You know what really grinds my gears?: The moaning thread.

[Tonus]

What would it take to change that?

An incentive of some sort. If you grow up here, you are going to learn that it's important to be polite (well, I grew up in New York, but you get the idea) and that it's polite to tip a waiter. If either of those is changed sufficiently, then there could be enough traction on the issue to force a change.

Ironically, religious indoctrination is probably the most effective way to get a person to reject a cultural or societal norm. JWs feel that saying "bless you" to someone who sneezes is a sin, and so for years I would not do that, even though it's considered the polite thing to do. But fear of god trumps fear of society/culture, at least until you realize that there is no god to fear. Then... fear of society and culture can flourish! Whee!

Anyway, I think there's a funny discussion on the topic of tipping at the beginning of the film Reservoir Dogs. It's an entertaining scene which consists almost entirely of one guy defending his decision not to chip in for a tip for the waitress. I think this is it:
[YOUTUBE]sn9nnOkASDg[/YOUTUBE]

[Losty]

It is being a dick

From my point of view, to expect a tip is being a dick.
See how malleable a dick is?

You sit at a table with your family. Your server comes up with a smile takes your drink orders laughs at a stupid joke made by your annoying kid. You can't decide what to get, your server pretends to care with a friendly smile and helps you make a ridiculously elaborate order. Your server brings this order to the kitchen and fights a war with the kitchen staff to get your food right while being told off for bringing such a confusing order. He or she carries out food for your entire family on a huge heavy tray. Handling hot plates and making sure you are satisfied with what you have. After you take your sweet time you finally leave and your server has to clean up behind you. After all of this you choose not to tip your server knowing that he or she has earned $6 if lucky for all the work they've done to ensure you had a nice meal with your family. You think you're proving some kind of point about the tips system but you're not because the only person who even knows what you've done is the person who just worked their ass off for you for six dollars and has to go home eating yesterday's left over ramen noodles and call their parents and beg for money to pay their light bill. You've proven nothing, you've changed nothing. It's just being a dick.

[pocaracas]

this one?




It's like looking at a mirror!

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From my point of view, to expect a tip is being a dick.
See how malleable a dick is?

You sit at a table with your family. Your server comes up with a smile takes your drink orders laughs at a stupid joke made by your annoying kid. You can't decide what to get, your server pretends to care with a friendly smile and helps you make a ridiculously elaborate order. Your server brings this order to the kitchen and fights a war with the kitchen staff to get your food right while being told off for bringing such a confusing order. He or she carries out food for your entire family on a huge heavy tray. Handling hot plates and making sure you are satisfied with what you have. After you take your sweet time you finally leave and your server has to clean up behind you. After all of this you choose not to tip your server knowing that he or she has earned $6 if lucky for all the work they've done to ensure you had a nice meal with your family. You think you're proving some kind of point about the tips system but you're not because the only person who even knows what you've done is the person who just worked their ass off for you for six dollars and has to go home eating yesterday's left over ramen noodles and call their parents and beg for money to pay their light bill. You've proven nothing, you've changed nothing. It's just being a dick.

What if I come in, know exactly what I want, ask for dish number 5, bottle of water, still, room temperature. The person brings those things. I eat and drink. Pay for the things I ate and leave.
Do you think that being a relay system to the kitchen and carrier of food from kitchen to table and empty dishes from table back to kitchen worth what I pay, plus 10 or 20% of that? what does that make it... $10~$15 per meal served?

Not everyone makes a mess of the place... in fact, most people act like I just described. But you go with the caricature of the worst customer, huh?

Can you believe I had never watched reservoir dogs and yet... the guy comes up with the same arguments as me?!
It seems, I'm not alone in my atipism!

[Lemonvariable72]

Your assuming the waiter/waitress bus the tables. A lot of places don't, that's done by a bus boy, who will be pretty well thrown out if he takes any money left on the tables.
Also given how a lot of resturaunts hire waitress's based on how there ass looks in the uniform, you get a disportionate number of cocky and superficial girls that think there better then the kitchen staff.

[Losty]

What if I come in, know exactly what I want, ask for dish number 5, bottle of water, still, room temperature. The person brings those things. I eat and drink. Pay for the things I ate and leave.
Do you think that being a relay system to the kitchen and carrier of food from kitchen to table and empty dishes from table back to kitchen worth what I pay, plus 10 or 20% of that? what does that make it... $10~$15 per meal served?

Not everyone makes a mess of the place... in fact, most people act like I just described. But you go with the caricature of the worst customer, huh?

Can you believe I had never watched reservoir dogs and yet... the guy comes up with the same arguments as me?!
It seems, I'm not alone in my atipism!

Most people? Lol. The only people I have ever seen do what you just described have always been ones who tip.

The problem with the argument from the guy in your video is that he is wrong. Servers do not make minimum wage. People at mcdonalds make minimum wage the last I had a job minimum wage was like 7.25 and servers were making 2.10.

I never minded people who didn't tip because I didn't need the money. I never went out of my way to be a good server to them either. I took their order gave them their food and refilled their drink if I had the time.

That guy in your video grinds my gears. Not even because he's talking about tipping either. He's just so annoyingly hipster that I want to rip my hair out. "I won't do it because society says I should" yea dude I know because you're like totally rebellious and hardcore

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Your assuming the waiter/waitress bus the tables. A lot of places don't, that's done by a bus boy, who will be pretty well thrown out if he takes any money left on the tables.
Also given how a lot of resturaunts hire waitress's based on how there ass looks in the uniform, you get a disportionate number of cocky and superficial girls that think there better then the kitchen staff.

I don't have any experience with something like this. In the restaurant I worked in their were 4 female employees; myself (a fifteen year old), A single mom of 4 kids, a really sweet old lady who was a cashier, and Betty the dishwasher. She was fat and everyone called her Betty la fea (which I think is super mean). The servers always tipped out the kitchen staff and the bartender.

[Esquilax]

From my point of view, to expect a tip is being a dick.
See how malleable a dick is?

You sit at a table with your family. Your server comes up with a smile takes your drink orders laughs at a stupid joke made by your annoying kid. You can't decide what to get, your server pretends to care with a friendly smile and helps you make a ridiculously elaborate order. Your server brings this order to the kitchen and fights a war with the kitchen staff to get your food right while being told off for bringing such a confusing order. He or she carries out food for your entire family on a huge heavy tray. Handling hot plates and making sure you are satisfied with what you have. After you take your sweet time you finally leave and your server has to clean up behind you. After all of this you choose not to tip your server knowing that he or she has earned $6 if lucky for all the work they've done to ensure you had a nice meal with your family. You think you're proving some kind of point about the tips system but you're not because the only person who even knows what you've done is the person who just worked their ass off for you for six dollars and has to go home eating yesterday's left over ramen noodles and call their parents and beg for money to pay their light bill. You've proven nothing, you've changed nothing. It's just being a dick.

Where I come from, nobody tips at all. They don't have to, as the hospitality industry has a protected minimum wage that's sufficient to live on. It's a much more civilized system than expecting servers to jockey for the charity of strangers. You still can tip, but when you do so it's more in line with the whole point of the system, to express gratitude for good service, rather than an expectation in order to keep your servers alive. I was actually surprised when I ordered pizza my first day in America and the website made a point to remind me that I need to tip.

[Losty]

Where I come from, nobody tips at all. They don't have to, as the hospitality industry has a protected minimum wage that's sufficient to live on. It's a much more civilized system than expecting servers to jockey for the charity of strangers. You still can tip, but when you do so it's more in line with the whole point of the system, to express gratitude for good service, rather than an expectation in order to keep your servers alive. I was actually surprised when I ordered pizza my first day in America and the website made a point to remind me that I need to tip.

Your system is better than ours. Lol. Minimum wage isn't enough to survive on here let alone a server's salary. I think delivery drivers make around $5 an hour. I can't imagine how they have any money left over after gas if they don't get tips.

[DramaQueen]

People tip in the US and ...??? (Just curious)

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Woah...how do you get pizza without going to the place??

[Tonus]

Woah...how do you get pizza without going to the place??

Some flour, some water, a can of tomato sauce, some cheese...

[vorlon13]

Delivery drivers bring fresh hot pizza to your door if you live in town, soon drones will deliver pizza