I am always grateful to see an article questions the tipping custom in this country. What I haven't read in the discussion is how many of of social safety nets provide benefits based on reported income. Not only does the tipping system promote tax fraud, but unfortunately it also effects payment into our healthcare system, social security system, etc. It is true that the restaurant lobby and some workers will be unhappy with a change to hourly wage, but I'm unhappy that I pay full fare into a system that doesn't require the same from all of it's working citizens.
3
Having the fortune to be able to travel overseas, in particular, France and the UK, there is no tip system. It's usually built right into the cost. Waitstaff are paid livable wages as they should.
Further, foreign waitstaff do not hover every 5-10 minutes to make sure water is topped off or to interrupt conversations incessantly about liking the food or needing anything else in fear of not kissing a customer's butt enough to earn a tip.
I find American servers truly annoying because of this power customers have over them. Many times, I've had to tell them to simply stop coming back to the table. In France, we were told where the staff would be standing if they weren't helping another customer and if we needed something, they would keep an eye out for us to motion to him. That's service.
Give these people a livable wage and let's stop this modern slavery by over-entitled customers.
Further, foreign waitstaff do not hover every 5-10 minutes to make sure water is topped off or to interrupt conversations incessantly about liking the food or needing anything else in fear of not kissing a customer's butt enough to earn a tip.
I find American servers truly annoying because of this power customers have over them. Many times, I've had to tell them to simply stop coming back to the table. In France, we were told where the staff would be standing if they weren't helping another customer and if we needed something, they would keep an eye out for us to motion to him. That's service.
Give these people a livable wage and let's stop this modern slavery by over-entitled customers.
15
Beyond the issues pointed out in this article, economists have long established that tipping is essentially a racist practice. That is, a white waitress will almost always make more in tips than a black waitress - irrespective of the level of service. It is a abhorrent practice that should be banned - restaurants should pay servers proper wages, and let the market dictate the level of service.
3
Serving is an art and I feel even those in the industry commenting here are not defending it properly. Sure, there are plenty of those in the industry that simply take food from one place and remembers which is table 7 and then auctions the food - "who had the Carbonara?" In this circumstance I would agree that a tip is less deserved but they are earning the same lower wage so the standard 15% is in order.
The professional server though, reads the table, very quickly determining the level of involvement wanted/needed. Was there an argument in the car on the way over, is it a celebration, are there children involved. It takes experience and knowledge to artfully sell you the experience you were hoping for, and everyone I know that does this for a living is hoping to hit the ball out of the park - and the tip tells me whether or not I succeeded.
The professional server though, reads the table, very quickly determining the level of involvement wanted/needed. Was there an argument in the car on the way over, is it a celebration, are there children involved. It takes experience and knowledge to artfully sell you the experience you were hoping for, and everyone I know that does this for a living is hoping to hit the ball out of the park - and the tip tells me whether or not I succeeded.
3
I think the author has this backwards. It's not that tipping is wrong, it's that the wage inequality that we are suffering from is wrong. Tipping is just one more excuse that the right and industry use to suppress wages in their fight to continue to absorb almost all the growth our economy creates. We can end tipping if every worker is guaranteed a livable wage with the social services and supports needed to provide everyone a life worthy of being called the American Dream.
9
I've worked as a cook in a few different restaurants and in every single one the waiters and waitresses after tips made more than we did as cooks. I can't imagine the disparity if we both made the same amount plus they got tips. This would be OK if being a cook was a stepping stone to waiting but it usually isnt. People of color, English as a second language people, and as sad as it is to say unattractive men get stuck in the back of the house with no chance of making it higher. On busy nights many waitresses would walk with 200 dollars while we averaged about 50 bucks a night which we didn't get to see for 2 weeks until we got our check. While I agree it's unfair to have such a low tipped wage, something must be done to make it fair for cooks making 8 dollars an hour with no chance for bonus wages.
10
Pros and cons. But as a patron, I like the option of tipping commensurate with the quality of service I receive.
1
Tip your waiter. It is the worst job in any restaurant. Waiters are at the mercy of chefs, bartenders, hosts, and customers. They take the lion's share of abuse.
4
I numbered among my friends in the Sixties a fairly large contingent who harbored thoughts very similar to those being expressed by Bernie Sanders today. Eventually, most of them
abandoned thoughts of living in a Socialist paradise, settled for teaching jobs or chiropractor school or selling mattresses and ended up doing pretty well for themselves. The ones who couldn't stop quoting Marx were a different story. Most of them ended up working at menial jobs, attending endless meetings and rallies designed to help usher in The Revolution, often-times embittered by America's failure to live up to their dreams. History being notorious for repeating itself, I am beginning to worry about Bernie's true believers. They're loving every moment of the present excitement.. What will they do when the party is over?
abandoned thoughts of living in a Socialist paradise, settled for teaching jobs or chiropractor school or selling mattresses and ended up doing pretty well for themselves. The ones who couldn't stop quoting Marx were a different story. Most of them ended up working at menial jobs, attending endless meetings and rallies designed to help usher in The Revolution, often-times embittered by America's failure to live up to their dreams. History being notorious for repeating itself, I am beginning to worry about Bernie's true believers. They're loving every moment of the present excitement.. What will they do when the party is over?
2
I think tipping is unfair to both customers and employees. It only benefits restaurant owners. There is very little tipping in Europe. On the other hand, I have heard that restaurants operate on very tight budgets. Perhaps a lot of them will close aftre this change?
3
Ending tips will not end good service. Employers will simply not continue to employ inferior waitstaff. One poster describes waiting on 50 tables at a chain restaurant during a 6 hour shift. At two persons per table, the check is most likely averaging $30 per table, and 20% of that is $6 - times 50 tables is $300 per shift - which you can't live on in New York - but meanwhile the minimum wage kitchen staff is taking home around $60 for the same hours.
2
I though the idea of tipping was for excellent service. Fair service, maybe a tip, good service, a fair tip, excellent service, an excellent tip. I guess the progressives will eventually, by law of course, regulate how many sheets of toilet paper we use.
3
one way to avoid tip is to pay cash at self-serve or semi-serve places and then leave the coins. Restaurants are happy with cash because they don't have to give commission to to credit card companies. (Half the comment writing place is blocked by an ad!)
3
Servers actually do make a living wage. Serving is quite lucrative, thinks to tipping.
2
In states where the minimum wage for tipped workers is as low as $2.15, employers are supposed to make up the difference between that and the federal minimum wage, if the tips are not high enough, but often they don't. One of my daughters worked in restaurants in Utah and in South Carolina and the management never made up the difference. Once in Utah she had a table of twelve who had coupons for their meals. They left not tip at all, since they didn't actually have to pay for their food. She spent two hours waiting on them for her $2.25! In South Carolina she once got no tip from patrons who decided they didn't like their food. Since she didn't cookie, it wasn't her fault, but customers too often don't think of that. And you'd be amazed at how many people are ignorant of the lower wage allowed for tipped workers!
12
By all means give workers who get tips a decent minimum wage. But there are exceptional and so-so waiters and waitresses. Leave it up to the consumer to give a bit extra based on performance and satisfaction. A great waiter should be able to make a great wage. Period.
17
Wait staff should be subject to the same types of performance standards and employee assessments as other workers. Poor performance would mean extra training or warnings as necessary.
It's also well known that more attractive servers make more money in tips. This is patently unfair.
Servers' wages should not be left up to the dining public.
It's also well known that more attractive servers make more money in tips. This is patently unfair.
Servers' wages should not be left up to the dining public.
4
waiting tables for tips is capitalism and
entrepreneurship in its most basic form.
instant feedback for the service you provide.
as you get better, the tips get better.
paid my way through college.
those saying pooling tips is equitable
are clearly socialists.
it took me 5 years after graduating
college to equal the hourly wage
i made as a waiter.
thanks to all the patrons at
(long closed) pepe gonzalez
restaurant for your support!
entrepreneurship in its most basic form.
instant feedback for the service you provide.
as you get better, the tips get better.
paid my way through college.
those saying pooling tips is equitable
are clearly socialists.
it took me 5 years after graduating
college to equal the hourly wage
i made as a waiter.
thanks to all the patrons at
(long closed) pepe gonzalez
restaurant for your support!
3
Six middle-aged women spend more than an hour in a restaurant eating, drinking and generally having a fabulous time. Then the bill comes and the calculating and debating starts. One person had only a salad and coffee while another had soup, sandwich and a glass of wine. Fifteen minutes later, they are still debating while the waiter wonders what kind of tip he/she might expect. One person wants to give twelve percent, another twenty. I know this because I'm one of these women. End tipping. Now.
13
I find it hard to believe that the person who wrote this article ever had to work at a low skilled job that pays tiny amounts of money plus tips. In college I waitressed for 90 cents an hour plus tips. Yes there is a sense of entitlement about tips that can sometimes occur but most of the people who get tips are getting almost all of their income from those tips.
6
A related topic is how much of a card-based tip makes it through to which staff. A recent mini-scandal in the UK showed some major chains taking 15-20% of credit card tips, one taking 100%, and a few passing it all through.
I like tipping because I frequent a few places, after a while the service usually improves. Of course all servers should make a decent living, and I would be happy to see prices increase for that to happen. Tipping and decent base salaries are not mutually exclusive.
I like tipping because I frequent a few places, after a while the service usually improves. Of course all servers should make a decent living, and I would be happy to see prices increase for that to happen. Tipping and decent base salaries are not mutually exclusive.
3
Tipping enables restaurant workers to earn much more than they would otherwise. I work as a waiter, and I make much more than the minimum wage. Moreover, because my wages are essentially pegged to the price of the food, it has a rough inflation peg that is lacking in the minimum wage.
One big advantage tipping offers one is it allows customers to pay me directly rather than have to depend on the owners to pay me. If tipping is removed, owners might pay me more initially to make up for the lost wages, but over time the owners will slash my wages back down to the minimum wage (and of course they will do everything they possibly can to keep the minimum wage down).
No one I've ever worked with hates tipping. In fact, the main reason why people go into waiting jobs is because they like being tipped.
One big advantage tipping offers one is it allows customers to pay me directly rather than have to depend on the owners to pay me. If tipping is removed, owners might pay me more initially to make up for the lost wages, but over time the owners will slash my wages back down to the minimum wage (and of course they will do everything they possibly can to keep the minimum wage down).
No one I've ever worked with hates tipping. In fact, the main reason why people go into waiting jobs is because they like being tipped.
7
What once was extra appreciation is now an expectation, bordering on a demand. 10% has quickly become 20% and cheap owners view this as part of the servers compensation or unfairly share in the take.
I understand the needs and the desire to live a normal life... I appreciate sterling service and reward it... but the expectation for poor service really bothers me.
I speak up and let the server know my discontent - I do it quietly and as privately as possible to limit their embarrassment. And yes, I've told off by the server more often than not. I have been known to not leave a tip, but I always offer an explanation. I don't expect perfection, but courtesy and professionalism are appreciated.
I understand the needs and the desire to live a normal life... I appreciate sterling service and reward it... but the expectation for poor service really bothers me.
I speak up and let the server know my discontent - I do it quietly and as privately as possible to limit their embarrassment. And yes, I've told off by the server more often than not. I have been known to not leave a tip, but I always offer an explanation. I don't expect perfection, but courtesy and professionalism are appreciated.
3
Tipping isn't wrong. What is wrong is employers who use tipping as an excuse to pay their employees low, low wages.
15
Excellent, yes, let's get rid of tipping and pay fair wages instead.
Just a thought: what then happens to the tens of thousands of undocumented immigrants whom we all meet almost every time we eat out? No minimum wage and no tipping and no nothing.
Just a thought: what then happens to the tens of thousands of undocumented immigrants whom we all meet almost every time we eat out? No minimum wage and no tipping and no nothing.
1
Be all that as it may, there is nothing wrong with a gratuity which as see as a personal gift for outstanding, extra mile, extra pleasant service. Tipping as a major income source is indeed repugnant.
12
Tipping is not suggested or encouraged in Europe since their standard minimum wages are much higher than here, as far as I know employees have healthcare coverage, sick pays vacation pays etc. my husband is from Europe(Austria), and we have been to many European countries, normally they round off the total, if it's 75 Euro, then we leave 80, which they say it is pretty generous. the notion of what they want to do here is pretty unclear to me, I'm not sure if this is not another way or excuse for the restaurant owners to raise the price, since it is not clear, exactly what % raise are given to the other employees. why instead of removing the tip, they raise the min wage to $15, give them health insurance and employee benefits, and encourage them to work better as a team and when the restaurant does well at the end of the month they all get a % of the net sales as bonuses and the front people, receive commissions, since after all it is a team work, and team effort on all levels and the team should be acknowledged and paid well, not just raising the prices. another thing makes no sense to me is when you convert Euro to $, and comparing apples to apples, there is not a huge price difference between European restaurant and the ones in the States, high end is high end, average is average and cheap is cheap, any where. same true in Paris or Zurich, not everywhere is super expensive, you can find great decent food any where, plus with much better fresh local ingredients.
5
I know that tipping keeps me eating at home,which is much healthier than restaurant food.
9
This ugly snake rears its head again, and the spokespersons for this inane idea are invariably not of the working class. Now, if I heard a cogent argument against tipping from an employee who relies on tipping to make ends meet, then I might reconsider. But I haven't, and the "laudable proposal" falls flat on its ugly face because, as we all are aware, managers and bosses are loathe to provide living wages to employees. Why? Because, after all, it affects their profit margin, and that may mean the business will go under.
4
WHERE did that word come from?
The origin of the word "tip" is that it is an acronym for "to insure promptness." Interesting, isn't it? We calculate and leave tips at the END of a service. If we were looking at the origin and abiding by it, it'd make sense to present the gratuity/grease the palm at the *beginning* of a service to, as the original says, *insure* that we get good service.
The origin of the word "tip" is that it is an acronym for "to insure promptness." Interesting, isn't it? We calculate and leave tips at the END of a service. If we were looking at the origin and abiding by it, it'd make sense to present the gratuity/grease the palm at the *beginning* of a service to, as the original says, *insure* that we get good service.
2
To "tip" did not originate as an acronym - while oft-repeated, the story is not correct.
http://www.word-detective.com/2011/03/tip/
http://www.word-detective.com/2011/03/tip/
Tipping is not the problem, for heaven's sake. Cruelly low wages is the problem. Tipping is just a bad choice as a solution to the problem. The headline is misleading, and editors at the Times should be more concerned with clear communication than with eyeballs. If I want clickbait, I'll read the Guardian, Huffington Post, CNN, or FOX.
7
As an ex-waiter, I can tell you one more problem with depending on tips -- customers who want to punish the restaurant for lousy food or a slow cook in the kitchen, take it out on the server, who has little control over those things.
38
Could this lead to owners instructing waiters in the rudiments of serving a meal? Some waiters have no idea what to do.
My big problem with tipping is the lack of an audit trail. Does tip money go just to the server, or is it shared with the back-room staff? Does the server sometimes skim off some of the tip before sharing? What portion of the tip escapes taxation? Who gets the money put into a tip jar, and what principles are used in splitting it up? Are tips done through credit cards handled differently from cash tips?
My impulse is to be generous to lower-wage workers, and the current tipping climate is confusing.
My impulse is to be generous to lower-wage workers, and the current tipping climate is confusing.
6
Cheap people always take this line.
3
It's not just food service. We tip cab drivers, hair stylists, manicurists, massage therapists... And even my doggie day care now has a place for tips. At some point this is ridiculous. If you want to get $75 for a massage charge $75. Don't charge $60 and leave me wondering what I have to tip so you'll do a good job next time.
41
"At some point this is ridiculous."
It's always your choice.
It's always your choice.
It's NOT tipping that is wrong.
2
At $2.13/hour, after declaring tips and then being taxed on them, a paycheck can equal zero dollars.
Can someone remind me what it's called when one works for free?
Oh yeah, I remember, it is called slavery.
Can someone remind me what it's called when one works for free?
Oh yeah, I remember, it is called slavery.
3
There isn't anything wrong with tipping. Tipping isn't racist either. It's lawmakers that take tipps as an excuse to minimize wages.
1
I think it was George Orwell that wrote: 'tipping reduces workers to beggars'.
8
Paying a woman 80% of what a man doing the same jobs gets is even "wronger."
Since when is Capitalism concerned with right and wrong?
Answer: Capitalism, the one true religion, is concerned with worshiping Money, the one true God.
And it's a great religion because a person can claim to be something else, a Jew, a Christian, a Muslim, an atheist...and still worship at the bank.
Since when is Capitalism concerned with right and wrong?
Answer: Capitalism, the one true religion, is concerned with worshiping Money, the one true God.
And it's a great religion because a person can claim to be something else, a Jew, a Christian, a Muslim, an atheist...and still worship at the bank.
5
"Paying a woman 80% of what a man doing the same jobs gets is even "wronger.""
And your data that proves that men and women working the exact same job for the exact same amount of time in the exact same circumstances for the exact same company have exactly a 20% difference in pay is located where?
And your data that proves that men and women working the exact same job for the exact same amount of time in the exact same circumstances for the exact same company have exactly a 20% difference in pay is located where?
Great. I can stop tipping and can just tell the waiter to get it from the restaurant owner.
2
I personally feel like tipping is just shifting the payment of the wait-staff onto me.
8
As a 40 year veteran of the food industry, this article perpetuates the myth that tipped employees are underpaid, while the clear fact is that they are often the highest paid employees, and often pay little or no tax on much of their income. Of course, facts seldom get in the way of liberal orthodoxy, and our goverment will find a way to screw these hard working employees in the name of paying them a "fair wage" instead of tips.
9
so full disosure, mr "forty-year veteran"...
are you an employer of tipped workers?
are you an employer of tipped workers?
Good to see an article like this. Not just because it represents a move, however sadly belated, to end the unfairness of the treatment of restaurant workers - but because it's an extremely rare acknowledgement of one of the most horrible features of the way America treats workers and consumers. Being expected to guess tipping - and playing up to customers for it, thanks to being dependent on it - is a head game of the worst sort. Unfortunately, head games are very much entrenched in the system. Just ask anyone who's inadvertently run afoul of the many 'unwritten' rules in everything from dining to airports to education to life in group settings (such as condos, co-ops, rentals and HOAs). Failure to 'psych out' the system can result in sheer, living hell including, for those who accidentally run afoul of regulations that no legislature ever enacted but can even be self-contradictory, trouble with the law resulting in fines or even prison.
And that's a big reason why we should be seeking frank honesty - and demanding it, in the form of spelling out the rules - from all our leaders and those who run for those positions. It's time to stop being bedazzled by image and to concentrate on substance. It's more than even a matter of fairness. It's really a question of our very existence as a supposedly free country.
And that's a big reason why we should be seeking frank honesty - and demanding it, in the form of spelling out the rules - from all our leaders and those who run for those positions. It's time to stop being bedazzled by image and to concentrate on substance. It's more than even a matter of fairness. It's really a question of our very existence as a supposedly free country.
1
Ms. Jayaraman neglected to inform the general public of one very very salient point why tipping is not only wrong but exploitative. Most waitresses do not keep the entirety of their tips. They also have to tip out the busboys and the bartenders (regardless of whether or not the customer had an alcoholic beverage). Bartenders do not share their tips with the waitresses, even though if a customer has some food at the bar, it is the waitress who brought that! Furthermore, tipping is not something that waitresses just keep to themselves and don't declare. At the end of the shift, waitresses total up their tabs and then declare 15% of the net tabs as tipped money to report to the government.
Waitresses should not have to depend on tips to make a living wage. They are punished if the customer if unhappy, doesn't like the food, or if chef just took too long to cook their order. The waitress has nothing to do with this. Waitressing is a physically demanding, occasionally physically hazardous position. Through it all, they have to keep smiling, coaxing, and projecting good will and radiant good health. That's professionalism and that deserves living wages.
Waitresses should not have to depend on tips to make a living wage. They are punished if the customer if unhappy, doesn't like the food, or if chef just took too long to cook their order. The waitress has nothing to do with this. Waitressing is a physically demanding, occasionally physically hazardous position. Through it all, they have to keep smiling, coaxing, and projecting good will and radiant good health. That's professionalism and that deserves living wages.
2
It's simple math- tipping goes right to the server, but a price increase gets taxed so some of it goes to the government.
This is another example of surreptitiously diverting money to the government. I won't play along.
This is another example of surreptitiously diverting money to the government. I won't play along.
2
You know, tipping is just inefficient. In today's world.
I can still figure out tips in my head, but why should I have to --after a fine meal and a glass or two of wine?
Down with feudalism, it was never all it was cracked up to be anyway.
I can still figure out tips in my head, but why should I have to --after a fine meal and a glass or two of wine?
Down with feudalism, it was never all it was cracked up to be anyway.
1
Having worked as a waiter I can say from experience that it is inconsistent, unreliable, and frustrating. People of different backgrounds have different perspectives on tipping, and there's no way to guarantee that one gets the service or the income they deserve with this system. I have served countless meals with service above and beyond expectations, only to be rewarded with a single dollar (or even nothing on a few occasions)!
When I was engaged, I would go to the bar and wait for my fiancee to clean up and close down. Sometimes before alcohol sales ended ... I would have to listen to customers flirting and harassing my future wife ... and we could do nothing about it because we had to preserve her livelihood.
This system perpetuates abuse, sexual harassment, inequality, and elitism. It does nothing to ensure a better customer experience, and it prevents workers from receiving a reliable income. The rare occasions that a tipped employee is rewarded with uncommon remuneration does not offset the frequency with which they are not fairly compensated.
Customers and workers alike will greatly benefit from simply including the costs in an agreed and observed bill. The entire nation should commit to abolishing this outdated institution!
When I was engaged, I would go to the bar and wait for my fiancee to clean up and close down. Sometimes before alcohol sales ended ... I would have to listen to customers flirting and harassing my future wife ... and we could do nothing about it because we had to preserve her livelihood.
This system perpetuates abuse, sexual harassment, inequality, and elitism. It does nothing to ensure a better customer experience, and it prevents workers from receiving a reliable income. The rare occasions that a tipped employee is rewarded with uncommon remuneration does not offset the frequency with which they are not fairly compensated.
Customers and workers alike will greatly benefit from simply including the costs in an agreed and observed bill. The entire nation should commit to abolishing this outdated institution!
10
Tipping is wrong if you do not believe in rewarding people for excellence in service, if you do not believe that rewards give people incentive to do better, if you do not believe that some perform their job far better than others.
Why do so many on the left prefer to ignore these facts? I would far prefer to give a hefty tip to an employee that delivers fine service to me, and give something modest to one who is average - or worse. Shouldn't we all wish to encourage excellence rather than pretend that all efforts are the same?
Why do so many on the left prefer to ignore these facts? I would far prefer to give a hefty tip to an employee that delivers fine service to me, and give something modest to one who is average - or worse. Shouldn't we all wish to encourage excellence rather than pretend that all efforts are the same?
2
The reward for excellence of service should come from the employer in way of their salaries. Better salaries and treatment will reward and incentivize for better performance by the waitstaff.
Leaving it up to fly-by-night patrons which can radically change a person's income night to night because of the mood or persnickety whims of a customer is unstable and unneeded stress to the worker who is trying to earn a living.
Why do so many on the 'right' think people should be treated and paid horribly for simply doing their jobs? What do you do for a living? Maybe you should go on a tipping system.
Leaving it up to fly-by-night patrons which can radically change a person's income night to night because of the mood or persnickety whims of a customer is unstable and unneeded stress to the worker who is trying to earn a living.
Why do so many on the 'right' think people should be treated and paid horribly for simply doing their jobs? What do you do for a living? Maybe you should go on a tipping system.
2
Competent servers, being the lifeblood of a service establishment, are expensive. The substantial tipping of 15-20%, as it is customary in US restaurants, is essentially a surcharge the customer pays to the owner for competent help. Tipping, then becomes a marketing tool for the owner to make the menu price look more attractive than it really is. It also makes generous tippers to subsidize those who stiff waiters. In Europe, a small tip is a great way to recognize exceptional service, and since it is not expected, it truly shows good will. This awful tradition of "mandatory" substantial tipping must go.
8
I have worked as a server and the only thing that made the job worthwhile were the tips. I averaged $30/hour most evenings when my hourly wage was only $10, so I echo the service industry concerns voiced here over eliminating tipping altogether. I suggest we fully support raising the minimum wage (for so, so many reasons), eliminate a separate wage for servers, and do as they do in Europe: servers there are compensated well, but tips do still exist and rounding your bill up by a Euro or two is seen as a sincere compliment to the servers.
6
I live on tips. My paycheck covers my taxes and not much more. Women in this business usually make the same as men. In cheaper restaurants all the waitstaff makes less but I think that the average percentage is higher. Don't make tipping obsolete or we will lose income. Restaurant owners aren't famous for being generous. Don't allow owners to get around the minimum wage. Waitstaff is an important part of the process. Without them, the restaurants will not achieve their goals any more than another industry can survive without marketing and sales staff.
4
I worked my way up from dining room attendant ( busboy) to evening waiter in two of Boston's finest dining rooms when I was in college, and later in grad school. I ended up staying on as full time professional waiter (and a very educated one ) for several years after that because the money was good and I liked the work. I learned the art of white glove service and became conversant in all things wine and food. I earned every single cent of the very decent income I made. (best tippers? Texans and people who used to wait on tables. Worst tippers ? doctors and 'ladies who lunch'.) More than the cost of the meal, the size of a tip (and some were huge) reflected my professionalism, knowledge, and skill. I am glad Meyer never ran the elegant rooms I worked in. (I wonder how he tips ....)
31
Tipping is bad! Screams those who don't work serving the public food.
Tipping is Bad! And they wan't a decent hourly wage, too?
The horror of it.
We need more elites who get served from morning til night by others to explain to them why they should continue to work - not for money, but for the shear pleasure of serving those who still think that hourly paid workers are like domestic servants.
They get house and board - and now they want tips and wages!
Saru Jayaraman will get spit in her food and she deserves it.
Tipping is Bad! And they wan't a decent hourly wage, too?
The horror of it.
We need more elites who get served from morning til night by others to explain to them why they should continue to work - not for money, but for the shear pleasure of serving those who still think that hourly paid workers are like domestic servants.
They get house and board - and now they want tips and wages!
Saru Jayaraman will get spit in her food and she deserves it.
2
Tipping for good service is not wrong. What is wrong are the practices of some restaurants. Do not try to shift the blame where it does not belong. There should be tips AND good wages.
3
Mandating a minimum living wage is really conservative economics, if you think about it.
Employees are humans. There is a minimum cost of living. Those whose minimum living expenses aren't met in the labor market must turn to government. Government ensures a minimum quality of life by redistributing income through taxation. Therefore, employment at sub-living wages implies government subsidies for the employer, paid for by taxpayers.
Businesses compete in the market through price (among other things). If one employer pays a living wage and the other doesn't (and instead takes the gov't subsidy) then it will win in the market even though it is no more efficient. Therefore, a minimum living wage law ensures all employers compete on a level playing field and the better, more efficient business wins.
What we've seen is that Walmarts of the worlds win, because they accept the gov't subsidy, and use it to undercut the small businesses run by locals - friends and neighbors of their employees - who would be ashamed to succeed on the virtue of unlivable wages.
A minimum living wage removes the inefficiency of the subsidy, lowers the need for taxation to fund redistribution, rewards labor directly for its contribution to the business, and also allows workers to function as customers rather than as welfare recipients.
That's conservative economics.
Anti-minimum wage libertarian economics asks low wage labor why don't they just go die already.
Employees are humans. There is a minimum cost of living. Those whose minimum living expenses aren't met in the labor market must turn to government. Government ensures a minimum quality of life by redistributing income through taxation. Therefore, employment at sub-living wages implies government subsidies for the employer, paid for by taxpayers.
Businesses compete in the market through price (among other things). If one employer pays a living wage and the other doesn't (and instead takes the gov't subsidy) then it will win in the market even though it is no more efficient. Therefore, a minimum living wage law ensures all employers compete on a level playing field and the better, more efficient business wins.
What we've seen is that Walmarts of the worlds win, because they accept the gov't subsidy, and use it to undercut the small businesses run by locals - friends and neighbors of their employees - who would be ashamed to succeed on the virtue of unlivable wages.
A minimum living wage removes the inefficiency of the subsidy, lowers the need for taxation to fund redistribution, rewards labor directly for its contribution to the business, and also allows workers to function as customers rather than as welfare recipients.
That's conservative economics.
Anti-minimum wage libertarian economics asks low wage labor why don't they just go die already.
3
Why is tipping regarded as wrong? Surely the waitstaff should get paid more, but one shows appreciation for the job done well, by tipping the server(s). Can't afford a tip, then stay home and do it yourself.
1
7 States have only one minimum wage, so servers are not paid less per hour: California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Montana, Minnesota and Alaska.
http://www.dol.gov/whd/state/tipped.htm
A separate minimum wage for servers should be abolished.
http://www.dol.gov/whd/state/tipped.htm
A separate minimum wage for servers should be abolished.
9
Another issue is the fact that servers stereotype customers and prioritize the ones that they believe will tip well. Examples of customers that will get ignored include: people who don't drink, families with children, elderly, people dining alone, young people, minorities, foreigners, etc. etc.
This often leads to a self-fulfilling prophesy. Because the server believes that a family with children won't tip well they don't provide good quality service. This results in the family leaving the minimum acceptable tip and the server thinking that their belief that families tip poorly is correct.
This often leads to a self-fulfilling prophesy. Because the server believes that a family with children won't tip well they don't provide good quality service. This results in the family leaving the minimum acceptable tip and the server thinking that their belief that families tip poorly is correct.
8
All Mr. Meyer is doing is shifting tip money from the wait staff to the kitchen staff, instead of the restaurant paying higher wages to the kitchen staff. It is a terrible idea that will result overall in lower wages for all the restaurant's workers - because the pressure to pay the cooks, dishwashers and the rest will be gone. Service will suffer as well. As the tip incentive disappears so will the smile on the server's face.
17
I used to be a waitress. Get rid of the tip and pay them a living wage.
3
There is absolutely no excuse for tipping as a source of income. This is another example of how the nation whose citizens proclaim it the 'best country on earth'- usually by people who do not have a passport- is actually a backwards society out of step with the rest of the developed world.
Tipping is also a great enabler of wage theft. Ask around, there are many establishments where the managers and sometimes owners take a share of the tips given to the staff. So not only are the workers poorly paid by their employer- they are robbed of tips at the end of the shift.
Tipping is also an enabler of unnecessary illness. Since so many food service workers make sub-par wages, they are very likely to be working around your food and drink even when they are sick. If they stay home they will either not get paid or even lose their positions. Think if that the next time you go out to eat.
Any politician who supports or tolerates the American system of poverty wages and tipping should never claim to be a Democrat, a Progressive, a Liberal, or a supporter of working people.
Finally, so many of those who embrace the economic darwinism that sustains such practices also describe themselves as Christians. I would suggest that they read what Jesus said about the poor, the working man, about greed in general and the fact he promised a judgement for every idle word. Tipping is not consistent with the teaching of Jesus.
Tipping is also a great enabler of wage theft. Ask around, there are many establishments where the managers and sometimes owners take a share of the tips given to the staff. So not only are the workers poorly paid by their employer- they are robbed of tips at the end of the shift.
Tipping is also an enabler of unnecessary illness. Since so many food service workers make sub-par wages, they are very likely to be working around your food and drink even when they are sick. If they stay home they will either not get paid or even lose their positions. Think if that the next time you go out to eat.
Any politician who supports or tolerates the American system of poverty wages and tipping should never claim to be a Democrat, a Progressive, a Liberal, or a supporter of working people.
Finally, so many of those who embrace the economic darwinism that sustains such practices also describe themselves as Christians. I would suggest that they read what Jesus said about the poor, the working man, about greed in general and the fact he promised a judgement for every idle word. Tipping is not consistent with the teaching of Jesus.
7
From the viewpoint of the consumer, the tip is part of the cost of the food they consume. If one orders a dish listed at $10 the actual cost of that dish is around $12. This hides the actual prices of the food we consume, making the offerings "reasonably priced". It will be totally fair to add the "tip" to the cost of the food and raise the prices. The argument that the owners cannot afford to pay higher wages it, thus, bogus. I fully realize that if the wages go up slightly the owners' contributions to social security and other related areas may go up marginally. I say that is a good thing for the workers as they get no social security benefit from the tips.
Tipping favors owners at the expense of the servers.
Tipping favors owners at the expense of the servers.
2
Has tipping reached a "tipping point?" What would Malcolm Gladwell say?
1
Tipping has gotten way out of hand. It used to be that you tipped waiters, taxi cab drivers, wash room attendants (ugh), coat check people, etc. Now you can't find a cashier whose counter doesn't have a jar for tips. What's that about?
In the European countries I have been to, service has been added to the price of the meal. I have not found the service to suffer for this practice. In fact, our waiters could learn a lot from their European brethren: (1) Don't clear plates until everyone at the table has finished their course. (2) Don't leave the check until it is requested. (3) Don't interrupt the diners' conversation.
In the European countries I have been to, service has been added to the price of the meal. I have not found the service to suffer for this practice. In fact, our waiters could learn a lot from their European brethren: (1) Don't clear plates until everyone at the table has finished their course. (2) Don't leave the check until it is requested. (3) Don't interrupt the diners' conversation.
7
I am sure Bernie Sanders also supports eliminating the tipped minimum wage.
I have always had a problem with why I have to pay the restaurant owner for the food, and then pay his employees their wages.
11
I agree completely: tipping is an anachronism to days long-gone by. A tip had been intended to acknowledge truly exemplary service. Nowadays, many workers consider it to be their right--an entitlement which some don't even try to earn. That establishes a lack of professionalism.
And, while you're at it, customers should also not have to pay a surcharge for food or service. That's like flying to Hawaii and having to pay extra for a suitcase. Does anyone readily travel to Hawaii and not plan to stay a few days?
Bars and restaurants should charge what they believe a meal (or whatever) is truly worth. That would create a truly professional class of bartenders, wait staff, etc. who are paid for the value of their work Nowadays, servers are often required to split tips with cooks, food-preparers and other unseen staff. And in some cases, servers have to pool tips with each other.
For tax purposes, employee W-2s would truly reflect a worker's compensation. There would be no 12% assumed tips Customers would still have the freedom to leave a tip--but, only if they wish--for employees who truly go above and beyond what should be expected…and it is truly appreciated. And, it would be tax-free, since no "gift- tax" would be required.
http://thetruthoncommonsense.com
And, while you're at it, customers should also not have to pay a surcharge for food or service. That's like flying to Hawaii and having to pay extra for a suitcase. Does anyone readily travel to Hawaii and not plan to stay a few days?
Bars and restaurants should charge what they believe a meal (or whatever) is truly worth. That would create a truly professional class of bartenders, wait staff, etc. who are paid for the value of their work Nowadays, servers are often required to split tips with cooks, food-preparers and other unseen staff. And in some cases, servers have to pool tips with each other.
For tax purposes, employee W-2s would truly reflect a worker's compensation. There would be no 12% assumed tips Customers would still have the freedom to leave a tip--but, only if they wish--for employees who truly go above and beyond what should be expected…and it is truly appreciated. And, it would be tax-free, since no "gift- tax" would be required.
http://thetruthoncommonsense.com
3
I always tip in cash. I despise this system and want to see it gone, but until it is, keep in mind that the people providing services in many places are minimum wage, and those who are wait staff generally get less than the minimum. If I put the tip on a credit card, I have absolutely NO reason to assume that the money will EVER get to the server. Ever. The restaurant just pockets it, secure in the knowledge that their bought and paid for Congress Critters (at least some of whom want to eliminate the minimum wage entirely in order to have bottom rung workers work FOR FREE) will make sure they never pay the piper.
5
A server who allows a business owner to cheat him out of credit card tips is just stupid. Every server I've ever worked with knows exactly how much money he's owed at the end of the shift and would not accept anything less.
Tipping is demeaning both to the worker and to the customer. It's time we stop this nonsense and let the employers face the reality that they should be paying their employees. Obviously, I don't expect this to happen without menu prices going up – as in the case of Danny Meyer's establishments – but only the most flint-hearted diners will see their overall costs increase. And frankly, in my experience, those who commit legalized theft of services by not tipping don't do it because they can't afford it, but rather because they can't bring themselves to engage in an act of decency.
20
Sorry, but tipping is not wrong, it just wrong the way it has been established in the US.
Tipping is an entirely voluntary way to show appreciation for good service and good food, but it is not a replacement for decent payment to waiters and staff.
It is just the way quite a few US companies make a this into a mockery when they pay low or no wages and then demand a 10-20% service charge for bad or no service whatsoever.
It is a rip off and nothing else.
In those civilized parts of the world that have a tipping and a service culture, it is a way for staff to earn a little extra, and yes, the emphasis is on "extra" and not on the base wages, if and only if they provide good service.
And yes, there are those places on the planet that do not have a tipping culture like most parts of Asia in which wages are still low but service is a culture in itself.
The only places that seems to have a big problem with tipping is the place in which service is mostly non existent or incredibly bad.
So bad it has to be charged by adding a "service fee" that tells the customer that "yes, we know that our service is crap, but we charge it away as you cannot avoid these charges".
Which means a big middle finger to clients.
Tipping is an entirely voluntary way to show appreciation for good service and good food, but it is not a replacement for decent payment to waiters and staff.
It is just the way quite a few US companies make a this into a mockery when they pay low or no wages and then demand a 10-20% service charge for bad or no service whatsoever.
It is a rip off and nothing else.
In those civilized parts of the world that have a tipping and a service culture, it is a way for staff to earn a little extra, and yes, the emphasis is on "extra" and not on the base wages, if and only if they provide good service.
And yes, there are those places on the planet that do not have a tipping culture like most parts of Asia in which wages are still low but service is a culture in itself.
The only places that seems to have a big problem with tipping is the place in which service is mostly non existent or incredibly bad.
So bad it has to be charged by adding a "service fee" that tells the customer that "yes, we know that our service is crap, but we charge it away as you cannot avoid these charges".
Which means a big middle finger to clients.
1
Raise the minimum wage for servers and keep tipping !
Many servers make pretty good money for a night's work as they 'work the crowd'. A 'no tipping' rule is more likely to harm than to help. If you think it's not fair, then give bigger tips !!
I waited for years and did pretty well...
Many servers make pretty good money for a night's work as they 'work the crowd'. A 'no tipping' rule is more likely to harm than to help. If you think it's not fair, then give bigger tips !!
I waited for years and did pretty well...
2
Perhaps not a great example, the country club I belonged to did exactly this over twenty years ago. The result was poor service, and many would secretly tip anyway. It created a system of poor service, great service.
If you cannot afford, or are too cheap to leave a substantial tip for good service, then you should probably stay home and cook, especially in NYC.
If you cannot afford, or are too cheap to leave a substantial tip for good service, then you should probably stay home and cook, especially in NYC.
3
This has nothing to do with being unable to afford it, as the new meal prizes would include the labor cost, so you still pay that money. Except now the workers get a fair wage.
As others have said, you can stil add some extra to show appreciation for good service, but the current system essentially mandates tipping to pay the workers.
And I know quite a few sad people who could easily afford the normal tips and still look for any excuse to give little or nothing as a tip, I wish they would just be charged more in the first place
As others have said, you can stil add some extra to show appreciation for good service, but the current system essentially mandates tipping to pay the workers.
And I know quite a few sad people who could easily afford the normal tips and still look for any excuse to give little or nothing as a tip, I wish they would just be charged more in the first place
It would appear that the author wrote this article in order to get free publicity for her soon to be released book. Certainly, her claims of racism and sexism behind current tipping practices are specious. She offered no evidence that the reason behind the high level of sexual harassment claims in the industry is tipping. And contrary to what she says about tipping not being part of the culture outside the US, my own experience in Europe is that the practice is becoming more ingrained there than it was in 1993, when I moved there. Back then, even in expensive restaurants, tips were kind of "round ups" to the bill. Today, Europeans are leaving significant amounts, often around 5% of the bill, as a tip. And finally, tipping is not limited to the restaurant industry (although the minimum wage differential seems to be). Think taxis, porters and hotel cleaning staff, paper delivery people, etc. sometimes it seems that people want and expect a tip for simply doing their jobs. That may be the only real argument for doing away with tipping.
2
Very pleased to see this article in NYT. There are three practices in Atlanta restaurants that are not mentioned here. First, many restaurants collectivize tips: all tips go into a pot and are redistributed equally to workers. This eliminates reward for individual incentive and gives the restaurant owner control over the tips --meaning that they should be recorded as income to the company. Yet they are not.
Second, from the tip pool money is extracted to pay those who bus tables. So the wait and host staff pay them, not the restaurant. Certainly unfair, probably illegal.
Third, if the pool of tips is still large enough that a worker would make over minimum wage for Georgia, the restaurant starts withholding the actual wage being paid so that the overall income is CAPPED at the legal minimum. This has gotta be illegal as it entirely contradicts the intent of a MINIMUM wage which should be a base not a ceiling!
Second, from the tip pool money is extracted to pay those who bus tables. So the wait and host staff pay them, not the restaurant. Certainly unfair, probably illegal.
Third, if the pool of tips is still large enough that a worker would make over minimum wage for Georgia, the restaurant starts withholding the actual wage being paid so that the overall income is CAPPED at the legal minimum. This has gotta be illegal as it entirely contradicts the intent of a MINIMUM wage which should be a base not a ceiling!
1
I haved lived for ca. 16 years where Germany, Switzerland and France come together, at the big bend that sends the Rhine north. We eat in restaurants in all 3 countries. Tipping is not expected. For small tabs, most of might add €1 or so--partly to avoid getting change if we pay cash. For a larger bill--e.g. €100 or more for a meal for 2 or more persons, we might add €5 or so fir great food and/or service, but this is not expected. These tiny tips are called (in German) Trink Geld (money for a drink for the waiter). Waiter wages and benefits are good. One great thing for them--employee benefits are paid even for part-time work--proportional to what they would be for full time.
5
Says Ms. Jayaraman, "...Danny Meyer...shows that he understands the impact tipping really has: It has created a two-tiered wage system with deep social and economic consequences for millions."
That's Mr. Meyer's decision, and he's the one taking the risks. But does this mean everyone in his chain of restaurants are now going to earn the same salary? If he doesn't, is Ms. Jayaraman's next story going to be about the pay inequality in Mr. Meyer's restaurant?
That's Mr. Meyer's decision, and he's the one taking the risks. But does this mean everyone in his chain of restaurants are now going to earn the same salary? If he doesn't, is Ms. Jayaraman's next story going to be about the pay inequality in Mr. Meyer's restaurant?
2
I am all for tipping for service; people who extend themselves deserve it. I do not want to pay a extra for food. As for all of the chatter about wages, etc. Let me tell you: in Manhattan and many other cities the dishwashers and kitchen staff are immigrants with not much skill and that is why they have the jobs they have. The "no tipping" comes from a command of total control by the establishment owner and is another crack against capitalism.
1
As more tipping disappears, more income must move above the table, where it will get properly taxed.
3
A restaurant owner I know told me he would willingly pay his wait staff about $30,000 a year if they gave him all their tips. Clearly, this fellow believes $30,000 a year is a bountiful sum on which to live, but which as American workers know is barely enough to get by on nowadays in the boondocks let alone a city like Richmond where the fellow I know has his restaurant. Okay, he's providing employment of a kind, but the only real beneficiaries of his staying in business are his customers and, of course, himself. Better that he wasn't running a restaurant at all.
5
An old Pullman Porter once told me that TIP stands for 'To Insure Promptness.' In other words, it was a recognition that the worker went above and beyond their normal duties to serve the patron. But that was a long time ago. Today the preferred approach should be fair wages for all service workers and bonuses paid by management for especially good work, just as they receive bonuses from owners for a well run, profitable establishment.
I know that I don't go back to restaurants where the service is poor. But do return to those that provide good food and good service. I'm sure that part of running a successful restaurant is cultivating a pool of returning customers. Since the work of staff directly contributes to this let them share in the success with a decent wage and a year end bonus when it's deserved.
I know that I don't go back to restaurants where the service is poor. But do return to those that provide good food and good service. I'm sure that part of running a successful restaurant is cultivating a pool of returning customers. Since the work of staff directly contributes to this let them share in the success with a decent wage and a year end bonus when it's deserved.
2
If you're paying tips anyway, why not just include the cost in the bill? If a server provides exceptional service, you could leave a little more at the table. Plus women wouldn't feel obligated to put up with sexist behavior. Life is hard enough for everyone but the wealthy, why make it harder?
18
After receiving several comments to an earlier post here, I'm revising my position in favor of no-tipping and set wages for servers. Many commenters to my post -- and other commenting throughout -- unabashedly say they never tip 15% - and one said he/she never tipped 10%!!! Holy cow, what cheapskates.
I am now convinced that the driving force behind low wages for servers is cheap patrons. If you're never tipping at least 15% - you're the problem.
Perhaps then it makes sense to eliminate tipping, raise the prices and force these folks to open their wallets and pay what a meal and service is worth instead of accepting restaurant-welfare by having the servers subsidize them.
I owned two restaurants for 6 years (sold them last year), and the average tip hovered between 18-21% daily.
I don't know what to say - I am aghast at the lack of compassion and integrity, particularly at the ease with which patrons say they accept service delivered in good faith (I'm not including poor service, here) and use the mechanism of tipping to skate away without throwing a couple of extra bucks on the table.
I am now convinced that the driving force behind low wages for servers is cheap patrons. If you're never tipping at least 15% - you're the problem.
Perhaps then it makes sense to eliminate tipping, raise the prices and force these folks to open their wallets and pay what a meal and service is worth instead of accepting restaurant-welfare by having the servers subsidize them.
I owned two restaurants for 6 years (sold them last year), and the average tip hovered between 18-21% daily.
I don't know what to say - I am aghast at the lack of compassion and integrity, particularly at the ease with which patrons say they accept service delivered in good faith (I'm not including poor service, here) and use the mechanism of tipping to skate away without throwing a couple of extra bucks on the table.
19
When I worked in a dress shop after getting a useless college degree, I was paid less than minimum wage because I was expected to make up the difference in commissions. If I couldn't sell something, it was for one of three reasons: the product was unappealing, the product was defective (e.g., with a stain), or the customer couldn't not afford it. Why should I have had to bear the consequences of those reasons?
9
So the when next in a restaurant I shouldn't give a tip? And when this provokes some small hint of resentment, the server should be referred to Saru Jayaraman who says tipping is a great wrong. No one is more in favor of raising the minimum wage than myself but the fact is that the economics and customs of the dining out in the US have long revolved around the practice of tipping and a lot of servers like it. How do I know this? Because I asked one on Wednesday after this issue came up (she was a lady btw and never mentioned sexual harassment). This is called path dependency and it's not going away anytime soon. The pronouncements of some very high end NYC restaurateur need to treated with some skepticism. He has a particular problem in that front of house staff at the not inexpensive Gramercy Tavern receive lavish tips while those in the engine room don't. Essentially he's proposing to solve this by redistribution. This may be appropriate for high end NYC eateries where the owner may have benign motives but universally? Btw Saru what's your telephone number so you can take those calls.
5
Tipping is a backward, Third World system that most civilised countries have just about eliminated.
7
@ MWB
You might be surprised to learn that this information has not yet reached France or Italy.
You might be surprised to learn that this information has not yet reached France or Italy.
4
Well yeah, but so are capital punishment, unpaid maternity leave, every-man-woman-and-child-for-him-or-herself medical care, and so many other things we Americans hold dear. While I agree with you wholeheartedly, I'm afraid your condemnation might read as an endorsement to some of my countrymen.
1
Tipping should be left up to the individual being served whether you think it's backward or not.
We generally do not tip here in NZ although I sometimes leave a tip for good service at a restaurant.
When I visited the USA I was very confused on whom to tip and how much.
It is not only in restaurants but I found people in toilets handing me a paper towel and I did not know I was supposed to tip.
I also found my service was not good when I tipped on my credit card as the waiters at this particular restaurant would not have known nor was my morning paper delivered at a hotel possibly because I forgot to tip the guy bringing up my bags or the person at the hotel opening the door for me. In fact in the words of a 'Kiwi' I found tipping a bloody nuisance.
It is also demeaning to the server and embarrassing when you forget or do not know who to tip eg bus drivers.
In the days of paying everything by card, tipping is something that should have been gone with the Dark Ages.
Carrying around a pocketful of coins or notes is virtually a thing of the past, and so should be tipping.
STAN CHUN
Wellington
New Zealand
When I visited the USA I was very confused on whom to tip and how much.
It is not only in restaurants but I found people in toilets handing me a paper towel and I did not know I was supposed to tip.
I also found my service was not good when I tipped on my credit card as the waiters at this particular restaurant would not have known nor was my morning paper delivered at a hotel possibly because I forgot to tip the guy bringing up my bags or the person at the hotel opening the door for me. In fact in the words of a 'Kiwi' I found tipping a bloody nuisance.
It is also demeaning to the server and embarrassing when you forget or do not know who to tip eg bus drivers.
In the days of paying everything by card, tipping is something that should have been gone with the Dark Ages.
Carrying around a pocketful of coins or notes is virtually a thing of the past, and so should be tipping.
STAN CHUN
Wellington
New Zealand
17
Anytime we set up special rules and systems for specific businesses, it is a form of anti-capitalism. If a business cannot operate in a traditional way, there is really something wrong with the business model. When we pay employees a sub-liveable wage and a employee is entitled to government benefits ie: Walmart/Fast Food Chains and Franchises, we subvert the real meaning of capitalism. This creates of lower social economic class of workers that become a burden to society in both social and economic terms. Then we have politicians taking away any benefits these workers need to live a decent life. We have moved away from a manufacturing wage base to a service wage base, lets pay service workers a real liveable wage. create business that are individually owned, big is not always better!
2
I have lived in Europe for 20+ years, after growing up in the US and working in a restaurants throughout high school. Wait staff here in Austria have it much better than wait staff at Denny's. Waiting tables is very rarely going to be lucrative, but in Europe at least a waitress being able to pay rent is not dependent on the weather (if she works in a restaurant with a great terrace but an average dining room) or luck (a bus full of poor students fills her section for three hours) or the length of her skirt.
We tip in Austria (Europe), but it is more of a "rounding up", or to reward great service on a busy day. We know that it is a "tip" and not actually the wages of the person serving. It will be great when all of the US (re)adopts this idea.
We tip in Austria (Europe), but it is more of a "rounding up", or to reward great service on a busy day. We know that it is a "tip" and not actually the wages of the person serving. It will be great when all of the US (re)adopts this idea.
9
The article is spot-on. We need to give ALL workers a living wage.
I travel internationally for business and people outside the US usually comment on our ridiculous culture of tipping. It's gotten completely out-of-hand. Not only is a living wage for all fair and just, there's another upside: it would likely help eliminate the ridiculous behavior of some waitstaff who provide poor service but will aggressively pursue a diner who has left what he feels is an insufficient tip.
Our tipping culture extends way beyond waitstaff. If one pays by credit in a NYC taxi, the options for tipping begin at 20% and go up from there. Yes, there is the option of inserting the amount you want to pay but to start it at 20% implies to the rider that the minimum should be 20% (remember, NYC has many tourists - don't think this is a good message).
There are also many car services who use IPads to allow patrons to pay by credit card. This is in the hands of the driver who will turn around and ask, "How much would you like to add as a tip" (and again, the printed options to check begin at 20%); it should not make a passenger feel uncomfortable to say "none" or 10% for a poor ride).
I travel internationally for business and people outside the US usually comment on our ridiculous culture of tipping. It's gotten completely out-of-hand. Not only is a living wage for all fair and just, there's another upside: it would likely help eliminate the ridiculous behavior of some waitstaff who provide poor service but will aggressively pursue a diner who has left what he feels is an insufficient tip.
Our tipping culture extends way beyond waitstaff. If one pays by credit in a NYC taxi, the options for tipping begin at 20% and go up from there. Yes, there is the option of inserting the amount you want to pay but to start it at 20% implies to the rider that the minimum should be 20% (remember, NYC has many tourists - don't think this is a good message).
There are also many car services who use IPads to allow patrons to pay by credit card. This is in the hands of the driver who will turn around and ask, "How much would you like to add as a tip" (and again, the printed options to check begin at 20%); it should not make a passenger feel uncomfortable to say "none" or 10% for a poor ride).
5
"We need to give ALL workers a living wage."
You cannot even quantify what a so-called "living wage" is. And who would get to determine that - some faceless bureaucrat in our nation's capital? What makes them any smarter than the person who actually owns and runs a business?
You cannot even quantify what a so-called "living wage" is. And who would get to determine that - some faceless bureaucrat in our nation's capital? What makes them any smarter than the person who actually owns and runs a business?
1
A young man in my Sociology class works weekends at a local Applebee's . Here in NC. the minimum tip wage is $2.13/hr and yet this young man tells me he makes $600 almost every weekend. That's an extraordinary wage here in NC and is much, much higher than most factory workers in this area. I for one am a consumer and what matters to me is my own bottom line and my own quality of life and I'm not prepared to pay $19-$25 for a $10 cheeseburger and in fact if the price went to $15 I would cut out the cheeseburger altogether. The author of this article threw in some things eluding to race and gender bias and what would the NYT be without any allegations of racism and sexism? In reality it's all about the Benjamins and supply/demand and price points. In NY city where trillions of dollars are floated around almost daily and everyone from the bellhop to the taxi driver or the doorman are tipped and come to expect a tip for doing what they were hired to do and as if the tipper has no say so as to whether a tip is deserved and if so then how much it should be. Excellence in service is the basis of a tip anyway and as a consumer my obligation to pay for whatever I buy and the salary question is to be answered by the employee/employer relationship. That relationship will eventually lead to a price point to me the consumer and I will be free to make a choice to pay that price or go elsewhere. A minimum wage of $15 yes and I'll break out the George Foreman grill more often.
6
"I'm not prepared to pay $19-$25 for a $10 cheeseburger"
Why are you tipping 90-150%?
Why are you tipping 90-150%?
One aspect of the discussion that I never see mentioned is that tips move up with inflation. When restaurants increase prices, tips automatically move along. Perhaps this may be a choppy ascent, and someone may have anecdotal stories about how occasionally the rise is not linear, but generally I do not see how this is not the case. What this means is that an entire industry gets automatic raises, without asking for them. While some may want to eliminate tips, I strongly suspect a large segment of those who are tipped may not be on board. After all, the tips portion of a waitperson's income is the part that rises more steadily and more frequently.
3
While re examining tipping, also please examine why Wall street and other capitalist management get a huge bonus at the end of every year over and above their already grossly inflated salaries. Is this a 'tip' for superior service? Or a reward for further destroying the economy to enrich the .01%? This is on top of any commission some of them earn on each transaction.
Speaking as a teacher who will never get tipped or bonused or otherwise rewarded for good performance, who has never seen a raise in the last 8 years, and who waits each year to wonder if my position will be eliminated, I do not feel terrible about tipping a fellow under-paid, under-class worker and hoping they will start to earn a living wage.
Speaking as a teacher who will never get tipped or bonused or otherwise rewarded for good performance, who has never seen a raise in the last 8 years, and who waits each year to wonder if my position will be eliminated, I do not feel terrible about tipping a fellow under-paid, under-class worker and hoping they will start to earn a living wage.
11
There are a number of opportunist businesses that avoid paying even the minimum wage while well aware that their food quality, type of restaurant service, and customer base will not make up the difference in wage inequality by customers who tip. Try this argument on servers that pull in over $60,000 in tips in New York City, and you'll see that many support the tipping system. If restaurants were to report actual wages and tax all tips, you would still have servers in great restaurants making good money with plenty of motivation to offer excellent service. You would also see "servers" in a place like IHOP gain a clear argument for why they should earn better wages if tips aren't making up the difference. I can't wait to see what happens when a server at Jacques George in NYC is told he/she will now make $25 an hour to put up with the demand and level of clientele expectations put on them. One man's idea to end tipping in his chain restaurant is admirable, but don't make the hasty generalization that this applies to all forms of the practice.
1
The stats are wrong because no one reports all the tops they get paid. No way when I was waiting tables in college would I want a wage over tips. I made 5-6 times minimum wage. And I worked at restaurant chains. Not "fancy steak houses". McDonald's is not a career, IHOP is not a career. It is supplemental income or income for one if the live very modestly. Minimum wage is the same thing. It is meant to support the bare minimum. Not multiple kids, cable TV, smart phones etc. We don't have a wage problem in this country. We have an apathy problem on top of people who make dumb decisions. Like teenage pregnancy, scraping by in high school or not graduating, getting a criminal record so no one will hire you, drug addiction, joining gangs, etc, etc.
6
The hostility toward tipped workers in these comments flies in the face of the content of the article. These women work hard under horrible conditions. I believe they should get regular minimum wage plus tip, which is a courtesy.
6
I am a professional waiter.
I am not underpaid.
Eliminating tipping will almost certainly result in a pay cut for my fellow service staff and I, leaving us scrambling to find new ways to cover bills.
I am a single father. I pay for 100% of my daughter's bills: healthcare, education, and child care. Not only do tips fund all of that, but the job is flexible such that I am able to spend time with her as well.
It is shameful that the author uses women and feminism as the basis for her argument against tipping, as if fair wages would be less laudable an end if men were the ones ostensibly underpaid. In either case, no need to worry: we're doing just fine.
I am not underpaid.
Eliminating tipping will almost certainly result in a pay cut for my fellow service staff and I, leaving us scrambling to find new ways to cover bills.
I am a single father. I pay for 100% of my daughter's bills: healthcare, education, and child care. Not only do tips fund all of that, but the job is flexible such that I am able to spend time with her as well.
It is shameful that the author uses women and feminism as the basis for her argument against tipping, as if fair wages would be less laudable an end if men were the ones ostensibly underpaid. In either case, no need to worry: we're doing just fine.
15
I remember when I was young (about 19 at the time) reading a book by Studs Terkel called "Working." In it a waitress said that many customers threw a tip on a table "like throwing a dog a bone."
Thirty years + later, that remark still stays with me. And still sticks in my craw. (And, no, I am not nor have I ever been a waitress).
Pay people well. Pay them the old fashioned way - a full days' wages for a full days' work. No bone throwing.
Thirty years + later, that remark still stays with me. And still sticks in my craw. (And, no, I am not nor have I ever been a waitress).
Pay people well. Pay them the old fashioned way - a full days' wages for a full days' work. No bone throwing.
10
I've worked as a waiter for years in NYC.
Me putting my heart and personality is dependant on the incentive factor that tipping adds to the deal.
"Pride of work" wont work ss a substitute for incentive payments. If my payment system changes to salary, my charm and going-above-and-beyond will be unrewarded and inadvisable. All of these opinion pieces note the quandry of the diner employee in Peoria. While this is very important societally, urban diners used to world-famous NY-style service will endure a dramatic drop in the quality of restaurant service provided. Whether charming or "just-enough-to-get-by", the waiter is paid the same. This point is sorely absent from the discussion.
Me putting my heart and personality is dependant on the incentive factor that tipping adds to the deal.
"Pride of work" wont work ss a substitute for incentive payments. If my payment system changes to salary, my charm and going-above-and-beyond will be unrewarded and inadvisable. All of these opinion pieces note the quandry of the diner employee in Peoria. While this is very important societally, urban diners used to world-famous NY-style service will endure a dramatic drop in the quality of restaurant service provided. Whether charming or "just-enough-to-get-by", the waiter is paid the same. This point is sorely absent from the discussion.
7
I totally agree. Here in Australia, servers earn about $20/hour for normal work and double or even TRIPLE overtime on weekends and holidays. Yup, $65/hr to sling a plate on a holiday weekend is not uncommon, for the places that do not shut altogether on those days in order to avoid paying the ridiculous wages, and in many establishments down here they won't even bring you water, plus you have to line up to order at many places. Yet the service, for the most part, sucks. That is what eliminating tipping does. Not that I want people paid peanuts, but you have to understand the trade off.
4
Do a little math. You're used to paying $36 for that nice steak and a decent glass of wine - $30 to the restaurant and $6 to the waitperson. So one day the place eliminates tips. You go in and they charge $35 for that nice steak and decent glass of wine, no tip. Hey! Cheaper for me, I'll be back! Of the extra $5 the restaurant takes, $2 goes to higher minimum wage, $3 to the restaurant. Customer wins, restaurant wins, waitperson loses. How to get more customers and make more money? Appropriate the tips from the waitstaff.
4
You forgot the higher tax on the higher food price, so it is not really cheaper, and that is assuming the prices only go up such a small amount.
2
California is a TIP credit stat and yet they still require to tip minimum of 15%. and they a lot are just brazen. it is written on you invoice
1
Tipping is perfidious and make sure that a restaurant visit in the USA leaves you with a bitter aftertaste, despite the real quality of the local food and the genuine friendliness of the American people.
With tipping, a restaurant owner discharge himself of paying his employees a decent wage and control the quality of his services to his customer.
I am French, and I actually love America, I have a faible for Steakhouses.
What really sour my taste starts with this false friendship " Hi I am Jenny and I will be your waitress!!!! how are you today? / Are you having a great day etc." Even in Los Angeles they do not act it in a believable way.
Then this permanent pushing for more spending, the gushing of wine in the glasses, so that you have to order one bottle more. The intrusions in the discussion..
And finally the tab with the state taxes and the "gratuities" "gratuit" means "for free", by the way.
In America, I play the game, because I know the employees are in the line of fire.
In the UK, where restaurant owners are trying to introduce these debasing practices, I try to dress down the manager/owner everytime I can
With tipping, a restaurant owner discharge himself of paying his employees a decent wage and control the quality of his services to his customer.
I am French, and I actually love America, I have a faible for Steakhouses.
What really sour my taste starts with this false friendship " Hi I am Jenny and I will be your waitress!!!! how are you today? / Are you having a great day etc." Even in Los Angeles they do not act it in a believable way.
Then this permanent pushing for more spending, the gushing of wine in the glasses, so that you have to order one bottle more. The intrusions in the discussion..
And finally the tab with the state taxes and the "gratuities" "gratuit" means "for free", by the way.
In America, I play the game, because I know the employees are in the line of fire.
In the UK, where restaurant owners are trying to introduce these debasing practices, I try to dress down the manager/owner everytime I can
10
It's not debasing to have people act polite. I don't care whether it is real or not, be polite. I've lived in Europe, sullen workers, esp. wait staff seem the norm. Forget about it. If you are working here, smile and use your manners.
I tip 20-25% of the total bill, which I think is about the standard. I worked tables as a teenager so I am sympathetic to wait staff and know how exhausting the work can be. I also know how dismissive and difficult customers can be.
I noticed during my last stay in Paris, where tipping is downplayed, how sullen and even rude countless waiters are - but then, why should they bother being nice since they are not depending on my good will for their living? Besides, they obviously did not like their jobs - that was made clear. And it is very difficult to fire a waiter there given their social construct.
By all means pay waiters more and eliminate tips. But be mindful to hire people who do not take their dislike of the job out on the customers.
I noticed during my last stay in Paris, where tipping is downplayed, how sullen and even rude countless waiters are - but then, why should they bother being nice since they are not depending on my good will for their living? Besides, they obviously did not like their jobs - that was made clear. And it is very difficult to fire a waiter there given their social construct.
By all means pay waiters more and eliminate tips. But be mindful to hire people who do not take their dislike of the job out on the customers.
3
Tipping has become customary instead of optional even for poor service. Skipping a tip in America is considered close to criminal behavior and definitely a severe breach of etiquette by some in the restaurant business. Most people tip 15% for poor, 18-20% for average, and 25% for great service. This does not significantly punish or reward the service provided. I am in favor of the restaurant simply including the 18% tip in the bill and thereby avoiding all the unnecessary rigmarole.
1
Then you will get the lousy service you get in Germany. They just don't care, they're getting the money no matter what.
As a customer I resent having to make a spot judgement of my server while lacking the knowledge to do so fairly. Sure, if the server is rude, I will know and they are responsible. But if the food is slow arriving is that the fault of the server, the kitchen staff or management? I can't know. Please, restaurant owners and managers, do your jobs, hire good staff for all positions and make sure they have what they need to do their jobs. You decide who is good and deserves a higher salary. Don't ask me to be your HR person. Just present me the bill and if the price is fair for the value received, I will be back.
3
Well known popular Philadelphia restaurant chain, "Chickies and Petes" improperly took tips from servers and ended up paying over $6.8 million dollars in back wages after being investigated by the US Dept of Labor, Wage Hour Division.
http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/whd/WHD20140044.htm
Wage theft regarding tipped employees is well known and under reported in all states.
http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/whd/WHD20140044.htm
Wage theft regarding tipped employees is well known and under reported in all states.
7
We don't really tip a lot here in Australia. You can if you think the service was particularly good but the minimum wage applies to most sectors here and many trades have agreed awards in place governed by the fairwork ombudsman. You know that your waitress / waiter isn't depending on your tip to live.
4
Many comments defend the practice of tipping. If it's so great why haven't other service industries adopted it? How many car mechanics, store clerks, lawyers, stock brokers, etc rely on tipping for most of their income?
2
We visited Scotland earlier this year. Restaurant menu prices were just what I paid. At 12 L item was 12 L no added tax no tip. Simple, civilized, fair
2
Tipping is unfair in many ways. One you do not mention is that in certain restaurants, and not necessarily 'high-end' properties, some servers can walk out the door with hundreds of dollars for a few hours work. What is unfair about that is more than likely, the kitchen staff is getting paid a minimum wage.
It is pointless to argue about who is "working more" or why either position should be valued more than the other (neither should; both are necessary), but the fact remains that a cook can work an 8-hour shift and gross 58 dollars and a server can work 4-hours and gross 200 dollars.
Perhaps it evens out over time? Maybe. But perhaps it does not. So yes, I agree that tipping needs to go and all get paid a fair wage. I imagine more than a few servers will disagree though.
It is pointless to argue about who is "working more" or why either position should be valued more than the other (neither should; both are necessary), but the fact remains that a cook can work an 8-hour shift and gross 58 dollars and a server can work 4-hours and gross 200 dollars.
Perhaps it evens out over time? Maybe. But perhaps it does not. So yes, I agree that tipping needs to go and all get paid a fair wage. I imagine more than a few servers will disagree though.
2
I worked as a waitress in my early 20s. My employer paid me $2.01 per hour. The government taxed me of 8 percent of my sales claiming I earned 15 percent gratuity on my sales. I never received 15 percent gratuity on my sales, usually 8 percent, and was taxed on monies I did not even earn. If anything went wrong, for example, if the food was late because it was busy in the kitchen, I was held accountable, that is, no tip at all and, yes, then the government taxed me on that tip...
5
I travel in Asia fairly frequently on business and I find it very refreshing not to have to worry about tipping.
And having worked as a busboy in high school, I know how unfair the current tipping system is in this country.
And I have never had the impression that tipping or not tipping has any impact on the level of service in any context.
And having worked as a busboy in high school, I know how unfair the current tipping system is in this country.
And I have never had the impression that tipping or not tipping has any impact on the level of service in any context.
1
Tipping works fine for young, good looking people temporarily working at high-class places. When they get real jobs they don't look back.
The folks stuck in greasy-spoons and fast food joints do miserably, live miserably and many times die miserably.
The folks stuck in greasy-spoons and fast food joints do miserably, live miserably and many times die miserably.
2
I agree that tipping causes so many problems:
customers being 'held hostage' (if waitperson knows/suspects you won't tip well, you may get lousy service in return)
restaurant owners feel they can pay low salaries because restaurant patrons subsidize worker salaries
restaurants create environment that pits patrons against workers looking for bigger tips
tourists from other countries are often confused by US tipping system and may overtip or undertip
some waitstaff may feel they don't necessarily have to do that good of a job...they may do the bare minimum just to ensure a bare minimum tip, figuring that even if they work really hard, it's not going to make much difference in the tip, particularly if they work at a chain restaurant frequented by your average-Joe
tips are generally a percentage of the overall bill, which often produces huge variables in workers' tips. In addition, often the waitstaff who work under the worst conditions (chain restaurant, high table turnover, loud/frenetic restaurant, unprofessional managers) get the lowest tips. Compare that to high-end restaurants where a waitperson may cover 6 tables in the course of two hours, with each table's bill being $150. They will get roughly $180 in tips for two hours of lingering casually over tables while reciting all the ingredients of various dishes, with hands gently folded behind their backs. ;-) That's a huge disparity in tips, considering the work that those two different groups of waitstaff do.
customers being 'held hostage' (if waitperson knows/suspects you won't tip well, you may get lousy service in return)
restaurant owners feel they can pay low salaries because restaurant patrons subsidize worker salaries
restaurants create environment that pits patrons against workers looking for bigger tips
tourists from other countries are often confused by US tipping system and may overtip or undertip
some waitstaff may feel they don't necessarily have to do that good of a job...they may do the bare minimum just to ensure a bare minimum tip, figuring that even if they work really hard, it's not going to make much difference in the tip, particularly if they work at a chain restaurant frequented by your average-Joe
tips are generally a percentage of the overall bill, which often produces huge variables in workers' tips. In addition, often the waitstaff who work under the worst conditions (chain restaurant, high table turnover, loud/frenetic restaurant, unprofessional managers) get the lowest tips. Compare that to high-end restaurants where a waitperson may cover 6 tables in the course of two hours, with each table's bill being $150. They will get roughly $180 in tips for two hours of lingering casually over tables while reciting all the ingredients of various dishes, with hands gently folded behind their backs. ;-) That's a huge disparity in tips, considering the work that those two different groups of waitstaff do.
Please, lets get rid of tipping. I've always seen it as degrading.
2
While showing a Norwegian and a Brit around Banff, Alberta, we stopped in a bar for a meal and a pint of beer. They wanted to pay and left less than 10%. The server was insulted, I caved and left considerably more. It was an awkward moment, for a town that prides itself on appealing to the international tourist.
In Australia, we didn't have a tipping culture, and quite frankly, it's more than a bit of a turnoff to have some sort of implied compulsory/moral extra tax nailed on to your service costs wherever you go. Tipping is voluntary, in theory, but another issue has made its presence known - Cheapskate employers, paying wages below our "award" (basic) rate. These salaries are technically illegal, and actionable. That said - As you can imagine, there's a floating/sinking population of people in the service industries doing it tough, for no particular reason except the stinginess of their employers. So now we've achieved a back door version of your tipping culture, for all the wrong reasons.
Just for the record - They still do better than Americans on minimum wage, on average. That $9.34 an hour would either get you arrested, or fined, or both, in Australia. It is incomprehensible that anybody in the 21st century would try to make a case for lower wages when higher wages directly fuel the economy. Americans spend $40 an hour on average according to some sources. You can't spend $40 an hour for very long when you're making $9.34 an hour. So by shafting so many people, with such low wages, you're doing a measurably great job of shafting the US economy, too. Congratulations, cheapskates.
Just for the record - They still do better than Americans on minimum wage, on average. That $9.34 an hour would either get you arrested, or fined, or both, in Australia. It is incomprehensible that anybody in the 21st century would try to make a case for lower wages when higher wages directly fuel the economy. Americans spend $40 an hour on average according to some sources. You can't spend $40 an hour for very long when you're making $9.34 an hour. So by shafting so many people, with such low wages, you're doing a measurably great job of shafting the US economy, too. Congratulations, cheapskates.
3
I didn't read this entire article, but my experience is worth noting.
I was a tipped employee in the 70's - restaurant bartender/waitress. Our restaurant was so busy and I was so good that I made as much money as the accountant sitting at my bar/restaurant. I worked crazy hours and was completely devoted to the business. I did well...bought my first house in the Seacoast area of NH by the time I was 22. The rest of my friends were in college studying for an English degree. If they didn't marry, they're on assistance.
Here's my take...tipping will NEVER end. While we may change the laws, the good will rise to the top. My advice to young people? Give great service...you'll get the "golden handshake." Don't know what that is? Then you don't belong in the business.
I was a tipped employee in the 70's - restaurant bartender/waitress. Our restaurant was so busy and I was so good that I made as much money as the accountant sitting at my bar/restaurant. I worked crazy hours and was completely devoted to the business. I did well...bought my first house in the Seacoast area of NH by the time I was 22. The rest of my friends were in college studying for an English degree. If they didn't marry, they're on assistance.
Here's my take...tipping will NEVER end. While we may change the laws, the good will rise to the top. My advice to young people? Give great service...you'll get the "golden handshake." Don't know what that is? Then you don't belong in the business.
1
Worked 50 yrs. in food service and tending bar.. When I started my journey my pay was 57 cents an hour and the highest pay I ever received was $15 a shift in 1995-2000.. As you can see my pay checks were an AFTERTHOUGHT.. I did manage to raise two generations of children and keep a home going on the tips I received ( always feeling demeaned and over worked to say the least) At last I see a change coming to the arena of a living wage verses tipping.. All the points of the "Why Tipping is Wrong' are spot on however I think you missed on one part that is effecting me and surely many other Seniors.. I'm barely able to support my self on my Social Security $745 month.. Even though I worked my whole life in the restaurant business I'm left with nothing.. If they had kept my checks and paid taxes with them I certainly wouldn't be writing about this issue.. Thanks for taking the time to hear me.. Nothing changes if nothing changes..
7
ugh. the 'do they *deserve* it ? or not? argument. again. Speaking as a waiter, my 20$ worth....
1. you may or may not , have noticed , that almost every single restaurant bill you receive now is computer generated. Point of Sale (POS) systems make it almost idiot proof to report income. The restaurant (the legal business) does not pay more than they need-waiters incomes are taxed. If the majority of income (tips) received are in cash, the business will declare an average amount (usually based on whatever the credit card tip average is for that business).
1a-of course, just because they should declare, doesnt mean they WILL declare income. It's just a lot easier to catch fraud now.
2. A good waiter makes it look easy. Thats why some of you are saying "get a real job" . Waiting tables is not easy mentally or physically. If you think good 'restaurant' service is of no value (regardless of the cost of your meal) , may you be cursed with poor service for the rest of your life.
3. Both of the above being true, I support Danny Meyer here. I'd love to treat this kind of work as a skilled, hourly work, with benefits.
1. you may or may not , have noticed , that almost every single restaurant bill you receive now is computer generated. Point of Sale (POS) systems make it almost idiot proof to report income. The restaurant (the legal business) does not pay more than they need-waiters incomes are taxed. If the majority of income (tips) received are in cash, the business will declare an average amount (usually based on whatever the credit card tip average is for that business).
1a-of course, just because they should declare, doesnt mean they WILL declare income. It's just a lot easier to catch fraud now.
2. A good waiter makes it look easy. Thats why some of you are saying "get a real job" . Waiting tables is not easy mentally or physically. If you think good 'restaurant' service is of no value (regardless of the cost of your meal) , may you be cursed with poor service for the rest of your life.
3. Both of the above being true, I support Danny Meyer here. I'd love to treat this kind of work as a skilled, hourly work, with benefits.
4
I'm glad you mentioned the POS system. When I waited tables years ago, it was just becoming more common for people to pay for the meal and the tip on a credit/debit card. While it's true that cash tips can go underreported, when the tip is on a card, the accurate amount is recorded by the computer and it's not up to the server to say how much. We were required, anyway, to report 10% of our total sales as tip income, which was deducted from my paycheck as tax. Even though I live in one of the states where servers get the regular minimum wage, there were times when I did well in tips over a pay period and ended up owing the restaurant money to cover the taxes on those tips. It's not that easy to underreport your tips anymore. I'm certainly not complaining about the money I made -- I was young and I did very well (I made about $45,000/year). But I worked my tail off to make that kind of money -- double shifts multiple times a week, banquets, covering for others' sick days and vacations -- I never said no to work. I was good at it, and I made money, but it was very hard work and I could only do it that way because I was single and didn't have kids.
1
I have refused to tip for years because I won't support corporate America's unwillingness to be fair to its workers. Why should I help support something that is fundamentally wrong. It is second class citizenship. You price your food on what it costs to run the business, not dump it on the customer to feel guilt/shame when they don't tip.
1
If I can't afford to decently tip the server, I can't afford the restaurant. However, cutting short on the tip hurts the server, not the restaurant, and I don't feel anyone should serve me for free. Slavery is over.
5
After a waitperson's tips are taxed, the result is often a paycheck of zero dollars.
So even if they're not tipped appropriately, they still have to pay taxes on a percentage of those food and beverage sales receipts.
When it is slow, being paid $2./hr. to do all sorts of cleaning, (including restrooms), does NOT seem right. It is not uncommon for the restaurant managers to instruct wait staff to do OTHER work. As a waiter I have been asked to sweep/mop, do dishes, stock items, clean walk-ins, laundry, wash windows, vacuum, etc. I recall having to breakdown a heavy, wooden dance floor and stack chairs/tables, etc. For 2.00/hour.
Most of the public never sees the amount of daily shift, side work done as well. It's endless. And hard, physical work. Especially after a long night on the floor. Most restaurant servers deserve EVERY dime they earn.
So even if they're not tipped appropriately, they still have to pay taxes on a percentage of those food and beverage sales receipts.
When it is slow, being paid $2./hr. to do all sorts of cleaning, (including restrooms), does NOT seem right. It is not uncommon for the restaurant managers to instruct wait staff to do OTHER work. As a waiter I have been asked to sweep/mop, do dishes, stock items, clean walk-ins, laundry, wash windows, vacuum, etc. I recall having to breakdown a heavy, wooden dance floor and stack chairs/tables, etc. For 2.00/hour.
Most of the public never sees the amount of daily shift, side work done as well. It's endless. And hard, physical work. Especially after a long night on the floor. Most restaurant servers deserve EVERY dime they earn.
7
It might be good to change our tipping system. Some people are so darn cheap or just plain ignorant, that they have no clue how servers get paid. If I get really good service, I'll still pay the wait staff even if I have to pay in the bill.
1
I wonder if the market will work things out: Once fast food workers are paid $15/hr, tipped workers making an average of $9.43/hr will start moving to better paid fast food jobs. Restaurant owners would be forced to increase wages so they don't lose their employees.
I have waited tables at many restaurants. The ones where you can make a living wage- the high level restaurants- where appetizers are $30-40 and entrees are $50-100 or more - are not where most waiters work, as this article shows. At all other restaurants, you will generally make $40- $100 a shift - 5-6 hours, with side work (folding napkins, marrying ketchup etc.). Occasionally you could pull down $150. In many you will make less. It is a miserable, uncertain, penny-pinching job, and most customers are extremely ungrateful for it. In addition, if your restaurant is private and not corporate, you will be abused by the chef and owners.
But would 15.00 dollars an hour make it better or worse? You'd get a bit more than $75 for a 5 hour shift.... Ten hours, if you could get a double would be a hundred fifty. Some waiters might prefer to hold out for the tips.
But would 15.00 dollars an hour make it better or worse? You'd get a bit more than $75 for a 5 hour shift.... Ten hours, if you could get a double would be a hundred fifty. Some waiters might prefer to hold out for the tips.
4
I worked at a chronically understaffed restaurant in a tourist area. Most customers didn't understand that the poor quality service was because management didn't care if anyone ever returned or tipped well. The restaurant staff had no control over how many employees were scheduled to work. People either tipped 15% or left a few coins to indicate their disappointment in the service. In this case it was impossible to provide better service to increase the chance of getting a good tip.
3
"The subminimum wage for tipped workers also enshrines pay inequity for a predominantly female work force, perpetuating the gender pay gap."
You might want to do the actual math on this.
$2.13 / Hour is a lot less than, say, $10.00 per hour of a cook, but if a server handles 4 tables (two-tops) an hour s/he'll be outpacing the people who cook the food.
The author doesn't know that waitstaff make far, far more than cooks -- and only report a portion of what they earn.
However, a single-mother working tables will likely spend ALL of her income simply paying for a babysitter.
It's unfair, but not in the way the author describes. I'm all for ending the two-teir system, but I encourage you to always tip your cook AND server.
You might want to do the actual math on this.
$2.13 / Hour is a lot less than, say, $10.00 per hour of a cook, but if a server handles 4 tables (two-tops) an hour s/he'll be outpacing the people who cook the food.
The author doesn't know that waitstaff make far, far more than cooks -- and only report a portion of what they earn.
However, a single-mother working tables will likely spend ALL of her income simply paying for a babysitter.
It's unfair, but not in the way the author describes. I'm all for ending the two-teir system, but I encourage you to always tip your cook AND server.
I moonlighted at a restaurant serving five course meals at a mansion, when I was buying a house. The tips could be amazing, $260 on a good night. But that was for eight hours in a tuxedo, and everything from changing the water in the vases to keeping two fireplaces burning, besides serving the guests... the job seemed like something out of myth... and not the kind of histories that are being served up here, supporting a fair case for fairer wages and treatment. The restaurant business is also reputed to be very high stress, all the way to top management - - it is encouraging to read of good effects from better compensation.
Now we are going to blame sexual harassment on tipping? And hurt those who make a lot from tips because everyone should make the same? Apparently some people think so.
1
The word "tip" was originally an acronym that stood for "to insure promptness." since, at one time, tips were paid BEFORE service, not after.
2
I tip. While I usually tip after i receive good service, it is to ensure that I receive good service the next time I visit. I like to get to know the names of my servers and call them by name. For lunch I will tip about 15% raised to the nearest dollar, for dinner I will tip about 20% rounded up to the nearest dollar. I tip more for breakfast because the meals are lower in price but the service is the same. I also don't tip for poor service (usually non-service, I am of the age that I was not served in some restaurants in the South because of my natural tan). I tip bell staff at hotels, but not the concierge, for continued good service while there. The result is that I will get a table at my favorite restaurants without a reservation and fairly quickly, too. I will not be calling for refills and my server will hover. Some restaurants let me order off menu. At hotels there is no waiting for a cab, or my car is valet-d quickly. I get my messages relayed quickly. Food service was one of my first jobs and I remember how difficult it was to live on those wages.
I believe that the acronym TIPS means: To Insure Prompt Service. It is very reassuring to wave across a crowded club and get the attention of the bartender you just tipped heavy and having another round delivered within the next three minutes.
I see nothing wrong with tipping and will continue.
I believe that the acronym TIPS means: To Insure Prompt Service. It is very reassuring to wave across a crowded club and get the attention of the bartender you just tipped heavy and having another round delivered within the next three minutes.
I see nothing wrong with tipping and will continue.
1
One of the best arguments against tipping and for a $15/h minimum for servers is the wide spread tipping theft, in particular in Indian and Chinese restaurants. I always leave cash tips WITH the server in Indian restaurants, but I know from friends who served there that even those are sometimes commandeered by the restaurant owner.
3
Are tips included in figuring what your social security benefits will be?
1
Usual nonsense from NYT. You have to work hard and earn tips. If you don't you get what the Europeans have - the laziest society and culture known to man.
3
Have you ever been to Europe mate?
2
All the money used by restaurants to pay their servers comes from one source - the guest. Whether its from the price of the meal, the tip, or a combination of both should make little difference so long as the wage and tip equal or exceed the minimum wage. Its the restaurant's responsibility to make sure this is the case. Since a vast majority of restaurant bills are paid by credit card, the tips are easily decerned and properly taxed. Since many restaurants have their wait staff pool tips and split them equally, racial and gender discrepancies are largely eliminated. Danny Meyer is eliminating tips by raising his prices 30%. This might work for a high-end joints where the guests don't look at the right side of the menu. But it won't work for the vast majority of the mid-range places where prices must remain competetive and servers still make well in excess of the minimum wage. Some people like working for tips, some don't. Some patrons like the option of leaving a tip, some don't. Meanwhile the system has worked well for a very long time and there is no need to get hysterical about it.
1
A number of restaurants here in Oakland have eliminated "tipping," per se, and supplanted it with a 20% service charge which is shared among all staff. I have taken issue with this "policy," as it unfairly places the onus of the increase on the people who prepare, cook, and serve the food, as well as clean up afterward. Instead of such a charge, owners should simply fold it into the cost of the food. Would anyone seriously suggest that Danny Meyer would lose business or generate disfavor in any of his fine establishments if he added $4 to the menu price of what used to be a $40 main course? I think not. Come to think of it, even the Shake Shaks would be unaffected.
Oh great, soon table service here will be just as slow (and often rude) as it is in europe! One could argue that tipping doesn't always ensure good service - most of us tip at a fixed percentage and only deviate if the service has exceptionally poor. But in my experience (as a waiter and as a patron) tipping definitely motivates servers to move tables quickly. This increases revenue for the restaurant owner, who otherwise has limited tools to motivate waitstaff. There aren't promotions to offer waitstaff, and why would a restaurant owner want to dangle pay raises when they could just let the employee move on and hire someone new at the lower rate?
Tipping is an outdated and humiliating practice that should be abolished. In a restaurant tipping is not discretionary but a mandatory surcharge on the price of a meal. If an entrée is $20.00, with a 20% tip the real price of the entrée is $24.00. The solution to this issue is to pay restaurant employees (all employees) a living wage and end the tyranny of tipping. The menu should then include the real price for each item; $24.00 and not $20.00 in the above example.
I resent the glass jar on the counter in the espresso bar and just about everywhere else. Why do people think I am going to reward them for doing their job? I am paying you to make me a latte and I expect it to be excellent. Excellence should be the bottom line for any business. It requires no additional rewards.
I resent the glass jar on the counter in the espresso bar and just about everywhere else. Why do people think I am going to reward them for doing their job? I am paying you to make me a latte and I expect it to be excellent. Excellence should be the bottom line for any business. It requires no additional rewards.
2
I'm fascinated by this supposed racial disparity among servers. I'm black and waited tables throughout college & a few years after. During college I could work one weekend and pay my rent & household expenses.
Maybe my white colleagues got more I have no idea but I sure as heck didn't care. Also the customers more often than not to stiff me weren't white, they were black. I doubt we'd see an article about this very well known discrepancy in the restaurant industry in the NY Times though.
Maybe my white colleagues got more I have no idea but I sure as heck didn't care. Also the customers more often than not to stiff me weren't white, they were black. I doubt we'd see an article about this very well known discrepancy in the restaurant industry in the NY Times though.
4
Javaraman has never talked to waitresses/food servers. . Some waitress are able to send their kids through college with tips made. Waitresses buy new cars. And get their cars repaired. Waitresses use tips to pay rent. Waitresses use their tips to treat themselves. Tip money is an earned vacation. Waitressing has flexible hours. Some facilities provide health insurance. In some food service businesses the waitress must give a cut of their tips to the bus people who clear the tables. And some must pay the bartender--it's all good. At the end of their shift waitresses sit down and count their money. Javaraman wants to take all that away and replace it with a $15 hourly wage.
I think if tips are abolished restaurant eaters will complain about every little thing and the their food server will have nothing to show for it except a paycheck at the end of two weeks. That is NOT serving food rather it is performing a job.
I think if tips are abolished restaurant eaters will complain about every little thing and the their food server will have nothing to show for it except a paycheck at the end of two weeks. That is NOT serving food rather it is performing a job.
Heather here. I was a waiter for years, and I think people who've done that work know more about life than other people, so I wouldn't trade the experience but I'm glad that's not still my job.
My best table-waiting job was at a fancy steak place where I made about $80 a night for a four-hour shift (circa 1975). Awesome! But I learned from my male counterparts that they were making $120 a night. I thought I just must not be as good at the job, even though it seemed like I was working harder, but it occurred to me years later that maybe the deck was stacked a little bit: The men's uniform was a black jacket and tuxedo-style trousers, with a crisp white shirt and bowtie, while the girls' uniform was a brown and white short-sleeved polka dot polyester blouse with a brown double-knit miniskirt. I can't help thinking that the men just looked more professional and tip-worthy, and that if I'd been a little smarter and more confident I could have asked to wear a uniform like the men's.
Re: Tax cheats, there seemed to be a tacit agreement regarding the "make-good" rule on minimum wage: If I don't ask you to make up my wage when my tips fall short of the minimum wage, then you'll look the other way when I don't report my full take on days when my tips exceed it, and my W2 form will reflect that.
Finally, in my experience if you're female and reasonably attractive, some men actually do seem to think they "own" you because they control your wage when you serve them.
My best table-waiting job was at a fancy steak place where I made about $80 a night for a four-hour shift (circa 1975). Awesome! But I learned from my male counterparts that they were making $120 a night. I thought I just must not be as good at the job, even though it seemed like I was working harder, but it occurred to me years later that maybe the deck was stacked a little bit: The men's uniform was a black jacket and tuxedo-style trousers, with a crisp white shirt and bowtie, while the girls' uniform was a brown and white short-sleeved polka dot polyester blouse with a brown double-knit miniskirt. I can't help thinking that the men just looked more professional and tip-worthy, and that if I'd been a little smarter and more confident I could have asked to wear a uniform like the men's.
Re: Tax cheats, there seemed to be a tacit agreement regarding the "make-good" rule on minimum wage: If I don't ask you to make up my wage when my tips fall short of the minimum wage, then you'll look the other way when I don't report my full take on days when my tips exceed it, and my W2 form will reflect that.
Finally, in my experience if you're female and reasonably attractive, some men actually do seem to think they "own" you because they control your wage when you serve them.
1
Low wages promotes economic inefficiency and ultimately disrespect. The restaurant pays the server a relatively low wage and this means they are under no pressure to use their time efficiently. I own my own small business and I try to avoid assigning busy work to my employees. Yet when I eat out I sometimes see servers made to do 3 trips to the kitchen when one ought to do. Often I see their time regularly abused because it costs the ownership next to nothing. If restaurants were forced to pay a reasonable wage, it would pay them to use their employees more efficiently and not dump unproductive tasks on them. Ultimately it would encourage them to treat their servers with the respect that we owe all God’s children.
Some months ago I engaged into a conversation with a couple of Texan tourists at the terrace of a café in the île saint-Louis. The waiter didn't bother to say hello, didn't smile either and just did what he was being paid for: bring the customer h/h beverage.
I warned the Monsieur not to leave a tip since the waiter certainly didn't deserve any and I explained the reasons why I won't leave any money on the table.
Well, nevertheless, my man left a 2 € coin behind telling me he wanted to do it the American way. 2 € for 2 beers! The waiter certainly didn't expect he would get as much unless he knows how powerful the guilt feeling is when it comes to force visitors to scratch the bottom of their pockets.
Tips have been made irrelevant in France for about 40 years since waiters' salaries are submitted to the minimum wage regulation as well as all other professional occupations.
Tipping isn't forbidden of course but just be easy on it. When the waiter/waitress simply ignores the basics of politeness and courtesy, just ignore h/h.
I warned the Monsieur not to leave a tip since the waiter certainly didn't deserve any and I explained the reasons why I won't leave any money on the table.
Well, nevertheless, my man left a 2 € coin behind telling me he wanted to do it the American way. 2 € for 2 beers! The waiter certainly didn't expect he would get as much unless he knows how powerful the guilt feeling is when it comes to force visitors to scratch the bottom of their pockets.
Tips have been made irrelevant in France for about 40 years since waiters' salaries are submitted to the minimum wage regulation as well as all other professional occupations.
Tipping isn't forbidden of course but just be easy on it. When the waiter/waitress simply ignores the basics of politeness and courtesy, just ignore h/h.
The Mexican restaurant near my house even had a tip can next to the register, with a hand written rant about how take out customers had to tip, just to pick up a burrito or a few tacos. It's out of business now, which is too bad, the burritos were good.
I rarely eat out and so don't mind tipping. If I ate out every day, as many people do, I would probably resent its hidden necessity. The reference to racism in the article was something I hadn't thought of. Excellent.
Jane Taras Carlson
Jane Taras Carlson
For many tipped servers, especially at high end restaurants, the end of tipping would be bad news for their incomes. The stated goal of Danny Meyer was to be able to control the total cash amount coming into the restaurant and redistribute some portion of what would otherwise be tip monies to other workers. I feel this is reasonable on a lot of levels. Tipped employees at his restaurants probably make at least double what the kitchen staff make. There is no logical reason for this other than the pay system. But I can see why servers might not like to see the change. Of course, the cynical side of me sees this as a cash grab by restaurant owners.
P.S. Then I had to tip the house, the hostess, bartender and the bus boys.
1
Fix the pay first, THEN eliminate tipping.
When I was a young uni student, waiting tables, I was taxed on the entire minimum wage amount, whether I made it or not. Sometimes my fortnightly paycheck was in the very low double digits -- I'm talking in the teens -- for a full time job. So, yeah, I survived on my tips.
Here in Australia, there is no tipping. But there is decent pay -- way more than $9 per hour -- even for service jobs, and universal health care. so people in those jobs can afford to send their kids to the doctor, and a university system that, while not free (anymore), is certainly way more affordable than in the US.
When I was a young uni student, waiting tables, I was taxed on the entire minimum wage amount, whether I made it or not. Sometimes my fortnightly paycheck was in the very low double digits -- I'm talking in the teens -- for a full time job. So, yeah, I survived on my tips.
Here in Australia, there is no tipping. But there is decent pay -- way more than $9 per hour -- even for service jobs, and universal health care. so people in those jobs can afford to send their kids to the doctor, and a university system that, while not free (anymore), is certainly way more affordable than in the US.
3
I have been in the industry forever although mainly in the Back of the House. I am a big tipper. Leaving a large tip is an extremely cost-effective way for me to impersonate a wealthy person. Often for an additional buck or so I can pretend I am more well-off and gain a moment of increased self-esteem even if it is only in my own mind (and in the eyes of the one fortunate server who has waited on me.)
Literally, Cheap Thrills! One of the best bargains available in these trying times.
Literally, Cheap Thrills! One of the best bargains available in these trying times.
1
Totally agree! I am so beyond tipping. I love the system in Europe. They get a decent wage, benefits. They can have a decent life.
Why should we subsidize a restaurant? Where else do businesses expect US to pay THEIR employees. If they can't make a profit, then maybe they need to close.
Why should we subsidize a restaurant? Where else do businesses expect US to pay THEIR employees. If they can't make a profit, then maybe they need to close.
1
Kudos to the posters who've pointed out that an additional inequality is the fact that tips are based on the cost of the meal. Anyone who's ever worked at a diner knows that you have to bust your behind for a $10 check way more than waitstaff at a fancy place with runners, etc.
I'd like to see servers at high-end restaurants try to serve 50 tables in a 6-hour shift--including cutting bread, making salads, filling water glasses, and of course bringing out all the food. Is it really fair that those folks are lucky if they pull in $60 in an entire shift?
I'd like to see servers at high-end restaurants try to serve 50 tables in a 6-hour shift--including cutting bread, making salads, filling water glasses, and of course bringing out all the food. Is it really fair that those folks are lucky if they pull in $60 in an entire shift?
48
David,
I've worked in both five star and less prestigious restaurants. There are unqualified waitstaff in both, just like any other industry but in general, the five star places required qualities that the family places didn't...just like other industries.
I've worked in both five star and less prestigious restaurants. There are unqualified waitstaff in both, just like any other industry but in general, the five star places required qualities that the family places didn't...just like other industries.
Tipping is pain for customers and a demeaning injustice to staff. It's so nice in other countries like Japan where the bill is just the bill--with tax but no tip. This barbaric practice needs to get gone, replaced with simple fair pay for staff and the responsibility for performance reviews placed solely on management and not customers who shouldn't be burdened with such a disservice!
2
The ethics for "tipping" as an excuse for not paying a fair wage...is skewed
in favor of the owner of a restaurant...
A fair wage should be requisite...and tipping simply an award for a job
well done.
in favor of the owner of a restaurant...
A fair wage should be requisite...and tipping simply an award for a job
well done.
1
One more facet to consider, beyond the fact that a minimum hourly wage ensures a livable wage and not a starvation wage: Unreported income. A livable wage, $15/hour or more, means that workers will not not have to conceal income in order to make ends meet (and those working in the 1% of restaurants, earning thousands of dollars/week can contribute their fair share, too.)
1
I tip for great service and will continue to do so.
1
Tipping as it is structured in the US leads to increased vulnerability financially and physically for tipped workers. We all know friends and family who tip when they want and whatever they want yet still expect the most courteous and friendly service. Why would we subject tipped workers to the whims of customers? Workers should be paid for hours worked just like any other employee.
I'm for ending the two tiered wage structure. I can't find any reason for keeping this system alive but I can find many reasons, as this op-ed demonstrates, why we should end it.
I'm for ending the two tiered wage structure. I can't find any reason for keeping this system alive but I can find many reasons, as this op-ed demonstrates, why we should end it.
1
One problem with the US tipping system is that it encourages over-the-top behavior such as asking you five times if everything is okay, "Yes, it IS okay, now will you please just let me eat my dinner."
3
I've asked some of my friends who are servers about this issue. They all completely rejected the idea of eliminating tips. One of my closest friends makes ~$50k/year, and has been doing so since age 19, working at a pizza restaurant. She works around 30 hours/week, and loves her job.
1
It's always been tough for me to determine right from wrong. Thank you for the clarification on this issue. I hope that you and the Sunday Ethicist don't get into a punch fight over this.
1
Our servers make the full minimum wage in Washington.
And people tip. And at least where I worked, servers gave 10% of tips to the kitchen.
How complicated does it have to be? Pay the minimum wage and let people tip.
And people tip. And at least where I worked, servers gave 10% of tips to the kitchen.
How complicated does it have to be? Pay the minimum wage and let people tip.
2
Most tipped restaurant personnel in NYC make a wage of under 43.00 an hour. Many of the customers visiting restaurants in NYC are from abroad, where either a service charge is automatically added to the bill, or no tipping is required. Taxes for these personnel are adjudged by a certain amount per day, whether or not the waiter.waitress makes that much. In addition, some restaurants pool tips, which mean the gratuity earned by the wait staff is apportioned to everyone, including dishwashers and back-staff. Yet, only th wait staff is "taxed' fo the grautity earned. Get real here.
Tipping racist, now? Well, everything is racist, now.
I'm going to quit tipping forthwith, because it's racist.
I'm going to quit tipping forthwith, because it's racist.
1
Employers prefer tipping to paying a reasonable wage because it imposes upon the employees risks which should be borne by the employer. This also explains franchising as well. Increasingly, for decades, risks are the burden of lower-level employees while management and owners are guaranteed the rewards.
PC nonsense. Having lived in England for 8 years, I assure you, you do NOT want to get rid of tipping. There is no service. The tabletops are sticky! The staff don't wipe tables, they do the bare minimum. Upscale restaurant managers complain that they have to import staff from India in order to get people who know how to wait tables! Tips are an incentive for folks to stretch themselves. Tipping encourages a meritocracy. My son works in the States as a bartender, shares his tips, and does well. I wouldn't patronise a place that didn't tip.
15
When I lived in New Zealand, I had the opposite experience. The no-tip staff were professional, unfailingly polite and efficient, tables were not sticky (if they were, it's one and done). Food was a bit more, but not so different after excluding the tips one would have paid in the US, and the bill was the bill, not the bill plus the obligingly calculated 18%, 20% and 25% now on the bottom of receipt. If restaurant managers want trained staff, THEY SHOULD TRAIN THEM, and pay them accordingly.
The author has definitely convinced this reader! Now what we need to do is stop the importation of 1-2 million illiterate immigrants/year orchestrated by our political class against the will and interests of the democratic majority - who our business owner nobility use as the functional equivalent of slaves to kill wages for everyone, and perhaps we will have the problem of 1/3 of living wage wages being paid to 10's of millions of Americans solved.
8
I own a restaurant. Including tips, my workers average between $22 and $35 per hour depending how busy the shift they are working is. With the new law raising the tipped minimum to $7.50, my employee costs will go up by 50% and my servers will average between $24.50 and $37.50 per hour.
I wouldn't care if the minimum wage went up to $20 per hour as long as tips were counted towards those wages. As it is now, or come January, it is going to put a huge burden on the business -- thus, prices will have to go up.
For those who are excited about Danny Meyer's decision, I hope you are ready for the increase in prices. They will go up more than 20% (read the excellent Eater article for the reasons why). In fact, he estimates they will go up 30-35%. So that $20 entree that with a 20% tip that used to cost you a total of $24 (not including tax) is going to cost $26-27.
I wouldn't care if the minimum wage went up to $20 per hour as long as tips were counted towards those wages. As it is now, or come January, it is going to put a huge burden on the business -- thus, prices will have to go up.
For those who are excited about Danny Meyer's decision, I hope you are ready for the increase in prices. They will go up more than 20% (read the excellent Eater article for the reasons why). In fact, he estimates they will go up 30-35%. So that $20 entree that with a 20% tip that used to cost you a total of $24 (not including tax) is going to cost $26-27.
8
I still prefer a more expensive entree than to have to tip. This is the norm in Europe and it works.
Peter, Thank you for sharing your restaurant ownership experience.
Please explain your complaint that your servers - who make $22 to $35 per hour including tips - will rise to $24.50 to $37.50 per hour. To someone like me, you are in fact complaining that their wages are too high (and going to be higher) because, well, we the patrons are tipping them well.
Why do the customers have to, in effect, pay your workers salaries? And if your restaurant is successful, creative, popular and busy (clean is good, too!), it won't matter one hoot how much you raise your prices. I believe the business phrase here is supply and demand.
Here in Sacramento, prices have increased constantly at the "better" restaurants for no reason at all, other than greed or an effort to remedy mismanagement problems. I can barely count the number of restaurants that have gone under for mismanagement (not increases in minimum wage). Only Denny's and McD's stay the same...
Please explain your complaint that your servers - who make $22 to $35 per hour including tips - will rise to $24.50 to $37.50 per hour. To someone like me, you are in fact complaining that their wages are too high (and going to be higher) because, well, we the patrons are tipping them well.
Why do the customers have to, in effect, pay your workers salaries? And if your restaurant is successful, creative, popular and busy (clean is good, too!), it won't matter one hoot how much you raise your prices. I believe the business phrase here is supply and demand.
Here in Sacramento, prices have increased constantly at the "better" restaurants for no reason at all, other than greed or an effort to remedy mismanagement problems. I can barely count the number of restaurants that have gone under for mismanagement (not increases in minimum wage). Only Denny's and McD's stay the same...
at least we know exactly we are paying
Many commenters point to Japan as an example of a system that provides good, nay, impeccable service without a tipping custom. One should not, however, use that example to predict how service quality would be affected here -- one way or the other -- when tipping is removed from the equation.
In Japan, customer service is a matter of cultural pride. It goes way beyond food service and other jobs that we associate with tipping in this country. (A Japanese car salesman will deliver your new car to your home or office, do a once-around, and wipe off any dirt -- real or imagined -- with a clean buffing cloth before handing over the keys.)
How do we inculcate that kind of pride in work performed? Perhaps paying a proper wage is not a bad first step.
In Japan, customer service is a matter of cultural pride. It goes way beyond food service and other jobs that we associate with tipping in this country. (A Japanese car salesman will deliver your new car to your home or office, do a once-around, and wipe off any dirt -- real or imagined -- with a clean buffing cloth before handing over the keys.)
How do we inculcate that kind of pride in work performed? Perhaps paying a proper wage is not a bad first step.
23
It's not only Japan. Imagine taking pride in your work.
Paying a fairer minimum wage doesn't mean tipping for good service should stop. I hate being forced to tip, as cultural rule, for bad service. I have even been yelled at by a very poor server for tipping what I deemed their service worthy of.
Employers - pay the higher wages; customers - pay the higher price for food and tip your server to show you appreciate their job - not just because you have to. In most other countries, this is how it works. You would be surprised how well it makes a servers work for their tips.
Employers - pay the higher wages; customers - pay the higher price for food and tip your server to show you appreciate their job - not just because you have to. In most other countries, this is how it works. You would be surprised how well it makes a servers work for their tips.
7
"Median pay for a tipped worker in New York, including tips, stands at just $9.43 an hour"
That's on what they claim to the gov't for tax purposes...most people are pulling in $20+ an hour, with only $9.43 of it taxed!
Also, it can't be $15 AND tips - if the $15 an hour is already in the price of the food, no way I am tipping extra - I already paid for the "service" in the menu price!
That's on what they claim to the gov't for tax purposes...most people are pulling in $20+ an hour, with only $9.43 of it taxed!
Also, it can't be $15 AND tips - if the $15 an hour is already in the price of the food, no way I am tipping extra - I already paid for the "service" in the menu price!
11
I doubt Jayaraman is relying solely on tax reports for this figure. Consider the paragraph about Applebee's and the like. Servers hired for looks and style, working in upscale joints in prosperous locales, may pull in some pretty nice earnings on good nights, and who knows if they report it all? That's not what Jayaraman is writing about. These places are a tiny fraction of the universe of American eating establishments.
This is not true at all. Tipped workers *must* declare, and pay taxes on, income from tips. Sales totals for these workers are collected and used to based tax payments upon. Restaurants will often, as a courtesy (or sometimes a "courtesy"), withhold money for taxes based on a percentage of sales — so if you have a bad run of luck, tip-wise, tipped workers can be stuck overpaying until they can recoup at tax time.
Cheap!
2
The workers aren't the only ones being taken advantage of and restaurants and other server industries are not the only ones where tipping has become the norm. When my husband and I were getting our home ready to put on the market, we wondered why everyone -- the fellows who installed our carpeting, the guys who installed our new tile, etc. -- kept hanging around once the job was done. We soon realized that they were not employees of the company from whom we purchased the items, but contractors being paid minimum wage who wanted a tip. In other words, we ended up paying well more than the quoted price for installation and picking up the tab for the business owner.
17
Tipping is inappropriate. Over tipping is vulgar because it indicates that you are trying to establish your superiority by tipping the underpaid server.
Restaurants should pay their servers a decent salary, enough so that they won't be dependent on the tips.
Restaurants should pay their servers a decent salary, enough so that they won't be dependent on the tips.
10
What a convenient excuse for poor tipping. "I didn't want to act superior." I was a server once. Go ahead, establish your superiority as much as you want! I love it when people establish their superiority. In fact if you'd like to do so right now by sending me a check, I won't be offended.
1
Well, there is your angle however there is another one (isn't there always?)
Should anyone try to show superiority, say the character Sheldon from the Big Bang Theory. There is always a Penny suggesting careful how you treat the people who handle your food?
An upcoming tip may be in order from the Sheldon side :)
Should anyone try to show superiority, say the character Sheldon from the Big Bang Theory. There is always a Penny suggesting careful how you treat the people who handle your food?
An upcoming tip may be in order from the Sheldon side :)
Then my employer will have to pay me $30-$35 an hour. Because that's what I get on average where I currently work. Sometimes I can make $50 an hour, depending on whether the guests are generous. Ah, the age of the professional server will end because of this. Serving at a fine dining restaurant, for example, is an art. You have to know what you're doing; it's a skill set that many people don't have or simply can't fulfill...so, professional servers need to be paid well for what they do. This also affects people going out and dining as an aesthetic . So what will become of that concept? And that's a whole other topic…
1
These are all good points and I largely agree with the author. But can we please change the headline of this article so that antisocial people are not given yet another excuse not to tip? The reality is that tipping is the custom currently, and those who eat at restaurants should tip.
7
Did I misread the original article? The problem the fine dining restaurants have is that the wait staff is making substantially more than the kitchen staff and they are having toue filling back of the house jobs.As noted in some of the comments my brother in law stopped working as a chef because the server made more money carrying the food to the table than he did for preparing it. There is a huge difference between 20% of a 250 dinner for two and 20% of a 25 dollar breakfast check. And I may be wrong but it's about the same level of service so I generous tipper at breakfast not so much at dinner
7
Good for Danny Meyer and I hope this spreads around the nation. Not only is tipping unfair, it is humiliating to the server. Having to grovel and beg for a tip is no way to make a living.
9
I've never seen anyone grovel for a tip. Wait staff are not indentured servants. They can leave at will if they don't like their job.
I was a waiter when I was in college. How much I made in tips varied by factors in my control and outside my control. I made I think $2.75/hour plus tips (min wage was about $5.25/hour or close)
If the weather was bad people stayed home. I was at work, ready, willing and able but the tables were empty and made little money. Other times we were "slammed" but the kitchen was backed up - my tips reflected the poor experience. Then at times we were busy and everything went well and I was able "To Insure Proper Service" and did well in tips. My ability to influence my income was limited.
Then I figured out that to make a career of waiting tables, you need to work at restaurants that have high costs meals and wine and that the tables turn 2 times a night. Think of steakhouses (every notice that these waiters are there for years). If the average check of table is $100/person and the average table is 4 people, and corporate cards are used you can make at least, consistently ($400 *15%= $60). BTW, most companies limit tipping to 15%. You have a 5 table station and they flip twice. That is $600 on a busy night (Thursday - Saturday night)after you tip the bartender and servers 20% of you bring home $480 ($48/hr). Those jobs are hard to get. Most of the jobs are TGIFs, Olive Garden - which have average cost of $20/person or less on purpose. Take home about $90. In both cases you are there 10 hours.
Don't hurt the $48/hr but solve for $9/hr.
If the weather was bad people stayed home. I was at work, ready, willing and able but the tables were empty and made little money. Other times we were "slammed" but the kitchen was backed up - my tips reflected the poor experience. Then at times we were busy and everything went well and I was able "To Insure Proper Service" and did well in tips. My ability to influence my income was limited.
Then I figured out that to make a career of waiting tables, you need to work at restaurants that have high costs meals and wine and that the tables turn 2 times a night. Think of steakhouses (every notice that these waiters are there for years). If the average check of table is $100/person and the average table is 4 people, and corporate cards are used you can make at least, consistently ($400 *15%= $60). BTW, most companies limit tipping to 15%. You have a 5 table station and they flip twice. That is $600 on a busy night (Thursday - Saturday night)after you tip the bartender and servers 20% of you bring home $480 ($48/hr). Those jobs are hard to get. Most of the jobs are TGIFs, Olive Garden - which have average cost of $20/person or less on purpose. Take home about $90. In both cases you are there 10 hours.
Don't hurt the $48/hr but solve for $9/hr.
15
I have ever been comfortable with tipping, and often resent having to do it. In the food industry, tip expectation is especially offensive when no personal service is performed. Baristas make standard coffee drinks for pick up at the counter. Unless you have asked them for something special, how have they earned a tip? In eateries where you order at the counter and your food is brought to the table, why is there a tip line on the bill, when there is no table service to speak of? If I am waited on at a full-service restaurant by one person (or a team, in top-level dining) I can see some logic behind a performance-based tip. But I see no reason to tip people who are just fulfilling the basic requirements of their jobs, at the same level of service for everyone. It's like the shipping and handling charge added to your order by a company that has no bricks-and-mortar retail outlet: the business is just padding your bill to recoup their basic operating costs, since there is not other way for you to receive your merchandise. Tipping has, in many ways, become nothing more than a shakedown. I have to hand over cash to the guy who shows me to the hotel room I could easily find by myself. I tip my hairdresser even though she owns the shop. I'm expected to tip the taxi driver who does nothing more than stop to pick me up and drop me off. To me a tip should be for service above the minimum, not for simply showing up.
16
In all honesty, none of the numbers cited in the article are true for a very simple reason: servers do not report any cash tips. If anyone has ever worked in the industry, they would know this is the practice everywhere, with managers, bartenders, servers and even sympathizing customers (tipping cash) on board. Of course then your $10-$15/h minimum wage would never add up to what you used to take home every night. For many industry workers waiting table is a matter of choice, and I would guess for most makes fiscal sense. In every restaurant I worked a good server could make a manager in 2-3 years, getting benefits and all, but many would turn this down. If anyone is hit by this culture it is the customer, who can also choose not to eat out. Since everyone continues the status quo, I tend to believe everyone accepts the rules of the game.
4
I can't resist repeating what others have said here: I am so happy to see this opinion being published here! This is an issue I think about a lot. Tipping is an abhorrent practice, and the damage it causes extends far beyond the question of wages. You lay out the case very clearly. Thank you! The Fight for $15 movement has a long ways to go, and this should be made one of the pillars of its program. I want to live in a world with no tipping. How do we get there?
9
I, like many young people during their 20's, worked in the service industry as a way of making quick cash. I discovered very quickly that it wasn't an easy job and I always felt I was at the mercy of the patrons that came in that day. While I was working at a middle-of-the-line national chain restaurant (not in NY) an older woman, in her 60's, came in to eat. She was very pleasant and ordered modestly. I dropped off her check and could see she was in a hurry to leave. Since it was a slow lunch day I had come back to bus her table as she way paying the bill. Sheepishly she looked up at me and told me she was on a pension and couldn't afford to tip me. The tip on her bill would have been around $3. I had various internal reactions to that. Was she lying? Do I feel sorry for her? What about me and my $2.13/hour (at the time)? The non-tip became about her and not about the service I provided and that's only one example where I learned first hand that tipping is wrong.
If a mandatory service charge was included she would have been forced to offset my $2.13/hour or if the food prices were better reflected so that the workers could take home minimum wage without tips then that woman would have either paid for a pricier meal or chosen not to eat out. And, as many people like to argue, higher food prices will keep customers away but shouldn't that be obvious? If you can't afford it don't buy it. Every worker deserves a living wage but not at the whims of other's personal situations.
If a mandatory service charge was included she would have been forced to offset my $2.13/hour or if the food prices were better reflected so that the workers could take home minimum wage without tips then that woman would have either paid for a pricier meal or chosen not to eat out. And, as many people like to argue, higher food prices will keep customers away but shouldn't that be obvious? If you can't afford it don't buy it. Every worker deserves a living wage but not at the whims of other's personal situations.
139
Wow. Thanks Natalie. You hit the point" every worker deserves a living wage but not at the whims (or greed) of others personal situations.
If the woman can't afford to tip $3, she shouldn't be eating at the restaurant. That's the answer you should give her.
1
Great insights. I feel that if tipping is done away in restaurants two things will happen.
1. Most restaurants will eventually do away with wait staff and go buffet. There will be fewer workers to pay and so the venue will be able to stay in business.
2. High end restaurants will make a killing because they'll only have to pay the wait staff and other employees $15 an hour while they will be charging 20% more on those $100 checks!
1. Most restaurants will eventually do away with wait staff and go buffet. There will be fewer workers to pay and so the venue will be able to stay in business.
2. High end restaurants will make a killing because they'll only have to pay the wait staff and other employees $15 an hour while they will be charging 20% more on those $100 checks!
If waiters require tipping to do their job, they should be fired and others should replace them. Do we tip the firefighters who have been up all night putting out an apartment fire so it doesn't burn down the neighborhood? How about the gas company worker who will show up if you report smelling gas at 3am? What about the sanitation workers who get up at 2am so your streets aren't full of garbage when you wake up in the morning? There are lots of jobs out there that are unpleasant, irregular, and downright dangerous and none of those workers get tips.
There's nothing special about waiting tables that warrants a hidden surcharge. If the restaurant needs a higher-caliber person to wait tables, one who will only be enticed by higher pay, then that restaurant should pay that person a higher salary and not expect the good favor of its customers to make up the difference. It's unfair to customers and its unfair to the waiters.
There's nothing special about waiting tables that warrants a hidden surcharge. If the restaurant needs a higher-caliber person to wait tables, one who will only be enticed by higher pay, then that restaurant should pay that person a higher salary and not expect the good favor of its customers to make up the difference. It's unfair to customers and its unfair to the waiters.
10
The party making the decision about the wage structure/relationship is the party hiring, or the restaurant owner. The servers have little choice in the matter, other than to refuse a job, which for economic reasons is usually not a viable "choice" in real terms.
If restaurant owners are compelled to pay minimum wage, they lament that they will be forced to raise the prices they charge their customers. Witness the comment written by Peter from NYC, above. To pay his staff more, he would have to raise the price of entrees, in the mid-$20 range, by $2-3, or approximately 10%. If he continues to pay subminimum wage, he is simply requiring his customers to pay his staff. The problem comes when his customers, having shelled out $24 for an entree, plus upcharges for appetizers, sides, drinks, desserts, etc., decide that they've spent a lot already and short the server on the tip, or do not leave any tip (under any number of rationalizations). Who pays then? Why, no one, and the server is the one who has labored for naught. It's wrong. It's not a question of "enticing" though. It's a question of paying the excellent people who are already doing the work.
If restaurant owners are compelled to pay minimum wage, they lament that they will be forced to raise the prices they charge their customers. Witness the comment written by Peter from NYC, above. To pay his staff more, he would have to raise the price of entrees, in the mid-$20 range, by $2-3, or approximately 10%. If he continues to pay subminimum wage, he is simply requiring his customers to pay his staff. The problem comes when his customers, having shelled out $24 for an entree, plus upcharges for appetizers, sides, drinks, desserts, etc., decide that they've spent a lot already and short the server on the tip, or do not leave any tip (under any number of rationalizations). Who pays then? Why, no one, and the server is the one who has labored for naught. It's wrong. It's not a question of "enticing" though. It's a question of paying the excellent people who are already doing the work.
Tipping and pay are separate issues. Employers should pay the correct wage, no minimum wage exceptions, and consumers should tip as they like.
2
What is great about "no tipping" policies is that cheap people can't stick it to some poor worker.
7
And generous people, and business people on expense accounts, cannot give lavish tips.
They kinda balance out.
Get rid of one, and you also lose the other. $15 an hour full-time is $31,200 a year -- and how many waitstaffers work a 40 hour week???? On the other hand, working 23 hours a week, my stepdaughter easily earned that much and had half the week off to do other stuff.
They kinda balance out.
Get rid of one, and you also lose the other. $15 an hour full-time is $31,200 a year -- and how many waitstaffers work a 40 hour week???? On the other hand, working 23 hours a week, my stepdaughter easily earned that much and had half the week off to do other stuff.
Does anyone actually believe that the workers in the restaurant will be better off? I see it as a grab by the owners who will now control what used to be someone else's money.
11
OK, my last "comment" (so to speak :-) ), on "tips":
Here's how I break it down on tipping...as it exists now.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TRUE HIgh End Restaurants: Tip should be included...no question...worth it.
This is how Danny Meyer keeps his "ground-breaking / leader" buzz going.
"Wannbe / Pretentious / "almost" High Profile Chef"... high-cost [to you] restaurants...(you know what I mean): Tip included...slight question of (sometimes right, sometimes wrong), otherwise, they 'try" to guilt you out of more $$.
"Medium-High" restaurants: That "definition" includes most steakhouses and the like, usually man-caves on expense accounts...so the tip is not a problem for most...if it is, the tip is left as cash, as long as the server keeps the booze flowing in a timely manner...thus skipping the accountant's gaze back at the office.
"Bistros / "Gastro-Pubs", etc...they sometimes "leak" into the "Medium/High" spectrum, but, usually are the high-end of mom&pop joints...by first timers, feeling their way...tip responsibly, meaning, what you can "do"...not what's "expected."
Anything below...go with how you "feel" with the server, not the "place."
Here's how I break it down on tipping...as it exists now.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TRUE HIgh End Restaurants: Tip should be included...no question...worth it.
This is how Danny Meyer keeps his "ground-breaking / leader" buzz going.
"Wannbe / Pretentious / "almost" High Profile Chef"... high-cost [to you] restaurants...(you know what I mean): Tip included...slight question of (sometimes right, sometimes wrong), otherwise, they 'try" to guilt you out of more $$.
"Medium-High" restaurants: That "definition" includes most steakhouses and the like, usually man-caves on expense accounts...so the tip is not a problem for most...if it is, the tip is left as cash, as long as the server keeps the booze flowing in a timely manner...thus skipping the accountant's gaze back at the office.
"Bistros / "Gastro-Pubs", etc...they sometimes "leak" into the "Medium/High" spectrum, but, usually are the high-end of mom&pop joints...by first timers, feeling their way...tip responsibly, meaning, what you can "do"...not what's "expected."
Anything below...go with how you "feel" with the server, not the "place."
Where I live you can get an entire breakfast at locally owned restaurants for under $10. Should I tip $1.50 or $2.00? I leave $5.00 as a minimum tip amount if my order was taken at my table and the food brought to me. At least until they start paying the servers more. I don't want these places to go out-of-business and leave me with nothing to eat but McWendyKing's.
I was a server and made tips. I think tips are great to reward servers who go out of their way. Socializing the system means those best able to sell the drinks, desserts and go out of their way to create an exceptional experience are paid the same as the janitor. Sorry, I don't agree with practically all of you and admit it, in your line of work you didn't get tipped so you don't want to tip. Or you're cheap. Don't hide behind some moral high road - servers deserve tips.
7
I like occasionally over-tipping for great service or conversation.
Speaking as a former server: no, we don't deserve tips. We deserve a decent wage. Tipping is arbitrary and unreliable and rarely based on actual service. I gave the best service I could no matter who the customer. I would continue to do the same but with greater pride in my job, if the basic wage was fair and I never had to accept a tip again.
1
Exceptional service can still be rewarded; no one is saying that tipping needs to be banned. What needs to be banned is the sub-minimum wage that is allowed to flourish despite evidence that proves that tips do NOT bring workers up to the average hourly wage of workers in similar positions who are compensated as hourly workers. Tips allow restaurant owners, hotel owners, etc., to underpay workers by creating a myth that the consuming public is making up the difference out of the generosity of their hearts in return for the excellent service received. Like you, I worked for tips, and I made a LOT of money. That doesn't mean it's a good system and that it is right. Actually, it's terrible, and it's wrong, and it needs to change. The tip system creates an class of underpaid workers who are mostly female, many of whom are supporting kids as single parents. I wouldn't want to have to support a kid (or 2 or 3) on $2.13 an hour. Nobody should have to try to do this.
The author conveniently neglects to mention that, by law, employers are obligated to make up the difference between the full, federal minimum wage and the "tipped" minimum wage if tips are not sufficient to reach the level of the full federal minimum wage.
So saying that tipped workers make less than minimum wage is extremely dishonest.
So saying that tipped workers make less than minimum wage is extremely dishonest.
5
You are being disingenuous. I worked in many different restaurants in my youth, and not one of my employers ever made up the difference between my paltry wages and my tips on those occasions when, usually due to a slow night, my tips and wages together were not sufficient to make up the minimum wage. This 'law' is not enforced, and attempting to do so would be almost impossible.
The only time I ever made a living wage working as a server was after moving to Europe, where my base salary was actually enough to live decently on, but almost all customers still tipped for good service.
The only time I ever made a living wage working as a server was after moving to Europe, where my base salary was actually enough to live decently on, but almost all customers still tipped for good service.
The lefty "meme" on this is that waitstaffers actually earn $2.25 an hour and THAT IS IT -- which is false. Nobody would do the job for $2.25 an hour, not even illegal aliens.
They make at least 3 times as much, and unless it is a breakfast diner, they are making WAYYY more. The fancier the eatery, the bigger the tips. At a very upscale NYC restaurant, I'll bet an average waiter earns $100 an hour in tips, and doesn't have to work more than 25 hours a week to earn a pretty good living.
Remember all the wannabe actors and artists who do this, BECAUSE they can earn a living and still have half the week free to do their "art".
Minimum wage does not make sense unless the worker has real access to a 40 hour week.
They make at least 3 times as much, and unless it is a breakfast diner, they are making WAYYY more. The fancier the eatery, the bigger the tips. At a very upscale NYC restaurant, I'll bet an average waiter earns $100 an hour in tips, and doesn't have to work more than 25 hours a week to earn a pretty good living.
Remember all the wannabe actors and artists who do this, BECAUSE they can earn a living and still have half the week free to do their "art".
Minimum wage does not make sense unless the worker has real access to a 40 hour week.
Serving is not like other minimum wage jobs, without tipping, good servers would have to be paid $20(if not more) to stay. This would raise prices on meals more than a 20% tip would. Serving is a lot of work and does not have set hours and talent with serving varies greatly. I do think the minimum should be set to $6 for servers to help out a bit and also to encourage managers not to overstaff when things are slow.
Tipping helps set apart levels. Servers at IHOP and Denny's don't have to be particularly knowledgeable in the food and get less tips because bills are lower. At higher end places patrons are wealthier and should be able to afford the higher tip but also should be getting an attentive server with great food and drink kowledge. It also encourgaes servers to get bills up, they act as salesmen and tips act as commisson.
It is frustrating to get bad tippers as a server but if my coworkers and myself got paid minimum wage with no tips every single one of us would leave.
Tipping helps set apart levels. Servers at IHOP and Denny's don't have to be particularly knowledgeable in the food and get less tips because bills are lower. At higher end places patrons are wealthier and should be able to afford the higher tip but also should be getting an attentive server with great food and drink kowledge. It also encourgaes servers to get bills up, they act as salesmen and tips act as commisson.
It is frustrating to get bad tippers as a server but if my coworkers and myself got paid minimum wage with no tips every single one of us would leave.
2
Definitely waitstaffers at a Denny's or IHOP make less than the fancy NYC places. But they also turn tables over VERY fast. Nobody goes to IHOP to linger for 5 hours over a tasting menu. You can probably turn 2-3 times as many tables, maybe more. It's more work, but not as little money as you think.
The alternative is to make tipping universal. If you have a good flight, tip the pilot 15% of your fare. If your representative is doing a good job, give them a tip when they pass the legislation you want. I guess it would never happen.
2
The truth is that the restaurants should all raise their prices 20% and it should go to the workers in the form of wages. The problem is that some employers are too greedy, and some customers no matter how rich are hostile to higher prices. However, if you can afford to eat out in the first place, you can afford to tip 20% or have higher prices on the price of all menu items. I remember working at a Bridgeman's store in Minnesota in 1965, making $1.35 per hour startng pay, but the customers were all good tippers!
6
While the points are not wrong, there are other complexities contained within this issue. For example, will restaurants hire fewer people due to the higher labor costs and what impact will that have? Also, many people choose these jobs for the opportunity to earn more (especially at higher end restaurants) - they are now negatively impacted if tips are removed. Service - often at higher end restaurants, tips are an inventive to improve service which may be a struggle for many restaurants to manage otherwise. There are other issues but like anything there will be negative implications as well as positive ones.
1
One of my family's favorite special-occasion restaurants in San Francisco recently switched to a no-tips model. The sticker prices on the menu went up, but the overall amount we pay at the end of the night did not, since the menu clearly specifies that all service charges are included and they do not expect an additional tip. We like that the new system means back-of-house staff such as chefs and dishwashers are being better paid for their hard work.
7
OK waiters and waitresses: Are you telling me you don't want a good tip? Alright then... thanks for the info.
3
The tipping system is inherently unfair and serves to cut the wages of servers and other people who work in jobs reliant on the generosity of others to "make up" the difference between their wage and the minimum wage guaranteed to other workers. While the employer is supposed to make up any shortfall, in reality this just does not happen, and tipped employees make far less than their non-tipped counterparts. So why would anyone work in a job reliant on tips? Desperation is primary reason. If that's the job that's available, it's what you do when you need to work. I worked in tipped occupations for a lot of my college years -- as a food server, cocktail server, motel housekeeper, etc These jobs are hard work, and tips are not as commensurate with effort and skill as one might wish.
It will be a far better world when people are simply paid the fair value of their work by their employer, and they do not have to rely on charity from a business' customers to be able to afford food, clothing, and shelter (not to mention tuition and books). I never ended up on food stamps or other public assistance, but there were plenty of people I worked with who did. Many were women working two or more jobs to support families on their $2/hr. wages. Subminimum wages hurt workers, but also their families and children. It is long past the time for change.
It will be a far better world when people are simply paid the fair value of their work by their employer, and they do not have to rely on charity from a business' customers to be able to afford food, clothing, and shelter (not to mention tuition and books). I never ended up on food stamps or other public assistance, but there were plenty of people I worked with who did. Many were women working two or more jobs to support families on their $2/hr. wages. Subminimum wages hurt workers, but also their families and children. It is long past the time for change.
3
And just what is a minimum livable wage? Every State has a different standard of living. Should the workers of NYC be perceived as having the same standard of living as those o Ames Iowa. This should be strictly a State matter but I agree that tipping should not be the norm and should be discontinued.
Although I am an American, I always found tipping to be an extremely bizarre part of American culture. In most parts of Asia I have been to, service industry jobs are essentially like other jobs - you do the work and your employer pays you. Doing away with tips has not affected the quality of service I received in countries like Taiwan, Japan, or Korea in any noticeable way. I think tips is simply one of self-reinforcing things some Americans have convinced themselves to be indispensable.
3
This article is not about "why tipping is wrong". It is about why "paying your workers below minimum wage is wrong".
143
Yes. You are correct. Employees should be paid a living wage. Those of us that tip or encourage tipping are helping the well off to increase their wealth! Let us stop tipping not by a law to outlaw it but by a minimum wage that that does not provide a lower minimum wage for " so called tipped employees ".
Exactly, a point missed by many commenters. And it's about the restaurant industry, like Walmart, passing on the cost of their low wages to us taxpayers.
Indeed. There are a number of opportunist businesses that avoid paying even the minimum wage while well aware that their food quality and customer base will not make up the difference by a great degree wage-wise. Try this argument on servers that pull in over $60,000 in tips in New York City and you'll see that many support the tipping system. If restaurants were to report actual wages and tax all tips, you would still have servers in great restaurants making good money with plenty of motivation to offer excellent service. You would also see "servers" in a place like IHOP gain a clear argument for why they should earn better wages if tips aren't making up the difference.
Blaming the "tipping culture" for low wages is like saying acts of charity cause poverty. Really?
A few years ago, in our town, a reporter from a major TV station posed as a woman who had a sick child. She begged for money on a major street. Our community responded with an outpouring of money, resources & comfort. Even very poor people shared what little they had. Station managers calculated that begging every day will yield $80,000 a year. Therefore, they urged everyone in Madison, Wisconsin to stop giving handouts. True Story. See any ethical or logic problems here?
We want to believe our institutions will create social justice (fair wage, fair housing, food for the hungry). It's a myth. How many stories of corruption in charitable organizations & local governments do we need to hear about before we realize that institutions tend to direct money & resources to themselves & to the wealthy?
I'm a musician & occasionally I play on the street. I get tips & give tips. I'm also a Christian & will continue to help others because it is the right thing to do. BTW I tip when I'm in Australia. Who really believes there is economic justice in Australia for the aboriginal / native population? Don't take my word, check tribal unemployment stats.
Participate in your world. Turn off your devices, step away from your desk. Take a good look at what's going on. Face-to-face encounters are how we keep our humanity. If you see a spot where you can do some good - do it.
A few years ago, in our town, a reporter from a major TV station posed as a woman who had a sick child. She begged for money on a major street. Our community responded with an outpouring of money, resources & comfort. Even very poor people shared what little they had. Station managers calculated that begging every day will yield $80,000 a year. Therefore, they urged everyone in Madison, Wisconsin to stop giving handouts. True Story. See any ethical or logic problems here?
We want to believe our institutions will create social justice (fair wage, fair housing, food for the hungry). It's a myth. How many stories of corruption in charitable organizations & local governments do we need to hear about before we realize that institutions tend to direct money & resources to themselves & to the wealthy?
I'm a musician & occasionally I play on the street. I get tips & give tips. I'm also a Christian & will continue to help others because it is the right thing to do. BTW I tip when I'm in Australia. Who really believes there is economic justice in Australia for the aboriginal / native population? Don't take my word, check tribal unemployment stats.
Participate in your world. Turn off your devices, step away from your desk. Take a good look at what's going on. Face-to-face encounters are how we keep our humanity. If you see a spot where you can do some good - do it.
1
When were "since the days of slavery"? I've forgotten the dates. This argument is as shopworn as the article's lack of detail. Providing "wage parity" for tipped workers will result in a loss of wages by tipped workers, as surely as "strengthening" tenants rights have resulted in an increase in homelessness.
Tired arguments benefit a bureaucracy already bursting on doughnuts.
Tired arguments benefit a bureaucracy already bursting on doughnuts.
4
Have I missed it, or has no one mentioned the tax situation for employees who receive tips as part of their compensation? Taxes are levied not just at the hourly rate paid these employees, but an assumed amount of tips per hour. This can lead to a not unusual situation where an employee working extra hours to make ends meet receives a pay check of $0.00; all wages having gone to cover the taxes on tips, whether received or not.
3
So much for the notion that the other side likes to put out there that raising the minimum wage will hurt us because it will drive prices up. Seems we've been paying higher prices all along - form of tips being one of them - and giving business owners a free ride when it comes to fair pay.
3
Fantastic idea to equalize the minimum wage for all workers.
A commenter brought up the case that some wait staff might under-report tip income. This probably does happen. However, I don't expect it amounts to much lost tax revenue nationally compared to say one billionaire who uses the carried interest loophole.
I offer my own experience as the opposite side of this issue. I worked as a waiter to put myself through college. One year, I received a bill from the IRS saying that I owed $xxx because I had under-reported my tip income. Apparently, the IRS had audited the whole store and determined - by some formula - that tip income was being under-reported. I had done no such thing and fortunately kept daily records of all my tips. I mailed this information to the IRS and they agreed that I owed no additional taxes. My total income was probably less than $10,000 that year. Many who didn't keep records probably had to pay money to the IRS that they didn't owe.
So yes, I agree businesses should pay a living wage to all employees and eliminate tipping.
A commenter brought up the case that some wait staff might under-report tip income. This probably does happen. However, I don't expect it amounts to much lost tax revenue nationally compared to say one billionaire who uses the carried interest loophole.
I offer my own experience as the opposite side of this issue. I worked as a waiter to put myself through college. One year, I received a bill from the IRS saying that I owed $xxx because I had under-reported my tip income. Apparently, the IRS had audited the whole store and determined - by some formula - that tip income was being under-reported. I had done no such thing and fortunately kept daily records of all my tips. I mailed this information to the IRS and they agreed that I owed no additional taxes. My total income was probably less than $10,000 that year. Many who didn't keep records probably had to pay money to the IRS that they didn't owe.
So yes, I agree businesses should pay a living wage to all employees and eliminate tipping.
3
The thrust of the article is correct, but the analysis of the effect of tipping on minimum wage is not. Under federal law, employers must make up the difference between the minimum tipped wage and the actual minimum wage if the waiter does not earn at least minimum wage during his or her shift. The idea that failing to tip means that a waiter doesn't get paid is just malarkey.
1
Many commenters point to Japan as an example of a system that provides good, nay, impeccable service without a tipping custom. One should not, however, use that example to predict how service quality would be affected here -- one way or the other -- when tipping is removed from the equation.
In Japan, customer service is a matter of cultural pride. It goes way beyond food service and other jobs that we associate with tipping in this country. (A Japanese car salesman will deliver your new car to your door, do a once-around, and wipe off any shmutz -- real or imagined -- with a clean buffing cloth before handing over the keys.)
How do we inculcate that kind of pride in work performed? Perhaps paying a proper wage is not a bad first step.
In Japan, customer service is a matter of cultural pride. It goes way beyond food service and other jobs that we associate with tipping in this country. (A Japanese car salesman will deliver your new car to your door, do a once-around, and wipe off any shmutz -- real or imagined -- with a clean buffing cloth before handing over the keys.)
How do we inculcate that kind of pride in work performed? Perhaps paying a proper wage is not a bad first step.
1
I support abolishing tips and increasing wages for restaurant workers, but I wonder if an anti-tip movement can survive in New York City's alpha-dog culture, where everyone is expected to demonstrate how much richer/more generous/cooler they are than everyone else.
4
To Donald Seekins - sorry but not everyone in NY is the way you describe them to be, which by the way, wasn't so nice. I'm sure that there are lots of those types that you describe living in Hawaii as well.
In a word, yes. New York has 8 million residents--they're not all alpha dogs. Plenty of us would be happy to know that in addition to what we're overpaying on rent, food, and other necessary services, we're not also expected to overtip to help restaurant owners pad their bottom lines. To say nothing of the fact that artists, parents, and other non-alpha dog types doing hourly work could more easily afford to live here if they were paid a consistent fair wage.
1
Until this happens I will continue to overtip.
3
In most places in the US servers' paychecks are jokes. The salary covers taxes at best, sometimes not even that. The only real income comes in the form of tips. Gratuities will be taxed at a minimum of 15% of the total bill (this may vary by state) so if a customer leaves a 10% tip they are effectively stealing the server's wages. This doesn't make sense on any level. For those that think they'll get worse service if the people who serve them are payed reasonably: keep in my mind that happy people are better workers.
This is an excellent point. Moreover, if there is a bartender and server involved, the waiter needs to tip them too.
Maybe a good idea all those who say tipping is wrong should do that job to get the real taste of living on a very tight budget, no savings, and yes you need the tip...
1
So you want to raise my minimum wage therefore allowing me to make $8, $10, or even $15 an hour instead of the $40 - $60 an hour I'm making now. I'm all for that. People at IHOP and Olive Garden work their way up to better gigs same as anyone else. Food Labor Research Council from Berkeley…..says it all. Gibberish.
2
No tipping is a freebie for the restaurant owners, not an altruistic gesture. They see a $15/hour minimum wage coming. How to pay for it? eliminate tipping, add 20% to the bill and use the added 20% to pay for the costs of the new minimum wage. So, the servers who maybe made $10/hour minimum wage plus $8 in tips for a total of $18/hour before, now would make $15, a $3 loss for them. In other words the owners force the servers to pay for the higher minimum wage for them selves and the kitchen staff. As ever, the greedy, rich owner class gets no reduction in its profits.
3
It's FAR worse than that.
Under tipping, that waiter gets $18 an hour and only about $3-$4 of it is taxed. The other $14 or so is TAX FREE.
That's like a 20-25% bonus -- no Federal taxes, no pay roll taxes, no state or local taxes!
It also means that quite a few waitstaffers can get food stamps or even Medicaid since they are "poor on paper".
Going to a salary system will be a HUGE pay cut. Very few actual waiters and waitresses want this reform. It's all lefty liberals.
Under tipping, that waiter gets $18 an hour and only about $3-$4 of it is taxed. The other $14 or so is TAX FREE.
That's like a 20-25% bonus -- no Federal taxes, no pay roll taxes, no state or local taxes!
It also means that quite a few waitstaffers can get food stamps or even Medicaid since they are "poor on paper".
Going to a salary system will be a HUGE pay cut. Very few actual waiters and waitresses want this reform. It's all lefty liberals.
Mr. Meyer's is a wise business owner. He is really not interested in a decent wage for his workers. When your at one of his restaurants and you are wondering why items are so expensive he suggests looking up at the Server.
He avoids having to pay ruffians to keep the employees in line.
No violence. Well done Mr. Meyer.
He avoids having to pay ruffians to keep the employees in line.
No violence. Well done Mr. Meyer.
2
You have obviously never eaten at one of Mr. Meyer's restaurants.
Why not have a 15 or 20 percent service charge and then if you want you can leave extra? Wouldn't that solve everyone's problem?
Americans spend more in restaurants now than on groceries. Nuts. Need to cook more.
Americans spend more in restaurants now than on groceries. Nuts. Need to cook more.
1
I waited tables and/or bartended from the age of 16 until I was 24 and making enough in advertising to quit a second job. Tips were very important and on a really busy night or weekend (especially in a college town) we would do really well. If I had been paid hourly without tips I would have put in as much effort, hustle and pleasantness serving customers because that's just the way I'm wired. However, for those servers working in higher tier restaurants I can image that eliminating tips would significantly cut into their income. The level of service can be the same between a less expensive restaurant and a more expensive restaurant but that check size makes all the difference in the world.
I always liked how the Swiss did it. you left a couple of franks as a courtesy.
1
In Switzerland and Germany and several other countries of Europe, being a waiter (or almost any job for that matter) is considered a career and requires training and certification. They are paid a salary. That is why a tip is called 'trinkgeld', literally something extra for them to buy a drink with. In these countries it is usual just to an a euro (or swiss franc) or two to the bill.
The interesting thing is that when Americans come to Europe they don't realise this so they tend to overtip considerably which helps fuel the stereotype that Americans have a lot of money to throw around.
The interesting thing is that when Americans come to Europe they don't realise this so they tend to overtip considerably which helps fuel the stereotype that Americans have a lot of money to throw around.
I've always thought it was odd that I had to judge how good a job that the waiter/waitress did and then pay them extra.
It seems that the restaurant should be paying me a management fee for my supervisory responsibilities. I'll start asking for one when they bring me my check from now on.
It seems that the restaurant should be paying me a management fee for my supervisory responsibilities. I'll start asking for one when they bring me my check from now on.
2
If the tip model is so terrific why not apply it to all personal services. I think we know why. Under this model the employer is not responsible, maybe only partially responsible, for wages which is a normal cost of business. This is one of the few industries where this is the business model. What about real estate brokers or agents. A small "fee" and a tip rather than an obligatory commission. I am sure they would be all for it. The notion was at one time that a tip was a reward for superior service, a recognition of that and a token of appreciation. It has now evolved to a way that an employer can fob off its labor costs and present its menu items as costing less. Wages should not be subject to the customer's whim.
81
I think this is a dumb idea. I like to tip, and usually tip pretty well because I'm a happy camper when a restaurant experience goes right. I know the food bill is already marked up horribly, and see no reason why restaurants and others shouldn't pay decent wages. But putting a cap of $15 an hour on good people seems to be bad business and certainly a burden on workers who do good work.
Don't say tipping will be eliminated and then just rename it. Customers are not stupid. $15.00 and hour plus tips, except in high-end restaurants, waiters and wait staff with not only make a fair wage, they will surpass the income of the customers. Decide, either $15.00 an hour or tips.
This issue is far more complicated than the notion that everyone should be paid some minimum amount per hour.
Running a restaurant isn't like making widgets. You have busy times and less busy times. You can't always predict when it will be busy. Waiters make more money when it's busy, and less when it's not.
If a restaurant had to pay staff $15/hour no matter what, and there were no tipping, they might simply decide it's not worth being open at certain hours. Some shifts are money-losers overall, but with a low hourly, worth it to the restaurant -- and to the people who are willing to work those shifts, if they otherwise would have been not working.
More importantly, it changes the incentive of waitstaff from being able to choose a busy, challenging, and high-value shift, to one of only wanting what would now be considered bad ones (=easy ones). It doesn't reward the people who have to work the hardest -- the people on staff when the restaurant is slammed.
The service industry doesn't work like a desk job where you have a set of duties that are more or less consistent for 8 hours a day. It's on and off, your shifts may be different every week, you may have reasons for being interested in slow or fast ones and you get paid commensurately. One size doesn't necessarily fit all.
Running a restaurant isn't like making widgets. You have busy times and less busy times. You can't always predict when it will be busy. Waiters make more money when it's busy, and less when it's not.
If a restaurant had to pay staff $15/hour no matter what, and there were no tipping, they might simply decide it's not worth being open at certain hours. Some shifts are money-losers overall, but with a low hourly, worth it to the restaurant -- and to the people who are willing to work those shifts, if they otherwise would have been not working.
More importantly, it changes the incentive of waitstaff from being able to choose a busy, challenging, and high-value shift, to one of only wanting what would now be considered bad ones (=easy ones). It doesn't reward the people who have to work the hardest -- the people on staff when the restaurant is slammed.
The service industry doesn't work like a desk job where you have a set of duties that are more or less consistent for 8 hours a day. It's on and off, your shifts may be different every week, you may have reasons for being interested in slow or fast ones and you get paid commensurately. One size doesn't necessarily fit all.
5
Excellent point. And indeed, if you go to Europe you will find that most restaurants are closed for all but the busiest hours of the day, and when they are open they are often short staffed and the service is very slow.
1
While I find the arguments against tipping generally compelling in the abstract, I worry that there is a dangerous fallacy contained within them: the assumption that, absent tipping, restaurant ownership/management will pay the servers a decent wage and fairly distribute the greater profits that will come from the higher prices that will necessarily be charged.
At least when I tip, and tip well, I can feel reasonably confident that the money goes directly to the person who earned it. And so I worry that eliminating all tipping will simply offer yet another opportunity for management to enrich themselves at the expense of the workers.
Maybe this system works in Europe because they have things like powerful unions, strident labor standards, and a strong social safety to ensure that people like restaurant servers can earn a decent wage and live a decent life. But in the rapacious me-first capitalism that defines the economic culture of the United States, the concept of eliminating tipping seems to me that it's just one more method of increasing income inequality rather than reducing it.
At least when I tip, and tip well, I can feel reasonably confident that the money goes directly to the person who earned it. And so I worry that eliminating all tipping will simply offer yet another opportunity for management to enrich themselves at the expense of the workers.
Maybe this system works in Europe because they have things like powerful unions, strident labor standards, and a strong social safety to ensure that people like restaurant servers can earn a decent wage and live a decent life. But in the rapacious me-first capitalism that defines the economic culture of the United States, the concept of eliminating tipping seems to me that it's just one more method of increasing income inequality rather than reducing it.
9
Tipping would be a more equitable method of compensating servers if more customers understood and complied with the practice. A tip is not a "favor" or an "extra", it's part of the bargain. Service so poor as to warrant a low/no tip should be reported to a manager, otherwise the server just assumes you're a cheapskate. Those who can't or won't tip properly should eat at McDonalds or stay home.
3
The definition of a tip is something optional that you give for extra good service.
If a tip is mandatory, then it would be best to call it a 'service charge' and add it to the bill.
If a tip is mandatory, then it would be best to call it a 'service charge' and add it to the bill.
Has your paper Always promoted the idea that tipping should not be done. Instead of adding my tip to the credit card, I have been tipping my waiter with cash
2
Tipping per se is not wrong. No employer should be exempt from paying decent wages. Tipping is strictly between the customer and the service provider, a little 'thank you' for good service. For an employer to reduce wages because of tips is in effect stealing from employees. Employers need to compensate employees properly, even if it means adjusting prices they charge customers.
10
Even restaurant employees admit that when tips are guaranteed the wait staff moves as leisurely as workers in other industries. Woyld you hurry across a large room repeatedly if you knew the hurrrying made no impact on your pay?
This NYC employer feels the Europeans are inadvertenly ripping off his wait staffers and what he suggests may work well there but it has been tried in other places and the operators went back to minimal pay and tipping for good reasons.
This is, BTW, the last thing any government-fixes-all-things theorist should be concerned about.
This NYC employer feels the Europeans are inadvertenly ripping off his wait staffers and what he suggests may work well there but it has been tried in other places and the operators went back to minimal pay and tipping for good reasons.
This is, BTW, the last thing any government-fixes-all-things theorist should be concerned about.
5
I've got a revolutionary idea. Find out what the tipped workers want. I'll guaranty you that they will overwhelmingly want to keep the present tipping system, which rewards top service and penalizes poor service. The Europeans love not having to tip because they are so cheap. Period.
8
Yes, I am sure they would want to keep the practice of tipping -- some of them make a bundle (let's not even go to why/how -- young, good-looking, flirtatious, non-ethnic -- oops!) This is not just abut tipped workers --- it is also about fairness (for the kitchen staff and others) and the odious con of the restaurant owners trying to hoist the burden of paying their staff a decent wage onto their customers.
The Europeans are not cheap -- they know the restaurant staff are paid a decent wage so there's no need to tip them but still some of the customers round up their bill to show appreciation. They are the civilized ones.
The Europeans are not cheap -- they know the restaurant staff are paid a decent wage so there's no need to tip them but still some of the customers round up their bill to show appreciation. They are the civilized ones.
1
Hopefully some of the discussion around the elimination of tipping will focus on 1) those benefiting from higher wages should be receiving less tax payer assistance,
2) government expenses should be reduced and thus taxes should decrease.
Clearly, even at a $15/hr salary, some people will continue to need public assistance (food stamps, rental assistance) but the total level needed should be lower and tax-payer costs should come down.
2) government expenses should be reduced and thus taxes should decrease.
Clearly, even at a $15/hr salary, some people will continue to need public assistance (food stamps, rental assistance) but the total level needed should be lower and tax-payer costs should come down.
First off you need to get waiters and waitresses opinions. I have worked as a waitress for over twenty years and all I can say is PLEASE DO NOT get rid of tips. We can for the most part make a lot more than any minimum wage increase will ever pay us in tips. Not only that but many restaurants are just getting by financially so for them to raise our salaries by a lot might mean they go out of business or increase food prices. If they increase the prices many people will no longer afford to eat out. You get rid of tips and all you will see is illegals working off the books and kids. The industry is already crooked enough. Raise the wages slightly but don't get rid of tipping. I need my job. You are only doing us a disservice - thank but no thanks
14
After tipping for decades I only now came to know that kitchen staff are not allowed / barred from sharing the tips. There were many times when I tipped as much as 25% when the quality of preparations was great and thought I am rewarding the kitchen staff and everyone also benefiting in the process.
So, I agree with this comment, but add that kitchen staff and any other backroom staff should be allowed to also share. The minimum / expected / typical number, when everything is normal should be raised to provide for this, say to 20 or 25%.
So, I agree with this comment, but add that kitchen staff and any other backroom staff should be allowed to also share. The minimum / expected / typical number, when everything is normal should be raised to provide for this, say to 20 or 25%.
1
Two things"
1) as a cook for many years, Mr. Meyer's observation that kitchen staff is underpaid relative to floor staff is very welcomed indeed. The skill sets are NOT commensurate, the year of training and hard labor required to become a skilled cook/chef is in an entirely different league from floor staff. And yet, during my time behind the stove any "good-looking" person could waltz in and getting a waiting job and make a good deal more money even on their very first night compared to me running the kitchen as head chef for years. It was maddening. I did know the math because it was a small operation and we were all "friends". And this same situation was repeated in the previous 3 restaurants I worked in going back many more years.
2) Now, to support the wait staff: getting rid of tipping be folding this into the prices of a dinner sounds good on paper, however customers that actually care about those those waiters being treated fairly should be absolutely concerned that management and owners are very likely NOT to pass along a commensurate level of compensation as "promised". Fox guarding the hen house. And who's to know? Given the high rate of failures in the restaurant biz where turning a profit is very difficult it will be irresistible to NOT skim from the tab after raising prices to offset the removal of a tipping policy. In the end all staff will be hurt, and the owners will have more money on their side of the ledger sheet. Mr. Meyer is being clever.
1) as a cook for many years, Mr. Meyer's observation that kitchen staff is underpaid relative to floor staff is very welcomed indeed. The skill sets are NOT commensurate, the year of training and hard labor required to become a skilled cook/chef is in an entirely different league from floor staff. And yet, during my time behind the stove any "good-looking" person could waltz in and getting a waiting job and make a good deal more money even on their very first night compared to me running the kitchen as head chef for years. It was maddening. I did know the math because it was a small operation and we were all "friends". And this same situation was repeated in the previous 3 restaurants I worked in going back many more years.
2) Now, to support the wait staff: getting rid of tipping be folding this into the prices of a dinner sounds good on paper, however customers that actually care about those those waiters being treated fairly should be absolutely concerned that management and owners are very likely NOT to pass along a commensurate level of compensation as "promised". Fox guarding the hen house. And who's to know? Given the high rate of failures in the restaurant biz where turning a profit is very difficult it will be irresistible to NOT skim from the tab after raising prices to offset the removal of a tipping policy. In the end all staff will be hurt, and the owners will have more money on their side of the ledger sheet. Mr. Meyer is being clever.
18
While there are a number of reasons why I don't go out to eat anymore, one of the leading reasons is the tipping issue. I don't want to be bothered with having to figure out the proper tip. Add 5 others to that check and a few alcoholic drinks ..trying to split the thing properly is more aggravation than it's worth. I'd love to see tipping become a thing of the past. Not sure if that would get me out to a restaurant though..I make better food and enjoy the cooking at home.
5
Yes, dining out. Such an ordeal.
I'm with you, David. I could feed my four children and myself a more wholesome and delicious meal at 1/10th the price. It's nice to have a night off from cooking, but that's what the grill is for, right?
One problem: when the "living wage" established by the establishment is not a living wage at all.
My wife and I just went to a restaurant in the Finger Lakes with that policy and when we asked our waitress how she was liking it, she told us she hated it because the "living wage" was only $10 per hour, and she was making less than half of what she made before. She said almost half of her colleagues quit, but as a single mother she could not. Maybe the menus should state what that living wage is--it seems it should be at least $15, if not more.
My wife and I just went to a restaurant in the Finger Lakes with that policy and when we asked our waitress how she was liking it, she told us she hated it because the "living wage" was only $10 per hour, and she was making less than half of what she made before. She said almost half of her colleagues quit, but as a single mother she could not. Maybe the menus should state what that living wage is--it seems it should be at least $15, if not more.
4
I'm so happy this issue is finally receiving attention. I was a server/bartender for ten years, culminating in my position at a private cognac club. I never made anything close to $30 or $40/hour. Instead, I would receive only slightly higher tips than at my previous glass-and-brass restaurants, and even though I did not receive any assistance from some of my coworkers, I was obligated to give them 20% of my tips.
I really appreciate that this article points out the sexual harassment epidemic tipping culture engenders. I enjoyed my work--if I was simply paid for my work, I might have stayed in the industry. But too many times a customer sexually harassed me because they knew they could. Particularly in higher-end spots, the clientele knows their server can't tell them "no" or "stop" without retiribution. I've been harassed too many times to count--including groping and following me after my shift. When I reported these incidents (there were sooo many) I was brushed off, told to handle it myself, or, as when I was aggressively groped by a customer, written up for 'my behavior' (i.e., running away and telling my manager what happened).
Tipping culture can't end fast enough. Companies need to pay their employees a fair wage themselves. If that means that not everyone can afford to go out to dinner all the time--fine! Eating out is a privilege, food is expensive. The customers who mistreat servers and lord their tips over them are more multitudinous than you may think--trust.
I really appreciate that this article points out the sexual harassment epidemic tipping culture engenders. I enjoyed my work--if I was simply paid for my work, I might have stayed in the industry. But too many times a customer sexually harassed me because they knew they could. Particularly in higher-end spots, the clientele knows their server can't tell them "no" or "stop" without retiribution. I've been harassed too many times to count--including groping and following me after my shift. When I reported these incidents (there were sooo many) I was brushed off, told to handle it myself, or, as when I was aggressively groped by a customer, written up for 'my behavior' (i.e., running away and telling my manager what happened).
Tipping culture can't end fast enough. Companies need to pay their employees a fair wage themselves. If that means that not everyone can afford to go out to dinner all the time--fine! Eating out is a privilege, food is expensive. The customers who mistreat servers and lord their tips over them are more multitudinous than you may think--trust.
28
And once tipping is abolished, when guys sexually harass you, you can just throw a pie in their puss and have them thrown out. Unless its the owner-whom you will now be completely dependant upon for your income.
I don't understand what tipping or not tipping has to do with inappropriate sexual behavior and assault.
Tipping is in many respect a bit of extortion and a means for restaurants to pay their essential wait staff poorly. Personally, I prefer to tip based on the quality of service. To give a wait person 10-15% of you meals cost for bringing one of two plates to the table per person seems excessive remuneration. Much preferred might be the European method where a service charge is usually included in the bill - the wage for the period of your stay at a restaurant.
The habit and the expectation of a tip is often overdone: Like a owner limousine driver who charges $60 for a 30 minute trip to the airport and expect a tip on top of that. A haircut lasting less than 15 minutes for $27 and one is expected to add a tip? Both my gardener and the house cleaning help average better than $30/hour of work - at full time that amounts to $60,000 a year for limited skill work.
The habit and the expectation of a tip is often overdone: Like a owner limousine driver who charges $60 for a 30 minute trip to the airport and expect a tip on top of that. A haircut lasting less than 15 minutes for $27 and one is expected to add a tip? Both my gardener and the house cleaning help average better than $30/hour of work - at full time that amounts to $60,000 a year for limited skill work.
2
In the case of your gardener and house cleaner, you don't account for travel time. This undoubtedly takes a fair amount of time, going from employer to employer. And they likely pay for their own supplies. Please don't overestimate their wages, because I doubt that it's anywhere near the $60,000 mark
You are conflating tipping with bonuses. The restaurant server, the hairdresser, and the limo driver are all employed by others (or are self-employed) and are performing a limited service for you; a service for which they would generally receive tips. Your house cleaner and gardener are hired by you for routine, daily or weekly work and should be getting some kind of performance-based bonus once or twice a year. And keep in mind that they don't get paid for 8-hour days, so your calculation of yearly income may be way off. I hope you treat them well.
High time someone got it right. Kudos to Danny Meyer. A real step forward in by the private sector into the sometimes dark reaches of the food service workers' world. Let's hope others follow suit. In NYC this represents major reform to an age-old custom which is too dependent on the whims and peculiarities of the patrons. And why not expand it into other areas--like tipping doorman (and women) for doing their jobs and for recognition at the holiday time in December. Pay 'em a decent wage (the unions notwithstanding) and let the costs be passed on to the residents under a sensible formula. Enough with everyone having a hand out for a gratuity for work that is part of an employee's job. And mediocre politicians--who sometimes come closer to doing the right thing--can stick with minor reforms like token increases to the wages of fast-food workers and nail salon employees, for which they bask in the limelight as though they have moved heaven and earth. Leave it to the private business people like Danny Meyer to make big inroads into one of NYC's worst "customs" and to change the attitudes of the public about fair compensation for workers.
7
What's a descent wage to you ? $15 a hour. A server can make more than $15 a hour . This is the worse idea. You will see the entire industry change and only Mexicans and others Spanish people will be working. No way would I do this work for $15 a hour. That's how clueless most are about the industry. You think you are doing us a favor ? Ha So what will happen is they will raise the price of the meals, and pay us the $15 a hour no more. Then you will have many working off the books. The waiters and waitresses will come away making less than they do today . Trust me I know I am one. This is a crooked industry but it works and that's the only way you can afford to eat out.
But it's a cut in pay. What is that to celebrate, exactly?
Additional possible factors: The many immigrants travelling across may have found homes or small places to eat during their journey. These informal places seemed to develop places to eat that were not formal, well established restaurants. The servers were not trained as such but worked as if in a family. The eating place for large numbers of diners may have been a 'boarding house' where the meals were included in the cost of living in the establishment making tipping a bit more complicated. Much more work needs to be done to distinguish ways of travelling and eating in America and other parts of the world which may help explain ways of dealing with 'service.'
When everyone is being paid $15.00 an hour, tips must be completely removed and simply not accepted by restaurants. There should not be an additional 15% gratuity added to the check if you have more than five people and then a charge for SERVICE attached to the end of the bill. In that case, we are still making up the employees wage. It is up to the owner of the restaurant to pay a fair wage, not the people who come in to eat. We have already paid a mark up for the food which is expected, but SERVICE and GRATUITY, along with $15.00 an hour is not fair to anyone.
6
You will then have a industry of off the book workers . I am a waitress I can make a lot more than $15 a hour try doubling that. No thanks on getting rid of tipping
3
I actually wonder if we already have an industry of off the book workers. Whenever I see articles on how many servers are on public assistance or on how the median wage for a server is something like $20,000/ year including tips, I always wonder if that figure is accurate or if, rather, a high percentage of servers are routinely under-reporting their income.
The writer plays into the stereotype of an upper 35%-er. She has clearly had the luxury of seeing the world through the distorting prisms of race, class, and gender.
Most of the adults I grew up with earned the lion’s share of their income from tips.
Cab drivers, waiters, hotel services…They all thought themselves very fortunate to be in a job where they could received tips.
Mostly, that was because it made them FREER. They earned the extra by being smart and quick. They earned it by reading people well. And...of course…they earned it through “good luck”, which was considerably less personal than their nasty bosses--and felt like the gambling they all loved.
On the giving tips side, in my world, (blue collar immigrants,) YOUR tipping revealed your character to your friends, and to the waiter standing over you.
One of the highest compliments you could receive in Brooklyn was “That man, HE is a BIG tipper!”. It meant that you were not only big hearted , but you were above anyone else's power to look down on you.
These people should ban tipping in Brownstone Brooklyn and Chelsea.
Most of the adults I grew up with earned the lion’s share of their income from tips.
Cab drivers, waiters, hotel services…They all thought themselves very fortunate to be in a job where they could received tips.
Mostly, that was because it made them FREER. They earned the extra by being smart and quick. They earned it by reading people well. And...of course…they earned it through “good luck”, which was considerably less personal than their nasty bosses--and felt like the gambling they all loved.
On the giving tips side, in my world, (blue collar immigrants,) YOUR tipping revealed your character to your friends, and to the waiter standing over you.
One of the highest compliments you could receive in Brooklyn was “That man, HE is a BIG tipper!”. It meant that you were not only big hearted , but you were above anyone else's power to look down on you.
These people should ban tipping in Brownstone Brooklyn and Chelsea.
11
Is this a fair system though. Most of us expect a wage and do not expect the customer to pay the wage. Your argument applies to all personal service jobs. Your car mechanic, your doctor, your dentist. Why do you think these professions aren't structured this way. Would you structure your wages this way?
As a man I have always tipped depending on how beautiful the waitress. Pretty girls get a good tip. Plain girls get modest tips and guys get pretty much nothing.
I think this is the sensible way of doing things.
I think this is the sensible way of doing things.
9
I sincerely hope that your sexist comment on tipping pretty waitresses well, ugly waitresses modestly, and men not at all, was sarcastic. If not, consider this turn of tables, as it were. With your formula, ugly men in restaurants would get very poor service. That would mean you.
1
Isn't that discriminatory?
It's a very good thing you aren't dependent on tips for surviving.
3
Interesting thought about eliminating tips. Consider this - if tips are eliminated it would virtually give everyone "not" working in the industry reliant on tips a virtual raise. I don't know the numbers but I have a hunch that would give a raise to the majority of workers in America. That being said, I feel you should tip when the person providing the service makes your day that much better with the service they provide. If they don't, they haven't earned the tip in my opinion.
3
Actually, Danny Meyer plans to raise menu prices 21-25% when they eliminate tipping, so there will be no "virtual raise" for non-tipped workers.
We don't have tipping here in Australia because we genuinely believe in the dignity of our fellow human beings (excluding our indigenous populace of course) rather than merely paying lip-service to it as you lot do in the Land of the Free.
59
In Japan when you try to give a tip to someone, they flatly refuses saying no thanks, we get our pay from our work. This is the way it should be, period,
My experience is that restaurant service in Australia is almost uniformly slow and surly. Even our Australian friends (in the restaurant business) have pointed out that service is much better in the US.
J Livingston. My experiences in Australia have been very positive. Service at least as good as here.
I agree we should abandon tip culture, for many of and more than the reasons discussed in this article.
But we shouldn't kid ourselves--the $9.43 median pay for a tipped worker (and I have my doubts as to which occupations are being included here) notwithstanding, the average waiter at a restaurant will make less money.
But we shouldn't kid ourselves--the $9.43 median pay for a tipped worker (and I have my doubts as to which occupations are being included here) notwithstanding, the average waiter at a restaurant will make less money.
1
I fear the Sir Daniel has moved to the dark side. Continuing to keep most like the proverbial mushroom. Bottom line is the only paradigm now...As has been suggested by a number of respondents, need more and better line cooks /back of the house staff? Pay more and we know you can! I for one show my appreciation for the service received and not much recognition when I don't.
Much floor management are not professional enough to ensure proper service for all so realistically, it has and will continue to take an individuals initiative to ensure the guests satisfaction and that much more, that's how we measure our own performance, rather than some corporations metrix/silliness.
Much floor management are not professional enough to ensure proper service for all so realistically, it has and will continue to take an individuals initiative to ensure the guests satisfaction and that much more, that's how we measure our own performance, rather than some corporations metrix/silliness.
Seriously? When I was in college working as a waitress, I would clear $200-300/night - and this was in the 80s.A ridiculous pseudo cause.
11
Ah, but actual real-life experience never even shows up on the lieral mind's radar.
Things have changed. I have friends who bartended formany years, and they told me how different it was in the 80s and 90s when people were blowing money more freely than they are post-financial crisis. When I first became a bartender, I'd heard stories like yours and that was one of the things that drew me to the job. It's different today, though--even though there are still the uber-wealthy patrons, servers and bartenders just aren't pulling in hundreds a night anymore.
I too made a lot of money and had a work ethic that made most of my customers repeat customers,because I would stay late,serve well etc.Why? I needed the money to pay for college, living expenses and having fun.TIPS are a huge incentive to work better than well.No tip?Everybody will get average service.The work is just too hard and exhausting to do it properly for 15$ an hour.BTW I took was working in the eighties making upwards of 200-300 a day!! I had my own little business!! What a shame BYEBYE American Dream!!
There is no mention here about the disparity between the kitchen staff and the wait staff. While the wait staff can augment their wages though tips, the marginally paid kitchen staff, often working 80-100 hours per week, are legally prohibited from a share in the tips. It is time for the food industry to pay its employees a living wage and thereby elevate the work to a professional rather than "any warm body will do" level.
It would also be more honest to the customer; I always appreciate when I travel in Europe that the price I see on the menu is the price I pay, inclusive of tips and taxes. No hidden charges.
It would also be more honest to the customer; I always appreciate when I travel in Europe that the price I see on the menu is the price I pay, inclusive of tips and taxes. No hidden charges.
28
You do not know the industry. I have worked as a server for over twenty years. All you are doing by getting rid of tipping is encouraging more restaurant owners to pay their workers off the books. I can make a heck of a lot more with tips than $15 a hour. I am a artist who works night as a waitress. If all I got was a salary I'd be gone. Unless you are working at a slow restaurant you will not be doing any of us a favor.
Get ready for European like service where they ignore you most of the time.
5
So unlike many restaurants in the US, where they ignore you all of the time.
9
Here you have the option of not tipping; in EUR you don't. It is call the free market economy.
bystander - at least tips provide an incentive for better service
Whilst there are definitely pros and cons to this issue, the basic principle at stake here is whether an employer, any employer, should be obliged to pay an employee a living wage or not. What really offends me is the notion that taxpayers have to subsidize businesses who pay low wages to their workers through support programs that cost a heck of a lot of money. I don't at all mind helping low income workers support their families, but subsidizing employers so they can get away with paying lousy wages is something else.
24
So a worker in a fast food restaurant gets $15 an hour. But a worker in a mid-teir restaurant does not. Seems that wait-staff in mid-teir restaurants are going to move to fast food restaurants to raise their wages and those who are pushed out of the fast food restaurants are going to end up in the mid-teir restaurants as wait-staff. Not a great scenario for mid-teir restaurants!
1
Exactly. Capitalism at work. Employers need to compete for employees.
The custom of tipping is a wonderful relic of feudalism, plantation economics and a quaint reminder of the joys of serfdom.
Tipping is a leading indicator of a country's uncivilized streak.
Of course, tipping is a huge custom in the United States, since living wages are a rarity.
What an exceptional country.
Tipping is a leading indicator of a country's uncivilized streak.
Of course, tipping is a huge custom in the United States, since living wages are a rarity.
What an exceptional country.
91
Only an activist in Berkeley or New York City could believe that restaurant growth is better in California than elsewhere, not in spite of high wage rules, but because of it.
Wealthy areas with unique advantages have a variety of ways of sharing that excess wealth with voters, including voters who work for wages and voters who work for tips. California has two world-beating industries that developed back in the politically moderate past, the computer industry and the motion-picture industry, that combined with its great weather make it naturally much wealthier than most of America. The subsequently-enacted heavy taxes and regulation that those pre-existing advantages now support did not bring about those advantages. To think so is a reversal of cause and effect. The same mistake is made regularly in (mis)understanding New York City and its high taxes, labor rates, and multiple levels of regulation, which began at or after the New Deal, while New York City became America's pre-eminent city nearly 100 years before that.
Wealthy areas with unique advantages have a variety of ways of sharing that excess wealth with voters, including voters who work for wages and voters who work for tips. California has two world-beating industries that developed back in the politically moderate past, the computer industry and the motion-picture industry, that combined with its great weather make it naturally much wealthier than most of America. The subsequently-enacted heavy taxes and regulation that those pre-existing advantages now support did not bring about those advantages. To think so is a reversal of cause and effect. The same mistake is made regularly in (mis)understanding New York City and its high taxes, labor rates, and multiple levels of regulation, which began at or after the New Deal, while New York City became America's pre-eminent city nearly 100 years before that.
8
Yes tipping is wrong and so are the "legal contingency fees". When it cost nothing to sue a doctor, a landlord, a restaurant or a corporation, why not do it? It is cheaper than a lottery ticket.
1
And you have no real sympathy for workers with a two buck minimum wage who are required to pay taxes on a higher income whether they get it or not? Or at least less sympathy for them then for high paid doctors like yourself. I hope you tip very well.
6
First of all, contingency fees are only the norm in torts cases, of which medical malpractice is a subset, but not the others you mentioned. For a tenant to have an attorney in Housing Court generally requires that tenant to pay up front. Unsurprisingly, the vast majority tenants are unrepresented in Housing Court, which you would know if you spent a single minute of your life there. However, the "why not" is, of course, the time and effort involved in bringing a lawsuit, and find and pay a physician willing to testify against another member of the profession. Most lawyers of any repute will turn clients away whose cases they don't think will win for those reasons. In any event, in our system, the only way for people who are injured to get money is to prove that someone was at fault. If you ever asked your patients about their finances (and I am guessing that you, like most doctors, have no idea about any of that, and have other people deal with it), you would know that most of your patients are broke, and wouldn't be able to afford a retainer. I'm sure there must be a better way, but this is ours. Oh well.
As a rich guy in NYC, I find tipping in most areas of commerce. I get a haircut that costs 100 dollars and am expected to tip my stylist. I park my car in a garage overnight for 60 dollars and expected to hand the lot attendant a 5 or 10 when he drives my car up. Last week, I did a track day at racetrack. An instructor was assigned to sit in my car for the day. At the end of the day, I was given a swag bag that included an empty envelope for a tip for my instructor. When I stay in a hotel, anybody who helps me in any way expects a tip.
10
I'm a non-rich person in NYC, in a field that has no tips or bonuses, and I still get hands held out expecting tips everywhere I go. My unionized apartment building staff clear more than my spouse, who has a job that requires a master's degree. Current tip culture basically means that we don't eat out as much as we otherwise would and put off haircuts.
27
The interesting thing is that people in the United States are afraid of being considered a cheapskate by the service workers. If you buy drinks for example $7.60, many people will leave the change for the bartender to avoid his nasty look. There is no such fear in Colombia, South American, where the minimum wage is around $10 per day people do not tip cab drivers, period. In Colombia, tips are dolled out for exceptional service. Absent that, no tip. And unlike the USA, any tip is appreciated. I recently had a $30 cab ride to Washington, DC and since the driver would not take a credit card, I paid him all the cash I had, $33. The cab driver did not even say "thanks."
2
Right: I don't get tipping my concierge staff. That seems like extortion. They get an annual salary for a job. My job is to sit in front of a computer trading stocks with my own money. My job causes insomnia, stress-related colds, and stomach problems. If I could make as much as a concierge as I do trading, I'd do it.
2
Meyer's move seems 180 degrees from the point of this article (that tipping is bad for wait staff). He seems to be saying that tipping is unfair to non-wait staff because the wait staff makes multiples more than the non-wait staff. The author here indicates that at lower tier restaurants perhaps the dynamic is different.
When the real world is so nuanced, perhaps that is a reason for the government not to try to legislate a "fair" solution to every perceived inequity.
The only thing the government should be interest in is the underreporting of tips as taxable income.
When the real world is so nuanced, perhaps that is a reason for the government not to try to legislate a "fair" solution to every perceived inequity.
The only thing the government should be interest in is the underreporting of tips as taxable income.
5
At some of my favorite restaurants in NYC, the bartenders and waitstaff are university educated native English speakers who, frankly, are in the top 20% of physical attractiveness. The dishwashers are often people who don't speak English and have no university education. In Manhattan, you have to be young, attractive, well-spoken, and college-educated (often) to get a job as a bartender or wait-person.
One of my college friends, now a star on a hit TV show, worked as a room-service waiter in upscale hotels in NYC before he got his big break. He was voted one of the 100 best looking men by People. That's who serves your food in Manhattan.
One of my college friends, now a star on a hit TV show, worked as a room-service waiter in upscale hotels in NYC before he got his big break. He was voted one of the 100 best looking men by People. That's who serves your food in Manhattan.
5
If you have dinner at the SoHo Grand, most of those guys look like models and have perfect hair. Most seem to have a college degree. A couple have Master's degrees. There seems to be an unspoken understanding that, if you are going to interact with customers, you need to stay thin, trim your beard, keep your hair perfect, and look like you stepped out a Rag&Bone or Gant clothing catalog.
1
This is what happens when people with absolutely no experience in the working world pen articles about labor issues. The people Saru is "defending" against tipped wages are the greatest opponents of Danny Meyer's movement since it would plunge the vast majority of them in to abject poverty. Tipped wage jobs are generally far superior in pay to their non-tipped counterparts. A tipped wage job at a high end club or restaurant will often yield excellent pay on par with white collar professionals. And I don't know where Saru gets the info on gender disparities, but the best paying bartending and table service gigs at the hottest clubs (where workers can make up to a thousand dollars on a good shift) are almost the exclusive province of women.
This whole discussion is prompting me to ask more questions when I eat out. I often ask if tips are pooled. I suppose that's because I like to feel that I'm directly rewarding the person who's been waiting on me. Now I'm going to ask what happens to the pooled tips, whether the person gets all of the tip if I put it on the credit receipt, what is the base pay and how important is the tip jar at a coffee house, etc.
I'd like to urge my fellow seniors - I've heard that in at least some places we're notoriously bad tippers - to be aware their relative share of a server's services. Speaking for myself, I tend to eat small meals, usually less expensive, yet I require just as much service as the young person who's putting away a mountain of food. I think therefore I should tip at a higher rate. If I'm occupying space a counter or table and only ordering coffee, I should tip one hundred percent.
I'd like to urge my fellow seniors - I've heard that in at least some places we're notoriously bad tippers - to be aware their relative share of a server's services. Speaking for myself, I tend to eat small meals, usually less expensive, yet I require just as much service as the young person who's putting away a mountain of food. I think therefore I should tip at a higher rate. If I'm occupying space a counter or table and only ordering coffee, I should tip one hundred percent.
8
Now I'm curious if servers behind the counter of Starbucks or my bakery, are earning minimum wage. What's with the "tip" cups? I never put any thing in them unless my change is a bunch of pennies. But, what if these servers are actually making only 4 bucks an hour plus the change in the "tip" cup?
I like not having to figure out the tip but if servers are still bringing home less than the minimum wage, they should be compensated. This situation is complicated.
I like not having to figure out the tip but if servers are still bringing home less than the minimum wage, they should be compensated. This situation is complicated.
1
Two different wage systems. Starbucks' workers salaries are much more per hour than waitstaff in restaurants. Starbucks starts at around $10/ hour. Waitstaff at around 3 $ /hour last time I checked.
Starbucks are not tipped employees. If you sit at a table and someone takes your order and brings you their food, they are a tipped employee making tipped employee minimum wage. If you go up to them and bring the food (or coffee, or ice cream, or whatever) back to your table yourself then you are dealing with a non-tipped employee making minimum wage (or more) salary and should feel no particular compulsion to tip.
thanks for the info.
My feeling about all this is that people who are delighted that they won't have to tip anymore are nothing but cheapskates.
15
Yup
The real cheapskates are the employers who pay their employees a sub-minimum wage. When table service is part of the dining experience it should be included as part of the price on the menu. I shouldn't have to contract separately for it -- unless the proprietor doesn't mind me going into the kitchen to get my own food...
The definition of a 'tip' is something optional that you give for excellent service. It's not supposed to be part of someone's basic wage.
I would rather just pay more. If everybody did it would probably mean cheaper costs for the customers who tipped fairly and subsidized those that did not.
26
i went to a no-tip restaurant while in miami and what did i get - lousy service. i won't go to another.
8
you shouldn't base all of your future decisions on one, anecdotal, event.
1
a whole one time??? Wow...that's some heavy research.
I live in Miami. Based on years of experience, I can tell you that service in places that tack on a tip tends to be terrible. Wait staff hang out chatting and are pretty indifferent to their jobs. Not sure why anmybody would expect otherwise-this will happen. But this said, some places that tack on do have good service. Priobably management.
1
In my opinion tipping is a ridiculous means of compensation because the service providers are compensated based on the value of the goods provided more than the value of the service. Wait staff in run-of-the-mill diners work just as hard, if not harder, then the staff in expensive restaurants, yet the staff in expensive restaurants earn much more money for providing the SAME service.
34
Yes ,but in expensive restaurants the waiters are often multi-lingual,know about food and wine and are very attractive. Is a white truffle from Alba equal to a boiled egg?I think not.
The origin and history of tipping in America should be clarified. It probably has an innocent history as an alternative to wages in our country and,perhaps, some parts of the world. It's possible that tipping/no was a reasonable way to pay family workers or other otherwise recompensed help in isolated situations across America. Let's check out the facts before making harsh judgements.
I remember my parents telling me that a hungry cat gets more mice. Aren't employers treating poor people like work animals? Yes, it is a complex issue.
Early in the 1980's wages of middle class and working poor went flat largely because unions were undermined not only by industry but with the support of government. If the minimum wage had grow with productivity it would be $18 an hour today. That nearly $20,000 a year that is being withheld from the minimum wage worker in America and clearly middle class wages have trailed behind what they should be earning. Those unpaid wages have filled the pockets of businesses and starved the ordinary workers ability to celebrating their lives spending a little more freely.
The fight to raise the minimum wage to $15 falls short of our nation's productivity and wealth during the last 35 years since. If the minimum wage were $18 and hour I would happily give up tipping knowing that the server was going to go home and feed their family well too. But at $7.25 or even $10.10 I would find that hard to imagine.
Also, the arguments that some high school kid washing dishes or busing tables should be paid less for the privilege of job experience is nonsense. Often that kid is saving to go to college. When I went to college it cost $900 a year for books and tuition today it's $18,000 year. Often those "kids" are bringing home some money to keep the family afloat and put a better quality and quantity of food on the table. We have bought into every kind of excuse to pay the working person less and whenever possible put them in the position that they can be abused with impunity.
The fight to raise the minimum wage to $15 falls short of our nation's productivity and wealth during the last 35 years since. If the minimum wage were $18 and hour I would happily give up tipping knowing that the server was going to go home and feed their family well too. But at $7.25 or even $10.10 I would find that hard to imagine.
Also, the arguments that some high school kid washing dishes or busing tables should be paid less for the privilege of job experience is nonsense. Often that kid is saving to go to college. When I went to college it cost $900 a year for books and tuition today it's $18,000 year. Often those "kids" are bringing home some money to keep the family afloat and put a better quality and quantity of food on the table. We have bought into every kind of excuse to pay the working person less and whenever possible put them in the position that they can be abused with impunity.
20
In Europe, where wait staff tends to be better paid, it is considered sufficient to simply round up the bill if you were happy with service.
Unfortunately, in North America I always feel compelled to tip because I know the staff is not paid enough. It's time to change that and compensate people for their work.
Unfortunately, in North America I always feel compelled to tip because I know the staff is not paid enough. It's time to change that and compensate people for their work.
21
In Germany we gave the wait person a nominal euro and called it good. The menu had the actual food cost, including salary for everyone and tax.
So much easier to deal with than all the mental gymnastics of adding 6% for tax and18% for tip. (we triple the tax mentally for a base tip rate and add it in) Cannot the menu just give an honest price.
So much easier to deal with than all the mental gymnastics of adding 6% for tax and18% for tip. (we triple the tax mentally for a base tip rate and add it in) Cannot the menu just give an honest price.
In Austin, tipping culture is out of hand. Food trucks have universal tip line on the iPad screen when you pay, even though you order and pick up your food at the window. Fast casual restaurants where you bus your own table have tip lines on the receipt before you even receive your food. Even self serve yogurt places have tip jars when you check out. I feel constantly pressured to tip and hate it. I'd rather whatever food I buy have the cost of service built in. I suspect at some places it does, and the business is just trying to squeeze it's customer's pocketbook. I mean, an $8 smoothie plus a $2 tip? $10 for a medium drink. It's getting out of hand.
I've worked in childcare for minimum wage. I was never tipped, even on the days when I cleaned vomit and dirty diapers and got smacked in the face by unruly toddlers. I roll my eyes at food service workers when there are whole other groups of low paid workers in childcare, health aids, retail, etc. These other industries don't usually receive tips. Wages need to rise for all low paid workers.
I've worked in childcare for minimum wage. I was never tipped, even on the days when I cleaned vomit and dirty diapers and got smacked in the face by unruly toddlers. I roll my eyes at food service workers when there are whole other groups of low paid workers in childcare, health aids, retail, etc. These other industries don't usually receive tips. Wages need to rise for all low paid workers.
368
Regarding food carts, etc.... you're under no obligation to tip. If you do, take into consideration that they are not actually serving you. If you confront checkout screens that have preprogrammed 15% and 20% buttons but no area to determine your own tip, don't tip.
2
Amen, but the shame culture has you tipping twenty percent or more nevertheless.
Lilith,
You need to be paid more and have better support in general. Taking money from others will not solve your problems. Fast food workers are way underpaid. Teachers and childcare workers are certainly at the top of the list. It's all a matter of priorities.
You need to be paid more and have better support in general. Taking money from others will not solve your problems. Fast food workers are way underpaid. Teachers and childcare workers are certainly at the top of the list. It's all a matter of priorities.
Progressives want to rob people of choice and the freedom to work hard. They would prefer us all to be drones, each putting in the exact same amount of effort, everyone making the same amount as everyone else, determined of course by some pinhead bureaucrat socialist agitator who is trying to micromanage outcomes in the economy to comport with his own personal definition of "fairness."
3
1. Your point might make sense if most people had a clue, or even the smallest population of quantitative and economic neurons firing. But:
https://caffeinatedthoughts.com/2013/02/christians-and-tipping/
2. How many Tea Partying cliches, banalities, and falsehoods cao one string together without conveying meaning? You seem to be angling for a recoed.
https://caffeinatedthoughts.com/2013/02/christians-and-tipping/
2. How many Tea Partying cliches, banalities, and falsehoods cao one string together without conveying meaning? You seem to be angling for a recoed.
6
Have you noticed that tipping is an important form of revenue for many occupations? It can make the difference between just surviving and being able to live above the poverty level. Just tell your doorman that there will be no tip this Christmas, or, just refuse to put some change in the tip box at the Deli or other service shop. Good luck.
1
The piece places the blame on tippers, not employers. I intend to tip whether or not the restaurant approves: if I receive good service I will continue to reward that.
8
Do you tip the cleaners for good service? your doctor? your lawyer? your auto mechanic?
Probably not. So why tip a restaurant server?
Probably not. So why tip a restaurant server?
3
In my own life long (35 yrs) in restaurant business I was deeply offended by the situation where waiters and waitresses received the tips and "tipped out" to staff. On a busy night they made way over "living wage" and then tipped out to the rest of us from the bartender, busboy (interesting term), cooks and those washing the dishes. They were paid very little in wages but made significantly more than anyone else in the "food chain". There was much classism and racism involved.
This article shows little of that dynamic and concentrates on the top of this restaurant pay pyramid. A living wage that gets down to the equally hard workers (those who clean the dishes and such) would really help this dynamic even if tipping is still a habit. Those of us with small operations and who have an egalitarian bent welcome a $15 (or regionally adjusted equivalent) for the fast food industry because number one, it is more fair to all workers who make less, but will allow us to be a bit more competitive, especially if those who plant, cultivate and harvest our foods are included (and I would support tariffs that go most of the distance in supporting those same occupations in our trading partners). We won't know the reality until we implement this new experience that could be looked at as a national workers union to replace the various unions that have been disolved by our oligarchies and their mostly narrow viewed supporters.
This article shows little of that dynamic and concentrates on the top of this restaurant pay pyramid. A living wage that gets down to the equally hard workers (those who clean the dishes and such) would really help this dynamic even if tipping is still a habit. Those of us with small operations and who have an egalitarian bent welcome a $15 (or regionally adjusted equivalent) for the fast food industry because number one, it is more fair to all workers who make less, but will allow us to be a bit more competitive, especially if those who plant, cultivate and harvest our foods are included (and I would support tariffs that go most of the distance in supporting those same occupations in our trading partners). We won't know the reality until we implement this new experience that could be looked at as a national workers union to replace the various unions that have been disolved by our oligarchies and their mostly narrow viewed supporters.
11
Customer facing employees will always make more than people working in the back office. Fact of life.
1
I would like to echo "billyc" in the comment above!
I wonder if the author of this article has ever been a server, been in the restaurant industry at all? I have 15 years in the restaurant industry under my belt. I have done everything from small town fast food, to dishwasher at a small pizzeria in Indiana, to more upscale places in Chicago. Currently, I have two jobs. One in animal care (full time--poor pay at $17/hour), which I love, and the other job waiting tables (part time) in which I double my $17/hour regularly (in half the time). If I only made minimum wage at my job waiting tables it would not be worth the extra hours. I know several servers and bartenders that are in a very similar situation. Teachers, with 2nd jobs waiting tables, social workers with second jobs waiting tables...and many more.
I do not think the majority of people would tip if a law was passed making an equal minimum wage for tipped positions. People tip for many reasons, but the base for that is the understanding that servers/bartenders make a very low hourly wage.
Maybe "we" need to be focusing on a bigger picture and leave the tipping issue alone for now. If the full time job I had and loved in Chicago paid enough for me to live in Chicago I wouldn't be forced to have a second job.
I wonder if the author of this article has ever been a server, been in the restaurant industry at all? I have 15 years in the restaurant industry under my belt. I have done everything from small town fast food, to dishwasher at a small pizzeria in Indiana, to more upscale places in Chicago. Currently, I have two jobs. One in animal care (full time--poor pay at $17/hour), which I love, and the other job waiting tables (part time) in which I double my $17/hour regularly (in half the time). If I only made minimum wage at my job waiting tables it would not be worth the extra hours. I know several servers and bartenders that are in a very similar situation. Teachers, with 2nd jobs waiting tables, social workers with second jobs waiting tables...and many more.
I do not think the majority of people would tip if a law was passed making an equal minimum wage for tipped positions. People tip for many reasons, but the base for that is the understanding that servers/bartenders make a very low hourly wage.
Maybe "we" need to be focusing on a bigger picture and leave the tipping issue alone for now. If the full time job I had and loved in Chicago paid enough for me to live in Chicago I wouldn't be forced to have a second job.
Not worried about more - just living wage as bass.
There is nothing wrong with tipping someone who give one good service. What is wrong is that the law allows restaurants to pay sub-minimum wages and no benefits to its employees. Wage laws need to be changed to require everyone to be paid at least minimum wages without counting tips.
19
Uber is destroying the wages of the entire taxi/car service business, and it discourages not only tips but across the board has nearly ruined the business for the drivers, who now pay for 80% of the tolls, whereas before they did not pay and while 80% of the fare is fair the fair has been deflated so that 80% is worth far less. What about workers? To live on tips is to show up, give your time but you may leave a shift with ten bucks in your pocket.
3
For tipped staff at your "average" diner or family restaurant, then maybe this makes some sense.
For tipped staff at high-end restaurants, or even some mid-range restaurants, doing away with tipping is likely to result in a dramatic drop in income. And you know full well that Danny Meyer is not going to pay his serving staff $50/hour. And restaurants doing away with tipping are not going to raise their prices to the extent that they can pay the wages they should be paying to both front of house and back of house staff.
Sure, there are tons of inequities in this business. Tipping out almost never benefits the folks in the kitchen. I'm just not sure you can put this genie back in the bottle.
For tipped staff at high-end restaurants, or even some mid-range restaurants, doing away with tipping is likely to result in a dramatic drop in income. And you know full well that Danny Meyer is not going to pay his serving staff $50/hour. And restaurants doing away with tipping are not going to raise their prices to the extent that they can pay the wages they should be paying to both front of house and back of house staff.
Sure, there are tons of inequities in this business. Tipping out almost never benefits the folks in the kitchen. I'm just not sure you can put this genie back in the bottle.
15
This is wrongheaded. This "no tipping" nonsense is simply a marketing ploy by restaurant's to gain a few more customers so the chefs and the owners can buy the real estate in Manhattan that even they can't afford any longer. Paying someone minimum wage to work their tails off serving people is not going to work folks. You can't make a living on minimum wage. You can eek out a living on tips if you work like a dog and are young and strong and ambitious. Forget this stupid plan. Pay them minimum wage AND let them earn tips. Stop throwing people your crumbs while you buy another sports car.
10
The numbers make no sense - and once again, I beseech the Times editorial staff to get out their calculators and perform basic smell tests on the fundamental premises of articles such as these. Basically, the math stinks.
According to the author, in NYS the average hourly pay for servers is $9.43. Back out the $5 minimum wage, and you get $4.43 in tips. Assume an average tip rate of 15 percent, and that means to earn $4.43 in tips, those servers are delivering only $30 of food per hour. That's pancakes and coffee for 3 people at I-Hop. No restaurant owner would staff as such insane levels. It's like giving a personal waiter for every table -- how many of you have experienced such fanatically dedicated service at your local I-Hop?
So let's get real. Servers are notorious for underreporting tips, so the average wage is very likely a multiple of that number.
According to the author, in NYS the average hourly pay for servers is $9.43. Back out the $5 minimum wage, and you get $4.43 in tips. Assume an average tip rate of 15 percent, and that means to earn $4.43 in tips, those servers are delivering only $30 of food per hour. That's pancakes and coffee for 3 people at I-Hop. No restaurant owner would staff as such insane levels. It's like giving a personal waiter for every table -- how many of you have experienced such fanatically dedicated service at your local I-Hop?
So let's get real. Servers are notorious for underreporting tips, so the average wage is very likely a multiple of that number.
62
This is another reason why service people should simply be paid a fair wage, without tipping. Servers at higher end restaurants (as well as those in other tipped professions) make serious bank that they famously under-report come tax season. I've known people to brag about how much "tax-free" income they make in tips.
Waiters do not typically get all of the tips they receive. They are required to share the tips with other support employees, such as busboys, food-runners, bartenders, and sometimes hosts or floor-managers. Often waiters walk with around 50% of the tips, sometimes less. This is standard practice across the industry.
Also, the vast majority of restaurant purchases are made with credit or debit cards. this eliminates any option for under-reporting tips.
Also, the vast majority of restaurant purchases are made with credit or debit cards. this eliminates any option for under-reporting tips.
Your assumption of 15% at I-Hop is wrong. Most tip 10% at I-Hop and the Olive Garden etc. But let's say you are right. Most of these places have meal deals for less than $10. Often, less than $7 for lunch. And then you need to know that not every hour is "busy." Most waiters show up 1 hour before to set up and 1 hour to break down. That is 2 hours of no tips as they are not serving.
If you work a 10 hour shift - lunch and dinner - tip time is 12:00 to 1:30 and then 6:00 -9:30 - or 5 hours of food traffic. You are there at 11:00 setting up tables, filling Catsup bottles and salt and pepper bottles etc. Lunch rush at most corp food chains or local places is 12:00 to 1:30 and most meals are deals below $10. Let's say you do 25 meals that is $200.15% is $30.00. You tip 20% to the food runner and bartender and you made $24 and you are not done until 2:30. You get your $5/hr (taxed) and you are taxed on your $24. In total before taxes you make about $39 for 3.5 hours or $11 or so an hour. Dinner is slighter better. But I think get the idea.
Some waiters do well (see my post). Others are exploited. And a tiny majority maybe "notorious for underreporting tips." But the issue is not about waiters lying.
If you work a 10 hour shift - lunch and dinner - tip time is 12:00 to 1:30 and then 6:00 -9:30 - or 5 hours of food traffic. You are there at 11:00 setting up tables, filling Catsup bottles and salt and pepper bottles etc. Lunch rush at most corp food chains or local places is 12:00 to 1:30 and most meals are deals below $10. Let's say you do 25 meals that is $200.15% is $30.00. You tip 20% to the food runner and bartender and you made $24 and you are not done until 2:30. You get your $5/hr (taxed) and you are taxed on your $24. In total before taxes you make about $39 for 3.5 hours or $11 or so an hour. Dinner is slighter better. But I think get the idea.
Some waiters do well (see my post). Others are exploited. And a tiny majority maybe "notorious for underreporting tips." But the issue is not about waiters lying.
Some people are saying service staff at expensive restaurants earn high tips so shouldn't get a higher minimum wage. Expensive restaurants would, however, seem to be one type of restaurant most easily able to pay higher minimum wages.
10
Servers at high end restaurants and most bars will likely NOT WANT a higher minimum-wage, no tips set up. Some of these folks make a fortune. Lots of students, actors, people who need a flexible schedule, like things as they are.
5
As a female working in the service industry for 16 years--as a server, bartender, and manager--I write without flinching that I don't want to give up my tips or to see others' taken away.
I don't eat at fast food restaurants (with the exception of Danny Meyer's Shake Shack), but I'm under the impression that the prices are often so low that it would be impossible to pay living wages to either the people who grow the food or to the people who work there.
However, at many of the small, independently owned restaurants where I've been fortunate to work or to patronize, I simply cannot see the system thriving if every employee is paid $15 per hour. The barely-skilled bus person who lives with his parents and still attends high school? The cost of food would be so expensive that people would be unable to eat out very often. Perhaps this could work in NYC, where the pools of both customers and wealth seem limitless, but it would do severe damage to the industry in the rest of the state.
Currently in NYS, if any server or bartender makes less than minimum wage including tips, his or her paycheck must legally compensate for this discrepancy. Other states should require the same.
And if just over 1/2 of servers are minorities, including women of any race, I don't believe that this necessitates the debate must continue to be "racialized". As part of that minority and a mother-to-be, I love what I do, and I'm proud of the tips I earn.
I don't eat at fast food restaurants (with the exception of Danny Meyer's Shake Shack), but I'm under the impression that the prices are often so low that it would be impossible to pay living wages to either the people who grow the food or to the people who work there.
However, at many of the small, independently owned restaurants where I've been fortunate to work or to patronize, I simply cannot see the system thriving if every employee is paid $15 per hour. The barely-skilled bus person who lives with his parents and still attends high school? The cost of food would be so expensive that people would be unable to eat out very often. Perhaps this could work in NYC, where the pools of both customers and wealth seem limitless, but it would do severe damage to the industry in the rest of the state.
Currently in NYS, if any server or bartender makes less than minimum wage including tips, his or her paycheck must legally compensate for this discrepancy. Other states should require the same.
And if just over 1/2 of servers are minorities, including women of any race, I don't believe that this necessitates the debate must continue to be "racialized". As part of that minority and a mother-to-be, I love what I do, and I'm proud of the tips I earn.
71
Pretending that food at a restaurant is 20% cheaper than it is doesn't actually make it cheaper. I'm also bemused by the fact that it's customarily paid as a percentage. Someone bringing me a meal at a cheap diner is working as hard, maybe harder, than someone bringing me a $40 meal. Why should they be paid one quarter as much in tips for the same work? Why should they get $1 in tips for bringing me a soda but nothing for bringing me a water?
4
If you can't see capitalism working for all then you are doomed.
No tipping!
No tipping!
The problem is the "Free Riders" who DON'T plus up employee wages to the (Federally Mandated) Minimum, or provide stable schedules and a forty hour week for workers who need full time work. "Minimum Wage" long ago ceased to be a living wage, or the place of only the "Unskilled" high school student busing tables. Leaving the rest of us to pay for their employees food stamps, Medicaid, Earned Income Credit, soup kitchens and homeless shelters.
1
Tipping is a fine practice. It is the lack of government regulation requiring restaurants to provide minimum wage, and allowing them to bypass the minimum wage by including tips, that is wrong.
2
I don't think you know how this law is written. If the tips + wages an employee earns in a given pay period do not equal the minimum wage for the hours worked, federal law requires the employer to bump up pay to the minimum wage rate. That just doesn't happen very often because waiters, waitresses and bartenders generally make all-in-pay that far exceeds the minimum wage.
http://www.dol.gov/dol/topic/wages/wagestips.htm
http://www.dol.gov/dol/topic/wages/wagestips.htm
3
I wonder if the majority of restaurant employees would agree with you? My guess is no.
Tipping is absurd on just about every level. It's a commission that the guest/customer decides the rate of. No other industry does this.
It's argued that tips are necessary to motivate servers. Should we pay our accountants and doctors in tips to motivate to higher quality work as well? The capricious tipping habits and preferences of complete strangers do very little motivate a server. Servers are generally offering the best hospitality they can given the circumstances and culture in which they are working as well as their own temperament, awareness and skills.
The payment/"reward" system servers sign on to offers them, no sick time, no paid vacation, little or no health insurance, poor job security, inconsistent pay. These are part of choosing the restaurant industry for employment, and they are factors that are rooted in payment by tips. Paid time off, if offered, is calculated on a servers hourly rate, no tips included.
Someone will say, servers choose to work in the restaurant industry. It's true we do. I make a decent living working at a restaurant--that doesn't change the fact that the system by which I'm paid, tipping, is absurd.
It's argued that tips are necessary to motivate servers. Should we pay our accountants and doctors in tips to motivate to higher quality work as well? The capricious tipping habits and preferences of complete strangers do very little motivate a server. Servers are generally offering the best hospitality they can given the circumstances and culture in which they are working as well as their own temperament, awareness and skills.
The payment/"reward" system servers sign on to offers them, no sick time, no paid vacation, little or no health insurance, poor job security, inconsistent pay. These are part of choosing the restaurant industry for employment, and they are factors that are rooted in payment by tips. Paid time off, if offered, is calculated on a servers hourly rate, no tips included.
Someone will say, servers choose to work in the restaurant industry. It's true we do. I make a decent living working at a restaurant--that doesn't change the fact that the system by which I'm paid, tipping, is absurd.
221
There are many facts of life that are absurd. This is just one of them I suppose. It is a fact however. Also waiters are not comparable to doctors, in wages, so there's less of a need to tip doctors.
" It's true we do. I make a decent living working at a restaurant--that doesn't change the fact that the system by which I'm paid, tipping, is absurd."
So open your own restaurant and pay a regular wage without tipping. This is another silly issue for self-righteous liberals to get tied up in knots about. Don't like working as a waiter or waitress? Go to school and do something else. I have zero sympathy for this non-issue.
So open your own restaurant and pay a regular wage without tipping. This is another silly issue for self-righteous liberals to get tied up in knots about. Don't like working as a waiter or waitress? Go to school and do something else. I have zero sympathy for this non-issue.
Wow! At last. In my seventy-nine years one of the most grievous things I've had to do was to tip a cabby, a waiter/waitress, a hair dresser/barber, etc. NOT BECAUSE I'M CHEAP; I tip at the highest level most of the time. But I've felt the practice demeaned those who were receiving the tips. I didn't know the history of tipping in the U.S. But as it is described in this Op-Ed it confirms what my gut has told me all along.
It is time to pay even the most menial workers in our society a LIVING WAGE. If you take a woman's or man's day from them (or even a part of their day) to serve you then you should compensate them with REAL wages reflective of the time you've used their services. If that means higher prices for restaurant service, hair cuts, cab rides, and even the shirts and shorts we wear, then so be it. Those who feel they can't afford to pay the higher prices have the option of cooking their own meals, cutting their own hair, sewing their own clothes, walking, biking or taking public transportation.
It is time to pay even the most menial workers in our society a LIVING WAGE. If you take a woman's or man's day from them (or even a part of their day) to serve you then you should compensate them with REAL wages reflective of the time you've used their services. If that means higher prices for restaurant service, hair cuts, cab rides, and even the shirts and shorts we wear, then so be it. Those who feel they can't afford to pay the higher prices have the option of cooking their own meals, cutting their own hair, sewing their own clothes, walking, biking or taking public transportation.
48
From the article: "And most tipped workers are not fancy steakhouse servers..."
True, but Danny Meyer wait staff (tipped workers) are fancy restaurant servers. I have eaten at several of Mr. Meyer's restaurants and they are definitely not average in any respect. So one wonders what is gained out of the deal since the wait staff for Meyer will lose income without gaining benefits and the prices will go up. Meyer's published reasons don't make sense. He says it's hard to get good kitchen help but he always has the option of offering them more money. Has he asked his wait staff how they feel about getting stiffed?
True, but Danny Meyer wait staff (tipped workers) are fancy restaurant servers. I have eaten at several of Mr. Meyer's restaurants and they are definitely not average in any respect. So one wonders what is gained out of the deal since the wait staff for Meyer will lose income without gaining benefits and the prices will go up. Meyer's published reasons don't make sense. He says it's hard to get good kitchen help but he always has the option of offering them more money. Has he asked his wait staff how they feel about getting stiffed?
12
As a frequent visitor to Japan, I love not tipping and knowing I will pay the price listed on the menu. And the service is better. Making people rely on tipping for a significant part of their income is ridiculous and unnecessary. There are better ways to provide feedback about employee performance.
21
As an employer is a non-food business, I have always found that money is one of the better incentives. As is a nurturing workplace.
What are your better ways?
What are your better ways?
Many commenters point to Japan as an example of a system that provides good, nay, impeccable service without a tipping custom. One should not, however, use that example to predict how service quality would be affected here -- one way or the other -- when tipping is removed from the equation.
In Japan, customer service is a matter of cultural pride. It goes way beyond food service and other jobs that we associate with tipping in this country. (A Japanese car salesman will deliver your new car to your home or office, do a once-around, and wipe off any shmutz -- real or imagined -- with a clean buffing cloth before handing over the keys.)
How do we inculcate that kind of pride in work performed? Perhaps paying a proper wage is not a bad first step.
In Japan, customer service is a matter of cultural pride. It goes way beyond food service and other jobs that we associate with tipping in this country. (A Japanese car salesman will deliver your new car to your home or office, do a once-around, and wipe off any shmutz -- real or imagined -- with a clean buffing cloth before handing over the keys.)
How do we inculcate that kind of pride in work performed? Perhaps paying a proper wage is not a bad first step.
What most people don't realize is that bussers and runners are also paid by the tips that guests think that they are paying only to their waiters. Addressing the hierarchy of restaurant pay scales is also important - as that hierarchy is also replicating race and class structures (at least here in NY).
3
Sorry, but this is nonsensical.
I worked in the restaurant industry for years when I was in college and shortly thereafter--and not at a high-end joint, either. I made far more than the minimum wage. That was why I chose to work in an industry that paid subminimum wages plus tips. "Chose" is, of course, the operative word in that sentence. You see, before that I worked in a unionized job at a supermarket earning just over the minimum wage. I chose to leave that and go to the restaurant industry because I figured I would make more money. I was right.
You can say virtually all the same things about the other claims here, too. All these employees are not under any contractual obligation to remain in tip-for-service jobs. That being said, I can tell you this: Front-of-the-house restaurant staff are overwhelmingly likely to take a pay cut if tips are eliminated in lieu of a higher per hour wage. I feel bad for them because they would be the losers in this policy trade-off.
And if tips aren't eliminated by a higher wage/higher menu prices, then all the sociological allegations of the practice being degrading still apply, do they not? (Then again, the practice is decidedly not degrading. Why would it be demeaning for a customer to directly pay you based on their level of satisfaction with the job you performed?)
I worked in the restaurant industry for years when I was in college and shortly thereafter--and not at a high-end joint, either. I made far more than the minimum wage. That was why I chose to work in an industry that paid subminimum wages plus tips. "Chose" is, of course, the operative word in that sentence. You see, before that I worked in a unionized job at a supermarket earning just over the minimum wage. I chose to leave that and go to the restaurant industry because I figured I would make more money. I was right.
You can say virtually all the same things about the other claims here, too. All these employees are not under any contractual obligation to remain in tip-for-service jobs. That being said, I can tell you this: Front-of-the-house restaurant staff are overwhelmingly likely to take a pay cut if tips are eliminated in lieu of a higher per hour wage. I feel bad for them because they would be the losers in this policy trade-off.
And if tips aren't eliminated by a higher wage/higher menu prices, then all the sociological allegations of the practice being degrading still apply, do they not? (Then again, the practice is decidedly not degrading. Why would it be demeaning for a customer to directly pay you based on their level of satisfaction with the job you performed?)
19
Do you tip your doctor and accountant too, based on the level of your satisfaction?
1
Although many people think tipping is a reward for good service, it's actually an integral part of the business model for many restaurants. The minimum-wage laws permit servers to pay less than the standard minimum-wage; their employers are obligated to make up the difference, between servers minimum-wage and standard minimum-wage, if the server does not receive enough tips to do so.
Eliminating tips, either by closing the loophole in minimum-wage laws, or by restaurants volunteering to do so themselves, might lead to higher prices on the menus. However, the actual costs probably wouldn’t change much—tipping is a hidden extra cost, not a reward for good service.
Eliminating tips, either by closing the loophole in minimum-wage laws, or by restaurants volunteering to do so themselves, might lead to higher prices on the menus. However, the actual costs probably wouldn’t change much—tipping is a hidden extra cost, not a reward for good service.
77
I believe in tipping. I am most often very general, 20% or more, unless service is terrible. Eliminating tipping takes control out of the hands of the customer.
5
Tipping is fine when it is a nominal amount for good service, when it gets to 20 to 30% of the cost of a meal or drinks it is outrageous. It is also wrong that the majority of tipped employees do not pay their fair share of taxes. All I want is wait staff to do their job efficiently and pleasantly not try to be overly friendly in order to get a bigger tip. I feel that if employers are unwilling to pay a fair wage to those who are representing them (both front and back staff) then they are not interested in really giving customers value for money.
2
Does this no-tipping movement mean that visitors to the City will not feel the pressure to carry a wad of one hundred one-dollar bills to accommodate every service worker, maitre-d, cabbie, sky cap, limo driver, and concierge they encounter? I'm not against tipping on a selective basis, but greasing every extended palm in NYC is a running joke in the rest of the country.
8
Seriously. Tipping a server for good service may be one thing, but not being able to use the restroom without someone wanting a tip for handing you a towel you could easily pick up for yourself is another.
There is another reason to get rid of tipped wages. There is a cycle with minority patrons and wait staff. Wait staff complain minorities don't tip well enough, so we get worse service. Minorities complain that we get worse service, so we don't tip as well. Without the tipping system, where everyone pays the same you will likely see better service for minority patrons and less reluctance from staff to serve tables they assume may not tip them.
8
One thing not mentioned in this article is the fact that the Federal government indirectly subsidizes tipping by allowing a little known tax credit to restaurants and bars for FICA tax paid on wages+tips when they are greater than $5.15 per hour. The original thought in allowing this credit was to encourage the reporting of tips by employees. But the end result is thousands of dollars of reduced taxes for restaurant owners, and absolutely NO incentive for them to pay a living wage. Why? because the credit is allowed for tips but not when a restaurant pays at least the Federal minimum wage to its employees.
2
More facts in this comment than in the entire article.
Tipping is a marketing ploy to allow restaurants to understate the true cost of a meal to the consumer. As well as exploit the employees. Even in Europe, restaurants get to advertise prices on the menu which don't include the service charge added at the end. Similarly for any kind of quoting of "unbundled" prices -- e.g. car rental companies that separate out taxes, airport charges, etc. from the advertised daily rate.
It's fraud, pure and simple. Solution: Businesses have to quote the total price that a consumer would pay for the product or service. No tipping, employees get a decent wage, minimum wages enforced, just like everything else in the economy.
It's fraud, pure and simple. Solution: Businesses have to quote the total price that a consumer would pay for the product or service. No tipping, employees get a decent wage, minimum wages enforced, just like everything else in the economy.
178
Respectfully, that is not so. Tipping is not a marketing ploy. As the article you're commenting on make clear, it's a system that has been in place for centuries. You may debate the flaws and merits of tipping, but "ploy" is not part of the discussion.
Anyone who cannot look at a $25 check and calculate 15-20% in their head should not be handling money in the first place.
I write this as a former restaurant owner.
Anyone who cannot look at a $25 check and calculate 15-20% in their head should not be handling money in the first place.
I write this as a former restaurant owner.
1
And lotteries that claim the prize is a million although it absolutely is not. A dollar paid out over 30 years is NOT a dollar. Lotteries should quote the actual prize or it is fraud, too.
Interesting math.
Current wage is $9.43/hr and should be $15/hr. So, in a 2-hour window, a waiter would earn $11.14 more with the higher wage. Awesome. (We'll leave out the income tax)
In that 2-hour window, if the waiter served 5 tables with a $100 bill each (low in NY, to be conservative), and, based on good service, earned a 15% tip from each (just an average), that would have been $75 in total tips.
Let's go with the $15/hr and no tips. The waiter earns ($75 - $11.14) $63.86 less money and we'll all call that a "win".
Current wage is $9.43/hr and should be $15/hr. So, in a 2-hour window, a waiter would earn $11.14 more with the higher wage. Awesome. (We'll leave out the income tax)
In that 2-hour window, if the waiter served 5 tables with a $100 bill each (low in NY, to be conservative), and, based on good service, earned a 15% tip from each (just an average), that would have been $75 in total tips.
Let's go with the $15/hr and no tips. The waiter earns ($75 - $11.14) $63.86 less money and we'll all call that a "win".
15
You can make anything fit your current mindset if you determine the assumptions that your conclusion is based on. It is clear form the article that your assumption about the number of tables served, that average bill/table, and the average tip are faulty.
6
Why the assumption that experienced waitstaff would be paid minimum wage?
Writing this opinion on behalf of the "median tipped employee" who earns an average of $9.43 per hour is fine, but medians don't tell the entire story.
Service staff at high end (expensive) restaurants can make as much as $30 to $50 per hour in tips. It's ridiculous that a restaurateur should be required to pay $15.00 per hour in wages in addition to tips at these levels.
If the minimum wage is set at $15 there should be a tip credit so employers can get a payroll tip-credit benefit for those servers earning more than $15 per hour including tips. If an employee earns $20-$50 per hour in tips the employer should be given a break in the required minimum wage.
Service staff at high end (expensive) restaurants can make as much as $30 to $50 per hour in tips. It's ridiculous that a restaurateur should be required to pay $15.00 per hour in wages in addition to tips at these levels.
If the minimum wage is set at $15 there should be a tip credit so employers can get a payroll tip-credit benefit for those servers earning more than $15 per hour including tips. If an employee earns $20-$50 per hour in tips the employer should be given a break in the required minimum wage.
34
That wont work.
I think the point of the article is that we should be eliminating tipping entirely or at least should not be expecting employees to rely on the whims of their customers for the vast majority of their pay. We should pay the staff at the high-end restaurant $30-$50 an hour and either increase the prices or add a service charge to cover it. The bad tippers would have to pay more but it wouldn't really be an increase for those who are already paying this in tips anyway.
2
Actually, it's completely reasonable. As you said, the restaurant is high-end. Thus it charges more for food and the restauranteur can afford to pay higher wages. And the servers at e.g. French Laundry should make more than those at IHOP, because high-end restaurants' servers provide better service.
2
Tipping seems to be of a Western thing, culturally speaking.
If you visit countries like Korea, Japan, Taiwan....they have no concept of tipping at all.
If you visit countries like Korea, Japan, Taiwan....they have no concept of tipping at all.
8
Progressives don't like tipping because it allows individual employees to earn more by working harder, being friendly and going out of their way to serve the customer. Progressives want us all to be be little worker drones who get paid the same no matter if we do a good job or not. They want everyone to get union scale and for no one to do any better than anyone else. This is their vision for society.
10
And you are what, in favor of tipping because it makes you feel like you're being magnanimous towards the lower tier of society? I don't like tipping because it's become expected even when the service or the food is bad. I don't like it because it's another reason to underpay employees which leaves them at the mercy of customers, some of whom may not be able to tip or don't tip. To be honest, I'm tired of my taxes subsidizing the underpaying of employees, period. If you work hard, do a good job, or even an adequate job, you should be paid a decent wage. You should not have to work two or three jobs to make ends meet. If you are part time it's a different story but even there, it's used to deprive employees of benefits and save the company money at the employee's expense and society's. And yes, I'm somewhat of a liberal.
61
If you actually believe what you just wrote, then you have no idea how tipping actually works in the U.S. You seem to have the assumption that tipping is a reward for doing better: e.g. make minimum-wage plus tips, if you're good.
In actuality, servers can legally be paid less than than standard minimum-wage, under the presumption that they'll make up the difference--between the minimum-wage for servers and the standard minimum-wage--in tips. If they don't the restaurant is supposed to make up the difference.
Tipping, in other words, is a hidden cost not a reward for good service.
In actuality, servers can legally be paid less than than standard minimum-wage, under the presumption that they'll make up the difference--between the minimum-wage for servers and the standard minimum-wage--in tips. If they don't the restaurant is supposed to make up the difference.
Tipping, in other words, is a hidden cost not a reward for good service.
9
There is no tipping in Japan. The service is better. How absurd to view this as a political thing. Are you a waiter? If not please don't presume what they prefer.
11
While I am undecided on the issue of tipping vs. minimum wage for wait staff, the math in this article just doesn't add up. Take New York for example. The stated minimum wage is $5/hour for tipped workers. If wait staff are only making on average $9.43/ hour, that means they are only making an additional $4.43/hour in tips. Even at IHOP, they will get more in tips per hour.
74
Not everyone leaves a tip.
5
Even at IHOP tables aren't full 24/7. So maybe during breakfast and lunch the waiter may make more but when they are closing or opening or even just the 2 - 4 PM lull they will make $0 of tips.
6
And you know this, how? Are you a waitress at IHOP? Many people don't tip or leave a dime or a quarter. A minimum wage is just that, a fair minimum. If people feel inclined to thank their server, fine. But people's livelihoods should not depend on a customer's whim.
5
Some people would argue that America's tipping culture what makes its customer service so strong (cf. surly waiters in Paris). However, I would say that a tipping-based employment structure creates a pseudo-indentured servant whose fortunes are dependent on the whims of customers. If I had to choose, I'd choose worse service if that means that all employees have a basic liveable wage, independent of fickle tips.
12
American tipping culture makes customer service strong? Sorry but customer service in Japan is better with no tipping and no service fees. And most of the waiters I've encountered in Europe (including France) are just as good as those here.
2
I don't know I was just in Paris and the wait staff service was easily superior to most in the US.
2
Surly waiters in Paris? I dunno, I've been visiting my Isle-de-France in-laws about every three years, on average, for 44 yrs, and have never encountered surliness. After three years at Alliance Francais in NY,NY I do have conversational command of the language, and thanks to my wife and her family, some insights as to what is politesse over there. You should here what the French think of the typical American Tourist who expects that everyone speaks American English. Most French are taught British English.
1
In places where tipping is not allowed and the policy is enforced workers receive better pay even when consideration is given to the fact that non tipping establishments are usually higher class establishments.
Those who seek to perpetuate tipping are either uninformed or are seeking personal gain at expense of workers. Providing tips may be necessary but enables a corrupt system.
Those who seek to perpetuate tipping are either uninformed or are seeking personal gain at expense of workers. Providing tips may be necessary but enables a corrupt system.
3
Minimum wage fixation could defuse the awkward tipping point in restaurant industry.
3
To judge from some of the comments here, there should be a queue for wait staff jobs since they pay way more than minimum wage. Oddly, this does not seem to be happening. The problems with tipping are manifold, starting with the idea that the amount tipped depends on the cost of the meal. The same amount of effort is required for all meals and the "up selling" is at times an annoyance. Then there is the conflation of the food quality with the tip left, as if the server had some input in it.
It's time for tipping to end and just pay 'em outright.
It's time for tipping to end and just pay 'em outright.
107
I don't know about queue, but jobs at high end restaurants are prized and desirable, and they rarely have trouble filling them....heck, even your local Denny's has no trouble finding waitresses.
5
Let me give you a hint, it's the only business where it's easy for me to find employees who will show up for work on time. $15/hr, higher food prices and no tips would give me a much better paycheck, my wait staff a much worse standard of living, and you much worse service.
If, in fact, Denny's has a steady supply of help it may not mean it's a great job. I just might mean there are people in circumstances dire enough to make even Denny's aN OPTION.
Just asking.... Who am I tipping? Typically I only have contact with the waitress/waiter. If I leave cash I sometimes see others pick it up. Where does it go? If I put it on my credit card, how do I know where it goes? Should the tip be distributed to everyone who provides the "service" as some restaurants claim to do? Occasionally one hears rumors that the restaurant takes some or all of it. Perhaps true, perhaps not. How do I know? It's a horrible system, fraught with all kinds of opportunities for fraud, mismanagement and unfairness. I am willing to see the cost of eating out rise in order to pay the staff fairly and above board. The practice is supported mainly by those who benefit from it and I suspect it is mostly not those for whom the tip was intended.
28
I was a waitress in 1972 at a pizza place in Texas. I made $1.50 an hour plus tips. Now the hourly wage in Texas for wait staff is $2.14 an hour, over 40 years after I made $1.50 an hour. Would you like to make 64 cents an hour more than you did 43 years ago? Worse, I heard from a behind-the-counter worker at a movie theater that they only make $2.14 an hour because they're considered wait staff. Who knew you were supposed to tip the person who fills your popcorn bucket? Popcorn is around ten bucks for a bucket but the server is making two bucks an hour. I never knew the kids behind the counter were expected to live on tips.
263
Yesterday a coworker told me about someone that made $800 a night in tips in Las Vegas. I don't think those people are worried about what they make per hour.
2
so what is your point?
That's probably Las Vegas Casino. so what exactly is the point of this observaton? Anyone who patronizes any establishment in Las Vegas is obviously prepared to be shilled.
2
In Switzerland, restaurant owners sometimes get upset or angry if you tip the waitstaff excessively. "I pay my staff a decent wage!" they say. A tip implies that they don't and is insulting to them.
In the US of course, nobody would be insulted if people thought they underpaid their staff -- on the contrary, the manager would get a commendation from headquarters.
As for a tip ensuring good service -- in Japan, if you left money on the table, the waitstaff would come running out of the restaurant to find you and return it to you. They wouldn't even know what you were doing. And has anyone been to a restaurant in Japan (or any retail establishment, for that matter)? The service is impeccable.
In the US of course, nobody would be insulted if people thought they underpaid their staff -- on the contrary, the manager would get a commendation from headquarters.
As for a tip ensuring good service -- in Japan, if you left money on the table, the waitstaff would come running out of the restaurant to find you and return it to you. They wouldn't even know what you were doing. And has anyone been to a restaurant in Japan (or any retail establishment, for that matter)? The service is impeccable.
201
Larry - that's true in India as well.
So why are the British so upset that an Indian company now owns Jaguar, making the cars for less money than in england?
Can't have it both ways, mate.
So why are the British so upset that an Indian company now owns Jaguar, making the cars for less money than in england?
Can't have it both ways, mate.
I have been to Japan and experienced what you wrote. I have also waited on Japanese tourists here and was left without a tip. Not so fun.
1
Tipping and the Minimum Wage are separate issues. Tips should be allowed and the minimum wage for restaurant workers should be the minimum wage. The author does not argue convincingly to me that they are the same issue or closely related.
8
This is exactly right. The minimum wage should be uniform across industries, including the service industry, and diners should still be allowed to reward excellent service. The disposition and efficiency of a server can make or break a meal, and without tipping there is no incentive for waitstaff to go the extra mile to make you happy. Those servers who do so deserve their tips, and everyone I know is happy to give them. I have always been annoyed to hear, for instance, that some establishments force servers to pool their tips - a blatantly unfair practice.
So let's not conflate two separate issues; we should be fighting for restaurant workers' minimum wage and we should also be free to reward excellence when we find it. Whatever the Japanese and the Swiss think.
So let's not conflate two separate issues; we should be fighting for restaurant workers' minimum wage and we should also be free to reward excellence when we find it. Whatever the Japanese and the Swiss think.
7
Yes, you should be free to reward excellence. And, no one wants to remove that freedom. It's a matter of removing the expectation of a standard tip.
NO, you are quite mistaken if you think without tipping waitstaff would then have "no incentive to go the extra mile." Individuals do care about their work and take pride in a job well done, even without a financial incentive. Of course, some care only about the money; is that all you care about in your work?
NO, you are quite mistaken if you think without tipping waitstaff would then have "no incentive to go the extra mile." Individuals do care about their work and take pride in a job well done, even without a financial incentive. Of course, some care only about the money; is that all you care about in your work?
5
The article and author's bio fails to mention Ms. Jayaraman's accomplishments, that she is a Yale trained lawyer and Harvard government school graduate (and former NYC server.) It also fails to mention she is a founder of ROCU and ROCU's stated goal is, "organize all unorganized restaurant workers in New York City." Reporting –even Op-Ed pieces– with a political/social bias are fine but let's be open about it and not hide it from readers. I was puzzled why the statistics were all reported in such vague terms but realized it was so Ms. Jayaraman could hype her group and circumvent facts. In fact, following the "calculates" link in the article takes you to the source material –an ROCU article dated February 13, 2012– with different statistics. Puzzling? No, not really.
33
CORRECTION: I misread her bio, it does NOT say she was a "former NYC server", rather that she worked with displaced servers. My error. J
I've waited tables and I believe part of the issue with getting rid of tipping is to make salaries more even with the kitchen staff. On busy nights I'd rake it in (which was delightful, don't get me wrong!) while the kitchen staff would earn their same salary which was quite a bit less than the hourly rate me and the other servers got. We were all busy and rushing around but only those of us waiting tables were rewarded for it. I think that may be why many restaurant owners are trying to find a better distribution? (Chefs, correct me if I'm wrong!)
48
It is not the practice of tipping that should eliminated. You should always be allowed to pay a little extra to reward good service. What should be eliminated is the practice of treating tips as a part of a server's salary. Everyone should be paid a fair wage. If a good server gets a little more, than that should be a bonus.
152
Until this is sorted out, tip at least 30%. Recognize that what you are doing is supporting a fair wage with your wallet.
That's what we do, and that's what we teach our kids.
That's what we do, and that's what we teach our kids.
3
Mike - given the proposals, I imagine you tip that 30% regardless of quality of service, every time.
If you don't do that, then you are doing something different than is proposed.
If you don't do that, then you are doing something different than is proposed.
My wife and I eat with friends several times a week at a local restaurant. We asked the waitress this very question and, to a person, they wanted to stay with tipping. They give excellent service, know each person personally, and often just say "Larry, the usual"? Any problems are dealt with immediately. I'm sure they make far more than minimum wage. When we travel tipping is a way of saying thanks for great service, or "the food and service is lousy"....improve both if you want a good tip.
7
Workers in upscale restaurants may feel this way but most servers don't work in places where the tips are that good, and on a slow day they make almost nothing.
11
But if the food is lousy, is that the waitresse's fault? If everyone does as you do, then the wait staff make very little.
6
Well, of course they do. They only have to declare a fraction of their tips on their income taxes, unlike most salaried working stiffs who are stuck paying taxes on the whole thing.
1
so what's the difference between this and what corporate america does? where are the steps to alleviate low wages and income inequality for workers to CEO? why isn't there more outrage about that?? if you want to help the food service worker - provide them with healthcare so that an unforeseen illness doesn't wipe out their whole existence. P.S. income inequality and slavery can exist behind a desk as well. you just have benefits and a steady paycheck to make you not think about it.
16
The writer imagines she knows what she is talking about but she doesn’t. I spent many years in the food service industry. Tipping is a great form of income. I guarantee even at Ihop and Applebee’s they make more then they ever would any other way. No restaurant is going to pay what tipping provides. First of all, you only have to declare part of your tips so you will never know how much they make.
The biggest point not mentioned, about 25 years ago the government was going to tax restaurant owners over the tipping issue. Then the restaurant association made an agreement with the government to pass that on to the workers and that killed that. Had to declare What was a great form of living, turned to just OK.
The biggest point not mentioned, about 25 years ago the government was going to tax restaurant owners over the tipping issue. Then the restaurant association made an agreement with the government to pass that on to the workers and that killed that. Had to declare What was a great form of living, turned to just OK.
9
So you were ok with tax fraud?
5
Well said. A living wage, independent of voluntary tipping for exceptional service, is the way to go. For it to work, it needs to be universally acknowledged and reinforced. That way, restaurant workers may feel being treated honorably, as they should, their work being as dignified as that of any recognized profession (engineer, lawyer, physician, nurse, teacher, you name it). And speaking of universality, a day may come when Health Care will not depend on an employer contributing to it, so that only employed workers benefit...but universal health care for all, whether working or not. For now, the U.S., being a rich country but with plenty of inequality, and the inequity it engenders, must make do with half-cooked ideas to appear fair.
4
To say tipping is wrong, buys into the progressive socialist view of things, which is capitalism is evil. Tipping is, or should be, a reward for superior service. Take that away and all you have is service that makes no difference to your dining experience. Yes, tipping creates deep social and economic consequences, but not the kind given in this article. Pay for performance is the social and economic consequence, and without it you have a socialistic environment. Best to think what teacher unions have done to education. When teaching services are completely divorced from performance, which is the goal of unions, you have a dysfunctional system. Take away incentives for performance and you have no control over outcomes. Oh, I miss the good old days at the "Automat', no tipping, just food. Soon your meals will arrive in a 'Blue Apron' box, humans not necessary. It will be a 'brave new world'.
12
So, do you think you should tip your doctor if he provides good service? An his "salary" should be lower? I doubt that.
10
No one will stop you from tipping for exceptional service, but if you perform the task, you should get paid a living wage for doing it.
If you are very bad at your tasks, you can be reassigned, retrained, or fired. This has always been the case. However, you should never be in the situation of having to smile at a customer who just slapped your *ahem* buttocks in the hopes that he'll tip you for a service you should never have had to provide in order for you to still make subminimum wage, and that's what happens now. A floor on wages doesn't prevent any sort of merit pay nor does it prevent tipping; it merely prevents abusing and stiffing waitstaff. That's a good thing.
If you are very bad at your tasks, you can be reassigned, retrained, or fired. This has always been the case. However, you should never be in the situation of having to smile at a customer who just slapped your *ahem* buttocks in the hopes that he'll tip you for a service you should never have had to provide in order for you to still make subminimum wage, and that's what happens now. A floor on wages doesn't prevent any sort of merit pay nor does it prevent tipping; it merely prevents abusing and stiffing waitstaff. That's a good thing.
10
If pay is for performance, how do we really rationalize the ridiculous sums paid to top executives today, compared to those who actually do the productive work. I can think of no real benefit most people receive from executives making $10,000,000 to $60,000,000 per year.
7
Can we guess that Javaraman has never been a server? Women do not tolerate inappropriate and degrading behavior on the job; what few realize is that your server has considerable control. Want to behave inappropriately? Count on watered drinks, cold food and general inattention. Even a word or two will take care of most offenders: you need only ask them where they would like to wear their drink/coffee. A good server recognizes your needs before you do, knows a turkey sandwich when it walks in the door, and can connect with your and brighten the whole of your day. Subminimum wage is subhuman, but don't take away the pleasure of tipping someone who has made a difference.
9
Tipping is just another way businesses and corporations--a la Starbucks--finagle the taxpayer to subsidize their employees. One cannot get a cup of coffee--just about anywhere, without a tip seeming de rigueur. Indeed, now, when paying via credit/debit card, you can't even complete your purchase without adding in a tip amount. It's gotten absurd. Further, while women do seem to comprise the majority of the waitstaff at lower rung, restaurants, eg IHOP (as mentioned), Denny's, Pancake House, men often have the much higher paying wait and sommelier positions at three star restaurants, further compounding the sexism inherent in the food industries. As in every industry, the top jobs, and dollar, go to the men.
28
I don't know where you eat out, Regina, but every fancy place I've ever eaten at has plenty of female waitstaffers. Groups of male diners certainly like having attractive young female waitresses, and tip them handsomely.
If there is sexism, it isn't in favor of male waitstaff, but that a middle aged woman cannot earn anything close to what a pretty 23 year old girl can earn. There is blatant AGISM in tipping.
If there is sexism, it isn't in favor of male waitstaff, but that a middle aged woman cannot earn anything close to what a pretty 23 year old girl can earn. There is blatant AGISM in tipping.
1
I have several years of experience working as a server, bartender and caterer in different levels of the industry, from chain restaurant to fancy private club. I have also spent half of my adult years abroad in a country where tipping is not the norm and there is a universally enforced minimum wage.
As a server on the ground, I used to resent the argument against tipping because it was usually made by foreigners who despised the practice and therefore elected not to give us our pay. But pulling back and looking at the larger picture, I can see that tipping results in unequal treatment for different groups of diners, based on gender, ethnicity and any other ways the server decides to discriminate. Add that to the racial and gender dimensions raised in this article and you have a pretty bad system.
As a server on the ground, I used to resent the argument against tipping because it was usually made by foreigners who despised the practice and therefore elected not to give us our pay. But pulling back and looking at the larger picture, I can see that tipping results in unequal treatment for different groups of diners, based on gender, ethnicity and any other ways the server decides to discriminate. Add that to the racial and gender dimensions raised in this article and you have a pretty bad system.
71
this comment makes no sense at all.
a waiter would give less than their
best service to anyone?
from experience, you can no more pick a good tipper
out of a lineup than you could with a blindfold on.
a waiter would give less than their
best service to anyone?
from experience, you can no more pick a good tipper
out of a lineup than you could with a blindfold on.
But the only problem with this opinion piece is that the vast majority of tipped employees make far more than minimum wage, and that's why they are able to be paid lower than minimum wage legally because the law knows that ultimately they will be making considerably more.
The reason that you are seeing this man make a move to "eliminate tipping" is because now legislatures are starting to make it be that tipped employees are making minimum wage paid directly out of their employer's pockets and with all the matching funds that employers are legally obligated to pay also, or close to it.
This means that for the first time tipped employees are a real expenditure to their employers, where previously they were not. When employers only had to pay a few dollars an hour the expense of having tipped employees on the schedule was minimal since the customer directly paid those employees and the restaurant did not. This meant that the restaurant needed only to pay the management and the cooks and the other employees who by law, cannot be paid out of tips (although there is widespread abuse of this law).
You'll notice that the focus of these periodic moves to "eliminate tipping" is always to increase the pay of the back of the house employees who are directly paid by the restaurant. But there's nothing stopping the restaurant from paying those employees more now, is there?
This is nothing more than an attempt to grab the money that would have gone to the tipped employees.
The reason that you are seeing this man make a move to "eliminate tipping" is because now legislatures are starting to make it be that tipped employees are making minimum wage paid directly out of their employer's pockets and with all the matching funds that employers are legally obligated to pay also, or close to it.
This means that for the first time tipped employees are a real expenditure to their employers, where previously they were not. When employers only had to pay a few dollars an hour the expense of having tipped employees on the schedule was minimal since the customer directly paid those employees and the restaurant did not. This meant that the restaurant needed only to pay the management and the cooks and the other employees who by law, cannot be paid out of tips (although there is widespread abuse of this law).
You'll notice that the focus of these periodic moves to "eliminate tipping" is always to increase the pay of the back of the house employees who are directly paid by the restaurant. But there's nothing stopping the restaurant from paying those employees more now, is there?
This is nothing more than an attempt to grab the money that would have gone to the tipped employees.
12
"Median pay for a tipped worker in New York, including tips, stands at just $9.43 an hour." I find that hard to believe. Most people don't eat out alone and the average bill for two must be at least $50. If average diners pay the suggested 15%, that is $7.50 for one table. If the server serves four tables per hour that is $30.00 per hour. If I were a server, I would prefer TIPS to a $15 wage.
23
Believe me, they do prefer this. And they get much of that money tax free.
3
"If I were a server, I would prefer TIPS to a $15 wage."
But you're not a server, are you? No, you're not. You're capital, servers are labor. More, more more for you, you, you. Enough is never enough.
But you're not a server, are you? No, you're not. You're capital, servers are labor. More, more more for you, you, you. Enough is never enough.
7
First of all, at Applebees, two people can get out for about $30 easily. That drops the tip (at 15%) to $4.50. And then you have to count that one table paid $4.50 but another table paid $2.00, and table 3 got comped a meal so that wasn't included in the tip because people usually forget to do that so that's another $2.00, but table 4 was generous and did 20% so that's $6.00. All of a sudden you're looking at $14.50 in tips for the hour BEFORE tipping out to everyone else. And of course you do tip out the kitchen staff and the bussing staff.
And that's only during busy times! Servers are still there at slow times, when you have *maybe* 1 table an hour. I haven't been a server, but several friends have, and they would love a guaranteed $15/hr over the ups and downs and uncertainties of tipped work. Yes, on good weeks they will average over $15/hr for some of the time, but not generally for the whole week, and on bad weeks they can't pay their bills. Tipping sucks.
And that's only during busy times! Servers are still there at slow times, when you have *maybe* 1 table an hour. I haven't been a server, but several friends have, and they would love a guaranteed $15/hr over the ups and downs and uncertainties of tipped work. Yes, on good weeks they will average over $15/hr for some of the time, but not generally for the whole week, and on bad weeks they can't pay their bills. Tipping sucks.
11
One additional reason to eliminate tipping: tax fraud.
Ever notice that most servers prefer a cash tip?
Cash gratuities are under-reported, if not unreported entirely. A fair tax system applies to all income, all businesses, all workers, all investors, etc. Under-the-table cash payments should be stamped out, as tax fraud means that everyone operating honestly has to pay more, and fosters a sense of unfairness and hostility to taxes and the role of government generally.
I worked a 2nd job as a server at a fancy hotel after college, in order to pay off my student loans. An 18% gratuity was added to all bills automatically, and the gratuity income dwarfed the wage (and resulted in net pay that exceeded all but senior management's net pay). But that didn't stop my full-time colleagues from lamenting that unlike most restaurants the gratuity was reported as income.
Ever notice that most servers prefer a cash tip?
Cash gratuities are under-reported, if not unreported entirely. A fair tax system applies to all income, all businesses, all workers, all investors, etc. Under-the-table cash payments should be stamped out, as tax fraud means that everyone operating honestly has to pay more, and fosters a sense of unfairness and hostility to taxes and the role of government generally.
I worked a 2nd job as a server at a fancy hotel after college, in order to pay off my student loans. An 18% gratuity was added to all bills automatically, and the gratuity income dwarfed the wage (and resulted in net pay that exceeded all but senior management's net pay). But that didn't stop my full-time colleagues from lamenting that unlike most restaurants the gratuity was reported as income.
113
so do the same standards apply to people and companies that evade taxes with offshore accounts?
2
Very few people pay large restaurant checks in cash these days - you're living in the past there!
Many friends work in hospitality industry here in NYC and over 90% of their income is taxed, whether paid in cash or otherwise.
Many friends work in hospitality industry here in NYC and over 90% of their income is taxed, whether paid in cash or otherwise.
I'm not sure your friend is right that most restaurants don't report cash gratuity. When I waitressed as far back as 1990, the law assumed that waitresses (and waiters) received a minimum of 10% of the bill in tips and automatically taxed us on 10% of the total amount spent by the people served at our tables. Even if they didn't bother to leave a tip, I paid tax on 10% of their bill!!
4
Waiters and waitresses may not even get the tip you left. Often they are required to pool the money and split it evenly.That is, if the owner is honorable. I knew someone who worked at a very expensive restaurant in NYC. He didn’t earn much despite the fact that some customers were clearly spending thousands of dollars. The owner’s brother-in-law received 25% of the combined tips off the top because he was called the maitre d’. Yet never once when I dined there did he even stand up to greet me. The staff was not allowed to observe the calculations. Clearly, much of the money went into the pocket of the owner. Any waiter who complained was dismissed.
232
That indeed is the dark side of the restaurant business. But you can take heart that not all owners are like that. Until last year, I was partners in 2 restaurants, and we had a transparent process for collecting and allocating tips. Yes, we pooled tips - that was our philosophy of shared success that we felt encouraged everyone to do their best for the greater good. And we were open about the allocations. Bar staff. Busboys. Hosts/hostesses. And so on. And our servers signed a document attesting their agreement when hired. We aggregated and allocated the tips - both cash and credit card - deducted and submitted taxes on their behalf, and gave them weekly checks in addition to their paycheck. We posted our accounting calculations on the staff bulletin board and welcomed any questions about the amounts or processes.
It goes without saying that we did not take a cent for ourselves as owners. Nor did we charge for the tax work, although we incurred additional cost from our payroll provider.
In a modest market, our servers averaged $20 an hour with base salary plus tip.
In hindsight, I would have paid back-of-house more, and certainly will if I ever partner in a restaurant again. It's the hidden shame of restaurants: those you never see -- cooks, pot scrubbers, dishwashers, bakers -- get paid considerably less than the front of house service staff. I'm surprised more ink hasn't been devoted to them.
It goes without saying that we did not take a cent for ourselves as owners. Nor did we charge for the tax work, although we incurred additional cost from our payroll provider.
In a modest market, our servers averaged $20 an hour with base salary plus tip.
In hindsight, I would have paid back-of-house more, and certainly will if I ever partner in a restaurant again. It's the hidden shame of restaurants: those you never see -- cooks, pot scrubbers, dishwashers, bakers -- get paid considerably less than the front of house service staff. I'm surprised more ink hasn't been devoted to them.
5
When I visited the United Kingdom, I left a tip for a bartender in a pub in Soho. As I walked away from the bar he called at me, "Hey Mate, you left your change here." I said "that's your tip". He informed me tipping was a "Yank" thing, and that "we don't do that here, we are paid what we're worth."
I would rather pay a bit more for the food and drink than feel guilty for not tipping correctly. It's time businesses got it right.
I would rather pay a bit more for the food and drink than feel guilty for not tipping correctly. It's time businesses got it right.
315
I'm with you Songwriter. I just from 3 weeks in the UK and South Africa. Tips are allowed but by no means mandatory as they have become here. It's like being bullied when you go to a restaurant. The owner needs to pay up!
3
I agree. Being lazy, it would also save me a few brain cells' worth of energy to not have to calculate the tip. I already pay higher then the prices on menus anyway since I always leave a minimum tip of 10% so to have that included already in the price of whatever amount is appropriate for minimum wage (which I suspect is lower than what I tip at the places I eat) is fine with me.
And on the flip side of it, as a female customer I am more likely to get a better table and better service if I am accompanied by a man than if I go to a restaurant with another woman because servers and restaurant personnel believe that men are better tippers. I worked as a server when I was in college and I can attest to the fact that from a woman's perspective tipping creates an environment that is often degrading and/or insulting. I look forward to its demise.
22
Tipping helps wealthy people get over their guilt of station, status and economic power. By taking tipping away will send rich people straight into therapy without outlet or cure. Save the wealthy. --keep tipping customary and needed.
1
The first time I went to Europe 45 years ago, I recall seeing signs placed on the tables by wait staff asking customers NOT to tip while they fought for better wages. Tipping is not completely gone from Europe, but it is better than here.
Tipping used to be associated with jobs in which people provided special services, e.g., bringing food to the table or carrying luggage. Even then, it made little sense to associate the tip with the cost of the food since the service provided was the same whether you ordered the most expensive or cheapest item on the menu. I find it ludicrous to see tip jars at the order counters of self-service restaurants where no special services are provided.
I'm happy to pay extra when a taxi driver assists me with my luggage, although I would prefer to have clear set fees for this. But I am NOT willing to tip a taxi driver who can't be bothered to open a door for someone on crutches -- and yes, this happens quite often.
And some service jobs are simply disappearing, leaving elderly and disabled people in difficult positions. Few airports have porters anymore, but security personnel don't want taxi drivers leaving the vehicle to assist someone with luggage.
Tipping used to be associated with jobs in which people provided special services, e.g., bringing food to the table or carrying luggage. Even then, it made little sense to associate the tip with the cost of the food since the service provided was the same whether you ordered the most expensive or cheapest item on the menu. I find it ludicrous to see tip jars at the order counters of self-service restaurants where no special services are provided.
I'm happy to pay extra when a taxi driver assists me with my luggage, although I would prefer to have clear set fees for this. But I am NOT willing to tip a taxi driver who can't be bothered to open a door for someone on crutches -- and yes, this happens quite often.
And some service jobs are simply disappearing, leaving elderly and disabled people in difficult positions. Few airports have porters anymore, but security personnel don't want taxi drivers leaving the vehicle to assist someone with luggage.
152
There is no such thing as a "self service" restaurant. You mean those coffee shops and restaurants where the service is MINIMAL, but servers still have to prepare you drinks, food, package it, plus try to facilitate every special request you have regarding your drinks and food, etc? So basically the only difference between the service at these restaurants and table service is the 20 or so feet of distance they walk to hand you the same food prepared to all the same special specifications - you mean THOSE "self-service" restaurants. Yeah, that's why there's a tip jar at those, too, Scrooge McDuck.
1
I'm glad to see the anti-tipping movement gaining steam here in the United States. It's time to abandon the racist, classist, and sexist system that has nothing to do with how well you are served at a restaurant, but everything to do with how much you like you server. Let's pay workers a living wage and make the bill transparent. I've argued for years that a little bit more for every item on a bill would save countless arguments about how much to tip.
Next up for changes in restaurants will be to institute an Asian system whereby wait staff are communal and diners raise their hands for service, thus eliminating the annoyance of servers "checking in," but allowing diners to be attended quickly and easily when they actually want a server.
Next up for changes in restaurants will be to institute an Asian system whereby wait staff are communal and diners raise their hands for service, thus eliminating the annoyance of servers "checking in," but allowing diners to be attended quickly and easily when they actually want a server.
25
Tipping rewards good service. Jobs where tipping is the custom should be those where good service is of particular value. Jobs that come to mind include brain surgeon, airline pilot, and circus sword thrower.
14
Just do as I do.