After seeing this in my RSS reader today and reading some of the abhorrent comments left, I wanted to respond to a lot of what was said.
First of all, I have had many friends and family in the service industry. I've never worked any job where tips were part of it, but I've dealt with having to make people's food (Bruegger's) or handle their grievances (Service Desk at The Book Center). I have to say that, in general, the public is a bunch of assholes.
Let's just get one thing straight from the get-go. Do you know what the hourly wage is for bartenders/servers? It does vary from state to state (and I imagine establishment to establishment), but minimum wage for a waitress in PA is $2.83.
$2.83!
This means that most to all of your wages are taken by taxes. I have known servers that actually received a negative paycheck because they had to pay taxes on their tips and the hourly wage didn't cover it.
So, yes, a tip is an indication of the service you have been provided. But do people realize if they don't tip, they are actually costing the server money?
Now, I don't know anyone who doesn't tip, but I have witnessed other people who tip poorly, and I always make sure that I make up for it (while quietly seething and judging them). As a general rule, I leave 20%. Period, end of story. If I get great service, I'll leave more. If I get shitty service, I leave 15%, though I'm not sure that I'm really getting the message across that the service was crap. They probably just think I'm an average tipper. But I am incapable of leaving less, even in foreign countries where 10% is a cheer-worthy tip.
However...I tend to get annoyed at tip jars in coffee places and ice cream shops. I know that Starbucks pays higher than minimum wage. I realize that yes, baristas are part of the service industry. But they're not delivering my coffee to my table. They don't ask me if I want refills. It's the same as when I go to Target and someone rings me up. That is just as much of a service, and I don't think anyone would think that the poor cashier chick at Target deserves a tip for that. I do tip for take out because I know that a server probably put all that together for me. And I definitely tip my hairdresser/manicurist (ok, the one time I got a manicure)/etc.
Many people believe that tips are something that the server should "earn". I understand that to a certain extent. A 25-30% tip should be a reward, not necessarily the norm. So why don't servers just get paid more? Well, think about it. Let's say you make $X an hour. You get a table of 10 obnoxious frat boys. I think that you deserve the higher tip that should come with the higher bill just for dealing with that. If you were paid hourly, you would make the same regardless of the fact that you had a table of 4 or 10 (simplified example, I know. Most servers don't just deal with one table at a time.).
I know that bartending or being a server can be quite lucrative, especially if you're good at it. Honestly, though, who wants to deal with that? Late nights, on your feet the whole time, rare or nonexistent breaks, dealing with the general populace...I'm more than happy to pay an extra 20% solely for that fact that I would never want to do that. The only pluses may be walking out with cash in hand and some free coke from your manager.
What do you guys think? How much do you tip? Does every server deserve a tip?
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
A controversial subject
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2 comments:
So far with my breif stint as a server I find that most people who are frustrated with their service are not frustrated with my service, but rather things I have no control over. Example: I am not a bartender, I cannot pour your beer, if it took too long please yell at the bartender and not me; your food being prepared improperly was not my fault I did not make it, the cooks did and regardless of how shitty you tip me to "teach me a lesson", I still have to share 3% of my total sales with the bartenders and hosts, and now i'm in a shitty mood because I busted my hump to try and make you happy. I also work with completely lazy and incompitent servers who really need to find a different job if they are just going to suck all the time. I had a woman leave me no tip the other day because I could not get her change fast enough. The only change I have is what I bring with me to work (there are no cash registers), if everyone gives me huge bills, I run out quickly. There is a manager who is generally too busy to deal with me that I had to chase around the restaurant for change and then they didn't have any either, I also asked other servers, who had none, by the time I got to the bartender to ask her for change, the woman got fed up and left. I felt bad for making her wait, but there wasn't much I could do about it.
ah, i love this blog. as a bartender at an extremely busy bar, i dealt with the most obnoxious people i've ever seen in my life. i've been thrown disgusting pick up lines, been grabbed at, i've had things thrown at me, & one time a guy tried to hit me. i would always receive comments about how much money i made (in florida i did pretty well for myself). let me tell you, i deserved every penny & then some. i had not only had to mix drinks, i had to be an entertainer, a therapist, a match-maker, a verbal punching bag, a mediator & then some. i had to go without eating for 12+ hours, constantly moving, only to continue to clean up after the fools when we closed. sometimes i would walk in at 3:0pm & not see the bathroom until 4:00am. if by some chance there was a miracle & i got 5 seconds to run to the bathroom, i had to fight with bitchy girls to cut in front...only to return to the bar afterwards & listen to the same girls scream at me because i'm taking too long. it's mentally & physically draining, not to mention it ruins your spirit. it makes you lose faith in humanity. i might sound dramatic, but i worked at a very very busy bar. sometimes i felt like i was enclosed by a ten foot wall of people. and then there were 911 calls when some jackass just wouldn't stop fighting, drinking, or some idiot fell down the stairs drunk, broke a bottle, etc. it's terrifying. and after you save someone's life, you have to cross your fingers they don't come back and sue you. i could go on & on, but i don't have the time or energy. lol. i made great money, but i had a lot to deal with. for every nice person, i would get 10 rude ones. i'm not even sure if i want to continue bartending here in north carolina. when i get a shitty tip or a rude comment, i tell that person to jump behind the bar & see if they can do a better job. if everyone worked a week in the service industry i think tips increase & complaints decrease. i wrote this really quick, didn't bother with proofreading or spellcheck so i apologize.
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