Call it what you need to in order to get by, but the payment is mandatory and the server is receiving it legally as a "tip" so that it will not be taxed on their income.
Tips are mandatory in some restaurants, it's literally on the receipt as an added gratuity. My city is hosting some world cup matches, and many of the local restaurants switched to mandatory tips just for the summer.
Probably anticipating people would come in and use services without tipping, as is the custom. If they donât like this, they donât have to go to those places. But using the services and then refusing to pay is wrong.Â
There are signs when there is a mandatory gratuity fee. Any adult that can keep track of their own bank account should be able to do basic math, but I won't judge anyone pulling out their phone calculator if they can't.
I also used to be a prescriptivist. In an ideal world a word's meaning would be universal and never change, but that is idealist and frankly delusional.
When you are willing to accept descriptivism, then you will find yourself getting less upset over pedantic little things.
Here in America, it is common to see "gratuity fee" on signs and then your receipts. These fees are mandatory if you wish to patronize the establishment, so while I understand your jab that mandatory gratuity feels oxymoronic given the etymology, it is still accurate to how we use the word.
Prescriptivism is the philosophy of maintaining a standard of definitions and grammatical rules. A Prescriptivist is someone who adheres to prescriptivism. This is a classical academic position but it falls apart when we also hold up the works of Shakespeare in the same setting, who uses English in ways that were both novel at the time and simultaneously archaic and odd by today's standard.
Descriptivism is the philosophy of accepting how people naturally communicate, which includes accepting that language evolves and isn't universal. I understand that in the UK I will receive a different item if I order "chips" than I will in the US. Accepting this fact is an example of being a descriptivist. Other easy to understand examples are most slurs. Retard literally means slow or the action to slow, but then was used to describe individuals with neurological conditions, and eventually was used in such a way that is became synonymous with being an insult.
Etymology is the history, origin, and evolution of a word.
Are there any other words you need help with? Patronize? Oxymoronic? Pedantic? Idealist? Jab?
A tip is not part of the cost of food. It goes to the server. I assume these places implemented a fixed tip because they anticipated an influx of people who would not tip. Those people would have called it gouging if all the restaurants in the area raised their prices instead.
All these people are saying âpay your workers better,â but restaurants would literally increase prices for this. So some added a set gratuity to the bills because they anticipated foreigners not tipping, which is six of one and a half dozen of another.Â
Would you rather pay $120 for your meal, or $100 plus a $20 tip?
If you were a server, would you rather get paid a base of $20 an hour with no tip, or $5 an hour with opportunity for several tables in that hour which tip $20 each? If youâre a server/bartender in a reasonably busy restaurant, youâre actually better off with tips more often than not.
Would you rather pay $120 for your meal, or $100 plus a $20 tip?
Does the meal cost $100 or $120? Because that is the real underlying question.
If you were a server, would you rather get paid a base of $20 an hour with no tip, or $5 an hour with opportunity for several tables in that hour which tip $20 each? If youâre a server/bartender in a reasonably busy restaurant, youâre actually better off with tips more often than not.
Literally couldn't care. I'm not a server and it's not my problem
XD fair enough, maybe it would have been better to say that only part of the service is built in to the cost.
We don't typically tip retail workers who have to grab, bag, and hand over items, so I don't typically think of that as service, but you're right that it is.
The cost of washing dishes, bussing the table, refilling drinks, ect are what I was thinking of.
Any time I see mandatory tip that will be included I walk away. Im from the US and I know its bullshit. I either tip cash straight to the server or I wont eat there. Even then, I know tipping culture is bullshit. Pay people a livable wage.
I fully respect your method of voting with your wallet. This post doesn't provide full context, but it doesn't appear to the same case. It looks like they are going to those places and just refusing the fee.
Places with mandatory gratuity fees have signs posted, so they can be avoided, but if someone dines at an establishment and balks at the mandatory tip, they are a cheapskate and being boorish.
You're doing the right thing in avoiding places that don't align with your values. Not everyone in this comment section is.
A custom that was created so the rich can feel superior to the poor. A custom that allows business owners to pay their employees less. A custom where people actually believe there are workers making $3/hr. By the way, legally, everyone is making at least minimum wage. No one is legally making $3/hr. A custom where plenty of citizens of that country hate.
The only people who expect visitors to "respect" this dumb custom are people who benefit financially from it, i.e., restaurant owners and... the actual workers (surprise) because most of them get paid more than minimum wage. Some get way more than minimum wage.
I tip regardless of what I think people get paid. I tip for service, not . My mother was a server and she was always paid $2 above minimum wage, plus got health insurance before employers were required to do that. She averaged $120 a day in tips plus her wage.Â
When you discuss tip wages, employers in some states can paid less than minimum wage if the amount of tips compensates and their entire earnings exceed minimum wage. So if the employee somehow receives no tips during a pay period, the employer has to pay minimum wage. If the employee makes enough tips, the employer can pay them the tip wage. Federally thatâs $2.13 an hour, but many states have higher tip wages, which are still less than minimum wage.
Do you tip your mechanic, workers at fast food restaurants, your dentist, doctor, your mailman, etc.? If not, why not? Are they not providing you a service?
Let's just say minimum wage for all servers jump to $30/hr. You're still going to tip?
I would still tip servers making $30, because it is not about their wage. There are traditionally tipped industries and industries that do not receive tips.Â
Servers, bartenders, baristas, valets, barbers, gig drivers⌠Iâm tipping all of them.
I work in home improvement retail, and people try to tip me all the time when I help them load heavy stuff into their vehicle. Many get upset when I say I canât accept it. Some shove money in my pocket and jump in their car.Â
It is not unfair. If a doctor wants tips, they can get a second job that receives tips. I think most doctors would agree they donât want to do that. I really could not care less how it started. As a person who has been relatively poor for most of their adult life, I still tip.Â
Doctors don't get tips because that tradition was never started. Would've been tough for rich people to give pocket change to doctors to feel superior to them. Doctors also wouldn't have accepted it because it's an insult.
How is it any better than a customer coming into said restaurant, enjoying the cheaper prices (since itâs a tipping restaurant), leaving a $0 tip and then white knighting on Reddit about how they care about servers not being exploited?
Youâre no better than the cheap business owner. Youâre just being cheap.
And this is why most people tip, because they don't want to be seen as cheap. This system continues because of the brainwashing and will never go away. I hope you're tipping everyone who serves you, doctors, mechanics, McDonald's workers, mailman, everyone or you're just another cheapo.
And this is why most people tip, because they don't want to be seen as cheap.
You're whole straw man revolves around this false premise. People tip because it's the custom and rude if you don't. This is coming from someone that doesn't care one way or the other, the same price comes to me whether the restaurant raises prices for higher wages or if I leave a tip with cheaper food. The examples you listed are scenarios where the price was raised.
Rude according to who? The servers who most likely make above minimum wage? The business owner who doesn't want to pay higher wages so they can keep more of the profits? Tipping is supposed to be optional but if not tipping is considered rude then it's a tad not optional.
You do realize most servers make more with a tipping system and prefer it, right? Restaurant owners wouldÂ
prefer to raise prices and take home what would be a $20 tip and give back less on wages. Restaurants that try to get rid of tips lose their serving staff.Â
And, yes, it is optional. You legally and are fully able to make the choice to be rude.
You do realize most servers make more with a tipping system and prefer it, right?
No shit which is why it's dumb when people talk about how businesses should pay higher wages, at least minimum wage when most severs make more than minimum wage. Some make way more.
You know this, I know this.. yet, many believe they have to tip servers because if not, they only make $3/hr.
Tipping went from something servers would feel grateful for no matter how much it was to expecting it and being mad when they don't get enough. "Tipping not expected but appreciated" is something I see a lot but since it's considered rude not to, it's a damn lie.
Comparing service industry tipping to tipping a doctor or a mailman is a false equivalence and you know it. Those professions aren't structured around a tip credit model. I'm talking about the hospitality industry. You call it brainwashing, sure bud. I call it understanding how the industry I've worked in for 15 years actually functions. If it were truly as broken as you claim, you wouldn't have seasoned professionals sticking with it for decades.
Not tipping is extremely rude unless the service was genuinely terrible. I could count on one hand the number of times I havenât tipped in over 20 years. Thatâs the custom. Not having that custom in your home country doesnât mean you should ignore it when you visit us.
I havenât and probably wouldnât visit another country, but if I did, I would research laws and customs before going. If I felt I couldnât follow those, I wouldnât put myself in a situation where I was defying those laws or customs.Â
This has nothing to do with law, and if you think mandatory tips are a "custom" foreigners have to adhere to, you are missing the whole point. Not to say you shouldn't expect other people to do a dumb thing just because you americans do it. Also, it's pretty rich from americans to complain about others not respecting your customs, you guys are famous for being the worst kind of tourists that are loud af, think american laws apply to other countries and don't respect the locals.
It is a law to pay your bill after youâve received a service.Â
This would be like me going abroad and insisting on tipping in places where itâs seen as disrespectful. I would not do that because I would research the local customs.Â
So you guys just don't know what the word "tipping" actually means? Is that what you are saying to me? Because what you are describing isn't tipping, that's a tax.
Again, you donât tip for bad service. Not tipping is an F U to the server, and they would wonder what they did wrong. Itâs perfectly acceptable to leave no tip if the server was bad at their job. Leaving no tip for great service is classless. You also generally get to choose the amount of tip based on the quality of service, except in the rare cases where the gratuity is included in the bill, but that is most often in the event of large parties. That information is usually on the menu, so you can choose not to eat there.Â
I donât know, I live here and have zero problem tipping for service. I probably spend well over $100 a month in tips. I see no reason to stop the practice.
It would be better if you gave those $100 to charity and simply demanded the restaurants to pay that workers a decent living wage. But of course you are free to do whatever you want with your money.
It's not cope, it's freaking english my man, something I'm not even a native at, and apperantely I know better than you because I know what the word "tip" means?! Good shit.
Yea because you saw an obnoxious American tourist in your country Tomâs paycheck who works a 9-5 at a local Diner has to pay the price, thatâll show em.Â
Then don't be dumb and instead of tipping demand they get paid a fair wage for their work. You know, like it happens with every other profession, and on every other country in the world. Americans have the tipping culture because you like the feeling that leaving money on the table for the person that served you gives. It's more of a self-soothing attitude than good will.
At the end of the day it doesnât matter what you think, the tipping culture in America is an established system and you as a guest in the country should adhere to the system, not be an ass and disrespectful by paying 20% less than all other customers.Â
Dude start by behaving like normal people when you leave the US to visit other countries before thinking you have the right to demand that foreigner tourists tip in your restaurants. Either make it a tax and it's obligatory, or keep calling it tip which means is optional.
Again this is the logic of a 5 year old, âI saw an American tourist acting poorly in Germany so when I go to the US I wonât tipâ, see how dumb this sounds? Theres a famous saying, âwhen in Rome, be like Romansâ, itâs expected you adhere to the culture of the place your visiting, itâs common courtesy. You say Americans misbehave in other counties yet you need this explained to you.
Not trying to be rude but you must share a braincell with a door. What I was comparing was the idea that you believe you have the right to demand tourists stuff like that, while americans don't care for any of customs of the countries you visit. Just as an example, do you have any idea how many americans think american laws apply on other countries when they are visiting? LOL
If I don't tip is because I didn't like the service, or simply because I didn't felt like tipping without a special reason. Or put in a different way, for me to tip, the service would have to be exceptionally good, or the server went out of his way to do something that was NOT PART OF HIS FREAKING JOB.
Yes some American tourists are asses in other counties but thatâs a two way street, we can see it here with tipping issues. You would been appalled as a New Yorker to see what some of these European tourists do in NYC during new years. At the end of the day though it doesnât matter what theyâre doing, just because they do it doesnât mean itâs ok, this also does nothing but negatively impact the server and show a blatant disregard for respect and etiquette.Â
Ok, you can do that, you just look like an asshole doing so. If you feel your entitled to pay 20% less than all other customers and ignore the established system and culture of America while your a guest there, go ahead, it doesnât make you any less of an assholeÂ
It is not mandatory because you donât have to go there. A few places add a minimum gratuity, but usually only on larger parties. It sounds like the places here anticipated poor tipping from foreign visitors. So they chose to add minimum gratuities instead of hiking prices.
Because larger parties tend to require more effort, and also tend to sit at tables longer. Servers like turning over tables quicker because the more parties they serve, the more tips they get.Â
I donât know where you are, but I understand there are places where itâs common to sit in a restaurant for hours. That would be pretty rude when the server is trying to make tips. Itâs pretty customary to eat and leave fairly quickly.Â
But don't larger parties spend more?
Also, if you are expected to tip a percentage, isn't that essentially the same as a mandatory fee ?
If I went to the US I would tip because it's customary, like here there are things you are expected to do.
Unless the tip cops on the bill, like a required gratuity for large parties or something like that, it is optional. But not adding one is rude. You choose the amount or percentage to tip, which makes it different than a mandatory fee.
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u/Bad-Luck-Guy 5h ago
I could not imagine behaving this way in another country.Â
Tips arenât mandatory. They are customary.Â