Posted on 01/07/2010 9:51:07 AM PST by big black dog
I always tip. But I have sometimes wondered if this makes sense when I am in a smaller ethnic restaurant where the waitperson is obviously the owner or a member of the owner’s family.
Because they don't normally tip.
If they’re a member of the owners family definitely tip, most folks that have relatives working for them do so because relatives are cheap so they’re probably making less than a normal employee would. If it’s the owner then it’s all about how much you liked the overall experience, you can chose not to tip an owner because the pain sucks, it’s all their fault.
I’m not joking. In your case, you ask the waitress why you had to stare at your meal for five minutes and then tip accordingly.
You’ve got choices, and so does the restaurant. Waitresses SHOULD be waiting on their best tippers. That’s where their and their owner’s best interests lie.
If that’s your first meal at that restaurant, then you likely won’t return. If you’ve been dining there for sometime and you haven’t been tipping, then little wonder why your meal was a breeding ground for flies for five minutes.
As an owner, I service all clients, but not all clients are equal.
Why would I expect my waitress to give the same level of service to some service thief when I have other clients tipping up to 30%?
If my waitress has to explain the economics of that situation to me in order to back her play, then I don’t deserve to be in business.
This owner handled it completely wrong. I would have invited the idiot back. I would have waved a friendly hello to him as he came in. I would have then told my waitstaff, including the bar, to forget he existed. Fill the salt and pepper first, clean the menus, then take a break - if he’s STILL there, then bring him water and ask him what he wants to drink.
The man’s getting exactly the service he’s willing to pay for.
What a cheap bastard! He should just stay home and eat freezer-burned pot pies and drink out-of-date Milwaukee’s Bests. Then he can wh*ck off over a twenty-year-old Playboy.
Cheep B*****d!
Anyone altering a credit card receipt should be terminated by the owner. However, the owner was right in asking him not to come back. Tipping ain't goin' away and this guy is an idiot to think it's going to change.
Did I touch a nerve, or are you always rude?
FYI, I performed my job well and was tipped generously for it. Nevertheless, I’m willing to recognize that it didn’t require much learning or intelligence.
“You might not be aware — but there’s lots of types of bars between fine restaurants & college bars.”
Notwithstanding your condescending remark, who’s talking about college bars? I’ve been to bars ranging from utter dives on up to the Plaza Hotel. I contend that except for high-end restauants and bars (where they earn their money), the bartenders in your typical neighborhood establishment know all they need to know after a week on the job.
I totally disagree. It sounds like the owner respects his waitstaff, and I would expect that they will return the favor through increased loyatly / work ethic. He stood up for his employees; good for him.
Actually, it is the point ... you’ve been complaining that some service workers are being treated “unfairly”, because they don’t get tips.
It’s a baseline. If you want to tip more go ahead. There’s a short order place I used to frequent that was insanely cheap like the place you discuss, I usually gave them $20 even though it was nearly impossible for the meal to cost more than $10. But it was $20 worth of food as far as I was concerned so what the heck.
At those really inexpensive breakfast/lunch joints, I’ve several times left a 100% tip.
Here’s what I’ve heard:
General rule: Breakfast*: 10%. Lunch: 15% Dinner: 20%
*”I’m going to work” breakfast. Not “I’m finishing a pub crawl” breakfast.
Why: Breakfast sees a lot of turnover in guests during the period. Lunch less so. Dinner least.
I'm not the one maligning bartenders as people with easy jobs & limited intelligence. Anyone who routinely deals with drunks & the public in general deserves all they can get.
FYI, I performed my job well
Make up your mind. Did you perform your job well or did you get drunk & carouse with your customers, as you said before?
I am from the northeast and that is fairly common here...perhaps our difference on this issue relates to the culture of where we're from.
But the way I figure, when I travel for business, I am staying in a room that can be anywhere from 125 to 300/night and a minimum wage woman who works hard (likely helping support a family) deserves a few bucks. I will, at times, go down to the desk and change a 5 or 10 so I can leave a few singles, come back to the room and then go back down and check out.
I guess it was my mistake to think this was a universal thing...
...And as others have said, the general rule is the baseline for tippong. Get a great breakfast cheap? Leave more! Lousy service? Leave 5% or 10%. My own rule is, regardless of where you go for what meal or what you end up getting, be prepared to leave a 20% gratuity to your own bill.
You’re putting words in my mouth. I never said tending bar was a path to riches.
I simply was attempting to illustrate that it took me several years out in the business world before I was able to earn what I did as a young, inexperienced, and non-degreed bartender.
Sounds like a great night for a college guy...
You are free to do so, of course. It comes down to whether one views a tip as voluntary or mandatory. If we don't agree on the basic premise, there's no point in discussing it.
The owner is free, of course, to follow any policy he pleases. In this case, I think posting the policy would be appropriate.
If he doesn't want to, then I would question his motive...and his honesty. He obviously does not view it as voluntary.
I call it a sense of entitlement. What would you call it, when wait staff adds their own tip onto the ticket...twice?
I think there's no other word for it...and an inappropriate sense of entitlement is a flag flown by losers and looters. It's poison to individuals and to societies.
I understand the guy goes there to visit friends. It seems to me that tipping may be the price of admission. If he chooses not to, it's a simple decision; it's not proof of moral decay or defect. I am amazed at the name calling and invective aimed at him.
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