This is an odd topic for P&N...it has OT! written all over it.
The other thing that I think is unfair is: Why should someone that works at an expensive restaraunt get 2-3x as much tip as someone who works just as hard at a less expensive restaraunt.
Recent examples, I go to one of the chain restaurants and have a very nice meal. The waitress is exellent, She's back multiple times with refills, asks if everything is to our liking. The bill is about 75 bucks, if I give 20% then thats 15 dollars. We were there for about 2 hours. So she gets 15 from us and probably 15 from another 4 to 5 tables. Now depending on how she has to split it with the rest of the service staff she could get as much as $35/hour (my nurses make less).
We go to a fancy restaraunt the bill comes to $250. The waitress is so so. Her 20% is $50. Again there for 2 hours. Again 4 other tables. Thats $100 per hour. Im sure she has to split it with other staff but she wasn't working as hard as the girl at the chain.
The price of my food has to large a factor in her wage.
LOL at $35/hour.... If that was the case I'd switch to working a shitty job at a bad restaurant. That's about $75K a year there and most waiters/waitresses do not make that much.
The national average is around $37K per year for waiting jobs. Give it possibly a few thousand for a couple of "undocumented" tips not reported to the IRS. They aren't making $75K a year.
Now strippers on the other hand....
The other thing that I think is unfair is: Why should someone that works at an expensive restaraunt get 2-3x as much tip as someone who works just as hard at a less expensive restaraunt.
Recent examples, I go to one of the chain restaurants and have a very nice meal. The waitress is exellent, She's back multiple times with refills, asks if everything is to our liking. The bill is about 75 bucks, if I give 20% then thats 15 dollars. We were there for about 2 hours. So she gets 15 from us and probably 15 from another 4 to 5 tables. Now depending on how she has to split it with the rest of the service staff she could get as much as $35/hour (my nurses make less).
We go to a fancy restaraunt the bill comes to $250. The waitress is so so. Her 20% is $50. Again there for 2 hours. Again 4 other tables. Thats $100 per hour. Im sure she has to split it with other staff but she wasn't working as hard as the girl at the chain.
The price of my food has to large a factor in her wage.
I once had such bad horrid service, and not just from the wait staff, from the manager as well, that when the check came, I paid with my card, and put a negative tip, and added that to my total.
If they add gratuity, I ask the manager to take it off and tip nothing.
I like the concept of tipping. It allows me to have control over my server and my costs; I control what she makes and can reward her (or him) for good service. It would have to be pretty bad for me to not leave anything though, as those people make less than minimum wage (in the USA.) I think generally 10% for poor service, 15 to 20% for average, 20 to 30% for really good service is sensible. But then we don't eat at really expensive places, so cost of food isn't a big factor. $40 is high for the wife and I.
Neil Boortz had an interesting idea when eating with friends at an expensive restaurant known for poor service. He laid out a string of ones equal to about 40% of his expected bill and told the server "This is your maximum tip. Every time you piss me off, every time I need something and you aren't there with it, I'll remove something from this stack." He got excellence service and the server got an excellent tip.
If people do not like this business and its practices they will not visit the establishment and it will go out of business.
there is a difference between service at a chain and proper fine dining (I say proper as I don't know the restaurant you are referring to and it could well suck). Knowledge being the main one. You need massive amounts of wine and spirit knowledge along with understanding of seasonal food ingredients, knowledge of animals and upbringing.
It is a passion that if you don't have you shouldn't be working at that level. I used to work as a waiter and I worked the range from chain restaurant up to serving diplomates, heads of state and princes ultra high end cuisine. The difference in ones ability from each end is amazing. But as the guest you shouldn't need to be aware of any of that. Part of wonderful service is a seamless experience tailored to exactly what you want without a word being said. A few questions from a knowledgeable server will reap rewards if you are willing to explore.
I no longer work in the industry but I really enjoyed working at that level and sometimes miss it. This women must of been a horrible tipper for something like this to happen as usually the owners are still getting paid so they wouldn't care to cause a fuss.
I never patronize a restaurant twice with a mandatory gratuity and I tell them so. I usually leave 15-20%, depending on the service. I always tip in cash, even though I almost always pay the bill with a CC. I have occasionally left 2 nickles when the service was especially horrendous (just to let them know that I did not forget a tip).
This 100%. As someone who worked fine dining for years to pay for school I can tell you that it is the standard in the industry for parties of 8 or more. People who can't grasp this concept shouldn't be dining out in a nice restaurant and we did not miss your business if that mandatory tip kept you from frequenting our establishment again, go to Bob Evans if it hurts too much. Parties less than that, all bets off. To be honest the mandatory tip in many cases hurt how much we would have gotten but it beats the shit out of getting stiffed for no other reason than the person paying the bill was a cheap asshole.
lol it's not your restaurant asshole. You're just a shitty waiter. Your opinion means shit.
I left $10 on $7.50 for lunch, and $53 on $48 for dinner.
No what leads to shitty service is servers always expecting to get a good 20% tip no matter what they do around here. And the fact they are getting tips "proves" they are doing a good job to the boss and won't get fired.
If they earned a real wage, then patrons might be more apt to complain to supervisors and managers when service sucks. But no we can't have that! That would make someone lose their job! We would be stuck with crappy service forever if people lost their jobs!
That's the way I took it, $5 tip on a $48 meal. I don't penalize for over-attentiveness though, I don't mind saying "no".So you still tipped the waiter you didn't like more than the cost of the meal???? $53 for a tip for a meal that costs $48 is insane! especially if you didn't like the service. No way would I even tip that much. If the service was adequate, which it sounds like it was, I would do the normal 10% of $4.80 rounded up on top of that $48, but no way would I tip over 100%!
So you still tipped the waiter you didn't like more than the cost of the meal???? $53 for a tip for a meal that costs $48 is insane! especially if you didn't like the service. No way would I even tip that much. If the service was adequate, which it sounds like it was, I would do the normal 10% of $4.80 rounded up on top of that $48, but no way would I tip over 100%!