Originally Posted by
JayhawkCO
To define:
Amateur diner = waits in line for 2 hours to get a club sandwich and water with lemon, maybe a glass of White Zin if they're splurging
Experienced diner = aperitif/cocktail to start, wine with dinner, a couple courses, maybe an after dinner drink
And, quite frankly, I do think (more often than not) someone has to have a cash incentive to do their job properly. It might not be in tip form, but more often in salary form too. You can't tell me that the kid down the street working at McDonald's making his $5.15/hr is getting paid to provide great service. It's tough to motivate someone to want to do their job better when they're getting paid on that level.
The CEO of a company making 300K a year obviously has to provide some tangible benefits to those who provide his employment in order to keep his job and salary level. If the Board of Directors all of a sudden dropped his pay to 25K a year, you're telling me that he's really going to stay motivated to provide his shareholders with profits every quarter? Of course not. If people stopped providing him with the income to which he had become accustomed, he'd bail on that job in a heartbeat.
Unfortunately American society as we know it says that instead of getting a salary, servers get tipped. If everyone all of a sudden said "You know what? Screw it. This tipping thing is dumb," and stopped tipping and management didn't compensate, there would be no servers able to maintain a coherent conversation much less recommend a particular vintage of Insignia over another.
The point I raised earlier is that if everyone wants to vote and say "Hey, tipping is dumb. We're not going to do it anymore," management would in turn add 20% to every item on the menu, and then pay the servers with a check. It'd all work out the same for my bank account. But, I have the feeling everyone would start complaining about how much food now costs in a restaurant. The fact that you actually have the ability to pay that extra mark up in proportion to the level received should be looked upon as a benefit, not a curse. If you got crappy service after they raised the prices, you'd have no recourse but to just pay your bill that night and never return. At least with the current tipping culture you have the ability to decide for yourself.
This opinion is very much a cop-out. Those people all get paid a salary. I get paid nothing to work at the restaurant. I haven't gotten a check from the restaurant I work at in my five years of employment. If I get stiffed all night, I walk home with negative money. If I don't tip a UPS driver, he's still making at least $10/hr (guessing). If I don't tip a doctor or dentist, I think they can still afford their green fees.
I didn't create the system. I just try and educate people on the topic.
Chris
I still don't totally agree with your view on the topic. I do not get paid anything extra to do my job properly. The incentive is my salary, which is what I am contractually obliged to do. If I do not do my job, I do not only get a proportion of my salary, as you suggest servers should, I get given the arse. You are totally correct with saying, that you can't motivate on a poor wage. You get what you pay for. And to be quite honest, the majority of underpaid servers that I've had the pleasure of dealing with aren't simply underpaid, but are underskilled, and not going to get a decent tip. If everyone started tipping 18% to all servers, would the surly attitudes be replaced with smiles and good service? Somehow, I doubt it. You pay bad, you get bad staff. Having said that, I have also gotten some fantastic service in places which can only be considered absolute dives. People that go above and beyond their basic duties of supplying me with a service that a) they signed up for and b) I am lead to expect by eating in a restaurant I have no problem in leaving a large tip. What constitutes a large tip is really a useless argument, because it differs between each person so much.
Again I say that I would have no problem with the cost of service being included in the cost of a dish. If I got pathetic servce, then you are totally incorrect in saying that I have no recourse other to pay the bill and not return. When I order from a menu, I am entering into a contract with the establishment to pay for an item. If the price of service is included in that item, I am then also paying for that, and thus the establishment is obligated to provide it. Don't for one second think I would pay the entire amount of a bill if I recieved substandard service. That is my legal recourse.
I am *not* a bad tipper. I am not an uncaring, ....... of a person. Well, sure, some people would disagree with that, but they tend to be loved ones. However if tipping is a legal requirement, then it should be built into the cost so I know the final cost when I order something. And if tipping is at my discretion, then thats exactly what it is. It is not "at my discretion as long as I tip at least 18% if they bring my food before its colder than a polar bears left ear and more if they manage to smile once and not give me a lapfull of clam chowder".