaurants were to pay employees a higher wage, that your entree prices would skyrocket and the entire experience of dining out would be turned upside down. I think I get where you’re coming from.. “Why should I be responsible for your wage?”. But, maybe you don’t realize that every time you purchase goods & services you are paying wages. Its just a little more obvious in the restaurant industry.
I’m not saying being a waitress is the hardest job on Earth. (And I do love it when people who try to form an argument compare us to soldiers and the like). But, I’ve had many a person say to me “There’s no way I could do what you do and not go crazy”. That has to mean something, no?
I’m always grateful for the tips I receive, especially in today’s economy. However, I do always expect a tip when I’ve performed my job correctly. Give whatever bullshit reasons you want, but the fact remains.. if you can’t afford to tip, you can’t afford to go out and eat. Or, if you disagree with the system, you are better off just keeping out of it and staying to places like Panera Bread or Chipotle.
Lucky for me, seems as though you live in India. Please stay there.
In reply to Valerie
why not? I do demand it. Remember back in the depression? How about unionizing? How about protesting? Wait, I forgot, these guilt trips actually are better for the wait staff than the consumer, since wait staff can make upwards of $20/hour on guilt tripped tips.
tips should simply be a “nice thing” from customers and not required, thats it.
BTW, what’s with all of this india mumbo jumbo?
Are there more potential candidates for the Klan here?
In reply to Valerie
Valerie,
The way I see it is you are nothing more than a pure spoiled entitled brat. People working 2 or 3 jobs? I know life is not fair but blame the federal reserve for that since they have made sure that our money is worth zero. Or blame the person seeking 3 jobs because she can’t live within her means and has to constantly keep up with the jonesses.
And if you took some basic accounting courses, you wouldn’t be saying that my meal would skyrocket in price if there was no tipping. Just shows you are completely clueless and illiterate. I expect a “tip” if I performed my job correctly? I don’t have to give you anything if I don’t want to. It is not your money and you don’t have a right to demand someone give you money that is not yours. And why would my dining experience go down? Because you would act like jack if you don’t get your “tip”? Or you are just an entitled crybaby constantly throwing a tempertantrum.
And I will continue to go out to eat no matter how much you scream for “your” tip. Boo hoo.
In reply to Dan
Dan–just as proof of your statement, I would like to add this.
Texas wait staff wage–$3/hour
California wait staff wage–federal minimum wage.
With that in mind, if EVERYONE keeps insisting that prices would go up at restaurants if fair wages were paid, wouldn’t that mean that California restaurants would be priced much higher than Texas?
Also if the prices went up as a restaurant pays fair wages, who cares? Guess what will happen? A restaurant will open up down teh street that is cheaper than your restaurant and put you out of business as a result of attracting more customers.
ITS CALLED CAPITALISM FOLKS.
All of you wait staff–you are CLEARLY against Capitalism.
Go back to Mother Russia yall, lol.
In reply to Dan
@Dan ..Yes, clearly I am an entitled, spoiled brat. I am the result of two blue collar workers, working at a what is considered an unskilled labor job. Spoiled rotten.
Tipping is not just “a little something extra”, it is seen by the government as part of our hourly wage. I can understand why people get upset by this but it’s just the way it is. I sometimes wish it weren’t optional, but this world allows you the freedom to choose how giving you’d like to be. Or not at all.
There’s clearly no getting through to you or people like you, I’m just asking that you think of your fellow Americans trying to support their families and themselves while dining out. Even just 10%. The government expects you to tip.
In reply to Valerie
Then Valerie, if you AREN’T entitled, then why is it that only WAIT STAFF deserve tips according to the government?
Again, here in California, wait staff make minimum wage. So do I still have to tip?
Brittney earlier said no, in California I do not have to tip since wait staff already make minimum wage.
With that in mind, why is it that restaurants in Texas are the same price as restaurants in California, even though texas pays its wait staff $3/hour and cali pays $9/hour? The food prices are NOT inflated. That in itself is proof that if wait staff are paid fairly, then the food prices will NOT increase.
Also, why is it that a new fashion in restaurants called “tip forbidden” also do not inflate their prices?
In reply to Common Sense
btw the government also expects me to go under 65 mph in a 65 mph speed limit zone. The government also expects me NOT to tape the Superbowl on my VHS, since that technically falls under copy right infringement.
The government also expects me to wear my shoes and shirt on the streets (barring beaches), as that technically is an offense worth fines.
So don’t talk about expectations please :)
In reply to Common Sense
“why is it that only WAIT STAFF deserve tips according to the government?”
I couldn’t possibly be a spokesperson for the entire government, but I can say that TIPPED EMPLOYEES are EXPECTED to receive tips to supplement their decreased hourly wage paid by employer, as set forth by the government.
“here in California, wait staff make minimum wage. So do I still have to tip?”
It’s more acceptable not to tip in states that pay their employees federal minimum wage, seeing as your tip truly becomes “extra” wages. I cannot tell you about the tip forbidden practices, I know nothing about it. I can only comment on behalf of tipped employees in my home state, where there is no law saying my employer even has to pay me anything at all hourly.
I’m no accountant, or economist. When I said food prices would increase it was only based on my previous experiences and to be honest, personal opinion based on those experiences. I couldn’t guarantee the prices would increase, but I have seen owners increase prices for other expenditures that have gone up.
I really can’t believe that some of you won’t put aside your personal feelings about the way the system works and just plop down a couple bills. Seriously. You’re only hurting your neighbors, friends and your country.
In reply to Common Sense
I will go ahead and explain why I said tipping in California isn’t necessary in my eyes.
I used to be a Barista at a little coffee/gift shop. For anyone who doesn’t know what that is, it’s basically a person who makes coffees, lattes, etc. I got paid minimum wage for my job. But the thing is, on top of being a barista, I also was a server, a busser, a dishwasher, a janitor, a cashier, a stocksperson, a retail assistant, and sometimes even a cook.
I did nearly every job in that busy coffee shop, and made only minimum wage (at the time in FL it was 7.67 an hour), and eventually was bumped down to $5/hr plus tips. I busted my ass being a waitress and much more for next to no money. Tips were RARELY left, and when they were, it was only $1 or $2. And to make it worse, we were not allowed to keep our tips, they were added to a tip pool and were divided equally among the waitstaff (only me and 4 other people). And at the end of the day, I still only broke even with minimum wage, never more, because the tips left never exceeded $2.67 an hour per staff member.
I can GUARANTEE that my job was X10 more demanding than 99% or more of just “waiting jobs”. I was expected to perform at a ridiculously, nearly impossibly fast past, and made shit money for my hard work and sweat. So I believe, if I could do ALL OF THAT and make minimum wage only WITHOUT the benefit of tips, why should everyday waiters make more than I did for half the work?
It’s different in my eyes when waiters are making only 2-4 an hour, because they really need the money in that case. But if they are making minimum wage, than they aren’t entitled to more. It’s always nice to be left a decent tip, I remember how happy I’d be when someone left a $5 bill on the table. But I don’t see it as necessary. At minimum wage, they are making what millions of other people are making, so what makes them worthy of more???
I always tip, and even if I went to California, I probably still would, because I am a person of good nature. I treat others how I would like to be treated, my mother raised me with those values. I simply stand by the fact that, if in California, waiters are ALREADY making the federal minimum wage, there is less defense to the argument of why the need the tips.
In reply to Valerie
The government does not expect me to tip. It may expect you to report your tips or whatever. There are law for that. But there are no laws requiring me to tip. I am required however to pay the bill – which is what I will do.
In reply to bhagwad
How can you say that the government does not expect you to tip a tipped employee when it sets a special hourly wage to compensate for said tips?
In reply to Valerie
No one is preventing restaurant owners from paying a fair market wage to the servers. Again, I don’t believe that your wages are my concern.
In reply to bhagwad
So if you feel this way.. that wages should not be your concern. Why not support businesses with a model similar to Panera Bread, Chipotle, or Buffet style places? Start your own revolution and make a statement by not supporting businesses that you feel should pay their employees more.
What’s that? ..no? Gonna screw over the single mother whose been working 10 hours now with no break? Okay, cool.
I’m not asking you to agree with the way the tipped wage/tipping system works. In the interim though, if things change or when.. just leave a tip. Really. A couple bucks. I’m sorry it causes you so much grief.
In reply to Valerie
“Start your own revolution and make a statement by not supporting businesses that you feel should pay their employees more.”
This is where I feel you misunderstand. I don’t care either way – whether wages are high or low. The only people who should care are the servers themselves. Leave the customers out of it.