Counter Tipping

[albertGQ]

Originally Posted by IliketoPuck

Albert, did you ever work at a restaurant as a server?

Here is how it works, or at least how it did where I worked.

Say you ring out $1200 in food/drinks for the evening, and everything is paid in CC/Debit. You do not get to take home tips that night unless someone has paid in cash. Anyone that pays in cash enables you to take home tips that night. So say you come in as the last table of the night, and have a $120 bill and pay it in cash, I take home that cash as part of my tips, and if that doesn't cover the total amount of tips I got from all my CC/Debit chits then I have a credit with the restaurant that gets applied the next time I cash out.

Dude. Think before you talk about something you obviously have no experience with. Dude.

Yes. I actually serve part time on weekends right now. And if my tips exceed the cash I have on hand, I do get the rest from the restaurant. Ok, I conceed that it may vary from restaurant to restaurant. I didn't understand your previous point that you actually do get it, just on your next shift when your credit is applied. With the increase in CC and debit payments, restaurants that still operate on your system is doing their servers a disservice

I go back to my original question. Why is a cash tip so preferable? It does not make a difference

[Eric Vail]

If a workplace does some crappy things with the tips I leave, I think the employees should take that up with the management of the restaurant. I do not feel I should be leaving more in my tips because management is bad to their workers. If an employer is bad, the employees should quit and find better work. Eventually, the employer will have to change his practises. Now, if an employer can do bad things and have no problem finding staff, then there must be something pretty good about that work situation.

[yads]

Originally Posted by albertGQ

That is false. Now I'm starting to think you make stuff up

So you're saying if a server makes $100 in CC tips for the night and $0 cash tips, he walks home with $0 in tips?

Dude. Think before you type

Same thing with cabbies, if you pay with CC they don't see any money until the end of the week.

[Eric Vail]

Most of us in the world don't get the money we earn until sometimes weeks after earning it. Why is it a big deal that any of us should care if a server gets tip money that night or the next night?

[Julio]

Honestly, I think the whole 'cash in hand' thing is a bit addictive. People just love to have the money in their hand at the end of the shift, it's instant gratification, plus for a lot of servers they get into the habit of using that cash for their day to day expenses.

[The Yen Man]

I think all Iliketopuck is saying is that if you pay tips in cash, then some restaurants tip out and pay out the cash portion right away at the end of the night to the servers. Thus, it's just a matter of getting tips right away rather than waiting for it on their paycheques.

[yads]

Originally Posted by The Yen Man

I think all Iliketopuck is saying is that if you pay tips in cash, then some restaurants tip out and pay out the cash portion right away at the end of the night to the servers. Thus, it's just a matter of getting tips right away rather than waiting for it on their paycheques.

I think everyone gets it, but doesn't care because most people don't get paid at the end of each day they work.

[Eric Vail]

Originally Posted by squiggs96

As someone who paid his way through university working in restaurants and surviving on tips, let me chime in. Restaurants pay servers minimum wage. If you don't want anyone to tip, then you wouldn't have any servers. In order to pay servers what they are worth, then they would raise the price of food and pass this amount on to the servers. You need to take into account a tip when dining in for your total, just like sales tax. If the service is crappy, leave a small amount. If the service is great, leave something extra. It's always, always, appreciated. The best servers make the most money. If tips aren't given at a place, you will have crappy service all the time.

My rant was not directed at tipping a waitress for good service in a restaurant. This is a long standing convention in our society that I agree results in better service.

My beef with tipping is more with take out food and such were there is no service. The idea that the cooks should get a service tip is ridiculous, with regards to take out. I pay three times what the food is worth because it is cooked. The restaurant needs to pay their cooks an appropriate amount from the amount I pay them.

[Winsor_Pilates]

Too many servers are extremely spoiled. The make way more money than a 17 yr old should, expect tips without good service, and avoid a large chunk of taxes the rest of us pay.
Tipping sucks, I do it because I have to but it's one of the stupidest things in our society. Service seems to keep getting worse, and the sense of entitlement servers have keep growing. Bound to happen with such a stupid system and it will keep growing worse.

[Phaneuf3]

Originally Posted by Eric Vail

The restaurant needs to pay their cooks an appropriate amount from the amount I pay them.

Why is this acceptable for cooks and not for servers? Maybe if we move to a variable tipping system for cooks, they'll put more effort into their cooking and we'll get better results. (It makes as much sense as reasons behind the variable tipping system for servers).


On the other side of the coin, maybe the restaurant needs to pay an appropriate amount to servers from what I pay them.

[edn88]

Oddly I am bothered neither non-anonymous tipping nor not putting a tip on pickup food. If I feel I have recieved excellent service (which I don't believe you get on a pickup order) then I will tip accordingly. If I recieve deplorable service, I have no problem inputting a zero or minimal tip - and feel no guilt or remorse in doing so. If someone wants to call me on a zero tip, I would be more than happy to explain why their service was so crappy. Probably better for them to get the subtle message about their suckitude from the lack of tip.

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by Eric Vail

Why is it a big deal that any of us should care if a server gets tip money that night or the next night?

Because if we give them cash we can help them cheat on their taxes, duh.

This is getting pretty ridiculous. I'm now supposed to keep track of the servers own life history, an establishments monetary/payment practices, whether the kitchen staff is being compensated in a fair manner compared to their colleagues, and the type of payment for the tip incase the server needs cash moneys asap?

Frick, all i want is a damn sammich!

[Akai-Sesui]

Originally Posted by Sliver

Maximum 40%? That's ######ed.

Depends if you've ever been completely wow'ed by a server before and I have.

In the context of hockey, when we're doing predictions for the season with 82 games, the maximum is 164pts...this doesn't mean that we will be getting 164pts, but it's nice to know what we're working with. If nothing else, we do the calculations and projections for the in-betweens.
110pts is a pretty damn good season and that's just 67% of the points attainable in the year.

Likewise this means you won't be tipping 40% every night, but a 25% tip is pretty damn good.

Still...it's good to have a system in place for if we do get 164pts...hey, it's not likely, but it'd pretty sweet if we did. And if you ever get service/food that's so great it merits 40%...well there you go.

[IliketoPuck]

So we can all agree to disagree then?

All I was doing was providing some insight into the working practices at the one restaurant that I ever worked at, and that I no longer work at. Some server's experiences differ from location to location, no question. I was just sharing the experiences that I had where I worked. Cash was preferrable, cc/debit was not. Part of this was definitely the instant gratification, but there was also a financial draw back from the cc/debit transactions. In retrospect it was probably illegal and should have been reported.

Server's do get to avoid some taxes and get some breaks financially as a result, but I challenge those who say they have it easy to take a 8-10 hour shift during a busy Friday/Saturday and then honestly say that they do not deserve to be compensated more than the $8.50 minimum. Without tips there is no way in hell anyone serves.

If service is crappy, don't tip. But at the same time, don't fail to tip if the service is reasonable, and the only reason you aren't tipping is because you don't believe in tipping as compensation.