Agitated Customer Leaves Note Expressing Feelings Against Tipping Servers

Opposing Views ^ | 06/04/2014 | By Dominic Kelly

[Responsibility2nd]

A picture circulating online shows what appears to be a note left for a server at a restaurant in which the customer rants about why they decided not to leave a tip.

Although the source of the letter has not been confirmed or reported, the picture has angered people all over, with many saying that a liberal-minded person had to be responsible for writing it.

“I do not tip anywhere because the law governing tipping causes pay inequality between servers and kitchen staff,” wrote the anonymous tipper. “My meal was made possible by an entire team of kitchen staff, servers, managers, and the establishment itself. Therefore, everyone involved should be paid appropriately out of the cost of the product I purchase. I find it unreasonable that only servers have legal rights to earn tips. Therefore, I do not tip and ask that the establishment raises the cost of food and drinks to pay everyone appropriately for their work. Tipping also encourages both customers and servers to stereotype and discriminate. Appropriate salary for servers should be the responsibility of the establishment and not the mood, or habit, or any random decisions of the customers.”

Sites like Tell Me Now have started to speculate who the letter could be from, and, according to them, it has to have been written by a liberal.

“It’s one thing to have certain beliefs when it comes to equality and what not, but to punish someone who did a good job for you because you think someone else is getting screwed is ridiculous,” writes the website. “However it falls right in line with the liberal/progressive mentality, which is bring everyone down to the lowest common denominator so that nobody feels like they’ve been treated unfairly. These people are going to be the death of this nation.”

The picture has now gone viral, and even though nobody seems to know for sure if it’s even real, it has undeniably sparked a heated debate on income inequality and wages in America.

 

[Responsibility2nd]

How long has it been since we had a good thread on tipping?

Well, that too long.

[GeronL]

maybe weeks

I oppose tipping.

[Responsibility2nd]

So. Did a "liberal-minded person" write this?

Or a conservative with a sarcastic sense of humor?

“I do not tip anywhere because the law governing tipping causes pay inequality..."

[CodeToad]

Um, I think the note writer is an ignorant idiot. I don’t know of any place that does not pool tips in some fashion with the kitchen staff, who also do not earn less than minimum wage as do servers.

[bubbacluck]

I’m pretty sure that the waiters already share their tips with all involved. At least they used to.

[Steve_Seattle]

I am a good tipper even though I agree with most of what the writer says. Why should the cook who prepares the food earn less than the person who takes the food to the table?

[blackdog]

I've worked in kitchens and waited / bartended.

Trust me! The waiter or waitress makes or breaks your meal. Think of the server as your advocate, attorney, food inspector, and customer service representative. I've seen many a meal the waiter or waitress threw right back at the kitchen staff, refusing to leave the kitchen to take it to the table. A good server will also tell you what not to order if you know how to ask the questions.

[Steve_Seattle]

"I don’t know of any place that does not pool tips in some fashion with the kitchen staff"

I don't know of any place that DOES pool the tips.

[LRoggy]

Could easily have been a European transplant . . . in many European countries tipping is not a big thing.

[JimRed]

“I find it unreasonable that only servers have legal rights to earn tips...”

What BS. There is no law that says you cannot tip the kitchen staff if you so choose. Just a cheap liberal moron looking to justify his cheapness.

[miele man]

Hmmm. Is this letter part of an organized plan to push for raising the minimum wage?

[lowbridge]

“which the customer rants about why they decided not to leave a tip.”

Because the customer was a cheapskate liberal.

[stremba]

I was unaware that “only the server has the legal right to earn tips”, and I highly doubt that this is true. What law is there that prevents me from giving my own money to anyone that I darn well please. If this letter writer really felt that strongly about this issue, why the heck didn’t he ask to see the cook, dish washer, busboy, etc. and give each of them a tip?

[dainbramaged]

Anyone who declares they “never tip” is a lowdown cheapskate ahole. If the service and food are good, I tip 20 percent of the check.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

‘zackly.
Cheap.

[all the best]

This was left by a very unhappy person who sees problems everywhere. Mind you r own business. How and how much the restaurant workers are paid is none of your business. Judge not. Who are you to judge these matters.
Tipping is a brilliant system. To Insure Proper Service. Virtually all the servers I have ever encountered have done a good job. Efficient, personable and professional. Would they all have done such a good job if a tip were not on the line? Not likely. More likely they would be like most other workers (especially younger) with a sense of entitlement.

[samtheman]

I was going to post a link to youtube Reservoir Dogs - Tipping Scene but the language is inappropriate.

Anyway, the writer of the note is a moron.

[Responsibility2nd]

That’s what I thought. But see post 4 and 5.

Evidently some places do share tips. But how is that fair to the servers who do not even earn minimum wage?

[lowbridge]

As I understand it, in some places the waiters/waitresses share a certain percentage of their tips with the busboys (the employee whose job it is to clear your table of all the dirty dishes, glasses, and silverware, and prepare the table for the next customer)

[dfwgator]

Mr. Pink agrees.