Restaurant 101: Tipping is not just a city in China
A party of four is sat in your section, they're pleasant, they laugh at your jokes, you fill their drinks before they're empty, dinner goes well, they compliment your service, and then leave you a five dollar tip on a 100 dollar bill.
Sadly, this scenario plays itself out in restaurants daily across the country and it is ridiculous. A good tip is at least 15% of your total bill. Case closed. Why? Several reasons:
- Your server, depending on the area of the country, is paid dramatically less than minimum wage. In Colorado, it is $2.13 an hour. That means, after taxes are taken out of my tips, I'm lucky if I work 40 hours in two weeks and I clear $20 on my paycheck.
- Depending on the restaurant, the server is required to pay a percentage of his or her sales to the bartender, busboy, and in some cases, the hosts. At Outback, I pay 3% of my sales. So, in the example above I made a five dollar tip and three dollars of it immediately goes to tip share.
- Depending on the restaurant, your sever only has a limited amount of tables. So, for example, at Outback, at most, I only have three tables at a time. So, when someone sits in my section for four hours, you've dramatically decreased my ability make money that evening. If you do that, you should tip much more than 15% but at least hit that number. If you don't, you don't have a soul.
- If you have a gift certificate, someone else is paying for you to go out and eat. The least you can do is tip on the total bill. You're not exempted from leaving a tip just because your Aunt gave you a 50 dollar gift certificate to go out to eat and your bill was $48. I'm a nice but it isn't my Christmas present to you to serve you for the evening.
- Along those lines, just because you're out to eat with nice friends doesn't mean you get to be cheap. So, for example, if you owe $20, leave the server $4. Don't make your nice friend throw in extra tip money just because you're cheap. Also, don't take the money you throw in back after your friends leave. And, yes, that's happened to me before.
I don't necessarily fault the average restaurant goer for not knowing those facts. They really are a dirty little secret that the restaurant industry keeps covered up. Really, it should be illegal to pay a server less than minimum wage. Moreover, if it is legal, it should be printed on every menu of every restaurant in the country. What I do fault the average restaurant goer for is not tipping 15%. Ever since I can remember I was taught that a good tip was over 15% and I'm pretty sure everyone else was as well. If you don't leave it, you're cheap, disrespectful, and you shouldn't go out to eat. If you don't have the money to tip, go to the grocery store, buy yourself dinner, and go home and cook.
Enough of my soapbox. Just treat your server well the next time you go out to eat, especially if they deserve it.
posted by T. Hildebrandt at 12:01 AM
4 Comments:
My minimum is always 20%. 15% if its exceptionally bad service, but that's rare.
What annoys me is going out to eat with those who can't divide a bill correctly and figure out their own tax and tip, and then putting in too little for themselves, but making up the rest of the bill by doing the "Oh this isn't a good tip..." talk and expecting people who tip well (ahem...me...) to throw in MORE money. Fuck you. I only go out to eat with a select group of socially-adjusted individuals. :-)
Jason speaks the truth here, so much that I want to add his comment to my list. He's also one hell of a tipper and one heck of a nice guy. You should go out to eat with him sometime, but of course, remember that doesn't mean you can't tip well. He'll come and get you!
I thought federal law mandated that servers make at least minimum wage after tips. Your post makes it seem like you don't (although it's not completely clear, and even if you do, minimum wage sucks).
Is there any truth to the rumor that black people don't tip well?
I'm sorry the post isn't clear. It is federal law that we make minimum wage after tips, however, I don't agree that a tip should factor into that equation. A tip should be just that, a tip for good service. Moreover, if we are given less than minimum wage, I think restaurants should be required to educate their patrons of that fact. I don't think that most people understand that. I know I didn't before I started serving.
As for blacks not tipping well, generally it is true. I don't agree with the article you posted though because not all blacks are bad tippers AND a server who eyes a table and then gives poor service to someone he thiks they deserve deserves a bad tip. I think there are a lot of restaurant goers who are looking for a reason to give you a bad tip and if you give them that reason they'll do it.
However, I think I give pretty good service and in the last week, from black tables I have gotten...
$5 on $130, $5 on $60, and $2 on $60.
Post a Comment
<< Home