The Glade 4.0

I've mentioned this several times in other threads, but never in a stand-alone dedicated rant thread.

I really can't stand this attitude that a cashier at a fast food chain is entitled to a tip. I do not tip these people. Nor do I throw money into a "tip bucket" hanging outside the drive-thru window. Just because someone somewhere found they could sucker gullible people into giving you extra money for your crappy high school job does not mean everyone everywhere is entitled to it.

I tip servers at restaurants, because these people (usually) are doing more than taking my money, handing me a receipt, and then handing me a bag. On top of this, restaurant servers are typically paid far *less* than the minimum wage and are completely dependent on tips. I'll tip a person giving me a haircut, since they are actively serving me for more than just 3 seconds (though I am still a little on the fence about this one).

Today, I was ushered into a brand new era of tip entitlement.

I took a coworker to a decent (not great, but good) cheesesteak joint. I am a fan of their habanero cheese topping. The new kid took my order and then asked me out loud if I wanted to add a tip. When paying with a debit card, the receipt prints out with a field to write in a tip. But no, he took it a step further as I hand him the card and verbally tried to corner (maybe passively aggressively bully me) into a tip. I said nope.

My coworker added a tip though. He was under the impression they'd bring the food to us.

If they brought me our food, kept my drink topped off, I'd be more than happy to plink a few extra bucks down. But, no. The most the kid did was 1. Take order. 2. Input order. 3. Take money. 4. Put food on counter and call our number.

I don't tip that. Nor should anyone else.

Ever.

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Les Zombis et les Loups-Garous!

I am upset that tipping in general even exists, or more specifically, that some people are forced to work for them. No employer should be able to pay their workers less than minimum wage, minimum has a **** meaning.

Anyway, I have never and will never tip at a fast food joint. Restaurants, sure, but only because it's expected of me. Doubly frustrating in a state like mine, where employers are not allowed to pay under minimum wage ($8/hr, $9 in 2014 and $10 in 2016), but people still expect 15-20% on top of your total.

I thought tipping was done to prevent the cook from spitting on your food? :p

I'll take the spit over enabling their entitlement. But I am a man of strong principles.

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Les Zombis et les Loups-Garous!

I've never tipped at a fast food restaurant. And I only tip at a normal restaurant if the waiter/waitress does an outstanding job. I know they get paid jack **** and live on tips, but maybe if they did a better job, they would get a tip. I'm sorry, but if I'm sitting there for 5-10 minutes with an empty glass, **** you. I don't get paid when I don't do my job, neither should you.

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Los Angeles Kings 2014 Stanley Cup Champions

"I love this **** team right here."
-Jonathan Quick

Has anyone ever mentioned that you're kind of an *******?

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Holy shitsnacks!

I've not seen this in fast food chains.. There is a Chinese non-chain place that does this. I usually do a round-up on this, even though they are only spooning up food for me. They probably only get away with it cause the price is so good.

Tipping actually served a purpose other than subsidizing the employer's payroll at one time: You built rapport with your servers and they took good care of you. Generally with food service being such a massive and high turnover business anymore, this doesn't happen as much.

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I prefer to think of them as "Fighting evil in another dimension"

Yes. And I don't give a ****.

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Los Angeles Kings 2014 Stanley Cup Champions

"I love this **** team right here."
-Jonathan Quick

Did you get any service?

Pay for the service you receive. In general, proper service "should" cost about 15%. If you get exceptional service, pay more. If you get lousy service, pay less. But unless someone just hands you the product you paid for, you're receiving some level of service.

I would [and have] asked "For what?" when somebody asks me that question in that type of scenario.

Make them justify their bullshit.

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“The duty of a patriot is to protect his country from its government.” - Thomas Paine

the concept of tipping in the US has always bugged me (and I worked in food service for a while). I always have looked at it as a way for employers to screw over their employees by forcing us to not only pay for the food (and associated costs with it such as wages and overhead, cost of a dish is typically 3 times food cost for that dish) but ALSO to pay for the majority of their employees wages.

Fast food employees get minimum wage and are not tip-able employees. If you want a tip, do a bloody good job and I will think about it. Panhandling wont get you anything. However, if you do a GOOD job, Im more than willing to give you a good bonus. I used to go to a restaurant once a week (I dont live near it anymore) and would get the same thing each week. The waitstaff there would bring my drink when I sat down, and then my wrap about 5 min later. Total cost on the bill was like 5.75, I would always give a $10 and leave.

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I don't look at tipping as making you pay for their service instead of their employer. I think of it as giving you the option of not paying for service if it's not satisfactory. Without tipping, you're forced to pay for service even if it's shitty. It's not a perfect system by any means, but it works pretty well.

Service in restaurants in the US is generally really good. I think it's something we take for granted. My experience in other countries without a tipping culture is that service is a lot worse. I'm sure there are other cultural factors that come in to play, but I don't think it's merely a coincidence.

That said, yeah, tipping for fast food is retarded. Maybe if it's a local fast food joint and the guy who takes your order also cooks your food and is really nice and gives you extra fries or something, then yeah, sure, drop a dollar in the tip jar if you feel like it. I can't see any reason to ever tip at someplace like McDonalds.

And it absolutely shouldn't be something that's decided when you first place your order, as you haven't even received any "service" yet. I think that's what bugs me the most.

This. I think non-fast-food restaurants are one of the few places where pay is truly reflective of merit. Not in every single meal served, but on average, yes. Fast food employees are paid an actual wage and should rarely be tipped.

My sympathy goes to buffet employees who often work just as hard clearing extra plates and getting drink refills but are tipped less because they don't bring the food out. I think most buffets should just eliminate tipping and go with wages.

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

When I lived in South Korea, I was told not to tip at non-western Korean restaurants. Apparently it's considered an insult, along the lines of, your food/restaurant sucks, here have some money to make it better!

Not having to take orders, making sure the order comes out at the proper times in the proper order (nothing worse than getting your appetizer with the meal), and taking care of all the special orders eliminates a lot of work.

Buffet workers typically still get tipped at around 15%, and they generally have many more tables. The food is often cheaper, but in my experience, it's not typically a problem.

I drink a lot. And by that I mean drinking in general, not alcohol.

I can easily down 5 - 6 large glasses of Coke Zero in a single sitting at a restaurant. Normally a server will only fill it on average 3 times. I don't fault them for not being able to keep up with me, keeping me refilled is almost a full time job; like the breadcrumb guys at Ruth's Chris (which I still say is waaaaaaay overpriced food).

I mostly judge restaurant service by how many times my drink gets refilled. I don't even count bringing out the food, because in really busy restaurants it's often not even your own server that brings it out. Refilling a drink is a very simple task, and something that I think is generous to judge service upon.

If my drink hasn't been refilled once, then I consider that very poor service. If my drink never even makes it to my table, then I consider it abysmal service. If it gets refilled once and only once, I consider that under par (but I also take into account how many tables the server has and how busy they are). 2 - 3 is average. 4+ is exceptional.

I typically will always baseline 15% tip. If the service is great, I'll do even more. If it was completely outstanding, then it can easily climb to 25%+. It's rare I'll drop below 15%. The service has to be so terrible, (and I'll factor in food and attitude, not just drink) that the tip will drop far below that, or down to nothing.

But I will also tip to make up for a server who is struggling. The other week I was craving a steak so I went to Lonestar steakhouse. A place I haven't been in almost 20 years, and I didn't remember it much. I saw they had a bacon-wrapped filet, but they also had a bacon-wrapped top sirloin. I ordered the filet.

I was not terribly impressed. It was very tough for a filet, when a good filet should be almost able to be cut with a spoon. I wondered if they'd given me the sirloin instead (since even the shape was not typical of a filet). I asked the server about it (very politely, without being an ***. I hate rude ******* customers and never want to be one). The server said he was sure it was the filet.

I said ok and went back to eating this steak. Then the manager came out and asked me what was up. I didn't ask for a manager or even imply I wanted to see one. But, I did show him my concern. I even demonstrated it's toughness by cutting it with a knife and showing how much force was needed to separate a piece of it. He agreed that was not how a filet should behave.

So he said he'd bring out a new one. And he did. And the new steak looked just like the other one. It was slightly more tender, but still... not a quality filet. I realized that in this particular restaurant, this was the best they could offer. So I happily ate it without any more complaints.

What I wasn't expecting was that they comped both steaks off of my ticket. I was not expecting that nor was I asking for it. But they did. And I felt bad the server was going to get a little shafted (either by the manager or by the now small percentage of a tip to be had). So I included a tip that brought my meal's price to what it would have been had they not comped my steak.

I don't factor in quality of food when it comes to tipping. I do factor in variables if I think the server might get in trouble for some odd, perceived reason by their manager.

And my drink. Refill my damn drink. I don't pay 4 bucks for a single glass of something that costs you 10 cents to make.

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Les Zombis et les Loups-Garous!

That's the part where they end up working just as hard.

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

It's also the part where they make more money. Thus, no sympathy needed.

Except they don't because they get tipped less per table. Thy actually don't get tipped an average of 15%, its much lower especially woth large groups.

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

Which is why having more tables helps. 10% x 8 tables at $75/table = $60. 15% x 4 tables @ $100/table = $60.

They are doing less for you in a buffet. They should get less in tip. Since they are doing less, they can handle more tables. It usually works out fine. I've worked in both types of places.

Maybe it just depends on the buffet. My sister was a waitress in one, then switched to a regular sit-down restaurant. She said she made about 50% more at the sit-down place, mainly because at the buffet people would come in with huge parties and leave tiny tips.

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

sure, there's a lot of factors that play into tips at any restaurant - clientele, location, type of food, ambiance