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Wow.\u00a0 Just… wow!\u00a0 No tongue-in-cheek tonight.\u00a0 I’m serious.\u00a0 A ‘Soap Box’ post.\u00a0 This is the second post in a row where we talk about tipping, and this one wasn’t planned, but I read something tonight that annoyed me so much I felt the need to comment on it immediately.\u00a0 Before we start I want to make sure a couple things are clear regarding my attitude about tipping.\u00a0 The Disclaimer, if you will…<\/p>\n
I am going to do something that may or may not be kosher.\u00a0 I am going to post this person’s post from another forum in it’s entirety, as posted and unedited.\u00a0 I feel that to properly understand the depth of unethical behavior here it all needs to be said.\u00a0 (I’ll elaborate further down.)\u00a0 I am not including the name, though I suppose if you’re internet savvy enough you could probably find it on your own.\u00a0 So, without further ado, here we go…<\/p>\n
The question was:\u00a0 How do waiters and waitresses handle \u201cregulars\u201d at restaurants who are terrible tippers?<\/em><\/p>\n
The server’s answer was:<\/p>\n
I handle them in a very simple way. I slip a service charge on their receipt. I always go under the \u201cusual\u201d good tip, I put 15% on. I get paid solely in tips. I don\u2019t get tips, I basically don\u2019t get paid. One bad tip isn\u2019t going to ruin my day. But if I wait on you hand and foot to get $2 on an $85 bill and you do it every week, you bet I\u2019m going to put a service charge on.<\/p>\n
I had this couple that always came in. I was actually cashiering this night, another server got their table. We all know how horribly they tip, and dread getting them. They take up all of our time, asking for suggestions, pretending we forgot something when they never asked for it in the first place, multiple refills, etc. They tip $3 no matter what the bill is. I\u2019ve seen their bill go up to $78, still a $3 tip. She put a service charge on them. Oooooh boy. They came up me at the front and demanded to know what this charge was. I told them \u201cit\u2019s an automatic service charge, it\u2019s an automatically calculated tip to your server.\u201d She was livid, \u201cthis is WAY higher than I would normally pay! Why is this on here?!\u201d Uhhh m\u2019am it\u2019s because your bill was $45 and you still would have tipped her $3. I notice she went back and forth from the kitchen to your table at least 7 times with a smile. I think she deserves at least a 15% tip.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t feel bad. We make $2 an hour. Until that changes and we get paid fairly, you can afford to leave a decent tip. If you can\u2019t, don\u2019t go out to eat. If your server sucks, by all means leave a small tip. If you leave $3 every time, I\u2019m going to put a service charge on. And no, I won\u2019t take it off and neither will my manager.<\/p>\n
EDIT: I turned off comments because I\u2019m not looking to argue. I wrote my answer, if you have a different opinion then write your own answer. No, automatic gratuity is not illegal. There is no legislation against using service charges. Usually they are only added to large tables, 6+ people at 18%. (hence, my adding 15% is a low amount) The IRS made a decision that starting in 2014 automatic gratuity would be a service charge, meaning it does not count as a separate income as a tip to the server, it goes to the restaurant and they have a choice in giving the money to the server as a tip or keeping it for themselves. This means the customer does not have a choice in paying this amount. Since posting this I\u2019ve gotten multiple comments saying this must be illegal, I felt a need to clarify.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Again, just… wow!<\/p>\n
I get there are bad tippers.\u00a0 There are also wonderful tippers.\u00a0 I’m not defending bad tippers, especially chronic bad tippers. If you’re a chronic bad tipper, screw you, you’re a cheapskate, but it’s still your money until you decide if\/when you tip.<\/p>\n
Think about the hypocrisy.\u00a0 If someone tips\u00a0 35% does she chase them down and give back the excess?\u00a0 Ha!\u00a0 I bet not.<\/p>\n
She talks about her actions being legal.\u00a0 I question that.\u00a0 Maybe.\u00a0 I know service charges are legal when stated up front, but afterward as a surprise, and at random based on her whims?\u00a0 (I would have spoken to her manager at another time, and if that didn’t get satisfaction I just might file a small claims suit against the restaurant solely to make my point.\u00a0 She’s an agent of her employer and it would get her employer’s attention, more so than if I sued her.)<\/p>\n
Notice at one point she says, ” I notice she went back and forth from the kitchen to your table at least 7 times with a smile. I think she deserves at least a 15% tip.”\u00a0 You think?\u00a0 YOU think?!?\u00a0 Not only are you deciding if they tip, but you get to decide how much?\u00a0 Entitlement much?<\/p>\n
She turned off comments to her post.\u00a0 Basically she knows her attitude is sketchy and she doesn’t want to have to defend it.<\/p>\n
This, THIS, is exactly the type of entitlement mentality that our tipping culture has degenerated to, ‘If you don’t give it to me I’m going to take it.’<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Wow.\u00a0 Just… wow!\u00a0 No tongue-in-cheek tonight.\u00a0 I’m serious.\u00a0 A ‘Soap Box’ post.\u00a0 This is the second post in a row where we talk about tipping, and this one wasn’t planned, but I read something tonight that annoyed me so much I felt the need to comment on it immediately.\u00a0 Before we start I want to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,13,14,6,11,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-annoyances","category-disbelief","category-rant","category-restaurants","category-soap-box","category-tipping"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kurmudgeon.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kurmudgeon.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kurmudgeon.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kurmudgeon.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kurmudgeon.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=737"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/kurmudgeon.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/737\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":747,"href":"https:\/\/kurmudgeon.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/737\/revisions\/747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kurmudgeon.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kurmudgeon.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kurmudgeon.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}