I know the economy is bad. I know people are hurting for money and jobs. But If you are coughing up the money to go out to a moderately upscale restaurant and pay up to 20$ per meal, instead of cooking food at home or being a dollar menu-naire then at least have the decency to include a decent 20% tip.
It seems as though now a days tipping has become optional. let me just remind everyone, it is not. Waitresses generally make $2.75 an hour, of which all taxes, not only on the hourly wage but from their tips, are taken out. After all of these taxes, a waitresses is lucky if her check is over $0.00 at the end of the week. I Know because I am a waitress at Bertucci's and my check last week was for 27 cents, and I will still owe the government money at the end of the year on taxes. What I am trying to stress it that waitresses make a living off of tips. Even just the bare minimum expected 20% is good.
In this weak economy, not only are waitresses taking a hard hit with the percent tip people are leaving, which in my own personal experience I have found to be 10-15%, but they are getting the short end of the stick when it comes to business too. Restaurants aren't busy anymore, which results in less tables per hour per waitress, cut down in staff per night, and overall staff that restaurants are able to keep. The result is that even when a waitress gets a shift on a historically busy Friday or Saturday night, they get less tables and the ones they do get are tipping way less.
Imagine if one week you were to get a check cut in half. The bosses explanation is that business is bad so he lowered everyone's salaries. It is not only a shot to your wallet but a shot to your moral. With the economy as bad as it is, are there other options for waitresses barely making minimum wage? Most places aren't hiring, and the unemployment rate is increasing daily, so getting a new job is out of the question. And as I have said, picking up more shifts wont work either, because there aren't any to give away.
There's nothing we can do about the economy or the job situation. But there is something you can do to help out waitresses everywhere. Net time you go out to dinner at a restaurant, tip a decent 20%. And if you are pinching your pennies or don't think you can swing it, then reconsider going out to eat in the first place. If we could all just consider that tip as part of the meal a mandatory or courteous part of the bill, you would be helping waitresses everywhere.
My current default tip is 15%. For friendly conversation and helpful advice about allergies, wine, and specials, I'll go up to 30%. For poor service, I leave a 5% tip (so they know I didn't forget to tip), and make a complaint with specific examples to the manager.
ReplyDeleteI'll check around with friends and online and see if I should raise my default tip to 20%.
I definitely agree with you here, pink11. A lot of people do not realize that tips are how servers make money, so they choose to leave a small tip. Obviously if the service is slow or if the waiter/waitress is not very inviting, then people will be even less likely to tip well.
ReplyDeleteAs a poor college student it is really difficult to leave a good tip when it is earned, but I still always leave at least a 15% tip because I know how it feels to work all night and leave with $20 total.