Tipping

Dirty Dingus McGee

massdebater wrote: »

I work in a restaurant in Canada, where the tipping culture is huge. I spent my whole life working office jobs but I make around 2.5 times more as a waiter than I would in any entry level office jobs - and that's with me having zero waitering experience!

The amount of people who don't have any clue about the tipping culture here is ridiculous though. I make less than minimum wage (I get $9.60/hr instead of min wage which i think is $10.40/hr). At the end of my shift, I have to give money to the kitchen and bar staff. This is 4% of my food sales to kitchen and 4% of drink sales to the barman. This is off the sales figures and is not linked to my tips. So if I sell $500 worth of food and $400 worth of drink in a night, I need to pay the kitchen $20 and the barman $16. If nobody tips me all night, this comes from my own money. So by people not tipping, I get less than my already reduced wage. Most people are good though and will usually tip between 15-20%. I find that Americans, rich Asians and people who work as a waiter themselves are the best tippers whereas Aussies, students and young Asians are the worst offenders. At the end of the day, if you can't afford to tip, don't eat in a table-service restaurant. Go to McDonald's or something like that

Thats a problem with your employer though.

He should be paying you a proper wage and having the price of the food/drink that is provided reflect a proper wage for the staff.The employer is being let off the hook.When you go to a restaurant you expect that the price of the meal covers the price of it getting to your table.

marialouise

Avatar MIA wrote: »

I used to tip, until I realised the whole interaction between you and staff is predicated on them getting a tip, whether restaurant staff (Did you enjoy your meal, when you are just about to pay) or taxi drivers - quiet all journey and suddenly get interested in a conversation as you near your destination.

This faked interest is very off putting, so now I get my wife to pay :pac:

I work in a restaurant and genuinely care whether they enjoyed their meal. I also often end up giving directions and recommendations to cafés or bars, and do stuff like microwaving baby bottles, charging people's phones behind the bar etc. I don't do it for the tips, I get paid whether you enjoy your meal or not. But who wants to be served by a waitress who doesn't care about their tables? 

Brad Socrates Osmund wrote: »

I always tip waiting staff, always have, unless the service and/or individual in question is exceptionally bad. However, I'm puzzled by this growing trend in recent years to have tip jars situated at tills in coffee shops and bars. Tipping for individual table service is one thing, but tips are now expected for making a purchase at the counter?

I do wonder about that too. I tip in my regular café because they make great (affordable coffee), offer a really good service and are friendlier and more efficient than other cafés, so I throw them the spare change because I like them! Don't do it everywhere though and I don't know why we have them. Like I said I work in a restaurant but I still don't get the tipping thing.

Avatar MIA

marialouise wrote: »

But who wants to be served by a waitress who doesn't care about their tables?

Maybe it attracts a more caring person.

But, whether that's the case or not, there is a psychology to selling, including tips. Whether inherent or trained/taught.

marialouise

I worked in a target-driven high-end retail store before and there I was selling, selling, selling with no commission or tips. Selling was my job and I worked for minimum wage. It was just the job. 
Checking people enjoyed their meal is part of this job. When I eat in a restaurant, the server should come around to check if I need anything, so I do this because I expect it too. And I ask if they enjoyed their meal because why would I want to work in a restaurant where people consistently didn't enjoy their food? The customer's feedback is important to me, I'm not just fishing for tips! I know in some cases you feel they might be, and it's probably true, but I'm just showing you my perspective. 
Interestingly, some people who seem not bothered or rude leave generous tips, and the people for whom you go to the greatest efforts and some of the most difficult customers leave nothing.

Yourself isit

lightspeed wrote: »

I can just imagine how all those defending tipping would feel if supermarkets announced they were cutting staff wages and introducing a tipping culture at the til.

Im sure it would go down well with customers.

If a bar or restaurant owner says i pay minimum wage and you customers need to to tip to subsidise my workers low salaries, many in Ireland say thats grand.

Yet if the likes of Tesco did it who are operating in arguably an even more competitive market, the same people would be outraged.

Ill never understand the hypocrisy and nonsense.

Tips are free service. Table service in this country and in general (bars apart) the US. Clearly tesco doesn't cut it.

smurfjed

New York City wants to make it easier for Uber drivers to earn a bit more money in tips.

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The regulatory agency in charge of taxis and livery drivers resolved Monday to consider requiring companies like Uber to offer in-app tipping, according to Huffington Post.[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The feature would be similar to the electronic credit card tips that New Yorkers are able to give cab drivers.[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The electronic tipping is mandated by New York's taxi and limousine commission.[/font]

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]So it might become compulsory in NYC to have an easy way to tip your taxi driver.[/font]

massdebater

KilOit wrote: »

Most ridiculous comment I've seen in a while. So a student on a date brings their partner to dinner after saving up some money can't go to one of your establishments if they can't go the full distance to tip you and has to resort to Mc Donalds instead. Its not the students fault your restaurant has a policy of giving your salary to kitchen and bar staff

It's not just my restaurant's policy though, it's the policy of the entire industry. Of course, it's my choice to be part of this industry but there's a lot of money to be made from tips so of course I wanted to be part of that. I don't necessarily agree with the way the service industry here works, where waiters/kitchen/bar staff have higher incomes than managers (how ridiculous is that!) but at the end of the day, I'm trying to make a living here so a lot of tax-free income for a relatively easy job is enticing so I decided to join in. The biggest winners in all this are the restaurant owners.

Lemonposset

Surreptitious wrote: »

Did she even say thanks? That was a very kind thing for you to do.

She didn't say anything to me but you know I didn't mind, if I was in her shoes I would want to crawl under a rock! I do admit to being a bit crestfallen when I realised she'd left without acknowledging it. I offered the story as a retort to the poster who asked 'when did wait staff do anything outside of their job description', it probably happens more often than is realised

smurfjed

in a London bar/casino tonight, the staff told me that tips were collected and paid out to all food beverage staff on a monthly basis.

So the 5 pounds that i left for 3 staff would actually result in 10 pence each, so what is the point of TIPS? We already pay service charges, is tipping now another type of service charge?

pleas advice

just the tip

Noveight

I generally don't tip. If a taxi fare comes to €8 and I'm handing him a tenner I'll tell him to keep the change, similar in a barbers if I'm very happy with the cut.

B.A._Baracus

Tipping is America is gas when you think about it....
Places especially like New York are some of the biggest fu*k you places going, but hold on you're a extra jerk if you DONT tip?
So I guess it's ok to step over someone laying on the side walk. Just make sure to tip your waitress tho.

yabadabado

massdebater wrote: »

I work in a restaurant in Canada, where the tipping culture is huge. I spent my whole life working office jobs but I make around 2.5 times more as a waiter than I would in any entry level office jobs - and that's with me having zero waitering experience!

The amount of people who don't have any clue about the tipping culture here is ridiculous though. I make less than minimum wage (I get $9.60/hr instead of min wage which i think is $10.40/hr). At the end of my shift, I have to give money to the kitchen and bar staff. This is 4% of my food sales to kitchen and 4% of drink sales to the barman. This is off the sales figures and is not linked to my tips. So if I sell $500 worth of food and $400 worth of drink in a night, I need to pay the kitchen $20 and the barman $16. If nobody tips me all night, this comes from my own money. So by people not tipping, I get less than my already reduced wage. Most people are good though and will usually tip between 15-20%. I find that Americans, rich Asians and people who work as a waiter themselves are the best tippers whereas Aussies, students and young Asians are the worst offenders. At the end of the day, if you can't afford to tip, don't eat in a table-service restaurant. Go to McDonald's or something like that

What utter crap. All you are doing is letting your employer pay you **** wages and expect customers to bump your wage. Totally letting the employer take advantage of staff.

The tipping culture in North America is bonkers and the last part of your post is complete nonsense.

CastielJ

I tip usually about 10-20% of a sum

smurfjed

I love getting tips for the job that I do, so I always tip others, but what bugged me what the idea that I wasn't saying thank you to these 3 specific employees but I was tipping 50 people including people who weren't even in the building working that night, that to me is a service charge and not a tip.

Mossy Monk

I generally don't tip at all. Minimum wage is paid in this country. If my food was off because of it I would complain to the management. If that results in someone losing their job then so be it. They shouldn't be messing with peoples food because they didn't get a tip previously. Not everyone can afford to tip.

Billy86

massdebater wrote: »

I work in a restaurant in Canada, where the tipping culture is huge. I spent my whole life working office jobs but I make around 2.5 times more as a waiter than I would in any entry level office jobs - and that's with me having zero waitering experience!

The amount of people who don't have any clue about the tipping culture here is ridiculous though. I make less than minimum wage (I get $9.60/hr instead of min wage which i think is $10.40/hr). At the end of my shift, I have to give money to the kitchen and bar staff. This is 4% of my food sales to kitchen and 4% of drink sales to the barman. This is off the sales figures and is not linked to my tips. So if I sell $500 worth of food and $400 worth of drink in a night, I need to pay the kitchen $20 and the barman $16. If nobody tips me all night, this comes from my own money. So by people not tipping, I get less than my already reduced wage. Most people are good though and will usually tip between 15-20%. I find that Americans, rich Asians and people who work as a waiter themselves are the best tippers whereas Aussies, students and young Asians are the worst offenders. At the end of the day, if you can't afford to tip, don't eat in a table-service restaurant. Go to McDonald's or something like that

I'm pretty sure your employer is taking advantage of you, I doubt it's the type of law that changes from province to province (well maybe Quebec?) but in Toronto everyone that I knew who worked in hospitality raved about the fact they got at least min wage (which was $11.60 at the time and is now $14) as well as there being a tipping culture similar to the US.

I've seen the same happen in Sydney with people on the 417 'backpacker' visa and earning $12/hr when min wage there on that visa is something like $22/hr (you get no paid sick days or leave but get paid 25% extra), don't let employers take advantage of you just because you're not from there and possibly quite young. You're getting $4.40 less than min wage an hour, which is $165 a week, or $660 a month, so basically your rent assuming you're in relatively cheap accommodation. That comes to about $7,750 a year.

EDIT: By the looks of it you should at the very, very least be on $12.20 an hour - https://www.ontario.ca/document/your-guide-employment-standards-act-0/minimum-wage . Maybe put a post on one of the Irish & New Facebook pages, there'll be tonnes of people with experience in this area on there and they're generally a very helpful bunch.

the_pen_turner

smurfjed wrote: »

I love getting tips for the job that I do, so I always tip others, but what bugged me what the idea that I wasn't saying thank you to these 3 specific employees but I was tipping 50 people including people who weren't even in the building working that night, that to me is a service charge and not a tip.

that would annoy me too. no need for that.

I believe that a tip should be given when someone has gone above and beyond what would be expected.

greeting you
bringing you to a seat
bringing menus
taking a order promptly
bringing what you ordered
asking do you need anything
taking away plates etc
bringing desert or tea/coffee
bringing the bill

these are part of doing your job

nobody would give me a tip just because when fitting doors and put the handles on or planed them to fit properly

we really need to remove this crap from society before it becomes norm like America where the staff will put their hands out and wait for it.
you should only tip when the staff went the extra bit that they didn't need to

Pyr0

the_pen_turner wrote: »

that would annoy me too. no need for that.

I believe that a tip should be given when someone has gone above and beyond what would be expected.

greeting you
bringing you to a seat
bringing menus
taking a order promptly
bringing what you ordered
asking do you need anything
taking away plates etc
bringing desert or tea/coffee
bringing the bill

these are part of doing your job

nobody would give me a tip just because when fitting doors and put the handles on or planed them to fit properly

we really need to remove this crap from society before it becomes norm like America where the staff will put their hands out and wait for it.
you should only tip when the staff went the extra bit that they didn't need to

I agree! Why should i tip someone for carrying out the basic requirements of their job? This is not America where servers rely on tips to survive day to day (I don't agree with that model at all).