Restaurants - please ask who gets the tips

Georgiegirl256

JReacher1 wrote: »

There is something more demeaning about waiting on people e.g. Cooking them food, bringing them food, bringing them drinks, taking their empty plates away, cleaning the plates and the table that I think justifies the person on the receiving end paying a bit of money as a thank you.

Really?! I've never thought of it that way, and I'm sure most other people don't either. I'm sure the waiting staff would be thrilled to know that you think their job is demeaning! Most people in that profession thrive on giving good service, and enjoy the fast place and being kept going.

It sounds like you almost look down on them?

Detroit

JReacher1 wrote: »

Yep like I said in my post people like to come up with good excuses to justify why they don't tip in restaurants. I like the "I'm not going to tip you because me giving you 10% is patronising and demeans you as a person".

Great excuse for being tight.

Hardly, when I'm actually suggesting as an alternative that wages could be increased, with the attendant increase in the price of the meal.

This would clearly mean customers would end up paying more, as there would be no choice.
Tipping, being a discretionary activity, saves 'tight' people more money than my suggestion.

I find it difficult to see why you think hoping that your customers will throw you some coins for what you consider to be 'demeaning yourself' is somehow preferable to receiving a stable and agreed weekly sum from your employer.

JReacher1

Detroit wrote: »

Hardly, when I'm actually suggesting as an alternative that wages could be increased, with the attendant increase in the price of the meal.

This would clearly mean customers would end up paying more, as there would be no choice.
Tipping, being a discretionary activity, saves 'tight' people more money than my suggestion.

I find it difficult to see why you think hoping that your customers will throw you some coins for what you consider to be 'demeaning yourself' is somehow preferable to receiving a stable and agreed weekly sum from your employer.

What you are suggesting will never happen e.g. Wages being increased and tipping stopping.

Therefore you can take the moral high ground and say that is what you want to happen, when in reality what is happening is that you're not tipping restaurant waiting staff so saving yourself 10%.

Well played....

Detroit

JReacher1 wrote: »

Yep I am sure the staff that wait on you appreciated the fact you don't deman them by saving yourself a few quid.

I Am sure you get excellent service from waiters due to your thoughtfulness.

JReacher, I don't think you're grasping the nuances of this discussion.

People so far who don't agree with the principle of tipping have for the most part said they would prefer it replaced by something fairer and more reliable for the staff.

This will not save them any money! So they are not saying it to be 'tight'!

Does that make sense?

JReacher1

Detroit wrote: »

JReacher, I don't think you're grasping the nuances of this discussion.

People so far who don't agree with the principle of tipping have for the most part said they would prefer it replaced by something fairer and more reliable for the staff.

This will not save them any money! So they are not saying it to be 'tight'!

Does that make sense?

:wall:

Yes but as waiting staff aren't being paid more the fact people like you would "prefer" them to get paid more doesn't help them at all.

The winners here are

1) the restaurants who are getting away with paying low wages
2) tight customers like yourself who refuse to tip and save money.

The losers are:

1) restaurant employees who are not getting paid more from their employers and are serving tight customers who are trying to save money.

Detroit

JReacher1 wrote: »

What you are suggesting will never happen e.g. Wages being increased and tipping stopping.

Therefore you can take the moral high ground and say that is what you want to happen, when in reality what is happening is that you're not tipping restaurant waiting staff so saving yourself 10%.

Well played....

If you're dissatisfied with the wage you receive as a waiter, you should take this up with your employer.

If you believe the salary for your role is not reflective of the skills you bring to the position, this is not the responsibility of customers of the business to rectify.

Your customers pay your employer an agreed price for your services. Why should they do a side deal with you because you feel your employer is underpaying you?

Detroit

Perhaps JReacher, we could also look at this a different way. How about instead of thinking of me as tight, we consider you, as the waiter, as greedy?

How many tables would you turn in a typical shift?
For the sake of argument, and ease of math, let's say eight tables of four, each with a total bill of £100.
You think that each table should pay you 10%, or they are tight; so you would expect an extra £80 on top of your wages for an evening's work?

Would you not consider an extra £400, tax free, per week disproportionate to the role of waiting?
I accept that there are aspects of the job that are challenging, but this is so with most work.

I genuinely cannot see the justification for expecting all customers to pay you 10% of the cost of their meal, when in reality they have probably had no more than 15-20 minutes of your time at the outside; and the work you have done for them is neither highly specialized, or particularly onerous. (The latter when compared to other NMW level jobs, such as care roles for example.)

onlyroz

WibblyGirly wrote: »

I work in retail and can be with customers for up to an hour helping them select items/sizes giving advice etc. I don't get a tip for that! I never tip in restaurants as they give me less time than I give most of my own customers.

Um isn't that called "doing your job"?

Georgiegirl256

JReacher1 wrote: »

What you are suggesting will never happen e.g. Wages being increased and tipping stopping.
...

But waiting staff don't get paid any less than the majority of retail staff. So the only reason you differentiate between the two is because you deem serving on tables to be demeaning?

onlyroz wrote: »

Um isn't that called "doing your job"?

It is called "doing your job", but it's "um" called that in other professions too and they still get tipped, which is the point she was making.

JReacher1

Detroit wrote: »

Perhaps JReacher, we could also look at this a different way. How about instead of thinking of me as tight, we consider you, as the waiter, as greedy?

How many tables would you turn in a typical shift?
For the sake of argument, and ease of math, let's say eight tables of four, each with a total bill of £100.
You think that each table should pay you 10%, or they are tight; so you would expect an extra £80 on top of your wages for an evening's work?

Would you not consider an extra £400, tax free, per week disproportionate to the role of waiting?
I accept that there are aspects of the job that are challenging, but this is so with most work.

I genuinely cannot see the justification for expecting all customers to pay you 10% of the cost of their meal, when in reality they have probably had no more than 15-20 minutes of your time at the outside; and the work you have done for them is neither highly specialized, or particularly onerous. (The latter when compared to other NMW level jobs, such as care roles for example.)

Like I said I enjoy reading the arguments of people who justify why they don't tip. The argument of "waiters are greedy" is admittedly a new one so well done!