Whaddya mean ya don't tip?

A bookie?

Now we're entering Damyon Runyon land

 

Forgive me I don't know who he is.

 

Never mind, looked him up. I've never been much for musicals so I dismissed Guys and Dolls but I will look up some of his other work.

Thanks

 

Guys and Dolls (amongst other things)

 

I do not like places where the tip is automatically added to the bill, such as the case in this story from Philly. It diminishes the whole point of the tip.

The idea of paying waiters shitty and then having the concept of tips is to give the waiter some incentive to do a good job, be polite, hustle with your food, etc. They know they have to do all of that stuff if they want to make any money because the hourly pay doesn't go far.

If the tip is automatically added to your bill, what incentive does the waiter have to do a good job? None. They're getting their tip regardless of how shitty of a job they do so what does it matter to them? (Just like in this Philly story)

That's why the automatic tips are stupid. It completely goes against the whole point of it all.

 

I understand it in a large group. However, if service is shitty, you call the manager over and tell him the service wasn't worth 18 percent (or whatever) and tell him to deduct that from the bill. Conversely, if the service is better, you damn well tip more than that...

 

"Hey this steak still has the marks where the jockey hit it"

 

It's not a tip. It's a service charge. It's not negotiable. If you don't like the service, don't come back and tell all your friends.

And waiters shouldn't have to rely on the arbitrary whims of diners to determine their wages.

This idea that tips add some sort of incentive is nonsense. In a professional setting servers will provide professional service because they take pride in their work. And if restaurants can help provide a living wage through a service charge, then so much the better.

And in a lot of places, tips are pooled so even the shitty waiter makes as much as the competent ones.

This is a little far fetched but it's like having readers vote on a newspaper story and the vote determines how much the writer should be paid.

 

I saw a group on Saturday who are the kind of people this automatic gratuity bullshit was written for.

I was sitting at a bar where a bartender I've known for years was working. The guy was serving this group as well as he served everyone else, which is well. They were all obnoxious to the point where I was shooting them glances as if to say "cool it."

It looked at first as if they were going to leave without paying. Thankfully, they came back, but the woman made it a point to tell the guy who'd paid the bill with his credit card to put a slash where the tip line was, stiffing the bartender who'd bent over backwards for them.

I was getting pissed off for the guy. Thankfully, they left.

 

Happens all the time.

I remember one of the servers at the Goose working tables with two hockey teams--about 25 guys in total

She worked her ass off all evening and even though the Goose is normally a pay as you go place, she ran a tab for the guys

Bill after about three hours was something like $300.00 and they left something like a $20.00 tip.

She gave it back to them and told them, "You obviously need this more than I do"

And these guys were all stockbrokers, lawyers and bankers.

 

The bartender who had these kids arrested should be fired - especially if the manager claims they offered to comp the entire meal.

So let me see if I get this - you will comp the $73 meal but you won't let them roll on the $16 forced tip service charge?

Give me a fucking break.

The owners of this place should be embarrassed.

 

My views on tipping have been well documented on this site (It's a bullshit concept and I won't be forced to give you money you don't deserve just for doing the bare minimum that's expected of you).

But, that being said, I'm sorry but this couple is in the wrong. The menus in places like this clearly state that an 18% tip is mandatory for a large group so the group should have confronted the manager if the service was as bad as they said it was. Don't like the rules? Too bad. Them's da rules.

As for general tipping though, I appluad them for stiffing those jerks. Sounds like they deserved nothing and should get nothing.

Shit, if I were the guy here, I'd eat at this restaurant every day for a week, by myself, and never tip.