Why must we leave gratitude tips?

Question

I have always thought that giving tips at restaurants were a sign of gratitude for good service, but nowadays, I feel like we MUST leave a tip. Especially if you walk into a restaurant with a party of 8 or more people, the restaurant even helps you figure out the tip! Why must we be leaving extra money if the service was just mediocre? (and it's not like the waiters/waitresses are paid based only on tips. they have a standard hourly wage!)

Answer 1

Server's only make 3.08 an hour so if you think that's good money your crazy.  the government presumes that ALL people tip 18% and tax that server according to their sales.  So very few servers receive a pay check all that money goes to taxes.  The money you tip doesn't all go to your sever they have to tip out they're support team (bussers, expos, bartenders) a certain amount of they're sales.  Guess what your not the only table in the restaurant your server has other tables, has to run hot food, makes drinks, and even some of your food or deserts in some restaurants. So if they forget something its probably been a stressful day people call out, things happen.  Next time you go out to eat maybe your server remembers your bad attitude or poor tipping and that's why you dint get great service.  Why would you bust your butt for someone who isn't going to tip you.

P.S. Too all you people out there who think $5 is a good tip no matter how much your bill is YOUR WRONG.  It's a percentage of your whole bill.  All large parties should have gratuity added because your taking up more room and normally sit longer because there are more of you talking "catching Up" , preventing that server from making money and then if you leave a bad tip on top of that the sever actually loses money by taking you because your bad tip went towards tipping out, bussers, expos and bartenders

Answer 2

If I don't want to tip, I order takeout.

When I eat in a restaurant, I expect good service.  I don't blame the wait staff for mistakes from the kitchen, and although I may ask for my dressing on the side or an extra fork to replace the one I dropped, I am not overly demanding.  I am polite and grateful to those who tend to my needs.

I tip 15% at a minimum, but more usually 20%.  I have been known to tip 50% if I only ordered pie, to compensate the waitress for the small order.

However - if the service is bad, I reserve my right not to tip.  This has only happened to me on two occasions in my life, but both times the service was so utterly incompetent that it ruined the meal.  The whole point of eating out is to enjoy yourself, and with the tighter economy, we are choosing where we eat even more carefully.

It is really important to tip well.  It is equally important to receive good service.

Answer 3

Thank-you!!!

I grew up NEVER around people who tip.  Nobody I know tipped, unless they had the change to spare.  I don't think it's fair to demand a tip, if waiters are going to be so ignorant about it, why not have it be mandatory and add it to your bill then?  Tips are exactly that; a tip.  Something you should want to do, not feel obligated to.  If they lowered the price of food ($10 for a salad), then maybe it'd be more affordable to tip.

Those who ***** about "well you shouldn't go out to eat then" - who are you to tell me what I should do?  Or that $100 I was going to spend at YOUR restaurant, fine you don't want it, I will go somewhere else.

I work in the food service industry. I make min. wage, am a full time college student (8am to 5pm Monday to Friday), and I work 3 part time jobs on top of that.  Where I work, it's actually illegal to take a tip.  And yes, I serve people where our SOS (speed of service) has to be 90 seconds or less. No matter how much they ***** at you, or order.  

I suck it up and do my job. I have tuition to pay, bills to pay, clothing. But I NEVER complain because I'm lucky I even HAVE a job.  If you don't like it, don't be a waiter.  And the whole, "that's the only job for college students" is BS.  My other 2 jobs do not relate to the food service industry at all.

Feels so double standard - waiters can ***** and moan if we don't leave them a tip because we wanted to go out for ONE night for a special occasion, but oh of course when we just want to go in, eat, pay for what we owe, and leave, we'll go to h**l if we don't tip and we're greedy. Yes, because you ask us how much we make a year.  I make less then $10,000 a year.  Even a $5.00 bill is precious to me.  I haven't been out to dinner since the 1990s and if I do go out, it'll be for a special occasion (my birthday I end up cooking some microwave dinner for myself normally).

I know here servers get at least $7.00 an hour.  One girl I know makes $35,000 a year NOT including her tips!  I work 3 jobs and I don't even 1/3 of that.  

I see it as if I have the change to spare, I will give a few extra dollars. Otherwise, they do their job, I come in, I'm the guest, I pay what I owe, eat, and leave.

Answer 4

You should leave a tip because that is how waiters and waitresses make their money. It is rude not to, after all they are waiting on YOU.

Answer 5

I agree with you - nothing irritates me more than to go out with a group of "6 or more" and have the tip included in the bill without any thought of there being awful service!

My husband and I give a standard 10-15% tip if the waitperson kept our drinks filled (Hubby tends to require a soda refill every 10min or so) and if they came back to the table once in a while and was friendly.  If they exceeded our expectations, then we tip more generously, in the 20-25% range.

Answer 6

I think it's stupid, we come and do business we pay for what we have, they make profits out of it anyway . . . WHAT'S THE POINT??? Not usually do I get a restaurant that has excellent service, and excellent food, and I never leave a tip, unless it is a really good restaurant.

Answer 7

dumbbed down is obviously the perfect name for you. first and foremost, i can't believe ANYONE had the nerve to actually agree to something this ridiculous. absolutely mind-baffling.

i am a server. i have been for the past five years. i have worked in restaurants for the past nine years. as a SERVER, i am serving you. in return you leave a tip because i rendered you a service. you were too lazy to make your own dinner so i had to listen to your 6000 stupid questions, run and get your drinks, bring you your "dressing on the side", and then take your steak back because it wasn't cooked just right. like you are the only customer that i have. then you'll yell at me and talk down to me. you know how i know you are like that and all the people who agreed with you are like that? because i have been doing this for so long, the people who are dumb enough to ask questions like this are the same people who have absolutely no restaurant etiquette WHATSOEVER.

like my mother said below me, we are humans and we do have bad days. sometimes someone gets sick and we end up with extra tables, etc. so im sure you sometimes get below par service. i am a person that is all. the reason we have gratuity on tickets is because people who actually have restaurant etiquette (unlike all of you morons.) would prefer to have it put on the ticket to save them the hassle. but since there were so many of them , and i had to take up a significant amount of time waiting on a larger party, i deserve the tip. say there's a table of twelve people with say maybe a 700 ticket between them , 700 hundred dollars i am going to be taxed on, only for them to stiff me? so basically i just paid the government for them to eat there. does that seem fair to you?

i have NEVER in FIVE years gotten a paycheck. not once. you get a printed out check for ZERO dollars that says void.

AND ANOTHER THING: "and its not like the waiters/waitresses are paid based only on tips." actually it is like that. before you go off on a rant about tips maybe you should check your facts. and mr. "paying the doctor on what a good job he did.." hmm.. you looked at that completely the wrong way, your bill is paying the restaurant for your food, the tip is paying me for SERVING you. would you go to the doctor and only pay half the bill? i think no. the difference is when morons dont tip me, i still have to pay that tax but i cant send a credit service to come after you. im just screwed.

so when you people who don't believe in tipping come to destin STAY AWAY FROM MY WORK. parties of eight or more get a 20% gratuity. because that's standard. fifteen percent is no longer a good tip. 18% is decent. and i deserve it for dealing with people like you.

talk about riling up a household. you sure have mine in a fury this morning. youre right my four year old doesnt deserve clothes or toys because you are cheap.

Answer 8

Because the federal govt takes a reading of every meal sold that day and assumes you left the tip for 15 percent.(thought it was 18)So then the restaurant goes ahead and taxes the person who waited on you for that so at times when the person is getting paid 2.68 an hour.They end up w NO Paycheck

because the govt took out takes for your tip/meal on the persons pay check.

Thats why i at least leave 10 percent even if im not satisfied but you get 20 if you did it correctly.Why should they be paying taxes for me not doing what the govt thought i did???

They shouldnt ...

PLEASE YOU ARE REALLY SILLY IF YOU CALL 2.68 AN HOUR STANDARD WAGE..

you are the type who comes in and usually likes to leave a dollar on 20 dollar meal you ordered w drinks i can tell.

you need to wait tables for month and see how it goes for you...but you never would...this topic has me hot about some of your comments...

Another thing ..think about the job where you work and things youve done worng what happens if you got paid on how wrong or right you did things..you are not constantly critsized for every little detail you do wrong...right?what happens if you got paid on thiese bases would you get pay check?

remember they are human and do have bad days.

there are variations in the pay because of different states min wage for it...

Answer 9

Well, I have worked as a server for about 5 years. If you ever had the tip added on to a bill and you feel you didn't get good service, you can complain to the manager and they can take off the tip.

It depends on the state but servers make anywhere from $2.13 an hour (federal minimum up to $8 in certain states) So, most of the time servers don't even receive a paycheck. On their paycheck it says void and the following year they have to pay a lot of taxes. So, yes in some states servers live ONLY on tips. The reason why they do this is because in the long run they can make pretty good money if people tip properly. A lot more money than cashering at a supermarket.

Also, yes here in the US and in Canada we tip. However, if we didn't tip, the restaurant would have to make up the cost somehow. They can get by on having 30 employees where they only have to pay $2.13 an hour. So, if they had to pay them more money an hour, the end result would be the cost of food would be more. Instead of paying $12.99 for the pasta dish you might pay $17.00 . Also, because the servers receive tips, they are  going to care about you more. More than likely the better job they do, the more they will tip.

If we took out tipping in the US, people would not be getting good service. Would  have to wait forever for drink refills, more bread, food might be luke-warm when served, etc.

As I walk in the door I have a mindset where I will tip 20%. However, that can change. It all depends on the service I receive. I will be more understanding if I see a server running around like crazy. They are a person too, and can and will forget things. However, if my server is no where to be found on a slow Monday, it will be a lot different than my tip I would leave on a Saturday  night. I will leave anywhere from 10-50%. It is very very rare when I will leave nothing. In fact, in order to make a point, if I had horrible service (only one time I ever had to do this) I just dropped my loose change on the table.

Answer 10

You are only suppose to leave a tip if you think the server did a good job, not habit. Their ghourly wage is like 2.15.

Answer 11

I have worked in the restaurant industry for over 25 years...I currently own two... I tip exceptionally well,,, 25-100% depending.... I have valued employees who depend on nothing but tips for their subsistence and I know well that they cannot live on 3.37 an hour (their taxes eat all of that).... so when everyone is griping about having to tip..remember, if restaurants paid servers better..it would make me (and all other restaurants) raise prices considerably... So either way, the diner is going to incur the cost. So be human and decent and tip your servers..it is not an easy job and they depend on your kindness.

Answer 12

Are you aware of the fact that my hourly wage is $2.13 an hour??

Answer 13

If the service was just mediocre, they get a mediocre tip (10%).  If the service was good, I give a 15% tip.  If the service was great, I give a 20% tip.  In no such way, should a server/waitress EXPECT a tip.  Restaurant workers...if you don't like your job and your "crappy" tips from customers, don't work there.  The restaurant depends on customers to come to the restaurant to keep the restaurant open.  There will always be someone who needs a job that will be willing to work for a little money to put food on their tables at home.  If you don't appreciate the job you have, go elsewhere where you don't depend on tips.

Answer 14

The servers are paid very little, so keep that in mind. However, if you don't feel they deserve a tip, if they give poor service, then don't tip. They still should earn their money. And, yes, for larger groups restaurants usually do require a gratuity, which they will add to the bill. I suppose they think that larger groups require more work, so the tip is not optional. I'm not sure I agree, I think the service should still be good.

Answer 15

see i agree with you there. i don't think we should.i think at first , tiem ago, it was a sign of a job well done, but eventually peopel wanted equallity and fairness so here we are today.

although if i was on the recieve end it would be nice and i have been on the recieving end.. h**l when i went over to america nearly every restaurnt (i even think a mcdonalds) just automaticvally added it on to our bill,.

why should i/we have to pay someone extra for doing the job they get paid to do anyway? can you imagine going int oa doctors, havign just los ta pateint and sayinmg? heres a hundred extra, you didn't save him but your bedside manner was nice.....not exactly the same but again you dont' pay him extra because being a doctor IS his job