[At _War_With_Liberals]

It's a free market. The idea that a 15% tip is a minimum would be like a 15% tax on food. People are free to not tip at all. No one ever criticizes the restaurants that pay 3.00 an hour and expect consumers to share their payroll expense.

If 2 people have a $300 dinner, the idea that a waiter should get +45 for 15 minutes of actual work is ridiculous.

[Ann Archy]

What does a massuese get paid for 15 minutes of work??? A lot more than $45....same with a personal trainer....hair dresser...etc. Look....15% is the CUSTOM in this country...pay less if the service is poor and pay more if the service is great...your choice.....otherwise go to a smorgasbord or cafeteria where no tipping is required. (you still should leave $1.00 a person for clearing off the dirty dishes.)

[staytrue]

Having known a few waitresses, a lot of establishments pool the waitresses tips and from the pool, the doorman, the hostess, the cooks, and the cleanup boys get their cut of the tips. So the 45 dollar tip you leave may not always go to the waiter.

[edayna]

I don't get the tipping thing, anyway, never have. In any other job, you either do the work well or you don't get a raise, or you eventually get fired, and you get paid a solid check.

"To Insure Proper Service" doesn't make sense, because you tip *after* the service, not before, and may never be there again. And even if you are there again, what's the odds you'll get the same server who remembers your propensity to tip anyway?

I hate tips. I've never been into haggling, either. Just give me the price, and I'll decide what I want to buy. I hate commissions too. Just pay employees a decent salary and supervise their performance to make sure they're doing the job right.

[Maccabee]

I wish you nothing but comparable service.

[undeniable logic]

It's a free market. The idea that a 15% tip is a minimum would be like a 15% tax on food. People are free to not tip at all. No one ever criticizes the restaurants that pay 3.00 an hour and expect consumers to share their payroll expense.

If 2 people have a $300 dinner, the idea that a waiter should get +45 for 15 minutes of actual work is ridiculous.

I don't think you are looking at this in the correct way. You are correct it is a free market, and the free market has decided that an appropriate compensation structure should be stuctured so that the quality of service factors into the compensation of servers. If everyone decided that a 5% tip would be appropriate, rather than a 15% tip - the restaurant would have to up the prices by 10% to fairly compensate their servers. The amount paid by customers would not change, nor would the amound paid to servers - the only difference is that compensation would be less dependent on quality of service and thus it is reasonable to expect a lower quality of service.

In a similar manner, one expects that a more expensive meal would include a higher quality of service - it is for this reason that a percentage of cost of a meal is an appropriate mechanism for determining servers salaries. Do you expect to pay the same for service at Ruths Chris as you would at Waffle House? I doubt you expect to get the same quality of service. Also, in casual dining, the server tends to get the entire tip, while in high end restaurants, it is split between servers, bartenders, busboys, etc.

It is hypocritical, for those with left-leaning political ideals to consistantly tip low, when they know that the current compensation structure for a server is designed around tipping. It is in a sense, trying to get a meal without paying for service and it is the servers, not the businesses that suffer.

With this being said, I do not believe that 15% is the minimum tip. I look at 15% as the tip for average service. If a server goes out of their way to please me, I will tip 20% or more. If a server does not provide an adequate level of service and is rude, I have no problem leaving 5% or less. If we always tipped exactly 15%, than we are defeating the entire purpose of having this type of compensation structure.

[jwh_Denver]

People are free to not tip at all.

If I owned a restaurant and if a customer did not leave a tip on the 2nd time I'd tell them we don't want their cheapskate business. You reap what you sew cheapskate. Would you go to a restaurant where you knew the service charges were in the bill for $15/hr? Bet you wouldn't.

How about delivery drivers? A lot of people don't even think that a driver has to spend his/her money to get somebody's order to them. Unless tipped they paid to get your food to you.

[zarf]

You ain't neva been a waiter sir or madame. You suck.

[jocon307]

"The idea that a 15% tip is a minimum would be like a 15% tax on food."

ACK!!!!!!!!!!!!! Here we go with the 'tipping wars' again.

Look, in this country it is customary to tip (approx. 12-15%) for service by waiters, etc. For food. My hubby can figure it all out exactly, how much for food, how much for drinks, etc. But you know what, it all works out to 15%.

Now, pay the lady or gentleman, and if they are AWFUL, don't pay them, or if they are GREAT, pay more. But don't get up on a high horse about it, because our entire "dining out experience" assumes you'll leave a tip.

Don't like it? Move to France, and let your grandma die in her overheated apartment.