I've always wondered who set the standard for tipping when dining at restaurants. Somehow, it doesn't make sense to me. So it's recommended that you tip at least 15% of the total bill. But how did they come up with that number and why do we have to base the amount off the total bill? Not only this, but they suggest that the minimum should be 15%, no less, regardless of the quality of service.
So even if the waiter or waitress did a bad job, we shouldn't punish them by reducing their tip? What do you suggest I do then? Go online and Yelp about my bad experience? Yeah, that'll show 'em. Ask to talk to the manager? I don't know about you but I'm very passive aggressive so talking to the manager would be the last thing I would want to do.
In one experience, all the waitress did was take our order and bring us our food and drinks. After that, she never bothered to even check up on us. She didn't even come refill our water. Excuse me? I have to give her 15% for doing her job?! The least she could've done was refill the water. This is one of my pet peeves. My water better be refilled regularly or I'm subtracting tip.
Some people may excuse the waitress's behaviour because she is also responsible for other things that we don't see such as: setting and stocking the tables, making sure everything is sanitary, and cleaning before or after closing hours. Well when I worked at McDonald's in high school, I had to clean the tables, stock the cups and napkins, prep the food, clean the bathrooms, etc., all while maintaining good customer service. I didn't expect any tips from it. You know why? Because it was my job to do all those things! So if a waiter wants to get a good tip, they better go above and beyond for the customer, not just do the minimum. And then there's the issue of tipping based on the total amount of the bill.
OK. So we know that fish and seafood is usually more expensive than say, chicken or beef. So if I ordered one $20 dish of the seafood instead of the $10 dish of chicken, I'm gonna have to pay more tip for the seafood versus the chicken? What did the waiter do any different to deserve more tip for my more expensive meal? And even if the waiter has to tip the busser and the cooks at the end of the night, what did ANYONE do differently to deserve that extra money? I don't understand! Maybe the difference is in the way the dishes are prepared? Maybe the seafood dish is more complex? If anything, seafood is easier to cook because they have a faster cooking time.
In California, where I live, the server gets paid minimum wage and then earn tips on top of that. So if they work at an expensive restaurant, they can make a pretty good living. Wow! What a great gig considering you don't need any special skills (except maybe an extreme tolerance for stupid people) or education to do the job to begin with. They're making way more than minimum wage, which is more than they deserve. Why should I have to pay even more for them to live comfortably? I don't get tipped for doing my job well.
Sometimes I get mad at myself, or my bf, when we get crappy service and we still tip 15%. WTF is wrong with us?! We're pretty good customers because we're not picky and are fuss free. We don't even complain when they get our order wrong or if the food is nasty. So we're pretty easy to please. If your service disappoints us, you must really suck.
Now they're saying that the standard should be 20%. Really?! In this economy? Fuck that! If I'm going to give you 20%, you better have done something to blow me away. Sorry, but that's my hard earned money and I'm not gonna give it away for nothing. And if I feel your service was so bad to warrant no tip at all from me, then that's what you're gonna get. If your job is so hard and you feel you're underpaid then you're quite free to pursue a different occupation.
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