Can I just say, and I'm just being honest...

[Ravenshire]

Culturaly obligatory tipping... It keeps being a strange concept to me.

It's not just cultural over here. Wait staff, in most states in America, can be payed WAY below minimum wage.

In Tennessee, where I live, wait staff minimum wage is $2.13 per hour. So, they are pretty much working for tips. There is never any excuse for service that bad, but I always tip because you never know what is going on in that person's life that may have just made them shitty at their job that day. Also, they probably have kids or dependents, (just playing the odds), so I don't want to be a reason why a kid doesn't eat or something.

If wage plus tips = less than minimum wage, the store is required by law to make up the difference.

I am typically a generous tipper, but I will not patronize an establishment that has any sort of mandatory gratuity and I will leave the tip the service deserves.

I, like many others, would far rather pay higher menu prices than deal with stupid gratuity rules.

[Losty]

When you do a shitty job, it WILL be reflected in your tip. When you go above and beyond - that will also be reflected in your tip. You were given a total of $5.00 for a $62.00, shitty-ass dining experience. You need to learn to do better. Management needs to learn to handle graduation traffic on a Tuesday night better. Everyone knew there was a graduation last night. It was in the papers. We were part of that. You ruined the good time we were all supposed to have.

So wait.... you got shitty service and you STILL tipped $5?!!
no, no, no, no, no...

First, I know this is controversial, but I'm pretty much against the tipping culture. Whatever that is should be reflected on the paycheck and ultimately on the menu prices.
Second, a shitty service like that doesn't even deserve a tip. That's how it gets reflected in the tip. If the fault was on the kitchen staff, then okay... but not on this occasion.

Actually... the kitchen staff do most of the work, do they get tips? or is it just the pretty face that serves you that gets tips?
Bah, totally against the tipping system.  

Hmm I always tip at least 15% even when the server sucks.

[brewer]

A lot of places I go to print out the suggested $ tip on the bill (15/18/20%). 

Some have the tip % listed in the menu and it's automatically added to the total. I wonder what they would do if I tried to pay less (never tried)?

[Athene]

That "gratuity" comprises almost the entirety of their living wage.

"I am not particularly happy with you at the moment, so today you will work nothing." is an unacceptable response in regards to most occupations. I see no reason why waitstaff should be treated with less consideration, so I suck it up, and at least tip the standard rate, even when I receive horrible service from waitstaff.

A slow kitchen isn't necessarily their fault, so I don't hold them accountable for that.

[ignoramus]

That's why there's no tipping here in Oz. Things are expensive to start with.
I mean most people will throw a tip in at a restaurant anyway, usually 5 bucks.
But no-one knows who it really goes to? Most people use their credit card to pay.

[Joods]

It's not just cultural over here. Wait staff, in most states in America, can be payed WAY below minimum wage.

In Tennessee, where I live, wait staff minimum wage is $2.13 per hour. So, they are pretty much working for tips. There is never any excuse for service that bad, but I always tip because you never know what is going on in that person's life that may have just made them shitty at their job that day. Also, they probably have kids or dependents, (just playing the odds), so I don't want to be a reason why a kid doesn't eat or something.

If wage plus tips = less than minimum wage, the store is required by law to make up the difference.

I am typically a generous tipper, but I will not patronize an establishment that has any sort of mandatory gratuity and I will leave the tip the service deserves.

I, like many others, would far rather pay higher menu prices than deal with stupid gratuity rules.

I agree. As mentioned, I'm in the service industry too. If I want a great tip, I'd better be doing a great job. That's the incentive to getting better tips. If you're going to treat your customers shitty, you deserve shitty tips. I don't care how bad your day started. Leave that shit at the front door, go do your job, and pick your problems back up when you leave. One part of good work ethics is that you never bring problems that aren't work related, to work. Another part of good work ethics is that you don't carry shit from one bad experience into the next. Every new customer is a chance to be better than the last time. It's not my fault that the last table you had treated you like shit, so don't take that out on the service you are providing to me.

Yup. I have kids I have to take care of too. And if I want better tips, the service I provide better be worth it.

[pocaracas]

If wage plus tips = less than minimum wage, the store is required by law to make up the difference.

I am typically a generous tipper, but I will not patronize an establishment that has any sort of mandatory gratuity and I will leave the tip the service deserves.

I, like many others, would far rather pay higher menu prices than deal with stupid gratuity rules.

I agree. As mentioned, I'm in the service industry too. If I want a great tip, I'd better be doing a great job. That's the incentive to getting better tips. If you're going to treat your customers shitty, you deserve shitty tips. I don't care how bad your day started. Leave that shit at the front door, go do your job, and pick your problems back up when you leave. One part of good work ethics is that you never bring problems that aren't work related, to work. Another part of good work ethics is that you don't carry shit from one bad experience into the next. Every new customer is a chance to be better than the last time. It's not my fault that the last table you had treated you like shit, so don't take that out on the service you are providing to me.

Yup. I have kids I have to take care of too. And if I want better tips, the service I provide better be worth it.

I understand that's how things are, right now... and people better keep with the program.

But, conceptually, don't you think you should just do your job and be paid for it? You're a professional, you get paid and keep your job.
If you do a shitty job, you either take a pay-cut, or you get fired.
Just like in any other job.
Why would some specific jobs dependent on tips to survive? Just because the people in them interact directly with the client? Seems like an excuse for employers not to pay full wages and thus evade taxation.

[SteelCurtain]

That's exactly what it is. It's the deification of the business owner at the expense of the worker. It is a not so subtle shift of the responsibility for paying an employee directly to the customer.

Now, in most places in America, especially in big cities, waiters make way more money with a tip structure than they could with a wage. There are wait staff in New York that make six figures as professional waiters, but they get there by being the best.

Working at a local mom and pop restaurant in a small town is different.

[Joods]

Yep...and there are some stylists who charge by the hour vs per service. Guy Tang is one of them. Famous career people can do that sort of thing, I guess.

[Jackalope]

Culturaly obligatory tipping... It keeps being a strange concept to me.

It's not just cultural over here. Wait staff, in most states in America, can be payed WAY below minimum wage.

In Tennessee, where I live, wait staff minimum wage is $2.13 per hour. So, they are pretty much working for tips.

Put into perspective, annualized, at 40 hours * 52 weeks that guaranteed wage is approximately 1/3 of the Federal poverty level for individuals.

We tip because we don't want to see service staff dying of starvation between tables.