stc

My understand is that is very common practice in the industry.

gengar

Common where legal.

hhonors fan

I figure I'll throw my two cents in since this is a topic that I am extremely familiar with. I work in upper management with a large full service restaurant company with restaurants all over the country so we deal with "tipped wage" states all the time. A few things I would like to set the record straight with:

1. Most large restaurant companies do not take the the credit card fee out of the credit card tips a server makes although they are legally allowed to. Some independent or "mom and pop" restaurants do this and it is completely their right to do this and it's up to the server if they want to work there or not knowing that information.

2. What a previous poster was probably referring to about the waitress giving back 30% of her tips to the restaurant is tip share that is distributed to bartenders, busses, server assistants, etc which is very common practice in America. Almost always it is not a percentage of your tips, but a percentage of your sales, usually between 2% and 5% of your total sales for the shift. The reason this is based off of sales and not tips is because there is no way to truly prove cash tips and therefore require a tip out on it. For the ease of numbers, if the waitress previously mentioned works at a restuarant that requires a 3% tip out to the support staff and she averages getting tipped 10%, then yes 30% of her tips would be taken away at the end of the shift. Also, theoretically a poor server could end up owing the restaurant money at the end of a shift if he/she gets tipped less than the amount of tip share that the restaurant collects based on the sales.

3. In states where less than the federal minimum wage is paid to servers, the restaurant must make up the money to the server if they do not make $7.25/hr at the end of a work week so a server will never make less than whatever their state's minimum wage is. Now, I can't speak for all restaurants when I say that they all follow this law, but I would be shocked if there were any large restaurant companies out there that didn't because the penalties are hefty if this law is not followed.

4. When it comes to whether or not tipping should be as common or expected as it is in America is always a heated debate. I was a server and a bartender for many many years before getting into management and I worked in a state where I was paid $2.13/hr plus tips but i liked it because i was good at my job and i usually made between $20/hr and $40/hr with tips depending on the day. If I was paid a flat $12/hr with no tips, would i have worked as hard and provided as good of service? I don't know. That was decades ago. Most servers and bartenders I interact with now echo my viewpoint though because they all make well over minimum wage but of course it depends on what restaurant you work at. Obviously servers would like to make $10/hr + tips as opposed to $2.13/hr + tips, BUT I think that they would rather make $2.13/hr + tips as opposed to $12/hr or even $15/hr without tips. Granted this is based on my experiences and there are thousands of servers out there with any different opinions.

5. Finally, a couple of things that tend to get overlooked although they were mentioned briefly earlier upthread. First, most states that have a low tipped wage for servers are in lower cost of living states. Most of the time, the prices in those restaurants are lower than prices in the same restaurant in California or New York, etc. If the government took away tipped wages across the country, I guarantee that you would see an immediate increase in restaurant pricing and it would be somewhat significant to compensate for the higher wages being paid. The cost will most definitely be passed along to the consumer so essentially you would be "forced to tip" regardless of the level of service you received because it would be built into the price of the items you were ordering. The other item that is sometimes forgotten is that many people believe that servers are motivated to provide great service in a tipped environment because their livelihood depends on it and the level of service in restaurants would decrease if tipping was taken away. This is obviously debatable but I will tell you that restaurants would definitely make servers take more tables at a time in a non tipped environment because they would try to reduce staffing costs when that person is costing them $12-15/hr instead of $2.13/hr. Instead of 3 or 4 table sections, servers would have 6-10 table sections and service would suffer.

Sorry for the long post but I wanted to shed some light on some behind the scenes tipping stuff even though my experience is geared much more towards the restaurant end of things and not hotels. And my opinion on tipping.......I understand that server livelihoods depend on tips, but they shouldn't be entitled to them. They should have to work for them. This coming from someone who has been in the restaurant business my entire career........

Rude or Terrible Service I tip nothing and I also tell the server why I am not tipping them. Bad service 10%. Mediocre service 15%. Good Service 18%. Great service 20%. Exceptional Service 25%++ depending on how exceptional it was. Tipping well for bad service only promotes the idea that servers are entitled to the tip no matter what. They should be working hard for the guest and the tip should parallel the level of service they provide. Once again, just my two cents.

bitterproffit

Sometimes I can’t even believe how incredibly lucky I have been in my life. I have a great job that earns almost $50,000 a year that provides for all my needs and lets me travel. I wish we didn’t have to rely on tip culture in this country to give people living wage but it is what it is and I know have no problem leaving a five spot for the waitress at the Hilton Garden. It’s really not a big deal, I’ve been so lucky I feel I should help others.

I wouldn’t be happy if they tried to give me a bill for $3.29 in gratuity but that’s never happened to me in all my Hilton stays. I tip because it makes me happy to share my good luck.

Beano

Not from the US
the question I have is when outside of the US in a country where tipping is not expected like in Asia and the Pacific do you tip?

sebseb

Do Hilton employees at the HGI Breakfast or Hampton or even at lounge service get $2,13 as well or do they get more?

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bitterproffit

I did not tip in Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo.

I tipped in Bangkok at the hotel.

It was awkward at first.

bitterproffit

I would imagine the Hampton breakfast workers getting more than $2.13 an hour. At least minimum wage of the area. As for the breakfast servers at HGI, probably at least minimum wage as it would be really hard to get people to get up and go work for 5 hours for $2.13 plus tips. Especially at a place with so many free breakfast coupons.

I remember a few years ago, there were always 2 people working breakfast, but it appears most HGI's now only have one person working the breakfast area. And a cook in the back.

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bitterproffit

I didn't stop as much as I just didn't have many opportunities where a tip would be appropriate in Bangkok. I ate mostly at food courts and food stalls. I might leave change for a beer at a bar.

I hired a tour guide for the day and tipped him afterwards because I thought he did a great job.

I meant it was awkward not to tip when I got great service in Australia. I did appreciate great service more in Australia especially knowing they weren't doing it for the tip. Easier to not tip in Japan knowing their culture would find it insulting.

gengar

Just to clarify - there are a few states where CC fee deductions by employers is explicitly illegal, and a couple more states where there is at least some grey area. Thus, I find larger / national companies to avoid any issues by making it policy not to deduct CC fees across the chain.

zappy312

I stayed at a Doubletree where the breakfast vouchers stated an 18% gratuity was included and left an extra $1pp for the servers at the table. I don't know if I needed to leave anymore, but I assumed the hotel staff do get the the 18% gratuity for the price of the breakfast from the hotel.

FlyingHi4Now

This thread was fun reading. You no-tipping guys must be the same ones who cruise and have the gratuities removed because you don't tip at home, so screw the crew. You disagree with the business model and the poor schnook of a waiter has to suffer.

Get over it. In the US, you tip. In fact, there were several restaurants that went to inclusive pricing and eliminated tipping. Many of the experienced staff left because they were making less money. The menu prices went up to include the "service charge" and customers stayed away. So ultimately, the owner reverted to the original business model, lower menu prices and tipping. The market prevailed.

And in fact, I do tip at HGI. There is an inputted value of the breakfast, even if is complimentary to me. At Hamptons, I tip the person maintaining the breakfast area, usually $2, if they are good at cleaning the tables and refilling the buffet.