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.
Ok let’s make a deal… servers get paid full wage, and that cost will get passed on to the customers…. for example where I work a ribeye sandwich cost right now $12 well if the servers were being paid full wage that same sandwich would cost approx $28… does that interest you people? and that’s a cheap piece of meat imagine the good high quality meat… and pray for you at night for leaving me a 10% tip… really… not counting my tip outs to bar, bussers, and food runners (I work in a two story restaurant with the kitchen on the first floor) the govt taxes me ( note I said govt not my employer) 11% of what YOU ate… I most certainly will not thank you for leaving me in the hole with my taxes… but with that all said… there are many people out there that do understand the hard work it does take to make that single plate hit your table…
I understand your frustration that your a cheap ass. . Don’t tip if you don’t feel the need. . You should just stick to fast food places where you don’t have to tip. . Or maybe they are to classy for you. .
You are the scum of the Earth. .
I love how people who have never worked a day in the service industry think they know it. Fuck off. I don’t know who invented the tipping, or even why it started. All I know is that it has been a part of the bar and restaurant industry since before I was born. That’s how it works in our country. Don’t like it? Move on. The people that often criticize couldn’t handle one shift behind my bar. We work a hundred times harder than the ass hat that posted and yet we get looked down upon because we are servers and bartenders. Walk a mile in our shoes and then tell me that seeing a team of people work together to get you your food and drink as fast as possible isn’t worth an extra couple bucks. I think your World of Warcraft membership could spare it.
Please excuse the rant. I’m not just a bartender. I’m a manager, administrator, entertainer, amateur photographer, cook, plumber, carpenter, and salesman. I can make your night better simply by talking to you. I can fix a floor, toilet, or a roof. I can be your best friend when no one else will. I’m here for the best of times and for the worst of times. I am passionate and hard working. I am a man of the people who will never get his full due. Alcohol brings out the best and worst mankind has to offer and I have seen it all. So the next time Oprah’s filthy rich/fat ass or this cynical asshole tells you that gratuity has risen or that it’s ok to tip less than what is expected, remember that I will understand. That I will notice. And that it will make a difference. I’m never gonna ask for a tip nor will I ever tell you what I feel is acceptable. Just don’t be a dick, because I do work for a customary tip and I deserve it. I deserve it because you deserve my service and vice versa.
Ur a scumbag plain n simple.
Well. I’ve fixed the issue of not tipping in the fine dining establishment I own. I require a 25% service charge, which then goes to my servers. And the patron may tip on top of this charge if they care to. But I make sure my employees are taken care of by those who dine in my place of business. And it does NOT keep people from coming back. And if they DO have a .problem with it, they don’t have to come back. I don’t want cheap people here anyway. But they will pay it, or I will call the police. Oh. And all my servers .make state min wage, not state f&b industry min wage….they make 7.50 hourly. So. That’s that.
If you choose not to tip, please choose to select restaurants to patronize in the U.S. that do not require table service. It’s customary here because it’s built into the labor model for restaurants, and while that is not your fault, it is good practice to pony up, dig deep into those cheapskate pockets and throw down a few dollars. It doesn’t matter that you’re offended by the admittedly false buddy-buddy feeling offered up by some waiters, or upset that it’s expected. It’s been this way here since before you were born, and will be after you (and the poor bastard who has to wait on the likes of you) die.
You go to restaurants to, as you put it, get food unavailable to you at McDonalds. If you choose not to tip, and furthermore choose to get up on your soapbox about it, please eat exclusively at McDonalds, where you can be as entitled as you please.
The state requires us to be paid so little because this is a tipped position. It is expected that diners will tip. In most European countries the tip is included in your check- that ensures that waiters are paid fairly for their service. Here you have the responsibility to do the right thing and take care of the person who fetches you your food, your beverage, your refills, your extra napkins, the mayo you forgot to ask for… How many of you could pay your bills by making $2/hr?
Worse yet- what if YOU were paid subjectively? Let’s say- for example- you write an artice for an online newspaper and you expect to be paid a certain amount for your work. But I don’t agree with your opinion, and I issue a complaint, and don’t think you should be paid for it. So your boss never cuts you that check you were expecting. And then, to add insult to injury, tells you you need to pay HIM so he can pay other writers. That’s our life. That’s how we’re paid.
Fortunately, most people in America know and accept this process. Many of the comments here put all the blame on the servers themselves! Those stupid people who CHOOSE to work in a job where they’re gambling on their paycheck… What if we all quit tomorrow? What if all the servers quit and go get real jobs? Enjoy your McDonald’s, folks! Want pizza? Go to the grocery store and buy frozen. Either pay to be served- or serve yourself. It’s just that simple.
It’s super cute that you felt the need to write a little article about how you’re a cheap, anti-social asshole who can’t spare a few dollars for good service. I can’t imagine you receiving good service after multiple visits and not tipping your server. But as any good server would, they would still clean YOUR table, roll YOUR silverware, pour YOUR drink, order YOUR food, refill YOUR drink, bring YOUR dessert, and everything else that goes into the shift of a server. In America, being an attentive, kind, and effective server is appreciated and therefore people tip. If you’re a bad server, hey! You don’t get a tip. Life. The fact that you’re complaining over the internet: okay? Congrats. This has made you totally likable. I’m a server and paying my way through college. I work my ass off. I love working with people and being social. I love earning a tip that I worked hard for. It’s completely deserved. So you can get a life now. Actually, you can try serving! Bet it’d kick your ass. It would actually be hysterical. Don’t mess up, buddy. YOU MIGHT NOT GET A TIP!
Eat a bag of dicks. You don’t have to tip for that, fuck face. All other countries add a service charge into the bill. In the US, the amount is at your discretion. Don’t be a cheap fuck. Either get carry out, tip, or stay the fuck at home!