April 11, 2008
The website tipping.org is a place for angry people who work in the food service industry to throw tantrums and whine about how little they are getting paid.
It isn't so true anymore, but people who go to college and get master's degrees and PhDs should probably make more money than people who dropped out of high school. Otherwise, why would people suffer so much to get through medical school? They deserve to be rewarded. Maybe doctors should be the ones receiving tips. Not people who put soup in a styrofoam bowl and hand it over the counter to a customer. I'm pretty sure that being well and/or alive is more important than being fed.
What I don't understand is tipping for take out. I think a restaurant should (a) charge an extra fee for the disposable food containers and utensils and (b) raise their menu prices if the people who work there aren't getting paid enough. I tip the person who cuts my hair, and they even went to school and learned a skill, whereas putting some plastic forks in a paper bag doesn't require any training.
So if I should tip the person 20% who gives me the pizza I ordered over the phone when I pick it up, then there would be no point in ordering take-out instead of delivery. And if I ordered delivery, I would tip the delivery driver instead of the person who assembled the order. Would the assembly person be angry about this?
Why would the person who gave me a burger and fries at McDonalds (hypothetically. I don't eat there.) not deserve a tip if the person who brought me a pizza inside a box deserves a tip?
Maybe we should start tipping retail cashiers since they put the clothes I buy in a bag.
Also the people who take my credit card statement and check out of the envelope to process the payment since they had to do some work.
And the people I buy stuff from on Ebay because they went to the trouble to put the thing I bought in a box and affix postage to it.
Also the guy who puts the drinks in the Coke machine at work becuase that is super, super hard work.
Oh! I did not mean to forget the person at church who gives me the program for the day's service. They should get at least $5 each time they do that.
There has to be a point where people draw the line at tipping, and people who think they should be tipped who don't deserve it are akin to beggars.
If I tipped the people who greatly enhanced my life, then I would be leaving large sums of cash for doctors, physical therapists, and massage therapists (who I do tip generously). And also car mechanics, but since they can't be honest, they wouldn't get much anyway. And plumbers and electricians, since life would stink without those luxuries.
Posted by megabeth at April 11, 2008 08:36 AM
I worked behind the counter for a while when I was in high school. I was tipped twice that I can recall, maybe a third time in the bakery. It was always a surprise, and it was never very much, but the person giving the tip was doing so because s/he thought I was going above and beyond the duties of a pretty simple and menial job. So that's what I keep in mind when I tip - extra-ordinary service. And I have tipped the pizza guy at the counter, but he had my pies ready twenty minutes early. And the guy who put together a meal for five starting one minute before closing. They both earned it.
Anyone who feels entitled to tips, probably won't earn much. I recognize that most waiters and waitresses agree to a lower wage and expect to earn tips, but you have to earn it from every table and customer. It's a rank job, a lot of the time, but no one who signs up for it should be surprised by that.
Did just casual reading bring this on? Granted, teleburst was a real snot, but still, quite a run.
CS
Posted by: Captain Sunshine at April 11, 2008 10:40 PM
At most at a takeout place I might go for the change from the purchase and I don't mean the bills. If it is really superior service, then I would go for $1 and the change. But for regular average everyday service at a take-out place? You have to be kidding!
Posted by: Outlaw3 at April 15, 2008 06:22 PM
I Think I might be willing to tip at McD's if they would once get our order right. It is sad if anyone running a cash register and handing out trays expects a tip.
I did learn to tip servers (key word SERVE) when I had to wait tables for several months after a lay off and was working as many hours as they would schedule trying to scrape up $1000 per month to stay afloat. It is very depressing when someone walks out on tip when you were really trying hard and getting paid $2 per hour to cover the taxes on the assumed tip whether they left it or not. The truly cruel customers were much worse than the inconsiderate ones though.
Posted by: A at April 16, 2008 02:59 PM
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