A new tipping concept: tipping on amount of time waiter spends on you
#31
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Phoenix
Programs: AA Platinum
Posts: 14
I loved Steve Buscemi in Reservoir Dogs
#32
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: California USA
Programs: AA Million Miler, AA Lifetime Gold
Posts: 384
It does not.
The tipping system is wrong and the Restaurant Association need to make sure that the staff is paid by the restaurant owner.
Why don't the wait staff go on strike as other professions do to demand a proper wage? The reason is that if they go on strike they can be easily replaced as anybody can bring food to a table.
#33
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: San Diego, CA
Programs: GE, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 15,486
#34
Join Date: Feb 2012
Posts: 1
Love the concept
As it relates back to the person serving you and not the price of the food or beverages. We almost always tip 20% and sometimes it makes me mad that I'm tipping on the wine that is already marked up 50%. The price of the food and the price of the beverages doesn't have anything to do with the quality of service you receive. Food and beverages would be priced accordingly and the TIP (to ensure prompt service) should be based on the server.
The real question is, how much should you pay the server? If they're handling more than one table, they will/should receive money from every table. So maybe the minimum wage works as they'll receive it from all parties and thus make more than the minimum wage (on top of the minimum wage they are receiving from the restaurant).
It should also be paid in cash DIRECTLY to the server. Having $15-$50 in cash for this purpose is very doable for most everyone, I would assume.
That said, you should pay more/less based on your level and quality of service, but the base that you work from should be consistent.
Yea, you're not getting your air-miles when you pay cash and don't use your credit card, but it's going to a good cause!
The real question is, how much should you pay the server? If they're handling more than one table, they will/should receive money from every table. So maybe the minimum wage works as they'll receive it from all parties and thus make more than the minimum wage (on top of the minimum wage they are receiving from the restaurant).
It should also be paid in cash DIRECTLY to the server. Having $15-$50 in cash for this purpose is very doable for most everyone, I would assume.
That said, you should pay more/less based on your level and quality of service, but the base that you work from should be consistent.
Yea, you're not getting your air-miles when you pay cash and don't use your credit card, but it's going to a good cause!
#35
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: San Diego, CA
Programs: GE, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 15,486
The real question is, how much should you pay the server? If they're handling more than one table, they will/should receive money from every table. So maybe the minimum wage works as they'll receive it from all parties and thus make more than the minimum wage (on top of the minimum wage they are receiving from the restaurant).
#36
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: California USA
Programs: AA Million Miler, AA Lifetime Gold
Posts: 384
I am all for no tipping at all. The restaurant owner is responsible for the wage.
McDonalds at least pays a minimum wage with benefits.
McDonalds at least pays a minimum wage with benefits.
#37
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: LGB
Posts: 1,204
And the suggestion that no single one of them is worth more than $20,000 per year is absurd. Go eat dinner at any T.G.I. Friday's. Then have dinner at any Michelin-starred restaurant. When you've finished, report back to us that both sets of waitstaff should be paid the same. And try to do it with a straight face.
#38
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: California USA
Programs: AA Million Miler, AA Lifetime Gold
Posts: 384
I have never eaten at a Michelin starred establishment as paying a percentage tip there would not be acceptable to me.
Even at these establishments the major work is done behind the dining area. I am sure that a lot of points is given to the actual food itself along with other factors.
I do not want to give the illusion that I am degrading the servers. However, ordering a $400 bottle of wine or a bottle of aerated water and paying a percentage of that as a tip is absurd.
Even at these establishments the major work is done behind the dining area. I am sure that a lot of points is given to the actual food itself along with other factors.
I do not want to give the illusion that I am degrading the servers. However, ordering a $400 bottle of wine or a bottle of aerated water and paying a percentage of that as a tip is absurd.
#39
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: California USA
Programs: AA Million Miler, AA Lifetime Gold
Posts: 384
In today's Los Angeles Times.
View "A tipping point for restaurants?" article at http://eeditionmobile.latimes.com/Ol...F25&id=Ar02303
View "A tipping point for restaurants?" article at http://eeditionmobile.latimes.com/Ol...F25&id=Ar02303
#40
Join Date: May 2011
Posts: 2,378
Yup,indeed.
Bring me a menu,take my order,answer any questions I have in a polite manner,don't tell me your life story or what you think I ought to eat and then leave me alone.
I'm old enough to fill my own wine glass and if I want something I'll discreetly attract your attention.
It's amazing how many of these wait staff expecting large tips don't understand these basic rules.
Bring me a menu,take my order,answer any questions I have in a polite manner,don't tell me your life story or what you think I ought to eat and then leave me alone.
I'm old enough to fill my own wine glass and if I want something I'll discreetly attract your attention.
It's amazing how many of these wait staff expecting large tips don't understand these basic rules.
If it's not something you like yourself, a simple "thank you but I'd like to be left alone" would do. You can hardly blame them - it's how they get a significant proportion of their wage.
#41
Moderator: Manufactured Spending
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 6,576
I understand your point about how hard it is as a server. But the fact is that most unskilled jobs are equally hard. If a cashier at a supermarket is making minimum wage, why should a server at a restaurant expect anything more?
In states like California, where servers are paid full minimum wage, I don't see the need to tip, although I usually do so anyway. In states where tip credits are allowed, it may be more necessary.
#42
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: SFO
Programs: UA 1P
Posts: 280
Please tell me the full cost of the goods, product or service up front. Let me decide if I want to pay it. And be done with it. Don't understand why I must hire extra staff, evaluate their performance and then give them a salary to get the product delivered to me in addition to the cost paid for the product or advertised service.
#43
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: West Hollywood, CA, USA
Programs: AA, SPG GLD, DL FO, VX, UA, US, ICH, Hyatt, Avis Pref.
Posts: 478
All I can say is wow. I can't imagine the amount of server saliva some of you have probably ingested at restaurants. Most experienced servers can read a "bad table" a mile away.
If you think all servers should just get minimum wage then I hope you enjoy your experience as a teenager, chewing gum on their cell phone asks you "what you want?" when they take your order at Fig and Olive.
If you think all servers should just get minimum wage then I hope you enjoy your experience as a teenager, chewing gum on their cell phone asks you "what you want?" when they take your order at Fig and Olive.
Last edited by bstndance; Feb 25, 2016 at 8:51 pm
#44
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 5
I find the tipping system empowering. It's all too often that I'm in a country where tipping is not the custom and there's nothing I can do about poor service, aside from cause a big scene.
A good waiter/waitress adds a lot of value to the overall dining experience. Very often, I ask for recommendations and ask questions about the menu. Tipping is great because I can determine what I want to pay for a the service I received, after I received it, and without negotiation.
OTOH, what I cannot stand are service charges. In places such as Singapore, service charges are often added to the tab automatically. To make matters worse, servers are often uninformed and unpolished.
I also don't understand positions like the OP's. Why patronize restaurants that he knows follow a tipping system, and then refusing to do so? If he really hates the system of tipping and wants the owner to change it, why are you still giving the owner money?
A good waiter/waitress adds a lot of value to the overall dining experience. Very often, I ask for recommendations and ask questions about the menu. Tipping is great because I can determine what I want to pay for a the service I received, after I received it, and without negotiation.
OTOH, what I cannot stand are service charges. In places such as Singapore, service charges are often added to the tab automatically. To make matters worse, servers are often uninformed and unpolished.
I also don't understand positions like the OP's. Why patronize restaurants that he knows follow a tipping system, and then refusing to do so? If he really hates the system of tipping and wants the owner to change it, why are you still giving the owner money?
#45
Moderator: Manufactured Spending
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 6,576
Studies have shown that there is little, if any, correlation between service quality and tips. Things like the server's gender and ethnicity, the weather, and other random things are much better predictors of tips received.
In the US, there may not be too many other options. However, if the state allows tip credits and tips come short, the owner is required to make up the difference, which might in theory motivate him to change the system.