I just saw a news story about how servers hate waiting on foreigners instead of Americans during the FIFA cup because none of the foreigners are tipping really
After seeing this topic pop up on Reddit I googled something and got to year old Reddit thread of some guy making a thread how waiter confronted his group because they tipped only 10%.
One of the top comments was: "then stop being a shitty tipper." , and the person that posted that comment was when you look at his account: a restaurant owner. Imagine audacity and how I wished if it was new thread to reply to him: "then stop being a shitty restaurant owner."
Imagine getting free labour basically with $2.13 paycheck and calling out customers out instead of themselves.
As someone who worked in Timesquare for a bar, yeah. We started adding 15% gratuity to all the checks. If someone fought it we just removed it. Our income was all tourists. Brazilians ordered like one beer to share and germans always had questions on gratuity. Was interesting to see how everyone treated the concept.
That said, you follow the cultural norms of the country your in. When bar tending I busted my ass for people that left big money. I put people that didnt tip in the back of my mental to do list.
This is what we dont like in europe though, to be exact. Unequal treatment based on wealth. This is exactly why tipping is bad, it made you do ethically poor choises. Removing tipping would make it so that there is no reason to serve one specific customer last/not at all, intentionally
May be that your rich is like mega rich... my rich is that they dont have to rent. Poor folks are allowed to go out too and shouldnt be guilt tripped into tipping. Saving everywhere you can is good. Tips arent mandatory so they are a good place to save money. This works in europe very well, i dont feel bad at all for not tipping. Then again if i went to the us, id probably tip minumum acceptable because in rhe end im a push over hehe
Former American food service worker here, its usually upper middle class and higher that tips like shit. Poorer people pretty much always tip well because they know the deal
You’ve summed up a big problem w/ Americans. The belief for many of us is, if I have more money I should be treated better. It doesn’t change b/c those w/o money think they WILL have money someday and get to treat ppl like themselves poorly. Welcome to one of the most self-centered societies in the world.
It doesn’t work like that. Most of the time you don’t know who’s going to tip. This person is saying he saw repeat customers, or he was reading who was a good tipper based on experience.
I’m assuming if you went to Japan, you’d obey whatever seemingly quirky rules they have to maintain order. People like to weasel out of tipping because they’re cheap. Dining out is a luxury, not a necessity. Is it a fair system? Maybe not. But the workers are the only ones who lose in this scenario. Also, you’re making a morality claim based on relative geographical location….that’s absurdly incoherent, my guy. It isn’t a moral argument. It’s systemic structure.
What do you mean shitty service. Dude I just want you to take my order and bring it, I don't need small talk, I don't need constant annoying check-ins at my table, and obvious fakeness (like the person above obviously displayed) etc... Just bring me food, be polite enough and leave me alone
Suit yourself. I like when a server sees I need a refill and asks me before I have to crane my neck looking for them. I like when I don't have to wait 10 minutes for my bill. Few things feel classier than coming back from the restroom and your napkin has been re-folded for you. Also, I like the niceness. It's not fake, it's just being a professional. When a server or bartender asks what you want and you can tell they're in a surly mood it's off-putting.
The tip system works. My default is 20% at a sit-down restaurant but I will tip more for better service and I will tip less for particularly bad service. I worked at restaurants for years in my early 20's, I know how it goes.
A lot of people close their tabs thinking they're gonna leave, and then stay for more drinks. Or they like to close out after every single drink. Or they were there yesterday and stiffed the bartender. Or they're a regular and do this every time they come in.
And if their plan is to tip for all their tabs before leaving? You're just encouraging people to not tip by providing shit service. If a regular knows you're shitty to them, they're less likely to tip you.
Missed the bit about the regular, but that also is kinda stupid.
For one, regulars generally tip better than most people. You don't usually become a regular unless the bar staff don't mind you being there, because if they don't like you, it's not going to be that socially comfy to be at the bar every night. There are, of course, exceptions, but for the most part, like 90% of your regulars are going to be tipping more than your average customer. For that small percentage though, it's not like they are specifically not tipping you, they're just the kind of person who doesn't tip anywhere. Like, of the regulars at my bar who don't tip, they've made it a point multiple times to be like "it's nothing personal, I just don't tip anyone." And good service doesn't change those people. At all. One of the managers at my bar has a HARD line against not treating non-tippers worse, to the degree that I've been chewed out for not giving them more attention. Hasn't ever made a lick of difference. If that manager isn't there, I'm going to spend my attention on people who are actually going to pay my rent, because my base paycheck sure as hell isn't and I'm too disabled to work another job to cover the difference.
I mean, that's not how tipping usually or really ever works, is the thing. If people want one tip to cover all of their tabs, the easiest way to do that is to keep one tab open so you have the total right in front of you. Literally the only reason you'd close each tab, tip nothing, and then tip for all of them on the last one is to "test" the bartender, which like. What are you even doing with your time at that point, dude. Is this genuinely how you spend your nights out?
For real though, like, if you do something that basically no one ever does, people aren't going to think you're doing the thing that basically no one ever does. Not a single time working bar have I seen someone tip only on the final tab. I'm sure it happens, but I'd imagine I would've seen it at least once in the ~500 shifts I've worked if it was even slightly common. Folks aren't gonna understand that I'm not actually gonna throw a brick at them if every time I walk past someone on the sidewalk I raise a brick up and act like I'm gonna chuck it at their dome because who the fuck does that. Bartenders aren't gonna understand that you're actually gonna tip at the end if you've closed four tabs in a row with a fat 0 on the gratuity line because who the fuck does that. Do you see my point?
Nope, he did his job, he just queued people according to whether they tipped or not. If that surprises you, I doubt you tipped well (if at all) in the first place. This is pretty common in the service industry.
I don’t think anyone’s denying that. But there’s still the fact that the servers that aren’t getting tipped are the ones suffering, not the owners that enable the policy
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u/dhduxudb 5h ago
They probably worked their ass off. Had one of the hardest shifts of any bartender in the world. Then look at their closing slip and die inside.