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.
We get it. You don’t like the American custom of tipping your waiter.
There are customs in every culture that you may not agree with. India for sure has some bizarre ones like arranged marriages and Sati when the wife is widowed. Dhama is also another interesting one.
The difference is that I don’t go to India to tell the masses how dumb their traditions are.
Tipping is something you have to live with while you’re here, or you can continue to have uncomfortable dining experiences when the bill comes.
In reply to Jesse
“The difference is that I don’t go to India to tell the masses how dumb their traditions are.”
You should. There are many dumb customs in India and people need to be told that. If you come to India I certainly don’t expect you to start discriminating based on caste or whatever just because it’s a stupid “custom”.
In reply to bhagwad
This singular response of yours shows just how much we shouldn’t care what you say. This was literally the stupidest response I’ve seen yet.
In reply to bhagwad
Tipping didn’t even start in America.
You’re just a bully man. You pick on and demonize the lowest paid worker in the place – all the while telling them it’s ‘their fault.’ Aside from the twisted logic and mean-spiritedness of your actions, you also don’t seem to have much of this integrity you go on about.
Why punish the server for what you know to be systemic? Do you also yell at the cabbie for the rate the metre moves up? The gas attendant for the price of gas that day?
Maybe you worked hard, or maybe you had everything in life handed to you, I don’t know. The end result though, you look for the least powerful people to point at and shame.
I would expect a well-educated ‘surgeon’ to be significantly less petty than that. Oh well.
In reply to JustABully
Servers often make more than the cooks, and certainly more than the bussers and hostesses.
He isn’t a bully, SERVERS that DEMAND tipping are the bullies, and spoiled brats that feel entitled to something extra without actually always doing something to earn it.
Seriously, who is this fuck? I would love to see you work in a restaurant. Go ahead, be a waiter for a week, tell me how it was not getting tipped.
In reply to Lesa
I agree with everything he said and I was in the biz 20 years, having even been a partner in a restaurant.
Most of the staff in the industry are lazy, rude, and like he said, unskilled. Most of you barely deserve 2.13 an hour.
Ask yourself, how many times have you you seen servers: leaned against a wall or counter, talked with an attractive co-worker of friend, texted or otherwise used your phone, and the millions of other things done by servers instead of actually giving excellent service?
The guy is right, and usually when someone is right, it strikes a nerve. The backlash is exhibit A!
I’d respond, but it seems abusive to argue with someone who compares slavery to tipping. Glancing at this and some of the other troll posts by this blogger, it’s sad to see how narrow minded, utterly lacking in compassion and filled with anger this man is; The raging responses are unsurprising.
Given the insults offered about the worth of the service profession, one would expect a proportional critique of the quality of the writing here, but I think this ‘technical writer’ knows the limits of his abilities. I can think of no other reason to resort to these childishly inflammatory diatribes. So to the author I say, good luck: It’s clear from the comments that you’ve found the audience your writing deserves.
Well, there are always people that will make up for your tip. Giving to others, no matter if its a tip or a helping hand, is the best form of satisfaction. In essence, nobody really cares about you, or your lack of tip. That could be why youre so mad at life. you make this post , so what?? There are plenty of others that are too lazy to make a meal at home and think they are to be waited on without giving appreciation of others time or services. Also could be why you have no one at home to cook for you. Youre average. You post is average. Your life is mediocre. Carry on, no one will know you from the next asshole
Eat shit and die
How is tipping American? The practice started in the British Empire long before the U.S. was colonized and the T.I.P.S. were given up front; To Insure Proper Service. When I go to a place with great service, I will tip, and yes 20%. But if I go to a place where the staff is rude no tipping will take place. Examples are: does not yield the right-of-way when I or my guests walk past them, does not smile, does not give as much service as possible silently (service should be seen, their work should be seen, they SHOULD NOT be heard, except to tell me any specials and to ask the very few questions they should need to ask), does not keep all areas clean, including tables, the seats and booths (If I sit in crumbs, you’ve lost your tip before you ever said hello), keeps me waiting more than a couple of minutes for a greeting, tell me more than a couple of minutes after my order than something is sold out, needing to go ask the chef or bartender ANY question about ingredients or preparation methods, not keeping my table tidy, not automatically bringing boxes/bags for wrapping left-overs, and making me wait to long to pay you.
Bottom line is, if you want to be paid like a pro, out of my hard-earned money, then you had damn well made sure you provided professional level service.
In reply to IndianaChris
“INSURE” generally means to”arrange for compensation in the event of damage to or loss of (property), or injury to or the death of (someone), in exchange for regular advance payments to a company or government agency”. The word ENSURE holds the meaning your looking for, obviously it doesn’t fit the acronym T.I.P.S. though. TIPS never meant To Insure Proper Service and never will. The same goes for those other acronyms people subscribe to such as Fornicate Under Consent (of) King, or Ship High In Transit.
In reply to jackson
I didn’t make up the acronym, take it up with history, the research is there…… bye
In reply to HelloMcFly
Your assertion about “does not keep all areas clean, including tables, the seats and booths (If I sit in crumbs, you’ve lost your tip before you ever said hello)” is bullshit. My tables are cleared and re-set by a busboy. Then a new guest (possibly such as yourself) is sat by a hostess. I never see the condition of the table prior to your seating, nor am I even necessarily going to be assigned you (and your table) as MY next seating. So you are essentially blaming someone inaccurately for an evident disservice that was manifested by others, including the restaurant management for lack of proper staff training, etc I guess if the best place you go to is Denny’s, then you can assert that the servers need to ensure that the seats of the booths of the section are clean and “crumbless” for arrogant pricks such as yourself.
In reply to Gary
If you can’t make sure the place your table sits down is clean, you are lazy. If someone is suppose to help you to that end, and are dropping the ball, YOU take it up with management. Not your customers problem. We just want a clean place to sit.
YOU are responsible for your table, period. The restaurant MIGHT provide bus boys and hosts to assist YOU, but ultimately YOU are to make sure my experience is worthy of a tip. If you can’t do that, I will stiff you, plain and simple. I was in the biz 20 years and even owned my own place. I can’t stand pre-madonna servers that expect everything else to get down around you and you just come by and collect the tip. You are precisely the kind of entitlement-minded server that is rampant in the industry and I hope you get stiffed so much that it drives you out of the industry.
In reply to Gary
Those of us that see through this B.S. system might come off as arrogant, but bottom line is, DEAL with it. If you don’t like the fact that your pay is left up to ME or others to decide if you’re paid or not, then get a different job numbnutz. I did, and am making better money than I ever did, and I’ve worked at some places where I claimed $58,000 in tips in a year. I have NO sympathy for servers because I’ve been one. It was the easiest money I ever made. Now, I actually have to know laws, mathematical formula, and critical thinking and making double what I ever made before for being a glorified “conveyer belt.”
Soon, and it can’t come soon enough if you ask me, digital read outs will be at every table and we can just order our own food and you unskilled, ungrateful, whiny pre-madonnas will actually have to go earn a living like the rest of us, instead of crying about what you feel you’re entitled to.
In reply to No1OwesyouaTHING
Wow !! You are truly one arrogant, narcissistic cocksucker. I would really love nothing more than to have you come to my restaurant for service BY ME. I would WELCOME being stiffed by you, but only as reward for knowing I was actually “conveyer belting” your food to you, but only after I added some of my own DNA spices to it for you, some phlegm, maybe a little urine additive, a fecal flavor-enhancer, or my coupe-de-grace – my numbnutz’s demon semen, just for you – You Fuck !! FUCK YOU !
In reply to Gary
The thing is, you’ll never know until I am loooooooong gone. Kind of difficult to go back in time and do something to my food when you won’t know you’re stiffed until after the bill is paid.
Moron.
Please, tell me where you work and when to find you. I’ll slum it and come to your Applebee’s or some such mediocre place and stiff you. It would truly make my day.
And since when is it arrogant to want to not sit in crumbs left by people you were paid to serve and clean up after? I guess, like many other morons with poor life-choice making skills that are stuck in the service industry, you really don’t give a shit. And when I sit in crumbs, that is exactly what I feel, the server doesn’t give a shit. And I won’t give one at tipping time either.
In reply to Gary
@Gary: your mom must be so proud. Go show her a copy of your comments next time you go visit her in prison or at the trailer park. You epitomize the extortion mentality of self-centered servers: “if you don’t tip me I will mess you up.. next time.” Good to know. In some businesses that could get you knee-capped when you mess with the wrong guys. In reality, though, you would simply be arrested for assault and battery if you are caught tampering with someone’s food, and sued for damages if they get sick, and fired in either case. Hope your brother has an opening at the landfill waiting for you.
First: even if restaurants paid minimum wage, that would be about half what a person needs to survive. If the minimum wage today were equivalent to what it was in the sixties, it would be $21.50 an hour. So your points about the minimum wage are irrelevant.
Second: your claim that waiting is “unskilled labor” is laughably absurd. It requires the ability to multi-task, a remarkable memory, physical strength (especially in the back,) great endurance, and balance. In terms of personality, it requires an ability to remain upbeat and friendly in the face of all kinds of treatment, endless patience, the ability to remain focused and engaged while mentally processing God knows how many other matters, dealing with the personalities of not only your customers but all your co-workers…I could go on and on. Dismissing these workers as no more than “conveyor belts” reveals your own inability to empathize, and even to observe.
There is one valid point you could have made on this matter: the practice of tipping a percentage of the bill makes no sense. Wait-staff in cheap restaurants are, if anything, likely to work even harder than those in high-priced establishments. Why should they be penalized for the prices on the menu? It would make far more sense to tip every wait-person the same amount, assuming they do their job. Of course, you would despise that notion, because it still means putting out money, which, it seems clear, is what you really object to.
Would it be better if service people in this country had powerful unions that saw to it they were paid a living wage? You bet. How about you write about that, instead of raging against people who are just doing their damnedest to survive? Until that happens, any decent person is going to tip, rather than take advantage of people because they work in a business that exploits them unfairly.
I am guessing you have never worked with the public in a service job. The world is full of people like you, who imagine that the fact that someone is momentarily serving you gives you the right to behave like a little tin god, and treat them with disrespect. With your attitude, you wouldn’t last five minutes, let alone be tipped.
“Any tip I give is out of the generosity of my heart and I expect some gratitude for helping those in need.”
Ah. OK, here’s a little tip for you: That’s not generosity; it’s a transaction.
And let me guess: You’ve never waited tables, and therefore never been on the receiving end of the sort of behavior you exhibit.
Here’s the thing: We are all connected. And when you blithely (and voluntarily) shred the social contract, you damage other people. And that *is* your fault. You can claim you bear no blame, but that doesn’t make it so. Willful blindness is no excuse.
Your a just a bad person , i feel sorry for anyone that has to serve you anything .
Make your own food you cheep skate!