Tipping waiters in the US tonight

Oregon min wage is either 7.50 or $8 hr now, and no exceptions for waiters, etc... So waiters can make some really killer wages with the 20% tip included.

Min wage nationally is $5.15 or so, and I am not aware of a state that is that low at least in the west.

The crazy thing is that Oregon keeps trying to be the highest pay for min wage, I think that those gov't type really hate small businesses.

 

No.....actually Minimum wage now Nationally is $7.15

 

I rarely tip,

No mater what industry, unless the service is really good,

i use to give the old lady in the pub who brung us our lunch £3 tip every day -which is about $5-$6 and the lunch only cost £4.

No one tips me when i do my job so thats my excuse.

Sometimes if they smile when i get my change i might say keep it, other times they expect it so i do ask for out of pure badness hehe.

 

I worked in restaurants for decades, across States in the US, and overseas.

In my current US State, servers get a minimum of $2.75 an hour plus tips. In better restaurants they will make $200 to $500 a night in a 4 to 6 hour shift. That is pretty darn good money. Most servers will not declare their tips if it is in cash - making it tax 'free'.

15% is de facto in the US. 20% is if the service was above normal, and anything about 20%, you are either will be thought of as a chump or a perv.

Overseas, as others have mentioned it - almost always tips are built in. Try to complain, and you will be ejected in a flash. In some countries unsuspecting tourists are targeted for 'tip' knowing full well that it's already built into the tab.

A restaurant doesn't just run on servers. You forget that out of that $60, they had to pay the cook, the dishwasher, the receptionist/host, sommelier, the runners, table cleaners, valet guys, the evening cleaning crew, the bar tender, laundy for cloth, the chunk of cow you ate, all other ingredients, the electricity, gas, heat, cool, rent/lease, advertising, the toothpicks, and that handful of mints you grabbed on the way out .

Most restaurants will have a lifespan of 3 to 5 years, and if their margins are above 5%, they are considered doing well. Salaries and wages takes about 30% of gross. I am not talking about chains like McDonalds or Starbucks. They are in the 20% and 11% operating margins respectively.

You really didn't want to know this, eh?

And yes there are many other industries that pay much less for their labor then the food industry. (garment, software, etc.)

 

I'm generally quite generous when tipping as standards go - My wife hates it :S

Like Rob, I usually start at %18-20 as the baseline rule and go up from there - I tend to frequent the same establishments and order the same meals from those places and I like good, personal service and I tip accordingly - these people are servers not servANTs

It suits me - servers generally remember my name and meal preference after a while, and its not uncommon for them to greet me at the table with my beverage already prepared (Mountain Dew or DR. Pepper depending on the place)

It's not that I'm dropping big $$ (a few dollars difference at best) - I think it's more about a level of respect thats exibited - or a lack of respect that is exibited so often by other customers - people who treat the 'tip' as a carrot - "If you smile just right and give me perfect service I'll treat you to the whole $1.65!" heh

I think that having worked in the food service industry for a time definately effects how I treat wait staff now. Bringing home $30 for working 13-14 hrs makes you wonder sometimes...why would ANYONE want to be a waiter..?

 

Waiters and waitresses are not full time employees.

 

This is all great info...I have a friend that does want to start a restaurant...its going the be called "The Mad Chicken, the place to come when you are in a fowl mood"....

 

Let me give you my perspective - 15 years as a server, runner, bartender, captain; intermittently, all my post-childhood life, stretching 30+ years, on the other side of the kitchen doors, as chef.

By the time that "$60" plate (or, as in our case, $22-$38 plate) is used to pay overhead and cost of goods, there ain't much left - at all - under the best of circumstances. Were restaurant owners to pay the wage you speak of, there would literally not be a single restaurant in the land. The direct and indirect costs required to make and serve the food and wine, are egregiously high, relatively speaking (when compared to other industries); margins are ridiculously low in the restaurant biz (ask deadcorn, for another perspective), when they exist at all. Particularly for high end places. You want to make a mint? Open a casual joint, not the next Montparnasse.

And these are the good examples. Many restaurants, like mine, simply bleed a quiet death over the course of time. My waiters walked with several $100's on many nights. Customers paid the bill - including the tips, which ranged 20-25% - because they felt it was worth it. No one loses. If customers as a general rule do not wish to tip, and wish for it all to be based on restaurants paying the differential, again, I'd guarantee the only eating "out" would be in the living room, in front of the T.V.

Like Rob, and AzAkers, I know what it is to serve. I've been there, and so cannot leave less than 20-25%, generally.

Edit: Damn! Sorry, didn't see that Libertate already covered it. Ahem.....what he said.

 

No doubt, northpoint! I was waiting for you to chime in here.

I couldn't even imagine how hard it is to open a restaurant...and keep it open.

In my area, it seems that one out of every ten restaurants that opens, stays open. And most last less than a year.

My wife told me that if I were to open a restaurant, she'd leave me. So naturally, I threaten to open one quite often!

 

Hahahah - well, from personal perspective, brother, I'd say, yep - if you want to go the single route in quick order, open, run, or close a restaurant - any will do. Opening, you commit your lifeblood, running, you never see each other (or you see each other too much), and close, you age 20 years in as many weeks...

Thank god my wife and I are equally, insanely in love with food and wine...so we "get" what we just went through and say, the hell with it - pick up the pieces!

Anyone - if you ever find yourself in that delirium state, musing on opening the next Rocco's - please pm me, or deadcorn - be glad to share a personal perspective.

 

Bingo - I generally tip 20% to 30%. If you can't afford to tip the waiter in that range - then you shouldn't be eating out in the first place!

Yum - time for my mac cheese for lunch...

 

Hello! I got a new job and DP doesn't get through their proxy, it's evil according to the internet police. Thus, I'm denyed 8 hours of DP a day...

Ah, well. Hmm... I was actually talking about when I lived in NYC a few years back. I think it was 8% tax, so double that would be 16%, which rounded up to the nearest note would be higher (plus people in the group throwing in the odd dollar here and there). I never had any complaints and always got good service... but then an English accent always seemed to go a long way with waitresses in the US.

I think it's a fair method of payment. The waiting staff wouldn't do it if not, they'd just get some other crappy work instead where you don't have to deal with fussy irate customer.

It's just a culture shock if you're not used it it being so ingrained in the service industry when you visit from another country. They should hand out information flyers when you fill in your entrance visa to the US

Also, sales tax got me every time to start with. I'd be at the counter in a cheesy gift shop, ready to pay with the correct change... and they get told it's 8% more than I expected. Queue a lot of fumbling around trying to get more money out.

Whilst I'm at it. WHAT IS THE DEAL WITH HAVING A COIN WITH NO MONITARY VALUE ON. How was I supposed to know what a dime was worth, I think I'd saved up loads of them not knowing what they're worth...

 

Don't know what country you are talking about, but in the USA it is 5.15

 

Take me tooo - just for the sake of Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake

 

My uncle had owned restaurants after working in the industry for a while. What did him under was the guy with hepatitis that was spread to customers!

You really have to love the business to get into, the risks are high and reward isn't always a match. Seems that now days the big chains are the only ones that can stay in business around here. Smaller older chains are almost all gone now.

 

I generally do 20% if the service was good
15% if it wasn't anything special, because I have to

But if it's downright crummy, I don't feel bad at all with leaving a lower tip. It just makes sense

 

It's 10 cents!

 

Cheers! I know these days, I just didn't at first.

Is that the origin of the Dime bar? Or is that something else... he says, going off topic.

 

I didn't even notice, I pulled a dime out to see that it doesn't actually say!

Just be glad you don't use pesos, talk about worthless coins, what is one peso worth? LOL

 

Dime bag?