I hate tipping, and I'm glad that we don't really have it in Taiwan, aside from a few nicer restaurants doing the 10% gratuity BS.

My issue lies with service. When I was growing up, I had been taught to leave 10% for mediocre service, 15% for good service. Maybe spring for 20% on the rare occasions of something totally amazing. At the bar, $1 a drink, but in the first drink tip higher, get them to notice you.

Now suddenly it seems that 20% is the norm, and if you give less than that then suddenly you are the cheap ass bad guy, despite not getting superb service. It's rediculous, especially in light of the fact that employers need to make up the difference if waiters don't end up making minimum wage. So if they are guaranteed to earn minimal wage anyway, why this entitlement that they deserve higher, especially if service is mediocre?

When I was in university, I used to work at a winery. If people bought wine by the case (and many did), the employees were expected to carry it out to their vehicles, iirc each case held about 9 - 12 750 ml bottles of wine. That was really hard work, but rarely did we get tipped for it, though imo, those workers easily deserved to be tipped for the muscle we had to use to do it.

On that note, if I order gas for the stove or shower, I'll almost always round up and tip the guy about $5, nothing more miserable than being a 50 year old, climbing four flights of stairs with a heavy and bulky tank of gas.

Tipping a restaurant shmuck "going rate" or come across as being rude, even if they barely just do the bare minimal, yeah, that sucks.

Edit double post

I take this stance as well. If you're getting paid to do a job, you should be doing it up to full capacity, as that's what you're getting paid to do.

We all have off days of course, but doing a shitty job because you don't agree with your pay is not acceptable imo

It's more common for millenials to tip less or not at all than other generations. Some of the responses here are not surprising. Even though it seems very split on this board, non/low tippers are the vast minority in America.

A question was asked here of why someone should not enjoy the benefit of being waited on while not wanting to pay the "optional fee" of tipping. Well, the industry that you speak of in America has been built on gratuities. Waiting tables, cab driving, etc has always been supplemented by gratuities. If those were to disappear or be greatly reduced from people who feel entitled not to, those industries you people want to enjoy would disappear. If servers can't make ends meet anymore, they will leave the industry and there won't be enough people to serve you anymore. Have fun cooking at home!

I hope your industries don't become maginalized. At least mine is adaptable. People will always want a nice lunch.

^^^That.  If you're so anti-tipping, tell your server the second you sit down.   Keep a count of how many drink refills you get though, I'm curious if it'll be more than one.




 

None of these guys will do that though. It's WAY easier to screw someone over by running out at the end and then fighting their battles behind a keyboard. They'll NEVER face up to those they're not tipping because deep inside they know it's wrong.

Damn some of you guys are cheap lol.

Yeah. The owners of these establishments that don't even pay a true minimum wage from the start. It's not up to the patrons to pay the employees salary. Let's not fool anyone and try to guilt people into thinking they're the cheap ones when they're not paying these peoples salary and causing this issue to begin with.

Would you prefer to pay 30 to 40 percent higher menu prices?

Minimum wage doesn't equate to 30-40% higher prices, but good try. McDonalds pays min wage (and in some instances above), and yet their prices haven't shot through this false roof you're claiming.

McDonald's isn't a full service restaurant as you falsely imply.

Also, compared to 10 years ago, yes it has.

And waiters aren't going to work for minimum wage. You are fooling yourself if you think they will.

Actually, the McDonalds around here serve your food to your table, and you can order from your table, so it really is full service at this point, even if you're punching your order in on a tablet screen rather than someone writing it down.

And the $1 menu is still a $1 menu. You paid more with that $1 10 years ago than you do today based on inflation.

Also, my ex was a waitress. She made more than minimum wage while her peers made miminum wage (not wait staff minimum wage), and their prices and quality rivaled that with the major chain restaurants (Chili's, Ruby Tuesday, 99, etc)., so no, a 40% increase if everyone made minimum wage is 100% bullshit.
 

Okay, go eat at McDonald's then.

Restaurants typically operate on a 5-10% profit margin at their most successful point. Typically that margin is closer from 1-5%.

Food cost is topically 30-33%
Labor is topically 28-32%
Utilities, controllables, rent, equipment maimtenece, landscaping and marketing consume the rest of a restaurants revenue. Anything leftover is finally profit. If you were to increase labor to 40-45% via increased front of house wages, you would need to increase revenue via higher menu prices otherwise the restaurants business plan would no longer be viable.

This is just how managing a restaurant works. I've been doing it for over a decade now, and i want to caution everyone reading your opinions that you seem very misinformed.

Most service people go into the field knowing they will not make minimum wage. It is spelled out right in front of them during the interview. They accept it because they think they will make above minimum after tips, but it's not guaranteed. They are taking the risk themselves. They chose to work in the field with that risk and accept that some people won't tip. There are there plenty of other jobs available that would pay minimum wage without the risk of not getting any tips. It kind of reminds me of MLM schemes. For just a small investment (risk, i.e your below average wages), you can earn up to $$$$ if you just work hard. The fact that society accepts and basicallyl forces servers to be dependent on the generosity of others is pretty ridiculous.

There are a hell of a lot of customer service type jobs where people deal with the same types of customers that don't get tips, but they get minimum wage. Rude customers, calm nice customers, yelling people, etc. These customer service employees fulfill their jobs without issue. Bad people get fired, good people get retained and sometimes raises and praise. I'm not going to tip my insurance agent because he took care of my collision quickly. He did it quickly because it is his job. Not going to tip the person at the mall who helped me find the right size of shoes, it's his job.

I am a generous tipper, I tip a minimum 25%. I've tipped 100% a handful of times, but I usually tip %50 of the bill. When I tip that low 25% is because the service was horrible, and I let them know how shitty they were. When the service is really good, I let the tip do the talking. Also, I never tip based on how the food was. Bad food isn't the servers fault, but again, I let them know how bad the food was.
And yeah, some cheapos up in NA!😜

You're why working in the food service industry is hell. Such a self-centered POV. Insane. Just don't go out to eat if you're not willing to make someone's day a bit better.

I'll make their day by not being a rude demanding customer.  Once again a self-centered POV of people who think you need to give money to make someone happy or be a good person somehow.

Are you comfortable paying higher menu prices? There have been some well reknown restaurants doing away with gratuities, or making them optional. The result is typically a 20% higher menu markup. 
 

Lol. I hope you don't frequent places. Servers don't forget you guys.

I'm all for people making a living wage.  If it resulted in paying 20% more so people could make their living wage without the risk, I'd be just fine with it, assuming it meant tipping would go away of course.

I'm not saying you wouldn't have to raise prices. That's a given. But it's bullshit they'd have to raise 40% and you know it.

So, which is it? 20%, or 30 to 40%?

If my burger meal cost me $16 instead of $13 or $14, and that means I didn't have to tip, then yes, 100% all for it.

Very fair. There are indeed some restaurants nationwide that have rolled this concept out to great success, the main caveat being they are typically ultra high end restaurants. Alinea in chicago, for example, does this. Your check average starts at $100 at most of these places. Your casual fare restaurant may need to hike their prices more than 20% though. 20% on a 20 buck check average is only $4 compared to $20 on a 100 check average.
 

See my post above. the ultra high end establishments that have already rolled this out is 20%. A casual fare restaurant would likely need to be in the 30-40% markup unless they are pulling mad volume, like gangbusters. 

In short, your $13 cheeseburger would cost you around $17-$18 now. But at least by your perpective, all costs would be disclosed.

 

Haha. These people who refuse to tip $5 aren't gonna be eating at Alinea.