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 am a bartender in Hawaii. I have worked in restaurants for over seventeen years. I worked as a server for several years. I have a degree in nursing( that i paid for by working as a server!) but I prefer bartending! Most people could not do my job because it is really HARD, but I enjoy it. I (unlike the author of this article) really like all people. I enjoy meeting people from all over the world. I love having regular customers that become close friends. When I wait on people I am being nice because I AM NICE, not because I am trying to kiss your ass so you will tip me. I work in a beautiful restaurant at a fabulous bar in Hawaii! I made over $120,000 last year, and I can actually say that I love my job! So here’s a big “fuck off” to the author of this article! Keep your tips you stupid ass!
Maybe you should try to understand what you are speaking about before you criticize it. First of all, I agree that ideally employers should pay servers more, like they do in many countries, but if they did the prices for what you are buying would be increased. You just don’t like the concept of tipping because you see it as money for zero goods/service received. You are receiving a service but you don’t want to pay for it because you’re closed mind sees it as a “gift”. If the money you would leave as a tip was instead included in the price tags on menu items, then your ignorant mind would be able to satiate itself by saying “that is the price”; though now your complaints would be centred on how expensive restaurant dining is. Consider that, if servers were paid normal/fair wages and were included in the price, then it would be fair to say that you are paying for a service. A service that in one sentence you said you would be happy to pay for if it was included in the price and in front of your face and in the next you said was unskilled. Skilled or unskilled, a restaurant provides goods and services that are in demand and that no one forces you to partake in. If you don’t like tipping, don’t go to restaurants. YOU seek out these establishments, you enjoy your clean comfortable table, your options explained, questions answered, drinks made and brought to you, adjustments, modifications, condiments, utensils, napkins, your meal, refills, and when it’s all done someone cleans up after you. If you don’t want any of these things done for you, by all means stay at home. Since you enjoy frequenting restaurants, accept the fact that yes you should tip and be thankful that a) the prices are low and b) you have the option. If the tips were included, it wouldn’t matter how rude I was to you, you would still be paying me for my service, but as it stands; the tipping system allows for you to pay for my service accordingly. Finally, though you describe serving as simply picking up a plate and bringing it to you, servers also share their tips with cooks, hosts, bartenders and bussers. So the tip equivalates to having your food prepared and cooked, your table set and cleaned, your drinks and meal delivered, and much more. If you leave nothing on a $100 bill in my restaurant, the server has to give $3.50 to her fellow employees and therefore was lucky enough to pay to serve you. I’m not saying that the system is perfect but it is the way it is. If you don’t like it, then please just spare us. Quit pretending you’re operating on principles and admit that you are a cheap person who cares nothing for others even though you think that “we’re all in it together”. Hypocrite.
You are disgusting. My bet is that you’ve never served a table in your life, and yet you have the audacity to tell other servers that what they do is “unskilled” work. Try remembering 7 different food orders, balancing and walking with multiple plates of food, knowing the exact ingredients of a single dish to avoid any food allergies. How about, better yet, dealing with customers like you.
What you don’t realize is that we are working for that tip. Without us, you wouldn’t have anything. We get your drinks, your appetizers, your side salad that MUST come out BEFORE your entree. All part of my job.
And how dare you assume all servers are stupid. I, myself, am a sophomore in college with a 3.9 GPA. I’m studying to be psychologist. And for some unknown reason, I chose to deal with ignorant people like you. But you know what, it’s a hell of a lot harder that working in retail. I’ve worked in both, so I know.
Bottom line, it takes a very, VERY special person to wait on patrons such as yourself. So next time you absolutely NEED that side of mayonnaise, keep in mind, I’m also dealing with the screaming two year old at table three, assuring the woman with the severe peanut allergy that her meal is perfectly safe, AND somehow managing to keep a smile on my face despite the fact that after I tip out the bar and the bus boys, I’m walking out of here barely scraping $100. Thanks to your pitiful tip.
Ps. I’ve NEVER EVER spit in anyone’s food.
Pss. Fuck you.
Fuck all of you cheep ass ppl I hope I don’t see any of you at my restaurants
You are clearly not American, nor have you ever had to work in the food industry. This is an accepted practice in America, its part of how our food industry survives. If people didn’t tip, it would simply increase the cost of food nationally, not just locally. Some restaurants might pay their servers minimum wage, others may not. You may not be aware but servers typically make around $2-3 USD per hour because that is what the restaurants pay. If we didn’t tip, then they would have to pay their servers more and the price of food would skyrocket. You don’t always have to tip, it isn’t required
And if any waiter threatened to spit in my food.. it is the American way to stand up and walk out. Nobody dragged you into the restaurant, there are no signs on the wall that say, “Tip, or we spit”. I highly doubt anyone ever threatened to spit in your food if you didn’t tip. If they did, and you didn’t get up and walk out… then you are an idiot. I think that perhaps you watch too many American comedies sir.
Trust me, almost every American has already come to terms with the fact that every Middle Eastern and Asian country in the world hates us. For what reason, I couldn’t say.. maybe because of freedom of religion.. who knows. What I can tell you is that we are proud of our country and take offense to foreigners bashing it.
The American food industry is outstanding. There are a plethora of restaurants out there that do not ask for tips, its already calculated into the servers wage and into the price of your food, you just don’t see it. But, you probably don’t go to too many of those restaurants because they are rather expensive.
One of the great things about the American food industry is that, you have an amazing variety of cuisines available. I have been to several countries and I can say that even in some of the grander places, only local cuisine was offered. Here in the good ‘ol US of A, you can visit a quaint little local shopping strip in even some of the most backward towns and find even Indian cuisine. A family owned restaurant of happy people, ready to share a part of their culture with you. You don’t see that in too many places. Those places survive off of tips.. its just the American way.
Since I think we have clearly established that you aren’t American, its just one of those things you will never understand. Family, fun, food, and the big thing that I think you missed, (Courtesy). Somehow, I doubt that you could empathize and lay down or set aside your gigantic ego to think from someone else’s perspective. You need to understand that Americans work hard at being courteous and friendly (except New Yorkers). ;p
I didn’t write this because I disagree with you or because I am offended. No, I took the time to write it because I was amused by your lack of perspective and disrespect for American culture, of which you know nothing. I am sure that if you, as an Indian, compare American culture to your own, you will find it stupid. That’s your opinion.. and its my American opinion that you aren’t quite as smart as you think you are. You come to America with a closed mind and compare everything you survey to your own culture and social norms.
It’s really a rather basic opinion piece that could probably be written by one of our middle school children. (ouch) Want to write a real piece? Try taking on American politics and government. Better yet, write about something you know and enjoy (such as food). Perhaps you aren’t such a poor writer when its something you care about.
PS. Nice (molestache)
are s douche bag. People like you are a sad excuse for a human. I hope that karma train derails all over your P.O.S life and maybe teaches you a lesson!
Ohh you are Indian this explains it all.
Just make sure you let your server know about your non-tipping policy as soon as you sit down. If you don’t, you are one cowardly d-bag. BTW, if restaurants upped their servers’ pay to a “living wage”, the cost of your meal would rise quite a bit higher than the tip you’re so reluctant to give.
If I lived in Oldsmar FL I would make it my personal mission that you never receive service ever again. The karma train is coming for you buddy. Choo choo.
Kill yourself….no, wait tables for a week THEN kill yourself!