Tipping in the US by British customers

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/food/2008/07/oh_no_british_people.html

I *think* the blog is a very popular one done by an anonymous NYC waiter. But what's more interesting are the reader comments once you get past the first 20 or so telling him to sod off!

There are some good points being made later on in the comments.

DB's parents were very concerned with what the local custom with tipping was. In MA, the sales tax is 5%. I told them that they could triple the tax for a 15% tip, but if the service was really good, quadruple the tax. They were really good about wanting to make sure to pay enough, as I'm sure many people would be if they knew and understood the custom. I do enjoy not having to tip so much in the UK, but I feel badly when I don't tip up to the US standards over there, just used to it I guess and consider it part of the cost of eating out.

Waiters and waitresses generally DON'T want the wage to go to minimum wage because, as pointed out in the comments, it generally comes out to more than they would have earned if we didn't "tip to make up the difference." My former roommate loved working weekends because she would make over $200 in tips on a slow night! She also told me that they don't like getting tipped on a credit card because they have to declare that tip as income, but can get away with not declaring it if it's left in cash.

I do hate when people give crappy service and expect a large tip. We went to a restaurant with my family for DB's birthday and the waitress told us that it is customary to tip 20% for orders over $100. Well, the service was awful and other people who came in later than us were out before us, our food was so slow! We were all too dumbfounded to say anything at the time, but she definitely didn't get 20%!!!!

I did feel badly about tipping for valet parking attendants at a restaurant we went to on the Cap this week. They had the sign on the way out that said their valets aren't paid a salary and the tips were their only payment. I thought that was mean they don't earn a salary, but we also didn't see the sign until we had already tipped and were on the way out. I think they should have either charged for valet parking (not really a place where you would expect valet parking) to make up the cost if that was an issue, or make it more clear.

I gotta say, some of those comments really pissed me off lol.  I waitressed in high school and college (at $2.13/hr) and nothing sucked worse than busting your tail for 12 hours, keeping a chipper attitude and friendly smile the entire time and having nothing to show for it at the end of the night.  Was an interesting blog though!

If a waiter, having chased me down the road, tried to lay a hand on me, he'd get a "tip" that he'd remember for quite a while.

I agree with the comment about a large amount of the work in US restaurants being done by Mexican busboys.  How much of their tips do the waiters share with them?

I waitressed in high school and college (at $2.13/hr) and nothing sucked worse than busting your tail for 12 hours, keeping a chipper attitude and friendly smile the entire time and having nothing to show for it at the end of the night. 

Waiters aren't the only workers who are underpaid. They do, however, belong to one of the few occupations where they can blame the customer for it.

The restaurant I worked in ( very small, usually only 2 servers on and 1 busboy) we were required to give a minimum of 10% to the busboy.  IIRC, they also made minimum wage.  My big issue is that it seems to vary so much from place to place.  The place I worked at when I was in high school (in MN) was a small, family owned pizza place. The servers made minimum wage+tips.  It would have been hard to live off of it, but for a student it was perfect.  I used the tips for things like paying for lunch at school and going to the movies with friends, and the paychecks were for music lessons and to squirrel away for college.  Then when I moved to CO, i worked at the place where I only made $2.13.  I was older, had bills, and it was awful.  It was by no means a fancy establishment, and on a good night, I'd maybe make $40-$50.  After paying the busboy and bartender, I'd be lucky to have enough to fill up the gas tank in my car. This was about 10 years ago, but back then I always wished that we made minimum wage and tips were optional.  The system does suck (unless you work at a busy, upscale restaurant where you can make big $ in tips) but telling a server to "take it up with management" like so many of the posters on the blog said isn't going to put food on the server's table. 

Waiters aren't the only workers who are underpaid.

  I totally agree.

I waitressed for 5 years while in school and again for a time while my daughter was very young and I can see it from both sides. It's horrible to stereotype certain nationalities as bad tippers, but that's what happens. Where I worked, there were quite a few tourists and we all knew which groups were the ones that had to be distributed fairly amongst the wait staff. Now, many years later, I still try to tip well, as I know that the wait person will be stiffed plenty of times in the course of a day. I try to be patient when I eat out, but if the food quality is poor, I send it back. I think the only thing that would cause me to get angry and talk to management is if a wait person is intentionally rude to me or doesn't provide any service at all.