Do you believe in tipping culture? Vote below

@OP - Who said the owners aren't also jerks? You and the owners of the restaurant industry are jerks! Your dollars in tips don't correlate to how much they earn, it should correlate to the service you were provided. If you don't tip, it doesn't mean people will get paid more by the owner. Where the hell did that logic come from? People in different industries receive tips. My barber earns tips, my clothing stylist earns tips, my shoe salesman earns tips, housekeeping earns tips, the person who washes cars earns tips, etc. People tip because it's courteous. But people also tip because we want people to keep doing their jobs well. It's a form of positive affirmation. What type of consultant are you?

OP - I'll use my own experience. I used to be a server in college, a damn good one at that and I worked my ass off. At the end of the day, money in tips I made came down to how much you made the customer feel good (something more than food could offer). But this wasn't always the case. I received so little once that I couldn't pay rent. Could the owner have paid us better? Absolutely. Was he going to? No. Could I have changed it? No. I don't blame those who didn't tip, but I took it personal when people didn't tip... I don't tip because I'm happy about tipping, I tip because I understand that life. I'm sure you and many others are in a position where you can afford to tip and if you choose to put money in the pockets of the owner, but choose not to tip, you contribute to the problem just as much as we (those of us who tip) are.

No

No, but I participate fully

No, but we need to pay living wages to service industry workers first

Your list of answers is not MECE 😱

Yes

No

Not my fault they don't get paid a living wage. Charge me more for food so you can pay employees fair wages. You're supporting this cycle by tipping. It's a temporary solution for people to pay rent, not a permanent one.

No.

Hell yes. Just go to any country where there is no tipping, you'll realize real quick how shitty the service is without an incentive.

Stop acting like labor practices are going to change because individual people are getting stiffed. Start lobbying for legal changes instead of seeking affirmation on FishBowl if this is a cause you care about. The reality of our country is that servers do make their living off tips, and the only way that reality is going to change is from the top down

So many fallacies in your response A1, but then again much expected. For college students, it's not just about rent. Some people have to pay for school, car, and other bills. But aside from that, they don't control how much the restaurant charges you for your shitty meals and most of them get paid $2.50/hour. Besides, you pay for your meal and you pay for the service, especially if you dine in. It's common courtesy, even if the server doesn't do a "phenomenal" job, they still deserve a tip. Otherwise, take your shit and leave the establishment once you receive your meal!

Yes

It's not the responsibility of the owner to make sure their employees can pay their bills. It's the employees responsibility to make sure they c an cover their expenses. I agree that servers and waiters should be making the 7.25 minimum rate (that's what it is in GA) but it's at the discretion of the owner to decide how much above that he pays them. You wanna mandate a "living" national wage? Get ready for a ton of small businesses to close

@OP theoretically yes, but in reality try going to your manager and saying you didn't make minimum wage after tips and want a paycheck adjustment. Tipping is absolutely annoying, but stiffing individual servers isn't going to change the laws and only results in undue hardship for whoever happens to get stiffed on a given night

So we should tip because people are too scared to tell their manager that they are being illegally underpaid? Nah. They would win that case with the DOL so fucking fast

People living paycheck to paycheck waiting tables don't have the time to wait for a labor law suit payout. I don't understand what it is with well off people and cheaping out on tipping. If you don't want to tip, don't go to a sit-down restaurant. If you stiff a server who had provided good service you're being a jerk, no if ands or buts about it.

I always tip 20%, only time I ever go lower is if the service was bad and that's a high bar for me. My dad just recently opened a restaurant and as a young business, a proposed $15 minimum wage would shut it down. He pays above minimum wage bc he wants his employees to be happy and want to work there but he's not forced to do so. and That minimum wage should commensurate with experience. A 15 year old with no experience shouldn't be getting paid the same as someone who has been in the workforce for years. But a mandated higher minimum wage will make it incredibly hard to stay afloat and will force that business to close

Yeah! I don't think people are jackasses when they don't tip. Some are probably, but I've come to the conclusion that its a cultural thing. In most other countries, servers are paid pretty decent wages. The system is broken. It needs major reform. I wouldn't be upset if the tip was included in the price of the meal. If 10% was automatically added to all prices on menus for tips to the servers, no one would even need to have this convo. It's such a simple fix.

No, but I tip in certain places