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Old November 9th, 2007, 09:09 AM posted to rec.travel.air
Dennis P. Harris
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Posts: 175
Default Tipping in USA/Canada

On Thu, 08 Nov 2007 19:21:54 -0700 in rec.travel.air, DevilsPGD
wrote:

But in many establishments the tips all get pooled and split up
among the help, including the buspersons. This defeats the whole
purpose of tipping proportionate to the service received, and in
hope that the waiter will at least see the tip I tend to leave a
cash tip even if I pay with a credit card. Unfortunately, in many
restaurants the busperson sweeps up the tip while clearing the
table.


Even so, that means the poor service person is benefiting from the tips
of the good service people. Peer pressure will work wonders, if you let
it.


i have waited tables where i kept the entire tip; where i split
a proportion with the bartender when they ordered drinks; with
the sommelier when i upsold extra wine; with the maitre d' (or i
would not have had good customers coming to my tables, and i
would be assigned the worst tables in the place); and most
recently, where the tips were pooled.

i can assure you that when the tips are pooled, poorly performing
waitpersons, bussers, and bartenders don't work there very long,
because the owner won't want productive waitstaff to all take a
walk at once. on a good crew, with a good chef, good boss, and
good staff who all work together to make customers feel happy and
spend more money, no one has a qualm about splitting tips.

and waiting tables, as the european headwaiter who trained me
said, is a performance. a good waitperson puts on a show, and
makes the customer feel special so she/he *wants* to spend money
and tip well.

i would suggest to the OP that if they don't want to tip, that
they stick to mall food courts, fast food restaurants, and
takeout delis or supermarkets. it's an unfortunate fact of life
that the american restaurant industry has refused to pay their
employees a living wage and expects them to live off tips, to the
point that it's actually the law and they will be taxed on tips
that the govt expects them to receive even if they don't.

europe used to be that way, too. they were civilized enough to
add the charge for service on the bill, even though it was
optional when i first went to europe in the 70s. now it is
included in the bill everywhere, although it is still sometimes
put on the bill as a separate charge.

also, there will be a mandatory "gratuity charge" for groups in
most restaurants. this has been done because there are still too
many cheapskates who think that when they're in large groups
their failure to tip won't be noticed. if restaurants didn't do
this, their staff would refuse to serve large groups.