Waiters are understandably upset about why I don’t tip and have given many illogical reasons in support of this ridiculous practice. Here’s a rebuttal of the most common ones.
Bullshit 1: We only Pay for the Food. Service is Extra
The menu price doesn’t include just the cost of preparing the food and paying the chef. It includes the restaurant setting, the tables, the cutlery, the effort and investment that the restaurant owner has put into the dining area. Now guess what? Since I’m paying for it, the restaurant has to give it to me. And how do they accomplish this?
Waiters. Ding ding!
See without waiters, the restaurant has no way of delivering the dining experience to me that I’m paying for. I’m paying for sitting down in a nice place. I’m paying for the air conditioning. I’m paying for the nice tablecloth and for my food to be delivered to me in a reasonable time. The menu price covers all this. Waiters are just the restaurant’s way of bringing me my food. Of fulfilling their part of the contractual obligation.
Bottom line. Servers are not independent contractors. They’re not an “extra” that you have to pay for. By hook or crook, the restaurant needs to deliver the product. Whether they use waiters or conveyor belts (a term that many seem to object to), is not my business. I don’t care. The waiters can just melt into the background and let me enjoy my food in peace. If the menu includes free refills or whatever, then waiters are required to deliver that as well. Why? Because…wait for it….I paid for it!
Bullshit 2: It’s the custom. It’s ‘merica!
Yeah right. You do realize that not all customs are created equal don’t you? Slavery was a “custom” back in the day and so was race and sexual discrimination. Anyone with an ounce of integrity does what they feel is right. There are many harmless customs in the world like bowing instead of shaking hands, or using chopsticks instead of forks etc that are morally neutral. It really makes no difference if you follow them or not.
But tipping? Hell no! It’s not morally neutral. If you get better service because you’re a good tipper, then you’re essentially paying a bribe to servers to get them to do their job properly next time. All customs have a limit. And tipping is such a convenient custom isn’t it? Hell, I wish I had a custom in place for people to just throw money at me.
And just in case someone feels I don’t appreciate the US, there are many great things about this country that I love and I’ve blogged about repeatedly. Freedom of expression, the way Americans show respect to their armed forces, the politeness of people as you walk by on the road, the work culture, the individuality.
I just don’t like tipping. It’s not as if a person has to blindly accept everything in a country without judgment. There are good things. And there are bad things. Just like everywhere else.
Bullshit 3: The cost of food will increase dramatically
Someone needs to do basic math. Increasing the price of food to pay minimum wage to waiters will not double the price of food. Some have even gone so far to claim that it’ll increase 4-5 times. Ridiculous. Totally, utterly ridiculous. Let’s dissect this rubbish.
As an example, I’ll take Chili’s. A waitress at Chili’s was so kind as to comment saying that the price of food at her restaurant will increase by 3 times – $30 for a $10 burger. Using the statistics she herself gave in her comment, there are 12 waiters (at full capacity) who need to be paid minimum wage. That’s $5 extra per hour per waiter making it a net total of $60 per hour that has to be added to the price of food on a full day.
$60/hr? For 12 waiters. That’s it! It’s peanuts. If you assume even that each waiter is serving just four tables. That’s $5 an hour extra they have to make from four tables. Even if we say that each table sits for a massive two hours, the extra paid per table is way less than $5. On the total bill. Worst, worst case scenario.
You know what? Customers won’t even notice. So stop the garbage about the prices of food going up several times to pay minimum wage. It’s utter nonsense. The only reason waiters don’t want this system in place is because they earn a hell of a lot more than than minimum wage using our tips. And they come across as the victims.
Waiters are Struggling Mothers/Students
Look, it’s not as if I don’t have sympathy for those who struggle in life. I just don’t think it’s my problem. And I specially don’t like it being impinged upon me. Generosity is one thing. Having money demanded from you is something totally else. Any tip I give is out of the generosity of my heart and I expect some gratitude for helping those in need. It’s not something I have to do since…refer to Myth 1.
Bottom line: Socially mandated tipping is a scam. I can’t believe how intelligent people have been hoodwinked into it. Probably because they like to come across as “nice” people and feel sorry for servers who hover around looking expectantly. Well, I find that irritating and I won’t buy into it.
I feel tipping is a choice.
You aren’t going to stiff me because I can tell before I finish introducing myself that you’re an asshole that doesn’t want to be bothered by people. So you’ll get good service with minimal banter.
Everyone’s had that server who cares too much. Maybe I’ve been that guy too. The thing is, you can tell who wants to be talked to and who wants to be left alone.
There are servers who are terrible at their jobs. There are servers who only do this as “easy money”. But there are also servers like myself who love the job for what it is and are passionate about delivering a dining experience. I average at least $20/hr most nights. I love it.
You cut out tipping and people like me are going to leave. It won’t be worth it. There are some restaurants that are moving towards a model of $13/hr plus benefits and not accepting tips. I wouldn’t choose that at all, much less minimum wage. The tip is what keeps me on my toes. It’s what makes my service stand out. If you truly want shitty service, then eliminate tipping.
Protip: If you want servers to claim 100% of their tips, always leave the tip on a credit card.
i personally like friendly waters I think they deserve tiped but bad service bad tip good service good tips if it’s put on a bill I don’t go there any more so friendly people are appresheated get good tipe
So you’ve worked on a factory floor, have you ever worked in any form of the service industry? I know that atleaste in the state of Alabama, the minimum wage for servers don’t make more than 7 an hour. If you would like to attempt to live on $7 an hour working 40 hour weeks, I’d like to read that article much more than you ragging on people that are mostly just trying to make s living. If only your smug sense of self importance was currency maybe you wouldn’t be such a cheap ass. I will also add I like how you make comment to not tipping the server because they diddnt invent your food or cook it, does that mean your tipping the kitchen for a good meal?
In reply to Jon h
Of course he doesn’t. At the end of the day, despite all his bs, he walks into places that he knows expect you to tip, and decides for himself to take everyone else’ wage down because he is living beyond his means. He just wants to be cheap without being called cheap.
Come on, everyone. This guy is obviously in the minority. Most adults go by the 15% tipping rule. Besides, if you can manage five dollars per table, you’re golden. Ive been serving for two years now and I tend to be less talkative. I’m informative and swift. There’s no reason to truly believe serving is that hard. Is it mundane and tiresome? Absolutely. I always come home exhausted but I make great income!
Do I hate carrying heavy, hot plates? Of course.
Do I deal with annoying, drunk people? Yes
Do I hear people screaming my name when Im taking another order? Every day.
Do I work long, late nights without proper break or food/water? Yes
But I still made 500 dollars in 30 hours of work this week. Its great money. Who cares what one person on the internet thinks. He is only one person.
In reply to riftftfs
You make around what I did as a Teacher (degree required) in a 40 hour work week. That does not count the classroom supplies and projects that come out of my pocket and the unpaid hours of grading. Maybe instead of getting a college degree I should have just become a waitress. And yes… even teaching has customer service aspects to it. If a woman will be angry her steak isn’t medium well then imagine how upset she is when Little Johnny got a D on his homework.
In reply to Laura
Please don’t try and gain sympathy for being a teacher vs a server. I would gladly agree that what you do is super hard and I admire you for doing what you do. In no way could I handle small kids all day long.
Yet thats kind of what I do. We basically cater to every need of each person that walks through the door and have to do it with a smile on our face. I bet that sounds very similar to what you do.
I would say the difference is that once you start your shift you are no longer a human being, you are a server. You have no power at all on what is going on besides how you manage your time to get each task that is handed to you done in a timely manner. People are allowed for some reason to treat you with no respect or forget manners entirely. Last time I checked waving your hand in my face to tell me you don’t need anything was no acceptable.
Sure we get paid more no doubt. But if you have not been a server then don’t judge it based upon your job. I work with kids its hard, I also serve adults. When it comes down to it I am not sure if one is easier then the other but don’t knock serves just because we don’t have a degree. Most of us are servers so we can get one.
In reply to Brian
Dude did you forreal just try to not only justify your job making more money than a teacher but also at the same time try to put your job on the same level of stress and importance? She was just trying to make the point that you don’t have a whole lot of room to complain about not being tipped as you are already getting paid higher than a woman who went to college for four years. And don’t get me wrong your jobs hard but you only deserve the standard 7.25 like every other service industry employee
In reply to Bigdaddy
I did and I stand behind it. Its nice she went to college for it but she didn’t have to. You can go teach English over seas with only a high school diploma.
I think servers (I was one for 12 years) have every right to complain. Its a hard job that offers no benefits, no job security, and they have to deal with people who want a king or queen treatment. That looks different from person to person, but in general peoples manners go way down when dealing with a server. They are not your slaves, and their job is never the same so why should they get paid $7.25 for a job that is not a standard job.
From what it sounds like Bigdaddy you would not make it as a server for more then a few weeks at best. I don’t think you could handle it honestly. I say this very simply off how you responded. There was no empathy or understanding for the server. You focused on just slamming me for comparing being a server to a teacher. If you read my post you won’t see me slamming teachers, I just say that I think what a server does is close if not harder. You don’t get to have a opinion when you are on the clock as a server and you certainly don’t get to call people out on being rude or disagreeing with you as one. The customer is God when you are on the clock, and if you can’t be even a little understanding here on a blog I know you can’t do it for 30+ hours a week w/ no breaks, changing menus, and at least 20+ people all needing something almost at the same time.
If you think I am wrong, go be a server and find out. Better yet if you are worried about making money while being a server go be a fine dinning server. You will make more money then you expect but you will have a all new outlook on the industry. I have some perspective on both until you have some facts to go with your arguments please keep your nonfactual uneducated comments to yourself.
In reply to Laura
as someone else who also has decided with a job that required a degree- I say your job is totally worth it. You get a more fulfilling job, which will make you happier than the miserable job these servers are talking about on this feed, and also will hopefully get job security with time if you do not have this already (though this is a ridiculously imbalanced system- teachers are totally not getting paid near an appropriate amount for their invaluable job).
The waiters that cheat the system by playing the part of the poor disadvantaged “woe-is me” to make an excessive amount of money, and then never having to submit these earnings to the government for taxes – they are ridiculous. This type of server is also usually miserable. (I’m aware there are also a portion of servers who don’t try to cheat the system, are happy, and use the best of their talents to make their job a positive reflection of their talents and gifts-and are unable to pursue a career where they can better use these). Thank you for choosing to make the best of your gifts and skills- and share these with your students- even if you don’t get paid any more than a deceitful server for all of your knowledge, caring, organization, motivation, problem solving, and creativity.
In reply to Laura
Just because you are underpaid does not mean that they are overpaid. Teachers should get a raise, but that has entirely nothing to do with waitstaff wages. I come from a family of soldiers and firefighters. If we were paying people based on their actual value, I’d be the heir to a fortune. People don’t spend excessively on the things they need… just the way of the world. If your in your job for the money, you gotta go where the money goes… and the money goes out to eat.
In reply to riftftfs
I hate to break it to you, but that is not great money. It’s okay money. My mom works as a temp doing data entry and makes a bit more than that.
In all honesty, what makes a waiter/waitress job so much more difficult than working at mcdonalds or working in a grocery store to which they should get paid more? I live in New Jersey where the minimum wage is $8.38. I work at a grocery store making $8.55. Although I don’t have extra cash, I pay my bills. I don’t expect to be making a whole lot of money because it is in fact unskilled labor. So what makes your job deserve more money? I have to show just as much customer service as you do. So if you don’t like the working conditions, go find another job and stop complaining.
In reply to George
because we aren’t paid regular minimum wage we are paid less than half of it
In reply to Jake
Okay I see why you like tipping. But my point is how about we cut out tipping and pay minimum wage. I’m sorry to say but it’s not my responsibility to pay your lost wages. Now I’m not saying people shouldn’t tip, because I usually do, I’m just saying we don’t have to and people shouldn’t get mad if we don’t.
In reply to George
Working in a grocery store and being a server are in no way the same thing. We do a lot of the same things you do for sure. There is cleaning, and stocking (putting plates back), and talking to customers. But even those things are expanded upon as a server. Instead of just knowing where to find a item and tell you where to find it, I need to know everything about it and bring it to the customer. The easy way to explain the difference is that I need to have working knowledge of everything in my restaurant, where to find it, what it has in it, and how it is made. Then add that to making each experience unique to each customer basing that on no verbal communication and doing all of this in a time frame that the customer wants.
There are just to many variables that change from table to table for most restaurants to charge a flat tip rate. Plus no one really wants to pay a auto tip of %15-%18 and not have a say in the matter.
In reply to Brian
Oh really? So you don’t think that a grocery store clerk does all that? That just shows me your lack of education.
In reply to George
Yes George for a fact I know they don’t. I worked for King Supers for two years. I know for a fact that you do not have food tests each week, and if I asked the person that is running the check out where the fish comes from they would not know. Am I correct?
Then I became a server and my view on customer service as changed entirely. Lets use a super common example that probably happens at both of our establishments and see what is different.
Customer: Excuse me where is the restroom?
Grocery Store: (uses fingers) Of course do you see the sandwiches right over there. Go down there and make a left and you should see them.
Server: Of course sir/mam please follow me. (A few seconds later) Here you are sir/mam please let me know if there is anything else I can do for you.
Sound about right?
And just to further solidify my point. Can you tell me if what brands of Soy Sauce have alchol in them?
In reply to Brian
Actually no it is not correct. My grocery store is a family owned store centered around customer service. So I do the exact same thing you do.
In reply to George
I hear you talking a lot yet not backing it up with any facts here. I just asked you a direct question seeing if you could back up your knowledge of food in your store and you didn’t answer the question.
I also have a hard time believing you walk each customer to the restroom, and you take a food test every week. But lets try this again Greorge but this time you get a extra one since you didn’t answer my first food question.
Can you please tell my what soy brand contains no alcohol in it?
Where do blue point oysters come from? (I use blue points because if you are buying oyster in a grocery store or even a restaurant they are almost always blue points or chessys)
Don’t use Google.
In reply to Brian
You know what, I don’t know and I doubt you have to either. But when it comes to store made items, we have to know all about them. Also we have to memorize the prices of all the items. Including the weekly sales. I’m not going to keep arguing with someone so ignorant. So have a good day.
In reply to George
I actually do know all those things. Blue points are from a town called Blue Point in NY. As for soy the answer is none. Its a fermented product.
Thank you for basically confirming that what I said before and you don’t do as much. Not sure who the ignorant one is here when you are claiming one thing then not backing it up with facts or actions.
In reply to George
Damn George you just got slammed and all you got is to walk away… Yeah thats what I thought…no no go back to bagging groceries and wonder how some servers get paid $60+ / hour and your still making $10 or less.
In reply to George
Experienced servers have years of experience. Carrying full trays of martinis, full trays of entrees, if we had to pay our servers minimum wage we would only get highschool students with no experience applying. You think that servers should be paid the same as dishwashers? That shows me your lack of education..the reason the tipping hasnt changed is because the restaurant industry isnt thriving and even when business is good it is extremely difficult to make a ton of money with a restaurant. My family has owned a landmark restaurant in our city for 41 years. It is always busy and business is never a problem. There are just tons of expenses associated with running a business that you don’t even think about. Example we have 2 weeks to come up with $13,000 for the unemployment expansion that was passed. Just how shit is. Nothing has a clear cut answer. If we got rid of tipping, we would have to raise prices considerably in order to keep good servers and no restaurant wants to do that. We already are walking a fine line with prices we cant just charge $20 for a free range burger and hand cut fries nobody will buy it so our other option would be to buy less quality food which is against everything I believe in. We handcut our own steaks to keep cost down but everything is a battle man its not easy.
Just please do us all a favor when you sit down at my table and let me know right off the bat that you do not believe tipping is necessary. Then I will merely take your order, convey your food to you, and leave it at that. I will not check back to see if it is cooked to your liking, I will not ask if your water needs to be refilled, I will not clear your dirty dishes as they empty. I will not ask if you would like another glass of wine, or more bread. I will not speak to you at all until it is time to present the check, and I probably won’t speak to you then. After that, you will leave my restaurant and tell all of your friends how bad the service is and that nobody should ever go there again. Why don’t you just get take out and leave us all alone??
You sir, are one of the great many people who mistakenly don’t think waiters and bartenders do anything.
You mention paying for decor and whatnot in the price of your food. Well, a knowledgable server is part of that whatnot.
Should waiters be paid an actual wage based upon skills? Possibly. You have a point there. You are way off the mark in your evaluation of what professional service industry staff can and will do.
I think everyone should have to work 2 weeks as a server before they determine that tipping is not needed.
Sounds to me there is some undeying issues of anger going on here. Otherwise why such venom and impoliteness would need to be used to get an opinion across is beyond me. So just for the record,I would maybe listen to your unjustified opinion a little more if instead of insulting my intelligence and work ethic you stated it in an adult respectful way.
If you want the type of food you can’t get from a fast food place then simply get your food to-go. If you think that you deserve to take up a table in a waiter’s section, (a table that a tipping customer could be sitting at) then you should at least let the server know as soon as he/she walks up to the table that you will not be tipping them. Yes, they still have to bring you your food since that is “mandatory” but don’t expect any additional utensils, sauces, refills, or questions about the menu answered because they will promptly spend their time on tables that will pay for that part of the meal. Part of the dining experience is the service so if you don’t want to pay for it then you shouldn’t expect anything.