This is one of my biggest issues with tipping. It's a fairness thing. If the one making minimum wage gets a 15% tip, the one making under minimum wage needs a much bigger tip! Some cities even have full minimum wage laws. So what if I go to one of two Denny's, two miles apart, and only one is in the city limits. And I get adequate service at both.Not always. In some states, they're paid the full minimum wage (California, Oregon, Washington, Montana, Minnesota). For the rest of the states, the pay varies widely.
https://www.dol.gov/whd/state/tipped.htm
Not always. In some states, they're paid the full minimum wage (California, Oregon, Washington, Montana, Minnesota). For the rest of the states, the pay varies widely.
https://www.dol.gov/whd/state/tipped.htm
But the sentiment that restaurants are "underpaying" wait staff is misplaced. Tipping has been out there far longer than minimum wages. The lower minimum wage for tipped employees just reflects reality: wait staff overwhelmingly make far more than the "standard" minimum wage including their tips. Fact is, restaurants report wages at the full standard hourly rate as a minimum (including the minimum wage for tipped employees and their tips)What I dislike is the fiction that I am tipping for "good service." Very rarely is that the case! Most of the time I am tipping for mediocre service - waitstaff has to ask who gets what dish, comes by within 90 seconds to ask whether food is ok, has to be asked specifically if we want water, etc. Sometimes it is bad service. Nonetheless I tip on the *truth* that I am supplementing the inadequate wages paid by restaurant ownership. And helping ownership avoid various payroll taxes. This turns me off enough that I eat out relatively seldom. Stop telling us we are tipping for good service!
Actually, it immediately goes away once you make the decision to stop tippping. Other people may elect to voluntarily top-up quoted prices by some arbitrary additional amount, but that doesn’t change the optional nature of such gestures.Like it or not, tipping is not going away.
This is one of my biggest issues with tipping. It's a fairness thing. If the one making minimum wage gets a 15% tip, the one making under minimum wage needs a much bigger tip! Some cities even have full minimum wage laws. So what if I go to one of two Denny's, two miles apart, and only one is in the city limits. And I get adequate service at both.
Now I'm supposed to figure out that one of my servers has a "built-in tip" as compared to the other server? Really?
Maybe these states and regions that pass minimum wage laws are raking it in now, but it might be the chink in the tipping armor; patrons will throw up their hands in frustration and quit tipping altogether.
If I felt strongly that the tipping system was wrong as some people here seem to, I wouldn’t tip. I wonder why those people do? No one is putting a gun to your head. Go ahead, be brave! Say no to tipping!
Just make sure you never go to the same restaurant twice, else you may get some added ingredients...
No, I don’t tip my mechanic, not after being charged $100/hr for labor...
Our travel companions in Europe almost came to blows about restaurant tipping there, even though servers are well paid there, apparently; there was a lot of interesting psychological stuff going on between the “US percentage” vs the “just round up to the next euro is plenty” camps.
This is one of my biggest issues with tipping. It's a fairness thing. If the one making minimum wage gets a 15% tip, the one making under minimum wage needs a much bigger tip! Some cities even have full minimum wage laws. So what if I go to one of two Denny's, two miles apart, and only one is in the city limits. And I get adequate service at both.
Now I'm supposed to figure out that one of my servers has a "built-in tip" as compared to the other server? Really?
Maybe these states and regions that pass minimum wage laws are raking it in now, but it might be the chink in the tipping armor; patrons will throw up their hands in frustration and quit tipping altogether.
+1.Don't make things too complicated..... If you make the personal decision to tip (it's strictly up to you in most situations), just tip based on whatever your understanding of local customs are to the extent you're comfortable with the amount. You're not responsible for ensuring the server is receiving a fair wage, or any wage for that matter. That's what the free market economy is for.... Order and enjoy your meal. Leave a tip (or not) based on whatever standards you're comfortable with. You have no need to concern yourself an iota with the servers' total compensation package.
Agreed.You can tell the more sophisticated travelers. They are the ones who blend into the customs of where they are at the moment.
What a great recommendation for the practice of tipping: it's extortion ("pay an extra amount that we demand, or we will poison your food"). Now we see the violence inherent in the system!You couldn’t go back to the same place if you quit tipping because they would get to know you and you would get horrible service. Or who knows what would be done to your food behind the scenes.
Option 1: When in Rome, do what the Romans do.
Option 2: If you prefer to always do things your way, don't be surprised (or complain) when visitors from other countries do things the way they are used to.
You can tell the more sophisticated travelers. They are the ones who blend into the customs of where they are at the moment.
The unsophisticated traveler complains about slow service, their pizza (or other food) is not the same as the one they get from their local fast food joint at home, refuses to try the house specialty (beef tartare, duck gizzards with fennel sauce), and then overtips. The sophisticated traveler realizes these guys are pros, enjoys the new tastes sensations (snails, beef tongue, goose necks, and pastries that are not sugared to death) and rounds up.
I suppose that's the the flip side of some American restaurants automatically adding a fixed percentage to non-American's bills. Both practices are obnoxious, presumptuous, and in IMO should result in a tip of zero.I noticed the expectation that the dumb American would leave a tip.
Two probable [-]reasons[/-] excuses. Either they cater to a large number of (i) American tourists, or (ii) expense account diners. Neither excuse is acceptable.In the large European cities (Brussels, Paris, eg.) there was usually a tip line on the credit card slip. If they don't expect a tip, why is that?
That rationalization is often employed by Americans who over-tip abroad.The wait staff certainly didn’t turn down the American-style gratuity.
That rationalization is often employed by Americans who over-tip abroad.
The acceptance is unsurprising, really: few people turn down 'free money', especially when it comes from a foreigner who is perceived to have more money than brains.
Difficult to keep up with your posts when first you say one thing (“wait staff certainly didn’t turn down the American-style gratuity”) and then contradict yourself (“other waiters ... laughed and refused even a rounding-up”).
Guess you are too sophisticated for a simple fellow like me!