restaurants and cost

[iloveclimbers]

Just wondering if anyone else likes to eat out at the local restaurants but feels bad about not leaving a tip or leaving a one dollar tip on a $40 bill? I know that we are living in tents, but if we can afford to go out and drink and eat we can afford to at least tip no?

[Sunday]

So the servers here have to tip out a percentage of the total bill to cooks, bartenders and dishwashers... so if you don't tip it actually costs the server money to serve you, unless you count the 8 dollars an hour they make.

I'm not a server or a big tipper but a dollar on forty is kinda embarassing.

[scrubber]

Since when did they have to tip-out a percentage of the total bill? They tip out a percentage of what they collect in tips (at places they have an agreement for sharing). If the server doesn't get tipped, the dishwasher doesn't get tipped. You can't force a restaurant patron to tip, so you certainly can't legally force a server to give up a percentage of the bill from their minimum wage salary if they're serving cheapskate climbers like us.

If food cost less here there would certainly be more left for considering a tip. It pains me to think that if I have a beer I can't eat out here for less than $20, unless it's fast food garbage. $7.50 for a pint of stout at the Brew Pub? Seriously?

I usually tip 10-15% unless the service is poor or the server is rude. In which case I have no problem at all with not tipping.

[Paul Greenwood]

Since when did they have to tip-out a percentage of the total bill?

I worked at Ya Ya's in H-Bay for several summers a couple of years ago and they practiced this. It was pretty shitty when people didn't tip since I had to tip out. It ended up being like 3-4 percent of my total sales depending on how many staff were on. The worst was when we got slammed with ferry traffic and were under staffed! so many people wouldn't tip since the service was slow.

my sympathy to anyone still in the restaurant industry...

[scrubber]

Wow. That really sucks. I'm still pretty sure that's not legal.

[jipstyle]

Just wondering if anyone else likes to eat out at the local restaurants but feels bad about not leaving a tip or leaving a one dollar tip on a $40 bill? I know that we are living in tents, but if we can afford to go out and drink and eat we can afford to at least tip no?

A one dollar tip is not someone being cheap. A one dollar tip is someone telling the server that their services was horrible.

When I do this, I leave a penny. It tells the server "yes, I thought about a tip and yes, this is what you deserve."

I have worked as a server, though, and will say that I have left a penny twice. In both cases, the service was shameful.

As far as 'regular' tip goes, I consider it part of the cost of a meal. You look at the menu, decide approximately what you want to eat, add 10% for taxes and another 15% for a tip and if that is too much ... don't eat there.

If it is too expensive, don't cheap out on the server .. take your business elsewhere.

[jipstyle]

Wow. That really sucks. I'm still pretty sure that's not legal.

It was not legal in NS .. don't know about the laws here, though.

I had a boss who decided that he 'deserved' 50% of the tips left in the tip jar. We told him that he could take his greedy paws out of our jar or he could try to rehire his entire cafe staff while talking to a lawyer.

Thank god he didn't call our bluff ...

[scrubber]

As far as 'regular' tip goes, I consider it part of the cost of a meal. You look at the menu, decide approximately what you want to eat, add 10% for taxes and another 15% for a tip and if that is too much ... don't eat there.

If it is too expensive, don't cheap out on the server .. take your business elsewhere.

Well said. I'll take that into consideration in the future.

K