Restaurant Tipping Etiquette

[afransen]

I can kind of imagine tipping for an espresso beverage. A pour and stir coffee? No...

Of course, I think tipping a bartender for opening a beer is also kind of crazy. I know not all bartenders make huge tips, but there have to be some that make high hundreds to a thousand a night.

 

[gabe]

I can kind of imagine tipping for an espresso beverage. A pour and stir coffee? No...

Of course, I think tipping a bartender for opening a beer is also kind of crazy. I know not all bartenders make huge tips, but there have to be some that make high hundreds to a thousand a night.

A lot of bars/restaurants split tips with the kitchen.. the back of house plays a large part of the food prep/cooking and serving/packaging. The take out register does not pay out tips to the back. And I can assure you if they received a tip, that person or the owner pockets it and doesn’t share with the person who made your espresso beverage or burger.

I worked in fast food restaurants and cafes years ago. Customers never left tips, it wasn't expected.

 

[afransen]

A lot of bars/restaurants split tips with the kitchen.. the back of house plays a large part of the food prep/cooking and serving/packaging. The take out register does not pay out tips to the back. And I can assure you if they received a tip, that person or the owner pockets it and doesn’t share with the person who made your espresso beverage or burger.

I worked in fast food restaurants and cafes years ago. Customers never left tips, it wasn't expected.

I think it would be fair to say a restaurant pocketing tips is basically fraud. I know it's not treated as such, but it ought to be.

 

[gabe]

I think it would be fair to say a restaurant pocketing tips is basically fraud. I know it's not treated as such, but it ought to be.

Agreed.

A lot of the big fast-food chains like McDonald's, have strict corporate policies against accepting tips, you can be fired if you are caught accepting tips.

 

[Northern Light]

Who's actually getting the tips in cafe's and fast-food places that pay minimum wage and up? Does the cashier get it? or person cooking the food? Do they do tips outs like normal sit down restaurants? Or do all the tips go to the owners pocket?

I have noticed in this post Covid world, fast food restaurants/coffee shops now have a default tip option on the debit machines, some are 15% but a lot start at 18% even 20%! 18% tip for a coffee I'm taking home or to work to drink? That's crazy.

People in Toronto are still debating how much to tip for takeout and quick services

Before our lives were tossed upside down two years ago, it was a common guideline to tip a favourable 15 per cent or higher at a Toronto restaurant. …

www.blogto.com

I feel very strongly that we ought to move away from 'tipping culture'.

To be clear; I have no desire to see hospitality staff continue to earn an abysmally low minimum wage ( no one else should either, but I digress).

Employers should be expected to pay a living wage, and a fair-market wage to every employee, period, full-stop.

I as the customer will end up paying in the price either way; but one thing this avoids is the random unfairness of tip-based professions, ranging from what shift you get (Friday night pays better than Tuesday lunch);
to differences based on a server's appearance, or even excessively flirtatious behavior (or tolerance of same from a customer). (side note, I think its perfectly OK to be into your server for them to be into you, I'm referring both to harassing behavior, but also un-due pressure faced by many servers, that goes beyond simply being good at their jobs, and polite etc.)

I'm happy to pay an extra .50c for my coffee, or $2 per combo or $20 for a nice restaurant meal to ensure staff are fairly compensated.

But I'd rather that be embedded in the price, and represent a guaranteed wage to staff, rather than serendipity/dumb luck or worse.

Lets raise the minimum wage (over a couple of years) to $22 per hour (the same as Seattle, Washington).; with market-wages being higher for more skilled staff; then ditch tips.

 

[AlbertC]

Could asking customers to tip as much at 30% backfire on restaurants?​

Aug 26, 2022

Could asking customers to tip as much at 30% backfire on restaurants?

Since the return of in-person dining, the trend is towards increased tipping. In Ontario, 53 per cent of diners are tipping more at table-service restaurants compared to before the pandemic.

www.toronto.com

 

[gabe]

Could asking customers to tip as much at 30% backfire on restaurants?​

Aug 26, 2022

Could asking customers to tip as much at 30% backfire on restaurants?

Since the return of in-person dining, the trend is towards increased tipping. In Ontario, 53 per cent of diners are tipping more at table-service restaurants compared to before the pandemic.

www.toronto.com

It very well could backfire. Especially now a days when food and drinks are approximately the same price or more as they are in countries with no tipping ( like Australia ) That 20 dollar burger is almost 30 bucks with a 30% tip!

 

[Northern Light]

It very well could backfire. Especially now a days when food and drinks are approximately the same price or more as they are in countries with no tipping ( like Australia ) That 20 dollar burger is almost 30 bucks with a 30% tip!

Living wage yes; fair-market wage on top of that yes; tipping at all, no.

That's the way it should be.

For the record, I tip from 15-20%, rounded up to the nearest whole dollar or fiver according to the size of the bill. Since that is currently our custom.

But the custom is obnoxious. Employers should price their goods/services in accordance with paying staff fair wages and not leave staff at the mercy of customers; and customers
with a deceptively low bill that needs to be topped by 15% or more.

 

[Admiral Beez]

I'm done with tipping unless there's a waiter serving me.

 

[lenaitch]

I'm done with tipping unless there's a waiter serving me.

I never have.

 

[AlbertC]

Source

 

[T3G]

Not directly related to tipping but I'm assuming borne of the same mindset.

I work as a cashier in a hardware store. In the last 3 or 4 months, these people have become OBSESSED with pushing customer surveys at the check out point. Doesn't matter how little service you actually offered to the customer or even if you actually interacted with the customer at all (self check out), they are aggressively pushing us to bug every customer, no matter how technologically challenged or grumpy, to fill in a survey to let us know how we did. I have already been given a bollocking from management for not getting enough surveys.

Do people who run businesses live in a different reality from the rest of us? Is there something about running a business that requires one to leave their brains at home? Why the hell do they keep pushing this garbage? If I go out and purchase something, I just want to have a hassle free transaction. I don't want to open a credit card or fill in a survey or tip. Why is my value as a worker defined by some arbitrary metric some idiot in an office who has never spent a day of his life on the sales floor cooked up?

 

[Towered]

Not directly related to tipping but I'm assuming borne of the same mindset.

I work as a cashier in a hardware store. In the last 3 or 4 months, these people have become OBSESSED with pushing customer surveys at the check out point. Doesn't matter how little service you actually offered to the customer or even if you actually interacted with the customer at all (self check out), they are aggressively pushing us to bug every customer, no matter how technologically challenged or grumpy, to fill in a survey to let us know how we did. I have already been given a bollocking from management for not getting enough surveys.

Do people who run businesses live in a different reality from the rest of us? Is there something about running a business that requires one to leave their brains at home? Why the hell do they keep pushing this garbage? If I go out and purchase something, I just want to have a hassle free transaction. I don't want to open a credit card or fill in a survey or tip. Why is my value as a worker defined by some arbitrary metric some idiot in an office who has never spent a day of his life on the sales floor cooked up?

I feel the same way. As a customer, the most pleasant experience is to be able to go into a store and not be bugged by any staff. The moment I get approached and asked to do something I get irritated because it needlessly distracts me from what I want to do. Just shut up and let me shop, unless you don't want me to come back.

 

[picard102]

Do people who run businesses live in a different reality from the rest of us?

As someone who works at the head office of a national retail chain. Yes. The decisions that get made in office are wild sometimes, no doubt.
But they are on par with some of the insane shit store staff come up with.

Store staff generally live in a reality that is centered on their own location, and the office lives in one what has to consider everything as a whole system.

While surveys are annoying and it sucks to have to promote them, they are also going to be what the office looks at when determining what the future of your location, and your jobs, is.

 

[afransen]

I feel the same way. As a customer, the most pleasant experience is to be able to go into a store and not be bugged by any staff. The moment I get approached and asked to do something I get irritated because it needlessly distracts me from what I want to do. Just shut up and let me shop, unless you don't want me to come back.

This is why I love self checkout. My ideal shopping experience is zero human interaction required and delivered.