NPR: Why We Tip

[Bliz]

post deleted

[scruffylookin]

I always leave 20% unless they are really outstanding or really horrible and so far I have not had either extreme.

My reason for giving a standard good tip is simply because I know tips are a big part of their salary. I'm all about putting myself in somebody else's shoes and treat others how I'd like to be treated if I were in their position.

[elkabong82]

I agree servers whine more than any other job I've had. But they've also had more reasons to than in any other job I've had, and I've worked fast food, grocery store, landscaping, telemarketing, and government contracting, all of which have their fair share of complainers. People complain about any customer service job, just as people complain about people.

Most everyone complains about their job. But being a waiter means you can take home a good weekly wage without having to work a full 40 hours, you get food half off, you can essentially set your own schedule, as well as give away or pick-up shifts. There are good parts to it too.

The people who complain about servers complaining, don't always seem to realize or fully understand the position a server is in. The tips are a reflection of them, even though that isn't always true, a server still feels that, complaints are a way to alleviate the guilt. Few other jobs rely on tips as wage. Customer service department workers would flip out if suddenly their salary was determined by the customers they help. Servers are in a somewhat unique position. They can't just think "oh well, this guy is being a jerk, but I'm still getting paid." They think "this guy is being a jerk, great, I have to try and appease him, hope there's good tip, don't let it impact my mood the rest of the night, otherwise my other tables could pick up on it and not tip as well, and hope he's the only jerk that comes in tonight."

Working solely for tips is a different dynamic than other jobs.

[AsburySkinsFan]

lamo, didn't even think to check for ninja. the sad thing is, there are actually people who do that and think the server will read it instead of just balling it up and throwing it away as a reaction to not being tipped, which always happens.

Hah! Deep down inside I knew it and still flipped out. Well played.

To both of ya, yeah, I have met pastors who do this very thing and they think that they are disguising the fact that they are too cheap with an air of spirituality. Drives me nuts! I'm not blessed with $$ as such I'm never able to leave as much as I want, but I know that most wait staff are paid less than minimum wage by the restaurant and as such they rely upon tips to make up the difference, to me not tipping is the same as going against, 1 Timothy 5:18 For the Scripture says, "Do not keep an ox from eating as it treads out the grain." And in another place, "Those who work deserve their pay!"

Now, a tip will suffer to crappy service, but a tip from me will definitely be affected by good service.

I used to deliver furniture for a national retailer and we would get regular tips, but it became clear who tipped and who didn't, the very poor didn't for obvious reasons though they would most times offer a drink, the rich rarely if ever tipped, it was the middle class that tipped the best and most consistently and mostly blue collar workers.

[mardi gras skin]

The percentage method of tipping is lousy. If I'm eating at an inexpensive place and the service is friendly, I always tip well over 20%. Why should that server get only 3 bucks because my meal was cheap? He or she did the same amount of work.

On the other hand, if I'm at a very expensive restaurant, I feel no obligation to tip as high a percentage. That server didn't work ten times as hard as the poor guy at the cheap joint. :whoknows:

communist

[Dan T.]

Here's a question - do you figure your tip as a percentage of the total bill, or of the bill before tax? I do the total bill, but I know that many use the before tax figure.

Everyone in my family, including me, has been a waiter at some point. From our experiences, I can tell you that waiters are the whiniest groups of workers you'll find.

Bad Service - $0

Average Service - $1 for each person being waited on

Good Service - $2 for each person being waited on

For the type of places I'm accustomed to eating at, $1 is about a 10% tip and $2 about a 20% tip.

If you don't like your job, get a new one.

Lots wrong with this post, in my opinion.

-Never leave zero - they could think you just forgot. Better to leave a token amount to send the message. Better yet is to tell them and the manager why you're stiffing them. And it better be a good reason and for things they couldn't control. Them being late with refills or getting an order wrong on a busy night isn't a good enough excuse.

- For "average" service, 10% is really too low. Ten percent is for when something went really wrong.

[elkabong82]

To both of ya, yeah, I have met pastors who do this very thing and they think that they are disguising the fact that they are too cheap with an air of spirituality. Drives me nuts! I'm not blessed with $$ as such I'm never able to leave as much as I want, but I know that most wait staff are paid less than minimum wage by the restaurant and as such they rely upon tips to make up the difference, to me not tipping is the same as going against, 1 Timothy 5:18 For the Scripture says, "Do not keep an ox from eating as it treads out the grain." And in another place, "Those who work deserve their pay!"

Now, a tip will suffer to crappy service, but a tip from me will definitely be affected by good service.

I used to deliver furniture for a national retailer and we would get regular tips, but it became clear who tipped and who didn't, the very poor didn't for obvious reasons though they would most times offer a drink, the rich rarely if ever tipped, it was the middle class that tipped the best and most consistently and mostly blue collar workers.

Actually, most wait staff don't even receive pay checks, just void statements meaning the taxes owed were covered by the $2.13 an hour and that's it. Tips are essentially the ONLY source of income for a waiter. At best they'll get a paycheck for $30-40 every 2 weeks.

[Elessar78]

I'm on a graduated system where 15% is baseline, routine, service. Good you did your job. Thank you.

20% for good service.

Above 20% for great, outstanding, exceptional service.

10% for substandard. Thanks. Could've been better but you weren't awful either.

I'm probably not going to leave a tip below and I'm probably talking to the manager.

[mardi gras skin]

I have met pastors who do this very thing and they think that they are disguising the fact that they are too cheap with an air of spirituality.

Ugh. I'd come unglued. I've never seen this happen and I've never known anyone who admitted to doing it. That's disgraceful.

I've only stiffed a person one time. The guy totally ruined the meal. I left him less than a dollars worth of pocket change and stuck around long enough to tell him he earned it.

[elkabong82]

I just do total bill, but even a tip off the bill before tax isn't going to vary greatly from a same percentage tip off the total after tax. For example, sales tax in TN is nearly 10%. You spend $50 at a restaurant before tax. After tax it's $55. You tip 20%. So before tax your tip is $10, after tax it's $11. $10 on 55 is just as good as 11. Lower check totals than $50 mean less than a $1 dollar variance in tip from pre-tax to after-tax total.

[sean_e_b]

- For "average" service, 10% is really too low. Ten percent is for when something went really wrong.

Whenever I was a waiter (just a year and a half since I left), I was making at least a hundred bucks a night. Some of my coworkers (females) would make $300 in a night a few times a month. I never complained about money, if anything I should have complained about sexism.

So on my average night, I was making $12.50 an hour. In the county I live in, there is only one non-professional job that pays more, a factory job. The current factory job I have pays me $9.50 an hour because I'm a temp. If I get on full-time, which takes years to do, I'll make an even $20 an hour. That waiter job is the highest paying job I've ever had and nowhere near the hardest. 10% is probably too generous of me.

[elkabong82]

Ugh. I'd come unglued. I've never seen this happen and I've never known anyone who admitted to doing it. That's disgraceful.

I've only stiffed a person one time. The guy totally ruined the meal. I left him less than a dollars worth of pocket change and stuck around long enough to tell him he earned it.

Only twice since being a waiter have I not tipped. One story I already told in here, my friend who was a waiter too wasn't as nice as me, who left a nickel. He wrote in the tip line "find a new job now." This was years ago at the TGIFridays in Sterling, VA.

The worst service ever was at a restaurant on the docks in Ocean City, MD. Because of the college crowd during spring break, their policy was automatic 18% gratuity at every table. We didn't care, all of us were at the time or had been servers, we usually tip 20% anyways. But the waitress was terrible, and was so it seemed because she assumed we were part of the cheap college kid crowd (and I've chastised college friends for not tipping well, almost as bad as teenagers, but the ones with server experience always tip over 20% at least). Didn't check up to get beer refills, and we were ready to spend a lot and tip well, ordered the food wrong so some people's stuff was overcooked (confirmed to us by the manager), didn't apologize, just grabbed the plate and sighed heavily and said "hold on" never came back after new food was brought out to see if it was good that time, after that still wasn't coming around for refills. And she only had 2 other tables, and we were just a party of 6. We talked to the manager, told him we're all experienced, and that we thought our waitress was the worst we've ever had and that she was being lazy just because she was getting gratuity anyways and figured we were cheap college kids.

The manager took off half the food, gave us a free round, and removed the gratuity. We went to the bar and tipped the bartender, thanked the manger, and left. This was back in 2002. I still remember it because it was the worst service ever. I'm not even giving full details cuz I don't want to keep ranting on nor bore everyone, lol.

[Botched]

I tip 200% just so my waiter knows that I'm better than him.

[Dan T.]

Whenever I was a waiter (just a year and a half since I left), I was making at least a hundred bucks a night. Some of my coworkers (females) would make $300 in a night a few times a month. I never complained about money, if anything I should have complained about sexism.

So on my average night, I was making $12.50 an hour. In the county I live in, there is only one non-professional job that pays more, a factory job. The current factory job I have pays me $9.50 an hour because I'm a temp. If I get on full-time, which takes years to do, I'll make an even $20 an hour. That waiter job is the highest paying job I've ever had and nowhere near the hardest. 10% is probably too generous of me.

Hmm, I never considered geographic/demographic differences... fair enough I suppose.

[sacase]

Elk is killing me over here.

1) I should tip at least 15-20% for minimal work.

2) I should order everything at one time, not ask for stuff everytime I the waiter comes back

3) I should feel badly for spending lavishly on myself but not my waiter (Hello, are you my date?)

4) Tipping to go service. For what? No one served me, you didn't wait on me, you didn't serve me drinks, you just handed me by food and I paid my bill. Kick rocks.

5) Table campers. Last I looked the resteraunt was there to provide a service, not there for you to make money as fast as you can. Waiters really forget that the food is the reason people are there, not the service. Bad food, good service, I won't go, Good food, bad service, I will go, Good food good service, best option.

I am an easy patron, I order everything I want up front, I don't have fancy orders minus this, add that etc., all I expect is drink refils, I don't have kids so there are not messes, I don't hang around and BS. If my date complains about the service at all, your tip drops. If I have to wait on refills, your tip drops. The only time I go off of a percentage is if I question the service, typically I give what I feel you earned. When I was in VA I used to go to Lonestar with my GF couple times a month. We always wanted to get one particular waiter because he was excellent. Knew the menu by heart, learned our names after the second time having him, gave just the right amount of attention. I was able to ask him for food choices and he would always recommend something excellent. He got $20 no matter what because his service was exactly like I expected. I wanted to make sure he was ok.

But I will be honest. I hate the whole idea of tipping, I rather just have labor costs included in the price of the meal and just pay the bill. This is why I enjoy being overseas, you don't have this self entitlement about tips and crap.

My tips to waiters

1) Carry a friggin pad to write my order down on. Don't try and be slick and show me how fancy you are by memorizing stuff 9/10 you get my order wrong. It affects your tip.

2) Wear clean clothes, nothing is more disgusting than to see old dried food stains on your clothes that you didn't bother to wash from the night before.

3) Please notice when my drinks are 3/4 empty, I would like a refill.

4) Don't be annoying at at my table every 5 second asking if I need anything.

5) Don’t ask me if the food is good when I am in the middle of taking the first bite, its annoying.

6) Don't watch TV or BS with other waitstaff while my drinks are empty.

The best waiters just fit into the background, they are unobtrusive and you should barely know they are there. I go to dine with my friends and family and enjoy a good meal, not be entertained by the waitstaff.

[elkabong82]

Whenever I was a waiter (just a year and a half since I left), I was making at least a hundred bucks a night. Some of my coworkers (females) would make $300 in a night a few times a month. I never complained about money, if anything I should have complained about sexism.

So on my average night, I was making $12.50 an hour. In the county I live in, there is only one non-professional job that pays more, a factory job. The current factory job I have pays me $9.50 an hour because I'm a temp. If I get on full-time, which takes years to do, I'll make an even $20 an hour. That waiter job is the highest paying job I've ever had and nowhere near the hardest. 10% is probably too generous of me.

Completely depends on the are and type of restaurant. For example, if you think a waiter down here in East TN pulls $100+ every night anywhere but a bar on the strip (which means they work from 5PM until 4 AM) or a 5 star restaurant, you are sorely mistaken. Heck, the only way you could average that back in NoVA was at a place like Ruths Chris. I worked at Cheesecake Factory in Tysons' higher-end, always busy, and even then $100 a shift wasn't a guarantee, and that's back in the very early 2000s before the economic downturn really hit. You could average close to it, but that's one of the best places you can go to get that average, and wearing all white that needed to be dry cleaned every day and knowing that extensive menu front and back, as well as every cheesecake available and it's ingredients (and if you didn't get 90% on those menu tests you weren't hired) and doing all their steps of service (required, and many more than a regular restaurant) was no easy task.

I've worked at several different restaurants, for many years. I did it while going to community college, I did it part time when my regular job's wage wasn't enough, I did it again while going to 4 year college to finish my degree, and I'll be doing it again when I start working on licensure. It's a fantastic part time job to get while going through school or for extra income. In fact, it's one of the best part-time jobs you can get. But, from my many years experience, the only ways you can average $100 every single night is by working in a popular bar/pub until 3-4 AM, working at an upscale restaurant which with their requirements is basically like working a full time job, or working at newly opened and very popular restaurant, and in that last case such popularity only lasts for about 6 months.

Here is the rough average of what a typical, but good, server at an average but good restaurant, will make: Mon-Wed, $40-70 depending on the night and when you are cut, closer $60-80. Thursday is a little more. Friday $80-120, closer $100-150. Saturday a little less than Friday. Sunday is almost always hit or miss. You can make "Friday" money, or you can make "Monday" money. These are night shift guesstimates. Depending on the place, day time servers almost always make less than night time.

Your average server at an average restaurant works 28-35 hours each week, works Fri, Sat, Sun, and 2 weekdays and takes home about $250-350 a week in tips. Just a rough average based on my experience. The average income of an area factors heavily into this though. For example, I know people down here on average make less than people do in NoVA. Then again, the cost of living is less, so it balances out. I'm not saying feel sorry for waiters, all I, and most, say is tip 15-20% for good service.

---------- Post added June-23rd-2011 at 03:24 PM ----------

Elk is killing me over here.

1) I should tip at least 15-20% for minimal work.

2) I should order everything at one time, not ask for stuff everytime I the waiter comes back

3) I should feel badly for spending lavishly on myself but not my waiter (Hello, are you my date?)

4) Tipping to go service. For what? No one served me, you didn't wait on me, you didn't serve me drinks, you just handed me by food and I paid my bill. Kick rocks.

5) Table campers. Last I looked the resteraunt was there to provide a service, not there for you to make money as fast as you can. Waiters really forget that the food is the reason people are there, not the service. Bad food, good service, I won't go, Good food, bad service, I will go, Good food good service, best option.

I am an easy patron, I order everything I want up front, I don't have fancy orders minus this, add that etc., all I expect is drink refils, I don't have kids so there are not messes, I don't hang around and BS. If my date complains about the service at all, your tip drops. If I have to wait on refills, your tip drops. The only time I go off of a percentage is if I question the service, typically I give what I feel you earned. When I was in VA I used to go to Lonestar with my GF couple times a month. We always wanted to get one particular waiter because he was excellent. Knew the menu by heart, learned our names after the second time having him, gave just the right amount of attention. I was able to ask him for food choices and he would always recommend something excellent. He got $20 no matter what because his service was exactly like I expected. I wanted to make sure he was ok.

But I will be honest. I hate the whole idea of tipping, I rather just have labor costs included in the price of the meal and just pay the bill. This is why I enjoy being overseas, you don't have this self entitlement about tips and crap.

My tips to waiters

1) Carry a friggin pad to write my order down on. Don't try and be slick and show me how fancy you are by memorizing stuff 9/10 you get my order wrong. It affects your tip.

2) Wear clean clothes, nothing is more disgusting than to see old dried food stains on your clothes that you didn't bother to wash from the night before.

3) Please notice when my drinks are 3/4 empty, I would like a refill.

4) Don't be annoying at at my table every 5 second asking if I need anything.

5) Don’t ask me if the food is good when I am in the middle of taking the first bite, its annoying.

6) Don't watch TV or BS with other waitstaff while my drinks are empty.

The best waiters just fit into the background, they are unobtrusive and you should barely know they are there. I go to dine with my friends and family and enjoy a good meal, not be entertained by the waitstaff.

You're killing me by completely failing to understand my posts, and they're detailed enough to where that shouldn't happen.

part 1:

1) tip 15-20% for good service is all I've said. How you construed minimal service out of good service is beyond me.

2) you should be able to get most of what you need requested at 1 time. But even many demands are fine, though annoying, so long again as the service was good and you tipped 15-20% accordingly. Do you think it's fair to the server to be so incapable of organizing everything you need that you send him on 5 different trips each time he comes back with the previous request, impacting his ability to serve other tables well, and then leave a crap tip on top of it even when the server handled all requests well and in timely fashion? It's about fair compensation, not simply about too many requests. I've said so a couple times, not sure how you missed it.

3)You should feel bad for spending $100, receiving good service, and then leaving $8 for a tip. Again, 15-20% for good service.

4) I already explained what all to go people do to prepare a to go order. If you ahd read it all, or even cared to understand the point, you wouldn't be asking what you're tipping them for. And even in that case, it's not much you're tipping them. The price of that TO Go food is low because of the lower wages for servers and To Go people, you can't make up for that discount with a couple bucks for someone who made sure your food was prepared correctly, got all side items and sauces and napkins, utensils, etc. ready, bagged it up nicely so nothing spills, and then brought it out to your car?

5) Bad service kills any restaurant, no matter how good the food. Feel free to camp at a table, but expecting a server to be happy about a 10% tip for good service from a table that stayed there for 3 hours during the rush, screwing the waiter out of the chance to make more/enough money, all so the table can carry on some meaningless conversation, is asinine. If you can't understand it from the perspective of a server, or are unwillingly to, then this will just fall on deaf ears.

part 2:

1) I agree. In fact, most places require servers to write down the order.

2) All restaurants require a cleanly appearance, and any server who cares about their job keeps themselves clean and presentable.

3) Good servers pride themselves on never letting their customers see the bottom of their drink.

4) I hate that too. I get drink order, entree order, check back to make sure everything came out right and tastes good, other that I'll walk by or near my section and spy my table for low drinks, sauce, body language saying they are done eating and need a box, etc. You def. don't want to hound your table.

5) Yeah, the rule of thumb is to wait 2 minutes after dropping the food off before checking back.

6) It's a fine line between too much attention and not enough. Waiters find ways to pass the time, just as anyone else. It takes a bit to learn the ropes, but being caught slacking when your table needs something is always bad. Rule of thumb on drinks is if it's half way down, keep an eye out for when it's a quarter left and bring a refill. After a couple refills and near the end of the meal, then ask first for a refill because sometimes it isn't wanted.

I agree with your last line and that's exactly the waiter i try to be. Some people, though, do go in expecting entertainment and tip better off of it. The really experienced and good servers know how to read the people looking for nothing more than good service and the ones looking for conversation/entertainment. Others are just overly-friendly and chatty to everyone in part because it's who they are, and in part because they think everyone will tip them better as a result. What they don't realize is some don't like it, if you get a bad tip it sucks even more because you were so friendly and they seemed so nice, and it can take up time which impacts your service and tips at other tables.

[sportjunkie07]

Elk is killing me over here.

The best waiters just fit into the background, they are unobtrusive and you should barely know they are there. I go to dine with my friends and family and enjoy a good meal, not be entertained by the waitstaff.

i agree. unfortunately, i have worked at a couple places that had mandatory "you must visit this table a certain amount of times". it was way too much. some people like having the waiter constantly asking how everything is. a couples date on a friday night doesnt.

[PleaseBlitz]

Agree on the happy angle but once I learned how to work a crowd it was no crap shoot. You cant control people but you can lean their behavior in your direction. Slow night? low energy at the bar? Get people talking to each other make some introductions and get the party started. Get people laughing. My way was always by making fun of myself. Bartenders sometimes get the reputation of being ****y pricks, often with good reason. Show your customers you can laugh at yourself and put them at ease. Want some really big tips? Instead of trying to hook up with every single attractive woman that comes into the bar, spread the love around. Try helping that shy guy meet someone. (just make sure he's cool and not a creep or it will backfire) An of course if you see a guy "courting" a young lady, do your best to make him look good. He will appreciate it and 9 times out of 10 will tip well. I've actually made a few $100 tips that way. The point is that once I learned how to be an entertainer and host, I was always one of the highest tipped male bartenders anywhere I worked.

Ignoring the service bar is a terrible solution. You are all in the same boat and part of the same team. Wait staff has to tip out the bartender. Hurting their service will hurt you and hurt the bar in general.

You worked at a different type of bar than me. I worked at a college bar that was always packed and always noisy as ****. Ordering drinks involved me pointing at you and you yelling what you wanted. We served beer, shots, and mixed drinks that had the ingredients in the name of the drink. If you wanted anything fancier, the routine became me pointing at you, you yelling the name of your frou frou drink, and then me pointing at the person next to you and ignoring the **** out of you for the rest of the night. Unless you were hot, then the rules changed depending on my mood and level of drunkeness.

[zoony]

I tip for really no other reason than that's how waitresses make their money. If their job paid more I would tip less. I tip a standard twenty percent but I will vp up to thirty or more for great service (which usually involves a server really putting forth Ernest effort). However I have gone we low as ten percent for veal service. It is rare but I won't hesitatei.

The only problem I hqve with percentages is low and high bills. If I grab lunch and the tab is 12 I don't feel good about leaving 2 bucks on the table. I will usually go 4 or 5.

Also when I drop 200 on dinner 40 seems obscene. I usually go 15 percent on big bills. (And I don't mean large tables that's different)

[Dan T.]

Waiters aren't the only people who resent table-campers. So do the people waiting to be seated. It's fine to linger a bit over a cup of coffee and dessert. But when you are chit chatting for a half hour after you've drained that second cup of decaf and there's a holding pattern of parties waiting to sit down, that's just rude. It's a delicate situation for a restaurant. They don't want to kick you out, but they do want your asses out of those seats.

Someone wrote in to WP restaurant reviewer Tom Sietsma with a novel way a restaurant handles it. The manager comes over and invites the party to tour the kitchen. They get a 5 to 10 minute grand tour, are made to feel special, and are shown the door. Meanwhile, someone else gets to sit down and eat.

[elkabong82]

I tip for really no other reason than that's how waitresses make their money. If their job paid more I would tip less. I tip a standard twenty percent but I will vp up to thirty or more for great service (which usually involves a server really putting forth Ernest effort). However I have gone we low as ten percent for veal service. It is rare but I won't hesitatei.

The only problem I hqve with percentages is low and high bills. If I grab lunch and the tab is 12 I don't feel good about leaving 2 bucks on the table. I will usually go 4 or 5.

Also when I drop 200 on dinner 40 seems obscene. I usually go 15 percent on big bills. (And I don't mean large tables that's different)

Just from my perspective and the other waiters there, I worked at Linderhof, fine German dining in Farragut, expensive plates, while in college. Nobody ever got upset about getting $30 on $200 from a party of 4. Waiters too realize and accept that 20% on a bill $150+ for a small group is a bit obscene.

[pjfootballer]

But I will be honest. I hate the whole idea of tipping, I rather just have labor costs included in the price of the meal and just pay the bill. This is why I enjoy being overseas, you don't have this self entitlement about tips and crap.

This I agree with.

[sacase]

You're killing me by completely failing to understand my posts, and they're detailed enough to where that shouldn't happen.

I understand, we just differ on opinion. I am giving you the opinion of someone who has never worked as a waiter and never would. Not elitist, I just know I don't like people like that enough to deal with their crap.

part 1:

1) tip 15-20% for good service is all I've said. How you construed minimal service out of good service is beyond me.

2) you should be able to get most of what you need requested at 1 time. But even many demands are fine, though annoying, so long again as the service was good and you tipped 15-20% accordingly. Do you think it's fair to the server to be so incapable of organizing everything you need that you send him on 5 different trips each time he comes back with the previous request, impacting his ability to serve other tables well, and then leave a crap tip on top of it even when the server handled all requests well and in timely fashion? It's about fair compensation, not simply about too many requests. I've said so a couple times, not sure how you missed it.

3)You should feel bad for spending $100, receiving good service, and then leaving $8 for a tip. Again, 15-20% for good service.

4) I already explained what all to go people do to prepare a to go order. If you ahd read it all, or even cared to understand the point, you wouldn't be asking what you're tipping them for. And even in that case, it's not much you're tipping them. The price of that TO Go food is low because of the lower wages for servers and To Go people, you can't make up for that discount with a couple bucks for someone who made sure your food was prepared correctly, got all side items and sauces and napkins, utensils, etc. ready, bagged it up nicely so nothing spills, and then brought it out to your car?

5) Bad service kills any restaurant, no matter how good the food. Feel free to camp at a table, but expecting a server to be happy about a 10% tip for good service from a table that stayed there for 3 hours during the rush, screwing the waiter out of the chance to make more/enough money, all so the table can carry on some meaningless conversation, is asinine. If you can't understand it from the perspective of a server, or are unwillingly to, then this will just fall on deaf ears.

1) minimal service. Take my order, punch a few keys, fill my drinks, bring my food out, refill my drinks, bring a box, run my credit card, and done. I am sorry, but the "hard" work done by wait staff is vastly over rated.

2) Once again...waiter...you are there to wait on my and my needs during my meal, if it is 20 times, then so be it. I am not needy like that so that is exaggeration, but once again, you are there for me, not me to pay your bills and make you life easier. My demands are immaterial to what other tables are there. Scheduling enough servers is the managers problem not mine.

3) Nope dont' feel bad, not there for you. I am there for the food.

4) Nope, wont' tip on togo orders or buffet's. anything I have to serve myself does not get a tip. Chances are I won't even know if my order is right until I get home and I am not going to open everything up right there to verify. That's like tipping at McDonald's. So what you put a few napkins and condiments in the bag...that's part of the job.

5) Once again people are there to socialize and enjoy a meal together. Its not our job to worry about how much wait staff makes. If I want to be there 3 hours then I will be there 3 hours. If you don't like the work conditions find a new job. The problem is, wait staff looks at customers as bags of money who they hate to serve and want them to hurry up and leave so they can fleece the next customer, customers look at wait staff as the person who brings them their meals and checks. My biggest problem with wait staff, as you can tell, is they think it is about them. It's not.

Like I said, I would rather just have the labor costs figured into the price of the meal. Ends all the problems, at least from the customer perspective.

[sportjunkie07]

I understand, we just differ on opinion. I am giving you the opinion of someone who has never worked as a waiter and never would. Not elitist, I just know I don't like people like that enough to deal with their crap.

1) minimal service. Take my order, punch a few keys, fill my drinks, bring my food out, refill my drinks, bring a box, run my credit card, and done. I am sorry, but the "hard" work done by wait staff is vastly over rated.

if the place is empty, its easy work. it gets a lot more difficult when the house is full. you underestimate that.

[elkabong82]

I understand, we just differ on opinion. I am giving you the opinion of someone who has never worked as a waiter and never would. Not elitist, I just know I don't like people like that enough to deal with their crap.

1) minimal service. Take my order, punch a few keys, fill my drinks, bring my food out, refill my drinks, bring a box, run my credit card, and done. I am sorry, but the "hard" work done by wait staff is vastly over rated.

2) Once again...waiter...you are there to wait on my and my needs during my meal, if it is 20 times, then so be it. I am not needy like that so that is exaggeration, but once again, you are there for me, not me to pay your bills and make you life easier. My demands are immaterial to what other tables are there. Scheduling enough servers is the managers problem not mine.

3) Nope dont' feel bad, not there for you. I am there for the food.

4) Nope, wont' tip on togo orders or buffet's. anything I have to serve myself does not get a tip. Chances are I won't even know if my order is right until I get home and I am not going to open everything up right there to verify. That's like tipping at McDonald's. So what you put a few napkins and condiments in the bag...that's part of the job.

5) Once again people are there to socialize and enjoy a meal together. Its not our job to worry about how much wait staff makes. If I want to be there 3 hours then I will be there 3 hours. If you don't like the work conditions find a new job. The problem is, wait staff looks at customers as bags of money who they hate to serve and want them to hurry up and leave so they can fleece the next customer, customers look at wait staff as the person who brings them their meals and checks. My biggest problem with wait staff, as you can tell, is they think it is about them. It's not.

Like I said, I would rather just have the labor costs figured into the price of the meal. Ends all the problems, at least from the customer perspective.

1) You admit you don't have the waiter's perspective, so please don't then proceed to trivialize what they do.

2) The waiter is there for all their tables, not just you. It's busy Friday night, you think the other tables wanting service appreciate a table that continually holds up the waiter?

3) Of course you don't feel bad, you don't have the perspective, nor obviously do you view waiters as anything more than people who are to remain subservient and be happy with whatever you feel like leaving them. If you're just there for the food then the quality of service shouldn't bother you.

And yes, when your bill could be $150 instead of $100, but it's not because the waiter is paid only $2.13/hr, the least you can to do is leave the standard 15% tip if the service was good.

4) I hope the next time you order TO GO your order is wrong, the sauces aren't packed right and spill all over the place, you receive no napkins, etc.so maybe then you'll appreciate what To GO people do. And again, the food you are buying is less expensive because of the wait staff, so tipping for there work should be mandatory, they sacrifice a regular hourly wage so you can eat cheap, yet you can't spare a couple bucks for a TO GO person, or 15-20% for good service? That's cheap and inconsiderate.

5) You admit you've never served, then have the gall to tell me what the perspective of a waiter is? Give me a break. You obviously have no clue, and have disregarded all of what I responded to you with and posted in here, to characterize waiters the way you have here.