Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - The "Do you take tipping seriously?" thread

grayman · 06-16-2003, 03:45 PM

I have worked in a small family style restaurant for the last seven years and I feel that it has given me a unique perspective on tipping.
1) The waitresses where I work make $3.19 an hour, not $2. I know this is still not minimum wage, but it is higher.
2) The waitresses have to pay taxes on the $3.19 and 8% of their total sales for the night. What this means is: if they make a 10% tip off a table, the last 2% is tax free. I don't know about anyone else, but I pay taxes on every penny I make.
3) Most people around here tip at least 10% and usually much more. It is not unusual for regulars to tip $3 on a $10 meal. Granted, there are some assholes who don't tip, but all the waitresses average out ahead of 8%, even the bad ones who just smoke and ignore their customers.
4) The highest paid employees where I work(and my boss pays very well for a restaurant) are all waitresses - even if they are not good waitresses.
5) The waitresses do NOT share their tips with anyone. Period. No matter what the busboys do to help(much more than they should) they never see a dime.
6) The only thing that can be wrong with your experience that is caused by the kitchen or dishwasher is a long wait, and even that is often the waitress' doing as well. It is not unusual for the waitresses at my work to take an order and then just hold onto it for 10-15 minutes before giving it to the kitchen. Add 15 minutes for the food to cook and that is a long wait. The food can't be cooked until they kitchen knows what it is.
7) If your food is cold, it is probably because it sat on the counter waiting for your waitress to take her sweet ass time getting to it.
8) If your order comes out to the table wrong, how could that possibly be anyone but the waitress' fault? Doesn't she know what you ordered? If it is not right, she shouldn't take it out. More often than not, however, the waitress writes it down wrong or the writing is illegible and the cooks have to make their best guess.
9) Many times, the waitress will accept a special order from a customer (take the ham out of the ham & bean soup, etc.) and they will pass that along to someone else to do, i.e. salad dept. or kitchen. Then, when the customer leaves, guess who gets the tip for this "special service."
10) Whenever the waitresses don't get a tip, they NEVER, EVER think that there is even a SHRED of a chance that it might be because they gave poor service. It is always because the customer is a cheapskate or an asshole or because the busboy stole the tip (they have accused every busboy of this, never proven it once). When I work the cash register, I always ask how everything was, if the customer has a complaint, I ask if they told their server and if their server made it right. Several times I have had a customer tell me that the waitress never came back to the table. Then we take money off their bill, and UNBELIEVABLY the waitress still gets a tip.
11) Tipping is a practice designed to keep servers honest. If they work hard, they get paid well. If they do not work hard, they do not get paid well (in theory), unfortunately, anymore everyone tips no matter what the level of service is. THis is the problem. If they don't need to work hard to get paid, why should they?
Sorry about the length of my rant, but this one hits close to home.

06-16-2003, 03:45 PM	#48 (permalink)
grayman you can't see me Location: Illinois	I have worked in a small family style restaurant for the last seven years and I feel that it has given me a unique perspective on tipping. 1) The waitresses where I work make $3.19 an hour, not $2. I know this is still not minimum wage, but it is higher. 2) The waitresses have to pay taxes on the $3.19 and 8% of their total sales for the night. What this means is: if they make a 10% tip off a table, the last 2% is tax free. I don't know about anyone else, but I pay taxes on every penny I make. 3) Most people around here tip at least 10% and usually much more. It is not unusual for regulars to tip $3 on a $10 meal. Granted, there are some assholes who don't tip, but all the waitresses average out ahead of 8%, even the bad ones who just smoke and ignore their customers. 4) The highest paid employees where I work(and my boss pays very well for a restaurant) are all waitresses - even if they are not good waitresses. 5) The waitresses do NOT share their tips with anyone. Period. No matter what the busboys do to help(much more than they should) they never see a dime. 6) The only thing that can be wrong with your experience that is caused by the kitchen or dishwasher is a long wait, and even that is often the waitress' doing as well. It is not unusual for the waitresses at my work to take an order and then just hold onto it for 10-15 minutes before giving it to the kitchen. Add 15 minutes for the food to cook and that is a long wait. The food can't be cooked until they kitchen knows what it is. 7) If your food is cold, it is probably because it sat on the counter waiting for your waitress to take her sweet ass time getting to it. 8) If your order comes out to the table wrong, how could that possibly be anyone but the waitress' fault? Doesn't she know what you ordered? If it is not right, she shouldn't take it out. More often than not, however, the waitress writes it down wrong or the writing is illegible and the cooks have to make their best guess. 9) Many times, the waitress will accept a special order from a customer (take the ham out of the ham & bean soup, etc.) and they will pass that along to someone else to do, i.e. salad dept. or kitchen. Then, when the customer leaves, guess who gets the tip for this "special service." 10) Whenever the waitresses don't get a tip, they NEVER, EVER think that there is even a SHRED of a chance that it might be because they gave poor service. It is always because the customer is a cheapskate or an asshole or because the busboy stole the tip (they have accused every busboy of this, never proven it once). When I work the cash register, I always ask how everything was, if the customer has a complaint, I ask if they told their server and if their server made it right. Several times I have had a customer tell me that the waitress never came back to the table. Then we take money off their bill, and UNBELIEVABLY the waitress still gets a tip. 11) Tipping is a practice designed to keep servers honest. If they work hard, they get paid well. If they do not work hard, they do not get paid well (in theory), unfortunately, anymore everyone tips no matter what the level of service is. THis is the problem. If they don't need to work hard to get paid, why should they? Sorry about the length of my rant, but this one hits close to home. __________________ That's right - I'm a guy in a suit eating a Blizzard. F U.