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Author Topic: (Rant) Tip Your Waitstaff  (Read 1275 times)

jeff37923

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(Rant) Tip Your Waitstaff
« on: October 23, 2008, 12:05:02 AM »
Tip Your Waitstaff

Just a rant about gamer behavior in public I witnessed.
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KrakaJak

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(Rant) Tip Your Waitstaff
« Reply #1 on: October 23, 2008, 12:16:28 AM »
When I play at Denny's (which hasn't been for a long while now. But I digress) I make it a point to tip above 20%. Part of the reason I like playing in restaurants is that me and my players like to eat while we play, so it saves us on food runs. We also don't play for much more than 3 hours.

Those pieces of shit you wrote about are some of the biggest douche-bags I've ever heard of. The restaurant should kick them out after an hour. Right to refuse service and all.
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Kyle Aaron

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(Rant) Tip Your Waitstaff
« Reply #2 on: October 23, 2008, 04:04:54 AM »
"The average waitstaff employee makes $2.13 an hour, the rest of the money they make is based on tips."

Poor Americans. Here Down Under for people over 18 it's about A$18/hr - that's US$13.50/hr on today's conversion. The main issue affecting their wages is how many hours they work, typically it might only be a dozen a week. Nonetheless, tipping is rare.

I've only once regularly gamed in a restaurant, and there we always ordered dinner and drinks. There was a guy who just had water but we kicked him out because he was generally stingy - not poor, just tight-arsed. He was even tight-arsed in character, he was a real pain. "You are the weakest link. Goodbye."
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droog

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(Rant) Tip Your Waitstaff
« Reply #3 on: October 23, 2008, 04:43:04 AM »
If people are so ticked off about tipping, maybe they should do some agitation to get waiters some semblance of a living wage.
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Kellri

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(Rant) Tip Your Waitstaff
« Reply #4 on: October 23, 2008, 06:30:00 AM »
The restaurant business in the US profits from plain old worker abuse. Owners will usually rationalize their abusive wages by whingeing about rent prices or competition or taxes, placing the burden on their workers to somehow recoup a living wage from their customers. That's where all the servile guilt-tripping 'tip your waitstaff' comes in. If you REALLY want service workers to earn a living wage then picket the fucking place. Agitate for a labor union. Write a letter to the newspaper and let everyone know why you refuse to dine there. Bitching about ungrateful customers won't change anything. The customer is always right, remember? You have to hurt the owner in his pocketbook. Just ponying up 10, 15, 20, 25%, or even worse allowing the restaurant to automatically deduct gratuity, is being complicit in their abuse.
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David R

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(Rant) Tip Your Waitstaff
« Reply #5 on: October 23, 2008, 06:47:20 AM »
Quote from: droog;259606
If people are so ticked off about tipping, maybe they should do some agitation to get waiters some semblance of a living wage.


We have been trying, brother. But some how I doubt even minimum wage will ever be a reality in my country.

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David R

One Horse Town

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(Rant) Tip Your Waitstaff
« Reply #6 on: October 23, 2008, 06:52:19 AM »
Moved to OT

Kyle Aaron

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(Rant) Tip Your Waitstaff
« Reply #7 on: October 23, 2008, 06:53:08 AM »
It's worth mentioning that in Jeff's story, one waitress said,

"they just sit at those tables and only order water or something else to drink and then don't bother to tip."

No business can sustain itself if space is taken up by people who buy little or nothing. A restaurant isn't really a public space like a library or a park, legally and morally it's a private space, and you as a customer pay rent on that space indirectly, by buying food and drink, and perhaps by tipping the staff.

So this is not really an issue of tipping the staff, but of a bunch of clueless nerds using a private space and not being willing to pay for it. If they bought lots of food and drink but didn't tip, then the owner could pass on the profits in wages to their waitstaff; if they bought very little but tipped big, the waitstaff could get it directly. But when they neither buy stuff nor tip, they're using a private space for free, and both owner and waitstaff lose out.

This is like sneaking into the cinemas or sports stadium to watch without paying for it. Good for you, bad for them - whatever rate their staff are paid. You don't get to hang out at the clothes shop or the record shop all day without buying anything.

If you're not willing to pay to use a private space, then use a public space, or else use your own private space. But don't rip people off.
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David R

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(Rant) Tip Your Waitstaff
« Reply #8 on: October 23, 2008, 07:12:11 AM »
My mistake OHT. This thread is supposed to be about stingy gamer types. Sorry jeff37923.

Regards,
David R

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(Rant) Tip Your Waitstaff
« Reply #9 on: October 23, 2008, 07:15:10 AM »
Quote from: David R;259619
My mistake OHT. This thread is supposed to be about stingy gamer types. Sorry jeff37923.

Regards,
David R


No worries. I'm sure pundit will move it back if he thinks it's a wrong call.

Engine

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(Rant) Tip Your Waitstaff
« Reply #10 on: October 23, 2008, 08:08:49 AM »
Quote from: Kyle Aaron;259605
Poor Americans. Here Down Under for people over 18 it's about A$18/hr - that's US$13.50/hr on today's conversion. The main issue affecting their wages is how many hours they work, typically it might only be a dozen a week. Nonetheless, tipping is rare.

Poor people Down Under, then. Though I know there are a lot of American waitresses who either aren't very good or work a place where they don't get tipped well, a waitress picking the right restaurant and doing her job well will make that kind of money in a night. I've dated my fair share of waitresses - okay, and your share and his and his, too - and not one of them made less than US$200 a week; most brought that home every Saturday in six hours.
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(Rant) Tip Your Waitstaff
« Reply #11 on: October 23, 2008, 09:26:14 AM »
Quote from: Engine;259627
Poor people Down Under, then. Though I know there are a lot of American waitresses who either aren't very good or work a place where they don't get tipped well, a waitress picking the right restaurant and doing her job well will make that kind of money in a night. I've dated my fair share of waitresses - okay, and your share and his and his, too - and not one of them made less than US$200 a week; most brought that home every Saturday in six hours.


This. I don't think most are considering what kind of income can be earned through tips. If  a waitress can manage six seatings an hour and on average each one’s bill is $20 total, if they pull the standard 15% tip that is $18 on top of their normal wage. Factor in the habit that folks have of under-reporting their tips, to avoid taxes, and they have a nice hourly wage when added to their meager hourly rate.
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Kyle Aaron

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(Rant) Tip Your Waitstaff
« Reply #12 on: October 23, 2008, 09:44:57 AM »
Unless they're unlucky enough to work in a place where tight-arsed gamers come and sit for hours.

It's the old problem again. Anyone can do well, but not everyone can do well. That's an important distinction. If someone works in the flash hotel with the $200 tip on one meal, then someone else has to work in the Denny's with the fat-arsed nerds who sit there for hours and just get water. But both are doing an honest day's work.

If it's so fair and reasonable, why do we only do it with waitstaff? We could easily extend it to other workers. IT support, for example, could get $5 an hour, and then make the rest up in tips from satisfied customers. Doctors could get $10 an hour and make the rest up in tips from patients made better, or from families who are grateful the doctor at least tried. Coal miners could be paid $1 an hour and make the rest up in bonuses for productivity. Teachers could get $4 an hour and then more in tips from parents grateful that little Johnny can now read.

If low wages + tips for good or productive work is such a good way of doing things, why aren't other kinds of workers asking for their industry to change to match it?

This reminds me of that thread we had where all these people were saying that teaching was an easy, well-paid job - yet strangely they weren't keen on doing it themselves. Funny that.

Everyone deserves a decent wage for an honest day's work - whatever that work is. Waitstaff have a shitty job. Chefs like me just have to cook the food, we don't have to smile while doing it, and don't have to deal with customers being stingy, picky, ignorant about food, groping us, or anything like that.
« Last Edit: October 23, 2008, 09:47:46 AM by Kyle Aaron »
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droog

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(Rant) Tip Your Waitstaff
« Reply #13 on: October 23, 2008, 09:51:05 AM »
I don't like to eat in restaurants any more--particularly expensive ones. I don't like that whole dynamic where the waiter fawns on you and you know they want a tip. I'll just pay my bill and if the waiters want extra they can take it up with management.
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CavScout
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(Rant) Tip Your Waitstaff
« Reply #14 on: October 23, 2008, 10:00:54 AM »
Quote from: Kyle Aaron;259648
Unless they're unlucky enough to work in a place where tight-arsed gamers come and sit for hours.

It's the old problem again. Anyone can do well, but not everyone can do well. That's an important distinction. If someone works in the flash hotel with the $200 tip on one meal, then someone else has to work in the Denny's with the fat-arsed nerds who sit there for hours and just get water. But both are doing an honest day's work.

If it's so fair and reasonable, why do we only do it with waitstaff? We could easily extend it to other workers. IT support, for example, could get $5 an hour, and then make the rest up in tips from satisfied customers. Doctors could get $10 an hour and make the rest up in tips from patients made better, or from families who are grateful the doctor at least tried. Coal miners could be paid $1 an hour and make the rest up in bonuses for productivity. Teachers could get $4 an hour and then more in tips from parents grateful that little Johnny can now read.

If low wages + tips for good or productive work is such a good way of doing things, why aren't other kinds of workers asking for their industry to change to match it?

This reminds me of that thread we had where all these people were saying that teaching was an easy, well-paid job - yet strangely they weren't keen on doing it themselves. Funny that.

Everyone deserves a decent wage for an honest day's work - whatever that work is. Waitstaff have a shitty job. Chefs like me just have to cook the food, we don't have to smile while doing it, and don't have to deal with customers being stingy, picky, ignorant about food, groping us, or anything like that.


Odd that you’re not lamenting about the cheapness of the gamers in this single example instead of proposing grand social changes….

I wonder what the waiters and waitresses would say if asked, would they prefer the tip method or simple hourly wage.
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