When and how much do you tip? Do you ever NOT tip?
Let’s say that Mr. A takes a lady friend to lunch. The lunch is a disappointment: there is a mixup about his reservation, they are given a table by the bathroom, the restaurant is loud, the gazpacho is tepid and the roast chicken is cold. Miss B is a good sport about it all, but she clearly does not relish warm gazpacho. Her opinion is very important to Mr. A. He feels foolish, and Mr. A hates feeling foolish.
Mr. A stews, his frustration with the restaurant building, until the check arrives. $50.00! Ridiculous! He slaps his Amex into the folder and glares as the waiter carries it away. When the waiter returns with the charge slip, Mr. A hesitates over the tip. He is angry about his experience in the restaurant. Miss B is looking at her watch. He is aware that the customary tip is 15-20%, which would dictate a minimum of an $8.50 tip, but my gosh, why reward a bad experience?
Mr. A has a number of choices, some of which he has already made:
- He might have moved the lunch elsewhere.
- He might have asked about the wait for a better table.
- He might have sent the food back when it arrived at the wrong temperature.
- He could, at any point, have asked to speak to the manager about the reservation, the poor table, the food.
- He could choose to leave a smaller tip.
- He could choose to leave no tip at all.
- He could tip according to custom, and then never return again to that restaurant.
However, if Mr. A is a typical U.S. customer, he regards the tip as a reward for good service, with the corollary that withholding it is a punishment for bad service. Therefore he concentrates on #5 and #6 as his prime options for conveying his disappointment: How much, if anything, will he tip?
Some things for Mr. A to consider in making his decision:
Tips are given at the discretion of the consumer, but they are part of most restaurant employees regular compensation. According to the U.S. Department of Labor:
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires payment of at least the federal minimum wage to covered, nonexempt employees. An employer of a tipped employee is only required to pay $2.13 an hour in direct wages if that amount plus the tips received equals at least the federal minimum wage, the employee retains all tips and the employee customarily and regularly receives more than $30 a month in tips. If an employee’s tips combined with the employer’s direct wages of at least $2.13 an hour do not equal the federal minimum hourly wage, the employer must make up the difference.
Some states have minimum wage laws specific to tipped employees. When an employee is subject to both the federal and state wage laws, the employee is entitled to the provisions which provides the greater benefits.
That means that the tip you leave for a server is part of their wage, not on top of the wage, which may be the minimum wage. The employee in theory is guaranteed the minimum wage, but it’s going to come out of someone’s pocket: Mr. A’s or the restaurant owner’s.
Mr. A says that’s just fine with him, the restaurant owner should be punished for such bad service.
In reality, while it ought to work that way, there is sufficient abuse of that particular requirement that it has become the subject of much litigation. Also, servers are often required to share tips with busboys and other restaurant employees (another topic of litigation.) Were dirty dishes left on the table to be cleared? The busboy is also being paid with the assumption that he’ll get his share of the tips.
Mr. A might also want to consider the precise items of discontent. The waiter is responsible for delivering the food at the appropriate temperature, true. Could it have been sent back? Was it sent back? Or did Mr. A suffer in silence? Is it fair to punish the waiter if nothing was said about the temperature of the food?
The waiter and the busboy are not responsible for the reservation snafu. They did not place him and his guest at the table by the bathroom. All of this suggests to me that unless Mr. A protested the temperature of the food, and was met with Major Attitude, a low or missing tip is a poor choice for expressing his displeasure.
What do you think? When do you not tip? Do you think that the law should be changed so as to eliminate the tipping game entirely? What values inform your tipping calculations?
4 Comments
August 19, 2008 at 10:13 pm
There’s never been a time where I haven’t left a tip, but I’ve thought about it.
I am aware that the tips given to wait staff help make up their salary. I really wish this wasn’t the case – because this means even if I get bad service, I feel guilted into tipping.
I always give a minimum of 10%. To get 20% (a) the service had to be really great and (b) I’m not short on cash.
I try to keep in mind things that are and aren’t the server’s fault. If something is wrong with my food (taste, quality, etc) – the server had nothing to do with that (that I know of!).
Examples of things that annoyed me that I tipped less for: Asked my waitress at a restaurant for white rice. Brown rice? She asked. No white, I said. White, she repeated. She took the order of the person I was dining with. Repeated everything – including brown rice. White rice, I corrected her. White, she confirmed. She walked away. Food arrives – brown rice. Sigh.
A friend and I seated ourselves at a local bar & grill. A few minutes later, menus are given to us. We flag down the waitress so we can order something to drink. It was not a busy night and she wasn’t helping many other tables. Our food came and we didn’t see her again. She’d rush by without even looking at us, or we’d look around for her and not see her. We asked a different waitress for a dessert menu. We asked another waiter for our bill. Unfortunately, he tracked her down and gave it to her to process, which meant we waited another 5 minutes for the receipt and another 5 to 10 for the credit card to be charged and returned.
More restaurants should have the “team” policy. I’ve been to a couple lately. At one Italian place, one guy seated me, a second brought my bread, the first one took my order, the third one brought my food, second one refilled my drinks…etc etc. So when I walked out of there, I tipped something between 15 and 20% because they, as a team, provided great service – and everyone else’s tips would be going to the entire team as well.
(This “team” policy was clearly noted on the menu)
Sorry, long answer!
August 20, 2008 at 12:19 pm
It is my philosophy to over-tip. Having worked in the restaurant industry for many years, I understand and empathize with the average worker’s quotidian financial plight.
These are some of the hardest working people out there. They also don’t get paid very much, but they will always have a presence in our lives.
I consider tipping the means by which we can raise average standard of living.
Plus, don’t mess with the people who serve you food. And if you decide never to go back and tip poorly, then think about the next customer who gets dandruff for seasoning.
August 22, 2008 at 12:27 pm
To tip or not to tip
First off, I’d like to congratulate you for your blog, it’s a very interesting field you and your co-writer are looking at and this tipping post is very good, making some very good points. I loved the educational vibe that radiated throughout! So well done for that.
I’m based in France, meaning there are cultural and legal differences that impact on tipping practices. It’s illegal to use tips as part of wage, and waiting staff get at least minimal wage, tips being a bonus on top of that. Tips are usually given in cash alongside a payment made by check or credit card, rather than added to the amount. I’ve been presented with the credit card machine and ask to enter a gratuity whilst paying at a restaurant in the UK and found it surprising and in fact slightly offensive. Frenchies don’t always tip and indeed some people never do. I’m not sure how the rising cost of life is affecting tipping practices but I’m pretty sure there is a correlation. But when tipping, French people don’t operate on a set percentage like you do in the US. We give whatever we feel like giving, or whatever we can afford at that point, and often it’s simply a matter of how much change we happen to have in our wallet, sometimes it’s less than we would want to give, sometimes more, but this highlights that here tipping is a reward gesture and isn’t wage.
French people certainly don’t tip in the manner Americans do and I can tell you that French waiting staff love American customers because they’re known to be more generous tippers. Personally I tip a lot compared to many other French people. I’ve worked as a waitress, bar tender, and in many other service jobs during my student years, which makes me appreciate the effort pulled by the staff. Also I find that while service tends to be good in the rest of France, it’s frequently very bad in Paris itself. That makes me very keen to encourage good practice by tipping people who are nice. I also congratulate them when I think they’re good. Bad service unilaterally means no tip as far as I am concerned. That being said I totally agree with your points about speaking up if something is disappointing and also discriminating between what is and what isn’t the server’s responsibility.
August 30, 2008 at 11:08 am
I do not tip regularly. In fact, the service has to have been absolutely spectacular in order for me to even think of tipping. I abhor the practice and would love to see it eliminated all together. I work hard for my money and I do not see any reason why, when I pay for goods and services rendered, I should be extorted for anything extra by some young punk or illegal alien just because everybody else does it.
The law is sufficient. The extra wages most certainly will not come from my coffers. If the servers are not receiving sufficient pay, they can take it up with the owner and get the difference from them, not me.