Tip of the day!

After reading an article on tipping at restaurants and also having gone out to dinner a couple days ago, I feel inspired to take on the topic of “tips”.

The article (see http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/4191557.html) talks about some restaurants introducing a mandatory 20% gratuity fee (tip-included in your bill). This is in response to less tipping in some higher end restaurants, and ensuring that waiters and waitresses get their “full amount”. One particularly interesting comment from a disgruntled waiter reads:

"I find it unacceptable for people not to know that the tipping rate is 20 percent"
- Burkhart (31-year-old waitress)

The fact that this is coming from a 30+ year old woman is kind of funny (and annoying at the same time). Perhaps she should have made the following mental note to self when she was in high-school: Once I finish working at McDonalds as a summer job, make sure I go to school and prepare to get a REAL job when I grow up. The article also mentions that the average tip given is currently 18.7%, not 20%. There are even some groups of waiters and waitresses that post the names of customers on the Internet if they do not tip over 17% (slightly below the national average). Such antics only make me less likely to tip at all. What makes these people so great as to expect additional money from me for doing nothing?

“It's like a bum expecting money.”
-Ben Wan

Why don’t restaurants include such “tips” in the price of the meal, thus increasing the salaries of the poor waiters and waitresses (as the article also mentions)? If the workers aren’t getting paid fair wages, then give them fair money, but don’t expect customers to give them additional money to make up for poor employment standards.

In my entire life, I have never, not once, gotten a tip (that I am aware of). I have washed cars, washed dishes, pruned trees, sprayed lawns with chemicals, programmed software, and many other jobs. Yet, I still get no additional money, no matter how well I do the job or how big a smile I wear. Why should people who do nothing more than carry a couple plates and write orders get additional money? They don’t even prepare the food; the cook deserves much more credit than the waiter/waitress in the restaurant environment.

In fact, I would be more than happy to write down my own order and personally deliver it to the cook. It would be fast and ensure my exact order is conveyed to the one in charge of making it. I can also ask my fellow dinner guests “How is your meal today” multiple times throughout the meal to ensure that restaurant-feel. This is similar to McDonalds and other places where you go to the counter and make your selections, as well as pick up your food and condiments yourself while finding a place to seat (all without the help of a waiter or waitress!).

Additionally, when I went to a restaurant with my girlfriend the other day I was not impressed with the service. First of all, I only went because I had an entertainment coupon (for $9 off). But the coupon noted that you had to pay 15-20% (although the Canadian average is lower than the amount on the coupon, which is the American average – see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gratuity) of the bill as a tip to get the coupon discount. Thus the coupon was relegated to a measly $6 after the $3 tip on a $20 meal. And to top it off the service was very slow and the waitress walked off and totally forgot about me as my interact payment was processing. Eventually I just left, not bothering to wait for her to come and give me my receipt. I really wish I had tipped nothing at that point.

Based on this information, and my own personal experiences, I am now even more firm in my no-tip stance. However, there are many people who insist on tipping, regardless of the service tendered. I figure there are 4 options that would help to resolve this whole tip issue and bring peace to the world:

1. The restaurants can re-adjust the way they pay their employees (minimum wage or whatever, thus no need to tips)
2. The waiters can shut-up and live with the system
3. Get rid of all waiters and allow the customers a way to directly give their order, pick up the order from the cooks
4. Someone can start paying me a tip for my daily work (and I will do the same at restaurants

Until one of those changes is made, from today on I say we unitedly take a stand: 0% tips!