Search the Community
Showing results for tags 'Tipping'.
Found 9 results
-
Gin-slinging hottie Derek Brown suggests that tipping needs to go. I think I agree, which is why I stiffed that other gin-slinging hottie, Alexandra, last time I went to The Passenger. As a one-time server and a regular diner, I have a love/hate relationship with tipping. What better way to channel my inner vindictive bitch than stiffing some horrid, indifferent jerk? I can't can't do anything about the war in Afghanistan, the federal debt, my kids' grades or my credit card bills, but I can sure beat up on somebody making $2.77 an hour! On the other hand, since I'm a repressed middle class Caucasian male, I have a hard time expressing the brief but powerful luv that results from a well-orchestrated fine dining experience, so a generous tip gives me an opportunity to say "thank you" in a universal language. I wonder if including a gratuity/wage in the price would drive down the dining urge. When that $18 entree goes over the $20 mark, or $35 steak pushes past $40, is there a psychological barrier that will keep people home? Also, to what extent are servers disciplined professionals as opposed to (and I say this affectionately, as a former consultant) shameless whores? I feel as though the guy who helped make my solo experience at the French Laundry (where the service charge is included in the price) a memorable one could not have been better if I'd been throwing twenties at him throughout service. On the other hand, the hipster slinging Dale's Pale Ale at the Red Derby may need the positive Pavlovian feedback of a crisp fin every round or two to keep them attentive. And, there's also the implied bribe/freebie relationship with good buddies -- where the tip mysteriously grows larger as the tab mysteriously grows smaller. So, the tipping economy: a system created by and for passive-aggressive control freaks, or the free market in its purest -- and most effective -- form?
-
I received voting information from the DC Board of Elections the other day but didn't really pay much attention to it. I did notice there were a couple of ballot initiatives up for vote. Then today, the DC restaurant industry launched a PR campaign (I noticed it on Instagram) voicing their opposition to Ballot Initiative 77. Some pretty big names in the business are on the No list, including Aaron Silverman, Jeremiah Langhorne (The Dabney), the Tail Up Goat folks, Sebastian Zutant/Lauren Winter, Cedric Maupillier, the Trabocchis, to name a few. In the spirit of Equal Time: Here is the No argument: Vote No 77 One Fair Wage, the Yes campaign being lead by Restaurant Opportunities Center United. Stories from: WAMU. Washingtonian- 74 replies
-
- 1
-
-
- Washington DC
- Local Politics
- (and 2 more)
-
I looked for an existing thread to post this in, and couldn't find one. Today I had lunch at a restaurant that has been praised here recently, and is generally highly regarded here. I'd rather not name it, because I have nothing against it. I was shown to a table, and given a menu. A couple of minutes went by, the waiter returned, and I placed my order: A recently praised dish here, and a glass of wine. Soon after, a basket of wonderful bread and a dish of butter were delivered. And that was the last I got from the wait staff for at least a half hour, maybe close to 40 minutes. I'm a very patient man, and it takes quite a delay before I'll start to complain about the wait, but I was just about there, when a waiter--not the one who took my order--said to me "it's coming soon!" -- this was the first interaction with the wait staff for well over a half hour. A minute or two later, the waiter who took my order came to my table and said something like: "I don't know what happened, but for some reason your order didn't go in until just now. I've asked them to expedite the order, but I want to let you know that they've only just started it. I'll be back with your wine right away." He came back with the wine a full five minutes later. Another five minutes and my food arrived. It wasn't bad, but it was cooked distinctly more well-done than what I'd asked for. I certainly wasn't going to send it back at that point, as I should have been back in my office by then, and I was only just starting my lunch. And it wasn't bad. I finished eating, and the second waiter, not the one who had taken my order, asked if I was finished, and I said yes, and could I have the check. He said "there is no check, since you had to wait so long". I said thanks. And then I didn't know quite what to do. I'm pretty sure the whole problem was that waiter # 1 screwed up. I didn't know that for sure, but it's what I find probable. It wasn't the kitchen, it was the waiter. But not the waiter who told me the whole meal, including the wine, was comped. Well, the check would have come to something like 20 or 22 dollars before tip, and I left 10 dollars on the table. Even though I sort of felt I was rewarding the very bad service I had received, I felt I couldn't leave nothing without feeling like a jerk. But the more I thought about it, I thought that the waiter had cost the restaurant the price of my meal, but instead of giving the restaurant something for the meal, I gave the waiter more than I would have tipped had I paid the restaurant for the food. This only adds to my distaste for the American tipping system. What would you do in a situation like this?
-
Today was a first for me - I had lunch at a restaurant (big surprise there), and gave my credit card when presented with the bill. My server asked me if I wanted to write down the tip on the *initial* bill, saying that it increases security with the new micro-chip credit cards. Fine with me - I left a 20% tip before tax, and handed her both the bill and the credit card, which she took back to the register. She then returned with the tip printed out, and I simply signed my name and left. In all my years of dining, this has *never* happened to me before. Is this going to be some kind of new thing?
-
While this forum has engaged in many threads about tipping with an infinite number of perspectives and ideas, here is how one restaurant in LA is handling the challenge of increasing the income of BOH staff: They've added a line for tipping the BOH staff to each check: This topic has been debated endlessly. Frankly I find this to be a creative suggestion. How will it work? Time will tell. The blog piece by Mark Furstenberg addresses the difficulties with tipping in general and additionally describe the hardships that small businesses face: They have limited resources to pay staff. Alternatively they would have to be super busy and consistent in that regard to see the types of revenues that could handsomely reward staff. I bet Rose's staff does great. The majority of restaurants are not so good or lucky. There is a consistent struggle. While some suggest one simply raises prices by some amount and abolish tipping, there is significant risk in that strategy. If your typical $20 dish suddenly is priced at $25,(and NO TIPs ALLOWED) and the dish was competitively priced with the competition, you risk losing business. Therein is the risk. Its enormous.
-
"Celebrity Chef Mario Batali Ordered To Pay $5.25 Million For Skimming Tips From His Restaurant Help" by Debra L. Rothenberg for nydailynews.com In the end, the lawyers "skimmed" $1.75 Million of the workers tips instead. -
...or Alaska, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Washington? Servers work for tips and, as a former waiter, I am sensitive to their economic plight and tip well. But if I go to California, where waiters will soon make $10/hour due to state minimum wage laws, -- a $7-and-change hourly "bonus" compared to DMV servers, which also does not have to be split with the busboys -- do I get to knock a couple of bucks off my tip? Further, since higher wages will mean higher menu prices, I'd be tipping on a higher bill. So, do I get to knock an additional percentage point or two off? This is largely theoretical -- since I have low self-esteem I tend to tip whatever it takes to make the server pretend to like, whatever if takes. But, as a question of etiquette and microeconomics, I am curious to here others' views.
-
So I'm hearing re-murmerings of servers in New York trying to make 30% the new norm. Wrong. My guess is that "they're asking for 30%, hoping for 25%," and even that is pure, unbridled greed. Even 20% (which is up from the 15% norm of a few years ago) is too much for what most servers provide, relative to other restaurant employees. Is 25% The New Standard When It Comes To Tipping? No, it's not. Are You Tipping Enough? Not only am I tipping enough, I'm tipping too much. Are Tipping Percentages Going Up? Not from me they aren't. I will never, ever leave a 30% tip, or even 25%, unless something extraordinary happens. And if that percentage becomes the norm in the industry, then I'm opting out. And I mean I'm done dining out, and will devote my energies fighting for, well, read on ... When dishwashers, line cooks, runners, bussers, and AGMs are making what they're making per hour (we're talking $10-$15), servers asking for 30% is immoral. Read that last sentence ten times. Dishwashers, line cooks, runners, bussers, and AGMs deserve to make every bit as much per hour as servers. Tipping The Scales? No. Instead of giving servers more money, I want a way to tip the neglected, forgotten back of the house staff. And yes, also the AGMs - the most abused "professionals" in the restaurant industry - who toil 70 hours a week for a fixed salary often in the $40s, sometimes making half of what servers or bartenders make. I've written rocunited.org and asked them to chime in. This conversation needs to happen, and if I'm wrong, I'm wrong, but I don't think I am. I tip 20% (I used to do this on the post-tax amount, but have now adjusted it downward to the pre-tax amount), but I think that's too much. I think the industry tipping standard should revert to 15%. I won't be first in line, but I'll jump on that bandwagon very quickly. Why should servers make any more, percentage-wise, than they made 10 years ago, especially considering the cost of dining out has increased? Answer: They shouldn't. The irony of this is that I'm pretty sure I have the reputation of a very fair, consistently good tipper; they've gone too far, and have asked for too much. This draws attention to the situation that they're already being overpaid, and that it's high time for the restaurant industry to get away from a tip-based system, and for people to take a little pride in their work, and to stop feeling so damned entitled when the rest of the world is suffering in this economy.
-
http://www.telegraph...Rome-lunch.html It was not the first time that the multi-billionaire chose not to tip – he reportedly did the same thing the night before at Pierluigi, a historic trattoria near Campo de' Fiori, a piazza in the heart of Rome.
