5 reasons why I won’t tip you if you’re a waiter

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

 

Did you earn this tip?

 

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.

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12,129 thoughts on “5 reasons why I won’t tip you if you’re a waiter”

  1. I have been a server for two years while studying in college (chemical engineering, for background), and I personally believe in tipping servers, but the OP has fine points against it. Thankfully, he’s in the minority, and I average out $24/hr at my restaurant serving tables : )

    I think servers are overpaid. My full-time coworkers who are a little brighter than the rest make over $30K/year without an education, and aren’t reporting 1/3 of that. And they’re not complaining. I pay $200 rent, buy organic groceries, pay utilities, get haircuts, cover car expenses, etc., with just a hair leftover, and I only work 25 hrs/week.

    I’ll give it to servers that they have an occasionally stressful job (I’ve had more stressful experiences as an intern), and it does take someone smarter than a box of rocks, but that’s about it.

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  2. This guy goes to junk restraunts! He like buffets? He’s never been to a nice place with a truly professional waiter! This dude only goes to places with entrees under 12$. You go to garbage restraunts with low bills and still don’t tip! Don’t try to justify your cheapness with these silly 5 points!

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    • In reply to Jeremiah

      There is no such thing as a professional waiter. No matter how expensive the restaurant is, the waiter is still the least skilled in the entire building. Run to the kitchen and check on my Kobe filet mignon and lobster tail. The dishwasher is more skilled then the waiter. Get a real job, my tip to you.

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      • In reply to Fred

        Thank God that cheap ass wankers like you are the minority. Servers make 2.13 an hrs and literally live off of their tips, meaning that they OWE money if you don’t tip. So, what you are defending is called theft. You have no idea how difficult putting up with cunts like you all day actually is. Serving isn’t “acting like a conveyor belt for food.” They set it up, check it, run it, fix mistakes the kitchen makes, make sure the restaurant runs smoothly with a SHIT TON of side work before, after and during the shift. You think salt, ketchup, mustard, mayo, steak sauce, etc fill themselves? You think silverware is polished and rolled into napkins from the factory? You think your food makes it on to a plate thanks to the cooks? You think the cooks actually read tickets and cook you what you asked for? You think the bathroom cleaned itself? Or that the vomit from the overindulged prick you are dining with was cleaned up by him? You are an ignorant son of a bitch who, I’m sure, was taught to be a waste of oxygen by your equally ignorant parents (assuming you weren’t “raised by wild animals” which is FAR more likely. I know that this hasn’t changed your cold, dead heart because you need one first to be open to change, but I do hope that this message will enlighten you as to what EXACTLY you are saying. You don’t even qualify as a human being. There is literally no one on earth of significance that will mourn your death… may it be sooner rather than later.

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      • In reply to Kerry

        Why do people keep lying about servers making $2.13 an hour? Especially when there are links all over the comments that prove that Federal Law requires serves be paid Federal minimum wage of $7.25? “Gee, I’m going to try to use the same lie everyone else here uses despite the fact that it has already been used and debunked here!”

        Everything you listed is done in a fast food restaurant, or an equivalent, yet they get paid that same minimum wage.

        On top of that, those are your job requirements. That’s what you were hired to do, by your employer. That’s what you are PAID TO DO. It doesn’t make ANYONE cheap for refusing to give you money for doing what you are already being paid to do. You don’t like the fact that you get minimum wage? Whine about it to your boss, or get a different job. Either way it’s never a customer’s responsibility to pay you to do what your employer’s already paying you to do, and what you agreed to being compensated by taking the job.

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      • In reply to What a joke

        Because $2.13 is the Federal minimum wage for tip jobs, dummy. Try doing some simple research before you spout off. Oh, you’re lazy? Here, I’ll do it for you:

        http://www.dol.gov/whd/state/tipped.htm

        It’s TOTALLY the customer’s responsibility in restaurants, which is understood by educated people. They’re not being “paid” to do their job as you state, they work for tips. I work in an office and am in no way connected to the restaurant industry and I know this, dumb dumb.

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  3. On have obviously never truly worked. Don’t discredit a profession you don’t understand. Truth is the current standards allow $2.13 wages to servers and so they do what is need to in order to supplement a fair wage. If you disagree so harshly then lobby for fair waves across the board. Furthermore, these servers to which you refer as conveyor belts may not be yoru friend but if your meal is less than perfect, I am certain you would dissent become more than eager to speak to the computer with which you input your order. He/she is the liason between you and the restaurant that works To Insure Prompt Service (TIPS). Without this person who is constantly rated and paid based on performance, you would not be able to have your perfectly set table and always full glass. More so this attempt to be your friend is more an effort to be generally pleasant and appealing. Not an easy accomplishment when the world is littered with ignorance and mal intent. As for the unreported income, with the advent of digital transactions, unreported wages from tips are becoming far fewer than in the past because tips recieved via credit and debit transactions are automatically reported. Continuing with discrediting all that you have said, money does not grow on trees. If you want the food and not the service them order to go and stay home. You obviously cannot afford the meal and the service. By taking up space and time in a servers section you are making a silent agreegent to follow the accepted formalities and tip accordingly. What your want is free service, but no one does anything consistently without reward. You began consuming the service these workers offer the moment you arrived. The host who greeted you likely takes a portion of that tip as well as the bartender who made your drink. So your 10% doesn’t add up to much and you expect gratitude and to be prayed for? Do you ever show the same for others? Learn to do research and not spread smut. You have no business writing an article.

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      • In reply to Fred

        I made $4.95 as a server. AND I was making more than other restaurants around me. Each state has a different “minimum wage” for servers because the STATE expects servers to be tipped. If they didn’t expect this then why would they make it so low? And don’t say it’s because lack of skill because servers have to do way more than the cashier at McDonald’s!

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      • In reply to Jessica

        Federal Law comes before state law. You must make federal minimum wage of $7.35 an hour (or more) with or without tips. By law. If your employer is not making sure of this, they are breaking federal law. Either way, it’s not my problem.

        And no, a server does less than a cashier at a fast food place. A cashier does absolutely everything a server does PLUS cook (they run the fryer), PLUS work at a higher rate. Name one thing a server does that somebody working at a fast food place doesn’t have to do.

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      • In reply to Sally

        Not legally. Federal law mandates that, if you make less than $7.25 an hour gross pay INCLUDING tips (and obviously without tips), your employer MUST pay you the difference.

        If your employer does not do so, they are violating federal law, which isn’t our problem.

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    • In reply to David Newberry

      Tips does not stand for the acronym to insure promptness. Insure is what an insurance company does. Ensure is the proper word. Such as I need you to ensure my water glass is full. So now the correct acronym would be TEP. Tips is a made up acronym. How about this, do your job without a tep or you’re fired.

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  4. The job of waiter/waitress should be be exclusively limited to the mentally retarted only. That way I will never need to ask a waiter if he is retarted.

    Dumb, lazy and stupid people get the position of dishwasher. Any person that is not retarted that waits tables should be ashamed. You people are a joke. No tip for you ever.

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    • In reply to Benjamin

      That’s adorable, let’s make fun of retards and those that work for a living in one swoop! I hope you go to a restaurant with your parents so they can feed you with your little silver spoon and you choke on it. HOPEFULLY, all the medical and nursing students are off work that day, and you die drowning in your ignorance and superiority complex.

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  5. First of all, If you’ve NEVER had to be a waiter or waitress, then you really don’t know what it’s like. Some people have to start somewhere and supplement their income for one reason or an other. And it’s not as easy of a job as you make it out to be. Constantly running back and forth, listening to people bitch and complain about one thing or another, carrying large trays , listening to the cook yell after he’s messed up an order and try to blame it on you.

    Those that do wait on people are people persons as you obviously are not. I’m quite sure that are a lot of college students trying to make ends meet around their school schedules, or single parents try to get that little extra for their children. There are many reasons a person chooses to serve others.

    If YOU don’t want to tip, that’s on you. Be the asshole you are and go to a fast food drive through. Those that do wait on others don’t want you around them anyway.

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    • In reply to Linda

      The only reason you have to wait tables, is because you are too lazy and stupid to get a real job that pays well.
      Poor people like you should always serve the wealthy and privileged.

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      • In reply to Tina

        With who the hell are you to talk that way. I’ve been in the service industry for a very long time. Not just serving either. So if you think you’re better just because you are “privileged” fuck you! I’d like to see you run a Friday night shift and she you talk shut now. You uptight cunt!

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    • In reply to Linda

      There are far more difficult jobs than waiting on tables. Many jobs involve lots of running around and dealing with stress. This does not make the job worth more than minimum wage. That’s the first problem with what you’re saying here.

      The second problem is that everything you described is part of the job – a job they agreed to do, and are already paid to do. If customers didn’t pay for the service, servers would not have jobs – tips or not. It’s the reason a restaurant costs more than fast food in the first place, which is funny because fast food workers have to do everything a waiter does, plus cook, and at a much faster pace than a waiter. They still only make minimum wage and don’t get tips. And before you say it, yes, federal law requires the restaurant ensure servers receive federal minimum wage with or without tips.

      Third is that I’m not an asshole simply because I refuse to pay money for service I am already paying for, for a job a person is already being paid to do. In fact, the assumption that I should makes them the asshole.

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      • In reply to What a joke

        Again, educate yourself. Servers here DO NOT make minimum wage. Most do not make any hourly wage (myself included) after taxes. If you dont tip, the server is paying for you to eat. That’s robbery. It is understood that by sitting your ass down in a restaurant expecting to be catered to that you are going to tip.

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      • In reply to Jess

        You need to educate yourself. Federal Law requires servers make federal minimum wage with or without tips. Federal Law trumps state law. Always. There are posts with a freaking link that says so, for crying out loud.

        There is no law saying you must receive tips. You are not the owner and the customer is not your employer. There is absolutely no validity to anything you are saying. The customer is paying the restaurant for food AND service, or tips would not be tips – they would be an extra part of the bill. Even where there are “mandatory” tips for things like large parties, courts have repeatedly ruled that this is NOT theft to refuse payment, and at worst is a civil issue.

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  6. Educate yourself. You are cleary not from the United Statss. Servers are paid solely on tips; I have never once received a single paycheck. If you sit down in an American restaurant, you are agreeing to tip based on the quality of service. Good service? That’s a 20% tip. Some restaurants already add the tip to your check; others don’t in case the customer wanted to tip more. It’s real simple, bud; if you want to be served here, you tip your server. Otherwise I recommend you hit up the local Wendy’s.

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    • In reply to Jess

      That is an absolute lie, and if that’s what situation you’re dealing with your employer is breaking the law and you’re an idiot for working there.

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  7. Wow this is obviously written and agreed with from ignorant and unfriendly people. I am 22 years old and a server as I pay my way through college and these points you are making are simply ridiculous. First off, servers do not just take your food order and bring you food, that would be a McDonald’s employee but nice try. I am required to get to my shift early to prepare sauces and other food products, clean the restaurant, roll silverware, etc in order to prepare for the rush of people to come. I also am assigned cleaning projects after my shift to do after everyone of my tables are gone. So there is multiple other task I have to do in order to get paid. Speaking of pay, the federal minimum wage for anyone getting tips is $2.13/hour. That means if I had 10 tables of you a night I would be stuck with the $2.13/hour and have to wait for the difference to come in a paycheck to make it minimum wage. Secondly, how dumb can people be. Do you tip at the beginning of your meal or after? How would a server no you’re not going to tip BEFORE you get your food to where they would spit in it. No one I know has ever done that but if it has been done then it’s because of your actions and attitude towards the server before you even received your food. Next, this is not my career path. Most servers are there temporarily to pay the bills as they find their way into a career. That being said, I don’t expect this job to be respected as a 9-5 office job, but physically it’s much more demanding than sitting on your ass for 8 hours typing up an article about not tipping servers. I am constantly moving and shifts can go up to 14 hours. I have a step counter and on a normal 4-5 hour shift I walk up to 4 miles in a single shift from going back and forth to fill your drinks, refill your drinks, take your order, bring your food, check to see if you’re okay, fix any issues may have, etc. LASTLY, money doesn’t grow on trees? No shit. If you’re too cheap to tip then go through a drive thru or stop being lazy and make your own food at home. The premise of a sit down restaurant is that you are being waited on. I will gladly hand you my apron and you can serve your family and friends and I’ll sit down and do nothing since that’s what you think I do.

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    • In reply to Jake

      Everything you described as an expectation of your job, or something similar, is expected of fast food employees. Who do you think does all of it otherwise?

      As for minimum wage, Federal Law requires your employer ensure you make $7.25 an hour with or without tips. It specifically states that if you makes less than that your employer must make up the difference. http://webapps.dol.gov/elaws/faq/esa/flsa/002.htm

      You are not my employee. You are being paid for your job – which is to wait on customers – already by your actual employer. It is absurd for you to be expecting to be paid extra just for doing your job. Don’t like it? Get a better job.

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      • In reply to What a joke

        You clearly provide a link under federal law requiring minimum wage to be paid to tipped workers. The reason I think waiters and waitresses are retarded, is even after looking at the link they still say they don’t make min wage.
        That either makes them stupid, retarded, or liars. Either way you make minimum-wage with or without tips. Requiring an employer to pay you minimum wage makes you severely overpaid.

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  8. I have to tip my money out as a server. If you don’t tip me I payed for the kid who sat you at my table and the bartender and cooks who fried your apetizer and made your drink. Servers don’t make minimum wage everyday unfortunately.

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    • In reply to Bill

      If your gross take home pay is less than Federal Minimum wage, with or without tips, your employer must legally make up the difference. I’d they are not doing so they are breaking the law.

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  9. All you people are fucking dumb as hell, arguing over tip money? You just spent 20 bucks alone on the food. Giving someone 5 fucking dollars for their service should be no skin off your back, And if you can’t afford to tip then maybe you shouldn’t be going out to eat in the first place. Typical greedy people who would sooner physically attack a toddler over a quarter they found on the street then give someone a couple bucks for bringing food to their selfish asses. Respect is a two way street.

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    • In reply to Kelsey

      If you’re so intent on handing out unearned money, I’d be happy to accept your $5.

      Servers are already being paid to do their job, so tipping them is redundant, and (as you point out) I’m already paying $20 (or hundreds) which includes that service. Why the hell should I pay twice for it?

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    • In reply to Kelsey

      Nothing you do is worthy of a tip. All you did was bring my food from the kitchen. Carried a bottle of wine to the table, and refilled the water glasses.

      All of this is simply your job description. This is exactly what you were hired to do. Nothing you did is special or worth extra money.

      I do understand you’re probably jealous that I could afford a meal in the $500 range for my family. Because I have money you think it is nothing for me to give you some of it in the form of a tIp. I have money because of education hard work and a well-paying job. I have no intention of giving you extra money for doing your job.

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      • In reply to Benjamin

        After every “$500” meal you provide for your family, I garuntee the waiter or waitress hates you, and never wants to see your cheap douchebag face again. Do everyone a favor and stay home. Nobody cares about your job and nobody needs your negativity.

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      • In reply to Urajoke

        You’re failing to explain why refusing to pay people money for something they’re already being paid to do is “cheap”? Especially when their service is part of why I’m paying the restaurant in the first place. Do you have a tendency to give your money to strangers just for doing what they’re employed and paid to do? I guess that means if you aren’t handing your money over to every cashier at the grocery store who rings you up, or the librarian for helping you find those books (you do read, right?), or that cop writing you your parking ticket (he’s doing his job and it’s costing you money, after all!), you’re “cheap” too?

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    • In reply to Kelsey

      Respect is a 2 Way St. You are a waitress nobody cares what you think. You are lower than whale shit on the ocean floor. You should thank your lucky stars you even have a job.
      Not a lot of places will hire people as worthless as you. How dare you expect a tip. If you want extra money you can suck my dick. Just doing your job is Not worthy of a tip. Grow up bitch the world owes you nothing.

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  10. I pray to God that I NEVER have to wait on someone as low as you. Restaurants could be self serve and you could do my job for me. If you go out to eat you obviously didn’t want to cook and didn’t want to do anything because you’re probably lazy as fuck. Now as for me I have worked my ass off for the past five years as a waitress a lot harder than you probably ever have since you don’t have ANY respect for the service industry. As a waitress my hardest job is dealing with low life scumbags like you. You think you are better than everyone around you and therefore you think you owe me nothing. We don’t act like you are our best friend just for tips some people have this thing called respect and kindness. Do you enjoy answering to people and doinf what they want? Do you enjoy cleaning up after someone as if they were a child? Do you enjoy someone being rude to you just because they had a bad day? I don’t think any sane person would. I don’t enjoy half of the things I do as a a waitress but I suck it up and do it. Let’s say you went to work one day, your boss is in an awful mood and you have irate customers yelling at you left and right. Well then you hold your head up high and deal with it like an adult would. You go to leave work and your boss says “I don’t feel like paying you for your time today, you just downright don’t deserve it.” You wouldn’t be very happy now would you? That it the SAME way it feels when someone decides they don’t want to tip you for waiting on them hand and foot. Now I understand not tipping if your waitress was rude and lacked respect, but if she or he is nice and “acts like your best friend” then the obviously deserve a little respect for that. Take your business back to your house and cook your own damn food in your own damn house and wait on your own damn self if you think waiters are stupid.

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    • In reply to Anna

      If I don’t tip you…it is not the same as if my boss doesn’t pay me. If I don’t tip you, you still get minimum wage as your boss legally has to pay it. A worthless waitress shouldn’t get anymore than $5 an hour as it is super easy work.

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    • In reply to Anna

      If you think being a waitress is hard, you’ve never had a real job. Being a crappy job does not make it hard.

      Self-service restaurants cost less. The reason is that the service is included in the price of the food, along with the atmosphere, etcetera.

      Also, the customer is not your “boss.” The customers are the clients of your employer. They pay your employer – the restaurant – for your service. Your employer is responsible for paying you. Not the customer.

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