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’m just curious, what happens when the day comes that Wait Staff start making minimum wage, especially at 15 dollars an hour like the retail bottom feeders want? We’ll be making 15 an hour plus tips. You think the custom of tipping will magically disappear? Even when I worked retail years ago I was tipped on more than one occasion, carrying large items out to peoples cars, even though it was against corporate policy. Better be careful what you idiots wish for, before long we’ll be making more money than Doctors.
Wow… I guess I’ll respond in order.
1. If the only thing you value is the food, there is absolutely no reason for you to dine in. If you would like someone to get you a clean table, refill your beverage, take your order, explain what is in all the dishes, give you recommendations, bring your food and clean your dishes, then you do in fact value the service. In many places, tips are split between the host and bus boys, especially in higher end places.
If you don’t like it when people are friendly to you and try to make for a pleasant atmosphere while you eat, I don’t think you have a firm grasp on customer service or even social interaction. You are literally complaining about someone being nice to you in a place where that is expected. Would you prefer they be rude?
2. It’s your problem because you decided to purchase a service and then not pay for it. Regardless of what you think about the tipping standard, it is not your restaurant. You don’t set the prices and you don’t get to decide the pay rate of it’s employees. If you disagree with the pricing of a service then don’t buy it. Do you think the servers wages will be raised above four or five bucks an hour because you stiff them?
Servers have been a tipped position since the dawn of the job. The world doesn’t revolve around you. Get with program or eat at home.
3. Take it down about 8 notches. Killing a ransomed child is in no way an adept comparison.
I suppose that goes back to treating people the way you would like to be treated. When you walk into a place where tipping is assumed and the employees took the job assuming they would be tipped, you may as well spit on your server when you don’t tip. You are in effect saying, that you are above the common understanding and practices of everyone else. Well, maybe a little saliva is just what you need to pull your head out of your ass.
4. I believe I covered a lot of this in the first one so I’ll just say this. If the only thing your server does is walk your food over, then they know you don’t tip. They make about half of what minimum wage is worth. If you don’t tip, you can expect them to work as hard as you would for five bucks or less.
5. You’re right, money doesn’t grow on trees. Again, the world doesn’t revolve around you. You aren’t doing anyone a favor when you buy a product/service. You give me money, I give you the product/service. That is a straight-up transaction, not a favor. If you stiff my waitstaff, morale goes down, along with their hourly wage. If a lot of people stiff my waitstaff, my employees look for different jobs. You are not doing me any favors by coming to my place and not tipping. It is not my responsibility to balance your checkbook. If you can’t afford my restaurant (tips included), then do me a favor and don’t come.
I hope this opens your eyes a little as to how the real world works.
Often times as a waiter, I will be on my feet for 12 hours, NO BREAK, getting paid 2.75/hr. I have worked in a metal scrap yard shoveling mud/metal working 50 hours a week. and one shift at a restaraunt can be way worse than a shift shoveling mud.
TIP YOUR SERVERS, They put up with some of the most obnoxious people on this planet.
You retards tip restaurant servers for the same reason you tip those hoes who dance on a pole for you single, ugly losers, at your local strip joint. At my establishment, for example, a fine dining place, if you bring a birthday cake for a party, we charge a 2 dollar fee per person to slice the damned thing for you. 20 people, that’s an additional 40 bucks. So yeah, we’re banking. I guarantee I make more money than the “skilled” fat bellied union assholes commenting here. We’re completely in charge of all of our finances and don’t have to pay for representation like you low class laborers.
In reply to Jimbo Jones
Jimbo Jones you just gave me a reason to never tip again. Plus you actually made me feel good about not tipping. Thank you so much I will save a lot of money by not tipping.
In reply to Doe
LOL! LMAO! SMH! Wow the ignorance of some people. I have to admit being a waitress isn’t the easiest, but isn’t the hardest job. But I have to say I have worked my way up to management, and that’s from hardwork. First and foremost everyone has to start from somewhere, and I feel that waiters/waitresses don’t get the respect they deserve. They have to deal with some of the most pleasant people you ever met and some of the most insane people you can meet. At the end of the day it is our job to ensure accuracy and customer service, and they say the customer is always right. And growing up into this facility they aren’t always right(almost never.) And I think I speak for everyone on this statement: we are not begging you to tip, but we are not begging you to come in our facility. Carry out or just eat at home. How hard is that?
Just because you don’t want to tip, doesn’t mean you get to be an ass to your server. As someone who has worked that shitty ass job, its appalling how everyone assumes that if your a server you don’t “work”. I worked for a Cracker Barrel in my area and I was briskly walking for 8 hours straight. Sometimes 10 hours a day. Running back and forth between the kitchen and my section. Someone wanted something special, I had to prepare it, they wanted a salad I made it, someone wanted a desert, I had to dish it up. Someone didn’t like their order, or something was wrong I was the one who got bitched out for it instead of the cook! I then had to deal with a cook who was pissed off at having to either fix a dish or completely remake another one that would come out of all our paychecks because Susy at table 2 ordered a hamburger and didn’t tell us how she wanted it cooked. You’re pissed off because we expect you to be decent and pay up for all the extra shit that we do for you? Well don’t go out to eat then. Sit your ass at home and cook your own damn food. Because it’s not just your bitch ass that I have to deal with, you’re not the only customer. And if you’re not out the damn restaurant in under 60 minuets I’m the one that gets bitched at by management because you can’t seem to eat fast. This blog is appalling and really, I’m insulted. If you don’t tip your server, despite them going out of their way to provide excellent service despite your pissy attitude then you don’t deserve the privilege of eating in a hard working waiter’s section. If you don’t tip me, I won’t give you great service, I won’t spit in your food, but I will ignore you. I will hold your order back if you insult me. If you have a problem with your order just tell me and I will take care of it, but don’t talk to me like I’m your slave and am deserving of the temper tantrum that you’re throwing because somebody didn’t put extra cheese on your mashed potatoes. Waitresses work hard you dumb fuck. And I would appreciate that you wouldn’t insult every single person who tries to provide you excellent service which actually you don’t deserve. I understand not tipping someone if they give you a REASON not to tip them. If their service is awful don’t reward it, simple as that, but don’t go into an establishment already expecting awful service or disrespect it’s hard working staff that are just trying to provide you with an excellent meal and overall experience.
In reply to Allie P.
Allie P just because you work hard does not mean it is my job to pay you extra money. If you don’t like your wage talk to your employer. I’m not going to tip you and besides they at least have to pay minimum wage if you don’t make enough with tips. I feel minimum wage is way more than any waitresses is worth. No training education or responsibilities. The whole Tipping thing is stupid. Say I get a prime dry aged fillet mignon with lobster tail and a $30 glass of wine. The next day I ordered grilled cheese and milk. There’s no reason why the more expensive meal deserves more of a tip. And I’m glad I don’t have to worry about it because I refuse to tip.
In reply to Amethyst
If you don’t tip, I will give you a tip, don’t go back to the same restaurant twice as they will wait on you but they will give you the least service they can get away with. I agree the cost of the meal should have nothing to do with the tip and you should tip just as much for a cheap meal as an expensive meal.
Think of eating at a restaurant the same way you would having your car worked on. With your car you are paying for parts and labor, with the business getting the lions share of the money. With eating out you are pay for food and labor. The difference is the person doing the labor is getting the money.
You are in control of how much you pay, and you have a problem with that?
That was the most classless article I have ever read.
YES! Finally. I agree so hard with these. Let me say that if you work as a waiter, I am so much better than you are. You have a shitty life and you and your kids will probably starve. Now that that’s out of the way, fuck no I will not tip you. You don’t deserve it. A robot could do your damn job. You should be shot.
In reply to Sam
What if I suck your dick on demand, will you tip me 5 dollars?
In reply to Sam
You really are an ignorant prick, aren’t you? I have a college degree, but chose to go back to the service industry. I was in management, working full time prior to returning to bartending/waiting tables. I chose to go back because it gives me more time with my son. Just another bonus: I MAKE SIGNIFICANTLY MORE MONEY THAN I DID AT MY “real job.” So before you judge everyone in the service industry, realize that we are real people too. I can’t believe how ignorant and hateful some people can be. You are no better than us. Honestly, I have bad days at work but nevertheless it feels good to average $30+ an hour. On behalf of all service workers…go fuck yourself sir!
In reply to Sam
This is really poorly written sarcasm, right?
im a server. we deal with real bullshit. we fill your drinks and smile at you although youve made us hate you already. we need that tip. tip us 10 percent. youre still a pretty shitty person if you tip that low if your service was good, but still dont be a dick. sure we get paid 2.50 and its an option. but we work HARD for your shitty tip that you made off of your “retarded” ass opinions from a blog. you get paid more for such a worthless job spewing hatred to all the good hardworking people out there. i bet you are fat and lonely. i hope you are fat and lonely. i will tell you my name when i greet you and i hope you tell me yours so i can tell you how pointless and worthless your blog posts are, but also so i can give you shit service and smile confidently when you left a $0.00 on the tip line. rot in hell you slimy, incompetent, ugly, A-sexual, sorry excuse for a shit that i had after eating a whole bag of flaming hot cheetos, mother fucker. i didnt tip the gas station for the cheetos i bought btw, he makes more than twice the money i do hourly. FUCK YOU
Cool, you’ve seen ‘Reservoir Dogs.’ This is evident considering your argument is pretty much taken straight from one of the opening scenes. So not only is this not poignant or funny, it’s ripped off.
If you don’t want to tip a waiter, don’t go out to eat, you arrogant prick.
Yes, however you’re paying for table side service vs. Some greasy asshole zit faced nigger kid at a counter to get your order wrong at McDonalds. Big difference. Are you retarded? Lmao