I have a lot of respect, and a special place in my heart for all the people out there who work hard, make low salaries, and depend on tips for a large part of their income. I try to leave larger than average tips, and I always put money in those tip jars.
There are two things though, that have bothered me lately. Do you think it’s the business owner’s who are putting out the tip jars, and more importantly; are the workers getting any of the money? Many of the jars have things written on them like, ”Tips are greatly appreciated?” Of course they are. The owner of the establishment probably wrote the note. He then emptied the jar, just before he left for a twenty-one day fun-filled excursion on Carnival Cruise Lines with his new twenty year old wife. Do you think poor Juan who came up from Tijuana and washes dishes in the back for fourteen hours a day is going to see any of those tips? The poor guy lives in a closet, and sends what little money he makes back to his wife, ten kids, and fourteen assorted relatives in Mexico. Maybe we should just ignore the tip jar, jump the counter, visit the kitchen, and start handing out bills to Juan, Bill the line cook, Mike the busboy, and poor Myra. She’s the nice waitress who’s eighty-four, and still carrying huge trays of food ten hours a day for minimum wage!
I’m also seeing tip jars that say, “Please leave a tip for exceptional service.” Exceptional service, huh. What do you think they mean by that? I would think that exceptional service at a restaurant would entail an always filled coffee cup, extra napkins, food received five minutes after ordering, relaxing back rubs, pleasant conversation, and a smiley face on the bill. Reallyyy….. exceptional service would be a fantastic electric guitar solo by the server, and possibly a series of difficult and athletic tumbling runs, along with a somersault or two without spilling anything. Now, that would get one heck of a tip! Years ago, I worked as a bartender, and always depended on the largesse of strangers to pay my bills. After a long night, I checked my tip jar and found it stuffed, not full of crisp bills, but with tiny pieces of neatly folded paper. As I opened the first couple and read them, I realized I did get some pretty good tips. Let’s see what people wrote. “Lose some weight, get a face transplant, wear deodorant, and never have children.”
I think exceptional service is a thing of the past. Now people just expect a tip regardless.
You’re right about that. I think service has been declining over the years. Ther’s still good service, but you need to search for it.
I wish tips would be automatically added to the bill. Maybe I’m just lazy, but I don’t like calculating how much to give when I know it’s going to be 15% anyway. And then if people want to leave more/less, they can indicate it on the bill. It would save me so much hassle. Plus I get all awkwarded out when the waiter is standing patiently beside me while I fiddle with the credit card machine trying to figure out how to enter a tip.
I’m with you on the credit card thing. They always ask if you want to add a tip, and then they stare at you. I sometimes pay with a credit card, but keep some bills in my wallet for tips.
That’s one reason I loved living in South Korea. No tips, ever. If you try to give a tip, they give you this weird look and walk away. It took so much stress off. Plus tax was included in the sale price, so you literally paid what you saw on the menu. Glorious!
Wow, that is tremendous. I don’t know though, if it will ever catch on in America.
I think people in the food service industry work hard and deserve generous tips when I sit down at a table and they wait on me (20%). When I stand at a counter and just ask for something that they provide (which is really rare), I usually just put spare change in the tip jar.
I guess I never really know where the tip money is going in either case, now that you raise the question. Maybe I should ask…
Sometimes when I leave a restaurant, I’ll glance back, and see someone cleaning off the table, and it’s not the server. Hopefully eveyone shares the tip.
Yes, hopefully…
I don’t like to pay the service charge if i’m out, i try to get it removed then i give the tip to the waiter.
Where I live we have very few service charges. I hate them. If you get terrible service you’re forced to pay for it. On the other hand it hopefully garantees the servers get tips.