Ethics: Mandatory gratuity (tipping)

[Delta4Embassy]

How is a mandatory tip anything but an extra tax? Shouldn't tips be for exceptional service? And not for ordinary service? I understand wait-staff get paid very low hourly wages since they're supposed tog et tips, but it was their choice to become so employed. I'd much rather get up and go get my own food (since I probably do for the salad bar anyway) than pay an extra tax for my meal. If waiters are doing something superfluous I'd gladly do for a cheaper bill, or a trained monkey (as in Japan,) or automation could do, and not in any extraordinary way, why should they be tipped?

 

[Mr Natural]

I spent some time in New Zealand many years ago when I was in the Navy. At that time (the early '70s) tipping the wait staff was frowned upon because it suggested that the owner of the establishment was not paying his staff enough.

I always liked that idea.

And how about the tip jar you see everywhere nowadays. "Hey kid, if it's your job to stand behind the counter and slice my bagel, you're not waiting on me, I'm waiting on you."

 

[Chuckt]

It is a social norm.

They are providing you a service.

Their employer pays them to serve. You pay them for waiting on you.

If their employer had to pay them more, what do you think your food would cost? It would be added on, right?

Some employers are taking their tips so I know people who pay them in cash.

 

[Delta4Embassy]

Only if they're pretty and sitting on my lap taking my order are they providing a desireable service. Just as soon get my own damn plate than be gouged an extra 20% on an already exorbiantly priced meal.

 

[martybegan]

Only if they're pretty and sitting on my lap taking my order are they providing a desireable service. Just as soon get my own damn plate than be gouged an extra 20% on an already exorbiantly priced meal.

Then don't eat out, simple solution.

Tips are a part of the transaction of dining out or going to a bar. In other countries they pay their waiters and bartenders more so tipping is not needed.

 

[martybegan]

It is a social norm.

They are providing you a service.

Their employer pays them to serve. You pay them for waiting on you.

If their employer had to pay them more, what do you think your food would cost? It would be added on, right?

Some employers are taking their tips so I know people who pay them in cash.

I always tip in cash, even when paying for a meal with debit/credit. I also write "cash" on the line so it doesn't look like I didn't leave a tip.

 

[hobelim]

Only if they're pretty and sitting on my lap taking my order are they providing a desireable service. Just as soon get my own damn plate than be gouged an extra 20% on an already exorbiantly priced meal.

They need tips to survive, they earn tips so you can eat without cooking or cleaning up. Why begrudge giving what they earn? Maybe if they were paid by their employers more than $3 dollars an hour they wouldn't need tips from you?

You don't want to tip people who serve you? stay home and clean up after yourself.

sheesh! some people..........

 

[rightwinger]

For many of my meals....who really needs a waiter?

Stick an Ipad on each table with the menu on it and let me punch in what I want
When I'm done eating....let me swipe my credit card at the table and leave

 

[TakeAStepBack]

For many of my meals....who really needs a waiter?

Stick an Ipad on each table with the menu on it and let me punch in what I want
When I'm done eating....let me swipe my credit card at the table and leave

So in your mind, if you punch it up on an Ipad or something similar, the food will magically appear on the table? Makes sense for you..

 

[Mudflap]

I'll tip at a sit-down meal, but don't tip at a fast food joint.

 

[Delta4Embassy]

I tip for special above and beyond service. I only object to tipping when it's figured in to my bill automatically. Or if I'm guilted into doing it 'just because.' Hey here's a tip, go back and finish your education so you don't have to make $2/hour and suck up to people.

"Get back to work! You're laborers. You're SUPPOSED to be laboring! ...That's what you get for not having an education."
- "Real Genius"

 

[hobelim]

I tip for special above and beyond service. I only object to tipping when it's figured in to my bill automatically. Or if I'm guilted into doing it 'just because.' Hey here's a tip, go back and finish your education so you don't have to make $2/hour and suck up to people.

"Get back to work! You're laborers. You're SUPPOSED to be laboring! ...That's what you get for not having an education."
- "Real Genius"

Pssst!

you know, some people can read what you wrote.

 

[DGS49]

The compensation of servers is intrinsically impacted by minimum wage laws. Servers are a special category and their employers are permitted (and expected) to pay them less than $3/hr, on the presumption that the difference between their paid hourly rate and the statutory mininimum wage (for everybody else) will be made up by the tips they earn.

Thus, a tip of approximately 14% is a part of their compensation that your are ethically obliged to pay, unless the SERVER has been conspicuously deficient in providing the required services.

Mandatory tips for groups of a certain number (or larger) are appropriate because large groups tend to occupy table space for twice as long as typical patrons, thus limiting the opportunity for servers to earn more in tips from replacement customers.

If you go to a restaurant not expecting to pay the additional 1/7 of your tab to the server then you are uninformed and possibly worse (selfish, unkind, ungracious, spiteful, and cheap). Stay home.

Tangentially, I (being a cheapskate of great renown) resent the "Tip Jars" that one sees in walk-up eateries like Starbuck's, Panera, Brueger's and so on. The "baristas" (and whatever other titles they have) are NOT servers, and are thus entitled to the standard statutory minimum wage. Most make more than that, judging by their appearance and demeanor. Tipping them should only be for extraordinary service, but makes no sense in any event, because the contents of the Tip Jars is shared socialistically. Pity.

Tips, when appropriate, should also consider unusual factors unrelated to amount of the bill. If you are dining with friends and will be occupying the table for a much longer time than usual, an extra tip is appropriate. If you have small children with you, or anyone who requires special attention, or will make an extraordinary mess that will have to be cleaned after you leave. Leave an extra tip. If you are like my brother-in-law and chronically flirt with the waitresses (and they don't pour water in your crotch), leave an extra tip.

You get the idea.

It ain't optional (you cheap bastard).

 

[rightwinger]

For many of my meals....who really needs a waiter?

Stick an Ipad on each table with the menu on it and let me punch in what I want
When I'm done eating....let me swipe my credit card at the table and leave

So in your mind, if you punch it up on an Ipad or something similar, the food will magically appear on the table? Makes sense for you..

I don't care

Someone can drop it off or I can get it when it is ready. No big deal and not much service either way

If a waiter comes to my table and explains a dish that I really enjoy, or explains what is in it ...he has done great service
If all he does is hand me a menu and takes my order...I don't really need him

 

[DGS49]

One of my favorite little restaurants recently changed its business model. In the past, you would come in, go up to the counter, pick your meal from the menu and order it at the cash register. A server wold then bring your food from the kitchen.

Now, you are seated by a host or hostess, and the order is taken, and food is served in the usual way for a "sit down" restaurant.

Since the food is exceptional, the servers were cheerful, and we liked the place (owners are a married couple with two small children - they are both grads of a local culinary school), we used to leave a tip of 15% in a tip jar. Now we leave it on the table, as per normal practice.

I wonder if the change had anything to do with them paying the servers less than MW. If they were not technically servers, then they should have been paid MW. Most of the servers are students at the local culinary institute.

Hmmm.

 

[editec]

How is a mandatory tip anything but an extra tax?

TAX?

Extra charge maybe.

The government doesn't get it, ergo...not a tax.

 

[Abishai100]

The Anti-Hero Beaker

Ya know, you can argue that using the tipping requirement question helps you feel more bright-eyed about fast food establishments such as Burger King which have become the hallmark of modern age money.

"When I grow up, I want to become the Cheeseburglar." -Anonymous

 

[September]

I reserve my tips for those exceptional human beings who have proven themselves worthy of such special favors from me.

​

 

[TheGreatGatsby]

I would never regularly attend a restaurant that requires mandatory tips; so would most people. And that's why few restaurants engage in that practice.

 

[TheGreatGatsby]

How is a mandatory tip anything but an extra tax? Shouldn't tips be for exceptional service? And not for ordinary service? I understand wait-staff get paid very low hourly wages since they're supposed tog et tips, but it was their choice to become so employed. I'd much rather get up and go get my own food (since I probably do for the salad bar anyway) than pay an extra tax for my meal. If waiters are doing something superfluous I'd gladly do for a cheaper bill, or a trained monkey (as in Japan,) or automation could do, and not in any extraordinary way, why should they be tipped?

Listen to the liberal complain about wasteful taxes