San Fran: Restaurant workers want 25% *Mandatory* tip

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OverVolt

Lifer
Aug 31, 2002
14,278
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I'm all for tipping, however what generally prevents me from tipping are the idiots who brag about their tips from Friday night, how they make $50/hr waiting tables and totally ignore the $3/hr they made tuesday at 2pm. Then they get it in their head they deserve the salary of a pharmacist with 5 years of experience and 8 years of school all for carrying some plates and making sure you have a straw, or the salary of a certified and skilled mechanic who speaks german and works on VW, etc.

Basically if most waiters were not flamboyant entitled douchebags I would actually tip more. I understand they have to make a solid living so I tip my 15%, if I have a small bill I have no problem just tipping a round number like $5 or $10 at 20 or 30% so long as they are not the type of waiter who annoys me.
 

mrkun

Platinum Member
Jul 17, 2005
2,189
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I would tend to agree but I once knew a flight attendant who lived in a tiny apartment in SF who had to pull down 4 jobs just to make ends meet. I can understand why they might be asking for this (ridiculous) amount because it is so expensive to live there.

There is a simple way to voice your opinion about this issue .. either do or don't eat at SF restaurants.

Who forced him/her to live in SF? Housing is half the price in directly adjacent Daly City, and it's the same way in the East Bay.
 
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911paramedic

Diamond Member
Jan 7, 2002
9,450
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Did you even read the article?

If it turns out there is a development on this report, I’ll keep you posted. But until there’s meat on the bone, no story.

Update: Kim Wirshing of the Hotel and Restaurant Employees Union Local 2 just returned my call. He was unaware of the issue and told me, “That’s not something we’re pushing right now.”​
 

anyusername

Senior member
Aug 11, 2008
233
0
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I never understood the american tipping culture, don't waiters/waitresses get paid by the restaurant? why would the client have to pay for their salaries? if anything, restaurants should raise their prices and pay their employees themselves.
 

xanis

Lifer
Sep 11, 2005
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Even if you think tipping is fine a 25% mandatory tip is crazy. I think everyone can agree on that one.

Not saying whether I agree or disagree, just commenting on how tipping threads on ATOT usually turn out: Badly.
 

brblx

Diamond Member
Mar 23, 2009
5,499
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I never understood the american tipping culture, don't waiters/waitresses get paid by the restaurant? why would the client have to pay for their salaries? if anything, restaurants should raise their prices and pay their employees themselves.

it's just another little lovely bit of american 'culture.' most of our restaurants are corporate chains, and they long ago deemed that if they could get customers to tip their servers enough to fund a minimum wage salary, they wouldn't have to pay them. go us.
 

Capt Caveman

Lifer
Jan 30, 2005
34,547
651
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I never understood the american tipping culture, don't waiters/waitresses get paid by the restaurant? why would the client have to pay for their salaries? if anything, restaurants should raise their prices and pay their employees themselves.

It's called paying for service/performance. Why pay 15-25% more in the price of my meal and get bad service? I have a say if I receive bad service and can reward if I believe it deserves it.
 
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Double Trouble

Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
9,272
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Good service = good tip, meh service = meh tip, and bad service equals no tip. That's the whole point of the concept of a "tip". If it's mandatory, doesn't that sorta defeat the purpose?

Also, why does the "standard" amount continue to rise steadily? From 5% to 10% to 15% and now (apparently) 20%? Since it's a percentage, should it simply remain the same and thus keep up with the times as the price of food goes up?
 

mrkun

Platinum Member
Jul 17, 2005
2,189
0
0
I never understood the american tipping culture, don't waiters/waitresses get paid by the restaurant? why would the client have to pay for their salaries? if anything, restaurants should raise their prices and pay their employees themselves.

Why would a restaurant want to do that? If they raised prices it would decrease their business.
 

jhansman

Platinum Member
Feb 5, 2004
2,768
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Well, they can want in one hand and shit in the other. I'll let them figure out which one will fill up first.
 

brblx

Diamond Member
Mar 23, 2009
5,499
2
0
Good service = good tip, meh service = meh tip, and bad service equals no tip. That's the whole point of the concept of a "tip". If it's mandatory, doesn't that sorta defeat the purpose?

Also, why does the "standard" amount continue to rise steadily? From 5% to 10% to 15% and now (apparently) 20%? Since it's a percentage, should it simply remain the same and thus keep up with the times as the price of food goes up?

price of food can't go up. price of food has generally gone down, at least for your lower classes...just not healthy food.

think about servers spending an hour plus on a couple of people eating for 20 bucks at TGI fridays or whatnot. you gonna leave them three bucks?
 

OverVolt

Lifer
Aug 31, 2002
14,278
89
91
If I have a small bill I have no problem just tipping a round number like $5 or $10 at 20 or 30% so long as they are not the type of waiter who annoys me.

This should probably be more common of a practice. So long as they aren't the type to immediately go running to their friends and brag about their percentage tip I really don't care. Minimum tip should be about $5 for eat in.
 

MikeyLSU

Platinum Member
Dec 21, 2005
2,747
0
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never understood the percentage thing.

Why should a waiter get more money for bringing out a steak over a hamburger? They are doing the exact same job. Or bringing a soft drink and keeping it filled, as opposed to keeping a water glass filled.

I do the percentage thing, but I feel it should be more like pizza, I just tip a buck for each pizza generally, not a percentage of the order.
 

OverVolt

Lifer
Aug 31, 2002
14,278
89
91
never understood the percentage thing.

Why should a waiter get more money for bringing out a steak over a hamburger? They are doing the exact same job. Or bringing a soft drink and keeping it filled, as opposed to keeping a water glass filled.

I do the percentage thing, but I feel it should be more like pizza, I just tip a buck for each pizza generally, not a percentage of the order.

Really nice restaurants I guess require a bit more time per table and entertaining the customer with jokes or treating them like royalty, or whatever. It is a shoddy way to take account of eating somewhere really nice. I'm a fan of minimum tip $5, or like minimum tip $2.50 per person.
 

JD50

Lifer
Sep 4, 2005
11,630
2,014
126
never understood the percentage thing.

Why should a waiter get more money for bringing out a steak over a hamburger? They are doing the exact same job. Or bringing a soft drink and keeping it filled, as opposed to keeping a water glass filled.

I do the percentage thing, but I feel it should be more like pizza, I just tip a buck for each pizza generally, not a percentage of the order.

Not to get all Alkemyst on you, but this is generally the kind of thing that people say when they've never been to a really nice restaurant.
 
Feb 25, 2011
16,776
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Not to get all Alkemyst on you, but this is generally the kind of thing that people say when they've never been to a really nice restaurant.
I have. Oh god, I have.

99% of the time, I prefer the service at Perkin's. Especially when dining alone.

I am here to eat. Do not bother me, do not attempt to engage me in conversation. If you are smart enough to realize that I am a misanthrope, you will be tipped. Probably quite well. Your breast size does not have a bearing on your tip. Bring me food and go do something useful like cleaning that filthy bathroom.

Now, clearly, I'm single. :(

Fine dining has it's place and it's role. After all, most humans combine eating with social interaction. Curious behavior, really. And there is a time and a place for a really fucking good steak.

But for OCD Assburger-wannabes like myself, obsessed with fairness as we are; in most restaurants, most of the time, "why should I tip you more just because I ordered onion rings instead of fries, or less because I ordered water instead of coke?" is a perfectly valid question, and exposes an iniquity in our current system.

What is it the feminists say? "Same pay for the same work!"?
 
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zinfamous

No Lifer
Jul 12, 2006
110,511
29,090
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JEDI is a really cool guy. He always posts articles without reading them, and doesn't afraid of anything.
 

Oyeve

Lifer
Oct 18, 1999
21,899
819
126
I tip what I feel is necessary. Just because a meal at one restaurant is 30 bucks and another meal at another restaurant is 100 bucks that doesnt mean I should have to leave more for litterally the same amount of work required at both. The tipping percentage in the US is retarded. Most places in Europe its like 3%. Why? Because they actually get paid a salary. Sometimes you get really shitty service from a waiter and do you really feel like giving 15-20%? fuck that, you treat me like shit I dont tip.
 

mmntech

Lifer
Sep 20, 2007
17,504
12
0
They should raise the minimum wage for restaurant staff. The fact that they can get paid less than people in other industries is disgusting, and also unfair to the business community at large. It's a huge double standard. A tip is supposed to be a reward for good service, not to supplement wages for cheap ass restaurateurs.
 

arcenite

Lifer
Dec 9, 2001
10,658
3
81
The problem is that people think working for tips = everyone tips fairly.

I say do away with the POS tipping system.