A tipping thread with a twist...

[olderburgher]

"It always seemed wrong to have to "tip out" (give a certain portion of tips to bus boys, bartenders and sometimes other staff, depending on that restaurant's rules) when all those people were making many times more than the $2 an hour I made. It was also sucky how most places made waitresses arrive early to do set up work and stay late to do "side work" and closing work... an extra couple of hours' work done before and after serving, so there was no possibility of tips and you were still being paid only $2 an hour."
"When I tip, I am tipping the Server. The owner makes his/her money on the meal, drinks, desserts, etc. If the wait staff makes more than the dishwashers, so what? That's life. This isn't money meant for the owner but for the individual server. I don't believe the wait staff should have to share those tips with anyone"

[Phoenix84]

I had always assumed that tips were shared amongst the non front house staff like the dish washers and bus boys and stuff.  But I'm admittedly not that familiar with the restaurant industry.  The only food service experience I had was a couple months working at the dining halls in college, and I hated it.  I got the hell out of Dodge as fast as I could with the knowledge that I wasn't cut out for the food service industry.

Anyway, I'm conflicted about this.

I support deregulation in general and I don't see a problem with pooling tips between the "front house" and "back house" workers.

But I do take issue with managers/owners taking a cut of the tips. 

All in all though, I find tipping kind of annoying and I'd prefer it if we did it like Europe or Asia where tipping is not expected and the food is priced to give workers a fair market wage. 

[Phoenix84]

Dec 7, 2017 9:55:19 GMT -5 NomoreDramaQ1015 said:

Dec 7, 2017 9:47:25 GMT -5 Value Buy said:

I have always wondered when you are in a rather expensive restaurant or bar drinking $8 and $12 drinks at a table, does the server share with the bartender or is it all given to the server?
Does anyone base the tip before or after the sales tax total?
It has been years sine we have set at the actual bar, where you know the bartender gets the tip.

Depends, it's up to the individual establishment.  I was assured that having to give the bartender "only" 2% of my tips was a bargain compared to other places in the area.

That was even if you didn't have a single table order alcohol during your shift.

This is off topic, but just out of curiosity, did you enjoy working as a waitress? Some people really enjoy it and you can make decent money depending on the restaurant and how good you are.

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

Dec 11, 2017 17:13:08 GMT -5 Phoenix84 said:

Dec 7, 2017 9:55:19 GMT -5 NomoreDramaQ1015 said:

Depends, it's up to the individual establishment.  I was assured that having to give the bartender "only" 2% of my tips was a bargain compared to other places in the area.

That was even if you didn't have a single table order alcohol during your shift.

This is off topic, but just out of curiosity, did you enjoy working as a waitress? Some people really enjoy it and you can make decent money depending on the restaurant and how good you are.

Depended on the day.   It's not something I want to do for the rest of my  life, but it pays the bills when needed.

There aren't a whole lot of places around here where you can make big bucks, compared to places like NYC.  You can make okay pay but I haven't met any "career servers" around here.

[Phoenix84]

Dec 7, 2017 10:05:01 GMT -5 movingforward said:

I agree with Drama, I wish we would go to the European style where tipping is not necessary. Is the food a little more expensive, yes, but with no tipping it all evens out. I have been to Ireland and Italy. The service did not seem to be effected by no tipping (of course, they are also used to it). In Italy you just had to make sure you asked for the check when you needed it because otherwise they just assume you want to sit there for 3 hours sipping wine .

On a side note, I am getting extremely annoyed by certain places in my area where you order from the counter asking if you would like to leave a tip when paying via credit card. There is one place in particular that pays the people who work there $11 an hour. No, I am not leaving you a freaking tip. I watched you put my burrito together. You didn't bring my food to the table or get me more drinks, etc., plus you are making what is considered a decent wage in the food service industry.

I never tip at order counter establishments where you just watch them assemble your meal and they give it to you, despite the fact they ask for one.

I feel a tip only applies at a full service establishment. If I have to stand in line to order and get my own drink, you don't deserve a tip.

[Deleted]

Dec 7, 2017 9:47:25 GMT -5 Value Buy said:

I have always wondered when you are in a rather expensive restaurant or bar drinking $8 and $12 drinks at a table, does the server share with the bartender or is it all given to the server?
Does anyone base the tip before or after the sales tax total?
It has been years sine we have set at the actual bar, where you know the bartender gets the tip.

I take care of this by only sitting at the bar in any restaurant setting, I’m at one now 😂

[Lizard Queen]

About 10 years ago, I was making about $35k with a college degree. DH's friend's DW was dumb as a box of rocks, waitressing at Applebees making $45k. I imagine places like Red Lobster would bring in much more these days in this LCOLA. I think a lot of servers don't even track how much they make with their tips, their employers using a % of sales to report their pay.