How do you tip?

Originally Posted by RAZGRIZ-1

This also reminds me... One time Frank and I were at a local restaurant that brews their own beer and we ordered a beer. Keep in mind, I'm there twice a week either to write my lesson plans or to work on some design.

I'm also known for being a damn generous tipper and I know every single server that works there so whenever I show up with anyone they only thing they wanna know is what my company is having for dinner because they already know what I want, "Liter of IPA, right? What's everyone else having?" Some new kid that had actually started working there and even though he'd already taken our drink order, he decided to card Frank. Frank didn't have his wallet on him because I was buying. This little prick wouldn't serve him a beer!

Needless to say, I didn't leave a single tip but Frankie, ever the sucker for being a kind soul, pulled him aside before we left and gave him a $5 tip for having brought me my liter of beer. I was still kind of pissed that this little shit wouldn't serve him so I just told Frank in mid-transaction, "What the fuck are you doing? I could've bought another pint with that." I left a penny on the table as well.

I'll tell you what though, they've never refused service to anyone who walks in with me after that and that boy never worked the floor again.

In all my years of working behind bars, nothing is more likely to make me ID an entire group of people than them swanning in like they own the place and saying "Why are you IDing me, I come here all the time". If you go there all the time, you should have learned to take some fucking ID with you.

I delight in turning kids away though. Bar staff don't get tipped over here (We just get proper wages), you just get bought drinks but it's rare for kids to buy you one so chucking them out is always entertaining, especially when you know for a fact that they're over 18 but haven't got ID on them.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Shorty

I knew for sure 15% on 6 appetizers wasn't satisfactory when our server was going back and forth for 11 people at the table, so I left a $40 tip for my $8 cup of chili.

Er, what? One would hope that the restaurant employed enough staff so that everyone eating can get their food in a reasonable amount of food when the place is full. Serving a bunch of people at once isn't some act of heroics, it's what he's paid to do. I think tipping extra because a place is busy is pretty retarded really, it's like you're assuming that the normal state for a restaurant is half empty, in which case, if the waiters aren't busy then the owner is employing too many people.

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by The_Melomane

13. Just think about it like this. Your tip left on the table is how I pay my bills. I am making minimum (most of time $2 0r $3 dollars an hour.) So no, I don't get a paycheck. After taxes and claiming tips I'm lucky if I even see one. Remember that next time you decide to be cheap.

14. Don't assume that my job is easier then yours and I am some simpleton who can't get a better job.

Yeah, of course. If you can so easily go get another job then why not go and fucking get one rather than writing out a long list of bullshit demands and ansty complaints? I mean, if being a waiter is so fucking hard and the pay is so shit then get another job, it ain't rocket science.

From that list, Americans must be proper fucking rude when they eat out to illicit that kind of response.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

As I understand it there's some exemption for waiters that says that their average wage, including tips has to be minimum wage, hence everyone's expected to pay twice what the meal costs to make up the wage deficiency. Works out geat for the rest of the world when Yanks are on holiday though because they still leave monstrous tips, even though waiters here get the same minimum wage as everyone else.

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Originally Posted by Rychord

Well, I don't know about all the provinces (I know for sure it's not the case in New Brunswick), but in Quebec servers are taxed on their tips and so if people don't tip they can end up making less than minimum wage.

Which would be true if minimum wages weren't described in terms of pre-tax earnings. If your gross wage, before any tax or other deductions is more than the published hourly minimum wage (Which it will be, otherwise you'd take your employer to court and win) then you're earning above minimum wage. Also, the beauty of any system where tax is expressed as a percentage of income is that there is no possible way you can take home less by earning more.

What you meant to say is that as waiters get taxed on their tips (As they do in the UK), then if you don't give them a big tip they barely earn more than minimum wage. The problem therefore lies with their ability to get a job paying more than minimum wage.

Someone said on an earlier page that if you were too cheap to tip then most restaurants will prepare your food to take away instead. I can't think of anywhere that I'd describe as a restaurant rather than a fast-food joint that'd prepare you food to go. I guess I have a different idea as to what constitutes a restaurant than some of you guys.

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by DarkMageOzzie

So you consider Big Boy, Bennigans, IHOP, Red Robbin, Chinese Restaurants(Not just the carry out ones), and Coney Islands fast food?

Just because you've never tried to order a carry out meal at a restaurant doesn't mean it's not available. Just about any restaurant that has boxes to put your left overs in will let you order your meal to go. You just obviously wait longer then you would at a fast food place.

Alright, fair enough Chinese and Indian places often offer a takeaway service but from Googling those other places, they're not the sort of places I'd tell people I was going to a restaurant if I was going there, no. They're diners if anything, glorified cafes. When I talk about going to a restaurant I mean places like these, all of which with the possible exception of Lazzatis if you asked really, really nicely would laugh at you if you asked for takeaway food (Those are the last four restaurants I went to, in case you were wondering). I guess it's a cultural and language thing but I generally think of something a little more high-brow when I'm talking about restaurants rather than a burger joint or chain pizza shop.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by DarkMageOzzie

See we basicly have a different idea of what is considered a "restaurant" because we don't really have many fancy places like that around here.

Seems that way, yes.

I just find it hard to imagine walking into a restaurant that wasn't a take-away place and asking for food to go, it's just not something you'd do in my experience.

And call me a snob but asking for a bag to take away the leftovers at the end of a meal is really chavvy.

Additional Spam:

Originally Posted by Peter

It's a matter of definitions for restaurants. In the US, nearly every place that serves food qualifies as a restaurant, be it a chain of diners or a fancy place like one Ramsay's places. In Europe, the definition for restaurant isn't nearly as broad. A restaurant here implies a place where you can enjoy an entire evening, where you can sit for hours after finishing your meal, where the focus is on enjoying the food and company, instead of on filling up, and serving as many customers as possible, as is the case in most diners (from my experience). We don't really have diners like in the US, let alone whole chains like the Olive Garden, but just small, independent places where you can get a quick meal (brasserie), but where you can still sit at ease.

On the discussion of closing hours, most restaurants here only have a closing hour for the kitchen (10 PM for most places), so people can sit and enjoy the rest of their meal, but they can't come in at 10:15 and expect to be served. I think that this is the best method to deal with closing hours, this way the kitchen can clean up, whereas the waiters will still be busy serving the guests drinks and whatnot, all while cleaning up without causing any disturbance.

What he said, except obviously our draconian licencing laws means places only stay open about an hour or so after food service ends.

FELIPE NO