Page 5 of 6 FirstFirst 123456 LastLast
Results 61 to 75 of 81

Thread: Do you tip on carry out food?

  1. #61
    Wow. A lot of opinion and a lot of aggression in this thread. I took the time to read through the whole thing, and I have to say - there are some real misconceptions flying around here, at least with regards to 'typical' format restaurants (with tip, and no pun intended). I've seen that at least one person has pointed out that tipping waiters is not the only way they will make minimum wage (the law requires that management make up the difference if tips aren't enough), so no need to go there. However, I will suggest that those of you that insist tipping is the only way to make restaurants work read the blog of Jay Porter, part owner of the Linkery - a restaurant in San Diego that ran for 7 years with a 'no tips allowed' policy. The relevant entry:

    http://jayporter.com/dispatches/obse...rt-1-overview/

    I did my time in the service industry, and my brother spent far longer in the industry, working as everything from publican to manager of F&B at a large tourist destination hotel. He worked his way from busboy to front waiter at a 4-diamond restaurant, and everything he and I both saw in the industry is well presented in Jay's blog. I'd suggest folks take the time to read it with an open mind, it's quite illuminating.


    daniel
    Not all chemicals are bad. Without hydrogen or oxygen, for example, there would be no way to make water, a vital ingredient in beer.

  2. #62
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    NW Arkansas
    Posts
    1,951
    Blog Entries
    1
    Up front, I'm a cheap tipper. You work for WAGES not tips. At least that is my opinion. Anyway, I NEVER tip takeout, I will tip delivery pizza. Cheap yes, they didn't do anything but bring it to me. BTW, if you get 10% from me you are doing GOOD! 20% Bull!

  3. #63
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    5,582
    Quote Originally Posted by daniel lane View Post
    Wow. A lot of opinion and a lot of aggression in this thread. I took the time to read through the whole thing, and I have to say - there are some real misconceptions flying around here, at least with regards to 'typical' format restaurants (with tip, and no pun intended). I've seen that at least one person has pointed out that tipping waiters is not the only way they will make minimum wage (the law requires that management make up the difference if tips aren't enough), so no need to go there. However, I will suggest that those of you that insist tipping is the only way to make restaurants work read the blog of Jay Porter, part owner of the Linkery - a restaurant in San Diego that ran for 7 years with a 'no tips allowed' policy. The relevant entry:

    http://jayporter.com/dispatches/obse...rt-1-overview/

    I did my time in the service industry, and my brother spent far longer in the industry, working as everything from publican to manager of F&B at a large tourist destination hotel. He worked his way from busboy to front waiter at a 4-diamond restaurant, and everything he and I both saw in the industry is well presented in Jay's blog. I'd suggest folks take the time to read it with an open mind, it's quite illuminating.
    daniel
    To me the relevant entry is very early in the blog "we had turned the Linkery into a fairly interesting experiment: a table-service restaurant, serious about the quality of its food and service, that would not accept tips and instead charged a fixed percentage of the bill to cover the cost of table service.". I stopped reading after that. They eliminated the tip with a fixed percentage charge to cover the cost. Wow! what an enlightened approach.

  4. #64
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Minneapolis, MN
    Posts
    5,426
    A bunch of golf clubs and country clubs locally charge a 15% service charge on all meals in their restaurants. None of the service charge goes to the wait staff and there is no tipping as I understand it. The wait staff are paid a little higher than minimum wage. There was a lawsuit against the clubs claiming some or all of that fee should go to the wait staff, but I have no idea how the courts ruled.

  5. #65
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    NW Arkansas
    Posts
    1,951
    Blog Entries
    1
    Quote Originally Posted by Charles Wiggins View Post
    There are problems with that approach. For most mom & pops, if they pay a great server in the same wage range as a so-so server then eventually they're not going to have any great servers. They'll go somewhere else where they can get compensated for their outstanding efforts.

    If you're going to include all of the server's compensation in the cost of the meal should someone getting takeout pay the same price as someone getting the sit-down service?

    By allowing tipping you allow the server to set their own wage. I've known outstanding servers who often made over $200 a night just in tips, and that was back in the 1980s. Who is going to pay someone $200 a day to serve food?
    There is only one problem with this.... If you tip, as a LOT of you guys say, 20% for good service and, what? 10% for poor? You STILL are tipping! and REWARDING marginal performance. If you left NOTHING for poor service you are thought of as cheap or reprobate by the server. The mentality of the wait staff is that they DESERVE tips if they bring you the order and maybe fill your glass once. Sorry for the rant, but what I HATE is a waiter/tress, walk up to me with the fork in my mouth and ask me if I need anything. Yeah, let me chew and swallow that last bite first. Can't you walk up and WAIT a second before you ask your STUPID question?

  6. #66
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    NW Arkansas
    Posts
    1,951
    Blog Entries
    1
    Quote Originally Posted by Scott Shepherd View Post
    Why would they? They'd getting people to work for them, essentially for zero cost out of their pocket. Why in the world would you expect someone to put people on the payroll when they can keep them off the payroll? That's exactly my point.

    I have zero experience running a restaurant, but from the things I've seen in many restaurants over my lifetime, there's no doubt why many of them go out of business. Not because they can't make it because of paying wages, but because they can't run a business because they are clueless. I don't think you have to worry about it, I have no intention of opening a restaurant. If I did, it would be a tip free zone and the wait staff would be paid quite well. That model works for every other business type out there. I find it hard to believe that the food business is this magical, special, can't be run like a normal business kind of place.
    Clueless is the key. You want to know where there are no tips that works? Europe. Now, there are places that are Americanized and tips are somewhat expected, but they are NOT the norm. Wait staff get decent wages and the service is on par with ANY service I have ever received in the US.

  7. #67
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Glenelg, MD
    Posts
    12,256
    Blog Entries
    1
    Quote Originally Posted by Pat Barry View Post
    They eliminated the tip with a fixed percentage charge to cover the cost. Wow! what an enlightened approach.
    Read the entire article (6 regular posts, 4 postscripts, and a couple of afterthoughts). It was a great (albeit long) read, and they made a number of very interesting observations... the main one that sticks in my mind is the amount of tip had no correlation to quality of service. Read it, you'll understand why.
    Hi-Tec Designs, LLC -- Owner (and self-proclaimed LED guru )

    Trotec 80W Speedy 300 laser w/everything
    CAMaster Stinger CNC (25" x 36" x 5")
    USCutter 24" LaserPoint Vinyl Cutter
    Jet JWBS-18QT-3 18", 3HP bandsaw
    Robust Beauty 25"x52" wood lathe w/everything
    Jet BD-920W 9"x20" metal lathe
    Delta 18-900L 18" drill press

    Flame Polisher (ooooh, FIRE!)
    Freeware: InkScape, Paint.NET, DoubleCAD XT
    Paidware: Wacom Intuos4 (Large), CorelDRAW X5

  8. #68
    Quote Originally Posted by John Lifer View Post
    Can't you walk up and WAIT a second before you ask your STUPID question?
    If it bothered me that much, I think I'd just get take out.

  9. #69
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Location
    Virginia
    Posts
    3,178
    Quote Originally Posted by Brian Elfert View Post
    A bunch of golf clubs and country clubs locally charge a 15% service charge on all meals in their restaurants. None of the service charge goes to the wait staff and there is no tipping as I understand it.
    Illegal, and restaurants are getting assessed major fines for just this sort of wage theft.

  10. #70
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Location
    Virginia
    Posts
    3,178
    Quote Originally Posted by John Lifer View Post
    Up front, I'm a cheap tipper. You work for WAGES not tips. At least that is my opinion.
    You do understand what the typical wait staff wage is, right?

  11. #71
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Location
    Virginia
    Posts
    3,178
    Quote Originally Posted by Mike Hollingsworth View Post
    I tip well.
    I'm welcome everywhere

    at some point cheap becomes selfish
    +1; such a bunch of skinflints, here!

  12. #72
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    Hillsboro, OR
    Posts
    1,415
    Blog Entries
    3
    Quote Originally Posted by Frank Drew View Post
    You do understand what the typical wait staff wage is, right?
    +1. Below minimum wage hourly wage is typical... if their tips fall short then the restaurant makes up the difference.

  13. #73
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Location
    Virginia
    Posts
    3,178
    I agree with Scott that a better system than tipping would be simply to pay the servers a normal wage. How many of us here would tolerate how much we got paid being totally up to the whim of our customers? You do your job you should get paid, period, not hope you smiled enough at the businessmen at table 3.

    For what it's worth, wait staff cheating the tax man on actual tipped income is much less common than it used to be since credit card payment became the norm.

  14. #74
    Join Date
    Sep 2004
    Location
    British Columbia
    Posts
    88
    First time I ate at a restaurant in China I left a tip. The waitress chased me down outside the restaurant to return the tip because she was afraid of being accused of stealing the change. She would not accept the money.

  15. #75
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Minneapolis, MN
    Posts
    5,426
    Quote Originally Posted by Frank Drew View Post
    Illegal, and restaurants are getting assessed major fines for just this sort of wage theft.
    Is there a law that says a service charge on a restaurant bill has to go to the servers? They did get sued, but I don't recall the outcome. This wasn't an automatic gratuity for large groups like some restaurants, but something that was on every bill.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •