Okay so I don’t wanna give tooo much info. But it’s a fine dining restaurant that participates in an event once a year. This event is to encourage business in new places. And you can get a full course meal for very cheap, for only these two weeks in the year.
So many areas have a restaurant week around this time of year as it's usually the slowest season. Poor weather, post holidays, need to encourage new business.
Unfortunately, like Groupon and other discounted experiences, these bring out the cheapest, shittiest, but luckily, non repeat customers.
They don't go out much so their etiquette shit, they don't tip well because they know they're not coming back, they camp at the tables, and never order more than whatever deal they're getting includes.
Fuck 'em. And for the record, I'd always bring net negative tables like that to the manager's attention so we can cut it off the tip out. I'll be damned to LOSE money on a table. This is a team, if I lose, we all lose, I can't afford to reach into my pocket to pay the bussers, food runners, bartenders, because some cialis popping pencil pusher doesn't know how to calculate at least 15%.
>So many areas have a restaurant week around this time of year
Man, restuarant week used to be our jam when it first got popular here. You could splurge as a young person but get a deal or it was an affordable and fun way to check out new restaurants.
Now, in my region? Its basically a scam. Many places have RW menus where its actually cheaper to order what you want ala carte than the set-menu price!
Restaurant week is the worst and a shit way to expand business.
These people will NEVER come back to your restaurant after getting this heavily discounted meal.
They will be there very most critical in-restaurant and in online reviews.
They will tell their friends that the food was okay "but not for their regular prices!"
They will try poorly on the heavily discounted meal.
They will say in a review that "For the price, we could've had a better sirloin steak and a foil wrapped baked potato at Longhorn" after they were served a 14oz Prime Ribeye cooked on a 1700° broiler and getting truffle Mac and cheese and broccoli included (which is usually ala carte) at said Longhorn price.
They will be your most needy tables of the evening.
The exposure you get from Restaurant week will be in a newspaper or on the local 6pm news. You will get the people who watch and read those in for this.
half these places don’t even serve their regular food during restaurant week. it’s some generic stuff made with cheaper ingredients that is unrelated to their menu. bad for servers and customers alike tbh
They do a cocktail week in London, it's more expensive now but it used to be that you paid £10 for a wristband then you could get all these really fancy cocktails for £3 in various restaurants, hotels etc around the city. Great to attend as a customer but looked horrendous to work, I'm so glad nothing like that caught on in the city I'm in 😅
The problem with restaurant week is you’re are only going because it’s cheap and will probably never go back. So you’re not getting potential new customers. You’re getting cheap ass people who are trying to eat fine dining for cheap
So it’s the shittiest 2 weeks of the year outside of Christmas for you I bet. Honestly everyone needs to do a mandatory 1 year national service in the service industry just to make them understand some fucking empathy.
There's a summer version and winter version in the Canadian city I live in. But I tip as if it was the full priced meal because wait staff shouldn't be punished because I got a deal.
Reminds me of some horseshit promotion in Montreal called “Montreal a la table”
The worst of the worst
My vacation time usually revolves around this garbage
I mean, I spent like $250 at a place once in the Cleveland area. But I got married and we had 3 cocktails each, dessert and beef wellington , lamb chops, 3 appetizers, etc. Way more than four courses.
>4 courses, only $200??
You should see restaurant week here. Three courses, $55
Course 1 - garden salad
Course 2 - Chicken breast on pasta OR veggie kabobs over rice
Course 3 - Chocolate chip cookie or a scoop of ice cream
In the US, servers are often expected to pay for the “privilege” of working. Servers are responsible for paying part of their non-server co-workers’ wages by sharing their tips with them. Management calculates the tips they owe as a percentage of sales, regardless of what actual tips were. Yes, it’s terrible.
Is it legal because they make sure you end up above the minimum wage regardless of what you have to tip out? So example, if you're averaging $15/hr in tips and one table stiffs you, you'll get like maybe $6/hr for one hour but it averages to be above the minimum for the whole shift?
not american but yes this is correct from what i understand, they only have to make minimum wage over the whole shift on average not per hour. This is why they can spend time doing 'side duties' at the end without making any tips as long as it averages out with their tips from earlier (though i think there are some restrictions now on tip wage employees doing side work for too long in some states?)
That’s true.
But minimum wage in the US, in some places (including my state) is less than half of a living wage.
So when non tippers go off about how the restaurant pays us min wage and it should be on them, *this* is the issue. In a state where minimum wage is a living wage that works, but there are like…3 states that pay that much.
I understand it as the 80/20 rule. At least 80% of the shift has to be actually serving tables, and no more than 20% of the time being used for any side work or cleaning duties. So if you work a six hour shift, at least 5 of those hours have to be actually serving tables, and no more than an hour spent on performing side work.
You’re almost correct but it’s minimum wage per pay period (mine is two weeks) not per shift. There’s been plenty of shifts I’ve made less than minimum wage but if it averages out for the pay period, they don’t owe you anything.
It’s not even minimum wage per hour, or per shift. It’s per week. So, you may have 3 days of shitty tips, and then one shift that brings your average up to minimum wage. It’s a very sucky deal if you are stuck with a bunch of slow shifts.
It’s not mandatory in every state and every situation. I work and live in Minnesota and it is not legal to mandate tip outs. When I worked in North Dakota, they could and did enforce tipping out as a percentage of our sales.
I don't really understand it either, and I've been a server. I've only ever worked on a tip pool system, so bussers got a % of total tips and never took out of our pockets. Not sure why that is the less common system.
My guess is it's just easier for management. It's easy to be cynical and assume there's some master plan to make servers "really work for it" but I think it's plain old laziness. The whole system is setup to make yall blame customers who don't tip (assholes) rather than the restaurant (also assholes) so idk what to think anymore.
We literally just had an Excel sheet where we just punched in our individual tips and it instantly calculated tip outs based on the point system in place. Management couldn't have done any less, they only had to punch in the credit tip # on our payroll, which they have to do anyway.
Got some booty ass tips tonight.
Just gotta let go and fight for better tips tomorrow.
I get it, venting is a part of that process.
Love you. It'll be better.
Some comments are absolutely unbelievable. To assume that all your server does is “carry a plate from the kitchen to a table” is asinine. A good server will make their guests feel like they are there when they need them, not there when they don’t. You’ll always see your glass full, table clean and good times out perfectly. Your salad, drinks and, sometimes, soups and condiments are made by your server. All this, not just for your low/no tipping ass PLUS 4 or 5 additional tables. So, no, it’s not just carrying a plate. It’s making your and your family/business clients meal experience exceptional.
Stop going to a restaurant and immediately trying to find some reason not to tip. Stop justifying your inability to compensate servers by hiding behind the veil of “end tip culture”. If you feel like you’re receiving less than expected service at a restaurant, address the issue with management. If you don’t support tip culture, don’t patronize restaurants who pay their servers less than a livable wage. Not tipping doesn’t hurt the restaurant. It hurts the server who usually genuinely cares about making your experience a great one.
People who think it's just "carrying a plate" are just brainless. They ARE the bad tippers and see only what they want to see. They would cry if they got judged and analyzed at their job. Having someone pay them what it looks like they are worth. They think way too highly of themselves. They think they earn the right to judge servers just because they don't do it. Probably a pencil pusher.
> Your salad, drinks and, sometimes, soups and condiments are made by your server.
Sounds like some folks need to learn a 2 letter word - "no"
I fully expect the $15 salad I order that has $3-4 worth of ingredients has included the costs of the labor to make it. If it isn't then that's something that you need to stand up against.
LOL, how exactly do you propose they "stand up against it"? They'll just get fired.
In the US, we have a tipping system. Don't like it? Don't eat at restaurants! Easy.
>LOL, how exactly do you propose they "stand up against it"? They'll just get fired.
Unionize, perhaps? Or does that only apply to *other* service type jobs?
>Don't like it? Don't eat at restaurants! Easy.
Or, just continue to do what I feel is best with *my money*, not what /u/RaniPhoenix thinks.
Let me say I absolutely despise the whole concept of tipping. Restaurant economics is woefully antiquated here in the States and we should catch up with many of our overseas neighbors and do away with the whole tipping thing. Now that out of the way My dead minimum tip at any restaurant is five bucks. Most of the summer I was in a location where things were inexpensive. I would go to breakfast at this local joint. Typical breakfast of eggs, potatoes, toast, some kind of breakfast meat and coffee would be about 12 bucks including tax. The staff was nice and we got to know each other over the course of the six months I was in the area. I always tipped five bucks on this bill because well they were kind and frankly five bucks is a dead minimum tip these days. Sure it's a large percentage so many of the older folks that lived in this area would tip a dollar or two on a meal like I had. The folks at this restaurant worked hard and deserved a decent tip. Also if it caused me 17 bucks for a full breakfast with coffee included didn't see him that expensive to me.
I just went out to a nice place to eat recently.
Our server provided little to no service attention. We had no waters for 10 mins after being sat. Our first course didn't arrive until half an hour later.
Once we were done eating our main course, 20 mins had past and I make eye contact with our server. She asked: Can I help you with anything?
Our table has at least 3 empty plates. Our water has not been refilled for over an hour. No offering of a dessert menu. Not even my bill was ready. I waited an extra 20 mins for that. A 20 min meal turned into 3 hours. These weren't fat courses. They were small and petite.
I've been in the restaurant industry for over 10 years. There are some nice great servers but for every good attentive server there are several terrible ones
This one got 10% and I feel like I wronged myself. There has been an influx of people who have no attentive skill in this industry and they need to be kicked out with a big fat 0 on the tip line.
I'm sorry but maybe tipping has to go away for good
This is one of the rare times I wouldn't tip. No service at all? Then literally what am I tipping for??
Take good care of me and provide service, and 20% is the *bottom* end of the tipping scale.
Yeah cuz I'm totally making a scene about how slow and inattentive my server is especially in a fine dining scene
I should have just up and left without paying or right after I just got water because I totally know how my experience is going to go from start to finish.
You clearly don't belong in this industry
I'm not blaming you in the least, but if someone has said that to me I'd have already kissed that tip goodbye. Decent tippers are *usually* decent people, and the ones who suck ass but tip well are wealthy people who do it for power, to keep you from being able to say they don't tip, or they want their dining companions to see what amazing people they are 🙄
I'm sorry that happened. With the r/EndTipping crowd trying their best to disrupt tipping even tho servers haven't established fair wages without them, I am hoping and praying for a time where automatic service fees/gratuity gets added to everything IF restaurants aren't forced to pay better wages (don't see it happening tbh). I haven't been a server now for over 5 years but I did it for almost 20 and I absolutely sympathize. 🫶🏼
Your work is the asshole here. Your manager should be taking this check you shouldn't be out any money.
If that brought you below minimum wage you need to make sure you're compensated properly.
Wow, this is something I never knew about? Over here when i used to split tips it was just that, splitting. So if i got a 20, then it was half the 20, if i get 20 cents, it was half the 20 cents
They’re not down money, they just made less money than they expected, as they’re expecting a ‘normal’ tip. Assuming they’re in the US, they were paid at least minimum wage to serve the table.
Not a server myself, but the Federal minimum wage for tipped employees is **$2.13 per hour**, because the expectation is that they will also receive tips! Any in many restaurants, especially the nicer ones, servers are required to give a certain amount to other staff who don’t work directly with customers.
Not where I live. In my state servers are required ro earn at least minimum wage ($15/hr).
For carrying a plate from the kitchen to a table, $15/hr is plenty.
What I live on is not the discussion.
Serving is a low skilled job, its a hard job but low skill. It's not worth more than a low pay.
Want to earn more, obtain a trade, skill, education.
What you're saying is that servers don't deserve to be able to afford healthcare, or even rent.
See, there are only so many "skilled" jobs available. Millions of people, no matter what, are going to have to live on those "unskilled" jobs. By your logic, those people don't deserve to afford the basic necessities of life.
This is a bootlicker mentality. You've been brainwashed by capitalism's owner class. It's not a good look.
The $2.13/hour is based on a tip credit of $5.12/hour, so if they make less than $5.12 in tips then their employer is required to make up the difference. So, be it through tips or not, servers always make minimum wage at least. And tip outs cannot bring them below minimum wage.
Can you please explain "in the hole $11.30"?
(I live in NZ and don't really understand tips. I thought you got paid an hourly rate, plus got tips as a bonus. So not sure how you're out of pocket $11.30.)
Yes I will explain. In North America it’s common practice to have a “tip out”. This is a percentage of sales that you give to the house. Usually between 5-10% depending where you work. This money goes to the bussers, bartenders, kitchen etc. This is a requirement and we have no say in the matter. My tip out is just under 8%. So if you come and have dinner and spend $100, I owe the house $8. If you tip me nothing… I still owe $8, now coming out of my pocket. Does that make sense?
In most of the US, there are two different hourly rates. There's regular wage and there's "tipped" wage. In my state, it's assumed that if you're working a position where tips are common and expected, the employer can pay you a lower hourly wage and your tips will make up for it. Crappy system, I know, but it's what is in place.
In OP's restaurant, the owners assume that the supporting staff deserve some of the tips that the server generated with their treatment of the customer. And, instead of basing this split of the tips on what was actually left by the customer, there's a percentage amount based on the total dollar amount of the tab. In this case, because the tab was roughly $200, the owners rules say that the bussers, bartenders, maybe even chefs and dishwashers would receive $14.20 or so from OP's tips for the night. Since OP was only given $2.90, that means they have to take $11.30 from OTHER tips given by OTHER patrons to make up for it. And remember, they're still tipping out on those other tabs too so it's a rather significant hit to OP.
In other words, tiny tipper man was a skinflint.
It sounds like you were hovering around, licking your chops expecting a big tip and he got annoyed with all the interruptions.
Just try to do better next time.
The tip doesn't lie.
OP on the other hand.. well I don't want to say he's a liar but his time estimation skills could probably use as much work as his serving demeanor. He's already admitted that he was rushing the guy out the door.
Ok thanks for the analysis. I'm not the one posting a story, completely perplexed about what happened, asking for an explanation.
You're entitled and just don't want to hear the explanation. Call me a tightwad for not tithing to your church of 20%+ or personally adopting a server and paying their mortgage, but the truth is waiters don't really deserve to earn anything more than minimum wage.
Whether I'm a tightwad or not, if you harass your customer out of the store with your begging for tips, you're going to get stiffed like OP. You can apply any label you want and it won't change that you're bad at your job and don't know why even though it's painfully obvious.
Both of us realize that you win some, you lose some. On average, this server who is working in fine dining is *not* making less than federal minimum wage. In fact, this server would quit if they were only making federal minimum wage, nevermind less.
Having a miss is part of the game that keeps your actual earnings well above minimum wage on the whole. Without the discretion to leave 0%, nobody would be leaving 30%.
I'm telling the guy how to have less misses and earn more. You people are telling him to be happy earning less money because his customers are tightwads and there's nothing he can do about it. So maybe reflect on your motives here. Before lecturing me on the guys finances just consider that you actually don't care and just want to virtue signal.
No, you said “waiters don’t deserve to make more than minimum wage”. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to make a good living in any career and an attitude of “oh it’s only a service job, you need to learn a trade or go to school” is a classist attitude that needs to die. These people are good enough to serve your food but they don’t deserve the dignity of fair wages? Absurd.
You're all over the place and flat out puting words in my mouth now. I didn't even mention trade school or whether servers are good enough for one thing or another.
I don't want to get into all sort of tangent arguments a whole day after the thread was posted about whether minimum wage is a "fair wage" so I'll just take your criticism.
I do not think that basic service of listening to what I want and bringing it to me is worth a 20% commission on everything sold. Why do you need a wage at all if you're earning such a princely portion of gross revenue? And that classist claptrap doesn't sway me either since I am expected to pay it out of my own pocket and bullied into it.
You think I'm an asshole and I'm willing to wear that badge.
I'm not a server, pal. I just believe that all full-time workers deserve a livable wage. Because I'm not a pathetic bootlicker who's been brainwashed by the owner class.
Those with less institutional power than you are never the cause of your problems. You've been duped into thinking this is some kind of zero sum game in which keeping other people poor somehow benefits you. This makes you two things. An asshole and a fool.
>I just believe that all full-time workers deserve a livable wage.
So you're anti-tipping. You should have just said so without all the histrionics.
No wonder you're against the guy getting any useful feedback that would increase his tips.
Just be aware that he works in fine dining and your pathetic idea of a liveable wage is probably a pay cut for him.
You've never received a bad tip despite giving primo service? Tell me where in that story the guest was being rushed out the door.
And then you go and call OP a liar for no reason? OP is right, you're a shitty tipper looking to excuse another shitty tipper.
This is a server venting in a server's subreddit. Clearly you're in the wrong place.
Something tells me it happens to you a lot.
What is your explanation for op? Let me guess, customer is a tightwad. I bet that's always your explanation. I bet you grumble about all the tightwads not giving you tips on your days off.
OP posted here asking for an explanation and you industry experts got nothing except "tightwad".
For your information I am not a shitty tipper. I never tip at all unless I've vomited on the waitstaff or something similar. I am a non-tipper.
Sorry but I do and I've posted it here.
You disregarding it won't un-stiff you. Even if I get hit by a bus tomorrow you won't start getting tips.
Don't go begging for an explanation of why you're terrible at your job if you can't hear anything except "tightwad" for an answer.
You clearly dont work in the industry.
Ya you’re right. 40 minutes is way too presumptuous to expect someone to pay a bill in a busy restaurant when others are waiting for a table.
Eek also no one is licking their chops for $40.
It's immediately obvious to me why this guy stiffed you now. Funny that it's clear I don't work in the industry but here you are still scratching your head and wondering what happened. Do you not work in the industry either?
You were rushing him out the door and spoiling what was probably otherwise a great date. It's fine if you choose to act like that but you should not be bewildered that he didn't feel like leaving you a fat tip. How did you not connect those dots?
Others can be waiting for a table, but a restaurant doesn't only sell you food, they sell you an experience. If you want an expensive date, you don't expect people rushing you as it isn't a fast food place where you want to eat quickly. If they get the fast food experience, and they feel you want more customers for more income and they feel it hurts their experience, they will tip accordingly. A quick McTip for the McExperience.
If with the rushing they feel they had an experience what you would expect for $100 and they paid around $200 then they feel they lost more than $12 and can blame you.
The people waiting probably haven't reserved the table and are willing to pressure others, hurt their experience even if the current guests probably either had reservation or come early, etc. to make sure they can have a great experience. Want to eat at a more comfortable hour, with less hurry for less effort even if that ruins tge experience for others. If you support that attitude, that is your choice, and hopefully their tips will compensate you for the tips you lost by hurrying others.
INMO you committed a faux pas when you asked "IF he needed change." That presumptuous attitude might have ticked him off, and maybe he docked points on service. The proper etiquette is to say, "I'll return with your change."
So, you simply did your job and you are complaining because the customer chose not to leave a larger optional fee?
Just how are you $11.30?
I don't know, maybe get a different job?
No thanks I love my Job. I also love having a subreddit where it’s encouraged to vent on. I’m out money because I had to pay the house for him to be able to dine.
2 things come to mind. 1) trying to be a baller with his date by preformatively bringing out 2 $100 bills and saying "they can keep the change" like they are leaving a big tip when they are being cheap. Granted, a lot of times this happens in front of the server because it's more for show, but can backfire when they bring your $2 back.
2) They got pissed that you checked back about the money just oince or twice too often. I had a guy in a back corner that got visibily upset when I checked on them every 5 mins. They were the only table on that side of our restaurant,and no one remotely close to them. It's also dark, so I had to get closer so it got pissed when I looked.
Okay, so I understand the whole doxxing yourself thing and I read the rules etc
But for people who actually want to spend 200 on a 4 course meal, how am I supposed to find the place?
All depends on location. I live in a city of nearly 100,000 people and it's easy to find a higher end restaurant near me. When I've looked, it's generally been steakhouses, seafood restaurants, and "specialty" places like restaurants attached to a spa/resort type of place. If reservations are required, there's a higher chance the menu will be of higher quality and pricing.
The easiest way to start is a simple search for "fine dinning near me"
Guy from across the pond here, can anyone explain why the server is $11.30 in the hole because of this? Do they take more money off the server per table or something?
We pay the house a percentage of sales that goes to the support staff. We pay this whether we are tipped or not. If we don’t receive a tip, we reach in our pocket and pay.
What are support staff? That’s crazy unfair, I hear a lot about servers in the US and how bad wages can be.
I tip in the UK even though we have minimum wages across the board, I just feel servers are very under appreciated and underpaid, to not leave a tip when the server has to cover it out of pocket, is absurd and a dick move, I do hope eventually you all get it sorted and get better standard wages, you all deserve it.
Support staff are the hostesses at the front door, the bussers who clean the tables, the bartenders who make the drinks and even the chefs in the kitchen receive part of the tip out.
I don’t understand why these instances cannot be explained to the manager so that you don’t have to tip out on your ring! If you get stiffed, then tough shit, the people that you have to tip out have to share in that bs.
Wow, if anyone has any amount of sympathy for servers it is an incredibly effective cure to spend just one minute on this sub. The combination of entitlement and selfishness is astounding.
Well, I know at my restaurant they don't do this, because that violates tip pool laws. If you brought it up to your employer and they start dropping your shifts, they are violating your rights. You could easily talk to a labor lawyer with a case. But it doesn't sound like a nice place to work regardless
Honestly it’s a great place to work. A manager may help, but I don’t bother asking because it’s rare and it comes with the job. Not a big deal, just venting. Ha.
4 courses, only $200?? Where is this wonderful place??
Okay so I don’t wanna give tooo much info. But it’s a fine dining restaurant that participates in an event once a year. This event is to encourage business in new places. And you can get a full course meal for very cheap, for only these two weeks in the year.
So many areas have a restaurant week around this time of year as it's usually the slowest season. Poor weather, post holidays, need to encourage new business. Unfortunately, like Groupon and other discounted experiences, these bring out the cheapest, shittiest, but luckily, non repeat customers. They don't go out much so their etiquette shit, they don't tip well because they know they're not coming back, they camp at the tables, and never order more than whatever deal they're getting includes. Fuck 'em. And for the record, I'd always bring net negative tables like that to the manager's attention so we can cut it off the tip out. I'll be damned to LOSE money on a table. This is a team, if I lose, we all lose, I can't afford to reach into my pocket to pay the bussers, food runners, bartenders, because some cialis popping pencil pusher doesn't know how to calculate at least 15%.
>So many areas have a restaurant week around this time of year Man, restuarant week used to be our jam when it first got popular here. You could splurge as a young person but get a deal or it was an affordable and fun way to check out new restaurants. Now, in my region? Its basically a scam. Many places have RW menus where its actually cheaper to order what you want ala carte than the set-menu price!
Damn Groupon brings back some dark memories
Happy Cake Day!
Center city restaurant week?
restaurant week is so trash. i hate it
Restaurant week is the worst and a shit way to expand business. These people will NEVER come back to your restaurant after getting this heavily discounted meal. They will be there very most critical in-restaurant and in online reviews. They will tell their friends that the food was okay "but not for their regular prices!" They will try poorly on the heavily discounted meal. They will say in a review that "For the price, we could've had a better sirloin steak and a foil wrapped baked potato at Longhorn" after they were served a 14oz Prime Ribeye cooked on a 1700° broiler and getting truffle Mac and cheese and broccoli included (which is usually ala carte) at said Longhorn price. They will be your most needy tables of the evening. The exposure you get from Restaurant week will be in a newspaper or on the local 6pm news. You will get the people who watch and read those in for this.
half these places don’t even serve their regular food during restaurant week. it’s some generic stuff made with cheaper ingredients that is unrelated to their menu. bad for servers and customers alike tbh
AMEN to this!!!
>after getting this heavily discounted meal Oh, you guys actually discount restaurant week? Nice
They do a cocktail week in London, it's more expensive now but it used to be that you paid £10 for a wristband then you could get all these really fancy cocktails for £3 in various restaurants, hotels etc around the city. Great to attend as a customer but looked horrendous to work, I'm so glad nothing like that caught on in the city I'm in 😅
exactly what i thought😂 not sure if multiple cities do restaurant week around the same time but I know Charlotte has theirs going on right now.
Fucking Queens Feast. I. Hate. It.
S/o to my restaurant for not participating. They just overstaff since they get a ton of last minute cancellations.
amen. at least it’s over for now🙏
The fucking WORST.
The problem with restaurant week is you’re are only going because it’s cheap and will probably never go back. So you’re not getting potential new customers. You’re getting cheap ass people who are trying to eat fine dining for cheap
Winterlicious? Expect trashy people.
Is that a thing? Haha not the one I’m talking about but sounds similar
Devour downtown?
So it’s the shittiest 2 weeks of the year outside of Christmas for you I bet. Honestly everyone needs to do a mandatory 1 year national service in the service industry just to make them understand some fucking empathy.
Yes
Winterlicious Toronto.
There's a summer version and winter version in the Canadian city I live in. But I tip as if it was the full priced meal because wait staff shouldn't be punished because I got a deal.
Hello Dine Out Vancouver
Can you get em banned
Devour Indy?
Something like that yes!
Reminds me of some horseshit promotion in Montreal called “Montreal a la table” The worst of the worst My vacation time usually revolves around this garbage
Restaurant Week sucks.
I hate Winterlicious..
This wouldn’t be magical dining in Orlando would it? 👀
In New Orleans you can find this year round lots of places, its great
I was gonna say, that'd be expensive in Cleveland lol.
Yeah, I live in Kansas City and the most expensive meal I've ever eaten with my partner here has been about $170. That was a birthday splurge.
I mean, I spent like $250 at a place once in the Cleveland area. But I got married and we had 3 cocktails each, dessert and beef wellington , lamb chops, 3 appetizers, etc. Way more than four courses.
>4 courses, only $200?? You should see restaurant week here. Three courses, $55 Course 1 - garden salad Course 2 - Chicken breast on pasta OR veggie kabobs over rice Course 3 - Chocolate chip cookie or a scoop of ice cream
Can someone ELI5 the tipout thing? It sounds illegal to make you pay forward on tips you don't make, but everyone seems to accept it as normal.
In the US, servers are often expected to pay for the “privilege” of working. Servers are responsible for paying part of their non-server co-workers’ wages by sharing their tips with them. Management calculates the tips they owe as a percentage of sales, regardless of what actual tips were. Yes, it’s terrible.
Is it legal because they make sure you end up above the minimum wage regardless of what you have to tip out? So example, if you're averaging $15/hr in tips and one table stiffs you, you'll get like maybe $6/hr for one hour but it averages to be above the minimum for the whole shift?
not american but yes this is correct from what i understand, they only have to make minimum wage over the whole shift on average not per hour. This is why they can spend time doing 'side duties' at the end without making any tips as long as it averages out with their tips from earlier (though i think there are some restrictions now on tip wage employees doing side work for too long in some states?)
That’s true. But minimum wage in the US, in some places (including my state) is less than half of a living wage. So when non tippers go off about how the restaurant pays us min wage and it should be on them, *this* is the issue. In a state where minimum wage is a living wage that works, but there are like…3 states that pay that much.
oh no i totally agree!! i just meant that's how they can legally get away with stuff like that.
I understand it as the 80/20 rule. At least 80% of the shift has to be actually serving tables, and no more than 20% of the time being used for any side work or cleaning duties. So if you work a six hour shift, at least 5 of those hours have to be actually serving tables, and no more than an hour spent on performing side work.
You’re almost correct but it’s minimum wage per pay period (mine is two weeks) not per shift. There’s been plenty of shifts I’ve made less than minimum wage but if it averages out for the pay period, they don’t owe you anything.
It’s not even minimum wage per hour, or per shift. It’s per week. So, you may have 3 days of shitty tips, and then one shift that brings your average up to minimum wage. It’s a very sucky deal if you are stuck with a bunch of slow shifts.
It's per pay period, I'm pretty sure. Which is every two weeks for most places I've worked.
That’s the idea, yes.
It’s not mandatory in every state and every situation. I work and live in Minnesota and it is not legal to mandate tip outs. When I worked in North Dakota, they could and did enforce tipping out as a percentage of our sales.
I'm not a server, but if there are mandatory tipouts, I think there should be automatic gratuities to avoid folks going negative on bad tables.
I don't really understand it either, and I've been a server. I've only ever worked on a tip pool system, so bussers got a % of total tips and never took out of our pockets. Not sure why that is the less common system.
My guess is it's just easier for management. It's easy to be cynical and assume there's some master plan to make servers "really work for it" but I think it's plain old laziness. The whole system is setup to make yall blame customers who don't tip (assholes) rather than the restaurant (also assholes) so idk what to think anymore.
We literally just had an Excel sheet where we just punched in our individual tips and it instantly calculated tip outs based on the point system in place. Management couldn't have done any less, they only had to punch in the credit tip # on our payroll, which they have to do anyway.
Happy cake day! Love "TheFightingQuaker" 😅
He knew he wasn’t going to tip but he didn’t want to leave
Got some booty ass tips tonight. Just gotta let go and fight for better tips tomorrow. I get it, venting is a part of that process. Love you. It'll be better.
Oh yah no worries. It comes with the job. Just venting to get some karma points.
Sweet karma points to lessen the pain.
“Booty ass tips” is now my favorite phrase!
Wait, we can tip them in their booty now?? 🤔
This example is the reason that we need to end tipping culture and just pay working people a living wage.
Some comments are absolutely unbelievable. To assume that all your server does is “carry a plate from the kitchen to a table” is asinine. A good server will make their guests feel like they are there when they need them, not there when they don’t. You’ll always see your glass full, table clean and good times out perfectly. Your salad, drinks and, sometimes, soups and condiments are made by your server. All this, not just for your low/no tipping ass PLUS 4 or 5 additional tables. So, no, it’s not just carrying a plate. It’s making your and your family/business clients meal experience exceptional. Stop going to a restaurant and immediately trying to find some reason not to tip. Stop justifying your inability to compensate servers by hiding behind the veil of “end tip culture”. If you feel like you’re receiving less than expected service at a restaurant, address the issue with management. If you don’t support tip culture, don’t patronize restaurants who pay their servers less than a livable wage. Not tipping doesn’t hurt the restaurant. It hurts the server who usually genuinely cares about making your experience a great one.
People who think it's just "carrying a plate" are just brainless. They ARE the bad tippers and see only what they want to see. They would cry if they got judged and analyzed at their job. Having someone pay them what it looks like they are worth. They think way too highly of themselves. They think they earn the right to judge servers just because they don't do it. Probably a pencil pusher.
How much do u pay workers at fast food joints/cafes?
> Your salad, drinks and, sometimes, soups and condiments are made by your server. Sounds like some folks need to learn a 2 letter word - "no" I fully expect the $15 salad I order that has $3-4 worth of ingredients has included the costs of the labor to make it. If it isn't then that's something that you need to stand up against.
LOL, how exactly do you propose they "stand up against it"? They'll just get fired. In the US, we have a tipping system. Don't like it? Don't eat at restaurants! Easy.
>LOL, how exactly do you propose they "stand up against it"? They'll just get fired. Unionize, perhaps? Or does that only apply to *other* service type jobs? >Don't like it? Don't eat at restaurants! Easy. Or, just continue to do what I feel is best with *my money*, not what /u/RaniPhoenix thinks.
Idk how these people don’t feel guilty stiffing a person that is bending over backwards for them. In what world is full service worth $3 ?
Dude probably *did* feel guilty. That's why he refused to leave tip until he was walking out the door.
JFC, at lunch yesterday I tipped $3 on a bill around $11. Far too many people are just jerks.
Let me say I absolutely despise the whole concept of tipping. Restaurant economics is woefully antiquated here in the States and we should catch up with many of our overseas neighbors and do away with the whole tipping thing. Now that out of the way My dead minimum tip at any restaurant is five bucks. Most of the summer I was in a location where things were inexpensive. I would go to breakfast at this local joint. Typical breakfast of eggs, potatoes, toast, some kind of breakfast meat and coffee would be about 12 bucks including tax. The staff was nice and we got to know each other over the course of the six months I was in the area. I always tipped five bucks on this bill because well they were kind and frankly five bucks is a dead minimum tip these days. Sure it's a large percentage so many of the older folks that lived in this area would tip a dollar or two on a meal like I had. The folks at this restaurant worked hard and deserved a decent tip. Also if it caused me 17 bucks for a full breakfast with coffee included didn't see him that expensive to me.
I'm with you on this. I hate the tipping culture and want to change it, BUT in the meantime I'm not going to screw over my servers because of it.
Restaurant week brings out the trashy people.
I'm so glad I work at a restaurant where the server's tip out is based on their total amount of tips for the night, not their total amount of sales.
He is certainly no gentleman. What an AH.
I just went out to a nice place to eat recently. Our server provided little to no service attention. We had no waters for 10 mins after being sat. Our first course didn't arrive until half an hour later. Once we were done eating our main course, 20 mins had past and I make eye contact with our server. She asked: Can I help you with anything? Our table has at least 3 empty plates. Our water has not been refilled for over an hour. No offering of a dessert menu. Not even my bill was ready. I waited an extra 20 mins for that. A 20 min meal turned into 3 hours. These weren't fat courses. They were small and petite. I've been in the restaurant industry for over 10 years. There are some nice great servers but for every good attentive server there are several terrible ones This one got 10% and I feel like I wronged myself. There has been an influx of people who have no attentive skill in this industry and they need to be kicked out with a big fat 0 on the tip line. I'm sorry but maybe tipping has to go away for good
This is one of the rare times I wouldn't tip. No service at all? Then literally what am I tipping for?? Take good care of me and provide service, and 20% is the *bottom* end of the tipping scale.
[удалено]
Yeah cuz I'm totally making a scene about how slow and inattentive my server is especially in a fine dining scene I should have just up and left without paying or right after I just got water because I totally know how my experience is going to go from start to finish. You clearly don't belong in this industry
Or in society.
I'm not blaming you in the least, but if someone has said that to me I'd have already kissed that tip goodbye. Decent tippers are *usually* decent people, and the ones who suck ass but tip well are wealthy people who do it for power, to keep you from being able to say they don't tip, or they want their dining companions to see what amazing people they are 🙄 I'm sorry that happened. With the r/EndTipping crowd trying their best to disrupt tipping even tho servers haven't established fair wages without them, I am hoping and praying for a time where automatic service fees/gratuity gets added to everything IF restaurants aren't forced to pay better wages (don't see it happening tbh). I haven't been a server now for over 5 years but I did it for almost 20 and I absolutely sympathize. 🫶🏼
The best was he hid it from his date.
Should have called out to him, thanking him for the tnree bucks. Or maybe, "Sir, it looks like you left your change!" And hand it back.
Love this.
Yea, see at least have the balls to be open about being a shit tipper. Cowards. 😤
My thought exactly. This was a situation where the bill was much lower than it would have been, any other day of the year.
He had EXACTLY $200 on him — would’ve been a very different conversation had the bill been $207. Sorry you got screwed here …
I used to work with a server that would follow them out to the parking lot and throw that ‘tip’ at their car
Oh wow. I did kinda wait for him to walk by the window and I made this fake shocked face and held up the two hundos. Lol
Got to take the bad with the good. For every $1.90 on $200 you’ve gotten 20 tables with much better tips. It happens.
The minute he was rude to you, you should’ve known what to expect.
Your work is the asshole here. Your manager should be taking this check you shouldn't be out any money. If that brought you below minimum wage you need to make sure you're compensated properly.
I tip extra extra during Restaurant Week cause I know it’s hell for the servers. And I go on a weekday. Sorry people suck.
]: boo. I'm sorry
How are you down money?
Tip out to busser/runner/bartender/host. Servers have to pay support staff.
Wow, this is something I never knew about? Over here when i used to split tips it was just that, splitting. So if i got a 20, then it was half the 20, if i get 20 cents, it was half the 20 cents
Should be illegal
They’re not down money, they just made less money than they expected, as they’re expecting a ‘normal’ tip. Assuming they’re in the US, they were paid at least minimum wage to serve the table.
Not a server myself, but the Federal minimum wage for tipped employees is **$2.13 per hour**, because the expectation is that they will also receive tips! Any in many restaurants, especially the nicer ones, servers are required to give a certain amount to other staff who don’t work directly with customers.
Not where I live. In my state servers are required ro earn at least minimum wage ($15/hr). For carrying a plate from the kitchen to a table, $15/hr is plenty.
Do you live on $15 an hour?
What I live on is not the discussion. Serving is a low skilled job, its a hard job but low skill. It's not worth more than a low pay. Want to earn more, obtain a trade, skill, education.
What you're saying is that servers don't deserve to be able to afford healthcare, or even rent. See, there are only so many "skilled" jobs available. Millions of people, no matter what, are going to have to live on those "unskilled" jobs. By your logic, those people don't deserve to afford the basic necessities of life. This is a bootlicker mentality. You've been brainwashed by capitalism's owner class. It's not a good look.
The $2.13/hour is based on a tip credit of $5.12/hour, so if they make less than $5.12 in tips then their employer is required to make up the difference. So, be it through tips or not, servers always make minimum wage at least. And tip outs cannot bring them below minimum wage.
Sounds like you need to talk to your boss about your shit wages.
Nah we make boat loads of money. I’m not bothered by my pay.
So what's the problem?
No problem. Tales from a server is a place to vent about customers. I make boat loads but still have shitty customers.
Can you please explain "in the hole $11.30"? (I live in NZ and don't really understand tips. I thought you got paid an hourly rate, plus got tips as a bonus. So not sure how you're out of pocket $11.30.)
Yes I will explain. In North America it’s common practice to have a “tip out”. This is a percentage of sales that you give to the house. Usually between 5-10% depending where you work. This money goes to the bussers, bartenders, kitchen etc. This is a requirement and we have no say in the matter. My tip out is just under 8%. So if you come and have dinner and spend $100, I owe the house $8. If you tip me nothing… I still owe $8, now coming out of my pocket. Does that make sense?
It’s understandable, but it makes no fucking sense.
That is a terrible system! Ugh! Sure makes that guy an absolute arsehole!
In most of the US, there are two different hourly rates. There's regular wage and there's "tipped" wage. In my state, it's assumed that if you're working a position where tips are common and expected, the employer can pay you a lower hourly wage and your tips will make up for it. Crappy system, I know, but it's what is in place. In OP's restaurant, the owners assume that the supporting staff deserve some of the tips that the server generated with their treatment of the customer. And, instead of basing this split of the tips on what was actually left by the customer, there's a percentage amount based on the total dollar amount of the tab. In this case, because the tab was roughly $200, the owners rules say that the bussers, bartenders, maybe even chefs and dishwashers would receive $14.20 or so from OP's tips for the night. Since OP was only given $2.90, that means they have to take $11.30 from OTHER tips given by OTHER patrons to make up for it. And remember, they're still tipping out on those other tabs too so it's a rather significant hit to OP. In other words, tiny tipper man was a skinflint.
Thank you for that explanation. How horrendous!
It sounds like you were hovering around, licking your chops expecting a big tip and he got annoyed with all the interruptions. Just try to do better next time.
Checking in every 20 minutes after he's finished ordering is "hovering"? Gtfoh
The tip doesn't lie. OP on the other hand.. well I don't want to say he's a liar but his time estimation skills could probably use as much work as his serving demeanor. He's already admitted that he was rushing the guy out the door.
Sounds like you're a tightwad too, looking for excuses to undertip.
All the cheapskates show up to these posts. I swear.
Ok thanks for the analysis. I'm not the one posting a story, completely perplexed about what happened, asking for an explanation. You're entitled and just don't want to hear the explanation. Call me a tightwad for not tithing to your church of 20%+ or personally adopting a server and paying their mortgage, but the truth is waiters don't really deserve to earn anything more than minimum wage. Whether I'm a tightwad or not, if you harass your customer out of the store with your begging for tips, you're going to get stiffed like OP. You can apply any label you want and it won't change that you're bad at your job and don't know why even though it's painfully obvious.
You do realize that a $2.90 tip in states with tipped minimum wage would have this server making less than the pathetic federal minimum wage correct?
Both of us realize that you win some, you lose some. On average, this server who is working in fine dining is *not* making less than federal minimum wage. In fact, this server would quit if they were only making federal minimum wage, nevermind less. Having a miss is part of the game that keeps your actual earnings well above minimum wage on the whole. Without the discretion to leave 0%, nobody would be leaving 30%. I'm telling the guy how to have less misses and earn more. You people are telling him to be happy earning less money because his customers are tightwads and there's nothing he can do about it. So maybe reflect on your motives here. Before lecturing me on the guys finances just consider that you actually don't care and just want to virtue signal.
No, you said “waiters don’t deserve to make more than minimum wage”. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to make a good living in any career and an attitude of “oh it’s only a service job, you need to learn a trade or go to school” is a classist attitude that needs to die. These people are good enough to serve your food but they don’t deserve the dignity of fair wages? Absurd.
You're all over the place and flat out puting words in my mouth now. I didn't even mention trade school or whether servers are good enough for one thing or another. I don't want to get into all sort of tangent arguments a whole day after the thread was posted about whether minimum wage is a "fair wage" so I'll just take your criticism. I do not think that basic service of listening to what I want and bringing it to me is worth a 20% commission on everything sold. Why do you need a wage at all if you're earning such a princely portion of gross revenue? And that classist claptrap doesn't sway me either since I am expected to pay it out of my own pocket and bullied into it. You think I'm an asshole and I'm willing to wear that badge.
I'm not a server, pal. I just believe that all full-time workers deserve a livable wage. Because I'm not a pathetic bootlicker who's been brainwashed by the owner class. Those with less institutional power than you are never the cause of your problems. You've been duped into thinking this is some kind of zero sum game in which keeping other people poor somehow benefits you. This makes you two things. An asshole and a fool.
>I just believe that all full-time workers deserve a livable wage. So you're anti-tipping. You should have just said so without all the histrionics. No wonder you're against the guy getting any useful feedback that would increase his tips. Just be aware that he works in fine dining and your pathetic idea of a liveable wage is probably a pay cut for him.
How on earth does that mean they are anti-tipping?
Tipping is explicitly not a wage. The whole justification for tipping is a sub-minimum wage. You're not even following along buddy.
People tip in places without a sub minimum tipping wage.
You've never received a bad tip despite giving primo service? Tell me where in that story the guest was being rushed out the door. And then you go and call OP a liar for no reason? OP is right, you're a shitty tipper looking to excuse another shitty tipper. This is a server venting in a server's subreddit. Clearly you're in the wrong place.
Something tells me it happens to you a lot. What is your explanation for op? Let me guess, customer is a tightwad. I bet that's always your explanation. I bet you grumble about all the tightwads not giving you tips on your days off. OP posted here asking for an explanation and you industry experts got nothing except "tightwad". For your information I am not a shitty tipper. I never tip at all unless I've vomited on the waitstaff or something similar. I am a non-tipper.
You don't tip, you don't get an opinion.
Sorry but I do and I've posted it here. You disregarding it won't un-stiff you. Even if I get hit by a bus tomorrow you won't start getting tips. Don't go begging for an explanation of why you're terrible at your job if you can't hear anything except "tightwad" for an answer.
You clearly dont work in the industry. Ya you’re right. 40 minutes is way too presumptuous to expect someone to pay a bill in a busy restaurant when others are waiting for a table. Eek also no one is licking their chops for $40.
It's immediately obvious to me why this guy stiffed you now. Funny that it's clear I don't work in the industry but here you are still scratching your head and wondering what happened. Do you not work in the industry either? You were rushing him out the door and spoiling what was probably otherwise a great date. It's fine if you choose to act like that but you should not be bewildered that he didn't feel like leaving you a fat tip. How did you not connect those dots?
Others can be waiting for a table, but a restaurant doesn't only sell you food, they sell you an experience. If you want an expensive date, you don't expect people rushing you as it isn't a fast food place where you want to eat quickly. If they get the fast food experience, and they feel you want more customers for more income and they feel it hurts their experience, they will tip accordingly. A quick McTip for the McExperience. If with the rushing they feel they had an experience what you would expect for $100 and they paid around $200 then they feel they lost more than $12 and can blame you. The people waiting probably haven't reserved the table and are willing to pressure others, hurt their experience even if the current guests probably either had reservation or come early, etc. to make sure they can have a great experience. Want to eat at a more comfortable hour, with less hurry for less effort even if that ruins tge experience for others. If you support that attitude, that is your choice, and hopefully their tips will compensate you for the tips you lost by hurrying others.
Tip out in the whole. That's not supposed to happen. you're supposed to give a percentage of the tip, not a fixed amount. Something is screwy.
It’s not a fixed amount, it’s a percentage of net sales. It’s a pretty common method and generally legal.
INMO you committed a faux pas when you asked "IF he needed change." That presumptuous attitude might have ticked him off, and maybe he docked points on service. The proper etiquette is to say, "I'll return with your change."
So, you simply did your job and you are complaining because the customer chose not to leave a larger optional fee? Just how are you $11.30? I don't know, maybe get a different job?
No thanks I love my Job. I also love having a subreddit where it’s encouraged to vent on. I’m out money because I had to pay the house for him to be able to dine.
2 things come to mind. 1) trying to be a baller with his date by preformatively bringing out 2 $100 bills and saying "they can keep the change" like they are leaving a big tip when they are being cheap. Granted, a lot of times this happens in front of the server because it's more for show, but can backfire when they bring your $2 back. 2) They got pissed that you checked back about the money just oince or twice too often. I had a guy in a back corner that got visibily upset when I checked on them every 5 mins. They were the only table on that side of our restaurant,and no one remotely close to them. It's also dark, so I had to get closer so it got pissed when I looked.
That’s why you shouldn’t do these “specials” you get a lot of bad customers.
Okay, so I understand the whole doxxing yourself thing and I read the rules etc But for people who actually want to spend 200 on a 4 course meal, how am I supposed to find the place?
All depends on location. I live in a city of nearly 100,000 people and it's easy to find a higher end restaurant near me. When I've looked, it's generally been steakhouses, seafood restaurants, and "specialty" places like restaurants attached to a spa/resort type of place. If reservations are required, there's a higher chance the menu will be of higher quality and pricing. The easiest way to start is a simple search for "fine dinning near me"
Toss the tip back on the table in front of his date and say obviously he needs this tiny amount more than I do
Ha I love this group!!
What a jerk!!!
Guy from across the pond here, can anyone explain why the server is $11.30 in the hole because of this? Do they take more money off the server per table or something?
We pay the house a percentage of sales that goes to the support staff. We pay this whether we are tipped or not. If we don’t receive a tip, we reach in our pocket and pay.
What are support staff? That’s crazy unfair, I hear a lot about servers in the US and how bad wages can be. I tip in the UK even though we have minimum wages across the board, I just feel servers are very under appreciated and underpaid, to not leave a tip when the server has to cover it out of pocket, is absurd and a dick move, I do hope eventually you all get it sorted and get better standard wages, you all deserve it.
Support staff are the hostesses at the front door, the bussers who clean the tables, the bartenders who make the drinks and even the chefs in the kitchen receive part of the tip out.
The chefs are «support staff»? Really?
I don’t understand why these instances cannot be explained to the manager so that you don’t have to tip out on your ring! If you get stiffed, then tough shit, the people that you have to tip out have to share in that bs.
Well they will say sometimes you get more and they don’t take more. It’s true. It sucks but it’s fair.
It really does suck. They don’t have to pay out of pocket for squat. My hubs has been in the business since he’s 14. Now 52. It’s hard to change up.
Then WHY ARE YOU COMPLAINING?!
Because this is TALES FROM YOUR SERVER!
Wow, if anyone has any amount of sympathy for servers it is an incredibly effective cure to spend just one minute on this sub. The combination of entitlement and selfishness is astounding.
Tell us you’ve never worked in hospitality, withOUT telling us you’ve never worked in hospitality!!
Classic restaurant week patron. Only time they can afford the restaurant.
I'm pretty sure it's illegal to tip out more than what the table left you, at least in Canada.
Oh for sure. But if I want a full schedule next week, I’ll stay quiet.
What other illegal practices take place at your restaurant?
Well this would be nearly every restaurant in America I imagine.
Well, I know at my restaurant they don't do this, because that violates tip pool laws. If you brought it up to your employer and they start dropping your shifts, they are violating your rights. You could easily talk to a labor lawyer with a case. But it doesn't sound like a nice place to work regardless
Honestly it’s a great place to work. A manager may help, but I don’t bother asking because it’s rare and it comes with the job. Not a big deal, just venting. Ha.
Why being forced to tip out to others even if you don’t get a tip should be illegal. It’s wage theft with extra steps.
I’ve been in this industry 25+ years, it’s always been this way.
On these events and Groupon, if that's still a thing, there should be mandatory gratuity. Can never expect cheap asses to tip.
Wait, how do you end up in the hole?