The tipping dilemma

I always thought that 15% was the normal tip at a restaurant, but Ryan Kost at the State Press at ASU quotes a waiter who says that "Eighteen percent [is the norm]... Fifteen is like giving a server a slap in the face, 15 you might as well leave nothing.". BitterWaitress defines a shitty tipper as one who tips less than 17%! One of my friends who used to work as a waiter told me that the minimum wage in the service industry is terribly low (correct me if I am wrong) and that waiters are supposed to make their living almost entirely from the tips. Now this puts a lot of emotional burden on the diners - the last thing I want to think about while eating out is whether my tip is adequate or not. It would be so much better if restaurants simply added the requisite amount as a service charge on the bill itself.

It is hard to understand why a restaurant which charges so much for food (and ensures that their profits are not dependent on the generosity of the diners) cannot afford to pay their waiters well. After all the waiters are the face of the restaurant - why leave their livelihood to the mercy of the diners' tips? Most countries have systems where the tips are optional - a tip is a sign of appreciation, but the lack of a tip, or a small tip is not a 'slap on the face', nor is it going to yank food out of the waiters' mouths.

Now, I understand that waiters out here depend on the tips, so I always make it a point to tip generously, but I do wish restaurants would simply pay the servers more and make the extra dough from a fixed service charge and allow patrons to give an optional tip as a reward for good service. Also, the service charge should be proportional to the time spent in a restaurant, not the amount of money spent there. What if someone spends an hour drinking coffee? Or what if someone has a half-hour dinner that includes a $100 bottle of wine? If someone is willing to spend more at a restaurant, surely some of that profit should go to the server as an employee of the establishment, but should that person pay a bigger tip just because he spent some more money? A better way would be to put the time spent on the bill, so that the resulting service charge ensures that the waiter gets an assured minimum for every table served, regardless of the price of food served.

Sometimes I like to eat cheap food from the menu too - that shouldn't make me a cheapskate, and that shouldn't get the waiter stiffed either. And for heaven's sake, the $3 minimum wage for the service industry is a sad joke! Request to all restaurant owners: please pay your waiters well - increase the price of food if you wish, or take it out of your projected $476 billion sales (how low is the profit margin anyway?) and allow your patrons to give tips as a sign of appreciation, not charity.

Tags: waiter, server, restaurant, tips, tipper