How do you feel about tip jars?

[Mom to Hot Rod]

Yeah, not sure of what wait staff makes these days or even what minimum wage is but when I was doing it, minimum wage was $4.10 (??) Now that tells you my age. lol

But seriously, my hourly was $2.05 and other places that I worked paid shift pay and depending on what shift it was, you could make $20 or $30. This was a lot of years ago and things may be different now.

I am a good tipper having been in the business but at the same time I am a bit more critical too.

T - To
i - Insure
p - Prompt
s - Service

[Cha Cha]

Until my girls started working, I admit, I wasn't a very good tipper. Then both my girls started out car hopping at Sonic. They made minimum wage there, and they do accept tips. However, Sonic is quick to say they do not expect their customers to tip the car hops. It was an excellent high school job and on good days my girls could make 13 to 14 dollars an hour. If I get a friendly car hop, I gladly tip them. Now, one of my girls is a server making barely enough to cover her taxes due in a pay check, and I see how much she depends on tips. So now I've had experiences with tipping at different ends of the spectrum. Our local grocery store does not allow their kids to accept a tip for carrying out groceries. That is a service I would pay for. I have not seen tip jars at counters like you describe. I suppose I would tip if I got friendly service.

[capt_noonie]

Originally Posted by Cha Cha

Until my girls started working, I admit, I wasn't a very good tipper. Then both my girls started out car hopping at Sonic. They made minimum wage there, and they do accept tips. However, Sonic is quick to say they do not expect their customers to tip the car hops. It was an excellent high school job and on good days my girls could make 13 to 14 dollars an hour. If I get a friendly car hop, I gladly tip them. Now, one of my girls is a server making barely enough to cover her taxes due in a pay check, and I see how much she depends on tips. So now I've had experiences with tipping at different ends of the spectrum. Our local grocery store does not allow their kids to accept a tip for carrying out groceries. That is a service I would pay for. I have not seen tip jars at counters like you describe. I suppose I would tip if I got friendly service.

I would also have no problem with tipping the bagging boy for helping with the groceries, but that's what I was told also, they are not allowed to take tips. My bro used to work at Chuck E Cheese when he was in HS. Sometimes they had to wear the mouse costume and do the parties. Some parents wanted to tip, and they are not *supposed* to accept them, but they still did. Then some parents were so demanding and had lots of crazy kids there, and they did not even try to tip. It's not posted that you aren't supposed to tip, so there's not way to know unless you try.

[McheleM]

Waitstaff in Texas makes 2.13 an hour.


Yep, you read that right!

I don't tip in jars if the person is making minimum wage.

Originally Posted by capt_noonie

I've seen tip jars a lot at Cold Stone ice cream. I guess it can be a little personalized, since they make your ice cream to order, but still I don't tip there. Plus another reason is they sing when you tip, and I feel like they are forced to do it.

I didn't know waitstaff was less than min wage? I thought it had to be at least min wage? Wow. I have no problem tipping 15% at a sit down restaurant, even with mediocre service, but with great service I will tip more. I don't get to eat out at sit down dinners very often at all, so when I do, I want to be taken care of.

I have a story of a cheap tipper, my mom. She took me out for my birthday at a korean bbq place, and I paid. Yes it was for my birthday I paid $5 and some change over to just leave it for tip. My mom says that's too much! I say how much should I leave? She says, $4 OMG One Freaking Dollar. I said let her have it, she makes money off tips, what's $1 for me to keep? We were taken care of. The waitress comes back to collect the tray, and what does my mom shout out as she takes it? Oh, keep the change! Like she was the one who paid and left such a huge tip.

[yorkietalkjilly]

If the staff is young kids, I don't really mind as they are usually struggling and need whatever they can get. However, if I am treated rudely or the service is terrible, I do not tip to make a point.

[capt_noonie]

I have another story to share. This was back in about 98, 99-ish? I was newly in college, working a part time job, so enough to go out with friends every once in a while to dinner. well one of my good friends and I went to TGIFridays.

It was not a particularly busy night, at all. We just ordered burgers. I forget what toppings we got, but specifically wanted onions, as we both liked onions. And we like them raw. Well they came out grilled. We didn't know they automatically grilled them, so we asked the waiter for some raw onions. He came out with like 3 little rings on a thin little napkin in his hand. wtf We asked him for some more, and instead of bringing us more, he brought us the manager. He manager asked if everything was ok, and we were like, uh, yeah, just waiting for some more onions. We were still confused at this point as to why the manager was called. I guess the waiter thought we were being difficult customers? We just wanted some more onions! On a plate would be nice too, please?

Since it's been 10+yrs I can't recall the entire night, but both of us were pretty taken aback about how rude the waiter had been to us, so we left him a terrible tip. I think we left him like $2bucks. To let him "know" we were not pleased with his service. On our way out, he runs after us and says "oh you forgot your change" all passive aggressive like. Again, my jaw dropped. The nerve, like he was saying how dare we don't give him a good tip. My friend just said, oh no that's yours dude. We have never been back to that location since.

What do you guys think? I have never had such terrible service on a slow night, and he confronted us about the bad tip!

[Princess10]

In my recent job hunt I believe I read wait staff gets around $4 an hour, but tips should bring it up to at least min. wage ($7.40). I have no problems tipping a waitress/waiter but I really hate the cups at places where they really don't give that much service. I've seen them at Subway, etc. but also at a dollar store! Like, what the heck?! I feel like if it's an hourly & fair wage they're getting they don't need a tip on top of it. If they're waiting on me or cutting my hair as I give a million requests or something like that then I don't have a problem. But I usually end up dropping my coins in, mostly because I don't want to look cheap.

When I was a teen a mutual friend worked at the Root Beer Stand. I don't know what the set wage was, but one summer night she made about $150 in tips! Then there are places, like TGIF that add the gratuity to your total bill which I think is ridiculous. I guess I could see it if they took a survey before calculating it.

[DvlshAngel985]

Originally Posted by capt_noonie

I have another story to share. This was back in about 98, 99-ish? I was newly in college, working a part time job, so enough to go out with friends every once in a while to dinner. well one of my good friends and I went to TGIFridays.

It was not a particularly busy night, at all. We just ordered burgers. I forget what toppings we got, but specifically wanted onions, as we both liked onions. And we like them raw. Well they came out grilled. We didn't know they automatically grilled them, so we asked the waiter for some raw onions. He came out with like 3 little rings on a thin little napkin in his hand. wtf We asked him for some more, and instead of bringing us more, he brought us the manager. He manager asked if everything was ok, and we were like, uh, yeah, just waiting for some more onions. We were still confused at this point as to why the manager was called. I guess the waiter thought we were being difficult customers? We just wanted some more onions! On a plate would be nice too, please?

Since it's been 10+yrs I can't recall the entire night, but both of us were pretty taken aback about how rude the waiter had been to us, so we left him a terrible tip. I think we left him like $2bucks. To let him "know" we were not pleased with his service. On our way out, he runs after us and says "oh you forgot your change" all passive aggressive like. Again, my jaw dropped. The nerve, like he was saying how dare we don't give him a good tip. My friend just said, oh no that's yours dude. We have never been back to that location since.

What do you guys think? I have never had such terrible service on a slow night, and he confronted us about the bad tip!

We had that happen to us too. Boyfriend and I went out to eat at a place called swingers in Santa Monica. It was very slow, the waiter was rude, and it took forever for him to stop chatting it up with some girl to come take our order, bring us our drinks, or the food. I guess he was hoping to get lucky that night and work just wasnt a priority. anyway, boyfriend was peeved. He left all of the change he got, and added in all he loose change he found in his pocket. It was nothing but pennies. As we were leaving, the guy rushes out to their patio to talk to us. He asked us about the food, and if we were satisfied with the service. I think boyfriend told him we didn't appreciate the kind of service we received and to top I off the food was bad. I'm never going to forget this... The waiter said, "next time you two are hungry, there's a Denny's across the street. You can take your cheap a$$es there."

That was the first and the last time we ever stepped foot in that place.

[Cha Cha]

My dd would never confront someone about their tip, and boy does she come home with some stories. This one tops them all though. She recently had 2 young ladies come in early in the day when they were slow. They were there a while and she served them. They got up to go outside to "have a smoke." When they came back, she said they were noticeably "different." (DD is somewhat naieve) She came back to the table and one of the girls had vomitted all over herself, but assured dd she was ok. When dd came back again, the girl was unresponsive, face down on the table, her friend told dd she would take her home. Well, dd didn't want something to happen to her after her friend took her home, so dd called an ambulance, and she and the mgr carried her out to the lobby. The cops came and were accusing dd of overserving them alcohol. They had 2 drinks each. DD told cops them they had gone out and "smoked" so they backed off. Get this, her manager made HER clean up the mess they left. Of course, they left her a very small tip, 3 or 4 dollars. DD was genuinely concerned about the girl.

[capt_noonie]

Originally Posted by DvlshAngel985

We had that happen to us too. Boyfriend and I went out to eat at a place called swingers in Santa Monica. It was very slow, the waiter was rude, and it took forever for him to stop chatting it up with some girl to come take our order, bring us our drinks, or the food. I guess he was hoping to get lucky that night and work just wasnt a priority. anyway, boyfriend was peeved. He left all of the change he got, and added in all he loose change he found in his pocket. It was nothing but pennies. As we were leaving, the guy rushes out to their patio to talk to us. He asked us about the food, and if we were satisfied with the service. I think boyfriend told him we didn't appreciate the kind of service we received and to top I off the food was bad. I'm never going to forget this... The waiter said, "next time you two are hungry, there's a Denny's across the street. You can take your cheap a$ there."

That was the first and the last time we ever stepped foot in that place.

Here ya go. Write a review! http://www.yelp.com/biz/swingers-san...query:Swingers I've been there before, a long long time ago. Seems like everyone feels the same way. Waitstaff feel like they are too good for their job. Manager's is an @ss. One reviewer even said, if you don't like to cater to people who just finished partying, don't stay open late.

I like leaving all pennies for a bad tip though.

[capt_noonie]

Originally Posted by Cha Cha

My dd would never confront someone about their tip, and boy does she come home with some stories. This one tops them all though. She recently had 2 young ladies come in early in the day when they were slow. They were there a while and she served them. They got up to go outside to "have a smoke." When they came back, she said they were noticeably "different." (DD is somewhat naieve) She came back to the table and one of the girls had vomitted all over herself, but assured dd she was ok. When dd came back again, the girl was unresponsive, face down on the table, her friend told dd she would take her home. Well, dd didn't want something to happen to her after her friend took her home, so dd called an ambulance, and she and the mgr carried her out to the lobby. The cops came and were accusing dd of overserving them alcohol. They had 2 drinks each. DD told cops them they had gone out and "smoked" so they backed off. Get this, her manager made HER clean up the mess they left. Of course, they left her a very small tip, 3 or 4 dollars. DD was genuinely concerned about the girl.

Ewww. I'm surprised they left a tip at all. I remember I puked at a restaurant before, but I was like 7. My parents cleaned it up.

[DvlshAngel985]

Originally Posted by capt_noonie

Here ya go. Write a review! Swingers - Santa Monica - Santa Monica, CA I've been there before, a long long time ago. Seems like everyone feels the same way. Waitstaff feel like they are too good for their job. Manager's is an @ss. One reviewer even said, if you don't like to cater to people who just finished partying, don't stay open late.

I like leaving all pennies for a bad tip though.

I thought it was pretty genius. I think I even put the pennies in the form of a happy face before we walked out.

[capt_noonie]

Originally Posted by DvlshAngel985

I thought it was pretty genius. I think I even put the pennies in the form of a happy face before we walked out.

OMG, you know that must have been what did it for him. That is genius though. I'll have to use that one some day.

[sugarmamma]

Originally Posted by capt_noonie

Here ya go. Write a review! Swingers - Santa Monica - Santa Monica, CA I've been there before, a long long time ago. Seems like everyone feels the same way. Waitstaff feel like they are too good for their job. Manager's is an @ss. One reviewer even said, if you don't like to cater to people who just finished partying, don't stay open late.

I like leaving all pennies for a bad tip though.

Originally Posted by DvlshAngel985

I thought it was pretty genius. I think I even put the pennies in the form of a happy face before we walked out.

Originally Posted by capt_noonie

OMG, you know that must have been what did it for him. That is genius though. I'll have to use that one some day.

Pennies are my "not so subtle" reminder that tips are EARNED! I have only had to leave pennies as a tip twice in my life. I would never do it just to be cheap but to prove a serious point when all other attempt have been ignored

[roseylovestosho]

Some waiters assume that the people who leave pennies is because the person is cheap and not because they actually did a bad job. Someone I know leaves a list of things they did wrong on the receipt and leave it on the table. I've never done that before but...seems like a good way to straight up tell them why they didn't earn the tip.