If they work so "damn hard" why do you only pay them 2.13 an hour? Right because you know that wait staff can be replaced with a touch screen and an RC roomba
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@CobaltSasquatch I remember asking a restaurant owner about this in California, before the ways of the US of A were better known to me. Why should we tip so high and you pay so little in wages. His response was 'I pay the rent and the electricity and utilities on this place so that the staff can come here and earn a living in tips'. He really pictured himself as being some magnanimous landlord letting the serfs work his business and catch crumbs.
Evidently shit has gotten even crazier about this since I was last over.
Evidently shit has gotten even crazier about this since I was last over.
It has. I don't know when percentage based tipping started here but when I was growing up you went and ate. If the service was good you tossed down 2-5 bucks and that was it. The tip wasn't expected to be based on your bill because paying someone more money to carry a plate with different food on it seemed insane
@CobaltSasquatch IIRC it was 10% as a rule of thumb last time I was over, that was in 2008 though and I wouldn't sweat that even now but 25% is taking the piss. Putting up such a sign would drive me away immediately, we are supposed to be customers, not pay pigs.
Tip culture has started to creep in over here but never really took root.
Tip culture has started to creep in over here but never really took root.
@Grumblesock @CobaltSasquatch 15% USA nationwide since the 1970s. you have to go back to the 1960s for it to be 10%.
@sun @Grumblesock @CobaltSasquatch doesn't even make sense here now. Servers make regular minimum wage here and tipping is still expected- 15% is the cheapskate option... I don't even get why the % goes up over time, like dude inflation is already factored in since it's a percent of the total.
I don't understand it. The waitress literally tells the cook what to make and carries the plate. She doesn't grow the grain for the bun, she doesn't raise or slaughter the cow for the burger. She doesn't harvest and cut the potatoes for the fries. She doesn't even cook it. Why should she get 25% of the cost of an item she had almost no role in making or preparing
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@CobaltSasquatch @Grumblesock @sun actually, the one that makes .e mad here the most is tips for places like coffee shops. Like, I used to live by a donut shop where they took tips, and the literally just stood at the till and turned around to grab a donut from a rack. I really don't need to pay you extra for that. I dunno.
@Parzival @CobaltSasquatch @Grumblesock the entire tipping mess is, yet again, a product of government law institutionalizing how tips are handled, which forces it into predictable but obsolete categories. there is no reason, it is historical accident. if you want to talk about origin, it's because originally, your meal is always expected to be a certain quality but your service is highly personalized and the level of service varies greatly on circumstances. the problem is if yo measure it against relative value of other things like food etc, like is 25% directly to wait staff proportional to the work the cook does, it's not in 2026, probably hasn't been for 50 years.
@sun @CobaltSasquatch @Grumblesock I mean, I might tip 25 percent on a good meal if I had the option to only give it to the cooks haha. Bring on the Chinese buffet server robots, at least they won't ask for a gratuity (I hope).
Coffee shops are the ones that piss me off the worst. Turn their ipad at me asking for a tip on a cup of coffee they charge 7 bucks for with 29 cent in ingredients
@CobaltSasquatch @Grumblesock @sun yeah, I dunno. It almost made sense there when people paid cash- like, "oh, it was 1.87 for that coffee, just toss the extra into a tip jar", but in the age of digital pay stuff it really feels like you're getting fleeced there lol.
Out of everything a restaurant can sell coffee has the highest profit margin by far. Its like 90%. Soda is close. The fallout between 2 and 3 is massive. Coffee and soda are almost pure profit
@CobaltSasquatch @Grumblesock @sun can't argue that, as I've worked in a restaurant. I was only a dishwasher, but fountain drinks and coffee were unlimited.