So, this is just a little something that I've been wanting to post about somewhere, while also getting some feedback about what other people think and feel about being a waiter or waitress. So, for almost a year now I've been working as a waiter for a company called Ruby Tuesday (for the international people that don't know what it is) is a huge family restaurant chain that's spread across the United States of America. Its a good job, I won't complain, but one thing I knew before I started working here was that I was taking a risk in either walking out with barely and type of paycheck or walking out with a large paycheck. It was as a risk I wanted to take. So, I want to ask you the EMC Community, what are some of your opinions on waiters and waitresses? A few things that I'd like to ask the community is: Do you find it acceptable to tip a waiter or waitress? If you do tip, what are some things you look for that increase a tip for a waiter or a waitress? What makes you decrease a tip, as in bad server, poor server all over? Do you tip according to the price of a bill? Say your bill is $150.25, the 20% tip predicted is $50, would you tip that or lower? What would you tip at? 10%, 15%, 20%? If you do not tip, what makes you decide not to tip? I do know one thing that I'm sure a lot of people don't know, is that being a server if you do not tip nor decided to tip, that's our paycheck walking out the door. I know some people are probably going to say "Well, I don't have to tip". I understand if you choose not to tip, but another thing people don't realize is that walking into a restaurant where you come, seated and waited on isn't a right, it's a privilege in a lot of eyes of people that are among waiter and waitress staff. Another thing that somewhat irritates me about people that do not tip is that it's our fault if the food come's out "cold" or "This isn't what I ordered". One thing that we do know is it's a simply fix. A lot of times cooks get confused or mistakenly put things on the wrong plate, it happens. But just because a plate is wrong, doesn't mean it's our fault. If we ring in food wrong, then yes that's our fault, but it's a simple fix and well work it out and fix what is wrong. Another thing about being a waiter or waitress is that we DO not get a paycheck! Everyone things we get paid 7.25 or depending on the state minimum wage, but I hate to break the news we do NOT get paid minimum wage. In the picture above, that was working a week where I possibly made $180 in that week from tips only. That deposit that was made was luckily not taken out of taxes and was left over. Roughly I get anywhere from $0.10 to $1.09 a week in a paycheck, so I solely make any sort of income from tips only, not only do I not make 7.25. I also have to tip out of bartender and our host every night I work. Last thing I want to add on here is that being a server for almost a year had opened my eyes up about tipping people. Before being a waiter, I'd never tip. I'd just walk out and not even think about tipping. Being a waiter now, I see the struggle waiter and waitresses have with doing what they do! I tip normally above $5 or more, also depending on the bill and what not. I'd say if my bill was $75 or so, I'd gladly give them a $25 tip! If you decide to even read this entire thing, I appreciate it greatly. I would seriously like to hear what you the EMC Community have to say. It's good feedback and to see what other people think!
I've never eaten at a Ruby's before, we have one but never gone to it. I do tip and I do tip about 18% of what the bill is. It's a force of habit cause my grandmother was a waitress back in the 50's so she always made sure we left a tip. Though I do have to be honest when the bill is lower I tip 18-20% but when the bill gets to that $150 mark I do end up tipping lower but I never go below 15%.
We don't really tip in Ireland unless it's in a fancy restaurant or the waiter/ress is really nice, like my sister used to go to McDonalds for coffee, (though I'm not sure the people working there classify as waiters) but the waitress or whatever you'll call her was always really nice and would go the extra mile every time and even throw out your coffee and start again if there was just too little cream in it. That's the kind of thing that makes me want to tip or say to the manager that this employ is doing a really good job.
I don't think I've ever seen someone tip in real life. I'm not even sure if it's accepted, in the Netherlands. I'll see if there's information on it on Wikipedia. I read the Dutch page. Tipping is a thing in the Netherlands, in some places. If service is unusually good, someone might give a tip of between 5% and 10%. In the Netherlands, staff does get at least minimum wage, though, which isn't the case in the USA. Tips are usually divided between all staff. Is that the case at your place, as well, or can you keep it yourself?
Do you find it acceptable to tip a waiter or waitress? Yes, I dont see why it would not be acceptable. Just note as long as they are dressed appropriately If you do tip, what are some things you look for that increase a tip for a waiter or a waitress? If they are there when you need something, When you ask for something and they are kind and get that item in a timely fashion, If they are checking up on you, and removing empty plates and offering new drinks. What makes you decrease a tip, as in bad server, poor server all over? When they are not there when you need them, You call them over and they ignore you, They are rude or mean, they forget or never get the things you are asking for, they never get rid of empty dishes to clean table up. Do you tip according to the price of a bill? Say your bill is $150.25, the 20% tip predicted is $50, would you tip that or lower? The tip is depended always on the bill, Its supposed to be around the range of taxes (Based of Canadian Taxes of 13%), so it will be just above the taxes that you pay. What would you tip at? 10%, 15%, 20%? For me as a student, I usually let the other person who comes split the tip, but usually as me alone, being a student it is very hard to tip. Otherwise not a student and i have an income its between 15-20% if they are good, if they are not good, then it under 10% and if they are bad, its nothing. If you do not tip, what makes you decide not to tip? If they made your food {Night, Noon, or when ever you are out} a bad experience. Note that my family owned a restaurant for 15 years in Toronto and was a bar and restaurant mixed. It had a customer base of between 100-300 customers a day depending on the day. It was not a small one, as it was the size of a average Staples store. So with that being said, we know all about this area and we respect these people. We also know the standards in Ontario Canada for this area of a job. Hope that helps,
I thought you were supposed to get a base pay besides your tip, but that may just be my state or I’m thinking wrong. I’m pretty sure here it’s $3 something an hour plus tips. My tipping is dependent on the waiter’s attitude and efficiency, though it pains me to not leave a tip at all (it rarely happens). On average, I pay a 15%-20% tip after taxes. I used to work at a restaurant/bar and I made amazing tips, but I know not all places are like that and drunk people tend to tip better lol. There is a local restaurant here that I love and I live in a small town so there aren’t many choices. The food is amazing but all but one of the waiters is terrible. So, he’s the only one I tip even though I go there at least weekly. Some people will say I shouldn’t eat there if I’m not going to tip some of the time, but I say I earn the money and I choose what to do with it. If I did terrible at my job, I would be fired from it. They just don’t get a tip.
(USA) Always tip. It is an unfortunate fact that service workers WILL soil the food of customers they do not like. Avoiding a particular restaurant does not keep you safe. Service workers frequently change locations or jobs to similar restaurants in the same area. A new restaurant isn't staffed by new employees, they pull veterans from the community. Also avoid sitting with anyone who does not tip or is rude to the service workers. Your food may be contaminated as a result of proximity. I use 15% as a baseline. 10% for poor service, 20%+ for great service.
Wait, what? Are you serious? Couldn't they get caught? I assume nobody would want to take that risk...
Sadly very serious and speaking as a personal witness from multiple occasions. Don't piss off the people that are handling your food, or may handle your food in the future.
As a base pay we receive $2.13 an hour, but all of that hourly pay is taken out for taxes and ect. So we're getting paid hourly to pay taxes.
My input here mostly comes in the form of a rant, in which I would like to say that I absolutely loathe America's tipping culture. It makes no sense to force people into relying on tips for the money they earn off their job; whether it's part time, 'student work', full-time, whatever. Waiters and waitresses should absolutely come under the jurisdiction of minimum wage law. I'm not sure how this base pay thing works, but if I'm slightly grasping it correctly, you get paid £1.50 an hour; if business is slow or absolutely nobody tips, and you work 8 hours, you're earning £12/$16 in a day? That's quite... wrong. Over here, in the UK, waiters and waitresses are paid at a median of around £6 an hour in wages. The UK's minimum wage comes in at £7 an hour for over 25s, and £4 an hour for under 25s (18 - 24) (both are, admittedly, quite disgustingly low). I've not seen many waiters or waitresses who are in their later 20s, so I'll just assume they get paid £2 above minimum wage. Tips are complimentary - they aren't required, and are only really necessary if you think the service provided to you went beyond the person's job description. On average, apparently, waiters and waitresses earn about £2 extra an hour in tips. Most people will tip 10-15%. I usually eat at a local restaurant, where they don't accept tips, so I don't actually tip. Last time I went to somewhere I did have to do so, in a Pizza Hut, I was fourteen years old and not even earning money yet. To answer your first question, I absolutely do find it acceptable to tip and when I next eat at a restaurant that allows me to do so, I will (the Pizza Huts are all shutting down tho and all the other restaurants in town where you can tip aren't worth driving through the roadworks for). You also can't tip at pubs, which is probably where about 99% of the British culinary market where the waiter and waitress jobs are located. Like, seriously, if you get Google Maps open and put a red marker on every single pub in the UK, the island is painted entirely red. It's comforting to know that if I want to get drunk, go out for dinner, or both, there's twenty-five pubs within an arm's reach of my window. So all in all, I can't really personally answer the rest of your questions until I next go eat at a restaurant (probably quite a while away), only leave you with this rant mostly about the injustice of money laws. Oops.
just to be clear, in the UK, does the government take any of your money away? cuz heres how it works in america. im not sure about where inuyasha lives but here in new york city (unless you work off the books) you get paid minimum wage (which is 10 dollars here, i believe the lowest it is in other states is 7 but im probably wrong) and from that 10 dollars they deduct i think 40% or more in "FICA" and other taxes. so in the end if you have a 10 dollar wage you're probably really only making around 6 dollars an hour. this results in people, especially those in states with a low minimum wage, to rely on tips. its a pissy system and im not too sure about the details because all the jobs ive had so far were off the books doing things like pumping gas. if you have a job like that the employer can pay you as little as they like so tips are a huge help. but im just curious if theres any kind of payroll tax where you're at?
It's kinda confusing here. You'll never really know how much of your money the government is deducting in tax, because it's done automatically before your wages are transferred into your bank account. Tax also only has to be paid above a certain threshold, so it depends on how much a person is making a year: an under 25 who works weekends, for example, probably wouldn't be paying tax. Abd if they did, it'll only be a small percentage. Furthermore we have an okayish welfare system that a minimum wage worker who isn't living with other adults (a single parent, for example) will be supported by, so the need for tips is minimal.
Do you find it acceptable to tip a waiter or waitress? Yes, as long as service was good and the person was polite. If you do tip, what are some things you look for that increase a tip for a waiter or a waitress? Being polite mainly. Check in on your customers from time to time. Not every minute, but at least glance over to see if they are looking for you. Most of the time I will try to get the persons attention while they are walking back and forth. It also helps if the person informs you if there are any problems with the order and such. For example, a group of my friends and I were at a restaurant waiting for our food to come out, but after about an hour nothing came. All the people around us, that came in after us, started getting their food first. Instead of coming to the table and letting us know what was going on, the waitress avoided us like the plague. She wouldn't even make eye contact with us. It wasn't until the manager came over and explained what happened did we find out the cook forgot to cook our food. She didn't get a tip. We got our meals free. What makes you decrease a tip, as in bad server, poor server all over? Being rude is a main thing that will make me tip less. I don't blame the food on the waiter, but if I have a complaint and they are rude about it, well good bye tip. Do you tip according to the price of a bill? Say your bill is $150.25, the 20% tip predicted is $50, would you tip that or lower? I usually tip 15%, but I think now days its more like 20%. I will tip more if the person was nice. What would you tip at? 10%, 15%, 20%? 15% If you do not tip, what makes you decide not to tip? I have very rarely not left some kind of tip. The biggest thing for me is be polite and inform me of any problems. I have never worked mainly for tips, but I did have a job where I would get a good bit of tips. Being polite is the biggest thing. And if the customer is having a bad day, kill them with kindness. Remember they are your customers. I work in retail and I find myself apologizing for things just because, and with a smile saying "Have a nice day."
I've never liked the idea that I am expected to judge a person's work performance based on a few short interactions during the time it takes to get seated, order, and eat, especially knowing that things like the condition of the food, the restaurant, and social environment(other staff and customers) are not in their control. I feel it is really the owner or manager who should be responsible for evaluating their employees and paying them a fair wage instead of paying them peanuts and relying on charity to compensate. Some restaurants charge an automatic gratuity which I find especially dirty. Don't advertise a buffet as $20 then charge me $25 once I've already eaten and expect me to like it. There are also the buffet type restaurants where the wait staff's job is reduced to cleaning tables and refilling drinks but you are still pressured to tip. Not too long ago I went to a dinner and a mystery place. The entertainment made it a point to let us know they were working for tips. Great. Now in addition to pre-paying what I already thought was a high price in the name of vacationing on a credit card, now I have to pay more under the scrutiny of strangers. Incidentally, while I sat there pondering what bills to pull out of my dusty wallet, the couple from Scotland that sat across from us tipped a wad of cash while the rest of our table scooted out the door with their heads down. It's bad enough that I know that going out to eat is probably going to cost me 2-4 times the amount of money I would spend cooking the same thing home. Or knowing I'll pay one price at breakfast, a higher one at lunch and more at dinner time for the same thing. I would like to be able to select food from a menu and pay whatever price is on it without having to worry that someone is going to think less of me for what I pay for it. In return I accept that I can't change the price based on whether there was wilted lettuce in my salad or whatever. If enough people left the profession over poor pay or enough customers stopped tipping, restaurants would have to compensate their workers like other businesses. I bow to social pressure and pay 10-20% based on a mixture of the service I receive, food quality, price, my budget, the atmosphere, how much time I have to consider it, my mood, which way the wind is blowing, etc. Lately I've often been tipping by adding whatever makes it an even $5 multiple as long as it is around the 10-20% range. Totally random but it gives me some rule to base the gratuity on and I don't have to spend the whole meal evaluating and thinking about it.
I never thought about it like that, but I also tip at buffet style places. When I was a teenager, I worked at sonic. For those non-American, it’s like a drive-through but a person brings out the food to multiple stalls of cars. Until I worked there, I had no clue it was expected to tip those people. Even when I worked there, I didn’t understand the reasoning. I didn’t get refills or anything. I literally just took the food out and had a 5-10 second interaction. We also made regular salary, not the usual lowered salaries of waiters/waitresses. Apparently, a lot of people liked to tip there because I made easily an extra $100 per night on weekend nights.
I rarely tip people, inless they are IMHO genuinely nice and caring. I do tip a few places that I regularly dine-in at, however I feel like if you choose to be a waiter/host or hostess/waitress you should know there's the risk of not potentially making enough money to equate to the same mobey making minimum wage after taxes and tips included... However that also depends on the location and traffic volume of your workplace. I have chosen to work at McDonald's and every once in a while I get a tip xD
Fixed your questions. anyway Do you find it acceptable to tip a server? Yeah, my dad's wife is a server and barely makes any money. If you do tip, what are some things you look for that increase a tip for a server? See post below. What makes you decrease a tip, as in bad server, poor server all over? I don't care if they are an extremely crappy server or an extremely good server, I still would tip them 25%. Do you tip according to the price of a bill? Say your bill is $150.25, the 20% tip predicted is $50, would you tip that or lower? Yes, unless if the bill ends up being $30 or below. Usually $12 if under that. What would you tip at? 10%, 15%, 20%? 25% If you do not tip, what makes you decide not to tip? The only time I don't tip is if there isn't an actual server.
