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Tips to the Wait staff

lenquixote66

By lenquixote66,
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ilikeanswers

ilikeanswers

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, GUT2407 said:

Maybe you should read the whole thread where your fellow countrymen say they reduce the amount they tip for poor service, so seems hard to accept that there is never poor service and that people don’t still tip for it. 

 

My friend on his last day in Hawaii chose not to tip because of what he considered bad service (food took too long to come out, turned out it was the wrong food, server blamed him and the friends he was with for the error). They where waiting outside the restaurant for their Uber and the server having seen no tip was left came out screaming and swearing at them. They tried to walk away from her but she kept following them all the way down the street. Luckily they managed to get their Uber and got away. I have heard since that if you don't tip you should leave a 1 cent coin to signify you thought the service was bad. I don't know if this is standard practice, if any Americans read this I would love it to be comfirmed or denied. 

 

I think the best way to view tipping in America is always as a wage not an indication of workers performance. The abolition of slavery established tipping as a wage since restauranters didn't want to be paying freed slaves. The anti tipping movement really took hold in Europe in the 19th century and got rid of it as a wage. As Australians we probably imported that idea via Britain. It is most likely why the views on tipping are so diverse around the world and why people get so confused. 

 

Bringing it back to cruising it would seem the anti tipping lobby in America actually considers auto gratuities and prepaid tips as the better form of tipping as it limits peoples ability to reduce tips for reasons of the staff's race, gender, age, attractiveness, the fact they didn't laugh at a customers joke or refused a customer's s sexual advances. It is one of the reasons a lot restaurants now add the gratuity to the bill, so it creates a better environment for their staff. 

 

 

 

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ilikeanswers

ilikeanswers

Posted
Posted
5 minutes ago, K32682 said:

 

The UK is responsible for Halloween not North America.

 

https://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/Halloween

 

 

Let's not forget that tipping was a cultural practice imported from Europe😜.

Brief History of Tipping

A brief history of tipping

But America returned the favour by giving Europe the Anti Tipping Society 😉. Imagine if history had turned out differently. We would be on the opposite side of the tipping fence and this whole thread would be an inverted conversation🤗. 

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SantaFeFan

SantaFeFan

Posted
Posted (edited)
16 minutes ago, ilikeanswers said:

 

Let's not forget that tipping was a cultural practice imported from Europe😜.

Brief History of Tipping

A brief history of tipping

But America returned the favour by giving Europe the Anti Tipping Society 😉. Imagine if history had turned out differently. We would be on the opposite side of the tipping fence and this whole thread would be an inverted conversation🤗. 

 

The Anti Tipping Society enacted laws in a few states that existed from 1904 to 1926, when they were all repealed as unpopular and unworkable. It never had any impact on European culture. Heck, it barely had an impact on home shores!  It was as much of a failure as prohibition was in 1920s and early 1930s. 

 

Not sure why you put any emphasis on a failed experiment that virtually no one remembers or cares about. 

Edited by SantaFeFan
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ilikeanswers

ilikeanswers

Posted
Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, SantaFeFan said:

 

The Anti Tipping Society enacted laws in a few states that existed from 1904 to 1926, when they were all repealed as unpopular and unworkable. It never had any impact on European culture. Heck, it barely had an impact on home shores!  It was as much of a failure as prohibition was in 1920s and early 1930s. 

 

Not sure why you put any emphasis on a failed experiment that virtually no one remembers or cares about. 

 

But the Europeans who visited America brought the ideas back across the Atlantic they started I guess what today we would call lobby groups to eliminate tipping all over the continent (having visited Europe a lot I would say it was more or less successful😋) and with it came all these new ideas about work remuneration and theories about fair pay. Did you never wonder why Europeans stopped tipping?

 

Also my comment emphasis was more to do with the irony that tipping was originally a European custom. I just think it is quite funny that Europeans complain about tipping in America when historically it is their fault 🤣. You have to love the quirks of history 🤗. 

Edited by ilikeanswers
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DarrenM

DarrenM

Posted
Posted
6 hours ago, K32682 said:

 

The UK is responsible for Halloween not North America.

 

https://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/Halloween/

 

Damn the uk. Why did I know this would happen.

 

Can I humbly apologise, on behalf of the British government, to the whole of the USA for forcing this stupid pointless event on you all.

 

Now can you all apologise to me for the other two things.

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MicCanberra Holiday Sharing Rare

MicCanberra

Posted
Posted
On 8/15/2019 at 9:52 AM, lenquixote66 said:

We always tip our Waiters,Aast. Waiters and sometimes Head Waiters. I was talking to a neighbor today who goes on close to 10 cruises a year. He said he never tips the Wait staff no matter how good they are or even if they do special things for him.

I know there are threads her on this subject but I could not find any and I cannot recall a discussion in 2019.I am wondering how people feel especially since the daily across the board gratuities have gone up so much .

We always tip the waiters and such. It may not be much but it is something.

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K32682

K32682

Posted
Posted
On 9/3/2019 at 3:46 AM, DarrenM said:

Damn the uk. Why did I know this would happen.

 

Can I humbly apologise, on behalf of the British government, to the whole of the USA for forcing this stupid pointless event on you all.

 

Now can you all apologise to me for the other two things.

 

I'm a Canadian so an apology to the U.S.A. doesn't include me. 😉

 

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DarrenM

DarrenM

Posted
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45 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

I am feeling sorry for Britain at the moment, this Brexit stuff is almost making the US and Australia's issues and govenments look semi-normal.

Ah dont feel sorry for us.

 

We(the prople) voted for utter stupidity.

 

We deserve all we are about to get.

 

It's just a shame those leading wont suffer whereas the working class folk will.

 

Strange times indeed. Yet very entertaining for us that enjoy politics.

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geoffrywillhardt

geoffrywillhardt

Posted
Posted

Shouldn't the staff strive to provide good service to all in the hopes that they will want to tip? If its forced upon its not really a tip then is it. I know this has been discussed here in this very thread  but in my opinion if they want it to be mandatory to be part of the crews salary then they shouldn't call it a tip. A tip is a reward for services by definition not a portion of salary which is paid by the employer to the employee. If I receive poor service I shouldn't be made to feel bad because I lower or remove the tips. I have openly admitted on a previous post and I'm not afraid to say that on my last cruise I removed the tips. (not trying to sound like I'm bragging just being open) The service was horrible at every turn. Had issues with the state room steward, dining staff, and casino staff. We tried to be understanding but when we moved our issues up the ladder we got no better help or response to the issues than from the bottom. Now I understand this is out of the ordinary and we don't fault Carnival at all. Heck we booked two more cruises with them, but I certainly wasn't going to tip for bad service.  

 

In my opinion cruise lines giving the staff lists of those who tip bad is asking for trouble. I feel like allowing the staff to give poor service to guests based on past or present tipping would result in overall worse experiences for all guests. Also how does the staff know if that particular guest received poor service on the previous cruse which caused them to remove tips.

 

I know one person expressed an interest in what factors people considered when tipping, what they thought was good or poor service so I will mention a few of the big ones to me.

 

Number one, first and foremost is attitude. Its the first thing you notice when a staff member interacts with you. They should always have a smile and a positive attitude. In my opinion there is no excuse to not. If they are having that bad of a day then they shouldn't be working that day. When I say that bad of a day I'm talking about the death of a family member or friend. 

 

Number two is service speed. They don't have to be johnny on the spot but things need to happen in a reasonable amount of time. Extra points (and tips) for things like not having to ask for refills on drinks. 

 

I honestly thought there would be more which is why I started numbering but as I thought more about it the main thing is just attitude. Even if service is a little slow I can overlook that as long as the attitude of the staff member is good. 

 

One question I have, the general rule that I have found for restaurant wait staff is minimum 15% preferably 20%. I have also read that if you can't afford the tip then you probably shouldn't be eating there. I also vaguely remember someone on this very thread commenting on a $1000 restaurant tab. Now I have all faith that all of you can do the math but ill still spell it out. That means a $200 tip.... I have never had and hope to never have a $1000 tab unless its for a huge party of people which is the only way I could consider a $200 tip reasonable. I would assume the $200 for $1000 tab would be for a large party probably with multiple wait staff with the tip being split. Has anyone had a $1000 tab for a smaller table of say 2-6 people? Did you still tip the 20%? This is one case where I don't feel like the % of the bill rule makes sense. I can understand going through a few bottles of expensive wine at a nice restaurant, but does that waiter deserve a $200 tip just because expensive wine is being served over the waiter that is serving cheaper wine at say the Olive Garden. I can see someone saying something about the class of restaurant being basically more expensive to work at as a reason but I find it hard to believe its that expensive. 

 

Also I have been reading in a few different places that most wait staff makes $2/hr. When I waited tables this was not the case and for all the waiters I personally know this is also not the case. My general rule of thumb is that if your not willing to do the work for the base rate then you shouldn't be doing it at all. This would of course require employers to pay that wage and charge accordingly which in my opinion is fair. 

 

Also to the point about tips not being taxed, I don't know how that works in different countries but in the US you are supposed to report and pay taxes on your tips. 

 

Sorry for the long post but after 10 pages of reading I felt there was a lot to say.  

    

 

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clo

clo

Posted
Posted
22 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

I am feeling sorry for Britain at the moment, this Brexit stuff is almost making the US and Australia's issues and govenments look semi-normal.

OT but here's my fave Brexit photo.

brexit.jpg

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clo

clo

Posted
Posted
11 hours ago, geoffrywillhardt said:

Has anyone had a $1000 tab for a smaller table of say 2-6 people? Did you still tip the 20%?

I'd say The French Laundry and Per Se, as just two restaurants would run with wine pairing and dinner for two would be around $1000.  But they may have gratuity included.

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clo

clo

Posted
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44 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

Years ago when in Dallas, we went to the restaurant above the Hilton (revolving one) after looking at the menu and ordering, I quickly went back to the room to get more cash as we wouldn't have had enough to cover the tips.

I've never been to a restaurant - rotating or otherwise - that took credit cards but where you couldn't include the tip.  Like never, ever.  Weird.  But, hey, it's a revolving one 🙂

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RocketMan275

RocketMan275

Posted
Posted
4 minutes ago, clo said:

I've never been to a restaurant - rotating or otherwise - that took credit cards but where you couldn't include the tip.  Like never, ever.  Weird.  But, hey, it's a revolving one 🙂

Probably wasn't intending to use a credit card for the meal.  Cash only.

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clo

clo

Posted
Posted
4 hours ago, clo said:

I'd say The French Laundry and Per Se, as just two restaurants would run with wine pairing and dinner for two would be around $1000.  But they may have gratuity included.

Found this article.  It's a couple of years old so some may have changed.  You'll notice that they say that if service is included it will be stated.  Maybe two?

https://www.businessinsider.com/the-worlds-most-expensive-tasting-menus-2017-4#1-sublimotion-ibiza-spain-33

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