Tipping: the right thing to do, or useless practice?
Jan 25, 2012
Tipping is a contentious subject. Two Gateway writers argue the merits of the practice.
Alana Willerton
Gateway Staff
Servers deserve something extra for giving great service
When people confidently declare to the world that they don’t tip their servers at restaurants, I can’t help but grimace. As a server at Boston Pizza, I think I speak for all servers out there when I say that these are exactly the kind of people we can’t stand. There is nothing more frustrating or annoying than putting your time and effort into serving a table, only to have them leave without bothering to leave a tip in return.
What these people fail to realize is that servers actually make a lower level of minimum wage than other jobs. While the hourly minimum wage in Alberta is $9.40 for most employees, any worker serving liquor as part of their regular job receive an hourly minimum wage of $9.05. This includes — you guessed it — most servers.
The reasoning behind this lower wage is that servers should be able to supplement it with the tips they make while on shift. Serving is a thankless job that no one does for the wage; tips are how they make their real living. But it’s getting harder and harder to make that living while more people continue to refrain from tipping.
Even when a server is tipped for their service, they still don’t get to keep all of that money. Servers are required to “tip out” a certain percentage of their sales each night to the hostesses, bussers, kitchen staff and bartender. Servers are forced to tip out regardless of whether or not they’ve been tipped, since it is based on the total amount of food and drinks sold.
By not tipping, you are indirectly forcing your server to pay for you to eat out of their own pocket from the money they’ve already made that night.
On any given night serving at Boston Pizza, I ring in anywhere from $500 to $1,000 worth of food. Of that money, I’m required to tip out 2.5 per cent to the rest of the staff. That may not seem like much, but at other restaurants the tip out rate is even higher.
At a place like Earl’s, servers are actually required to tip out 5 to 6 per cent, depending on whether they serve in the dining room or lounge. By tipping, you are essentially showing your appreciation to not only your server, but to the people who sat you, who made your food, and who cleaned up after you.
Some people disagree with the idea of tipping simply because they can’t understand why they should have to tip someone for doing their job. But a server’s basic job is to take your order and bring you your food. What you’re tipping for outside of that is the experience. They are not required to get you multiple drink refills, to figure out how split a table’s bill between 10 people or deal with the hassle of a 40-person hockey team. But they’ll do it. They do it to ensure that you have a quality time at their restaurant, and they deserve to be tipped in return for that.
Still, it’s true that you’re not technically obligated to tip. You may get the evil eye from your server on your way out, but it’s not illegal for you to simply get up and leave without tipping. Do us all a favour in the future though: If you’re not going to tip, don’t come out at all.
Nick Ong
Gateway Staff
Tipping is a worthless social norm we’d be best without
Mr. Pink said it best. “You know what this is?” he asks, rubbing two fingers together. “The world’s smallest violin playing just for the waitresses.”
I couldn’t put it better myself. Think about it. Why, exactly, do we tip servers? We tip the server instead of the grocery cashier. We see that cashier over and over, they don’t get paid much, and they bag our groceries for us. We don’t tip the McDonalds worker, even though they’re doing more or less the same thing as the restaurant server. But no, the system has been perverted to the extent that tips are expected of us even if the service was below par for fear of what will be in our food the next time we visit.
Even assuming tipping is the right thing to do, basing it on a percentage is absurd. Using this system, we tip a server at Ruth’s Chris more than one at Denny’s, not based on how much work they actually did carrying a meal from the kitchen to our tables, but on how much the meal happens to cost — the preparation of which they in no way contributed to. What would happen if Denny’s started serving foie gras? Should we pay the servers there $40 in tips just because they carried the same plate that a Moons Over My Hammy comes out to us on? I think not.
Even if we do tip, it’s highly unlikely the service we receive on our next visit will get any better or any worse dependent upon it. Research conducted by Michael Lynn of Cornell shows a less than two per cent correlation between tipping and quality of service, proving that our current system of tipping does not actually do anything to encourage better service. Lynn also found that 44 per cent of Americans prefer to have waiters paid higher wages instead of tips as opposed to only 22 per cent looking to use tips as an inducement for good service. We therefore aren’t tipping because we believe we are getting good service, but because we think we have to. Clearly, the institution of tipping has developed a major flaw: what was once a monetary reward to motivate a worker has now become an expected portion of the server’s income.
I’m not blaming the server for expecting tips. Having worked a similar job, I can relate to the necessity of tips. The problem here is that society pressures us to tip workers in particular jobs, justifying it by making it the norm to pay them low wages. Not only does this pressure make us feel guilty about not paying extra for something we already paid for, it traps servers in a never-ending quest to make enough tips to make ends meet when in many cases, it doesn’t actually matter how hard they work.
On the other hand, in other cultures, tipping is so rare that servers return your “change” if you leave it on the table — because they’re paid a living wage for their work. Imagine that. My sympathies lie with the servers who don’t receive my tip. It is not their fault the system has been rigged the way it is. But nor is it mine. Just because I know how it feels to be reliant on tips does not mean I am willing to donate to you out of sympathy.
So to all the waiters and waitresses reading this, as much as I understand your financial woe, I don’t feel I must tip you simply because the social norm is that I do. It’s not my fault we’re all in the position we’re in.
Comments
Spend some time in a country where tipping is not expected. The food costs much more, and the service stinks. Tipping is the best thing for consumers.
Posted by Brian on Jan 25, 2012
Actually nick, if I were to serve you a second time after I had served you once and received no tip, you would get bad service from me. Why would I do anything but the basics for 9$ an hour? I understand you think it’s a brokn system, and I am inclined to agree, but you write “it’s not my fault we’re all in the position we’re in” and that’s true, but it’s not mine either so why are you literally making servers pay for that? If you ring up a 100$ tab I have to tip out five dollars of my own money if you don’t tip. At mcdonalds they don’t have to so feel free not to tip them but at a restaurant at least leave something! Plus why on earth would you want to screw over the people who are handling everything you eat and drink…
Posted by Nicole on Jan 25, 2012
Alana: I agree completely.
Nick: I agree… sort of. There’s no doubt that there is a disconnect and confusion surrounding the rules of tipping. I wish good service merited good tips and poor service saw none at all, that would make my job a lot less frustrating. But we aren’t going to fix the system by boycotting the tip. And I’d like to make an argument against some of the points you made: my grocer doesn’t bag my food, furthermore he or she doesn’t take the bags to my car, or unload the groceries into my fridge, or go fetch the items I forgot to pick up from aisle 20; similarly, the McDonald’s employee doesn’t bring my food to my table, he or she doesn’t refill my drink when it’s low, and I clear my own paper dishes when I’m done. These are not “more or less the same” as serving and your examples just do not sell your point. As a server, I take pride in serving people and it’s important to me that I take care of their needs while they are in my section or even in that of another server. I am friendly, courteous, and polite. I make sure your food gets to your table hot and just the way you ordered it. I refill your drink as many times as you can empty it. I bring you anything you need - before, during, and after your meal. I’ll gladly split the bill 8 ways. And I’ll do all this for 6 or more tables all at the same time. If you come into my section on a busy night and I know from last time that you don’t tip, unfortunately you will come last on my list of things to do. I work hard for my tips and I feel that I deserve them. Perhaps the tipper should take ownership of which servers get tipped based on the service, and not throw us under the bus because he feels the etiquette and reasoning has been lost.
Posted by Chris on Jan 26, 2012
Nicole your job is to serve. I’m not a charity to give handouts because you smiled and asked me how my food out 30 seconds after I received it.Don’t like it? quit, no one is forcing you to work as a waitress.Your McDonald’s reference doesn’t work because they don’t get tipped and the do the same job you do. Also you screw with my food, I screw with your life.
Posted by Billy on Jan 26, 2012
Nick,
First off as a person who does a lot of research. The “article” you used to support your argument was weak. Why? Because you did not include what other researchers have to say about this topic. You only presented us with facts that came from a researcher who could be biased towards his research. Another thing I would like to point out is that the research was done in the US, therefore, the validity of your evidence is non existent since it wasn’t in the Canadian context. Trust me, if you try to argue your way around this with me you would lose.
Personally, I know that if a customer tips, I will give you the best darn service you will ever have ( yes, I am a server). On the other hand, if you fail to tip me then I will remember your face and ignore you the next time you come visit.
Nick, tipping is engrained in the western culture and it’s part of being Canadian. Now as a soon to be Canadian citizen I embrace this cultural practice because I believe in respecting other peoples’ culture. So, by not tipping- what do you think does that say about you?
Posted by Marco on Jan 26, 2012
Nice, tip me or I’ll spit in your food. Based on that article, it sounds like a waiter or waitress can expect about $250 a shift. Even with the tip out they are still making more than me as a junior engineer. Everyone’s job is thankless, suck it up. I don’t get paid more if I do a good job so what make people think they are entitled to a tip. Anyway, I’m not tipping someone more money then I make to walked 30 feet with a plate.
Posted by Trevor on Jan 26, 2012
As a nurse with a degree, I agree that tipping has gotten a little out of control. It disturbs me to know that I can run for 12 hours straight and love and stress over my patients (who are our country’s children) and their critical, life threatening illnesses and come home to find out my husband has made more than me while serving. It disturbs us both to know he will also likely take a pay cut when he finishes school and changes his role from a server to a teacher.
I also know that I do not want the same 16 year old punk from McDonald’s serving me my $200 dinner when I go out on a special occasion and I appreciate that the servers in nicer restaurants work a lot harder to make the “experience” than those at Denny’s who might swing by once and grumpily ask if you want more coffee. Having said that, I do believe in tipping based on service and quality of food, etc.
Posted by Lauren van Dassen on Jan 26, 2012
Some of the best service I ever receive is at Denny’s. Servers at expensive restaurants may make more, but your average server makes far less than a junior engineer
and again I will reiterate…. Go to a city where no one tips and see what kind of service you receive. In these cities there is literally no incentive to give good service. The waitress is paid the same regardless of whether the food comes on time, or after it has gotten cold. She is paid the same whether she gives you a water for free or charges you. The simple fact that tips can be denied for bad service means that in Canada we do get better service. It also means that our bill is cheaper because the servers don’t have to get paid more.
By eliminating tipping we would be agreeing to pay more for worse service. I fail to see how that makes any logical sense.
Posted by Brian on Jan 29, 2012
you say that a server’s job is simply to take your order and bring out your food, and that giving drink refills, figuring out how to split a bill (a simple task done by the computer system, you don’t even do any of the math) isn’t part of their duty. well, that seems pretty simple to do for being paid $9.05 an hour.
if i work in retail, based on your logic, would my only duties to be letting them into the fitting room and ringing them up at the cash register? and if i repeatedly check up on how a customer is doing, bring them different sizes of clothing, etc., should i also be tipped or something? sure, some places earn commission (at a percentage that barely makes a difference - 1%), but most places don’t.
so yes, if you don’t want to be only paid with $9.05 an hour, then simply find a different job, because you should already know what the job condition is like before you signed up for this gig. i’m sure your boss/manager doesn’t think that your “ONLY” duty is to simply take someone’s order and bring them their food.
Posted by guess what. on Jan 31, 2012
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