A tip about tips

[Swede]

I know this topic rarely comes up here,but here is an article.

snip

Next time you try to figure out how much to tip your server, you might want to know:
According to the Economic Policy Institute, the national subminimum wage, or “tipped minimum wage,” for employees receiving tips, is at its lowest inflation-adjusted level on record.
The federal tipped minumum wage is $2.13 and has been since 1991. Allowing for inflation, it’s at its lowest point since it was established in 1966.
While 6.3 percent of all workers live below the poverty line, 16.7 percent of tipped waiters are officially poor.
Poverty rates for tipped workers are lower in states that have set the tipped minimum wage higher than the federal level. Virginia—surprise—is one of the 18 that adhere faithfully to the $2.13 federal minimum. The minimum ranges as high as $8.67 (Washington state).
Nationally, the subminimum wage is only 29.4 percent of regular minimum wages, the lowest share on record.
Most tipped workers (73 percent) are women. Most are young, but one in four are at least 40.

http://blogs.fredericksburg.com/truthiness/2011/02/25/a-tip-about-tips/

[ejpoeta]

1. i have a friend who worked as a waiter and he told us all about how much they get paid.

i make sure to tip my server at least the minimum but they get a great tip when they are really good. I don't go out much, but have had some great servers. They just make the eating out experience so much more enjoyable. But I definitely give them at least 15%. thanks for posting this.

[SoCalDem]

8. we do it the easy way.. we double the tax and add a dollar

our tax is close to 9%

and we round up.

[CreekDog]

13. I think 20% is an easier calculation

you can do it pre or post sales tax.

after all, you just take 10% of the bill and double that.

[arbusto_baboso]

2. Ever since dating a waitress years ago, I've tipped AT LEAST 20%

At least 20% for anything resembling adequate service. More for those who are good at their jobs. And I TRY to give the benefit of the doubt for worse service. Still, there are rare occasions when a small tip, or no tip, is justified.

[DJ13]

3. Often overlooked are the maids who clean your hotel rooms

Yes, they also depend on tips to make ends meet.

[myrna minx]

4. I just learned about this custom last year. I'm horribly embarrassed that I've never tipped

housekeeping before, but I honestly never knew. At least I never left a hotel room like a rock star, but I always like to do the right thing nonetheless, Thanks for bringing this up. :hi:

on edit - I always tip *at least* 20% - unless the service is terrible, and I mean terrible, and then I'll leave 10%. I've know too many servers and bartenders to ever be miserly about tipping.

[petronius]

7. Indeed, and I think that tip is becoming less and less well-known

I have plenty of colleagues my age and younger who've never heard of the idea, sadly...

[cal04]

5. thank you for posting this. I work two nights behind a counter

so when I go into the bagel store here, I always tip the people behind the counter
They never want to take it so I tell them I'm behind a counter two nights a week besides my day job, so it's important to me to tip them.

[yodermon]

6. Always 20%. $2 minimum.

My personal tipping policy :)

[SheilaT]

9. I even tip 20% when the service is less than wonderful,

because no matter how crappy the service is, that person depends on tips.

My younger son delivers pizza for a living, and a lot of people don't tip the pizza delivery guy, sometimes because they think the delivery fee is actually the tip. The company he works for (Papa John's) has recently added a note to the bill presented to the customer that the delivery fee is just that, not the tip.

He recently moved from KS to OR, and in Kansas every time he left the store to deliver, his hourly rate (around $6.50/hr) dropped to some abysmal amount because of the expectation of getting tips. In OR he gets $8.50/hr the entire time he's on the clock, and tells me on a good night he'll bring home eighty bucks in tips.

[frazzled]

10. We too always tip a straight 20%, whether coffee shop or fine dining

Who are we to make fine distinctions on quality of service? It just seems easier to make a rule and stick to it, even if the service is not up to snuff. I don't require much from waiters, actually, except that they don't spill hot coffee all over me (which happened once, amazingly without an apology: that may be the one time a tip was not left.)

And leaving money for the maids at a hotel is de rigueur. Also tipping delivery people (though that is so rare for us as to be quite outside the ordinary).

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

11. 10% 15% 20% 25% depending on the service.

Terrible, Bad, OK, Excellent... respectively

[Shagbark Hickory]

12. Anybody else out there think that restaurant workers should get paid a living wage instead of tips?

Keeping their job should be a big enough incentive to provide the best service possible.

Problem is the restaurants would not sell as much food. So... put servers on commission is my solution to that.

[BOG PERSON]

14. n/m