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.
Low life, classless. And no I have NEVER been a waiter. I’m 19 and I have more sense than you, the author of this despicable article. This is a prime example of how desensitized our society is becoming.
In reply to Anthony Haddad
Americans tip $40 billion a year. Trust me, as far as I’m concerned, Americans are desensitized as to how stupid the tipping system is. NASA’s gets about $20 billion in funding like I said below, so it shows where our priorities are.
In reply to Common Sense
BUT do you know HOW MANY SERVERS are in USA?! You can’t compare NASA to servers.
How about servers start getting paid an hourly wage and instead of a $10 burger it’s a $20 burger. Does that sound better? Or would you rather just leave the $2 tip you are supposed to? You say serving is not a skill yet the majority of servers are well educated. Some are simply putting themselves through college while others have a degree in a field that they cannot find work in or they make a higher income serving then in their actual field. You also need at least a high school diploma to serve at most places. You need to be good at math and problem solving. You also need to have good judgement. All these “skills” are tested in an IQ test but these aren’t really skills right? I mean everyone is good at math and great with people right and can run around on their feet for 12 straight hours, right?!
You are basically saying that garbage men, mailmen, fire fighters, police men, gas station workers, store clerks, cooks, construction workers, hairdressers, real estate agents, etc. should just work for free because they are idiots that may or may not have graduated from college. Or are you saying that you will just start doing all this work on your own since its all mindless and unnecessary to employee these unskilled idiots anyway? In restaurants there is something called profit and loss, it’s how management/owners keep track of their profits if they started paying all their servers an hourly wage they would be raising the cost of food quite a bit to still make a profit and the majority of “unskilled” servers would find higher paying jobs if they were only offered minimum wage leading to a higher amount of crappy service. Because god knows $7.75/hr isn’t nearly enough money to make most people want to serve a**holes like you.
In reply to Sarah
@CommonSense
I’m just about done arguing with you now that you’ve compared having to tip to slavery in the south. But I can’t resist, MATH TIME! Corporate America wants to make a huge profit right? So they pay servers $3 an hour (rounded up). You’re saying we should be paid hourly and not recieve tips. Well ok, if you insist. Lets be real and say that there is absolutely no way they would pay more than minimum. Minimum is now $7.75. That’s a $5 jump per employee, per hour the company has to pay. On a Friday or Saturday, my restaurant (Chilis) has 12 servers on. Just in my restaurant alone that’s an extra $60 an hour the company has to pay. And I work in one of the very small Chilis. There are 150 Chilis restaurants across the US, and for the sake of the argument lets say each one has 12 employees on a Friday night. Now in this scenario we all make minimum wage. 12×150=1800. 1800×5=$9000 extra per hour the company has to dish out. So instead of your $10 burger being a $20 burger at Chilis, it would be closer to a $30 burger. You’re absolutely daft if you think that all they would raise the price is $1.50. Please. I love my job, I love making the money I do and its sad that people like you exist. You’re expected to tip because someone else is doing something for you that you’re too lazy to do. Carrying your bags to your room, getting yourself a drink or food, cutting your hair, doing your own nails, the list goes on and on.
In reply to Mary
You haven’t taken into account the average sales of Chiils per hour. Without that, there is absolutely no way you can say that prices will increase three times. Absolutely. No. Way. In fact, $9000 per hour across the country doesn’t seem much if you take that into consideration.
Come to think of it, $60 per restaurant per hour is pathetically low. Most people will not even notice the price increase. Can you tell me how much sales a Chili’s restaurant does in one hour during a shift when there are 12 servers? Give me that figure and I’ll calculate for you the exact percentage increase of the food price.
I’m waiting.
I can’t begin to imagine what kind of logic you’re talking about when you postulate a 3x increase in price without tipping!
Math time indeed. Let’s do this.
In reply to bhagwad
When Mary put out those numbers, I was shocked myself as to how low the numbers really are. That is the great think about math. The fact is $9000/hour does come across quite low. If you had, say, a manufacturing company that spent $9000/hour, they would be jumping for joy and walking on water. For a large corporate restaurant, such as Chilli’s to have an overhead of $9000 extra/hour is miraculously low.
$60/restaurant is quite low. At a corporate level, it wouldn’t be noticed.
BTW, do you know how much Americans tip every year? $40 billion. THat is TWICE the budget of NASA (which is under $20 billion), so please keep that in mind. America can have TWO NASAS if they didn’t tip.
In reply to bhagwad
Bhagwad, It is painfully obvious you do not understand at all the business model of an American restaurant.
Let me help you a bit on this.
Restaurant budgeting is all centered around Sales. Top of the line sales king and all other budgetary decisions are often made off of this number, or one of the key “controls” like labor, or cost of goods. When a restaurant sets it’s budget for the year, they are essentially making an educated guess of how many dollars in sales it expects to do, and then ordering, staffing, and even menu prices will all be adjusted as needed to meet often times pre-set profit margins.
Did you know that the average American chain restaurant expects to see between .04-.09 cents profit on every dollar that they sell? The rest goes to a variety of things like paying for the food they cook you, the gas they use to do so, and the rent of the location that you are at. Then there are laundry list of other expenses including but not limited to: upkeep and repair of the equipment and building, payroll taxes in addition to the actual wages paid to employees, replacement of flatware and silverware once it is broken (or, stolen) and all of the other hidden costs of running a restaurant.
When it is all said and done, the average labor percentage (amount of labor $s spent in relation to top of the line sales) is set between 30-36% depending on the service style and individual business values. But typically a fast food restaurant will pay 30% of it’s total sales to the employees that help to make them, a fast-casual or casual restaurant will be a little higher in the 32-34% range and a high end, upscale establishment may pay up to 36% or higher.
Now, if a restaurant has to increase the amount it is paying it’s server by $x/hour that does not translate into an easy $x times however many hours = the necessary increase. Because if this imaginary Chili’s is paying an additional $60 per hour to run their floor, they will need to collect more than that said additional $60 and hour to keep their percentages at the same level. And percentages are what really matters. Because when you are dealing with a business that sees an average of 4-9% profit a few percentages matter a whole lot.
So, if this imaginary Chili’s has a standard labor budget of 26% for it’s hourly employees ( the additional 5-8% is typically management, vacation, and other additional labor expenses) then to keep at their budgeted goals and pay out an additional $60/hour to it’s staff then it will need to recoup in sales an additional $230 per hour. And that is if they wanted to bring the minimum wage of restaurant employees to the standard federal minimum wage. That isn’t factoring in the wage increase that would be needed to place the responsibility for fair payment for the job done on to the employer.
And Lora, Sarah and Anthony thank you guys for making some excellent points, servers need to have some credit a lot of us are educated and putting ourselves through college on our tips!
In reply to Mary
I went through college and grad school just fine without waiting at tables. it isn’t the only job in the world. I worked in food/beverage at the manufacturing end for example. It was tough, but paid great.
The whole “going through college” is a total cop out. If you can’t afford college, then don’t go to college or work somewhere full time until you can. I understand it is difficult, but making someone else subsidize your college costs by using the means of guilt is pretty lame.
Like i said, Americans tip on average $40 billion a year. You guys are doing quite well if you ask me.
A previosu poster himself said, btw, that he makes more than $10/hour on tips. It seems the only reason you guys are complaining is simply due to the fact that you guys make a pretty hefty sum of change with tips by guilting other people or using the whole “culture” cop out.
Whether you like it or not, slavery was also culturally engrained in Southern America. It doesn’t exist anymore, right?
Just because he doesn’t like to tip doesn’t make him an bad person. Do you really know him to be saying that. I totally agree with this blog. There are many jobs out there , it was your choice to be in this industry and you all know what you are getting yourself into. Show me the law where it stays to pay tips is mandatory ?? It doesn’t exist. And don’t come saying it s a hard job because guess what every job is. And don’t come saying then stay home or go to fast good? That’s just immature. We are no obligated to pay tips and as long as it is no a law ,I won’t pay it because technically even if you don’t get the tips you wanted to get, your restaurant is obligated to match it for you so in other words you are still getting minimum wage just like a person would be getting at a fast good restaurant and sometimes you get even more. So why you all complaining ??? Be thankful that at least you have a job!! I was a waiters before and never I never expected to get tips because I knew at the end I was going to get my 9 dollars per hour. However i saw how others would steal or just hide the tips and steal it. It s just plain stupid. Also some waiters are fake . I say this things because I have experienced it. They act all nice just for the extra money.. But then u hear them complaining about the customer when they haven’t done anything or when they haven’t tipped.. I really didn’t like that environment so as soon as I found another job I left. So waiters stop complaining and go do your job right because that’s what they are paying !!! And if you don’t like just find other job like I did ( I left for the reason I mentioned earlier )
In reply to Jydtmyopinion
Wow, a waiter/waitress that is against tips. Obviously not ALL wait staff have to agree that tipping is required. It shows that not all people are herded sheep.
I couldn’t agree more! And believe it or not I have worked in a restaurant before about 2 years total. Fortunately in California you have to be paid min wage regardless of tips.
I mean I go to a restaurant and I pay an average of $15 for hamburger and coke. I expect that to cover the costs it takes you to manage and supply your business.
Why waiters and waitresses? When you go into Macy’s or some other store and they help you find an item or check inventory in the back do you tip them? They barley make minimum wage too.
Why 20%? Why can’t you be happy with 10% and if I order a more expensive meal why should I tip more? It didn’t take you any more effort.
I will always reward someone who goes above and beyond their normal job duties to assist me but other than that I don’t find it necessary.
In reply to Kayla
I seriously think the pro tip people stopped commenting after they saw waitresses/waiters even criticizing the practice. The fact that you have this opinion and have this knowledge throws ALL of their points out the window.
In reply to Common Sense
Actually I stopped commenting because I find it irritating to be talked to in such a condescending way by people who have no idea what they’re talking about. I still don’t agree, all the servers in the world could comment how right this is but I still will not agree. So you can step off your high horse.
In reply to Mary
I wholeheartedly believe that whomever wrote that comment about working in the restaurant industry but doesn’t believe in the practice of tipping, is a) lying and has never worked in the industry or b) worked for such a short time as a server/hostess that they remain completely clueless and tasteless. Without a doubt.
If she did actually work a a server she would know that you do indeed make more than minimum wage (depending where you work) most days. I have walked into work just to be cut two hours later and walk with 15 dollars in my pocket, the the next night go in and make 400 in 5 hours…. I never once complain about the money I make, I am we’ll aware that slow nights with bad tippers will be made up for by a slow night with great tippers or an insanely busy night wit mediocre tippers. It’s the gamble we sign up for when we take a job as a server, and I have never once complained. My job is fun, hard, laidback sometimes, and I basically pick my schedule and get to do everything I want to do in life… I smell envy.
In reply to Mary
that’s your bosses problem. He is supposed to give you minimum. It is called a crime if he doesnt. In california, regardless, all staff get mimimum.
In reply to Common Sense
It’s pretty cut and dry people. The federal minimum wage for tipped workers has not gone up in 20 years and is not expected to do so anytime in the near future so just as you say servers “choose” to work for this, you “choose” to make up the difference with a tip the second you “choose” not go to a mcdonalds where the employees get minimum wage. The bottom line is: if you feel you should not be required to TIP then go eat elsewhere or better yet STAY HOME STOP BEING LAZY AND COOK FOR YOURSELF! and you are seriously an idiot if you say “there are other jobs….you don’t HAVE to be a waiter…I never HAD to be a waiter” OK you ignorant person let us all use your logic then shall we?…what would you and every other ignorant lazy person who is unimaginative, unskilled, or too lazy to prepare their own meal at home where they wouldn’t be required to tip do if EVERY SERVER decided that waiting tables was no longer worth it an QUIT because of people like you? Well, let’s see….the entire industry would crumble and you would be left to fend for yourself…but seeing as waiting on you requires no skill i am sure that will be no trouble at all. and since you are so educated i am sure you can make your own damn calamari…right? Or how about this scenario: how about the restaurants start adding an automatic minimum 18% gratuity to your bill so that cheap people like you have NO CHOICE but to TIP therefore guaranteeing your server gets his/her wage? How would you like that? And despite what you may think, being a server does take a tremendous amount of skill because we have to deal with condescending people like you and keep a smile on our face when we really want to throw our book at your head and smash your face into your plate and that kind of self control takes a lot of skill…indeed. Happy dining and i hope you know servers NEVER forget a face…good luck getting good service.
In reply to Jennifer
I would LOVE an automatic 18% gratuity. This removes all of the ambiguity AND if you don’t pay it you can be arrested. Why not?
Tipping is stupid. You leave it up to me to tip, so my decision is usually a flat $3.00.
In reply to Common Sense
http://thoughtcatalog.com/2013/23-life-lessons-you-get-from-working-at-a-restaurant/
Note: I am not the author of this, but it just proves that hundreds of thousands think this way.
First off, a disclaimer: I tip my waiters/servers and sometimes, like when I had a better job, I tip them well! I know it’s difficult to strike a conversation with a perfect stranger and be able to make them at least tolerate you at baseline within a few seconds, so I am especially impressed by any waiter/server that makes me want to tip them–say–better than the expected 15-20%. So, no, I do not think the job is easy or that it in anyway deserves less pay than it gets.
Still, I don’t like this concept that we are *required* to tip and that if we don’t, we’re considered “a-holes.” Here is why:
1. Do you tip your doctor or dentist? Your bus driver? Your school teacher? Your football coach?
Probably not… Why? Because they have a salary, however crappy it is. They took the job knowing the salary. Why should waiters/servers get the special privilege of demanding more than the salary they signed up for when everyone else just has to deal?
2. I agree with the article: a tip is a favor. It’s like baking cookies for your coworker who helped you out last week with a particularly difficult project. It would be kinda’ ridiculous if your coworker started demanding at least a dozen cookies every time you sought their help… wouldn’t it? Or if the old lady that you just helped across the street two days ago yells at you for not being there for the other times she had to cross the street. If tipping should *not* be a favor, then make it required. Don’t make it “optional”, then get mad at people for not tipping you or *particularly* for not tipping you “well enough.”
3. We all put ourselves through college somehow. I TA’d for three semesters and tutored. A friend of mine worked in the student union, another friend took loans, and another worked at the library. Yes, several more friends also worked as waiters at local restaurants. Just because waiters are trying to put themselves through college does not mean a customer has to pay them extra to have them do their job. Thank you so much for bringing us our food, but that. Is. Your. Job. And you’re doing great… but why should you get paid extra when no other profession does?
Tipping is a nice gesture… I’m not saying waiters should be *grateful* for tips, but they should be able to accept them as they come and not grumble when they don’t get them. Nowhere in your contract does it say that you will *for sure* make a certain amount of tips every day. Customers are not required to sign any contracts themselves when they enter the restaurant, saying they will tip you x amount or that they will tip you at all. If you would prefer a more predictable job, find something else to do as the rest of us have.
When in Rome, do as the Romans do is obviously beyond your undertstanding. What is the difference in paying the server directly via a tip, and paying him indirectly through higher food prices? You don’t want to do either, and are thus obviously a parasite.
$10.52 an hour is hardly a living in luxury wage especially when no benefits are included in the pay pack. And, servers are not on salary; they are on hourly wage — do you know the difference?
Why should a server be tipped a higher amount for serving a $40 plate than a $30 plate? Because a server is really a commission salesperson. Poor salespeople are soon let go.
Just get a different job? There is a shortage of adequate jobs — especially in a college town. You sound like one of those rich, arrogant Indian imports
In reply to phred
When in ROman do as the ROmans do? Well, teh romans also practiced infanticide. In America, slavery was legal and still is in many countries today. So if a country says its perfectly ok to have slaves, it is ok for me to “do as the Romans do?”
Difference in paying directly versus indirectly?–it is contractually agreed upon and therefore there is no ambiguity. Also, tipping in itself is a discriminatory practice. Large breasted women for example get better tips than smaller breasted women . Women get better tips than men. Whites get better tips than non-whites. If you pay more up front, this type of discrimination goes away. These were studies done at Princeton btw.
Commission? There is no extra payment given from me to the hardware store salesmen ie a 15% “gratuity” of the barbeque etc. Completely off topic comparison. Commission is not taken directly from the consumer, but given to the employee from the EMPLOYER!! Major difference.
Get a different job? I got my first job right in 2007, during the crash. There are plenty of jobs out there that people just don’t want to do–sanitation, construction, logistics–and these pay great.
$10.52 is not luxury? Of course not. That isn’t my problem. Every system has rich and poor people. Its called capitalism. I can’t help it if your wages are lower than mine.
College town? I’m quoting Devil’s advocate:
3. We all put ourselves through college somehow. I TA’d for three semesters and tutored. A friend of mine worked in the student union, another friend took loans, and another worked at the library. Yes, several more friends also worked as waiters at local restaurants. Just because waiters are trying to put themselves through college does not mean a customer has to pay them extra to have them do their job. Thank you so much for bringing us our food, but that. Is. Your. Job. And you’re doing great… but why should you get paid extra when no other profession does?
You sound like those elitist, entitled arrogant American Generation Y exports.
At least your right about one thing. I would spit in your food. Should probably remember one thing. Servers have very good memories and know who tips and who does not. Probably would not suprise me if you had a little something extra in your lunch from time to time.
In reply to thom
You sound like some sort of entitled, elitist, liberal young kid who has no idea what crimes are. Sure you may have very good memories, but you are committing a crime.
Are you also prone to shoplifting, groping women etc?
You really suck as a person and should never go out to eat at a restaurant ever. If you are so worried about NASA an how much money they don’t have, why don’t you just shut your mouth and give them 20% of your super awesome above minimum wage paycheck and just move on. As far as the whole “there are plenty of other jobs out there” thing, well it’s not exactly easy to get any job in the world. Sometimes people don’t have a choice and they do it because they are trying to make a living the best way they can until a better opportunity presents itself.
In reply to Doesn’t Matter
Well, I DO have a choice whether or not to tip. It is under my discretion. It isn’t illegal not to tip. I can tip whatever percentage I want. why 20%?
70s tipping–spare change.
80s tipping–10%
90s tipping–15%
2000s tipping–20%
big city 2010’s tipping–25%
Why does that change? Why is it changing even though the food costs are increasing already?
There are plenty of jobs out there. Most jobs that are open are simply jobs most American’s don’t want. Work at McDonalds. They pay minimum wage. Work sanitation. They pay around $12/hour. Work logistics–$15/hour. People’s choices are limited by the people’s desires. You want something, anything is possible. You DON’T want something, it is the same. In my case, I DON’T want to tip.
What law is there written that I have to tip? Can I get arrested?
Hmm… Work at McDonald’s? I’ll stick to making 45-60 an hour plus a set 8.10 an hour (With a raise every 6 months) See us here in Las Vegas are part of the union which means not only amazing money but an hourly pay rate, 401k, full benefits for my family and I, and paid time off. You’ll probably say “why should I tip if you’re already making more than minimum wage?” Oh darling, how naive you are. If I wanted to make such a minuscule amount I would have quit long ago and spared myself the strange hours and the assholes I’ve had to deal with over the years. You don’t have to tip me when I make you your vodka soda…But don’t expect me to go above and beyond my job… I will look at you as cheap, probably lonely, and feel sorry for you because you probably don’t get out much. I’ll save my words and free rounds of drinks for tipping customers. Golden rules of the service industry 1) do not fuck with people who handle your food 2) respect your bartender. Take care of me and I’ll take care of you… You don’t have to overtip me, leave me a dollar and a smile/thank you and you will receive excellent service all night. You’d be surprised to hear that I’m quicker to kick the guy out who’s leaving 20 dollars every round but being a complete douchebag than the quiet kid drinking $10 budlights and leaving me a dollar. Take time to think before you label as as conniving and scam artists who guilt people into tipping… Honestly, how dare you.
In reply to Alyson
great Alyson, then I won’t tip. You guys in Nevada also are guranteed minimum wage even as non-tipped workers.
People that handle food are supposed to handle the food well, regardless. It is a crime if you do otherwise.
From vegas? Makes sense. Liberal, entitled, elitist, self-righteous youngster.
Again, your high wages are more reason for me not to tip. BTW, if I go to las vegas once a year, how would you remember me? More reason for me not to tip, right? What if I only go to vegas every 5 years? Who cares if you remember me or not. Chances are you won’t be in the same position in the next decade.
Yes, you ARE conniving scam artists. Why don’t you go to Somalia or BUrma and see how hard those workers got it before you complain about your tips?
Honestly, How dare you.
In reply to Common Sense
BTW, i might feel that I am doing a GREAT job and deserve a free yuppie drink as you indicate, but your opinion and my opinion may differ as to what is a good tip. I, therefore, am not guranteed those “free rounds.”
BTW, some people pay $1/drink, right? If you give out 10-15 drinks an hour, that already is an additional 10-15/hour. Wow, you guys are greedy.
More reason not to tip–not to support the greed you apparently have.
Am an an a–hole? Yep, but so were LOTS of successful people.
Fact is i don’t know you, nor do I have to. You are just another soul in the world out there that is serving me. You hear that? SERVING me. That is your job just like a Doctor is supposed to MEDICATE you.
In reply to Common Sense
You don’t have to tip, you are correct. That isn’t going to change the fact that I work 3 nights a week in one of the most successful nightclubs in the city and make over 70k a year. My husband and I have worked our behinds off for the life we made for ourselves… We give back more than you probably ever will in your lifetime. I definitely have paid my dues to be able to only work 3 nights a week, he spent 8 years in school. We’re happy, you’re angry…. Over a dollar and a thank you. Re evaluate yourself… You’ll be a happier person.
In reply to Common Sense
And by the way peewee brain. Tips are split (in my place atleast) among 5 other bartenders and then from that we tip out the bar backs 20% so no… If I make 60 drinks in an hour and receive a dollar on each one I do not make an additional $60 an hour… Some nights I do… Like last Saturday when we received a $5000 tip from someone who won big on the blackjack tables.. Those nights are rare and GREATLY appreciated
In reply to Common Sense
I wanted to continue below, but i should simply reply here…how is “giving back” akin to tipping? You should receive any percentage, right? Tipping shouldn’t be automatically “20%”. It shoudl be pi%, 2%, 50%, 10%, 9.295019258% etc. If I tip a flat $5 everywhere I go, what’s wrong with that.
Secondly, you are removing some of my basic American rights–the right not to give money where I don’t need to. You should accept the fact that I won’t tip if I don’t want to. You may think I’m a peewee brain, but I think you are an elitist. We won’t go anywhere calling each other names. The fact is I won’t tip and the fact is you are intolerant against those that don’t tip just like those slave owners who were intolerant of people who freed the slaves. Its a fact.
You received 5 grand. Awesome, hopefully you can put your child through school with that. I on the other hand feel no need to give that much.
It would be GREATLY appreciated if we non-tippers would be left alone and not have the threat of us having contaminated food “don’t f with people who handle your food.”
Only youngsters, btw, have that type of immature mentality.
In reply to Common Sense
Somebody call the wahhh-bulance. You are exhausting. By the way, I’m 30 years old, a college graduate, a mother and a wife. Youngster doesn’t really apply to me. My points are valid.
In reply to Common Sense
If I am so exhausting, why are you so drawn to comment? Why not just stop? Face it, you are an entitled college grad 30 year old and I don’t like to tip ( i’ve got my graduate degree in molecular biology). I’m also a husband and a future father. Lets not change the subject.Youngster applies to anyone below 50.
My wife also hates tipping. SO do her brothers. So do my parents. SO does my sister. We’re all educated in technical backgrounds (sciences, engineering, etc.). I suppose since we understand mathematics it makes no sense to tip for us.
My points are valid (more proof of your entitlement–claiming that your points are valid and implying that mine somehow are not).
Somebody call the wahhh-bulance. You are just sad because I am probably one of those people that stiffed you in the past perhaps. wahhhh, Common Sense doesn’t tip. Wahhhh.
i’m not crying.
This is exhaustive.
In reply to Common Sense
California… I’m from Southern California, actually. Youngster? Not so much, married to a man whose job transferred us to Nevada along with our beautiful child. Conniving scammer? Hardly. Before my child was here my husband and I have traveled to South America and Thailand doing various volunteer work. My husband was then an EMT and we did this for no other reason than the desire to help people and experience different cultures.
Before you judge once again, my husband and I did not come from money and aren’t some “do-gooding” yuppies. You can also say that I’m judging you. However I have traveled this world. I have learned that tipping in china is sometimes insulting, tipping a small amount in Europe is greatly appreciated and tipping 15-30% in America is expected. I RESPECT these customs and follow them accordingly (though I tend to overtip for amazing service in Europe) When I serve you a drink i Expect a tip, when my husband stitches you up he does not. It isn’t the fact that you don’t tip that sickens me, it is the lack of respect for our culture and the tone of your posts as well as this “Bhagwad” character’s … So much hate for people you do not even know, who just made a career choice.
In reply to Alyson
Slavery was also a custom in the United States. It is also customary in some countries for castration to occur in some boys. Maybe we should follow those customs too, right?
I’m not angry, in fact i’m so happy that i’ve rattled nerves like yourself. I’ve rattled the nerve of someone who is an elitist and a slave to the current status quo. Can’t make me any happier. I’ll save my dollar and perhaps I’ll travel to South America. Already went to Thailand.
As far as I’m concerned, all wait staff in the United States who expect tips are conniving scammers. You yourself said it, if you make 70k a year, why the heck should I add that much to your salary? Greed, lies, elitism, liberalism, etc. More of the same. More of the same destroying this wonderful nation of ours. O well.
expectations should not be involved when monetary exchanges occur UNLESS they are clearly on the contract given (ie the receipt). If you want to auto-grat me I have ABSOLUTELY no problem with that. Auto grat is a great solutions.
BTW, EMT’s are much more deserving of tips. They save your life and make maybe around $40k a year. They deserve the tips. Wait staff giving you beer and potentially leading drunks to die in car accidents? Not so much :p
Btw, why can you judge me and I cannot judge you? Is this the elitist mentality that is required in the wait staff industry?
Re evaluate yourself… You’ll be a happier person.
“lack of respect for our culture”. Gee, maybe slavery should have stayed since it was “our culture” right? Maybe women should not vote anymore since it was “our culture,” right? Hey maybe i’m just another revolutionary fighting the good fight.
I don’t hate anyone, I just hate giving out my money when I am not legally obliged to do so. Maybe we should consider tips a form of begging or charity, right?
In reply to Common Sense
Your responses are truly comical. Comparing tipping to slavery and women’s right to vote? Not only comical but depressingly outdated. An elitist eh? Because I chose a profession that millions of other people have also chosen? I don’t always receive excellent tips, of course… I make around 50-200 drinks an hour (not 10-15) I rely on sheer volume to make what I do, and on slower nights, my amazing customers or “regulars”
Yup! You got it buddy! Hit the nail right on the head! I serve people alcohol and let them drive home drunk and DIE……????? What? I get re-certified every 4 years to prove that I’m able to recognize not only someone who is legal to drink but someone who has drank far too much. I never once have served someone a drink who I think has enjoyed themselves a little too much. Never. Something tells me you don’t drink, and that you definitely have never been to a nightclub. I have not only never over served someone, I have saved the life of a girl who combined her alcohol with drugs and nearly died in the ladies rest room, as she lay in her own excrements. I have also carried a young lady who had ONE drink from me and passed out with her eyes in the back of her head 10 minutes later, I have also saved a girl from sipping a drink that I was certain some scumbag slipped something in. I make drinks. If I wanted to save lives I would be beside my husband doing so. Yet, I chose to help those foolish young kids anyway… Out of the kindness of my heart… Elitist? I don’t think so…
One more thing… If tipping hospital staff and MDs (as bizarre as you sound using this to compare) were customary… I would most certainly tip, regardless of how much they make. Keep in mind, you are the minority… The hundreds of people I serve every weekend and the thousands I’ve served in the last price that. Have a fantastical and fulfilling life… Nutbag
In reply to Common Sense
The thousands in the past prove that****
In reply to Alyson
Alyson! Your responses to Common Sense’s bull shit have been truly remarkable. I’m glad someone joined this conversation who is able to fire off quick responses just as well as him. Thankfully there are other people out there who don’t consider servers and bartenders “elitist”, a truly laughable concept.
Common Sense, you’re failing to make sense and more so maybe you should just quit making invalid points and ragging on waitstaff and go enjoy lunch alone, just make sure you’re rude to the waiter so they know you’re one of “those people” and won’t expect a tip.
In reply to Mary
Why can’t I use the slavery and women’s rights issues? Slavery is a form of oppression. SO is tipping. It is basically pressing me to pay money I don’t need to pay. Almost like a forced tax that isn’t required (i know a paradox) so why not? Slavery wasn’t a big deal at the time, but now we look at it as a horrible practice. Tipping today may not be a big deal, but i’m sure 100 years down the road historians will look at it as oppressive.
Elitism? Absolutely. You are telling me that my opinion doesn’t matter. You are standing on an elitist position while my opinion doesn’t matter, so yes, you are an elitist. Tipping is ridiculous.
I apologize about the certification. I did not know that. I have the humility to show you that I don’t know everything. Drinking is a stupid practice and I don’t do it, so it shows you that I’m not very familiar with anything related to alcohol. Again, I’m sorry.
Again, customary? Aren’t customs arbitrary? In some countries, it is customary for women not to vote or it is customary that men upon getting, say a divorce, have to give EVERYTHIGN to the woman. Why go by customs? Tipping is an outdated custom from pre-World War 1 Europe. When tipping came to the US, it was shunned. Now it is the opposite–it is shunned in Europe and open in the US.
Some interesting facts on tipping:
women get more tips than men
women with large breasts get more tips than women with small breasts
white women get more tips than black women
slender women get more tips than chubby women
gay men tend to get more tips than straight men
Did you know that if an employer actually turns a waiter away from a job because h/she doesn’t have “the look” this is a form of discrimination? Therefore, tipping is a form of discrimination. There are many class action groups that may begin bringing this up in court.
Also, countries that are more acceptable of tipping are also more acceptable of corruption. The US and India are the two countries that have the most amount of tipped professionals and have VERY high levels of corruption. Iceland has 0 professionals that are tipped and have the least amount of corruption in the world.
You are ok with corruption? Great, shows a lot of character.
At the end of the day, why don’t you just auto-grat to make things easier?
Remember, i am the customer. I am always right
I don’t need to tell the waiter/waitress anything. As an American, I have freedom of speech and FREEDOM FROM SPEECH. You cannot force me to relinquish my constitutional rights, no matter how entitled and elitist you all feel.
Have fantastical and fulfilling lives… elitist, entitled, liberal yuppies.
In reply to Common Sense
btw, people who were against slavery were also the minority at one point.
People against blacks receiving fair treatment as whites were also the minority.
People allowing women the right to vote were also the minority.