tipping

[Jaimoe]

I was in France for 10 days two weeks ago. An 18% gratuity is added to every bill including people who work at fast food chains. The only problem with this is that some servers don't hustle or work too hard since the tip is included.

Edited June 15, 2006 by Guest

[Dr_Evil_Mouse]

A friend and I once left a $.05 CDN tip in a cafe in Paris because the waiter was being a total knob. The socialist in me remained happy because at least the doofus was getting some coin.

[Jaimoe]

Vicki and I still tipped in France, but not on a regular basis - no more than a couple of Euros at a time. Some French find it insulting to get a tip.

[hamilton]

There's no tipping here in Korea, either. Some people are offended if you even tried to offer a tip to them.

[Jaimoe]

BTW, it's also customary in France to hand the server the bill after you've settled. Leaving the money and bill on the table is considered uncouth.

Edited June 15, 2006 by Guest

[SevenSeasJim]

The waitress at my local pub gets great tips. The more we drink the better her tip. She has our beer on the table sometimes before we even sit down. Also, we give her a x-mas card with $50 in it every year.

But on a sour note I find that in many cases the service industry is sucking some serious ass these days. Probably 25% of the time that I eat out the server (or kitchen staff) screws up something. It just feels so common-place these days.

[Jaimoe]

But on a sour note I find that in many cases the service industry is sucking some serious ass these days. Probably 25% of the time that I eat out the server (or kitchen staff) screws up something. It just feels so common-place these days.

That's why bars close down or have the sign: Under New Management.

It's all about the management. Even if the food is average, if the service is good and the staff are friendly, people will generally support said franchise. Bad management begets bad service which generally will close down a bar/pub/restaurant.

[Velvet]

I am anti-tipping, and even when I've been in jobs where I got tips I was always incredulous over the fact that I unnecessarily got that extra money.

The tradition of tipping is exploited by business owners who use it as a reason to pay unreasonable wages to their employees.

Is it really fair that I am responsible for determining my servers worth when I eat at a restaurant? Why can't the employers decide what their servers should be taking home? Then the employee can decide whether or not to work for the wage, and the employer can set prices accordingly.

It's not like it's an untried system, it's how most industries work.

And thank-you mooose. I worked for shit money at two different full-serve gas stations checking oil and washing windows in the dead of winter and I got two $1 tips in over two years. Meanwhile a bartender opens the fridge behind them, pulls off the beercap, hands you the beer and expects a tip every single time.

[Im going home Donny]

Jaimoe, I thought you paid the bill AND tipped!

Ya cheap bastard.

Oh actually one girl was so rude once I paid her to one penny short of the bill....she had to be way nasty to get that and way nasty on a bad day for me combined.

Oh, that is just fucking wicked. I love it.

ha...not easy to pull off being a slave to the service inustry myself...just reading it makes me want to go back and tip her and say I understand your job often sucks balls....hahaha....she really was nasty though......guilty blahs ickeroo.

[boogieknight]

I'm still waiting for the day that I bill a closed file and someone tips me! (Evil: Keep spreading the word...)

Last time I got a bill from a lawyer I was pretty sure that the tip must be built into their hourly rate

[bokonon]

I work on commission, which is similar in spirit to tipping. The better I am at selling the more money I make. Kind of like the better you are at serving the more money you make. It really does suck that your money isn't guarunteed. It makes planning purchases really difficult. Also, my rate of commission can change any time without my consent. And february totally sucked, nobody shops in February. Mind you, I furnished my apartment with my December commission cheque. I'm indecisive about commission. I like that it shows when I work harder, but the fact that it changes from what I originally agreed to work for sucks when the rate decreases. I also hate that dead months mean I make no money even when it has nothing to do with my own effort.

[skelter]

.

Meanwhile a bartender opens the fridge behind them, pulls off the beercap, hands you the beer and expects a tip every single time.

I'm actually with ya on this. I've worked in a few bars in Kingston, where I'm usually putting on shows, sometimes after working 9 hours delivering rented couches to sketchy people. Been offered a tip twice in a year for lugging that shit around (we can't accept tips), and the bartenders are making a couple of hundred a night, tax free.

They work hard, but I don't think it's worth that much.

[Jaimoe]

I think servers and bartenders, the good ones, deserve everything they get. It's not easy putting up with drunks and fights, verbal abuse and/or boring regulars, dine-and-dashers and cheap bastards - while still maintaining control.

Edited June 15, 2006 by Guest

[Velvet]

I think servers and bartenders, the good ones, deserve everything they get. It's not easy putting up with drunks and fights, verbal abuse and/or boring regulars, dine-and-dashers and cheap bastards - while still maintaining control.

I think you're right, they deserve good money. But again, why is it up to the public to recognise that and to pony up the money? What if a cheapskate convention is in town and the bartender works just as hard for half the money, while the owner makes just as much and pays just as little?

Not to mention the concept that tipping can favour the prettiest employee, and not necessarily the hardest worker.

[Jaimoe]

I think servers and bartenders' date=' the good ones, deserve everything they get. It's not easy putting up with drunks and fights, verbal abuse and/or boring regulars, dine-and-dashers and cheap bastards - while still maintaining control.[/quote']

I think you're right, they deserve good money. But again, why is it up to the public to recognise that and to pony up the money? What if a cheapskate convention is in town and the bartender works just as hard for half the money, while the owner makes just as much and pays just as little?

Not to mention the concept that tipping can favour the prettiest employee, and not necessarily the hardest worker.

I recognize all your points. However, bartenders and servers are exploited by their employers - they don't have a union nor will they ever get one - and they don't have any sort of dental plan or other important benefits. Also, staff members are often fired without notice or provocation.

Edited June 15, 2006 by Guest

[Velvet]

Good point!

The tradition of tipping is exploited by business owners who use it as a reason to pay unreasonable wages to their employees.

[Biggest Fan]

bradm... The tip I hope to get, is from a student telling me chalk is coming my way, which never happens.

[StoneMtn]

I'm still waiting for the day that I bill a closed file and someone tips me! (Evil: Keep spreading the word...)

Last time I got a bill from a lawyer I was pretty sure that the tip must be built into their hourly rate

It's true. That's why we provide excellent service; and always with a smile. (Maybe, that's just me.)

[Im going home Donny]

My last jorb....upper management who made over a hundred grand takes a cut of the servers grats...THATS annoying.

Kitchen staff usually get screwed for tips while their work ensures the floor staffs tips plus they seem to sweat more than I ever do??

I have a hundreds of stories but one sticks out...my last place of work used to hold the annual Liberal convention(most of us dreaded this night...high stress....HUGE egos...lots of bad manners...we're better than you kinda shit...lots of booze=nasty beans)

So this one horridly, slimey old man keeps bugging me being super pervy....I was tolerating him as best I could untill he pulled me over saying he's been looking for his long lost brother...blah, blah, blah...have I seen him....could I help him...so he pulls out a picture and refuses to hold it up but has it down in his lap...I smelled trouble but finnally gave in, bending down to look at this picture...well the picture was of a little boy with an elephant sized hard on(obviously photo shopped in)!!!

I was so fucking stunned!

On retrospect I should have had him kicked out...if it hadn't been one of my first shifts there I would have..if it happened now I'd clock him square between the eyes....I didn't serve him another anything the rest of the night and I could hear him bitching to his colleagues about me but he got no more, no eye contact no nothing.

I began serving food at the person next to him and stopped at the person on his other side. I don't know if he ever even got to eat.

Unbelievable.

I think I made around a hundred that night....so not worth it.

[Biggest Fan]

Correct me if I am wrong, the entrepreneur does not make a whole lot of money selling 'food'. Thus the importance of 'tips'.

[Im going home Donny]

One of the best restaurant envirements I ever worked in was a little family run place called 'The Cottage' here in Ottawa(they still exist).

They are super people.

Definately couldn't survive without a tipping envirement. What was cool about them was that they gave raises to all their employees every chance they got...before expanding, before renovating...employees came first.

This attitude in turn gave the employees genuin respect and a friendly attitude which of coarse brought in more money for everyone involved.

They also ensured the floor staff doled out a fair percentage of their tips to the kitchen staff.

[Velvet]

Correct me if I am wrong, the entrepreneur does not make a whole lot of money selling 'food'. Thus the importance of 'tips'.

Then they should charge more for the 'food' they're selling, like other businesses do. If you knocked twenty cents off of everything in the grocery store they wouldn't be very profitable and you'd have to start tipping your cashier 'cuz the store owners wouldn't be able to afford to pay them enough. Sounds like a silly system, no?

[hamilton]

Not to mention the concept that tipping can favour the prettiest employee, and not necessarily the hardest worker.

Every married waitress I've ever known has found that they make more money in tips by not wearing their wedding or engagement bands whilst working.

[StoneMtn]

Yep. About fifteen years ago, my fiancee used to be a waitress, at a pub in Whistler, "Dusty' Bar and Grill". She was young and naive at the time.

One day a "regular" at the bar (a serious dirty old man) gave her some advice:

1. act single and available

2. tight clothes

3. wear a G-string (or no underwear at all) and if you choose the G-string, when people ask if you're wearing underwear (and they will) your answer should be, "What do you think?"

Her income quadrupled the next week.

[bouche]

-I just ordered take-out and picked up my chinese order. Do I tip the host?

i think you should tip when you pick up an order of food. somebody packed up all the food in boxes or bags for you. i don't necessarily tip 15-20% in that case but a couple of bucks is fair.

isn't that what I would have just paid $40 for?