Yeah, I have to say that’s annoying for me too. Waitresses at places like TGiFriday’s used to do it as I recall almost without fail.
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I’m American, I’ve worked in food service (only briefly as a waiter). Most of my friends have as well, at some point or other. I know what the “friendliness” is about.
I did work in a place where tips were pooled and shared: each server got a share by hours that day, and even the kitchen staff (where I usually was) got a small percentage cut. In the back you got minimum wage+, whereas the servers got less than minimum wage on the expectation that the rest would be covered with tips (legal in that state, and many), so even the small cut for the kitchen was pretty generous. Never heard or had any complaints with that arrangement, which if you think about it is reasonably close to the formula expressed here.
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You did read that the restaurant will remove the service charge upon request, right?
Often in the states, that’s called “camping”, and at high turnover restaurants, camping a table can be annoying to the wait staff. That is definitely one negative compared to elsewhere. Here, there’s an incentive to keep the tables turning over (more tips!). There, they get paid the same if you stay all night.
In the states, a server can drop the check off very noticeably when your meal is done, and then come to “check” on you over and over if you stay too long. Sometimes it can be quite obvious they want you to free up the table. That’s an aspect of service here I could do without.
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This isn’t “lessons learned,” it’s “hack pop-psychoanalysis by a guy who runs a restaurant.” There’s so much supposition in there that it’s actually difficult to glean any objective facts. “In my completely uncontrolled personal survey, men got publically angry about a mandatory service charge more frequently than women did. I conclude that this is because men look upon waitressing as something akin to prostitution. In support of this conclusion, I offer some Warren Zevon lyics.” Jesus, does he think Patty Hearst robbed banks with the SLA because she was influenced by a decapitated submachine gunner? This guy must have a jump-to-conclusions mat larger than some former Soviet republics.
Here’s something I didn’t see anyone mention but might have some bearing upon this guy’s decision to close this restaurant: The IRS recently came out with a new rule that an “automatic gratuity” such as this isn’t a tip, it’s a wage. Which means that 18% “mandatory service charge” suddenly becomes subject to payroll tax withholding and the restaurant needs to keep track of it exactly as it would keep track of wages.
not-tippigng is half a step away from “fuck this I’m walking out, I doubt they’d even notice”
The vast majority of people try to do well at their jobs because they feel some sense of responsibility. People want to be perceived as being good at what they do by others, and they want to feel good about themselves for a job well done. The idea that our pay structure is the only thing that motivates us is nonsense.
Do you run a restaurant? Have you ever let someone who was very good go because it would be cheaper to hire an unknown person? Do you know any restaurant owners who have? I think that your argument isn’t based in reality.
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If the last thing you are thinking about in a restaurant in sexually harassing your waitress, that’s a good thing. If you don’t realize that a lot of men sexually harass waitresses then it’s almost like you are from a different planet. Presumably you encourage policies that will prevent robberies even if you yourself don’t understand the urge to rob people.
Also, not in direct reply to Chad but rather to many, many comment here: the whole idea of tipping less because you got bad service makes my skin crawl. I tip much more for bad service and on one occasion tipped nearly 100% when the service was abysmal. If my father died yesterday and I was a bit inefficient at work my boss would cut me some slack. If I was a waiter and the same thing happened I wouldn’t be able to pay rent. I understand it’s totally normal and people have what seems like totally rational explanations for it, and I don’t really hold it against people as people because we are all products of our culture, but the actual act itself disgusts me. What a cruel and wretched lot we are to compound misery this way.
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I prefer that my Waitrons be DC models – the AC versions are just a bit too much with their fluctuating phases and inconvenient cords. I would never tip one though, that just seems cruel – they might damage the microvascular network in their Frubber coating if their gyros don’t properly stabilize them… (I guess that tipped waitrons in non-greek restaurants are in for trouble).
I always make sure that I compensate my Waitrons with a several gigabit gratuity for their service – even if their power-level was a bit low (even the creepy AC ones).
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I like to linger at the end of a meal sometimes, but I’d be distinctly uncomfortable doing so in a busy place with people waiting to be seated. It would be the opposite of relaxing.
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Ian Pike’s article is an useful alternate perspective, but he doesn’t refute Jay Porter as hard as he thinks he does. Porter says that service improved, Pike says it was always bad; but he doesn’t address Porter’s claims that both overall business and server take-home pay also improved. Those are quantifiable metrics, and are 100% worth pursuing even if service quality doesn’t change at all.
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Pay may not be the only thing that motivates us, but I think reality firmly supports the prevalence of working-to-get-paid over working-to-get-warm-fuzzies-about-oneself. Personally, yeah, if something’s worth doing it’s worth doing well, and I take satisfaction in a job well done, but I have seen plenty of people who don’t share that attitude.
I’d tell 'em to fuck off, quite frankly.
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No, he/she could pay their staff a decent wage. Skating as close to the bone on employment law as possible makes you an asshole.
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LMAO. In retrospect, I should have, but then you have to worry about spit in your food.
Yes, I guess it’s the visitor’s problem to get used to fake friendlyness
As someone already mentioned, not tipping in the US is basically like walking out and refusing the pay the bill. Or, perhaps a little closer, it is like paying the bill and then tossing your plate on the ground and telling the waiter that you think they are shit. They can’t have you arrested for that kind of behavior, but you probably shouldn’t ever go back there.
Tipping is so built into American culture that even when I travel to places where tipping is truly optional, I compulsively dump at least 15%. When in place where you don’t tip, you can’t help but feel like a shit, despite knowing that you are being irrational. Like I said, it is a pretty deep cultural taboo to not tip in the US.
Tipping is so culturally ingrained in the US I doubt we could ever get off tipping without a law making it specifically illegal and backing up the law with teeth.
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People do things for money, but that’s a huge simplification. In order to believe that tips will yield better service, I think you have to believe that:
a) wait staff are largely able to control the customer’s perception of the service they give; and
b) waiting tables well is an easy thing to do and when you get bad service it is a result of a lack of motivation rather than a lack of competency
I don’t think that you can rely on either of these assumptions. Waiting tables doesn’t seem terribly easy to me, and the tips that waiters get are probably far less dependent on the service they give and far more dependent on other factors. Whether they get the table with the guy who always tips 12% or 15% or 18%; whether they kitchen is swamped that night or whether the food is very promptly prepared; whether that blind date is going really well and the slow service is barely noticed or whether it is going poorly and the slow service is intolerable; whether their customers hate them because of their skin color or sex and whether their customers think they are attractive.
Frankly, your perception of whether the service was good or not probably has more to do with how much you liked the food than anything the server does unless you are a professional service evaluator with extensive training and 10 years of experience under your belt.
If you leave a bad tip, what do you think is going to happen? Is the server going to learn their lesson and smarten up for the next customer or are they going to be upset and annoyed and more likely to give worse service?
And what about competency? Is waiting tables super easy and anyone who messes up obviously just not interested? Being paid less than a living wage is not going to inspire someone who is struggling to learn to do better. You can teach a dog a trick by giving it a treat, but try doing that when the dog hasn’t eaten in three days and the treats are all it can get. See how well it is able to concentrate on the task. And of course there is a reason I use this analogy. It’s because when you tip a server well for doing well or tip a server badly for doing badly you are essentially acting as though you are their dog instructor, or their kindergarten teacher. They already know that they are supposed to give good service, you aren’t teaching them anything.
I’m sure this does vary from region to region, but every restaurant I have ever worked at and every restaurant that anyone I know has ever worked at has pooled tips and divided them equally, so essentially they are already doing what the restaurant in the article says, they just aren’t telling the customers.
But maybe the outcome isn’t the important thing, maybe it’s just important to express your displeasure at the expense of other people’s wages. They don’t deserve it because they didn’t do what you wanted. Don’t worry, if they are working full time as waiters they probably already know how little our society thinks they deserve. I’m sure that’s really helping the quality of the service.
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Oh yeah. I went to a restaurant once with a bunch of friends. Unfortunately the service was terrible. One waiter wasn’t paying attention and poured water all over one person’s lap, the others didn’t pay attention when we were ordering and got half of the orders wrong, then refused to fix it. When the bill finally came my friends were feeling pretty generous with their 10% tips, unfortunately the restaurant had added 18% gratuity automatically so technically our bill was short.
On the way out the manager came running saying she was going to call the cops for us skipping out on the bill. My friend with the still wet pants had had enough and told off the manager then flipped her the bird as we walked away. That was several years ago and I’ve never been back there, partially for the bad service but also because it was so embarrassing overall.
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I don’t deny that some men harass their waitresses, but the author of the original article presented it in a manner that made it seem as if a) All men harass their servers and b) Tips are an effort to purchase sexual favors. I disagree on both those points.
In my experience and in my usage of tips they are simply a method of attempting to purchase good service. There is a difference between cutting slack and rewarding bad performance. I prefer not to do the latter.
