If you dine out, you should read this...

[anna_66]

There are SO many people out there flooding the restaurants w/o any knowledge of how to tip. Here is a short guide for the general public to follow. Feel free to print out and store in your wallet and/or purse.

1. CHILDREN "THE LITTLE DEVILS":
If you have children, DO NOT let them, open and dump anything on the table (ie; salt, sugar, etc). IF YOU DO, you must leave an extra $5 for the server to clean up YOUR CHILD'S mess & to restock the now unusable wasted items. We are neither their babysitter nor their parent. The least you can do is pay us for the extra work. Also make sure you control your kids and don't let them scream or run around the restraunt. It's very distracting not to mention dangerous if they get ran over by a server with hot food in their hands.

2. "THE CAMPERS":
If you feel the necessity to stay for longer than 15 minutes after you pay, its an extra $3 every 30 minutes. We make our money from the tables. If you are in one and we can't seat it, we don't make money.

3. COMPLIMENTS:
Telling a server they are the best server they've ever had is not a tip. If we are good, let us know by leaving us more money. We cant pay our bills on compliments. Its not that we don't appreciate the praise, its just that if you say that and then leave 10%, its an insult.

4. THE SALVATION PAMPHLETS:
Prayer cards and any other religious pamphlet is NOT a tip. It is insulting that you assume we are w/o religion and must save us. Again, like ..3, we cant pay bills w/prayer cards. We'd go to church on Sundays if it wasn't mandatory to work on Sundays because EVERYONE who goes to church follows it by eating out.

5. TIPPING:
It is not 1960. Cost of living has gone up dramatically since then. 18% is the MINIMUM amount of what you should be tipping your servers. Just look at the tax line and multiply by 2-3, this gives you your minimum tip amount. Remember, our companies pay us minimum wage (minumum wage for servers is $6.75 in CA, $3.38 in FL, $3.09 in IA, ONLY $2.38 IN MARYLAND & $2.13 in Louisiana & TN) And we are taxed on 10 percent of your meal automatically anyway. So if your meal is $100 and you leave $10 and we tip out $4-5 to the busser, bartender, and whoever else then we pay tax on 10 dollars the state assumes we are atleast making and we actually make $5. It seems small but it adds up. How many times do you eat out per week and do this? 18% PEOPLE!!! MINIMUM!

6. THE COMPLAINERS:
If you get a discount because of your food was prepared wrong or something, do not take it out of our tip. We didn't cook it. The cooks get paid hourly regardless if the food sucks. However, we only make what you give us.

7. THE FREE STUFF:
If you happen to get anything for free and you did not have a problem with your dining experience, most of the time it is because the server thinks you will realize that they are giving it to you for free. There should be extra tip thanking the server for the free item. They could get in a lot of trouble giving away free stuff. You should give them hazard pay for it.

8. THE LATE ONES:
If you come into the restraunt 10 mins before closing or any time near closing hurry up and order your food and get out. Closed means closed, not social hour. It is so rude to sit there and take your sweet ass time. We can't leave until you leave because we have to do sidework and clean the table you are sitting at. We don't want to stand there waiting for you for an extra hour just because you don't want to go home. We recommend 24 hour establishments such as Dennys if you wish to sit into the wee hours of the night.

9. THE TABLE HOGGERS:
If you only come in for coffee or a dessert, to do paper work, or to have a meeting, don't sit there taking up our booths for hours. We are not Starbucks or a hotel restraunt. If you want to sit for hours, go there or else you better leave a good tip for us and camping fee included.

10. THE GREET:
When we come up to the table to greet you and we ask how you are doing please let us know. We honestly want to know how you are doing. If you are in a bad mood we want to know that from the beginning. A confused stare or complete silence does not suffice as a reply to "How are you doing?". Also most of us are REQUIRED to say certain things during the greeting, so please don't interrupt our greeting and say "I want coffee", "Can we get some bread?", or "What are the soups?"

11. THOSE DAMN CELL PHONES:
Don't ever talk on your cell phone in a restraunt. This is probably the rudest thing to do. If you must be on your cell, at least keep your voice down in respect for other customers. If you are on your cell phone when we walk up to greet your table we will walk away and not return until you get off your phone. Just show some respect and give us your attention for a couple of minutes.

12. TAKE-AWAY OR TO-GOS:
Always remember to tip the take-out order servers! They work just as hard as a server, and hardly ever get tips for it! WE DESERVE TO BE TIPPED TOO!

13. DO NOT TELL ME YOU ARE BROKE WHEN YOU ARE LEAVING: If you cannot afford to tip properly then do not go out to eat. If I as a server bring you back $8.00 in change lets say from a $70.00 bill and only leave me $2.00 and tell me you are broke you should be castrated for being such an ignorant a**hole!! Do not waste your time or mine it really pisses us off.

14. High School Kids: Learn how to tip!! Just because you do not have a job and mommy and daddy pays for everything you have including the meal that you are eating do not think that it is ok to not tip. Leave a tip people b/c I remember every face that does not tip.
!!!SERVERS READING THIS!!!
Please repost this so the word can get out, since so many people are uneducated about tips and our lives depend on this - atleast for now...

SIGNED, YOUR FELLOW RESTAURANT WORKERS

[lbaker]

As someone who worked in restaurants for years, supporting two young children, I agree totally. No time to properly respond at this moment but will have some to add later this evening. One thing that used to drive me MAD CRAZY would be when people would look down at the menu and mumble or talk to the menu... exCUSE me... the menu can't hear and I would appreciate it if you would look at ME when asking a question or placing an order

[jackie]

OK, I am one to disagree.

Last year when I went to Canada, I sat in one place for more then 10 minutes before even being approached by a server. She then acted bored to have to serve us (hello, it is your job, put a smile on your face or get a new job), the food took ages, and we had to flag her down at least four times to get the bill. The most emotion on her face was when we didn't leave a tip.

I do tip, but not for nothing. If the service is reasonable, I will tip, if it is excellent, I will over tip, if it is horrible, I wont leave a penny.

[Catlady711]

I do tip, but not for nothing. If the service is reasonable, I will tip, if it is excellent, I will over tip, if it is horrible, I wont leave a penny.

Pretty much same here, except if the service is awful I leave 2 pennies as my two cents worth for a comment.

Although, my pardons to servers, I always thought a tip was supposed to be a VOULUNTARY expression of grattitude for service well done, not a mandatory way to supplement someone's else's income.

[Catty1]

Although, my pardons to servers, I always thought a tip was supposed to be a VOULUNTARY expression of grattitude for service well done, not a mandatory way to supplement someone's else's income.

It was supposed to be. But today's reality is, restaurants don't pay worth **** because they figure the staff will live off their tips - so they have no reason to increase the unliveable base wage.

When managers raise the wages - maybe then. But they won't, and are letting tippers pick up the slack.

JME

[critter crazy]

My question is, there are tons of jobs, that only pay minumum wage, and they dont get tips. And they manage to survive?? So why must we be pretty much be ordered to pay a tip, when others dont get one??

I also will not tip if the service is bad! Just a few weeks ago, when my parents stopped over, after my dads testing for his cancer, we went out to dinner. The service was horrible!! We sat at the table for 20 mins, before even being asked what we wanted to drink, then the food took over 45 mins to get to us, and half of our food was ice cold. Then it took well over 30 mins, trying to catch the guy for our check! I was furious, my poor dad got a drink spilled on him, and they took forever to bring us something to wipe it up with, then he almost fell cause they didnt clean up the floor! Needless to say they didnt get a tip, nor will we ever to to that place agian, family restaurant my butt!!

I am a very good tipper, but bad service=bad/no tip!

[Karen]

Minimum wage for food servers is often far lower than what the rest of the community gets paid as minimum wage. Sad, but true.

Anna, I often get take-out, and don't tip them, and no one has ever suggested that I do. That is not the same as serving a table - they
A. take the order,
B. type it into the cash register, and then
C. put the food in a bag for me when it's done and hand it to me.

How does that remotely compare to
A. Greeting and seating me,
B. Giving me a menu and reciting the daily specials
C. Answering question about the menu
D. Getting me drinks
E. Taking my food order
F. Checking and refilling my drinks, inquiring about the food,
G. Inquiring about dessert,
H. Bringing me my check,
I. Asking whether I want to take anything home, boxing it up if I do,
then after I leave,
J. Bussing and cleaning the table for the next person

Just curious ... places where I regularly get take-out are always friendly and glad to see me, so they don't seem angry that I haven;t been tipping them ...

[Alysser]

When me and my friends go out to applebees, we usually tip the reccommended amount, but last time our waitress took forever to return the change. We waited over 15 minutes! So, we gave her a $3.00 tip. Since the service was not terrible(she was nice), we gave her something. Trust me, if someone was rude to me and took forever they will not get a tip. They don't deserve it if they act that way!

[jennielynn1970]

I waitressed when I was in high school and after high school. One of the places was a nudist resort where we didn't get tipped (hello... they wore no clothes, they had no pockets!), but they did have to pay minimum wage. At least around here, if you're working a job like waitressing, if you don't make at least minimum when you add in your tips, payroll has to make up the balance.

Most of the waitress and waiters I know these days make some damn good money. My one boyfriend worked 3-4 nights a week, and pulled in about $600 minimum just in tips for those nights.

When I tip, I normally do 15% as a base. If they are excellent I'll do 20%. My delivery guys get at least 25% cause they have to drive to get to me as well. My chinese delivery guys are the best, and I always tip them well. I may not be rich, and I may be tight on money, but I know how I would feel if I were them, and they need to make a decent living as well. I've never not left a tip... even if they sucked. I figure some days I suck at work, and I wouldn't want to not get paid.

[critter crazy]

To be honest, i think all the points could have been said in a much nicer way. Calling epole names, and talking of Castration sure does put one in a foul mood.

[jennielynn1970]

To be honest, i think all the points could have been said in a much nicer way. Calling epole names, and talking of Castration sure does put one in a foul mood.

I agree with that totally... Plus who has room for a list that long in their wallet, lol! It's basically "Remember not to be cheap, and tip the way you'd like to be tipped yourself."

[Catlady711]

I've never worked as a waitress, however in H.S. I washed dishes in a busy restaurant. I don't know if any other places have the same procedure with tips as this place did but I thought it was grossly unfair to everyone. This place worked like this...

Waitress or bartender at the bar takes care of customer

Busboy/girl cleanes up tables and collects tip money, not the waitresses, bartender collects their own

ALL tip money collected went into a can during the shift

At the end of the night the tips were divided up evenly between the bartender, cooks including prepcooks, and waitresses but NOT the busboys/girls or the dishwashers which were the lowest paid in the place.

So the customer who left a tip intended for the waitress, it got split up between various people but not the ones responsible for the cleanliness of the place.

I only worked there for a couple months and got the heck out of there.

[columbine]

I waitressed when I was in high school and after high school. One of the places was a nudist resort where we didn't get tipped (hello... they wore no clothes, they had no pockets!)

So did they bother with lobster bibs?

It stinks that restaurants are still allowed to pay an insultingly low wage to their servers when even the newest potscrubber on the line is at least technically supposed to get the local minimum (although as likely as not they're working under the table for much less). Restaurant work is back-breaking and brings one into daily contact with folks who can't hold down another job, for reasons ranging from noncitizen status to a criminal record. I hardly ever eat out because I just won't go unless I can afford to tip heavily. And yes, if the server's rude or slow or makes a million mistakes with no discernible reason, I don't tip heavily. But if the place is gonzo, my dining companions are rude or unreasonable, or the server is clearly injured or too pregnant to be on her feet all day, I don't worry about slowness or a few mistakes.

Love, Columbine (dang, now I'm jonesing for fish-n-chips at my favorite local place again)

[clara4457]

I waitressed and bartended for about 13 years off and on, and I so agree with you. Some things that people might not realize.

Servers do not usually get fringe benefits. Most have to pay any insurance or retirement plan out of pocket, so if you think they make too much money, realize that they have their own payroll expenses.

The minimum wage for servers is $2 to $4 less that the national minimum wage. The argument that other workers get minimum wage without tips and do fine doesn't stack up. Also, servers do not get raises, so there are no merit raises, cost of living raises, etc.

The serving jobs where they make over $400 are few and far between. Most servers make between $250 and $400 in the majority of establishments (before taxes) - add into the costs for their own health insurance and retirement and that figure decreases dramatically. Try to make a living making that kind of money. Many servers are single parents with children at home and that is their only income. These women will probably always have to work and have little or no prospect of retirement. I feel bad for these women.

Serving is HARD WORK. It is physically and emotionally draining. Try being happy and cheerful for a 10 hour shift with no breaks, verbal abuse, cleaning other people's messes, dealing with rudeness throughout your shift. You are on your feet running for the entire time. I used to come home with my legs throbbing so bad that I couldn't sleep. Cleaning up after the shift can take over an hour - at the same $4.00 an hour.

Back of house issues are not the server's fault - yet directly impacts the money she/he makes. Cold food, slow food, under or over cooked food have nothing to do with the server's performance. If you have these issues, talk to a manager, don't stiff the server.

I'll add one more to Anna's list:

You aren't the only table I have - try to get all requests for your table so the server only has to make one trip. If every time I go back to your table I have to get something else for a member of your party, it is taking away from the time I can spend at my other tables - which will affect my tip from them. I don't know how many times I have gotten a drink for a table and every time I deliver it - someone else at the table asks for a drink themselves. ONE TRIP PLEASE!

I'm not saying you have to tip for bad service, just be considerate of the person that is trying their best to make a living.

JMHO

[CathyBogart]

My sister has another one to add:

The fact that there are a few empty tables in the restaurant does NOT mean you get to be seated immediately. Those tables are empty because our servers are already stretched too thin and nobody is serving them. Whining at the hostess is not going to make the management staff more servers, nor is it going to make anyone happy. Just RELAX for 15 minutes so that you can have a server who is a)not completely frazzled and b) has the time to get to you between all of their other tables.