On The Subject Of Tipping

[sepultallica]

what are your thoughts on. i'm working on a paper that outlines my thoughts on it. my thought is this:

 

i go to a restaurant and order a meal. i expect to pay for the food but when i recieve the check, i notice an additional charge that is not something that i had agreed to pay. normally this charge is added to account for the tip one would normally leave. why am i being charge this fee? i come to a restaurant to pay for the food and not for the company of a waiter or waitress. traditionally in the US a tip is left for waiters when they provide good service to the customer and attend to their needs. if this is the case, then why am i not tipping my mechanic when he fixes my car. he is performing a critical function for me and sometimes i don't even get a chance to offer my thanks. surely, waiting on tables is not that critical a function. so why have we accoustom ourselves to leaving monetary gratuities. ok so some employers decide that since people leave tips, waiters can live off of that and they (employers) can leagally pay a lower wage. ok, so the IRS adds an additional tax to waiters, i think it's called a waiter's tax. assuming that all of that is true, why should the customer be forced to pay additional fees for a product that could easily be aquired through other means? why should i have to pay for an employee's wages? shouldn't that be the employer's responsibility? how great is that for the employer? have someone else pay for his employee's wages. now don't get me wrong. i'm a generous person. i always leave a good tip. i just don't feel that i should be required to do so. ok, they say it's optional. in fact many places don't put that charge on the check. ok fine. but what happens the next time around when you come in to the restaurant and expect service? the waiters don't remember someone that tips. they remember the ones that don't. i'm going to get a terrible meal, my food is going to get spit on, and i'm going to get terrible service. there is something wrong with this system. someone should stand up against this. start a revolution. this is the kind of stuff nations go to war over.

[Dave]

I never saw the point in tipping in the first place to be honest. I believe the charge they give you is the 'service charge', which annoys the hell out of me to be quite honest. It's just another way of getting more money out of you.

[fafalone]

I tip unless I receive horrible service. If tipping bothers you, then you SHOULD get the food easily through other means as you said. You're tipping them for bringing you your food and drinks, and making sure you don't need anything else

[sepultallica]

fafalone said in post #3 :

I tip unless I receive horrible service. If tipping bothers you, then you SHOULD get the food easily through other means as you said. You're tipping them for bringing you your food and drinks, and making sure you don't need anything else

 

same here, unless i recieve horrible service. and i'm usually pretty eager to tip. but the whole concept of doing that is what bothers me.

[Dave]

I'll tip any day of the week, but again I don't really like the idea that you're forced into it. I don't mind paying a little more for good service - but if someone's going to force it on me, I don't want to have anything to do with it.

[blike]

I hate it when resteraunts automatically charge you 15% tip, because it gives little incentive for the waiter/waitress to serve you better. Theres a few resteraunts in town that inclue the 15% on the bill, then expect you to tip extra. Now THATS rediculous.

[sepultallica]

you know what really ticks me off about the whole thing? the poor little hispanic guy that comes out and cleans the table, sets the table, washes dishes, cooks the food. if anyone, they should be the ones getting the tip. they are the ones earning the money.