- In the American democracy to be servile is incompatible with citizenship. Every tip given in the United States is a blow at our experiment in democracy. The custom announces to the world…that we do not believe practically that "all men are created equal."
Is anyone else picking up on how rich in irony this 100 year-old quote-within-the-article is? "To be servile is incompatible with citizenship"; so instead they had slaves and second class non-citizens. In the same breath the author states "all men are created equal."
It sounds like "all men are created equal as too good to do the dirty jobs" to me, frankly.
This is partially for you thenewgreen as i know we discussed tipping recently.
It's a discussion worth having but it's a discussion that deserves better than Jezebel. There are a couple problems with it: 1) It's entirely possible for a server to be a gentleman. Let's say i go to Palisade in Seattle, the place I've received the best service of anywhere I've ever been. My server has eight tables and our turnover is about an hour and a half to two hours. I'm there with my girl and we're going to have 2 $25 entrees, a $30 bottle of wine and split a $9 dessert. I'm going cheap and my bill is $89 before tax - with Seattle's hospitality tax it's gonna be around $115. 25% of that is about $28. That means I'm paying that server $14 an hour and I'm one of eight tables (many of which are going to pay lots, lots more). If that server gets three nights a week and four hours at that rate, she's making $1400 a week for fifteen, sixteen hours a week - and I don't begrudge her the money. She's good at what she does. That's why she makes $8 for bringing me a $40 bottle of wine. (or does she) Because of course those tips also pay the busboy. They also pay the maitre'd. They also pay the dishwashers. A server has a lot of mouths to feed - it's part of tipping out and since most service establishments have gone computerized, they've also gone centralized, which has given many restaurants an opportunity to assess fees and charges on tips. I've seen and heard accounts of 25 percent. So there's the other shoe, which Jezebel doesn't touch on (because they can't read, because Gawker sucks, etc etc etc): that $8 you tipped the waitress at Applebee's is actually $1 for the dishwasher, $1.50 for the busboy, $3.50 for the waitress and $2 for Applebee's purely for the benevolence of putting them all in one place to fight for your scraps. Is it illegal? Sure. But what are you going to do about it? Bitch that you're not getting what's yours? It's on their computer. Complain to the IRS? Okay, but this is Applebee's we're talking about and they've got the reserves. Meanwhile, you're an at-will employee and you're not getting a reference when they show you the door. Besides which, there's a long line of liberal arts grads who think that making $8 for serving a bloomin' onion and two budweisers to drunk fratrats isn't a bad living because they don't know it's actually $3.50 and an hour's worth of sexual harassment. Tipping isn't the problem. Tipping as a fundamental function of compensation isn't even a problem. It's tipping as an unregulated, unaudited aspect of an industry designed to prey on the vulnerable that's the problem. And that's why fuck Jezebel.
I'm against tipping as a culture, but I always tip, and I don't discourage anyone else. The problem is business owners proliferating the culture, not the workers being tipped. Helping deny workers their living wage is absurd. It doesn't solve anything.
I exhorbatantly tip. Why? Because I waited tables for years and know what sort of impact it has. These days I tip more than ever because I know that when my family walks in the sever thinks "great two kids." -they take up two spots, add almost nothing to the bill, spill things, make messes and can at times be noisy. -great. Add to that the fact that my wife is a vegetarian and will often order an appetizer or salad as her entree and we definitely become that table. Therefore, I enjoy defying their prejudice with my ordering (hence the extra 10lb's of late) and by my tipping. Waiting tables is tough work. As is bar tending.
Yeah, I worked fast food for a summer, but moreover, I grew up on the poverty line. It's hard to form a high opinion of the economic system when you're 14 and your mother has to choose between buying food or paying the electric bill. Some of the hardest-working people I've met make blue-collar wages. I tip well because I make more than them, and they work just as hard, and I find that logically incongruous and morally repugnant. I appreciate the opportunity to reduce the inequality the tiniest bit. That's probably also a large part of why I'm inclined toward social liberalism.Waiting tables is tough work
You should splurge on the wine. It takes no more extra effort to pour a $60 bottle of wine than a $30 bottle of wine but the gratuity is higher. Also, I've noticed that the markup on the greater bottles tends to be lower than the markup on the lesser, but I might be imagining that. I can only hold so many wines in my head.
You should splurge on the wine.
Preaching to the choir pal. I don't skimp on the booze. Also, I've noticed that the markup on the greater bottles tends to be lower than the markup on the lesser
The restaurant I managed back in the day was X2+$10 for bottles under $50 and just X2 otherwise.
I'm extremely anti-tipping, but we live in a culture where tipping exists, so we should tip well. However, we should all be working towards pushing legislation that requires the service industry to pay people a liveable wage so tipping isn't necessary.
If I got payed minimum wage I'd take a $10-20 an hour pay cut. This would be a highly desirable outcome for owners of capital and a terrible outcome for workers. My bet is we will see tipping eliminated before we see the minimum wage become a living wage. All you folks who hate tipping can feel great that you won't be trouble over the expectation that you are under a fuzzy sorta obligation to leave a small portion of your meal expense to the person who got it there. Meanwhile the people who work hard to put food in your guts and booze in your veins will no longer be able to do things like maybe buy a house or support a few kids in something other than poverty. I understand that you are for a living wage but the owners of capital call the shot in this society and it rarely works out in favor of the worker.
I have no problem leaving the cash, the problem is forcing service industry employees to have to rely on that to survive and making them slaves to the system. I know because I worked in the system for years and just tried to get back into it, and hated myself for it as well. I would never advocate making those jobs minimum wage, they're clearly 16-20 dollar an hour jobs. Hell, I'd even still leave tips after people are paid well because those employees deserve extra, and I'd feel better about it too because I'd know that if there's a slow day, or week, or month, or year, that employee isn't going to be royally fucked, and my 20% extra doesn't have to be budgeted just so his family can eat. I'm not anti-tipping, I'm anti-tipping reliance.
If I remember right you're a bartender? It's difficult to lump that in with waiting tables, because in my somewhat kneejerk opinion one is skilled labor and one isn't. Under a non-tipping system, I think most places would pay bartenders more than minimum wage. A good, fast, competent bartender keeps people coming back to the same bar or restaurant over a long period of time. Add that to the fact that even if we somehow adopted a non-tipping culture overnight, there are some jobs that I bet would still get "tipped" a bit as a thank you/plea for preferential treatment. (Witness the fact that some people "tip" bartenders in advance at crowded high-end bars ... before they've received any service. To me that kinda undercuts the argument that tipping's vital function is to serve as a carrot on a stick.) I've worked food service but not as a waiter. Seems like all my friends are waiters or bartenders or combination, though. They make good $/hr but don't like their jobs much and have to fight hard to keep their hrs/week at a fiscally stable level. shrug
A good waiter is a highly skilled professional, they are an essential part of any outstanding dining experience. I put a wonderful meal way above a fancy cocktail. I don't really give a damn about adding a complex cocktail to a dining experience, I might have a Side Car or a bourbon at the outset of a big feasts and maybe a nice port to finish but I prefer a crisp clean lager with my food. I size up my waiter first thing, tell them what I've got my eye on and ask them what they suggest. If I like the cut of their jib I pretty much just sort out the few things the suggest that I try. I find that most the great meals I've had were when I've put myself at the wait staff and kitchens mercy. This shit doesn't happen at a TGI Fridays, but the roll of a waiter is different at that kind of joint. A top waiter isn't fighting for shifts, they've generally worked the same schedual with a few changes for years if not decades. This is somewhat outside the scope of your comment but holy hell i love a great professional waiter. Lots of in between in the profession but I've known some waiters who make me come back to the same mom and poo diner week after week. As bartenders go, the quality I admire most in one is efficiency. I mostly drink burbon and a back, I want a bartender who remembers what I order has it in front of me at the top speed. I expect that a bartender should be proficient in all the traditional cocktails and not much more. There are a few places I'll go for exotic drinks but in general most bars would benefit from getting the basics done fast and strong. Every bartender should have a selection of stupid shots cause when I'm on a tear I like it stupid.
I love my bartenders that give me my drink before I even ask - but sometimes I mix it up a bit (usually at brunch) - however they've mostly caught on. If I'm there in the evening I want a double-rum-and-diet (if they are especially attentive they'll remember I sometimes ask for two limes) - maybe I mix it up with a shot - and keep 'em comin. Brunch is different it can be hard to swallow soda that early in the morning. Good waiters do constitute skilled "professionals" or whatever you want to call it. It won't be your waiters at Friendly's though.