Let's try another system...
written by BigLyon on April 04, 2008

Why doesn't someone just open a restaurant, charge enough for the food to pay the staff decent wages, fire anyone who doesn't work cheerfully to make the diner's experience enjoyable, and leave it to the patrons to tip or not, as they please? This is what would happen:
(1) the best waiters in the area would fight to get in the door
(2) the sort of cheapskate who doesn't tip (and that's whole segments of the 'community') would go where the food is cheaper
(3) good wait staff would still get tips from appreciative diners
(4) the IRS would have no excuse for their practice of deeming that all waiters make a pile in tips
(5) the sort of wait staff who think the world owes them an unearned living would become extinct
(6) no restaurant would get away with charging people extra for bringing them more business

I could be wrong, of course - but it's best left up to the market to prove me wrong - or right.

The Art of Good Service
written by Michelle on April 03, 2008

Waiting tables is not always rocket science, but being a good server is certainly an art form. The ability to take good care of people and provide them what they need without having to be asked is a skill, especially when they are serving 20+ people at once. My thoughts: shoddy service should still get 15%. Waiting tables is not always a "first choice" career, especially in a town like Charleston where "real jobs" are not abundant. If you can't afford to tip 20%, don't go out to eat. If you think restaurants are a rip off, stay at home and make your own food. But don't take it out on the server. It's not their fault that you're cheap, and really, it's that simple.

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written by Catherine on March 14, 2008

I work in fine dining. Not everyone is brought up with enough money to "get a real job" by having college paid for.Many wait tables while they go to school. Others do it because they enjoy it. "REAL jobs" pay 8 dollars an hour-8 hours a day-40 hours a week.which comes out to $1376.00 BEFORE TAXES. LOL-you'd basically clear 250.00 a week-its called POVERTY. When do you have the time to get an education (if you WANT an education) working that much for so little money? Waiting tables, its a real job. It isn't imaginary. LOL I believe that quality of service is a huge factor in determining a tip amount-but not all the time. Some people are just cheap or cynical, miserable, hateful or just ignorant, hate people, are unfriendly or some other personal problem. That has been demonstrated by the posts I've read right here concerning this issue. If restaurants were forced to pay wages, there wouldn't be many restaurants for people to go to. Imagine how fast one would go out of business due to UNBELIEVABLY high labor costs.Well...the deficit would be passed right on to the customer, by higher priced menu items, and crappy service. I myself make about 20% of what I ring every night. The diners have a certain amount of CLASS, you see.... I share 20% of the % with my assistant/busser, and 7-10% of what I ring in alcohol to the bartender. I leave with right around 15%. The federal minimum wage says I get paid $3.25 an hour. After claiming my tips, the government then takes my entire paycheck and I recieve a paycheck that says this is not a check. Zero $. My income relies not heavily, but rather entirely on tips. It would be fair to say the system works , why fix something that isn't broken. I've had crappy tips before, and not because of my service. I don't care either. Because someone else always makes up for the cheap or sorry soul who can't figure out a basic math problem of calculating percentage! LOL Never judge a book by it's cover, this includes your server. they may be your nurse when your in the hospital some day, or pull your ass over when they make it out of the police academy! Also, quit getting your britches twisted up over paying gratuity on the tax people-it's trivial, and like I said, the tips are shared with others that make your experience happen. I think if you have to nickel and dime someone to death, you should keep it, because you need the money more than they do.ps... I do QUITE WELL in my profession, well more than 250.00/week and am able to support myself and attend nursing school, which only offers daytime classes.
I divorced my high earning real-job six figure lying cheating husband-if waiting tables is begging for money-its the best decision I've ever made-I plan to continue doing so for extra money even after I have my Bachelor's degree. I currently wait tables with a lawyer, real estate agent, electrician, pipe fitter, financial planner, and many others with these real jobs! GO FIGURE!

Sales manager
written by Mike on February 07, 2008

I sometimes go to dinner/lunch with a group... The waiter always adds a % to the bill for something called a "large party..." Then they seem to expect even more over the % added. (And I would gladly give more for exceptional service, etc., if they did not seem so haughty about it...) Recently 18% had been added. I noticed something odd about the bill so I did the mental math... (without a calculator...)
Our town has 8% sales tax... when added together, the tax and meal came to around $70. The 18 % was added to that total rather than to the meal only amount.
Since 8% has to go back to state/local, then the effective tip she (or someone) got for the food service was closer to 20%. The question I have is whether or not the resturant made out here or did the waiter...? I expect it was the resturant... And, I wonder if adding the customary "large party" tip to the total (with taxes) rather than to the food amount only is common and acceptable practice.

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written by Bill Johnson on February 04, 2008

For your waitresses...........GET A REAL JOB like the rest of us, to me tipping is more like begging. Its your job to serve the customer and if you cant do it ,change jobs.
Thus ended the lesson !!!

Tipping
written by Steve James on September 27, 2007

Good service ought to be rewarded. Conversly, poor service leading to an unejoyably meal should not be rewarded. Mediocre attitudes happy with a perpetual 10% tip should not be encouraged. If they starve perhaps they will move into a field they enjoy.

As for the service in Europe, in Germany the wait staff in a gasthaus restaurant goes through a three year apprentiship before they are allowed to wait on tables. Service is still spotty. Their socialistic way of doing this has not, in my opinion, paid off in better service. After many trips, I see no difference in service between the US and Europe. People are people.

Pay people for poor service? Unless you are a socialist, why? I start them off at 10% and they are free to work themselves up or down the scale as they deem fit. I will happily pay 25% on any sized bill for good service - especially if it is a place I frequent. I am also more lenient on people who "usually do better" in those places. It is simple: Keep my drink plentiful, keep the onions off my salad, stop by a few times and get paid. They are "entitled" to nothing.

president
written by calvert huffines on September 12, 2007

I own a Huddle House in Walterboro, SC, and also travel extrensively for business. I am always talking to our wait staff about "suggestive selling" to increase the bill in order to help our bottom line and to increase their tips (perventage of bill); but the number one component of tipping is good service. I believe that normal or good service always deserves a 15% tip, and extrodinary service deserves a 20% tip. Poor service is another matter with tips of 10%; and I always tell the waiter or waitress why the tip is low, to help them and to help the restaurant do a better job.

I dislike restaurants that automatically add a gratuity (see very small print on bottom of menu).This is just a way to have the patrons pay all of the wait staff's wages, and 1 out of 5 times, the patron does not know that a gratuity is automatically added, and adds a further tip.

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written by Posterette on September 04, 2007

When you go to a restaurant and pay $3 for a milkshake and $6 for a burger, when at the store a bin of icecream costs $4 and pay $5 for lean ground beef, you'll often hear people say "It costs more because you are being provided a service."

The whole restaurant business is a rip off and, on top of that, they pay their employees like crap.

If you go to Europe, you'll pay a little bit more for your food, receive pretty good service and you are not expected to leave a tip.

Their servers don't rely on tips and if they aren't friendly, they are fired (though many people stateside say tipping is necessary for good service). Tipping isn't expected and, if they don't get a tip, they can pay for their child's books. That is the type of system we need to have.

We shouldn't tip because we know that person only makes money from tips -- we should tip because that person worked really darn hard to make us happy. Tipping is like receiving a bonus at the end of the month for working your tale off in sales.

Heck, we are already paying a zillion dollars on sales tax every time we eat out. Why not add amother $1 an item on the menu and pay your employees better?

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written by Holly Fisher on August 27, 2007

Great question, Chris! Do people tip women more than men? Personally, I try to tip based on service. So I've left good tips for men and women and never really think about if my waiter is a man or a woman. I'd love to hear what others think. How about those of you working in food service -- at the end of the night, do the women go home with more tips? - Holly

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written by Nicole on August 25, 2007

The current tip based system should absolutely stay in place for servers. People who believe they would save money if they didn't have to tip have not really thought through what it would mean to go to a wage based system. Paid employees are very expensive to a small business and the customer will bear the brunt of that cost. With the tipping system, waitstaff are effectively independent contractors and cost the restaurant very little. I once worked at a city club (that was part of a large chain of private clubs) that did pay its servers a $10/per hour wage. You could get a benefits package for full time work (33+ hours). Not bad right? This was a lose-lose situation for the server and the customer and here is why:
In order to stay competitive the restaurant had to price its food in accordance with neighboring restaurants. To cover the cost of the employees, they added a 20% service fee to every bill. All of the service employees were paid out of this service money. I knew one of the managers and saw spreadsheets that showed that this did not always cover the employees wages. This club received membership dues, so this helped defray the overage. So, the customer loses the flexibility to tip the amount that they feel is earned by the server, and still paid at the high end of the tip spectrum. Not to mention that they did not know that their server was not being paid the 20% as they would in a normal restaurant. And, don't forget, this place was able to cover anything above that with dues. I would venture that a regular restaurant would have to charge at least 25% more for its food to cover full server wages comfortably. Plus, if it becomes the standard to force businesses to pay wages, it will not be broken out as a percentage "service fee," it will just be added to a dollar amount of the food on which you will have to pay sales tax.
And remember the benefits package? A meal service shift lasts about 5-6 hours including set up and clean up. And if its slow or when the evening gets late, servers are "cut," so many of them may work only 3 hours or so. It's sort of tough to meet the benefits package hour level when you have shifts that short. And so much for that "good wage."
It is an incentive for performance to have the customer control the tipping. The club I worked routinely could not get any good servers to stay. They could go elsewhere, and make 2-3 times the amount. So, they would stay long enough to get the fine dining training & experience, then move on. Most stayed a maximum of 6 months. Also, in restaurants where there is tipping really bad waitstaff tend to get weeded out after a reasonable length of time because they can't make as much money and they are a drain on the ancillary staff (floor managers, back waiters, bartenders). A lot of people complain about the service they get from grocery store cashiers; don't you think a wage based service system will create the same type of apathy? I know a lot of people who still work in the service industry in their 30s & 40s because they can make great money doing it. Adopting a wage system would just create another low wage job which will attract the worst employees. The consumer would be paying the same, likely more, for service that will likely be reduced in quality. At least now you have the option to reduce the compensation you give to match the quality of service you receive.

Business Development
written by Chris on August 25, 2007

I have a friend who gets his calculator out to figure his tip. He gives me a hard time because sometimes my tip is equal to the bill. I was raised by a single mom who is a cosmetologist. When I was old enough to drive I got a job and paid for my car and insurance etc. There wasn't much left out of my check to have any fun. I would ask my mother for some gas money and she would always look to see if she got any tips. Mom's tips paid for groceries, school clothes, book and sometimes some gas to go to the beach. I have been a good tipper ever since.

So the other day my buddy and I go to lunch and I pick up the bill. The bill was $12.00 and I left a $10 tip. The waiter was very appreciative. The manager even thanked me. I explained that his waiter did an excellent job. I have since been back to the restaurant several times since. The waiters do not charge me for tea or sodas, Extra cheese, etc. When I get to the cash register the manager discounts the bill or rounds it down to an even number. This is a big restaurant not a mom & pop. It all boils down to customer service. I use coffee shops, restaurants etc. to have meetings or work through lunch. I always tip big even if I just have a cup of coffee. It works for me and I am sure there is a child at home getting school clothes or even laundry soap to have clean clothes. Even if the waiter is getting a new stereo for his car, I don't care. He or she earned it.

Got another topic for you Holly. Do people tip Women more than Men?

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written by E Niblack on August 22, 2007

I'll weigh in on this one!

I'm a waitress in Charleston in a small (16 table) restuarant. The wait staff
receives the tradional $2.13 per hour!! We must have tips to live!! Meals range from $9.00 to $15.00 bucks, with the average around $12.00. On Friday and Saturday nites their is a booming "ToGo" business as well. We are not compensated for taking these orders and wrapping them Service tips are neccessary or there can't be any service.....