I was reading this story about a guy who got arrested for failing to leave a gratuity, and it made me think about something I've long held.
Now, as previously noted, I am an awesome tipper. Waitresses take note, you want to handle my table, you really do.
However, Merriam-Webster defines a gratuity as:
Main Entry: gra·tu·ity Pronunciation: gr&-'tü-&-tE, -'tyü- Function: noun Inflected Form(s): plural -ities : something given voluntarily or beyond obligation usually for some service; especially : TIP
Now, by definition, you cannot have a "mandatory gratuity". It's like having a white sheet of black paper. It's just not possible.
The proprietor of the establishment is quoted as saying "They shorted the check and didn't leave any money at all for the waitress. This is not a vendetta. This is just about standing up for my waitresses."
Sorry, no, they didn't. They paid the bill, they just didn't volunteer to pay your waitress extra money. If you feel that your waitress is underpaid, perhaps you could take her off the tips-scale of minimum-wage and put her on the "normal" wage scale.
I don't begrudge a waitress her tip, but I do begrudge people who try and make it "mandatory". If you believe that your wait-staff is so overworked that you need to impose a "mandatory gratuity", then maybe, just maybe, you need to improve the wages for your staff, instead of trying to pass the burden directly onto the customer.
I'd love to come up with a little notepad:
Dear Waitress/Waiter:You would have made $_________ as a tip, but since
your employer has dictated a mandatory gratuity, you are
instead only making the "mandatory" $_________ tip. You
may want to take that up with your boss and try to get him
to pay you the difference since his stupid-ass policy screwed
you out of the difference.
Cheers!
so I could leave that behind. Instead, since I don't have any of those, I just don't deal with "mandatory" gratuities except where I have no choice (e.g., I will pay the mandatory tip to room service people because there's a monopoly and I can't "shop elsewhere" easily).
I've always believed that they should call it a "service charge" if they wish to make it a mandatory part of the terms of service; it's insulting to the diner to confuse what's voluntary and what's not.
Then you'd have people like me asking "what service am I being charged for?" ... when they say "the wait staff", I'd say things like "don't you pay them for that already? never mind, I'll serve myself..."
:)
Yes, of course, but at least at that point it would be intellectually honest: "it's a shakedown".
None of you have ever worked in the food service industry have you?
I have actually, yes, so stick THAT in your pipe and smoke it. :-)
hmm.... reading the article makes me wonder how the tip was presented on the bill. I've seen some bills where gratuity is calculated "for your convience" but not part of the total. However if the gratuity was actually calculated into the total than I can see the owner's argument. Well at least the shorting the bill part. I doubt so much the protecting the waitress bit. A table of six or more should bring a decent tip (as tips go) and I'm willing to bet the resteraunt gets a bit of it.
When included into the total, it really isn't gratuity anymore, but at the same time any other word you come up with to describe it will confuse the average american.
Just a little clarification...
A large group of people (6 or more) is VERY time/effort demanding on a server for several reasons...
A) The size of the group (You try carrying 8-12 drinks on one tray across a busy restaurant, trying not to bounce off/trip over other waitstaff, oblivious customers, small children and high chairs), then do it again for appetizers, another round of drinks, more napkins, dinner, another round of drinks, more tartar sauce, dessert, a round of coffee, etc..
B) The group mentality (The larger the group - the more likely they'll want to 'one up' each other in their rowdiness and demanding attitude toward the server.
C) The devastation they leave in their wake -- It may take a half an hour for someone to clear the table and the surrounding floors and walls of all the plates,silverware,glasses,piles-of-napkins, crayons, and mushed,dropped or thrown food and/or crayons.
Now for dealing with all that, the server will often get STIFFED for a tip.
The reasons they get stiffed often have nothing to do with the service. Usually it has to do with the fact that the individuals in the group are now faced with a huge bill and don't want to make it any bigger. That, and it requires some brain power to look at a bill and figure out what you ate, what you drank, and then calculate how much of the tax and tip are your responsibility. Also, most people don't carry enough smaller denominations of cash to be able to make proper change (All I have is a $20!). So you know they'll short the server, before they'll leave too much.
Servers learn REAL quick that waiting on a group that size is not worth the effort (because of the likeliness of being stiffed) and the reduced time they have to take care of their better tipping tables. They will refuse (though not flat out - they're not that stupid)to wait on a large group ("I'm already swamped", "I had the last big table", etc)
The owner's solution to dealing with the problem is to tack on a 'service charge' (call it the 'too many people have screwed us in the past doing this and now this is the result - deal with it or go to McDonald's' charge, if you want some name other than 'gratuity charge'). Anyways... this is how the owners make sure that customer gets a happy server (who will now 'suggestive sell' their little hearts out in order to up the size of the check. Which makes the owner extra happy, and increases the size of their tip. (The bigger the check + X% for guaranteed tip = more tip for server).
NO ONE will ever wait tables for minimum wage. If that became the case, they'd work at McDonald's where it's a lot less effort/brain power (I've worked both - so I KNOW). Restaurant owners will NEVER agree to pay a steady salary because their sales vary day-to-day, week-to-week, month-to-month. They won't add such a large variable towards their bottom line. It's easier to pass that on to the customer (the other big variable in their bottom line) in the form of 'gratuity'. This is how it's been and how it always will be.
And a little advice. Don't think you're cute or 'making a statement about how the tip-system sucks', when you don't leave a tip. If the service sucked, tell a manager. If the service was good, leave a good tip. These people are there to make a living and/or putting themselves or their children through school so they can work somewhere OTHER than food service.
IF YOU DON'T --- THEY WILL REMEMBER YOU. The least you can expect is to have extra crappy service next time you are there, or worse. See http://www.stainedapron.com for examples.
Tera
/who did food service/waiting tables for 10 years, and as a result now works solely with computers. There's no attitude that can't be fixed with 'CTRL+ALT+DEL'
6 or more people sat at one table aren't any more taxing than waiting on 6 people sat at 3 different tables. Easier in fact as they're all in one spot.
Customers get agravated when the decision of the amount of the tip to give is taken out of their hands.
I don't like being told I have to give a certain amount. I normally calculate 15% and add a few dollars depending on the service. I also prefer to give a tip in person to make sure the person who served me gets the tip. I've served tables in a place where the owner took 10% of the gratuity left on the bill.
My opinion, the guy shouldn't have been arrested.
Lynne, the owner who took 10% of the gratuity should have been arrested since HE does not make the $2 an hour (minimum wage for servers)that you did. THAT right there is theft.
Generally, as a customer only, I've found that the "Manditory Gratutity" effects my level of service.
In one instance, I was paying for a table of eight (two small children, six adults). We had one server who had several other larger tables to work. The bill came and I gave her 25%, to which she was very happy. That made me happy because I knew the level of effort she had put into our table and knew that big groups also don't turn over anywhere near as fast as smaller tables. Obviously, that was a restaurant with no mandatory service included.
Another time our group was about the same size (eight adults this time). One server took our orders, and the food was delivered by a fleet of other servers, none of which knew where the food went. Other than that, our table was ignored to the point where I had to get up and bring several pitchers of water over to our table after repeated (as in four times) requests that someone please refill the glasses. In that case I did complain to the floor manager after I begrudgingly paid the 16% "gratuity/service charge" and stated that I'd had better service at a McDonalds. He shrugged his shoulders and took a phone reservation. Had several people I'd rather not embarrass been with me, I would have yelled out "Don't Do It! Run Away!".
I hate the service charges because inevitiably my service is always less than acceptible, probably because the server knows that no matter what he or she does (including nothing) the "tip" will be the same.