What is a ‘Tip’? According to Wikipedia it’s a gratuity made to service people in addition to the cost of the product (or something like that).
Well you know what I think a Tip is? A pain the the ASS.
Don’t get me wrong I used to be a server, (waitress) I’ve lived for my tips, and I STILL think the whole thing is BS! At least the way things are now in North America. Now, I’m more than willing to admit that I’ve become a lot more conscious of my cash flow now that I Track all my money (more on that in another post). Also living in Asia where tipping isn’t really part of the culture has definitely given me a little ‘perspective’ on the whole issue.
Service in Taiwan sucks, not always and not as a rule, but generally speaking you can expect to be ignored and a great deal of apathy from your server. While that can be annoying, it’s also a little liberating. I like that I can just shout “OYE, MISS” to get the girl’s attention with no fear of her spitting in my food. But at the same time, people here are generally sweet and helpful. they will usually jump to help you out, regardless of it being their job or not. People in restaurants get that their jobs and lively hood depend on your eating there, so they are usually pretty good about being reasonable, a little slow but usually polite.
But in North America, tipping is not only normal, it’s expected. And if you don’t tip and tip well you run the risk of receiving really shitty service, bad attitudes, and a generally crappy experience. What THE HELL…. That my friend’s is BULL SHIT. In the states waitstaff often get the shaft with that BS waiting wage… so if they don’t get tips they can’t eat. That’s is a little garbage, tips are not a wage.
Perhaps my understanding of the whole concept is a little skewed, but aren’t tips MEANT to be an extra fee you CHOOSE to pay in order to express gratitude for EXCEPTIONAL service. Not for ‘acceptable’ service, EXCEPTIONAL. I used to be a waitress and I made KILLER Tips, and why did I make great tips? Because I understood that the reason people go out to eat is because they are looking for an experience. They want to be pampered and treated well, and that is what I gave them, bubbles and sunshine. I worked my ass off and earned the appreciation of the customers.
I swear, nothing pisses me off more than getting mediocre service and then a snotty server who expects you to dole out money for their shitty ass effort. Bite me.
Magdalicious ... A life better lived 
I agree! When I moved here, people were always tipping over my tips on me because they were like, well thats clearly not enough, it should be $. I had always based what I tipped on the service, if you want a $5-$10 tip, it better be because I have either just dropped over a $100 or you did fricken back flips to my table and didnt spill my drink. But it ends of being that your looked down on here if your not tipping properly then your friends feel the need to dish out more for you. The other thing is I have done my share of working in the service industry, the propblem is it is the ONLY part of the industry where tipping NEVER happens, taxies get tips, coffee baristas get tips, servers get tips, these are all services where customer service should be a top prioity if tips are expected, but in Retail, my gawd have you ever worked in retail, you litteraly have to bend over backwards and kiss their asses to have them purchase a $4 item then they want it gift wrapped with a hand made bow to make it look like their cheap asses spent more than $4 on their gift. And they want their gift reciept just in case the poor individula who is recieving this gift wants it in a different colour so you know all that wrapping and bow tieing isnt worth it if its coming back anyhow. Then after they give the gift the receiver decides their cheap ass gift is something they dont like and want to return it possibly after they have used it already and decided mmmeh i dont want it now since I have had it for 25 days, and want either cash or exchange for another $4 gift which they would like to purchase for their friend, and guess what,,, YUP “can i get that gift wrapped, its my mothers birhtday” and so it goes on,…
NOPE no TIPPING IN RETAIL…. hence I dont agree on tipping some half wit bimbo who doesnt even know I am at the table for the first 20 min, then proceeds to roll her eyes when she realizes I would like to eat and possibly even get a drink, my drink comes 35 min after asking for one, we finally get to the food order if I am lucky enough to get a menu, when the food comes its half cold cause now she has more than one task and its confusing. and then she expects a tip……
SO to finalize my Rant, (thank you for this post) i agree i dont believe tipping should be expected
LOL EXACTLY… sing it sista!
I have to say I don’t mind tipping if If IF I get good service…. that being said what really gets me is those restaurants that have a “disclaimer” on their menu saying that a certain percentage gratuity is automatically added to your bill….. ummmmm, excuse me? A gratuity is EARNED, you aren’t automatically entitled to it. And if I receive crappy service from some snotty half-wit, I protest to being socially badgered into leaving her something besides a piece of my mind….
in one sense, I totally agree with you.. bad service equals no tip. But then again I don’t mind when it’s 10%, because that’s not just for the server it’s a little bonus for everyone, servers, bus boys, dishwashers, cooks. Plus paying 10% doesn’t bother me 😀 it’s 15-20% that I’m like, really?? What the hell did you do to deserve this??
Plus you can always talk to the manager, and he will remove the 10% if you’re dissatisfied with the service.
I have to say that I respectfully disagree. I can compromise with yall if it meant that servers got good money for their job, but serving people sucks and we get paid next to nothing. I serve right now, and I am very good at my job. No waiting on drinks, refills, all the ridiculous food requests are taken care of (it’s especially worse because I am in a fine dining restaurant) and yes, I realize this isn’t necessarily the norm these days. But having to put up with people treating you like crap and things like being triple-sat… ugh, I can’t wait to be done with this. The only thing that makes it worth it is the money; if it weren’t for tips, no way in hell would I do this job.
Here’s the issue that too many people don’t realize/ignore- we have to tip out to everyone around us, usually at least 5% of our sales. This means that if we get a truly awful tip, sometimes we end up paying to serve you. That sucks.
SO yes, maybe the solution is just to pay people a high wage, and thus raise the prices at the restaurant to cover this wage price. Believe me, that price change would be pretty significant if restaurants would have to start paying decent money to the servers, assistants, bartenders, food runner, bussers, etc. and then I can promise you service would go down. If you think people have bad attitudes and don’t get your drink out now, imagine if they’re getting paid crap with no possibility of a tip.
After living abroad, I will agree that it was nice not having to worry about tips, and I too hate having to pay them, but man do I love the good service that I get here.
Ah BUT you live in the states.. and in the states they have a lower wage for servers.. in Canada they get the same wage as everyone else… which.. I believe is near $9 at least an hour…
Fair, then I would agree that tipping really isn’t necessary unless they are insanely awesome 🙂 We get $2.15/hour, haha.
yeah totally, I get why tipping is a big deal in the US.. as waitresses get jacked.. that bs about how the food would have to be killer expensive is BullShit… they used to pay waitresses a normal wage.. and still do in every country outside of the USA.
Now tipping has gone nuts… you’re expected to tip the person who makes your coffee, your taxi driver… pretty much everyone who does anything at all for you? WTF… do your job get paid. If you do an exceptional job THEN I will happily give you a tip.
Wait… wait staff in the US don’t get minimum wage? Which is $8 in Canada, btw.
I am a big tipper if you go to the same places they trip over themselves to give you good service . besides i think most people in the industry give good service and need the money. lots of students and others that do not have skills to get better paying jobs not always their fault. some times life hands you lemons i like to make lemon- aid for them if i can