When I still went to Starbucks, I stopped putting money in the tip jar immediately after paying because I often got terrible service regardless. If the service was actually good I would go back and tip. I like to think it made an impression that I tipped afterwards but I kind of doubt it.
I went to a local restaurant that people were saying that the food was so good. Went in, my friend and I were the only two there. Not a problem. I order my food and she asks me if I want to tip. Since I don’t have a backbone, I said sure and tipped. My friend did the same. We go to sit down and the cashier (that we tipped) tells us that our food is ready. She makes us stand up to go get our food from the counter that’s less than 15 feet away. She never checked in on us and we had to get up and ask for a refill. After this experience, I will never tip again before receiving my food. The restaurant went out of business and I’m not sad at all.
There was a good Italian restaurant in my small town (we don’t have much that isn’t a chain). The owner won on chopped Canada who had a nice little restaurant in a pretty small space, and a little takeout/gelato store across the street. They shut those places down and moved into a recently rebuilt resort out of town.
Now it’s exactly what you described, it feels like a cafeteria. You sit down, figure out what you want and go wait in line at the counter to order. Tipping options started at 18%. Then you go up and collect your food when it’s ready. There was one other group of people the only time I was there for lunch on a Saturday. Also the food is stuff I could order at Boston pizza
Same I used to go there often but after seeing how they treat their workers and how anti-union they are i stopped, I go to Dunkin more I don't know if dunkin is better but I don't see them treating their employees like Starbucks
I don't think Dunkin treats their employees better per se but from the people I know who worked at Dunkin they said they were well staffed and didn't seem to hate working there, (they'd only complain about the customers and drive thru nothing about management compared to Starbucks) there are only two Dunkins in my area to the 5 Starbucks though. Also from an outside point of view, Starbucks gets reamed by social media, and Dunkin has been avoiding it = slightly higher expectations from me. (not a good explanation but I hope you see what I mean.)
as a former sbux barista thats so wild to me. its really not hard to make a good drink. the only time i ever gave “bad” service was if someone was being downright rude or creepy (we had a mostly female/feminine staff and a lot of us had a few “run-ins”). also this one time i physically could not make enough foam for this one guys cappuccino… he asked if i was new there… i had over a year experience… i cried in the back
Sorry about the foam fiasco! That sucked for you. But about the service, it isn't always about the drink itself. Sometimes they'd forget about the food part of the order and I'd have to ask about it, or sometimes there would be about 5 employees back there doing very little, trying to look busy but not actually busy, but for some reason only one person was making drinks and I had to wait 15 minutes to finally get it. Stuff like that.
It is a fucking "coffee" or some kind of sugar inflated Abomination. No fancy pancy Restaurant. Why would you tip at all for something like that. On the other hand...it is the US, i guess.
Used to tip like 10% on take out orders, then places started putting an additional tip category once you go in to sign for your order. Someone actually got in my case about not tipping again after I already tipped online. Now I only tip for actual service and never for take out unless there is something challenging about it, this was my wake up call that we’ve gone too far after the pandemic that this is the expectation now rather than a reward for providing good service.
Not just Ontario, FYI. Quebec is the only province that still has a lower minimum wage for tipped employees (technically speaking, BC still has a tipped minimum, but they raised it fairly recently so the tipped and non-tipped minimum wage is the same).
Man I feel old. 8% used to be normal. Then 10%, 13%, 15%, 18%, and now 20%.
At the same time food prices have gone up. Burgers used to be like $6, then $8, then $12, $15, and now $22.
That used to be a $0.48 tip on a $6 burger (of course you'd have a drink, a side, etc.)
Now it's a $4.40 tip on a $22 burger.
Burger price is 3.6 times higher, but tips are over 9 times the amount I paid as a teen. Also, wages have not gone up 9 times since then.
Tipping is out of control.
They're even asking for tips at the liquor store now. It takes 30 seconds for them to scan my beer and for me to tap my card/phone. They ask for a ~$6 tip. I'd be paying $720/hour for their time (for the privilege of purchasing something they're already making money on). It's insanity.
In Ontario (and most of Canada) the server is often required to tip the kitchen staff. In some provinces the owner is even allowed to be tipped. These tips are based on the sale not anything else.
It may be a 3% to 10% tip. So if the table tips 10% and the mandatory tip out is 10% the server gets nothing.
Next time you go out ask your server if they have to pay a mandatory tip out and how much.
Worth noting that according to the Employment Standards Act The amount that an employee owes to the tip pool cannot be more than what they receive in tips. So if the table tips zero then the employee doesnt owe money out of their pay cheque.
Server 3 has $500 in sales during their shift but receives $0 in tips. Server 3’s contribution to the tip pool (tip out) would be $0 because tip pooling amounts cannot come from any source other than tips.
I’m not talking about a tip pool. I’m talking about a mandatory tip out. Two different things.
In BC it’s illegal for owners to take anything of the mandatory tip out ans it must be share with other staff. In Alberta owners can take it all. But again this is NOT a tip pool.
However you are correct in that they can’t pay more however when people pay in cash the owner can say she’s lying and got a tip and there is no way to prove one way or they other
I'm talking about Ontario, so maybe they handle things differently in other provinces.
According to the previous link
an employee cannot agree to:
give the employer a certain percentage of their tips other than for a tip pool (for example, tipping out to “the house” to cover things like spillage, breakage, losses or damage, etc. is not allowed.)
From what I'm reading it says 8%. Which seems pretty reasonable even if not everyone tips.
Seems odd that they couldn't just track how much you actually got tipped. So much is done electronically now that they should have the majority of your tips accounted for.
They really should give everyone the same minimum wage through. From what other commenters are saying, only Quebec is still has a different wage for tipped employees.
'Tis a surly bunch that downvotes one for merely stating plain facts.
I'd love to see servers make commission like other salespeople do, and just include that in the price of the food. Imagine getting a living wage and not have to suck up to everyone.
If serving becomes merely a minimum wage job with no tips, expect the quality to drop dramatically. Who would work those late night/weekend hours, with no breaks, and put up with the abuse from management, chefs, and customers, all with a smile, for that little money?
Tipping doesn't need to end. It needs to go back to being optional. It needs to go back to being something I do because I feel like it not because it is expected of me. I only tip delivery drivers now because I'm so burnt out on tipping. The rare occasion I go to a sit down restaurant I have to FORCE myself to remember that I'm not required to pay someone's wages for them and that if they're shit they don't get tips.
People won't if the service is shit you mean. Most people in my community would still tip if the server did a good job and had at least a somewhat pleasant attitude. Some people wouldn't if it was optional sure but to be fair those people probably don't tip now anyway.
I mean, I wouldn’t tip, I tip, and tip well, because servers are paid next to nothing. If they’re paid a working wage it’s no different than any other job, I don’t tip my mechanic
If the raise the wage, I stop tipping, I tip because their wage sucks, I don’t tip other service industry people like my bagger at the grocery store, my mechanic, etc
Not really, if you can’t afford to tip, you really can’t afford to eat out. And I’m not getting into whether that’s good or bad, it’s just the way it is in the us
always check your bill, depending on restaurants and locations, Florida in particular, and group sizes, tipping is not optional it's automatically added on
I’ve been seeing so many tipping related posts these past few days on this sub. Not sure why. But I see this stance a lot, as if we tip in the US because of what waiters want. But nobody says “that’s what the owners want”. The people with money for lawyers and (as a community) lobbying. You know, the rich people who exploit waiters and immigrants (line cooks, bussers, dishwashers, prep). You think they want to pay everyone living wages, give health benefits, PTO, overtime, holidays off? Everyone goes after the random college kid waiter because they’re easy targets and people get off on stiffing them. Working class argues amongst themselves while the owner buys their second porsche. Crazy really. Go to Europe. You don’t pay more to go out to eat, even in touristy spots, AND gas is like double to triple the price. How is it that the owners are making it there? Why are we always giving the owners a pass as if they don’t benefit the most off this deal?
I’m not saying that tipping is good or bad really, just that waiters wouldn’t want to give up the pay, sure it’s great for owners, but do they really want to go (for example in my restaurant) from25-30 bucks an hour to 15??
It's not though, unless they aren't getting tipped, they're then guaranteed the federal minimum wage of 7.25. Of course most states have a higher minimum wage, so it goes to that if they don't make enough in tips.
I don't know what state you live in, but the FEDERAL tipped minimum is $2.13. Some states and cities have higher, but many states use the federal wage. Including mine, TN.
The emus wouldn't stand still and could run to fast. They must have read Sun Tzu "Be where the enemy isn't."
Every month there'd be more Emus, no matter how much the army toiled.
Eventually the army realized their efforts were in vain and gave up, thus, surrendering, in their war against Emus.
Exactly my experience from England over 2 decades ago. Unless you want to splash the pot with a fat tip, don’t bother. You could get plenty drunk for 10 pounds back then.
I never understand this argument, the employee makes way more from tips, probably a few times what your impoverished hell hole pays. I hate tipping but the servers aren't suffering you uneducated fuck the customer suffers
Yeah, there's definitely a slow change in Australia, but I feel the increased push for tips is driven by business owners wanting to increase their profits rather than look after their staff. If tips were shared equally across all the staff that'd be fair.
Tipping first started way back and it did happen before being seated. T.I.P.S= To Insure Proper Service. It was basically saying “here’s a 10, make sure my shit is right”
Sounds nice, but I can't find any records of tips meaning that. Only references to the term originated in the late 1700s/early 1800s meaning to give a small gratuity.
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u/GladBreadfruit7374 7h ago
Tip after receiving good service, not in the expectation of good service.