a rant about tipping

Hunchback

Deepsense wrote: »

Ive never seen the tips being shared in restaurants. I worked in Elephant & castle at night for about a year and the waiters there went mad if they made less that €100 per night tips. Afair, all tips were pooled and distributed. There used to be waar because the chefs were hammerred during service with it being so busy and waiters roaring for for faster and faster and coming in to the kitchen and firing crockery at the KPs plate hold area. One waiter used to give the KP a tenner of his tips every night which was decent of him but everyone else got nothing and were treated like crap. It was an on-going war situation.

But, yah - minumum wage + €100 - €140 every night. Not bad at all. Service charge also went to wait staff.

Whoah!! Where is this place? I want to work there.... as a waiter of course, heh heh!!

partyatmygaff

I always strive to tip atleast 10% if the service is good. I know what its like, I worked as a waiter for more than 2 and a half years and I relied solely on tips and nothing else. I didn't get tips, I didnt get paid so I never skip a tip.

hidinginthebush

Ever since I worked in a bar attached to a restaurant, I have no sympathy for waiters. They do fcuk all work compared to the other staff there like chefs / runners, but will still walk away with nearly €100 extra per night, tax free. So they can moan all they want about getting paid minimum wage, they're still cleaning up, while everyone else that worked their holes off so they could get all this extra cash gets nothing.

Plus, you've paid for the food, the price has been set, so why sould you give some student that's probably making more than you (after tips) €20 for just doing his/her fcuking job? I don't get it.

Sofiztikated

Deepsense wrote: »

Ive never seen the tips being shared in restaurants. I worked in Elephant & castle at night for about a year and the waiters there went mad if they made less that €100 per night tips. Afair, all tips were pooled and distributed. There used to be waar because the chefs were hammerred during service with it being so busy and waiters roaring for for faster and faster and coming in to the kitchen and firing crockery at the KPs plate hold area. One waiter used to give the KP a tenner of his tips every night which was decent of him but everyone else got nothing and were treated like crap. It was an on-going war situation.

But, yah - minumum wage + €100 - €140 every night. Not bad at all. Service charge also went to wait staff.

Em, you kinda contradict yourself here. You've never seen then shared, yet they were pooled, THEN shared.

Anyway, no most places don't distribute the service charge, as its more of a management thing, as a table of 6+ takes more time to serve than 3 tables of 2.

Oh and to the chap that worked in the hotel, the tour operator told them that because
1) The tour guide usually tips the wait staff and the porters.
2) The tour guide likes to get tipped by his tour.
3) The more they give out, the less he gets tipped.
Makes sense really.

I don't get the big argument over tipping. IF I want to tip, I'll leave a tip. If you don't want to, don't. I know who'll get better service the next time.

NewFrockTuesday

Sofiztikated wrote: »

Em, you kinda contradict yourself here. You've never seen then shared, yet they were pooled, THEN shared.

Anyway, no most places don't distribute the service charge, as its more of a management thing, as a table of 6+ takes more time to serve than 3 tables of 2.

Oh and to the chap that worked in the hotel, the tour operator told them that because
1) The tour guide usually tips the wait staff and the porters.
2) The tour guide likes to get tipped by his tour.
3) The more they give out, the less he gets tipped.
Makes sense really.

I don't get the big argument over tipping. IF I want to tip, I'll leave a tip. If you don't want to, don't. I know who'll get better service the next time.

I meant between kitchen staff and waiters. Should have clarified, sorry. Which I always thought very unfair especially when it came to the service charged Christmas parties. Chefs werent on much higher wages than waiters and the KPs got munimum wage as well but we all worked equally hard - the KPs more so due to the nature of the job.

Whoah!! Where is this place? I want to work there.... as a waiter of course, heh heh!!

Sorry, I should have said. Its smack bang in the middle of Temple Bar in Dublin. Kuurazzy busy gaff.

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

Max Power1 wrote: »

if I pay the stated price, why should I feel like I have to tip aswell? Thats like seeing an item advertised for €100 and me offering the seller €110. I never tip in restaurants. Maybe taxi drivers when its late night but other than that, not so much

This site is free, yet you chose to pay for it


How is the service charge optional? Where does it say that? Same in TFI fridays. I never ever tip unless the waitress exceeds my expectations.

Pizza hut in carlow, most of the workers are polish/chinese. The chinese are fine, the polish there are scum. How the tipping works. If your name is on the tables bill you get the tip. So a group of 10 come in, the polish make sure their name goes on that table, how? Ordering a glass of water on the system and then that table is theirs. They used to ask me for their tip, I would tell them to fcuk off, same with the manager. If they want it, they will work for it, scabby sly little scumbags. They would never clean up the table, would always just take an order and let the other staff do the work. The manager would also ask for 20% of your tips every night, to go to the kitchen staff. I asked the kitchen staff if they ever got any tips, they laughed. That 20% went straight to the manager. I told them I never got any tips... Scumhole run by scumbags that place is.

BaconZombie

Shop/restaurant can put up what every signs they like but print anything in there menus/catalogues, that does not mean any of it is legally binding or enforceable.

E.g. When a shop puts up a sign saying "No Refunds", it does not magically remove for legal rights under the "customers rights act".

Greysen Defeated Broomstick wrote: »

How is the service charge optional? Where does it say that? Same in TFI fridays. I never ever tip unless the waitress exceeds my expectations.

irish_goat

With regards to credit card tipping, in our place anyway it doesn't make any difference. If someone adds say a tenner onto their credit card bill a tenner will come out of the till and go into the tips jar.

Never heard of service charge being kept by the owners though, that's just plain deceit.

Theta

10% - 15% if they do a good job in a restaurant, I dont tip anywhere else.

peanuthead

hidinginthebush wrote: »

Ever since I worked in a bar attached to a restaurant, I have no sympathy for waiters. They do fcuk all work compared to the other staff there like chefs / runners, but will still walk away with nearly €100 extra per night, tax free. So they can moan all they want about getting paid minimum wage, they're still cleaning up, while everyone else that worked their holes off so they could get all this extra cash gets nothing.

Plus, you've paid for the food, the price has been set, so why sould you give some student that's probably making more than you (after tips) €20 for just doing his/her fcuking job? I don't get it.

Hold on a minute there matie!!

Don't tar all restaurants with the same brush there... I know the kind of restaurants you're on about and if someone who works in

Joels on Naas Road

is on here and I've got this wrong, please correct me, but the waiters there seem to do very little for their tips

But let me tell you about the restaurant I worked in, because it was very different. I'll name it if I can

Bewleys Newlands Cross

We NEVER had a runner. We carried all our food ourselves.
We didn't get our drinks from the main bar, but had our own little mini bar in the restaurant. There used to be a guy who worked there, but manager got rid of that and we had to do it too.
We didn't used to have to clear and re-set our tables, or make our own teas or coffees. There used to be a girl there for that. She got the chop too, so we had to do all that too.
Next to go was one of the night wash-up men. So when one guy was on his break, there was a half an hour (usually the busiest one) where we had to clear our own plates too:eek::eek:
All of this included in the fact that in a hotel, waitresses have to stock the entire restaurant for breakfast in the morning too.
Once there were no extra cuts to make, he started cutting the waitresses shifts too. So along with all these extra jobs we had extra tables too.

I know you're thinking "Well, it obviously wasn't busy then." It wasn't always busy, but you were worked to the bone because of how thinly spread we all were over the place, and my god, if it got unexpectedly busy - you didn't get a break!!

So, em, as much as I hate giving it sometimes - maybe because the waitress is cranky or whatever, alot of the times the morale is just really low because they're either tired, busy or STARVING!!

Some don't work for the tips, but some most certaintly do.

yurmothrintites

Alot of Irish waiters are ignorant, hate their jobs and are completely unfriendly to the average customer, therefore I only tip when he/she actually makes an effort to be friendly.

Service charges are absolutly ridiculous. If I want to give a tip, I will. The minumum wage is high enough.

mloc

I personally think our lack of tipping culture is matched with our absolutely piss poor service culture in most establishments.

peanuthead

mloc wrote: »

I personally think our lack of tipping culture is matched with our absolutely piss poor service culture in most establishments.

couldn't agree more actually

Acid_Violet

I'm working as a waitress now part-time, only been at it 4 days so naturally I'm diabolical! The other staff who are doing it full-time really do depend on their tips, so it annoys me a bit when you see someone who's had absolutely great service and great food and doesn't even leave a few coppers in the tipping bowl. Depends on your personal circumstances definitely, and I never tip because I'm broke (I think students are the exception in fairness.). However, when you've spent over an hour in some-one's cafe, and when the table could've been used by 2 other people in between times, and you've received friendly service I think it's only right that you tip.

BigEejit

As far as I am concerned, good service is what I get with my meal. Good food with exceptional service and friendly staff will get a tip (5% tops) and return business.

This expectation in Irish restaurants that just walking in the door adds 10% onto your bill is just pure bullshít. The whole idea of leaving a tip came from america where they basically get paid nothing and so they provide exceptional service otherwise they dont get paid. i.e. the customer is in charge; if he does not get the right food at the right time with the right attitude then the staff will not get paid very much at all. Good incentive for them.

mloc

Tipping is very much a cultural thing. In some cultures, such as middle eastern cultures, tipping small amounts is seen as a way of greasing the wheels or getting around often very restrictive bureaucracy. In many western cultures, small tips are seen as a reward to good service, with this strongest in the US, where tipping is a central part of the culture.

Tipping is not part of the Irish culture. Neither is good service. What passes as good service in Ireland is generally unprofessional, lacklustre service that fits in fine with the general "just enough to do" attitude of Irish business. That's fine, if you wish to accept that as an acceptable state for a country to be in.