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.
Your a douche bag. When you go inside of a restaurant to eat, you pay for the service you get. You COULD get a shitty server who already can tell you a cheap prick and give you shit service. OR you can get a badass server who keeps your drink full. Makes sure your food is right and hot enough and makes sure it gets to you in a timely manor. I’ll pay someone 10 bucks to do that for me.
wow, I didn’t even get half way through this article. You are a pompus ass with a shitty goatee. Your picture most likely is being circulated to every restaurant in the world. There’s more to serving then dropping off a plate.
Good luck not getting bodily fluids in your next plate. Kitchen staff can be very good at hiding presents for douche bags.
I’ve been serving for a few years now and to read what I have been reading is absolutely astonishing. Servers accept the 2.13 an hour because they want to make money based of their work ethic. I have worked at fast food before and Lowes Hardwood where you get paid $8 and I can not tell you how many lazy people I have came across. Servers are hardworking…its more than bring food to the table…we want guests to have a nice time out. It takes multitasking (3+ tables at a time), time management (putting entrees on hold until starters are ready) and personality to be a fantastic waiter. I am not hungry for a tip and only nice to you bc I want it…I do it because I want the guests to have a pleasant time out. I am a server NOT a servant, I will do whatever it takes to make your experience great. Also, working at an Asian restaurant people ask a lot of questions…a lot of times I have to create a meal for guests using my knowledge of the menu..balancing spicy, protein, diet restrictions. I can walk out with $285 on a Saturday double and tip out to bussers, drop and go dish, and food runners about $85 (%5) and the %5 is out of SALES not tip. If someone’s bill is $100 and they stiffed me…I have to take $5 out of my own pocket to cover that table. Im not complaining because there are guests that make up for people that don’t tip. I just want people to respect each others job.
You should legally change your name to Cheapwad Jal DouchCanoe. You really are a little prick, aren’t you?
On the off chance that this clown reads his posts, let me say that nobody said please come to a country that you were not born in, demand equal opportunity, moan about discrimination and then judge the local customs as stupid and unworthy of you. If you would like to follow this line of thought, let us take a moment to invite other cultures into your home of Dehli. Let us invite the devout Muslim from Iran to rape and kill your sisters and mother for being heathen, then let us ask you why you expected better since they obviously where whores who could not cover themselves up and deserved no better. Moral of the story is that you are not the judge of what is right and wrong. Tipping is a custom in the USA that is so universally accepted that it is built into the pay system. So if you wish to stay here abide by the local customs, but if you wish to flaunt your disrespect, don’t be surprised when you are not welcome. The only good part about this article is that your face is posted next to it. If you are a server in the Oldsmar Florida area and see this douche please punch him in the face or drop something toxic in his food.
In reply to bob
Wait wait…so because I don’t agree with the logic of tipping it means I hate the US and don’t like its culture? What a load of crock.
There are many awesome things about the US starting with freedom of expression which is one of the most monumental achievements of mankind in today’s world. That’s American culture too and I love it. But it doesn’t mean I have to just accept something blindly. I have a brain, thank you very much.
Just by the by, what would you have said if this article were written by an American instead? You sir, are making the classic ad hominem logical fallacy where you attack the person instead of the argument.
Try harder.
In reply to bhagwad
“It means I don’t like its culture?”
Yes, that is exactly what it means. This is a culture where the accepted norm is to tip wait staff for the service they provide and their hourly pay structure and tax rates are adjusted accordingly. Every place you go out to eat and don’t tip, not only are you not giving them a monetary thank you (Which is how you view it) you are also costing them money, personally. So feel good about taking money out of their pockets, and food off the table of their families.
You have the free speech to say you don’t like it, but you should be fully cognizant of what exactly you are doing and saying with your actions. Personally, I would refuse you entry into my restaurant as the owner. IF you can’t respect my staff, and my establishment, then I don’t need your custom.
In reply to iLogos
Let me put it this way. I don’t like this particular practice. What you’re saying sounds like the “no true Scotsman” argument. I’m sure you’ll agree that it’s entirely possible for me to “like” American culture in general, and yet disagree with one aspect of it.
In reply to bhagwad
Waiters, depending on the state, make less than minimum wage. Some as low as 2 dollars an hour. You may not like it, but it’s a fact. Now imagine if every customer that walks into their restaurant is like you?
You aren’t hurting “the man.” You are refusing to pay these hard workers for the service they are providing you. Not only that, did you know that most restaurant staff have to give a portion of their tips to the bar tender who made the drinks? Did you know another portion goes to the bus boys who cleaned up the table and did the dishes? So every time some self righteous person, like yourself, thinks he is going to “make a statement” or “fight the status quo,” all he ends up doing is screwing the people trying to give him a good experience.
If you have waiters getting on their knees to take your order, dont kid yourself. They dont want to be your friend. They were trained to do so and are required by their employers to be friendly and accommodating. (Sounds like you frequent Applebee’s and Cheesecake Factories. Fine dining waitstaff do not do this. So you dont even really want good food ^_^)
If you dont want service, eat fast food.
If you want to eat good food and not tip? Make it yourself.
Dying to try the food at a restaurant and still dont want the service? Order take out and bring it home. Dont take up the table space… its not a food court.
Restaurants and waiters are a package deal. You cant pick and choose what you like. The fact that you felt like you needed to justify how cheap you are just proves why more and more waiters are becoming aggressive about their tips.
In reply to Liz
but your wages are not my problem. My food is the problem. Why don’t you maybe work at Wal Mart isntead where they pay minimum wage?
Why have wait staff monopolized the restaurant industry? Only fast food, which isn’t all that good doesn’t accept tips while restaurants require them? Seems like I should file anti-trust against the Wait Staff of America.
In reply to Liz
It’s also a federal law that employers make up the minimum wage for tipped employees if their tips don’t add up to at least that amount.
In reply to bhagwad
even if minimum wage didn’t exist at all, who cares? Think about it, if you are unemployed, the government is telling me “you’d better find a job that pays minimum wage or else you can’t work.” That is ridiculous.
Let the employers and employees agree to the wages and leave the fed out of it. This will correct the marketplace, allow for competition etc.
IN terms of tipping, why do I have to tip 20%? Why can’t I tip pi%? 10%? 5%?
If you have to “tip out” it is not my responsibility. You have to take that up with your employer. I shouldn’t suffer just because your lack of judgement led you to a job that abuses its workers.
In reply to Common Sense
Is this thread serious? What vile, disrespectful human beings. If you can’t adhere to a business culture, don’t participate. Period. The anti-tipping fucks posting here think it effective to their point to denigrate a huge group of hard-working human beings. News flash: If giving a 20% tip is actually making you ‘suffer’, you have no business eating out. We are here to HELP each other, not HURT each other…what category do you think your judgments and no-tipping fall under?? SMDH. Shoot yourselves.
In reply to bob
Congratulations Bob, you just revealed yourself to be every bit as a douche bag as the writer of this article. I didn’t think that was at all likely, and there you go, proving me wrong.
True scum! This is one of the most ignorant things I have ever come across. Please take time to reconsider what is coming out of your pea sized brain! Along with many skilled tasks, servers are also there to make sure your pathetic requests make it’s way to the kitchen. If I had to guess your one of those dreadful customers who wants to change the entire menu around to be the worlds biggest pain in the ass. Who do you think makes that happen for you? If that’s not you then think about people with special needs, and allergies. How do you think their meals are done correctly? I once read an entire menu to a blind man so he could enjoy a nice meal! Get over your shallow minded pathetic self and do us all in the service industry a favor, stay the hell out of restaurants! Sincerely, the college student who waits tables to pay for her tuition!
As for this list…
1: If you don’t feel like “chit chatting” then order your food to-go and eat where you wont be bothered. Servers are encouraged to chat with their customers and make sure that they have a great time. WHY? you ask?, not just because they sometimes fake it but because just like most companies, They get secret shoppers and should they fail certain aspects of the secret shop they are held liable and either suspended and “retrained” w/o pay or worse, fired.
2: The prices for the food that people order in a restaurant from a menu only reflect costs of the food itself and the preparation from the kitchen. It does not cover the servers wages. They leave the tipping up to the customers to decide if the server did a good job at helping you ease through your day. Should restaurant owners one day decide to raise minimum wages for servers then the cost of your food also go up. The life of a server isn’t as easy as some people think. Imagine multi-tasking for 8 hours (single shift) or 15 hours (double shift) while serving 4+ tables. This line of work takes a great deal of mental and physical strain on the body.
3: I’ve been a server for 2 years and never have I seen a co-worker nor myself deliberately tamper with a customers food. Although should I feel like my work isn’t appreciated then should your burger bun fall off the plate and onto the ground by accident I probably wouldn’t bother the cook for another fresh bun. Or maybe you ordered something that was too spicy and your drink required a refill, I’d probably help out another table first and let you savor that taste of regret.
4: Like most restaurants customized orders and are big thing with everyone wanting to eat healthy or vice versa. (EXTRA EXTRA FRIED FOOD PLEASE) Its the servers job to have that entire menu in their head and recite what comes with what even though its on the menu because some people refuse to read and also what can be customized to what extent. Servers provide a service not just writing orders down and bringing it to you. Ex: Your baby isn’t comfortable in the highchair? Here let me grab you a booster seat while juggling 3 drinks that belong to another table. (If you think i’m exaggerating i’m not.)
5: EVERYONE works for their money (most people anyway) and you as well as servers know it all to well. Everyone deserves what they earn but its not how the world works, Sometimes you just have to have that understanding that not everyone has it good in life. If you feel that servers should be grateful with 10% then you yourself should feel grateful that a server had to deal with you all while making minimum wage.
I can mostly agree with his point of view. If you think about it, there is little to see of ideas like ‘honor’ or even morality in regards to working for a tip. Why doesn’t every single occupation work on tips? It’s generally hoped for that someone will do a good job for sake of doing so. An occupation based on tips is one that is built on distrust. If anything, it’s insulting to the waiters and waitresses. His argument isn’t NECESSARILY built on the idea that waiters deserve less money, just that their service shouldn’t be an effort to gather more money from you (the business should pay for them.) I would disagree completely with him, and say that every single occupation should be tip-based, but I think it encourages uncomfortable dishonest practices (people typically feign friendship badly) and the act of tipping itself always feels a little awkward.
I work at a fine dining establishment and have been for years. I am in grad school right now trying to gain acceptance to medical school and waiting on the weekends sometimes. Let me ask you this is a stereotype that lives up to itself everytime still considered a stereotype? You mentioned that you had done some work in another area of sales and said that that work deserved respect and not waiting tables? Wow. So do you actually return to restaurants after your ignorant tipping strategies have been exercised? Last thing man, it’s not your fault at all that you don’t think you should tip, trash is trash and its as innate as being born with a disease. You just don’t know any better and just don’t seem very intelligent which is a shock because I thought most of your kind was. Oh and by the way in my experience as well, Indians are right next to black women as the worst tippers on earth. Then they come back in and wonder why am I getting terrible service? Wow that’s a feaking mystery right there.
You are certainly free to tip or not tip the choice is yours. But what I think you have failed to take in to account is that people can be petty and vindictive. I notice the original date of this post was 2009 that’s plenty of time for this to have been thoroughly circulated by your friends and aquaintances where you live and eat. Imagine for just a second the amount of fowlness you may or may not have consumed in the last three years. If 10, 15 or 20 bucks insures my health and comfort are not in jeopardy I’m happy to pay it. Not to mention being happy to help those around me that’s what society should be about. Selfish ness, arrogance and complete disregard for others wellbeing are at the core of most of the worlds problems.
good luck in life bc karma’s a bitch.
ha
happy to improve the lives of the others
nd aquaintances where tou live and eat.