tipping in florida

gwhizz75

What really gets me about tipping in the US, is when people say "if the service is bad, just leave 10%" - excuse me, but what the...?!?! A tip is supposed to show your gratitude for getting good service, it's basic psychology, they do their job well, they get a reward. If they don't do their job well, they don't get a reward.

I mean it's kind of like bankers bonuses on a much smaller scale. People should not be rewarded for doing a bad job! If they don't want to be nice to customers then they need to get a job which doesn't involve working with the public. I find the whole concept so bizarre.

And someone mentioned food being so cheap in the US, well that really depends where you are. I went to New York in January and yes I tipped, but the food was no cheaper than it is here (london prices in a lot of places). So adding 15% - 20% onto the bill was quite a big deal and I only gave 15% if I was VERY happy with both the service and food.

People say the British are tight with tips - well maybe it wouldn't matter if US employers weren't so tight that their staff can't live off their wages!

FH_Brit

US are workaholics, and some (including my boss) almost expect you to count yourself lucky you have a job. no anual leave or medical when you join - you have to earn that. Even on business trips he expects you to "swallow" tolls and driving time!!! Last year expected me to leave home 3am and drive 5 hours south to present a seminar then drive 5 hour home without payment except the 3 hours salery while I was presenting.

This is the employers mentality, scrimp and save and make the worker pay. They can (and bear this in mind with these servers we are talking about) at the start of your shift tell you they don't want you today and there's nothing you can do about it! One of our friendly servers was cut from 5 days (36 hours) to three days (13 hours) last week by Perkins and she is a single Mum with 5 kids! ! ! she needs her tips on those three days!

FH_Brit

gwhizz75 wrote: »

well maybe it wouldn't matter if US employers weren't so tight that their staff can't live off their wages!

Ah - you can thank Dismal World for that - Florida is a "No right to work" state and employees have very little rights = this is because the biggest employer (House of Mouse) don't want rights so they can take people on for summer season and drop them at the end with no responsibility or payments - they "donate" (for donate read bribe) to political parties to keep it that way and hey presto! Poor old worker!

Your employer can say your nose is the wrong shape, or your shirt is the wrong shade of blue, you're fired === tough luck! You're out of work!

Murphy_The_Cat

FH_Brit wrote: »

Your employer can say your nose is the wrong shape, or your shirt is the wrong shade of blue, you're fired === tough luck! You're out of work!

No different to over here then :beer:

BTW, one of the upsides of very lax labour laws is also the ability to hire people a lot easier and quicker

exel1966

Murphy_The_Cat wrote: »

BTW, one of the upsides of very lax labour laws is also the ability to hire people a lot easier and quicker

Yes, they call them Mexicans, illegal, but tolerated as they pay their taxes !

ferf1223

gwhizz75 wrote: »

People say the British are tight with tips - well maybe it wouldn't matter if US employers weren't so tight that their staff can't live off their wages!

Firstly, people take these jobs because they know they can supplement the less-than-minimum-wage with tips...no one is forcing people into the jobs and the labor laws in many states allow tippable positions to be paid less than minimum wage...I'm pretty sure that very few waiters and waitresses would opt to go to work at a restaurant where they earned a higher wage, but didn't get any tips.

Secondly, everyone seems to be ignoring the fact that if employers were required to pay wait staff more, they would have to increase their prices...plus, those staff who were used to having the opportunity to earn a fair amount more in tips would leave...and less motivated people would take the jobs and service levels would fall...so the customer ultimately would end up paying the same price overall if they had tipped the waitstaff in the first place...for worse service. I just can't get my head around why that would be a better idea than what's in place at the moment.

Thirdly, regarding those people who opt to work in positions where tips are standard and in many cases do quite well for themselves, I'm quite sure that they would not prefer the alternative system many here seem to be promoting...because it's likely their income would go down...so while some of you seem to be suggesting that the system is immoral may want to consider those people who would be worse off if the system you're promoting were put in place.

I just find it so very odd that people get so worked up about this without actually stopping to think it through. I appreciate that it's a different way of doing things than over here, but that doesn't make it bad or wrong or evil...just different.

As for tipping for poor service, I have never, ever heard of anyone suggesting that you should do so (and I'm American and lived there most of my life). However, it depends on what the issue is...if the service is bad (no refill, mixed up orders, forgotten sides, indifference, etc.) then not tipping is of course perfectly acceptable...if the food isn't great, is slow to arrive, etc. that's not the server's fault and I wouldn't let my tip impact that. For genuinely bad service the standard thing to do is to leave a penny (though it is considered extreme)...as it shows you didn't forget to tip...it's a statement sort of thing.

Finally, drawing a parallel between tipping and religion is, IMHO, just silly.

Dealmad

paulinespens wrote: »

When in Rome do what the Romans do and if you don't like it then don't visit the US simple as.
.

Its a shame that the same cant be said about the immigrants what come to our country to live , instead of trying to change our values and even change our Holiday names as it may offend and other stupid stuff , but mostly i blame the idiot left wingers for bending over backwards.

Murphy_The_Cat

Just for curiousity, who do you consider that the tip is for ?
The happy smily person who has managed to take your order correctly and bring your meal from the kitchen to the table, or the person in the kitchen who has done the real work ?

Numpty_Monkey

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Reported to abuse

paulinespens

Murphy_The_Cat wrote: »

Just for curiousity, who do you consider that the tip is for ?
The happy smily person who has managed to take your order correctly and bring your meal from the kitchen to the table, or the person in the kitchen who has done the real work ?

To be its about being served and waited on. I don't wanna cook I wanna sit at a seat not worry about a thing.

When I got to eat here in the US the waitress earns her tip by the amount of soda refills he or she gives me. Its about looking after us making sure foods ok we got our drinks and we are happy.