Quick etiquette query

Nothing annoys me more than the fuckin' tip jars at coffee places.

They should tip ME for waiting on myself.

 

If you pay by credit card at Sonic, there is no line to add a tip. I take my cue from that.

 

I tip at Sonic (just a dollar) and I put my change into the tip jar at the coffeehouse (which is a Starbucks. Down with Corporate Coffee).

My mom waited tables when I was a baby. I tend to tip everybody. I don't think that's a bad thing.

 

Why tip someone for a job I'm capable of doing myself? I can deliver food. I can drive a taxi. I can and do cut my own hair. I did, however, tip my urologist, because I am unable to pulverize my own kidney stones.

 

Cadet's got this nailed.

Tip people whose employers are allowed to pay them under minimum.

anyone else, I guess, tip if they do a great job, or if you've got the money.

I refuse to tip the folks at my local coffee house with a jar that says "Tipping is good karma" unless they remember my order.

Because that's good karma, too, piercing boy.

 

Actually, tips SHOULD be given at Sonic, but usually no more than a dollar. I actually did a story on tipping and Sonic carhops were some of the people I interviewed.

 

Allen --

What do they make an hour?

I have worked ostensibly in the service industry, and tip very well in bars and restaraunts.

But I'm not going to tip some girl making $7 an hour so her employer can advertise tips.

 

Just so everyone doesn't think I'm a cheap bitch, I always tip waitstaff/bartenders at 20% unless the service is nonexistent. I tip personal service providers (hair stylist, mani/pedi technician, massage therapist) at that rate as well, because tipping is expected for those professions and there is a personal element to it.

I just don't see a point to tipping the kid who scoops the ice cream into a bowl. And I used to be that kid.

 

My problem with it is that the employers will then use your tips to keep wages artificially low.

They know they can keep people at $6/hour until the are gone -- and not many stay long enough to earn a raise -- by advertising 6$/hour + tips. There's always another kid who needs a job.

Fuck that. Pay what the market will bear, and I'll tip if the service is superb.

Waitresses making $2 an hour get 20 percent, minimum, up to 50 percent for great service.

Oh, and I just stiff the shit out of the Cold Stone kids and love it. If I wanted to hear desultory singing out of preppie suburban white kids, I'd have taught choir, you nimrods.

God, that felt good to say.

 

Don't exactly know what they make at Sonic, but I'm not about to punish a teen trying to make a little money just because their employer is artificially keeping waging down like that. It's not the kid's fault, and hell, it's only 50 cents or a dollar.

 

I tip them the coin change, or a dollar if that's less than 50 cents or so. It makes me feel good, so I do it. I don't go to a lot of other fast food places, so I don't have to worry about that comparison. I firmly believe in a kharma-based trickle-down tipping theory. I don't tip for crap service, but if you're good, I'll tip you at least 20 percent. I also tip a buck on every beer (sometimes I'll just leave the coins at a place that screws the bartenders and charges $x.25).

 

Well, Allen, I don't really disagree, but I will say that that's the attitude the greedy employers are counting on.

They're preying on people's good nature. That's what irks me, not the dollar amounts.

But should I be tipping at Starbucks, or should Starbucks have to raise its wage to find competent help? That does become an issue for me.

The government raising the mimimum wage would help a lot.