Posted on 02/27/2012 12:04:08 PM PST by Repeat Offender
Just when you may have thought the ongoing battle between the 99% and the 1% was dying down, it may have been reignited. A wealthy banker left a $1.33 tip on a $133 lunch at the True Food Kitchen restaurant in Newport Beach, California.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
I've had that happen, and to prevent being burned by an angry boss, I went back and paid the tip later, discreetly.
Federal Minimum Wage Act mandates $7.25/hr. Some states pay more than that...like Washington State, where it's $9.04/hr.
One day at lunch saw what I figure the employer pay the bill and tip and as the boss walked away from the table, the employee a few seconds behind quickly grabbed the tip and stuff it in his pocket as he walked away from the table.
That doesn’t surprise me. The guy probably lies to the boss all the time, and will eventually get sacked for it.
You’re very welcome.
First off, thanks for ignoring my many typos, and I’m sorry for my impatient tone, but I was getting ready to eat, and the first post I made didn’t come through, and got erased. So I was a little miffed at starting over. This topic is also a bit of a pet peeve of mine, because there are several editorials written into the local paper each month about this very issue, and the entitled youngsters get upset that they’re not making 6-figures (that’s entirely possible in Vegas, where I’m originally from).
Oh, and yes, as you said, I have waited tables, for years, as a matter of fact. I have done everything in restaurant service from dish washing to being a cook, cashier, server, delivery driver, wait staff, supervisor, assistant manager to General Manager (over multiple locations).
As I said in an earlier post, I rarely eat out anymore. The service in the area I live is terrible, perhaps the worst in my experience. I have won an award from the chamber of commerce in Las Vegas, including breakfast with the mayor. When working for a large restaurant, I was employee of the month on occasion, and I have also had out of towners write into the paper to name me by name. I worked for one restaurant chain, and had more comment cards sent into the corporate office than all other employees at all others stores combined for nearly a decade (all positive). I’m not trying to toot my horn, but rather qualify that I understand good, and bad, service. When I was younger, I would always tip (being from Las Vegas, where service is great), regardless of service, because I knew that everybody has a bad day. I’ve lived in my current area (there are multiple small towns, but only one large, main, one) for the better part of a decade, and not only is the food not very good, but the service is terrible. At first I would just tip my minimum (15-20%) if the service wasn’t good. But then I began to not tip when I would have really bad wait staff. (Only once or twice have I had really “good” staff here, the rest varied from, pretty bad to, “don’t come back”).
Anyway, that’s why I have the pet peeve. In places where I have to hail another server because mine’s busy flirting with college boys, or I have to go looking for someone to get me a drink because my server is in the back, texting, and on and on, I figure, “Why bother?” I was, after all, a cook, so I can make it at home, for half the price, and exactly to my taste. That having been said, I think we should get rid of the whole tipping process altogether. Someone higher up in the thread said that if we did that, then we’d have food cost 30% more. That’s pretty inflated. A well run restaurant has between 20-24% labor costs. Well, it’s full service and you remove the cooks, supervisors, dishwashers, etc. who aren’t paid in tips, then if you raised your servers to $10/hour, you may see a 2-4% cost increase, depending on what your meals cost in the first place. If a waitress is serving 5 tables/hour, and in theory gets an 8 dollar/hour raise, then each table pays about $1.60 more per meal. Now, that depends on the number of people sitting at the table, but let’s say it was for 3 people, or 50 cents a plate. Well, if each person orders $15 of food, then the cost goes up by about 3.5%. So it depends on how much you’d pay them, and the demographics, etc. But I’d rather pay the 3.5% and not hear all the yapping about the 15%, 20%, or 25% now being asked for as a tip. I know this post was lengthy, but that’s why I don’t agree with tipping at all. However, the side consequence is that restaurants are very competitive, especially right now, and many cannot afford the labor cost, or to raise prices. So, there’s probably no really good solution to all the problems in the situation.
Excellent point. I made a comment outlining that further down the thread, but sadly, it was full of typos. Thanks for making that clear and concise.
Excellent point. I made a comment outlining that point, further down the thread, but sadly, it was full of typos. Thanks for making that clear and concise.
I’ve had that happen a few times. Once it was the guys brother in law (I knew the main man, as he was a regular, and explained he had family visiting). It was a huge group of 15+ people that ook a long time to set up and break down, and left a huge mess. The BIL waited until the rest of the family left out the doors, and then he took the tip that the regular guy had left me. I was pretty hot about it. More than one incident like that in my time, too.
Tipping should not become an entitlement. I consider it an insult and ripoff to be required to pay over and above the bill. I do not tip my teller, banker, grocer, cashier at checkout, car repair mechanic, my handyman, my mailman, garbage collector and may other people who provide services to me.
Best of luck getting a case put together.
And never insult the people handling your food. Being right won’t stop snot in your food. Or worse. If you frequent a place, make sure you treat the help good.
Yes it is extortion, but larger firms do the same thing to their customers all the time.
I haven't eaten at a Sizzler in 30 years or a Johnny Rockets in probably 10, and as I recall, California Cafe is a "fast casual" where you order at the counter, pay, and then go sit and wait for your number to be called. The basic rule is that any place that has a waiter who comes to where I'm sitting, who takes my order, and who brings a check at the end is someone who gets a tip. It has nothing to do with "high end," since I also tip at the little breakfast spot around the corner from my house.
30% is about right. You forgot taxes for wages that the restaurant would have to pay.
I know of a place that tried it, and that was the result. Also, they had to pay the wait staff more because to attract good help. In the end they went back to tips, because it was cheaper for them.
Rich, arrogant, and unable to read a menu is no way to go through life.
lol.
“Get a real job” was already taken
Go to the corner and shake a metal cup. Those are also called tips?
It should remain voluntary.
No-one is going to work for $2.13 an hour, and nobody does.
I bet in states where the gratuity is mandatory the service really stinks.
Just out of curiosity, do you mean stiffed, as in the tip, or stiffed, as in the check?
“So proudly does he wear his 1% badge of honor that he tips exactly 1% every time..”
Excellent!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.