Most liked posts in thread: The Ubiquitous Tip Jar

I think I tip quite well at restaurants, but what get me upset is when I pay a server with cash and they ask if I want change. I am more likely to leave a bigger tip if they just bring my change and say thank you.

 

i tip base on service, If i have to wait.. the tip goes down

 

Of course I am a male chauvinist pig, so I just tip based on the bra size.

 

Tipping is ridiculous. The system totally sucks. Why are customers forced to subsidize the wages of restaurant workers? And why are the workers taxed on wages they may or may not have received? There's got to be something unconstitutional about that.

In a restaurant or bar, I tip well - usually 20%. Higher if I am a regular and they treat me well (remember my drink order, greet me by name, treat me like a friend). I also tip delivery drivers. If I get bad service, I always make a point to leave a very small tip - like a few coins - so they know I didn't forget and that I was displeased.

But I'll never tip a dry cleaner, mini-mart worker, or other misc. worker. They have a job, they can either do it or not. If they don't like how little they make, then maybe they should do what I did: WORK HARDER AND GET A BETTER JOB! (It's called bettering yourself rather than relying on society to take care of you.) I don't get tipped for doing my job. Why should anyone else?

Also, why are tips taxed? Are they not charity? Charitable donations aren't taxed are they?

 

Wait, I take that back. I did tip my dry cleaner once.

Why?

Because I had stupidly left a bank deposit envelope with over $1,000 in cash in my suit jacket. Every penny was there when I picked it up. They deserved a tip for not ripping me off. I had no idea where I had left that deposit. I thought it was gone for good and I'd have never know if they had kept it.

 

Sounds like they didn't really clean your jacket.

 

Tips are so the employer can under-pay workers. It is just a sneaky way of making you think the product or service is less expensive. When you look at the prices on a menu do you ever add the tip when contemplating what to get? It is the same psychology as pricing $19.95 instead of $20.

 

Not trying to speak for Nathan but it seems he was p oed
about the audacity of the person behind him telling hem what he should have done.
That would have pis d me off too.
I have waited tables and tended bar and do tend to be generous when served well and quickly, i take into consideration that most are making min wage(in CA that is $8 )
but it should be based on service and quality, not expected,
the penny idea is good, your drawing paul is great,
boxcars

 

I kinda look for a tip jar to put the unwanted change - I guess I'm kind of a change snob, as I just don't like the jangly nature of this stuff in a pocket (I do keep quarters, mostly). That said, I agree with everybody in that how does ringing up my purchase justify a tip? I recall the snarly "thanks" for the $.06 change I tossed in a "tip" jar. I asked "What do you mean?" and got a snarly "That ain't gonna buy me lunch!". So I did a Nathan and asked "What did you do for a tip, REALLY??". I got no answer so I got my $.06 out of the tip jar and just dealt with the jangly nature of the weights in my pocket.

Trying to avoid any mention of our current national leadership and socialism in the same sentence, just where do these clerks and cashiers get off? What - I owe them something for them doing their job? Not likely. When I find a cashier or clerk who exhibits some life, some effort at being a human being with a spark of customer service, I offer them my company website and on opportunity for employment with a firm who recognizes the extra steps to make a human interaction memorable. Unfortunately, that is becoming a fairly rare occurrence.

I've worked for everything I have. I RESENT anyone who feels that things are owed to them because they breathe air. Happy to tell them that, too.

Sheesh.

Pat

 

Yeah, they'll send virtual tips! :crazy:

 

My local Dunkin Donuts has a tip jar with quotations around tips:

"tips"
thank you.
(smiley face)

I enjoy giving them "tips"

 

I had paying with cash, i hate to carry change, If there is a jar, i'll drop the change just to get rid of. most the time i pay with card

 

Tipping - Who came up with THAT?!!

Ok, before you start bashing me I do tip and usually tip better then average, but not because I want too..

I'd like to meet the man that dreamed up the idea of "hey I'm not going to pay you min. wage and the customers will tip you and make up for it"

That being said how do YOU, come up with how much to tip??
I know they say 15% or so might be 18% now some expect 20%

But think of this. You go to Chillis and you and your spouse get the 2 for $20 deal. Each drink tea and your bill would be about $24 plus or minus a bit.
20% would be say $4.80

On your next visit the two of you had some sort of steak and the works it comes with and each had a couple of mixed drinks. Now you bill is $60, tips about $12

but your waitress didn't work any harder other then getting your drinks from the bar instead of pouring you refills of tea... Her tip just went up almost 3 times!!!!!!!!!!

Shouldn't there be some kind of time factored in as well. If you there holding up a table for 45 minutes vs 1-1/2 hours but spent the same money...

I for one have never worked for tips but if I did I'd want to do it at a place that had a high average cost per meal!!!

So what do you think about tipping and or how do you go about it...

 

I think tipping is stupid-Let the place pay the employees

You are so right, When these people that own restaurants etc. price out their menu I'll bet they price it out to include at least the min wage paid to their employees.

They then get to pocket more profit when they only pay their wait persons $2.00 or so per hour.

This is why Fast Food places are sooooo busy, A lot of people don't eat at full service restaurants because they can't afford to pay 20% tips over the cost of the meal.

What is really bad is that the tax monster makes the wait person pay income tax on the amount of the checks the people they served spent. That means the poor waiter or waitress don't even get to keep all of the tip money. If a few people they wait on spend a lot on their check and don't leave a tip the wait person may not even break even.

The whole system just plain ""SUCKS"" big time and needs to be changed.:mad2:

 

I've worked in the restaurant business for nearly 15 years and I've always thought the tipping thing was kind of crazy. I understand how it came about, it's a premium for better service, although it Isn't really like that anymore. This is the only country that tips 15-20% at a full service restaurant, everywhere else it is your job to serve food and drinks, so that's what you get paid for. Tips are only given for truly exceptional service and the tip amount is small.
Depending upon where you live in the U.S. the minimum wages are different too. In Massachusetts tipped employees made $2.63/hr, but most still easily made more than me as an Assistant kitchen manager. In Oregon, where I live now, the servers get the the regular state minimum wage of $8.50/hr, so they make out pretty well here.

As far as taxes go, servers do not pay taxes on most of their cash tips. Tips on credit cards are reported to the IRS but servers are required to enter the amount of their cash tips at the end of their shift, most only report a small percentage, usually about 10-15% of what they actually collect in cash tips. There is also a little IRS pamphlet that servers are supposed to keep and track their tips if they are ever audited, but I can't say I've ever seen anybody do it. The biggest problem with not reporting all cash tips is that they make less money on paper, so if they need a loan or something it can make it more difficult to prove their actual income.

Everywhere I've worked servers are required to tip the bartender, but not anybody else who prepared items for their tables. I've never quite understood that.

And it seems like a recent trend to have tip jars popping up on the counters of all sorts of counter service places where tipping was never expected.

Yeah, I'm not a huge fan of the tipping culture either...


---
I am here: [ame="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=45.494702,-122.767737"]Google Maps[/ame]

 

What's even worse...a tipping jar at Dunkin Donuts, Starbucks, 7-Eleven, and a Gas Station?

 

Here's a tip; if your not using your brakes your not going fast enough:devil:

Mark

 

Tell Lois she didn't leave me tip today! Also tell her I sold all the soaps and will have more tom. morning if she knows anyone else who might want some soaps. P.S. no tip required!!!

 

I am curious although I might have missed it reading the posts in this thread..who has ever tipped their mechanic for replacing a worn part, oil change shop, alignment technician or how about the service writer at the dealership after work performed on your MINI? After all these all may fall under some of the categories determining to tip or not according to some.

 

All those folks don't get payed less than minimum wage and yes I have slipped a tech a few extra bucks for a job well done. You can believe that they appreciate it and remember it in the future.

The tip system was started and exist as a way to encourage good service, good service and a good tip go together but if they treat you poorly you voice your displeasure through the size of the tip.... Bad waiters don't last very long because they don't make any money.