Somehow after reading this I feel more confident in my assertion that tipping as a salary is a sucky concept. Especially after #1. The only way turnover of tables should be an issue is if the restaurant is crowded.
I wonder if people realize...
- Thread starter Gameface
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Somehow after reading this I feel more confident in my assertion that tipping as a salary is a sucky concept. Especially after #1. The only way turnover of tables should be an issue is if the restaurant is crowded.
You may not think very highly of the people who typically serve you, but if you had your way be prepared for wal-mart greeters to change careers to servers and the people who have experience as servers to look for other work that pays better.
I think very highly of them (well not some of the ones at Casa Bonita, but I digress). I worked with many of them. I have no idea why good servers at good restaurants wouldn't make good money with a salary in place of the tip system. It works that way in every other industry on the planet. Typically experienced people who are good at their jobs and work for good companies make money. Lesser experienced people who work at crappy companies don't.
I think servers get screwed by the tip system, at least how it's constructed in the US. It's great for the owners, terrible for the servers. Because I think so highly of them I would prefer to see them get a salary instead of relying on tips. If the system was so great, there wouldn't be all sorts of impassioned pleas from servers and others begging people to tip. The reason there is because people who skip out on tips screw the servers over, but that wouldn't be the case if the customer didn't have direct control over the server's salary.
The other assertion I don't understand is why a restaurant owner would tolerate incompetent employees who are providing lousy service. One reason possibly is economic...you get what you pay for in many instances, and employment/skills are no different. But lousy service tends to be a death kneel of restaurants, so in theory the owner has a financial incentive to not let that happen.
fishonjazz
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I honestly don't care how the service is when I go to a restaurant. I only care about how the food tastes.
Beer
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Tipping as a salary is odd, it can be very good for a server or it can really suck. But seriously, eat and GTFO. Unless its an empty restaurant, then do whatever you please.
You don't care how long it takes to get your meal? You don't care if you get the right order delivered to your table? You don't care if your server knows anything about the daily special? You don't care if you get presented the right bill? Those are all related to how the service is, and I've had all of those (and more) be issues at restaurants before.
fishonjazz
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If I receive food and the food is good then I'm happy.
I'm pretty easy to please in most things in life though.
Food takes a little too long?..... It's all good most restaurants have sports on tv, I have a smart phone and I enjoy socializing with my fellow dinners.
They don't fill up my water fast enough?..... I will live.
They bring me the wrong item?..... Awesome, now I will likely get my food free!
They screw up on my bill?.... I tell them the problem and they correct the bill.
No big deal really.
If my food sucks then I'm not happy though
I swear I got alerted to this thread for some reason. Now I'm not sure why.
Oh well, good thread. I read what I wrote about my mother and it made me remember how proud of her I always was. How much I loved her and how hard she worked for her family.
So whoever liked and then probably unliked my comment, thanks.
Oh well, good thread. I read what I wrote about my mother and it made me remember how proud of her I always was. How much I loved her and how hard she worked for her family.
So whoever liked and then probably unliked my comment, thanks.
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I don't think a lot of people in Utah realize this fact. Still.
All tipped employees know Utah sucks.
If you frequent places where no alcoholic drinks are served and most of the customers are LDS, I'm guessing the servers average age is 15. Enjoy your service! You deserve every last penny's worth of it.
Hotdog
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I usually overtip a little to try and offset the crappy ones they get. Working in the service industry is not easy or fun. I feel bad for those people. I hate going out with someone and watching them tip poorly. Such bad form. Makes me feel embarrassed to be there.
Agreed. I don't feel bad for servers. I just hope that they are treated well and compensated fairly. It's not an easy job. I've done it and sucked at it. I appreciate people who can do it well.
It’s ironic that this thread popped up today. My wife and I went to Black Bear Diner today. Had probably the worst service I’ve ever had anywhere. The server was grumpy. The food took forever (there were empty tables and no wait). I had to ask to get my drink refilled. When the food finally came, another server had “stolen” my plate, so my wife got her food, but I only got my pancakes for awhile. They ran out of bacon, so I had to wait for bacon (what kind of a breakfast place let’s themselves run out of bacon?). When I got my bacon, it was overcooked. Had to ask again to get my drink refilled. The server plopped our bill down and disappeared. I had to go ask for a box for the rest of my wife’s food.
I’m a standard 20% tipper. It takes a lot for me to drop from there. I gave 10% today.
Sent from my iPhone using JazzFanz mobile app
I’m a standard 20% tipper. It takes a lot for me to drop from there. I gave 10% today.
Sent from my iPhone using JazzFanz mobile app
Went out with Mrs Rubashov last night, had a lovely dinner at small country restaurant, the food was good (not great) the service from the waitress was poor, didn't give us the specials ect. but the service from the owner was fantastic. I normally tip and gave them 20 bucks on a 170 buck bill, I probably would have paid 30 if I was completely satisfied with the service tho.
Is tipping standard practice in the AU?
I've been led to believe we Americans are like the only people still doing it.
lauriandres
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Gameface, how US based restaurants and eateries find employees if the conditions are as bad as told here (no health insurance, ultra minimum salary i.e the owner expects that you earn your salary from tips from the customers)? Of course, maybe for some months it is good for a rookie to experience that even the most demanding teacher at school is like an angel when compared the management at some chain restaurant.
For comparison, in Estonia it is difficult to find servers even if the minimum required salary is about 350 EUR (and that includes nationwide health insurance) per month, but realistic is something between 500-1000 EUR per month if you want to have somebody who works for you 8 hours per day, 40 per week.
There can be a huge difference between how much wait staff make. Some make a decent living, but yeah, no health insurance. Not having health insurance isn't uncommon in the U.S.. Especially for the age group that is most common for restaurant work, 20-30 somethings.
There are some things that attract people to working as servers. For one it's easy to change jobs and you can most likely work close to home if you want to. Your history, education, etc. are not critical for getting the job. They generally do not drug test. You can also usually work the hours you want, the days you want, as many or as few hours as you want. There is a bit a party lifestyle associated with being a server. You walk out with cash at the end of your shift.
Nah people here tip for food and drink but not at the sort of levels people do in the US. Standard meal for 2 is normally 100 bucks minimum.
Archie Moses
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And the most chill af person award goes to...
lauriandres
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In Estonia and in Europe in general the tipping is not compulsory i.e both de jure and de facto the owners and the servers should not be angry should you not tip. Sometimes we have tipped a la when we had a birthday party at the restaurant, then we gave about 30 EUR (total bill for 15 persons was about 400) the main server.
My theory is that if the main dish is about 20 euros and the cheapest bottle of wine is 30 euros, then the owners should have more than enough funds to properly pay to the server. Specially if that same wine costs 5 euros at the supermarket. IMHO when compared to Croatia or Italy or Japan - in Estonia i will pay for the interior, furniture and location, not for food (i.e sometimes the portions are quite small compared to other countries). Therefore i cook more at home than eat at the restaurant. I do not want to brag or something like that
but if the raw product is good enough (i.e good steak or duck fillet) then you can cook equally well at home. That is why i envy the selection of raw stuff at US supermarkets - it seems that the selection of different meat and fish products are much much more larger than in my country.Also, what is food thread without some links of the recently visited restaurants. World is small, you never know when you might visit some of those.
https://sardiinid.ee/en/
https://io-restoran.ee/en/restaurant/menu
http://www.restoranmoon.ee/menu/?lang=en
Restaurant in Suwalki, Poland where we spent a night during our autumn vacation.
https://www.hotelloft.pl/en/restaurant-tatarak-menu-page-105744
Actually, everywhere in Poland (with the exeption of tourist traps and Warszawa, Krakow and Gdansk) - should you visit some restaurant, then for a typical family (2 adults, 2 children) you need to order only 3 main dishes
. Maybe even only 2 main dishes and 2 lighter ones. The portions are huge. And price is less than in Baltics or Germany, Austria, France or Italy.