Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Leaving A Tip When Eating Out...

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • #61
    Re: Leaving A Tip When Grocery Shopping...

    Originally posted by tutusue View Post
    I know a bartender who gets no hourly rate...just tips. I don't think that's legal but she's not willing to blow the whistle because she makes great tips. That said, I believe wait staff can legally work for under minimum wage due to the tips they're required to report. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

    With the exception of the last example the others can make decent money. FAs are unionize, iirc. I do tip the bag boy/girl if I need them to help me to the car.
    FWIW, baggers at the Military Commissaries on the island work SOLELY for tips - no salaries! And there's no lack of baggers to work there - they must do pretty well. Some days they are in lines waiting their turn to bag.

    K
    Be Yourself. Everyone Else Is Taken!
    ~ ~
    Kaʻonohiʻulaʻokahōkūmiomioʻehiku
    Spreading the virus of ALOHA.
    Oh Chu. If only you could have seen what I've seen, with your eyes.

    Comment


    • #62
      Re: Leaving A Tip When Eating Out...

      Originally posted by Frankie's Market View Post
      Franco Mancassola, the founder of two defunct airlines (Discovery and Debonair Airways), shares his view on the subject of restaurant tipping.
      Originally posted by Kaonohi View Post
      People like the guy Frankie mentioned - ultra rich who can afford to go to expensive restaurants for 'social/economical experiments,' who can afford a tip and leave nothing out of spite, impress me as just being arrogant and greedy.
      Agreed - what a cheap-@$$ bastard this guy is. The most important part of his "editorial" is where he says:
      "It is an American custom to pay a decent salary to staff ..."
      Clearly, his experiences as a (failed-)airline founder give him no sense of reality about the restaurant business. Wait-staff in America are not only rarely paid a "decent salary," they are even taxed on their tips - whether they get them or not.

      But, Kaonohi, you surprise me with:
      Originally posted by Kaonohi View Post
      I tip 15% for very good service and 20% for exceptional service...If I have a $500 dinner bill with exceptional service I'd hardly leave $100! Maybe $20 or $25. Unless it was for a party of 10, in which case the server earned the $100.
      On the one hand, you say you tip 15-20%, yet you'd only tip $25 on a $500 dinner bill with (as you said) exceptional service? FIVE percent?!? Ouch. Remind me not to sit next to you, as I don't want to get splashed when the plate of hot food gets "accidentally" dropped on your head.

      Granted, I don't go out for $500 dinner bills in my life, but have certainly taken friends out for dinners that hit around $200 or so. In those cases, I would take them to places that are among my favorites - and I can guarantee that, unlike Mr. Mancassola's belief, they are NOT owned by a multi-million dollar corporation.

      And, having established enduring relationships with those restaurants and the families that operate them, I would not hesitate to add a 30% tip or more to the bill, depending upon how the evening went.

      May I never experience a meal in Mr. Mancassola's presence; I doubt I'd be able to keep the meal down in such disgusting company.

      Comment


      • #63
        Re: Leaving A Tip When Eating Out...

        Originally posted by Leo Lakio View Post
        but have certainly taken friends out for dinners that hit around $200 or so. In those cases, I would take them to places that are among my favorites.
        Great! I'll be up in your area soon, looking forward to that dinner. I like all cuisines and I'm a matapule size eater. But I'll ask for the "senior discount" to ease the tab for you a bit. .

        Out of curiosity, do people tip their barber, dry cleaner, dental hygenist, trash collector, electric meter reader in the islands? Here in Mexico it is customary for the locals to tip the grocery baggers (about 25 to 50 cents) and guy who pumps your gas (about 80 to 160 cents) because there is no self service in Mexico. (By the way, 87 octane in Mexico is about $2.70 a gallon right now.) However Costco in Mexico requires that their baggers not accept tips but they get paid much more than the local grocery clerks.

        Like Senor Mancassola, I usually don't tip on the size of the tab but on the quality of the service. The people at Subway deserve to earn just as much as the servers at Roy's.

        We (four of us) had a wonderful time at Maria Coronas Restaurant last night - great food, great service, great ambience, and great live music (muy romantico!) - resulting in a more than fair 20% tip. We left the latin romantic trio, Los Principes, a separate, VERY generous tip. They need to cut a CD and I told them so.
        Peace, Love, and Local Grindz

        People who form FIRM opinions with so little knowledge only pretend to be open-minded. They select their facts like food from a buffet. David R. Dow

        Comment


        • #64
          Re: Leaving A Tip When Eating Out...

          Originally posted by matapule View Post
          Great! I'll be up in your area soon, looking forward to that dinner. I like all cuisines and I'm a matapule size eater. But I'll ask for the "senior discount" to ease the tab for you a bit. .
          The welcome mat is certainly out for you, Matapule.

          Comment


          • #65
            Re: Leaving A Tip When Eating Out w/ cheap ol' Kaonohi

            Originally posted by Leo Lakio View Post
            But, Kaonohi, you surprise me with:On the one hand, you say you tip 15-20%, yet you'd only tip $25 on a $500 dinner bill with (as you said) exceptional service? FIVE percent?!? Ouch. Remind me not to sit next to you, as I don't want to get splashed when the plate of hot food gets "accidentally" dropped on your head.
            For my XXth birthday I went with my spouse and my best friend and his wife to Michel's to celebrate me living so long.
            The food was OK, not exceptional, the performance with the flambe was spectacular, our seating was adequate but a bit tight, and our wait staff was attentive and caring.
            Yet in spite of all that I didn't feel the tip was worth $130. That's a lot of cash for less than an hour's attention, and he tended others as well. I just couldn't justify that much.
            I don't recall exactly what I tipped, but it was way more than $25.

            Maybe my earlier estimate was way too cheap, but I do believe that when the food is overpriced (due to reputation, setting, etc) that the tip should reflect the services rendered rather than the dollars spent.

            Should I tip more for a $200 wine than a $20 wine? In some cases perhaps (like when he/she says "I saved the last one cause I knew you were coming..."), but a cork is a cork.

            If we do dine out together, Leo, and you think I'm being too cheap, an elbow to the ribs or a kick under the table might get me to pay closer attention and reconsider.
            Be Yourself. Everyone Else Is Taken!
            ~ ~
            Kaʻonohiʻulaʻokahōkūmiomioʻehiku
            Spreading the virus of ALOHA.
            Oh Chu. If only you could have seen what I've seen, with your eyes.

            Comment


            • #66
              Re: Leaving A Tip When Eating Out...

              Originally posted by Leo Lakio View Post
              But, Kaonohi, you surprise me with:On the one hand, you say you tip 15-20%, yet you'd only tip $25 on a $500 dinner bill with (as you said) exceptional service? FIVE percent?!?

              I ask this question not to be sarcastic but out of genuine curiosity. Does the person serving a $500 meal really work that much more than the person serving a $100 meal? I guess the percentage method doesn't really make sense to me as far as tips. Say I go to a restaurant and order a $10 hamburger, and you go to the same restaurant and order a $20 steak. We both have the same waitress, we both have the same amount of food to be served and yet you tip her more than I do. Why? Because the meal cost more? How does that affect her? I've never worked in a restaurant so I don't know how it works.
              Four Thousand Miles (blog) | MacRatLove (comic)
              Better Holes and Garbage (rats) | Perfectly Inadequate (music)

              Comment


              • #67
                Re: Leaving A Tip When Eating Out...

                Originally posted by matapule View Post
                Out of curiosity, do people tip their barber, dry cleaner, dental hygenist, trash collector, electric meter reader in the islands?
                I thought only a made man will tip everybody who gives him some kind of service.

                Comment


                • #68
                  Re: Leaving A Tip When Eating Out w/ cheap ol' Kaonohi

                  Originally posted by Kaonohi View Post
                  If we do dine out together, Leo...
                  An opportunity to which I look forward. Come to my town and it's on my tab. Maybe Matapule could join you - I wager the three of us would have a fantastic time (ok, four of us, since the Alpha Female would be along - and yours as well, perhaps?)

                  A note to a lot of folks - please remember that tips don't always go exclusively to the wait-person who most served you; they often split them with the person who brought you refills of your water, the one who cleared and reset the table both before and after you dined there, etc. In a more expensive facility, there are likely even more unseen staff assisting with your service, even though you may only get one "public" face.

                  Comment


                  • #69
                    Re: Leaving A Tip When Eating Out...

                    Originally posted by sophielynette View Post
                    I ask this question not to be sarcastic but out of genuine curiosity. Does the person serving a $500 meal really work that much more than the person serving a $100 meal? I guess the percentage method doesn't really make sense to me as far as tips. Say I go to a restaurant and order a $10 hamburger, and you go to the same restaurant and order a $20 steak. We both have the same waitress, we both have the same amount of food to be served and yet you tip her more than I do. Why? Because the meal cost more? How does that affect her? I've never worked in a restaurant so I don't know how it works.
                    Those are all good questions. This website offers the easy-to-understand explanation on how restaurant tip income is supposed to be reported.

                    Note that in all restaurants where tipping is customary, the owner is required to report total receipts to the IRS, as well as the total tip income as reported by each of the employees. Now whenever the tip income reported is less than 8% of the total receipt (not including nonallocable receipts, such as those for carry out sales), then the owner must allocate the difference between the actual tip income reported and 8% of the gross receipts.

                    So.... this is why the tip amount is tied into the total bill that you pay for your meal. If you undertip or totally stiff your server, that poor employee is still required to pay tax on whatever allocated tip income is reported for that server, even if he/she never received that tip from you. In effect, you as a customer are taking money away from the affected employee(s).

                    Now, we can debate the issue of whether this system of taxing tips is good or not. But if anyone has a beef about it, that should rightfully be taken up with that person's Congressman or Senator. In the meantime, restaurant employees have no choice but to work under this system and abide by the current laws. Now, it's one thing to give a small tip for receiving poor service. But a customer who undertips as a personal response against what they think is a bad system unfairly punishes the server who is doing a good job.

                    Originally posted by Leo Lakio View Post
                    On the one hand, you say you tip 15-20%, yet you'd only tip $25 on a $500 dinner bill with (as you said) exceptional service? FIVE percent?!? Ouch.
                    You can say that again. Grossly undertipping a server after they performed a good job for a customer is not doing them any favors. In fact, for a large tab like that, the poor waiter would have been better off had that particular customer not come in to run up the tax he will owe in allocated tip income.

                    This is my personal viewpoint on the matter. If I'm going to patronize a fine dining eatery, an appropriate tip is something that I figure into the cost of dining out and receiving good service. And like it or not, the appropriate tip amount is tied into the total bill. If I thought that paying 15% tip for a dining experience at Wolfgang's Steakhouse was too much, then out of fairness to the employees at the restaurant, I wouldn't go there at all. Undertipping as a response to what you feel are outrageous menu prices is not hurting the restaurant owner. It's hurting the wait staff.

                    Originally posted by Leo Lakio View Post
                    Agreed - what a cheap-@$$ bastard this guy is. The most important part of his "editorial" is where he says:
                    "It is an American custom to pay a decent salary to staff ..."
                    Clearly, his experiences as a (failed-)airline founder give him no sense of reality about the restaurant business. Wait-staff in America are not only rarely paid a "decent salary," they are even taxed on their tips - whether they get them or not.
                    Franco Mancassola is entitled to his opinion. I just wished the SB would have printed his writing alongside a counterpoint commentary. Now, you're going to have those folks who are ignorant about IRS regulations thinking it's okay to stiff waiters, even if they do a good job.
                    This post may contain an opinion that may conflict with your opinion. Do not take it personal. Polite discussion of difference of opinion is welcome.

                    Comment


                    • #70
                      Re: Leaving A Tip When Eating Out...

                      Originally posted by Frankie's Market View Post
                      So.... this is why the tip amount is tied into the total bill that you pay for your meal. If you undertip or totally stiff your server, that poor employee is still required to pay tax on whatever allocated tip income is reported for that server, even if he/she never received that tip from you. In effect, you as a customer are taking money away from the affected employee(s).
                      15% per party is the allocated tip income for the server?

                      If so, that's tough. I'm sure not everyone tips property even for decent service.

                      Comment


                      • #71
                        Re: Leaving A Tip When Eating Out...

                        i always tip 20% percent regardless

                        10% for the cook (of course I would ask permission to make my way into the kitchen to tip the cook, if not i'll hand it to the waiter or waitress for the cook, with a warning that i will check with the manager or the cook to make absolutely sure they receives his/her 10% tip.

                        10% for the waitress

                        have a pleasant week HT ohana
                        stay forever young

                        Comment


                        • #72
                          Future dining experiences....

                          Originally posted by Leo Lakio View Post
                          An opportunity to which I look forward. Come to my town and it's on my tab. Maybe Matapule could join you - I wager the three of us would have a fantastic time (ok, four of us, since the Alpha Female would be along - and yours as well, perhaps?)
                          OK, let's see - I think Matapule is in Mexico, I'm in Kahalu`u, and you are in... シアトル? Not sure where that is, but I hope we can find some middle ground.... That looks like some sort of Kanji, so if it's Japan (Nippon), I won't even have to tip!

                          K
                          Be Yourself. Everyone Else Is Taken!
                          ~ ~
                          Kaʻonohiʻulaʻokahōkūmiomioʻehiku
                          Spreading the virus of ALOHA.
                          Oh Chu. If only you could have seen what I've seen, with your eyes.

                          Comment


                          • #73
                            Re: Future dining experiences....

                            Originally posted by Kaonohi View Post
                            and you are in... シアトル? Not sure where that is, but I hope we can find some middle ground....
                            Hah! It's "Seattle," actually. But I can let you know next time I'm in Kane`ohe, if that helps!

                            Comment


                            • #74
                              Re: Leaving A Tip When Eating Out...

                              Originally posted by Frankie's Market View Post

                              So.... this is why the tip amount is tied into the total bill that you pay for your meal. If you undertip or totally stiff your server, that poor employee is still required to pay tax on whatever allocated tip income is reported for that server, even if he/she never received that tip from you. In effect, you as a customer are taking money away from the affected employee(s).

                              That was very enlightening, thank you. I never realized they were taxed in that manner.
                              Four Thousand Miles (blog) | MacRatLove (comic)
                              Better Holes and Garbage (rats) | Perfectly Inadequate (music)

                              Comment


                              • #75
                                Re: Leaving A Tip When Eating Out...

                                Originally posted by Vanguard View Post
                                15% per party is the allocated tip income for the server?
                                I think for income tax purposes, it is 8% of the bill that is considered the minimum for the employee (ie waiter/waitress) to report as a tip. The employer is responsible to allocate 8% on their reporting forms.

                                Personally, I tip 15% for "usual and adequate" service, above that if great service, and below that if poor service.
                                Now run along and play, but don’t get into trouble.

                                Comment

                                Working...
                                X