Quote:
Originally Posted by ATAT
I don't know why I'm bothering and I'll say from the outset that I'm not going to argue any of these points further and am embarrassed to even be posting in a tipping thread. However...
1) If restaurants paid their employees a living wage and the obligation to tip was lifted, the price of items on the menu would go up by something like 30%. People (you) don't realize how close to cost food is priced at.
2) Yes, many service jobs don't get tipped. How that's an argument for restaurant tipping being stupid, I'm not sure. Comparing bagging groceries to waiting tables is ******ed. One requires no skillset or inherent proficency whatsoever, the other does. Leading me to...
3) Obviously all waiting jobs are not the same. Maybe most people could wait at a Waffle House, maybe not. Most people could not wait tables at a nice or even decent restaurant, though. Leaving aside the required interpersonal skills (repeatedly going up to tables full of neutral/wary strangers and being charming), do you know how to properly open a bottle of wine? Do you know which wine goes with what type of entree? Can you carry a forty pound tray of hot food one-handed over your head through a crowd of people? I mean, it's just idiotic to say think that it's a job anyone could put on an apron and do--it's a learned trade like any other, with a particular skill set.
4) As I said in a different thread, I've waited tables fifteen years and never seen anyone spit in food. People are ridiculously paranoid about this. If you aren't a douche, you'll never have to worry about this happening.
5) I've worked landscaping, too, and waiting tables at a good, busy restaurant is several orders of magnitude harder. Landscaping is physically grueling, but that's about it. Waiting tables is fairly physically demanding, as well as being a constant, stressful mental challenge for several hours straight. You just really don't know what you're talking about here.
6) Not sure what the beef with there being an established percentage comes from. It is a societal norm, like many others. Like it or not, when you enter a restaurant (assuming the service is decent), you are implicitly agreeing to abide by the normative behavior of tipping a certain amount, which helps pay the server's wage and accounts for the good service you are receiving. If you don't like it, don't eat out, or move to France where you can enjoy waiting fifteen minutes for your 4 dollar coke to be rudely delivered.
1) So why don't the prices go up so people are made to pay up on the front end instead of 85% paying on the back end? It's the same with any business, prices would go down if the employer didn't pay the employee and customers just handed them $.
2)3) Since grocery bagging has a different "skillset" then you would have to learn that too. You can't just put on a Kroger's shirt and throw items into random bags. There's order of items, certain items go in different bags by standard, etc. I think anyone could take 1 week and learn either position easily. Asking people for drinks and carrying food doesn't encompass a huge "skillset" to me. So then waiting earns an automatic entitled 20% of whatever the customer purchases for that slightly higher skillset?
4) Well other people have. I wouldn't be scared to send something back to get fixed, but some people are intimidated, scared by the notion.
5) Really mentally demanding huh. Probably 30% of the last 20 orders at restaurants have been wrong for me. But I just take the pickles off and shrug I guess. It's not always dinner/lunch time and you said before that there's downtime wiping down tables, etc. I'd say being air traffic controller is VERY mentally demanding and stressful, do you tip them everytime you fly?
6) It's just the way it goes. Great argument. The world would still be flat right now if everyone thought like that. Not saying this is some groundbreaking struggle against societal norms, but people have different perceptions. You should provide a good service anyways since you were hired to do so. If I didn't like it, I could stiff the waiter every meal if I wanted and there's nothing you could do. How's that sound? Even though I disagree with some of the finer points, I still tip.
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How many tables did you have on a busy friday night?