It always bugs me when places that are self-serve have a place on the receipt for tips. It makes me feel guilty to write in $0, but at the same time, what would I be tipping for exactly? How am I supposed to judge this performance? That they successfully took my order? I already paid for my food. If I'm carrying the food to my table and carrying it to the garbage and getting my own drink from the fountain, I feel like I shouldn't have to tip. Or if it's a takeout order that I am picking up myself, what is the tip for then?
I guess there are some places where the receipts just come like that, with an space for a tip, and they don't expect anyone to actually tip. But yesterday, I was in a restaurant and at the cashier, there was both a place for tips on the receipt as well as a tip jar. So they clearly expected people to tip.
Except you picked up your order at the other side of the restaurant. So basically, you were expected to tip without having even received your food. My understanding is that tips are supposed to at least partially be based on service.... so how am I supposed to judge what tip to give when all they have done is take down my order? I didn't know at that point that they were going to fail to get me the exta plate I wanted or the butter I asked for. This makes a total mockery of meritocracy-based tipping! If we're supposed to tip based on nothing, then why not just increase the price of the food?
But like I said, I always feel like a total miser when I don't tip in those situations. What do you do?
Tips are a joke. They used to be a reward for good service, but nowadays nobody knows the definition of good service anyhow. I tip very rarely, and only when it's deserved; the rest of the time I feel absolutely no guilt to write 0 or --- in the tip line.
ReplyDeleteI don't agree that tips are a joke for the same reason you do. When you don't tip, your waiter is making less than minimum wage to wait on you. I've never waited tables, but the rest of my family has and it's hard work, the ones who do it and are nice about deserve 25%, not just the standard.
ReplyDeleteSince tips are considered part of a waiter's salary, I think unless they are a complete ass (ie: the point where you want to call a manager over), you shouldn't eat out at a sit down place if you won't tip. A lot of places, the waitress has to tip your bus boy, bartender, etc. out of her nightly take, so you're actually taking money away from her if you don't tip.
I agree with you on the awkward self-serve places, Fizzy. I'm not really sure how they work out pay check wise, but I don't feel like I should have to tip either...or carry-out pizza places. There's a locally owned, staffed by the owners and their kids pizza place here that doesn't even have a dining area and their receipt has a "tip" spot on it and they have a tip jar. I refuse to tip the owner of a place, especially if they don't even wait on me.
Leave it blank, pretend you haven't seen it?
ReplyDeleteAmanda: Was going to say the same thing about waitresses. (There's a conversation in Reservoir Dogs that expresses it well too.) I always tip waitresses at least 20%. But cashiers don't count. I mean, I don't tip the cashier at mcdonalds.
ReplyDeleteMy friend worked at a Cold Stone ice cream shop, and if you left a tip they would sing a song for you. But yeah, otherwise at self-serve places- no tip for you.
ReplyDeleteWhat do people do at chinese buffets? They take your plates, and that's it. I always leave $1 per guest, not sure if that's right.
I leave it blank too, or put an X in it (so they can't write in something afterwards). I agree with you - if it's self-serve, then who exactly are we tipping? If, on the other hand, there is an actual server, then I try to tip generously.
ReplyDeleteI don't either- never saw the point. My parents do though, but they are chronic over tippers
ReplyDeleteI don't tip places like that. If I paid with cash and had a little change, I might put it in the jar if I was in a good mood, but I usually pay with a CC and don't tip.
ReplyDeleteFizzy, I agree with everything you said, except tipping people who work in Take Out areas. I feel if they do a great job, and remember your extras then tip. They have to order your food, make sure it's correct, box it, bag it, take your payment, and either bring your food to your car or hand it to you. They certainly don't do as much as servers, but I always tip them.
ReplyDelete@ Da Blog - If you tip $1 per guest at a restaurant, then NO, that is not right! It is absolutely incorrect. Tip off the total bill, not the number of people with you.
I worked in a pizza place as a cashier/cook/takeout girl in high school and the tip situation was awkward. My hourly wage was lower because we were supposed to get a little more in tips, but it wasn't surprising that most people don't tip. I usually give a dollar now days, since I remember the feeling.
ReplyDeleteNow later, when I worked as a waitress and made $2.13 an hour, you bet I depended on tips. Don't sit down for dinner if you're too much of a miser to tip the person who has been waiting on you. I give ~20% unless the waiter/waitress was just a Hellbeast or something.
I Draw a nice thick line across the blank space for tips, and reproduce the bill amount in the "Pay" space.
ReplyDelete@Sassy: A tip isnt a right. It should be earned. And its not about being a miser. I wouldnt pay for crummy service anywhere, just because its societally mandated.
ReplyDeleteI think Da Blog is trying to say he tips $1/person for self-serve buffet. I think that's pretty reasonable, since again, you're not actually being served.
ReplyDeleteTipping is one of the things I don't get about America (out of many.)
ReplyDeleteHere in Australia you get paid a decent hourly wage and nobody tips anybody for anything, unless somebody goes amazingly beyond the call of duty, and even then it's not heaps. Yes, the actual items may cost a little more... but if you work 5 hours at maccas at $20 an hour, you know what you're going home with, and when you pay $10 for food, you know what you're expected to pay.
What a crazy country!
(Enjoy your blog too, Fizzy)
I tend to write things like "wash and bathe daily" "Don't forget to call your mother on her birthday" on the tips line.
ReplyDeleteIn high school I worked as a cook in a pizza shop. When customers tipped, the tip was split up between the two cooks. That's generally what is done at pizza shops, at least in our state. When you're working at $7/hour (minimum wage at the time), $2.50 from a customer makes a very big difference. So yes, I always tip in self-service places - the money isn't going to a server, it's going to the cooks. When you eat in an establishment with a server, the chefs and line cooks are paid much higher than minimum wage (up to 6 figures in the nicer places). Not so with self-service.
ReplyDeleteI don't tip for take-out or self-serve. I do tip for table service between 15% and 25% if the service is exemplary. My lowest is 10% if the service was really inferior. Part of this is probably that I have a cousin who is a waitress, and that I'm thankful that I don't have to do it for a living.
ReplyDeleteDelivery has always been troubling, though. When somebody comes with your food, rings the doorbell and barely grunts at you while shoving a paper bag into your hands, it's hard to justify more than a couple of dollars.
Having worked in food service to get through college, I always tip generously, whether it's counter service or sit-down service. I know what hard work it is and since tips are usually shared with the cooks, I figure those people deserve appreciation whether or not the people working out front are serving me. I'm also grateful that it's not something I have to do for a living anymore. And I'm grateful that in the time I did wait tables I did make at least minimum wage before tips. I think it's messed up that wages are now cut to reflect assumed tips.
ReplyDeleteI live in a small town, and I've found that even if I don't get stellar service the first time I go to a restaurant/take-out place, the people who work there remember me and do give me great service after that first visit.
I'm also very polite to and appreciative of the server/counter person. I figure they get enough rude people all day long that I don't need to add to it...and maybe it helps make a crappy day a little better.