Chemical X
Footballguy
that’s not possible, is it? maybe since they are slicing their meats now labour has jumped?
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Restaurants have gotten so expensive……also recycling and phone apps (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter fruity pebbles
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Snoopy
Footballguy
The last time I went to Subway, they were asking for tips.
Chemical X
Footballguy
tips of what?
the moops
Footballguy
Leroy Hoard
Footballguy
Tips on how to make a good sub
General Malaise
Footballguy
Yachats, Oregon (central coast). Lunch with wife and 3 kids. I had fried halibut and sweet potato fries and a local IPA. Wife had a teriyaki Veggie bowl and a local pinot noir. Kids had chicken strips w/ fries, nachos and Mac and cheese plus 3 sodas. The gal reminded me it was automatic 20% tip before giving me the check (I knew this but appreciated her letting me know). The service was excellent, the music was fantastic and I enjoyed the fish. Kids ended up taking half of theirs home for later. Total was $126 with the auto tip and I tacked on $5 because I felt like we had a great experience and I get a little more generous on vacation. I didn't feel cheated or aghast at the cost and we will cook dinner tonight so I figured this would be the family's big outing for the day.
Kids got ice cream after. $16 for 3 scoops and yeah, I left a small tip. Gal working the store alone.
Kids got ice cream after. $16 for 3 scoops and yeah, I left a small tip. Gal working the store alone.
Courtjester
The Town Drunk
My daughter and I were in Walmart today and decided to just grab food from the Subway in there--two foot long subs and three cookies were $28.00. Now granted I got double tuna and tipped 15%. I will tip people like that who go above and beyond. When I asked for double tuna, that girl put NINE scoops of tuna on my sandwich and my daughter asked for extra pickles?? Dear god, there were 40 pickles on her sandwich.
This is probably better for the tipping thread, but our 19 year old daughter is a server at Applebees and it is amazing how some crowds treat her. Sundays are the church crowd and the old people don't tip for nothing. The biggest tippers those days are the bigger groups of Hispanics who barely speak English. The most interesting observation she has made is how her generation sucks. She has had some bigger tables of college age people ($100 plus tabs) and they have completely stiffed her. She told me these are the same people that complain about wages and so forth, but when the rubber hits the road and they can help out one of their own, they can barely cover the bill. She still is killing it there. Four hour shift on a Sunday afternoon is usually a quick $150--$175. She is working a double this Friday and plans to take home $400+.
General Malaise
Footballguy
Sunday church crowds were rough. Ten top, separate checks, sucking down teas and soda, kids making messes and the tips were lousy. Had a man tell me that Jesus gets 10% from him and nobody gets more than Jesus.
This was Mississippi in the 90s. It was......unique.
This was Mississippi in the 90s. It was......unique.
fruity pebbles
Footballguy
Jesus can go get your food
Drunken knight
Footballguy
That’s really undertipping someone who can turn your water into wine.
massraider
Footballguy
At restaurants in Florida where the crowd may skew a little, uh, vintage, they banned water with lemon cause these crafty codgers were using sugar packets on the table to make some tableside lemonade.
The Z Machine
Footballguy
Next thing you know, those old fogies will bring their own lemons and have a lemon party right at the table.At restaurants in Florida where the crowd may skew a little, uh, vintage, they banned water with lemon cause these crafty codgers were using sugar packets on the table to make some tableside lemonade.
Capella
Footballguy
Yea my dad used to do that in the 90s. “Extra lemons with my water please.”At restaurants in Florida where the crowd may skew a little, uh, vintage, they banned water with lemon cause these crafty codgers were using sugar packets on the table to make some tableside lemonade.
“No more lemons than that”
Then he’d go “see kids I don’t pay for lemonade I make it myself” as he poured 15 packets of sugar into his water that the restaurant also supplied gratis. I slumped into my chair out of pure embarrassment.
Every time I see him now he complains about people getting free stuff.
the moops
Footballguy
That 126 seems about right to me. I would gladly pay that for a good meal and a couple drinks and good service than the 75 bucks for ****ty takeout pizza
I've heard similar things from servers and that sucks. I've long thought one of the best things we could do as Christians is be generous with gratuity on the check.
Da Guru
Fair & Balanced
At restaurants in Florida where the crowd may skew a little, uh, vintage, they banned water with lemon cause these crafty codgers were using sugar packets on the table to make some tableside lemonade.
I have seen people bring their own Mio or water enhancers and just give a little squirt into the ice water.
General Malaise
Footballguy
Yea my dad used to do that in the 90s. “Extra lemons with my water please.”At restaurants in Florida where the crowd may skew a little, uh, vintage, they banned water with lemon cause these crafty codgers were using sugar packets on the table to make some tableside lemonade.
“No more lemons than that”
Then he’d go “see kids I don’t pay for lemonade I make it myself” as he poured 15 packets of sugar into his water that the restaurant also supplied gratis. I slumped into my chair out of pure embarrassment.
Every time I see him now he complains about people getting free stuff.
General Malaise
Footballguy
Oddly, every other day of the week these same citizens were good to great tippers (I have to believe the majority of all tables I served were Christian folks as Mississippi is smack dab in the middle of the Bible belt) but that early lunch crowd on a Sunday was not the choicest of shifts.
Ilov80s
Footballguy
Yeah I remember my dad breaking out a pencil and doing the math to figure out exactly what 15% would be. I think he thought he was doing a good thing making sure the person wasn't being short changed but it sure seemed cheap to me. Why are you digging through change for 35 cents? Just throw another dollar in dad, jeez.Yea my dad used to do that in the 90s. “Extra lemons with my water please.”At restaurants in Florida where the crowd may skew a little, uh, vintage, they banned water with lemon cause these crafty codgers were using sugar packets on the table to make some tableside lemonade.
“No more lemons than that”
Then he’d go “see kids I don’t pay for lemonade I make it myself” as he poured 15 packets of sugar into his water that the restaurant also supplied gratis. I slumped into my chair out of pure embarrassment.
Every time I see him now he complains about people getting free stuff.
Ilov80s
Footballguy
Unless you yourself are hard up for money or the server was genuinely rude, I never understood people's resistance to giving a nice tip. Sometimes, I will tip an extra large amount just because I liked the person's vibe or got the sense it was a rough shift for them. Doesn't the idea of helping someone out feel good?
Dr. Octopus
Footballguy
I still remember the first day the restaurants opened back up here during Covid (for outdoor dining). Between the excitement about things opening back up, and feeling bad that the waitstaff had been out of work for weeks I left a 100% tip on a $40-something bill.
The next time I ate there that waiter came running over to my table to welcome me and thank me. It felt good.
Doug B
Footballguy
Yeah, but there’s always a line. Asking Person X “Why don’t you tip 25%?” could be the equivalent of asking Person Y “Why aren’t you paying off the server’s mortgage for a tip?”
Take any amazing tipper. A restaurant’s favorite customer. Servers angle to get that customer because of the generous tips. Why isn’t that customer tipping more? Is that a fair question for that customer?
Keerock
Footballguy
Wow, can I be your customer?
The Z Machine
Footballguy
You love a good footlong, dontcha?
Ilov80s
Footballguy
I never ask anyone about their tipping habits, not sure what you are getting at. I am just saying I personally don't understand general poor tippers.
The Z Machine
Footballguy
Maybe they disagree with the entire tipping system as it's set up? Paying servers very little and having the customers make up the difference. Are these servers employees of the restaurant or are they my personal service staff that I've hired for that job?
Ilov80s
Footballguy
And how does giving someone a poor tip help solve that?
The Z Machine
Footballguy
Choosing not to partake in the system of servitude. Maybe the employees will advocate better and get laws changed to ensure they are paid the minimum wage. Maybe they will quit and find a server position that pays them better.
How do you suggest changing the system?
Danny Meyer is one of the best restauranteurs in the world and I remember eating at Union Square Cafe a few years back and they'd implemented a no tipping system. I'm too lazy to google it but I think they've rescinded it as it had too much pushback. It's complicated.
Ilov80s
Footballguy
If it means that much to somone, helping to organize and lobby. Donating to unions that are fighting for better pay, share your ideas with others, write an editorial and send it local newspapers, patronize tip free establishments. If someone is only choosing not to tip or tip poorly as their way of trying to change the system, they aren't doing anything IMO other than shafting over whoever got stuck being their server that day. It's like not giving a homeless person a dollar because you think the US should provide better mental health services. Unless you are then sending that dollar to a local mental health organization, how is that doing anything to change the problem?
Ilov80s
Footballguy
Correct, tipping came back.
massraider
Footballguy
Everyone is cheap about different things.
My mom is a proud tipper, but will strap herself to the underside of a plane if she can save $23 on the ticket. No for real, she once offered to spring for a ticket from London when I lived there. Forgetting who I was dealing with, I accepted the free ticket, and wound up in the last row (bathroom wall was my headrest) on WOW airlines, with a layover in Reykjavik. I was so pissed, I thought about just getting off in Reykjavik, and spending a weekend there to salvage the trip (Iceland women: a bit slutty).
Doug B
Footballguy
Understood. The way to understand at least some general poor tippers is consider each person's individual limitations. The poor tipper maxing out at 15% for amazing service isn't that different, conceptually, than Warren Buffet maxing out at [some arbitrary high number]. The 15% guy's extra two bucks is Buffet's extra couple hundred. Everyone has limits.
But then: Someone might say "Well, if you can't afford a 20% floor for (say) being ignored throughout your meal ... you shouldn't go out to eat!" ... that's fine. That gets right to the point of this thread. If tipping 25-30% is the new floor for negligent service (not your words, I realize) ... then that prices some people out of going to restaurants. Former regular restaurant patrons, not people on poverty's knife edge. "Pricing out" isn't just about entree prices or cockails. It's about tipping expectations, too.
If I've learned anything over the years, it's that people are complicated.
I've seen people who do one thing super generously and then another thing with what looks super stingy from my perspective. Are they generous? Stingy? I don't know. They're complicated. Maybe inconsistent. Maybe rationally. Maybe not. I don't know. I just know I've seen a lot of people do things that don't make sense to me. So I'm pretty hesitant to be critical. And I accept there are lots of things I don't understand.
The Z Machine
Footballguy
Pushback from whom? Patrons or employees?
the moops
Footballguy
There are several restaurants here in the twin cities that have a no tipping policy. They are glorious
massraider
Footballguy
Why the No-Tipping Movement Failed (and Why It Still Has a Chance)
Five years ago, both diners and restaurant workers pushed back against efforts to go tip-free — efforts that could play out differently in a post-pandemic world
www.eater.com
A fantastic post-mortem on the attempted money grab by restauranteurs, whose plan to pay their kitchen staff a living wage by stealing from their servers failed. Bottom line: Americans are not dying to get rid of tipping. Owners are.
massraider
Footballguy
Doing away with tipping didn't save the customer money. They raised prices 20%. Minimum.
The differences:
- Servers now made the same during busy and slow nights, and got paid the same whether the guest received good service or not. At the level of restaurants Meyer owns, that was a problem.
- Patrons now had no option to not tip, or tip less. The tip is now included in the price. Can't take it off.
- Good servers, with good CVs (aka everyone at a Meyer restaurant) could go get a job at a place where they make more money.
Ilov80s
Footballguy
Well yeah I pointed out that if you are in a financial hardship, I understand that.
psychobillies
Footballguy
This is Shtick, right? Once you choose to walk into a restaurant, you have chosen to partake in the system of servitude whether you like it or not. If you want to protest, stay home and make your own food. Choosing not to tip is just being a cheapskate.
dkp993
Footballguy
I’m not sure if it was with you Z or someone else (apologies if it wasn’t you) but I covered this ground ad nauseam here upstream. But the Clift notes version. The only way to get rid of tipping is paying staff significantly more and this in turn raises prices (and not insignificantly). Customers don’t like this and businesses suffers. Restaurants being a volume business can’t withstand/survive business volume drops (even more so if staff is highly compensated). It’s a viscous cycle.
Doug B
Footballguy
And sometimes, with lower tippers, it's not financial hardship at all.
I waited tables in the mid-1990s, and there was an ongoing shift at the time from 15% to 20% as a general tipping percentage for competent service. Most customers middle aged or older typically tipped 15% as a starting point, commonly rounding up to the next dollar or an extra dollar or two tacked on above that. We all loved getting ~20% tips (and occasionally better!), but no one ever treated 20% as a minimum tip to "feel good about". 15% was fine ... no snarky comments in the side station, no "eff those people -- I hooked them up!" letdown.
Anyway ... point is: Sometimes, people come from a different time or place, and tipping that extra couple dollars just feels out of line. Whether they can afford it or not. That was true in the 1990s, and is still true now.
One weird angle of the no tipping thing was we had a fantastic server at Union Square. Like top 10 ever. And it felt weird to leave them no tip. They were gracious about it and seemed to be sincere in saying it was included. But still did not feel right. Which was a little illuminating for me in I realized I liked to recognize the server that way. In restaurants where I'm a regular, I like the special service and free stuff I get. So there's a self serving part in it too. As I said, it's complicated.
dkp993
Footballguy
These are all fantastic points too, especially the service level.
On a side note. I (well not me as I’m not the owner but the business I work for) just acquired a new venue. It’s a private membership golf and restaurant operation. For the last who knows how long they previous ownership had been adding a mandatory 20% gratuity to all checks. One of the things I did as we came in was attempt to get rid of the mandatory tip and move to a tipping optional system (aka normal tipping). Not only did I have a service staff melt down (this was expected) but the membership hated it to. They are accustomed to not having to tip and don’t wanna have to think about it going forward. And while I brought up to them in a meeting that they also simultaneously complain about the level of service they’ve gotten and that it was my belief it was tied into the guarantee tipping, they still wanted none of it and opted for the convenience.
Moral of the story. People don’t like change.
The Z Machine
Footballguy
I'd be willing to get worse service to reduce the inequities in the current system. Particularly so if 25-30% tips become the norm. The back of the house is getting bent over in that situation.
Ilov80s
Footballguy
No doubt. My parents were like that. I’ve sort of retrained them to be a bit more generous. I don’t think they even realized servers are making like $2 an hour many places. My parents aren’t cheap, they just came from a different time and place, never thought it.
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culdeus
Footballguy
Nobody is moving to 25-30. 20 now is basically 25 with the 25-30% increase in costs with no job demand increase.
Chemical X
Footballguy
up next, cover charges….
The Z Machine
Footballguy
I can't remember the last place I went that had a cover charge.
Courtjester
The Town Drunk
It is clearly a generational thing. Recently we have taken my mom and various family members out to lunch several times and my wife and I usually will cover the bill. When the tab comes up at $350 or so and we throw down a $70-$75 dollar tip, my mom about falls over. I hear about it for weeks about why did we tip so much.
My daughter gets 10.50 an hour plus tips, so not a bad gig compared to the 2.01 days.
