Tipping in restaurants (1 Viewer)

[Bryan X]

nt

 

[Glenn Overholt]

Yep, somebody is cheap. If a waiter served 4 x $50 plates in one hour and got the 15%, he/she'd get $30.

If the $30 was added on to the food, then the $50. plate would now be $57.50.

Note that the waiter is now making $30/hr + wages.

Not a bad job, if everybody forks over the 15%, but is the job worth $30/hr? Wouldn't it make more sense for the price of the food to be raised up to $57.50/ea? Then the server would get paid correctly, and still make the tips for performance.

Actually, couldn't the server be paid $20/hr and the dining place keep the other $10/or split it up between the cooks/clean-up staff?

Is it just me, or is this whole thing insane?

Glenn

 

[Evan S]

5 star service on your scale. Maybe there was something that you think was just right but the customer doesn't agree with. There is no such thing as perfect service. It can always be better

Am I a mind reader? All you have to do is ask. If you have special needs, then simply speak your mind. It's amazing how flexible a good restaurant and it's staff can be for people with special tastes, either in the preparation of your food or anything else. I can be very accomodating but if you don't tell me what you need specifically, that's your fault.

For instance, an example. I HAVE to make a mandatory swing by the table within 60 seconds of the food being served (it's one of our steps of service). When I get there I ask if everything is cooked the way the customer hoped for and if anything is wrong, I correct it if possible. I cannot tell you how many times the person told me everything is perfect upon the initial and subsequent sweeps only to complain about something at the end of the meal when it's too late for me to do anything about it. Even then, we usually offer a free desert or a discount coupon for a future visit. All you have to do is open your mouth.

 

[Steve_Tk]

If some of you want to continue to be cheap, go right on ahead.

Our opinions shouldn't matter to you.

 

[Malcolm R]

Probably because they're afraid of their food being "tampered" with if they send it back to the kitchen, or their dessert "tainted" if they complain during the meal.

 

[Charles J P]

If some of you want to continue to be cheap, go right on ahead.

Our opinions shouldn't matter to you.

LOL, good argument :rolleyes

 

[MarkHastings]

For shits and giggles: (I love playing Devils Advocate)

If 10 people each order the following from a steak house:
A Steak Dinner - $15 (approx.) x 10 people = $150
and 2 beers - $8 (approx.) x 10 people = $80
------------------------------
Total = $230 (ignoring tax)
20% Tip = $46


Now, If 10 people each order the following from the very same steak house:
A Grilled Chicken Dinner - $10 (approx.) x 10 people = $100
and 2 Cokes - $3 (approx.) x 10 people = $30
------------------------------
Total = $130 (ignoring tax)
20% Tip = $26



Now, considering it probably takes just as much effort to prepare 10 Steak Dinners and 20 beers as it does 10 Grilled Chicken Dinners and 20 cokes, I can see why it's crazy that one waiter would get $20 more tip.

Silly? Isn't it?

 

[Bryan X]

If some of you want to continue to be cheap, go right on ahead.

It's interesting how because my method of tipping may be different than yours I'm somehow 'cheap'. I have never once said how much I tip, only that I tip based on service not meal price. You assume too much.

Yes Mark, it is silly. That is why I firmly beleive in tipping based soley on the amount of service I receive and not on how much my meal costs. It's just as much about making sure the guy serving me my $15 entree gets as much as the one serving me my $25 entree assuming their service is equal.

 

[Charles J P]

How do you structure your tips then. You simply say you dont do percentages but you havent given any examples. Do you do it based on time spent in the place? We went for chinese for lunch. Chinese is always super fast, and we could have been in and out in 15 minutes, as it were, we were there for about 30. In the steakhouse I mentioned earlier you would be lucky to get out in an hour, and an hour and a half is pretty normal. So, if I were to tip $5 for both, one guy is getting $10 an hour for serving me, and the other is getting $3.30 an hour. Also, places like buffets where you dont necesarily tip quite as high b/c all they do is bring you a drink are sometimes the places where you take up the most time.

Also, I consider myself very low maintenance at restaurants. I have noticed recently that I have 3 or 4 coworkers that will drink like 3+ sodas/ice teas during a meal. I NEVER make it through more than one. Does that mean I should tip less? If I ate with just me and these three people he/she could literally bring 10 drinks to the table, but only one would be mine.

 

[Patrick Larkin]

Also, I consider myself very low maintenance at restaurants. I have noticed recently that I have 3 or 4 coworkers that will drink like 3+ sodas/ice teas during a meal. I NEVER make it through more than one. Does that mean I should tip less? If I ate with just me and these three people he/she could literally bring 10 drinks to the table, but only one would be mine.

Thats why we have to use the 15-20% system. There just is no other logical way to do it. I said in my very first post that the only problem I have with the whole "system" is paying more for a tip based on what I order - its not right, as Mark Hastings showed above.

And no one answered my other question - if I order a $200 bottle of champagne, am I expected to leave an additional $40 in the tip?

 

[Kim D]

I agree that you may get more attentive service in an upscale restaurant. But this is my point. Pay based on the level of service and how many people are in your party, NOT how much your meal cost.

If I buy a $25 bottle of wine, the tip is $3.75 at 15%.

If I buy a $250 bottle of wine, the tip is $37.50 at 15%.

(I generally tip 20-25% but looking at what the tip amount would be at 25% would depress me even more.)

The waiter gets $33.75 more for opening the second bottle. S/he can now afford to go out, order that first bottle, leave > 15% for a tip and still have change left.

What did s/he do to earn the bigger tip? Nothing. My husband knows wines and only rarely asks for assistance from the sommelier.

- kim

 

[Kim D]

And no one answered my other question - if I order a $200 bottle of champagne, am I expected to leave an additional $40 in the tip?

I was busy writing my reply and didn't see yours until after I had submitted it.

Yes, I believe it is expected that you will add $40 to the tip.

What I usually forget is that you should tip based on the total before tax.

- kim

 

[Evan S]

And no one answered my other question - if I order a $200 bottle of champagne, am I expected to leave an additional $40 in the tip?

The restaurant I work in HAS $200 bottles of wine and champagne. If someone at my tables orders a bottle that costs this much I NEVER expect that added expense to be reflected in my tip, and neither do any of my coworkers. If you do decide to include part of the gratuity to reflect this purchase, I consider it gravy. It really doesn't take me much effort to open a bottle and pour, but if you order 4 martinis, three margaritas and 2 beers, that's much more of a pain in the ass than one bottle of wine, no matter how expensive it is.

 

[Patrick_S]

Gees I was always told to subtract alcohol from the tab when figuring tips. Judging from the other replies I've been doing it wrong. Oh well it's a good thing that I'm not much of a drinker.

 

[Charles J P]

So it sounds like the best solution is to use a basic percentage, not counting very specialty but low effort extras like expensive bottles of wine. I think I use a reverse proportion to the overall expense of the meal. I might leave a $10 tip for a $50 meal, but I doubt I would leave a $40 tip for a $200 meal, especially if it was just two people. But, I wouldnt leave a $10 tip for the $200 meal either. Its not straight 20% and its not $5 per person either. One thing that is interesting, is you will even find etiquet experts dont agree on this issue. Someone who is younger and more chic might say that 20-25% is generally accepted whereas someone older might say offer a solution more like mine, which ultimately is a more frugal system.

 

[Patrick Larkin]

I HAVE to make a mandatory swing by the table within 60 seconds of the food being served (it's one of our steps of service). When I get there I ask if everything is cooked the way the customer hoped for and if anything is wrong, I correct it if possible. I cannot tell you how many times the person told me everything is perfect upon the initial and subsequent sweeps only to complain about something at the end of the meal when it's too late for me to do anything about it.

This drives me crazy. SIXTY seconds? 60 seconds is too short to even get situated let alone make any decision on the food. (I haven't ever sent food back.) My experience is that a waiter will come back in a minute, ask if everything is OK, and then chances are you won't see them again until they are asking if you want desert (add on sales for the tip). So, if you discover something isn't right in 3 minutes, you are SOL. Obviously, the level of attentiveness varies by person (as is the quality of work in most people) but I've noticed a decline in the quality of service. I chalk it up to placed understaffing and a waiter having too much to deal with most of the time. If we go to a nice place where the waiter is only dealing with 3-4 tables, then the service is SO MUCH better...

 

[MarkHastings]

I was always told to subtract alcohol from the tab when figuring tips

You're probably right about that.

But also, if you can afford a $200 bottle of wine, then the $40 extra in tip is probably not much of a concern to you in the first place

 

[Bryan X]

How do you structure your tips then. You simply say you dont do percentages but you havent given any examples. Do you do it based on time spent in the place?

Normally I'll leave $2 per person in my party. So me, the wife, 2 kids go to Red Lobster. We are at the table for about an hour, maybe a little less. Typically our bill will total $65. So the tip is $2 x 4 for a total of $8.00 under normal circumstances. This comes to 12.3% for all you percentage people. Now, if the service was just normal I'll leave it at that. If it was great, I'll add a couple bucks. If it was sub-standard, I'll leave maybe only $6. Only if it is really bad will I leave less than that. Time in the place doesn't really have any affect on my tip unless it is extreme one way or another (less than 15 min or greater than 1 hour).

Now before you all get all pi$$y about the 12.3% remember this. Example 2: Another typical meal of ours. We go to Applebees and spend $40. The waiter (all else being equal) would still get $8.00 ($2 x 4). That's 20%.

I think this is fair for a couple of reasons:

1) $8.00 for an hour or less of work is not bad for a waiter. Also consider I am not the only one paying for that hour. Likely other patrons are too. So his take for that hour is likely much more.

2) Both waiter A and B did relatively equal service for me so both got paid equally. Waiter A doesn't deserve more of a tip than B unless he DOES MORE for me than does B.

Now if I go to a very upscale place, the meal will probably cost us $100 or so. That doesn't necessarily mean that the waiter will only get $8 ( 8% ). In an upscale restaurant, I will probably get service which is well above and beyond 'normal and reasonable'. So my $8 tip will get bumped up maybe $5 - $6 if the service is beyond what I consider 'normal and reasonable'. But again, the tip is raised based on service not the price of the meal.

 

[Evan S]

If we go to a nice place where the waiter is only dealing with 3-4 tables, then the service is SO MUCH better...

My restaurant has 4 table sections max. Only the best servers with the most experience get a 5 table section and NEVER on a Thursday, Friday or Saturday night. Usually on those nights you only get 3 tables in your section.

60 seconds is usually enough time for the person to cut into their steak. Just from looking at the color, they can tell if it needs to be sent back for more flame or not. If they haven't made that assessment by 60 seconds, of course I come back momentarily thereafter. But if they HAVE made that assessment by then, every second counts to get the food back to them as quick as possible to minimize their inconvenience.

If this occurs, I of course bring a side dish of some sort on the house to appease the guest while they wait for the main entree to return.

 

[Malcolm R]

People with little kids should leave more because generally the entire booth/table area has to be power-washed and vacuumed after the family departs.