Where are you going that servers are wearing yoga pants?
When Did "Tips" (Gratuities) Become So High?
- Thread starter Knight Templar
- Start date
Where are you going that servers are wearing yoga pants?
Restaurants? Or are you moving the goalposts?
Your original post:
Knight Templar is totally right, why should the low wages of waiters make you feel guilty when you are a customer?
The economist in me says that waiters are most likely not more productive, the social democrat in me says that basic income system or a negative income tax are decent ways to support the working poor. You cannot solve structural issues with a bad conscience.
Restaurant near me, in it the young female waitresses frequently wear tight, ass-hugging, pants in a style similar to yoga pants/"stretch pants." That may not strictly be what they are but, damn, do they look like it.
It's not about feeling guilty. It's about conforming to cultural norms. Servers in the United States make their income from tips. That's just how the system is set up. Is that a bad way of doing things? Maybe it is, but that doesn't mean that servers should be punished because a customer disagrees with the system.
When a server gets a shitty tip, one of two things usually goes through their heads:
1) That customer was a douche (and we always remember the bad tippers).
2) What did I do wrong to deserve such a bad tip?
The thing is, good servers are hard to come by. Much of the restaurant industry is dominated by mediocre waitstaff. I, for one, am an awesome server, and I know a lot of other awesome servers. We will run our asses off to make sure you have a good experience, even if you're a total asshole. Even if you're a regular douchebag customer who is well-known for not tipping, we will still run our asses off for you because we have pride in our work.
Many people view waiting tables as a lower form of employment, something that anybody can do. "It's just writing down orders and bringing us things." These are people who have clearly never worked in the industry and have no idea how stressful it can actually be.
doubleohfive
Fleet Admiral
Really, what it boils down to is simply that if you can afford to eat out, you should be able to afford to pay a 20% tip to your server.
But this is so much less ranty than my posts.
No customer is forced to tip. Sure, it is an implicit rule and everybody who violates it may justly receive a jerk badge but it is not theft. Furthermore as you pointed out there is a simple reputation mechanism that makes at least regular customers play according to the implicit rules as they have to expect bad service after bad tipping.
If you do not like the current system bad tippers are actually doing you a favour as they might provoke general discontent among waiters and a change of the system (which is obviously tough as it is an implicit and not an explicit arrangement).
It's a bit like with slaves, the slaveowners who have been nice to their slaves produced Uncle Toms where the nasty slaveowners made their slaves rebel.
Except that I'd bet most servers wouldn't want the system to change. If they went to a more appropriate hourly rate and tipping went away, they'd probably start making significantly less money.
When I was a server back in college, my paychecks used to be about $30 every two weeks, but I was making about $500/week in tips. You'd have to bump wages up pretty high to be able to make it worth changing the system. I think the ultimate result would be that all the good server would leave and that the industry would become dominated by even shittier service.
doubleohfive
Fleet Admiral
Perhaps. But the assholes who disagree with it will look like much bigger assholes for disagreeing with it.
It's not always a question of being able to afford it. I'd rather do away with the system altogether and just have prices be higher. I dislike feeling like I need to reward bad service.
Don't reward bad service. 20% should be a starting point, but if the service sucks, it's perfectly okay to lower it. Even I have been known to stiff a server before. I only did it once, and I felt horrible about it, but she was fucking awful and had no business waiting tables. I left her a note detailing everything she did wrong.
That's the difference in the cultures; my boyfriend and I can afford to eat out from time to time, but the service would have to be exeptionally good to be worth anything higher than a 10 % tip.
A
Amaris
Guest
Yeah, I will not tip bad service. If a server is truly "bad" (and I realize it's subjective), then I will not reward that behavior with a tip. All that does is encourage more bad behavior. I love to tip, and when I do, I tip generously. I'm generally good natured, and having been a server, I sympathize with the server right off the start, so if a server doesn't get a tip from me, some serious shit went south.
Insults, for one, will do it. Insult me or my friends, and you won't get a tip. I don't care if you're in a bad mood, if you denigrate me or one of my friends, you don't deserve anything for such completely unacceptable behavior. If you've got an attitude problem, you hold your tongue and you smile around me and my friends. There is a customer/server relationship, and success hinges on respect from both parties.
Insults, for one, will do it. Insult me or my friends, and you won't get a tip. I don't care if you're in a bad mood, if you denigrate me or one of my friends, you don't deserve anything for such completely unacceptable behavior. If you've got an attitude problem, you hold your tongue and you smile around me and my friends. There is a customer/server relationship, and success hinges on respect from both parties.
See, I still don't get this part.
Isn't the tip supposed to be a "tip", not a "major portion" of a workers pay?
Because of the food service wage structure, the customer has an obligation to provide, lest he be an asshole.
Meanwhile, the worker is dependent upon the tip and if it is not granted, it's the customer who is the asshole. The server is absolved of providing anything more than minimum service, because the tip is deserved due to lack of a sufficient payrate.
Isn't the tip supposed to be a "tip", not a "major portion" of a workers pay?
Because of the food service wage structure, the customer has an obligation to provide, lest he be an asshole.
Meanwhile, the worker is dependent upon the tip and if it is not granted, it's the customer who is the asshole. The server is absolved of providing anything more than minimum service, because the tip is deserved due to lack of a sufficient payrate.
Nah. Even servers would agree that mediocre service doesn't warrant a good tip.
I too remember 10% being the norm, and I'm only 26. I don't remember where I heard that growing up, but that is what I've always understood to be the going rate, with it having risen to 15% in the past 5-10 years or so. So, I always tip at 15%, with 20% being given for exceptional service. Maybe I live in a cheapskate area or something, I don't know.
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