For servers!!! bad tippers question?

Question

at my job, i'm only paid $2.30/hour and in the end, all hours will be taxed including our tips. more than that, i have to pay the restaurant 7% from my sales. so if customers leave me tip less than 7% means that i have to get the money from my own pocket. but you know there are many bad tippers out there. i mean, eventhough i give good service they still leave me not enough tip. some do give good tips, but some don't. maybe they don't know how to tip or they broke. if they broke, they shouldn't come out to eat. some regular customers are very nice so we talk and serve them really good, but still they tip like 10%...

if sales $700 x 7% = $49

if customer tip is average 15% then i'll make $700 x 15% = $105, so i only bring home $56

that's why i can't understand people who don't tip well.

Question: what do you do to bad tippers? can you just gratuity them (even if they are less than 5 people and you know they always tip less than 10%)? or,what can i say to hint them to give good tip?

Answer 1

You need to find another place of employ. I have experience with several restaurants in my area that work with the wait staff and "hide" some of the tips . They aren't claimed. They also don't expect the wait people to pay them anything. That doesn't even sound legal. Why would they pay you nothing, sell the food you have to serve and then charge you to do it ?? Better still, why would you stay at a place that does ????

Sounds to me you work at some place like Olive Garden or some other hole like that. Try working in a REAL restaurant and you'll see a HUGE difference.

Answer 2

Not all restaurants pay crappy wages for waiting tables.

Get a new job, then you can't complain about it. Some people don't have the money to tip you. That doesnt mean they shouldn't eat out.

Pus... in many places (like in the city I live in) waiters/waitresses make at least 8 bucks an hour... so perhaps people think that they do everywhere.

There is no way "to know how" to tip. Tipping is purely optional.. at best. Wait staff just are expecting it.. and think its how it should be. People (especially this day in age) don't have extra money to pay big tips. Just gotta deal with it.

My suggestion is you find another wait job.. that place is ripping you off... not the customers!

Oh, and if a waitress EVER hinted to me to give ANY tip I would leave them 2 cents and thats about it!

Answer 3

Not much you can do really, it sucks though, I know.  I wouldn't recommend doing this really because it's risky, but once I took a table right before I got cut for the night, cuz no one else wanted to.  They were really really nice and I'm a good and attentive server.  Anyway, I ended up staying way later than I had to just to wait on them.  Time came for the check, they thanked me and left.  NO TIP!  I was pissed.  So I ran outside to catch them and saw the lady and asked "Ma'am, was everything okay?"  She said "Yeah everything was great, why?"  I was a bit pissy and said "I just wanted to make sure you all were leaving happy, that's all"  and I stormed back inside, fcking pissed.  HA!  She came back inside and left me a big tip!  Can you believe it?  Wouldn't work on everyone, but it worked for me.  I would only try that if you had a really nice table and couldn't understand why the tip was poor/non-existent.

Anyway, it sucks, a lot of people suck.  All I know is on my last day at my restaurant, when I get a bad tip I'm going to let them know just what I think of them :)  Cheap aszholes

Answer 4

One, the only way to get better tips is to be a better server, make them feel your going above and beyond for them, also don't tell them about your money problems and don't bother them to much other than the necessary.  

If you try and drop that you need money or that the customer should give you a big tip, they'll probably leave nothing, its annoying and its happened to me---I didn't leave nothing but I was still annoyed.

The problems sounds like your restaurant has a ridiculous policy and I would question if Its really worth working there if your going to make so little.

Answer 5

I'm a bartender and served tables for more than 5 years. There are always going to be cheap people out there. No matter how good you are they will NOT tip well. You just have to give everyone the best service and see what happens.

The regulars

If a table that I've given great service to and doesn't tip me 20% and then next week they're in my section again I would give them the same service. If they didn't tip me well again, I would from that point on give them bad service. Sounds bad, but I give regulars them what they pay for. I don't care if they're nice. Hopefully they will ask for someone else to serve them and I won't waste my time.

My Restaurant puts on the check a percentage for the guests to look at.

15% good service and gives a total of what they are expected to leave

18% great

20% over exceeded

This is nice and convenient. Our policy is 5 and more with 18% grat.

I think that 7% of your sales is too much. I would think about getting a new job.

Answer 6

I'm so sorry, I hate to see crappy tippers do that to you guys. There you are, busting your humps all day long, and getting paid next to nothing for it as it is, so why can't they just come off a few bucks?? If we get good service, we always tip at least 20-25%. We hope it makes up a little for the jerks who leave nothing. Even when we get a server with an attitude, we still leave at least the minimum 15-18%. Who knows, maybe they're just having a really bad day.

My mom and stepdad are awesome tippers, and even give holiday bonuses to their faves at their regular haunts. I wish more people were like that, it'd probably make life a little easier on you guys.

I know there are some restaurants (including one where my sis just quit) that tax the servers on the tips they SHOULD have made, even if they get nothing. I think that is absolutely absurd.

Keep up the great work! There are lots who appreciate what you do, even though some don't!

Answer 7

There may very well be some cheap skates out there, but I tip 15 percent for good service.  If I have a waitress that really goes the extra mile I will tip 20%.  If, on the other hand, the service sucks; I have been known to leave a dime.  Just so the server knew that I didn't simply forget a tip, but that the 10 cents was what they dersived for the lack of service.  To answer you question, provide the best service you can.  If you cosistantly get poor tips from select individuals, refuse to serve them!