Joe's Crab Shack - No Tipping?!?!

[JSt0rm]

Killing off another well paying, middle class job is bad.

Waiters whining like bitches and saying stupid ass shit like their job is more difficult than a cook is also bad.

both jobs can be hard in their own ways.

 

[zerocool84]

If they are paying servers $14/hour, I guarantee they are earning less money than they did when they were tipping. Especially a place like Joe's, which is expensive.

Exactly why they hate it. They want the tips because they make the more money.

 

[JSt0rm]

Just as I said. It failed because smart servers wont hang around for $14 an hour. Capitalism. Deal with it.

Whats really funny is they were able to "turn off" the experiment. This means they didnt raise anyones wages in the boh. LMAO. I told you all. Restaurant owners salivate at the idea of taking tips. Its a pipe dream though.

 

[Staples]

I'd like to know what terrible service is?
Bring me the food and we are good.
If not, give me the option to go to the kitchen and get it myself and eliminate waiter (middleman).

 

[JSt0rm]

I'd like to know what terrible service is?
Bring me the food and we are good.
If not, give me the option to go to the kitchen and get it myself and eliminate waiter (middleman).

This is an opinion. And not a very informed one. Lol.

 

[TallBill]

In my experience I have found quite the opposite to be true (of the above bolded) in my travels to Germany.

We're you in large cities? Service tends to be a lot different there. I'm talking about all of the small town places.

I'm not saying that it's bad, I know what to expect.

 

[ControlD]

Tipping is minimal or non-existent in Germany and service would be rated as terrible by Americans.

Although here it is for different reasons, we simply don't have a lot of the same customs. Germans will never ask you how your food is, how your meal is going, or sometimes if you even want another drink.

There are things that the customer has to do in order to progress the meal or get certain things. It is assumed that you are satisfied, and quite frankly it doesn't seem to be in their blood to care. Tipping wouldn't change anything.

I have been traveling to Germany for 20+ years as part of my job and what you describe sounds nothing like my experiences there.

There is tipping, it just works differently. And the servers always ask how the meal was at the end ("geschmeckt?") and I never have had a problem getting a second (or third or fourth) beer with my meal.

Maybe it is a regional thing. I am almost always in Bavaria, but the service is just fine. And there IS tipping for a meal, but not for drinks.

 

[pcgeek11]

We're you in large cities? Service tends to be a lot different there. I'm talking about all of the small town places.

I'm not saying that it's bad, I know what to expect.

I have been anywhere from Large cities Stuttgart, Frankfort and Munich and lots of small villages in between and have always gotten excellent service. I guess it could be that I was travelling with German friends...

It is different and you cannot expect exactly the same kind of service as you get in the US. That being said, the food was always excellent, the service was great and the staff was always concerned about their product and service they provided.

 

[Darwin333]

Being a server in a high end restaurant requires vast knowledge of foods, liquors, wines and beers. Even someone at joes crab shack needs to know the difference between a muscle and a oyster. stone crab claws and snow crab. Australian lobster and main lobster. If a place like Gramercy Tavern is doing this I believe the top servers there will leave.

There are so many real reasons to insure you keep good wait staff in high end restaurants and those people cut their teeth working at places like joes crab shack. 10 years from now we will see a very different landscape for service in this country.

I know people don't appreciate it around here but it is a very high skill job that can pay well.

Wouldn't you think that the cook has to be vastly more knowledgeable and skilled? Yet for some reason we don't tip the people who actually cook and prepare our yummy meal but we do tip the people who take our orders and bring our drinks. That has always boggled my mind.

 

[Rakehellion]

The person happy at Joe's is the person looking for a stable income; it's a significant wage.

$12 an hour? D:

 

[Dr. Zaus]

$12 an hour? D:

2 people making $12 an hour is a household income of 48k/y and well above the meidian income for black and Hispanic households.

 

[Ns1]

Wouldn't you think that the cook has to be vastly more knowledgeable and skilled? Yet for some reason we don't tip the people who actually cook and prepare our yummy meal but we do tip the people who take our orders and bring our drinks. That has always boggled my mind.

Also, evidently servers can't do a good job w/o tips yet all BOH employees are expected to perform at 100% w/o tips.

ref: posters proclaiming tips lead to better service

 

[Rakehellion]

2 people making $12 an hour is a household income of 48k/y and well above the meidian income for black and Hispanic households.

Wow, there are a hell of a lot of qualifiers in that statement.

 

[JSt0rm]

Wouldn't you think that the cook has to be vastly more knowledgeable and skilled? Yet for some reason we don't tip the people who actually cook and prepare our yummy meal but we do tip the people who take our orders and bring our drinks. That has always boggled my mind.

The cooks need to know portion sizes and prep for their stations. They need to know how to saute or grill whatever item to the proper doneness. They do not ned to know how to make a jus or how to build a menu. They do not need to understand why they are cooking with ramps instead of onion. The chef and sous chef need to know these things.

Plus you need no people skills to work as a line cook. It is a factory. It's not bad work for people who need it though. Good line cooks can get $25 a hour.

Also, evidently servers can't do a good job w/o tips yet all BOH employees are expected to perform at 100% w/o tips.

ref: posters proclaiming tips lead to better service

BOH employees have always been expected to perform for the wage. Raising your menu prices will not give the boh employee any more money as evident by the fact joes crabshack can just change back with no issues.

 

[umbrella39]

Killing off another well paying, middle class job is bad.

Waiters whining like bitches and saying stupid ass shit like their job is more difficult than a cook is also bad.

Not more difficult necessarily, just that if a waiter does a great job and the cook does a shit job, the cook still makes the same, good, bad, whaterver.... the waiter however gets fucked due to no fault of their own.

 

[Dr. Zaus]

Wow, there are a hell of a lot of qualifiers in that statement.

Feeling over qualified?

 

[Bubblehappy]

Wouldn't you think that the cook has to be vastly more knowledgeable and skilled? Yet for some reason we don't tip the people who actually cook and prepare our yummy meal but we do tip the people who take our orders and bring our drinks. That has always boggled my mind.

I've worked part time in the restaurant industry for over 15 years (it's my evening job at the moment). I also have a culinary degree, even though I never pursued being a chef as my primary profession.

Line cooks need to be good multi-taskers, and they need to know how to follow a recipe and cook to the proper temperature. That's it. Having said that, most of the people I've worked with as line cooks are considerably more than that. They are passionate about food in general, enjoy their work, enjoy putting out good food, and enjoy the people they work with. And I would agree that they should be tipped out at the end of the night. It's hard work when it's busy, trust me I know. I've worked hours on end without being able to take a 5 minute break.

I do it because I enjoy food, enjoy making people happy, and enjoy the challenge. The only time I get tipped out is when I help the FOH by running food to tables and such. Rarely happens.

 

[nk215]

A good friend of mine runs a local restaurant. He pays his waiting staffs ~$18 - $20/hr + tip. Few waiters came and ask him to lower their official base pay and give them extra cash so that they can get subsidized benefit from the government and tax benefit (in my area, local tax is flat from first dollar).

When he wanted to see if people would take $25 w/o tip, many of them complained since their “net” income (including subsidized benefit) would be significantly reduced.

It’s not what they take home at the end of their work day per the employer perspective. It’s their “net” benefit that counts. If they have kids near college age then they rather see a very small taxable income to maximize financial aid benefit in addition to government subsidized stuffs.