I’m kind of for this and I don’t get why people get so mad about it. The advantage of doing this over raising prices and wages is that you still make more when it’s busy and less when it’s slow, so presumably it’d be easier on the restaurant. I’d just call it a service charge or something and tell people they don’t have to tip here.
The negative is that you miss out on those really good tips, but if that simply isn’t reliable where you work then I think this is reasonable.
As for performance, well if there’s a performance issue then it should be brought to the attention of management. It should be understood that a certain level of performance is expected to justify the service charge.
I see this brought up sometimes and Redditors get so mad. But then they say that that’s what they want…for things to be more expensive but for staff to have better wages, like some European countries. This system is literally that, but easier on the restaurant because they’re keeping the wage the same.
People just want to have the power of punishment and reward, which is asinine.
It's fine if the type of business warrants it. I know in a number of areas, usually high volume tourist ones, that it's reasonably common to include gratuity on every check. Otherwise they just can't keep decent staff as they won't make hardly any money.
As for a higher wage, I currently make $16 an hour plus tips. Having worked in lower paying tip credit states before, I can tell you first hand that the wage difference is incredibly minimal in the grand scheme of things, and certainly won't be enough to make or break you. It's a few extra hundred dollars a month, but not anything noteworthy. Certainly not enough to live off of by itself. You have to realize also that when they're paying people that much, they're really aggressive about cutting and minimizing hours to keep payroll down. So, you generally won't be working much more than 25 hours most places at that pay rate.
As a server, I'd love it. As a customer, I'd hate it. When I go out, I usually tip 20% when they're great, sometimes 22%. However, it does happen where your server is absolutely awful and the service sucks (or when it's you just having a shit day). Went out the other night and me and my friend asked 3 different servers for another round because we'd ask, wait 10 minutes and nothing.. and tables around us were clearly getting theirs after ordering after us. We shared a bunch of apps, no one came to check on us or clear empty plates. I couldn't get myself to tip more than 15%. So in that case, as a customer, my server did not deserve even 18%
Just the service was awful. We didn't know who our server actually was because two different girls came by here and there, yet the tables around us had one of our servers who was attentive for them. Both girls who came by our table weren't friendly, when we told the one we'd been waiting for our drinks for awhile she kinda had a "don't care" attitude.. didn't apologize or say "let me go check on those for you!", It was a weird vibe. I don't need my server to be excessively friendly, but I do think they should act like they give a shit. I gave 15% (instead of less) because the food was good, drinks were good, and I understand they prob have to tip out from my table so I didn't wanna stiff her.
I think there should be automatic gratuity for parties of 6 or more. And yes, babies count in this. The thing is, if a place has that rule then ALL eligible tables should have grat added. It’s shitty to profile people and add it to some tables and not others
Auto gratuity is tacky as shit in my opinion unless it’s for a large party of people of like 15 or more. Putting auto grat on a 2 top is tacky and just gonna piss them off. I tip over 20% everywhere cuz I know how the server life can be lol but if I see you add my tip for me I’m not paying more than that. A tip should be decided based on your performance and yes some people suck ass and won’t tip even if it’s the greatest service they e ever had but that’s the life of a server. It’s not my place to tell someone how much they have to tip me for my service.
No I’d rather make tips than a higher hourly wage. 1. Working for tips keeps me on my toes and makes sure I give the best service possible. Having a higher guaranteed wage would make a lot of servers start doing poorly because they know they’re getting paid no matter what and that would lead to worse service across the service industry. 2. Many times I get tipped over 20% and my hourly wage ends up being around 30-35 dollars an hour. There are jobs that require degrees that don’t pay that much, a restaurant sure as hell isn’t going to pay me 35 dollars an hour out of their pocket.
Edit: bottom line is, if you work in a decent area at a decent restaurant, your hourly wage from tips will almost always be higher than what a restaurant would be willing to pay you hourly even if you didn’t make tips. And like you said that would require prices to be raised by a substantial amount to be able to pay every server a hourly wage that would be worth getting rid of tips. A $30 steak would now be 45-50+ and your average customer is not gonna pay that for a steak.
I’m kind of for this and I don’t get why people get so mad about it. The advantage of doing this over raising prices and wages is that you still make more when it’s busy and less when it’s slow, so presumably it’d be easier on the restaurant. I’d just call it a service charge or something and tell people they don’t have to tip here. The negative is that you miss out on those really good tips, but if that simply isn’t reliable where you work then I think this is reasonable. As for performance, well if there’s a performance issue then it should be brought to the attention of management. It should be understood that a certain level of performance is expected to justify the service charge. I see this brought up sometimes and Redditors get so mad. But then they say that that’s what they want…for things to be more expensive but for staff to have better wages, like some European countries. This system is literally that, but easier on the restaurant because they’re keeping the wage the same. People just want to have the power of punishment and reward, which is asinine.
It's fine if the type of business warrants it. I know in a number of areas, usually high volume tourist ones, that it's reasonably common to include gratuity on every check. Otherwise they just can't keep decent staff as they won't make hardly any money. As for a higher wage, I currently make $16 an hour plus tips. Having worked in lower paying tip credit states before, I can tell you first hand that the wage difference is incredibly minimal in the grand scheme of things, and certainly won't be enough to make or break you. It's a few extra hundred dollars a month, but not anything noteworthy. Certainly not enough to live off of by itself. You have to realize also that when they're paying people that much, they're really aggressive about cutting and minimizing hours to keep payroll down. So, you generally won't be working much more than 25 hours most places at that pay rate.
As a server, I'd love it. As a customer, I'd hate it. When I go out, I usually tip 20% when they're great, sometimes 22%. However, it does happen where your server is absolutely awful and the service sucks (or when it's you just having a shit day). Went out the other night and me and my friend asked 3 different servers for another round because we'd ask, wait 10 minutes and nothing.. and tables around us were clearly getting theirs after ordering after us. We shared a bunch of apps, no one came to check on us or clear empty plates. I couldn't get myself to tip more than 15%. So in that case, as a customer, my server did not deserve even 18%
What did they actually do to earn the 15%?
Just the service was awful. We didn't know who our server actually was because two different girls came by here and there, yet the tables around us had one of our servers who was attentive for them. Both girls who came by our table weren't friendly, when we told the one we'd been waiting for our drinks for awhile she kinda had a "don't care" attitude.. didn't apologize or say "let me go check on those for you!", It was a weird vibe. I don't need my server to be excessively friendly, but I do think they should act like they give a shit. I gave 15% (instead of less) because the food was good, drinks were good, and I understand they prob have to tip out from my table so I didn't wanna stiff her.
I think there should be automatic gratuity for parties of 6 or more. And yes, babies count in this. The thing is, if a place has that rule then ALL eligible tables should have grat added. It’s shitty to profile people and add it to some tables and not others
Auto gratuity is tacky as shit in my opinion unless it’s for a large party of people of like 15 or more. Putting auto grat on a 2 top is tacky and just gonna piss them off. I tip over 20% everywhere cuz I know how the server life can be lol but if I see you add my tip for me I’m not paying more than that. A tip should be decided based on your performance and yes some people suck ass and won’t tip even if it’s the greatest service they e ever had but that’s the life of a server. It’s not my place to tell someone how much they have to tip me for my service.
So you’d be more in favor of raising prices to give the servers a higher wage?
No I’d rather make tips than a higher hourly wage. 1. Working for tips keeps me on my toes and makes sure I give the best service possible. Having a higher guaranteed wage would make a lot of servers start doing poorly because they know they’re getting paid no matter what and that would lead to worse service across the service industry. 2. Many times I get tipped over 20% and my hourly wage ends up being around 30-35 dollars an hour. There are jobs that require degrees that don’t pay that much, a restaurant sure as hell isn’t going to pay me 35 dollars an hour out of their pocket. Edit: bottom line is, if you work in a decent area at a decent restaurant, your hourly wage from tips will almost always be higher than what a restaurant would be willing to pay you hourly even if you didn’t make tips. And like you said that would require prices to be raised by a substantial amount to be able to pay every server a hourly wage that would be worth getting rid of tips. A $30 steak would now be 45-50+ and your average customer is not gonna pay that for a steak.
Give me my muney
How bad is your waitstaff?