Confessions of an accused "racist"

[billvon 3,119]

>Why is the tip based on the amount of the check?

For me, for small orders, it's not.

If someone gets me a beer I generally give them $1. If they get a bunch of beers for us, or a pitcher, I give them $2. That's true whether the beer is free, a $1 special, a $3 beer from the Bomb Shelter, or a $45 bottle of beer from the Toronado.

[thedude325 0]

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Serious question. Why is the tip based on the amount of the check? It's a good starting point but here is my example.

If I go into a restuarant with friends and only order a $8 appetizer and a $2 drink, my tip would be about $1.50 to $2 based upon my total bill. (based on 15% to 20%)

Now lets say the person next to me orders a $25 meal and a $2 drink, his/her tip would be $4.05 to $5.40.

The waiter/waitress made the same amount of trips, so essentially the same amount of work. So why the difference?

(BTW, I always tip 20% in the waiter isn't a complete dick)

If you tip 20%, then why did you bring up the 15%? 20% is a proper tip. I NEVER tip lower than that, even if the server wasn't doing well. He/she could have been busy, sick, have problems at home, have to train a new employee, been arguing with the damn kitchen (which happens A LOT). All of these things can hold up the service.

You tip according to the price instead of "trips" because the server has to tip out the bartender and bussers. This tip out is a percentage of their TOTAL SALES. Do you see how it can mess things up for the server? The bussers and bartenders will get their fair percentage of tips REGARDLESS of whether or not the server even got tipped! If a server gets really shitty tips, he/she could wind up PAYING to work! This is what undoubtedly happened in the video that I posted earlier in this thread.

[jcd11235 0]

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Honestly, if i had to rank the worst tippers based on demographic, it would probably go like this (purely based on my experiences as a FEMALE server in several restaurants in several locations):

1. groups of businesswomen (all races included!)
2. the after-church crowd on sunday lunch (ironic, isn't it?)
3. african americans (and to be crass, truly a subset, as Airman mentioned. for lack of a better term, the more "ghetto", the less tip)

In my experience, age was the biggest factor. Many older folks who lived through times when 10% was considered an appropriate tip still only tip 10% for good service.

When I was serving, the cruise ship and tour bus crowds were the worst tippers, overall.

Math tutoring available. Only $6! per hour! First lesson: Factorials!

[livendive 8]

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Hi Wendy:

.....Your personal experiences lead you to make assumptions about people based on their race....
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _


Actually, It is amazing how some people have fallen into my trap. I'm just reporting my experiences with my customers. I knew from the beginning that some would interpret this as "racism." To these folks I ask: How can we discuss such matters without the conversation being sidetracked into these offensive accusations?

Given your thread title, and the content of your original post in this thread, by what logic do you conclude that a discussion of racism is a sidetrack to the conversation?

Around here, hispanics are the predominant "minority" (a misnomer, as there are more of them in the county than any other ethnicity), thus they get the short end of this conversation by service people. Have you considered the possibility that what you're seeing is a function of education/income rather than race? What about the possibility that people tip less when they perceive that their server holds a dim view of them?

Blues,
Dave

"I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!"
(drink Mountain Dew)

[FallingOsh 0]

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Serious question. Why is the tip based on the amount of the check? It's a good starting point but here is my example.

If I go into a restuarant with friends and only order a $8 appetizer and a $2 drink, my tip would be about $1.50 to $2 based upon my total bill. (based on 15% to 20%)

Now lets say the person next to me orders a $25 meal and a $2 drink, his/her tip would be $4.05 to $5.40.

The waiter/waitress made the same amount of trips, so essentially the same amount of work. So why the difference?

(BTW, I always tip 20% in the waiter isn't a complete dick)

The percentage thing is relatively new in the tipping tradition. The original T.I.P. was given to the server at the beginning of the meal To Insure Promptness. It became a standard and expected by servers. Restaurants were eventually permitted to lower hourly wages below minimum wage because servers were making their own pay check. I worked in restaurants and bars for 6 years and $2.13/hour was always the standard for a server. It was just enough to tax your claimed tips and we frequently got $0.00 paychecks.

Those 6 years in the restaurant/bar business taught me a lot about life, work, and the blantant differences between people of all backgrounds. It is very, very easy to start grouping people together with preconcieved notions based on age, race, or sex when dealing with large numbers day in and day out. IMO, you can always tell what kind of person an individual is by how they treat a server.


EDIT: BTW, I think the OP was being sarcastic when he said "highly scientific."

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Stay positive and love your life.

[Andy9o8 2]

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IMO, you can always tell what kind of person an individual is by how they treat a server.

There's a lot of truth in that.

[thedude325 0]

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Serious question. Why is the tip based on the amount of the check? It's a good starting point but here is my example.

If I go into a restuarant with friends and only order a $8 appetizer and a $2 drink, my tip would be about $1.50 to $2 based upon my total bill. (based on 15% to 20%)

Now lets say the person next to me orders a $25 meal and a $2 drink, his/her tip would be $4.05 to $5.40.

The waiter/waitress made the same amount of trips, so essentially the same amount of work. So why the difference?

(BTW, I always tip 20% in the waiter isn't a complete dick)

The percentage thing is relatively new in the tipping tradition. The original T.I.P. was given to the server at the beginning of the meal To Insure Promptness. It became a standard and expected by servers. Restaurants were eventually permitted to lower hourly wages below minimum wage because servers were making their own pay check. I worked in restaurants and bars for 6 years and $2.13/hour was always the standard for a server. It was just enough to tax your claimed tips and we frequently got $0.00 paychecks.

Those 6 years in the restaurant/bar business taught me a lot about life, work, and the blantant differences between people of all backgrounds. It is very, very easy to start grouping people together with preconcieved notions based on age, race, or sex when dealing with large numbers day in and day out. IMO, you can always tell what kind of person an individual is by how they treat a server.


EDIT: BTW, I think the OP was being sarcastic when he said "highly scientific."

You actually believe tip is an acronym?

[vortexring 0]

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Meanwhile, we can ponder another fundamental question of the universe: What is it about classical music that causes so many of the people who listen to it to think they are so much better than averyone else?

Cheers,
Jon S.

Enjoyed your post but your last paragraph struck my attention. It's because they're trying to be despertley middle class. Ask them what their dog eats; it'll probably be some kind of expensive organic and rare to find dog food. Despite dogs eating their own faeces...

Pretentious cunts.

'for it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "chuck 'im out, the brute!" But it's "saviour of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot.'

[FallingOsh 0]

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Serious question. Why is the tip based on the amount of the check? It's a good starting point but here is my example.

If I go into a restuarant with friends and only order a $8 appetizer and a $2 drink, my tip would be about $1.50 to $2 based upon my total bill. (based on 15% to 20%)

Now lets say the person next to me orders a $25 meal and a $2 drink, his/her tip would be $4.05 to $5.40.

The waiter/waitress made the same amount of trips, so essentially the same amount of work. So why the difference?

(BTW, I always tip 20% in the waiter isn't a complete dick)

The percentage thing is relatively new in the tipping tradition. The original T.I.P. was given to the server at the beginning of the meal To Insure Promptness. It became a standard and expected by servers. Restaurants were eventually permitted to lower hourly wages below minimum wage because servers were making their own pay check. I worked in restaurants and bars for 6 years and $2.13/hour was always the standard for a server. It was just enough to tax your claimed tips and we frequently got $0.00 paychecks.

Those 6 years in the restaurant/bar business taught me a lot about life, work, and the blantant differences between people of all backgrounds. It is very, very easy to start grouping people together with preconcieved notions based on age, race, or sex when dealing with large numbers day in and day out. IMO, you can always tell what kind of person an individual is by how they treat a server.


EDIT: BTW, I think the OP was being sarcastic when he said "highly scientific."

You actually believe tip is an acronym?

Meh. The true origins of tipping and the etymology of the word are somewhat debatable. The T.I.P. story is just one idea and happens to be the one I like since I think it captures the original intent of giving a server extra cash.

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Stay positive and love your life.

[Andy9o8 2]

Didja hear the one about the mohel [ritual circumcisor] who never charged a fee?
He only took tips.

[warpedskydiver 0]

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Didja hear the one about the mohel [ritual circumcisor] who never charged a fee?
He only took tips.

I hear he opened a Calamari stand in San Fransico