On tipping.

drhowarddrfine said:
Well, this is true for any business.

No. A tip is an incentive to provide good service as well as a reward for doing so. Inserting it into the price of the meal would reward poor service, too, and is no longer a tip but the price of the meal.
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That looks like a good point.
Why don't we do like that in other places? There are laws, protecting consumers, providers, etc.
An intervention into the natural human activity.
 
igork said:
Why don't we do like that in other places?
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Sometimes we do. When I get extra help or over the top service, I might slip someone a $10 or $20 bill. But most people don't work in a customer facing job and want a reliable steady income.

You may know that I used to own some fast food restaurants. One day, a tip jar showed up in one of them and I removed it when I became aware of it. Occasionally one of our people might get passed a few dollars for doing a good job but my manager told me people were actually asking where our tip jar was. I removed it because I felt it was an imposition on our customers but noticed it was rather full with bills (we provided no less than great customer service!). So I let them keep it but it was the only unit that had a tip jar.
 
Maturin said:
We do tip nurses. When leaving the hospital we always leave some money (50...100€) for their coffee kitty.
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This different (they are giving to doctors too). Tips for waiters in USA is to support their salary but you support owner because he doesn't pay waiter enough. look post #20.
 
Alain De Vos said:
I don't tip, i never tip. Sometimes i offer the waitress a drink.
But here in Belgian we have serious minimum loans. Meaning enough to live with it. One job is enough.
Some cultures might have other customs, what is your take on this ?
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There's this anecdote about Trotsky:

Trotsky refused to tip after eating as a matter of principle, insisting that "tipping was demeaning to the dignity of a workingman, and that a person should get a regular salary, enough to live on, and not have to depend on tips". He also tried to persuade other customers to refuse to tip for the same reason. This in turn led to verbal abuse, poor service, and one incident where waiters intentionally spilled hot soup on him.

en.wikipedia.org

Jewish dairy restaurant - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
 
Wow...in US, there was a wild story where a waitress got tipped $1000 by a generous patron for a nice meal - and got fired by the owner of the eatery over that! The actual bill was less than $30, I believe.
Alain De Vos said:
Sometimes i offer the waitress a drink.
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Holy crap, I'd think that's totally inappropriate, waiters are not supposed to drink on the job! Plenty of stories where they got fired (and rightly so) for drinking on the job. I'm in US, but I'd think that even in other countries, one needs to be sober and pay attention to the job if you're on duty!
 
fjdlr said:
When I arrive in my Ferrari Testarossa at a car dealership in Monaco, I always give the car dealer a hundred euros to take care of my car...
Just a joke.
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When I was living in Johannesburg, on every open parking there was some guy which you must tip (bribe, actually) to "take care of your car" (read: to not break your car windows or worse). Not a joke 🤷‍♂️
 
vmisev said:
When I was living in Johannesburg, on every open parking there was some guy which you must tip (bribe, actually) to "take care of your car" (read: to not break your car windows or worse). Not a joke 🤷‍♂️
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In San Francisco, it's pretty much the same story - unless you park at the SFO airport, no joke, either.
 
fjdlr said:
[rich people words]
Just a joke.
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I'm probably too poor (i.e English) to understand the funny words. But I clicked "like" anyway ;)

In the UK, like many of our customs, they are poor replications of the US. So in many retail jobs, the "tips" aren't allowed to be taken by the staff but instead goes into a "tip jar" which then gets emptied and probably goes towards the executive bonuses.

So we emulate a tipping culture but it serves no benefit. We are really just reacting to basic stimulus, pretenting to be a functional society.
 
kpedersen said:
I'm probably too poor (i.e English) to understand the funny words. But I clicked "like" anyway ;)

In the UK, like many of our customs, they are poor replications of the US. So in many retail jobs, the "tips" aren't allowed to be taken by the staff but instead goes into a "tip jar" which then gets emptied and probably goes towards the executive bonuses.

So we emulate a tipping culture but it serves no benefit. We are really just reacting to basic stimulus, pretenting to be a functional society.
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In Monaco, a sizable contingent of the clientele are in fact British. Did you know that the director of the Emirates airline is a British expat?
 
astyle said:
Did you know that the director of the Emirates airline is a British expat?
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No. Too busy keeping my eye on the tip jar... XD

That is interesting though. I am actually a little surprised.

Though I do understand that Monaco is a good candidate for a tax haven.
 
My opinions only.
Tipping. I think at least 2 different aspects: one is to reward for good service, the other "mandatory so I make minimum wage".
The first assumes people are being paid a fair wage for the the job, the second assumes "I can do a bare minimum and get a tip to make up the difference".
A problem with tipping is "who gets it?" I pay to the server, but is the server obligated to share with bus people, cooks? At the end of shift are all tips put in a jar and everyone working takes a cut? Does managment get a cut of tips?"
In the US, most people think of a minimum wage job as a stepping stone: I'm in school, I take low paying job to earn something knowing it's not my career.
Food service: Big difference between McDonalds and a high end steak house. My understanding of food service in Europe is wages are "enough" I guess Living Wage is a good phrase meaning that instead of being a teacher, engineer, you can do food service and support a family. (If I'm wrong please correct me).
I think food service is like any other job: some people give the same excellent service regardless of tipping, wages, others game the system to minimize their level of effort and maximize their level of pay.

In theory if the US went to zero tipping and workers were paid a minium wage, I think menu prices would increase. Would traffic decrease? (fewer people eating at the higher price) I don't know.
Fast food places are pretty much not in the equation (does anyone tip at Burger King?), we really need to think about higher end places.


So, why do I tend to overtip? Because I tend to go out about 3 or 4 times a year, to the same 3 or 4 family owned places where we've come to know people. The best example of this is the one year went out around Christmas, the "hostess" was a daughter (no more than 12 yrs), she did the job with grace. "Merry Christmas, here's a bit of a bonus".
 
igork said:
ha... I always felt a fear about them and gave them a euro just believing that nothing happens to my car while I'am absent. who knows what may happen... I never trust.
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ahahahaha yes, it's better to tip 1€ and hope nothing happens to the car. However, these parking attendants are not Italian
 
freethread said:
these parking attendants are not Italian
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absolutely:)
OK, the tips for me depend on my position. my environment. how confident I am in a situation. I'm always try to adapt.
In general, more tips, less spitting.
I agree when people solely depend on tipping. I don't agree when they have a regular wage and insist on getting a tip.
 
igork said:
absolutely:)
OK, the tips for me depend on my position. my environment. how confident I am in a situation. I'm always try to adapt.
In general, more tips, less spitting.
I agree when people solely depend on tipping. I don't agree when they have a regular wage and insist on getting a tip.
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OK, here's a tip:

Use tip(1), that will solve your parking problems! 😏
 
In the US, the federal minimum wage is $7.25 (not $2 or $3). I do not know of any local businesses that actually pay that low. They're in the range of $12 to $18 per hour.

www.dol.gov

Minimum Wage

The federal minimum wage for covered nonexempt employees is $7.25 per hour. Many states also have minimum wage laws. In cases where an employee is subject to both the state and federal minimum wage laws, the employee is entitled to the higher of the two minimum wages.
www.dol.gov www.dol.gov

Assuming the average tip amount is around 15%, then, in theory, the business could eliminate tips by raising prices 15%.

One brew-pub tried this experiment. It lasted 15 years.

austin.eater.com

Black Star Co-Op Brewpub Announces It Will Close

There’s still a little time for one last visit
austin.eater.com austin.eater.com
 
I'm not against tipping, but I'm not overflowing with extra cash either :p

Wages are between the employer and employee; I don't believe expecting extra income from generous tips is reasonable, and while I never witnessed it, apparently not leaving a tip could get you bad-mouthed like some kind of freeloader making the whole practice bad-mannered.

If the employee provides exceptional or above-and-beyond service and/or I like the place of business; sure a tip sounds good!
 
unitrunker said:
In the US, the federal minimum wage is $7.25 (not $2 or $3).
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Except servers who get $2.13/hr plus tips. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tipped_wage
Federal law
The United States federal government requires a wage of at least $2.13 per hour be paid to employees who receive at least $30 per month in tips.[4] If wages and tips do not equal the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour during any week, the employer is required to increase cash wages to compensate.[5]
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fernandel said:
Why tip just for waiters/waitresses and not for nurses for example? In the restaurants I pay for my order not for waiter salary which is owners responsibility.
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That whole thing with high tipping culture is a scam to make the product appear cheaper than it actually is.

Same with listing prices without taxes in the US. Scam to make the product appear cheaper.
 
cracauer@ said:
That whole thing with high tipping culture is a scam to make the product appear cheaper than it actually is.

Same with listing prices without taxes in the US. Scam to make the product appear cheaper.
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Here, in Europe they tend to list prices without taxes as well.
In Lithuania we have our salaries "increased" simply by the government starting
to publish salary amounts without taxes. They have improved their "economics".
Now, "high" salaries (known to be without taxes), compensate clearly the prices (increased by the way) of
ordinary goods in any market.
 
Here in Serbia, every price displayed (on the store shelf, in the restaurant menu, everywhere) must include VAT, so you know how much it will cost you to buy.

Only when you get cash register slip (or an invoice, for example, for utilities) price will be shown as price without VAT, VAT % and total. Almost everything has VAT of 20% except few essential goods (bread, eggs, raw meat, fish, medical drugs, orthopedic aids, natural gas for heating, and few others) which have VAT of 10%.

As for salaries, they are shown in two parts: 'gross' and 'net'. From 'gross' are then deducted taxes, various insurance policies etc., and what's left, and employee actually receives at the end of the month in 'net'.
 
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