Well I suppose we could pay servers minimum wage and not tip at all, how does that sound.
I work for a major bookseller and we pay our beginning sellers $6.00. They do as much work as servers do.
How do I know I've done both jobs.
So Perla and Grumpy but everyone else too, if you made minimum wage would you expect a gratuity?
My booksellers often find books for a customer, carry them to register, ring them up, bag the order, etc. etc. Should they be tipped also?
I mean you stated its more of a service charge than a tip, so you make 2.50/hr as a server if they charged a service charge that took your pay per meal to minimum wage is that ok?
I really do understand what you mean and for the record I am a great tipper, I looked at the past 5 meals out and it's averaged around 22.6%. I tip according to two things 1. The going rate for tipping where I am and 2. my servers attitude.
T~
First of all, I respect and appreciate you playing devil's advocate and I thank you for continuing to carry on a respectful and polite discussion! I know we all have differing opinions & I enjoy hearing them.
As for your thought, I'm not sure how I would handle it. I'm actually not a server or a bookseller-I'm a special ed teacher!
(Grumpy PJ was the server in this conversation) So, just like every other customer, I"m not qualified to decide the wage of a person in a field that I am not experienced in....which is why I do not like the way tipping/waitstaff pay is handled in our country-when payment is an option, people take advantage of it.
What I DO know is there are certain customs in different countries and societies that I am expected to follow when I enter that community. If I don't like the rules, than I choose not to go. Right now, in the US, this is the way that the server system works. and until it changes, we should be following it if we want to participate in the luxury of eating out.
I actually can't afford to go out to eat very much. But I don't blame the server for the high prices of a restaurant or blame how many people I have in my family/guests at the table on the server-one has nothing to do with the other! I just don't go, unless I can afford to pay for the meal, the tip, and anything else I'll need to pay for.
That's great to hear that you tip appropriately & based on rational things. I"m not saying that every server should get 20%, even if their service was horrendous. But choosing to remedy horrendous service by just not tipping is passive aggressive and really doesn't solve the problem at hand. If people are unsatisfied with the service, than they should alert a manager right away and provide feedback. Behavior cannot be changed unless the issue is brought to their attention.
People who don't tip because it's "not against the law" are likely also the same people who don't say thank you, don't hold the door for people, and don't give up their seats on a bus for an elderly person because it's "not against the law" to act that way. No, it's not against the law, but it sure is a yucky way to live.