Tipping in restaurants

Reasons To NEVER Work At Denny's...

1. If you work day shift they have WAY to many servers, so you don't make any tip.

2. It pays LESS than minimum wage.

3. You don't REALLY get a break, but they take half an hour out of your paycheck as if you do.

4. They are open 24/7/365, which means it doesn't matter if you celebrate the holidays or not, you don't anymore; because if you work night shift you HAVE to work ALL holidays!!! THEY ARE MAKING ME WORK CHRISTMAS EVE AAAAND CHRISTMAS, and I already worked Thanksgiving. They'll probably make me work New Years Eve too...

There are plenty of other reasons to not work at the Denny's I work at in particular, but I'll keep this rant short. I am just REALL REALLY upset that I'll be missing my dad's birthday, christmas Eve, AND Christmas... It's not fair actually. I REALLY REALLY want to quit tomorrow, but we need the money.

This kind of attitude is ignorant and selfish! You aren't tipping for your food, you are tipping for the service that comes along with going out to eat at a restaurant. People in the service industry are generally paid very little hourly wages and rely on their tips to be financially stable. In fact, about 80% of their income comes from tips. Not only that, but they are required to declare 10% of their sales regardless of how much they make in tips. Most of the time servers need to tip out a certain percentage of their sales to various others in the restaurant like the kitchen, bussers, hostess, ect. So let's say you ate at a restaurant and your bill came to $50. The server who helps you throughout your meal would be taxed 10% of $50, then would tip out another 2% of $50 to the kitchen, and another 2% to the hostess/busser/expo/food runner. If you left no tip, then that server is essentially paying for you to eat at that establishment! Keep in mind, they aren't there for fun, they are working hard to make a living just like I am sure you do. They deserve to be paid for doing their job.

Tipping...I'm all for it if the waiting staff are pleasant (and I don't mean obsequious or overly deferential - I get embarrassed at that). What pisses me off is the rude sods who act like they're doing you a favour by asking you what your order is, slam your plates/glasses down and then expect a tip. There's a certain (overrated) vegetarian restaurant in South Manchester who seem to specialise in employing these kind of staff (there's loads of other establishments, too). On my last (and final) visit, we asked for armagnac at the end of the meal, only to be told half an hour later that "We've, like, run out, yeah?"
When we left we were fortunately in the position to pay exactly the amount on the bill. We got real dagger looks because we didn't leave a tip.
As a comparative, I was recently told by a charming young lady at a motorway service station that she wasn't allowed to accept any gratuities, which depressed me as she was great at her job, extremeley pleasant and helpful and surely could have done with the extra revenue (I've done this kind of job too so I know what it's like).

Is the service charge on a restaurant bill always optional? On Sunday, I left a cash tip on the table before going to pay. I was told I could not remove the service charge from the bill, because it was not optional. Can this be right? I didn't have time to slug it out, but I would like to be well armed with the legal facts next time I go back (the food was great!)

It seems that many comments are made by those who have never worked in restaurants. In the past I have worked in Reataurants in Britain and American and the latter has a tipping culture and, while Britsih Reautants have vastly imporved, the service is wholly more consitent across all levels of eating establsihments in the US. Both consumer and staff benefit Catering can be onerous mentally and physically over a shift and waiting staff are incetnivised to maintain a level of attitude and attentiveness that would be harder to sustain if they were automatically included in their wages. Tipping also empowers the cousmer to determinev the value of the service element of the dining experience. Also the econimics of catering would never allow most waiting staff to be well paid even by the most generous employer (unless one had to pay through the nose for a meal). Where tipping is imbedded, many individuals can manage a decent livelihood by skillfully applying themselves to the needs of consumers and adding to their experience In Britain one does not havfe to go over the top. I usually leave a couple of quid for a light meal or use the ten per cent cointental rule (I round bills up beyond this if the service has been very good). Tipping in the US .is generally higher as the waiter is taxed on the assumption that they have erned 10% on total take (certainly when and where I worked over there) so it is especially mean not to tip unless the service has been substandard. Whatever your view over here when in Rome...I had staff who dreaded serving us Brits who did not tip or tippped inadequately as they were to ignorant to respect the culture of where they were.

Some "waiters" - let's call them serving staff- especially those who work in third world ethnic eating establishments, very popular in this country, these staff are probably illegal immigrants.

They are probably paid less than minimum wage. Tips, whether they are added as service charge or not, are collected by the owner of the establishment. The "waiter" is probably fed by the restaurant as a deduction from the "wage". No National Insurance or money towards pension is paid. No tax is deducted. VAT paid - questionable. The owner of the establishment probably has a dormitory for these illegals who they charge for sleeping there.

If these staff end up with £5 of their after the end of a 100 hour week they are lucky. They probably have to send it back home.

The waiter at a restaurant doesn't directly see any of the "service charge" stated in small print on the bill. This charge gets pooled by the restaurant, and goes toward paying the staffs wages. You could refuse to pay this, and ask for this to be deducted from your bill. Whether you tip the waiter cash is up to you. I do 10%, but that is how I've been indoctrinated and it's usually only a couple of quid. It's just money?!

Has anybody else out there realised that "campaign to stop Tipping" is obviously MikeP?

Would someone please provide real documentary scientifically controlled evidence that tipping produces better service.

It doesn't exist. Tipping is part of the black economy where employers use it as an excuse to exploit weakly unionised labour. And if they are foreign to rip them off altogether.

"The restaurant is not a charity, but a business. Its owners must behave as if they are running a business."

Fine in theory, but they don't, they pay low wages and rely on customers to make up the shortfall with tips. Is that such a bad thing? It does help to ensure that the service is better. People should not have to be induced to provide better service with the expectation of a tip (donkey ... carrot) but that unfortunately is human nature and in some way it happens in all walks of life.

In some countries tipping is outlawed and service providers are thus 'obliged' to pay better wages, but that is open to abuse too. Is there a perfect system?

I don't despise ordinary working people. I despise beggars. People who tout for tips -taxi-drivers, waiters, hairdressers, porters - these people are behaving like beggars and will get short-shrift from me. Why don't they flog me a copy of the Big Issue while they are at it?

The restaurant is not a charity, but a business. Its owners must behave as if they are running a business.

I agree no tipping, then the owners will have to pay a fair wage to each server.