kenberg Posted May 15, 2009 Report Share Posted May 15, 2009 The other day I stopped at TacoBell to get a Burrito Supreme. Never mind the diet advice, I already know. One person rings the order up, takes my twenty, gives me change, places the order, it's filled by someone else. The cashier has a tip jar. Hmm!! Unless a waitress dumps the food in my lap she gets her tip. I tip the guy who cuts my hair, something I never did in 1950. They wash my hair before they cut it (totally unheard of in 1950). I tip the gal who does this. Maid service in a hotel gets a tip. Etc. I do not think of myself as cheap, but this seems to be getting out of hand. I should tip someone who takes my order and gives me change? What's next? I go to the supermarket and the guy who wraps my trout has a tip jar set out? Are we moving to something along the lines of: I am working, I don't get paid much, would you mind giving me some more? I will now return to thinking about the meaning of time, the horrors of war, and the end of the world. Actually there are also a couple of hands I want to ask about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hanp Posted May 15, 2009 Report Share Posted May 15, 2009 Are honest minimum wages unconstitutional? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonottawa Posted May 15, 2009 Report Share Posted May 15, 2009 I agree about tips. Speaking of other truly unimportant stuff ... anybody watching Farrah's Story? (Or am I being too harsh?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdonn Posted May 15, 2009 Report Share Posted May 15, 2009 This is easy. Jar = optional. I just think of it as a convenient place to dump the loose change they give me back that I don't want to carry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenberg Posted May 15, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 15, 2009 Are honest minimum wages unconstitutional? A decent minimum wage is my preferred solution. I don't stiff waitresses because it's part of the accepted social contract that this is how they make their wages. Maybe not the best approach, but it's a settled way. But I would not like to see this spread so that everyone depends on my, and other's, generosity to give them a decent paycheck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenberg Posted May 15, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 15, 2009 I agree about tips. Speaking of other truly unimportant stuff ... anybody watching Farrah's Story? (Or am I being too harsh?) At the risk of sounding out of it, who is Farrah? Permission granted for thread hijacking :) I think it was Y66 who started a thread a while back for useless posts. I thought it had merit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonottawa Posted May 15, 2009 Report Share Posted May 15, 2009 http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090514/ap_en_..._farrah_fawcett Sorry 'bout the hijacking. Didn't think it deserved its own thread but was curious how others felt about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenberg Posted May 15, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 15, 2009 http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090514/ap_en_..._farrah_fawcett Sorry 'bout the hijacking. Didn't think it deserved its own thread but was curious how others felt about it. I was wondering if it was that Farrah. How many are there, I suppose. I never watched Charlie's Angels, not more than once anyway, although my wife did. FF's career went along a path that did not get me watching at all. Now as to her illness, I didn't know of it. My mother, a smoker, died of cancer. Long ago, but I am not really up for watching tv about someone I don't know struggling with it. She certainly has my sympathy. I meant it about the permission granted. If this evolves into a thread for posts not deserving a home of their own, that's fine by me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Posted May 15, 2009 Report Share Posted May 15, 2009 This goes under the same file as the "tip" line when I buy food to-go. A tip jar is optional. You see it, it sees you. You ignore it, but I sometimes throw my change in it. Sort of like throwing change in the guitar case of the guy playing on the sidewalk. The "tip" line has to be consciously ignored. You get the honor of writing in $0.00 and totalling it below. Complete hassle. There's a really good hole-in-the-wall Mexican place between Palm Springs and OC that I always hit when I drive home on Thursdays or Fridays. No indoor seating and about four metal tables outdoors. It's the most kickass Mexican food I've had in So Cal. The window gal knows me, and she's probably the owner. She ALWAYS gets a tip. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winstonm Posted May 16, 2009 Report Share Posted May 16, 2009 The simple solution is to take your own tip jar with you - when you are seated in the diner, plunk down a tip jar of your very own and then match whatever comes in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barmar Posted May 16, 2009 Report Share Posted May 16, 2009 I don't go into fast food chains very often these days, I've never seen a tip jar at any them. I assume that the tip jar in the Taco Bell is not just for the order taker, it's split among all the minimum-wage staff in the joint. We have a local chain around here, Anna's Taqueria, that makes some of the best burritos as well. I stop there every Tuesday night on my way home from the bridge club, they make the burritos practically instantly (when there's no line I can be in and out in 2 minutes). They have a tip jar, I always throw the change in it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
h2osmom Posted May 17, 2009 Report Share Posted May 17, 2009 There is one thing I think is inherently more fair about tipping as substantial part of wages, and that is that people get paid according to how well they do their job. In far too many jobs, pay is based on length of service, level of education, and it's nearly impossible to fire someone who really isn't adequate; rather, they get a raise each year. In tipping, the customer pays, and often gives a different amount according to the service. Over time, I am pretty sure that better servers make more money than lesser ones. (This doesn't apply to tip jars; just to actual tips given directly to the server.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chas_P Posted May 17, 2009 Report Share Posted May 17, 2009 Years ago I read that the origin of tip as used in this context was as an abbreviation for "to insure promptness". I can't verify it, but it makes sense to me. If someone gives me service above what I expect I'm happy to leave them a substantial tip. On the other hand, I detest getting a bill with 15% added just because 3-4 couples eating at the same table asks for separate checks. I'll pay it, but there won't be 1 cent extra. The nicest tip I ever heard of occurred in 1993. Every year during The Masters in Augusta, GA a number of homeowners will vacate their homes and rent them to players in the tournament. The couple who rented their home to Bernhard Langer in 1993 did a little extra. They came by several times during the week to make sure everything was satisfactory, brought fresh flowers, etc. When they returned home after the tournament's conclusion they found their tip....the set of clubs with which Langer had just won The Masters. I think that was a class act. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenberg Posted May 17, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 17, 2009 I agree, that is a fine "tip", really a gift of appreciation. Of course these things mostly happen at the upper levels. I tip waitresses fully, and virtually always, because for better or for worse that is the way society has set things up. She would be drastically underpaid if everyone stopped tipping. Fairly often they get a little more than the minimum. In severe cases I might not tip, but mostly I would still tip, probably the problems are not her fault, and just not go back. Recently I and several other people had a number of things to discuss and we met for dinner. We had the table for a considerable time. She gets an extra tip. Not because anything needed doing but because we are occupying her source of income. This is ok, or more or less ok. It's the way we do things here and as the thread title notes, it's unimportant. But I sort of regret seeing the expansion of this to so many other areas. I would like to see people paid adequately. Somehow I get the feeling that the employer is tossing this task on to me. "I don't feel the need to pay the cashier and the burrito maker much but maybe you can contribute". Well, yes, I can. So far, I don't. She needs to pay her bills. I need to feel I can buy a burrito without thinking through what a proper tip should be. My guess is that she doesn't get much this way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zman102 Posted May 17, 2009 Report Share Posted May 17, 2009 In Arizona waiters and waitresses make less than $3.00/hour. So I always tip them (15-20%) unless they are rude, mean or arrogrant Then I don't tip. I don't tip in the taco bell. In casinos I tip the drink person a dollar (so maybe they will find me again). I sometimes tip the cashier. But I don't know how much to tip if I win a nice jackpot that requires a hand pay. Once I was just wandering around and put 3 nickels into a machine and won the progressive ($8,874). Didn't even sit down. I didn't tip when they paid me (a stack of $100 bills) as I was in a state of shock. But I am not sure what a reasonable tip would be for a hand pay when you win a jackpot of some kind. Usually when I win a royal flush on a 0.25 cent viedo poker machine I tip each person paying me (and there are usually 2 at least) $10.00. Last week I won $2,060 playing mega bucks. Most times when I go to the casino I put $21.00 (7 pulls) into mega bucks in case lightning strikes. I hit one red and white 7 with 2 other symbols that multiplied by 9 the amount that 3 of the sevens would have paid. I didn't have my social security card with me and they went to extra trouble to fill out more government forms so they could pay me. When they paid me they gave me 20 $100 bills and 3 twentys. There were three of them, so I gave each of them a twenty. I could tell by the looks on their faces that I had given them too much (or was it too little). So i have no idea how much to tip when gambling. Maybe someone can give me a clue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenberg Posted May 18, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 18, 2009 I can see that it is best that I stay out of Vegas. I would have had no idea I was supposed to tip at all and the three guys would probably have hammered my kneecaps. And I thought the thread was unimportant! I'll be interested in learning the answer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onoway Posted May 18, 2009 Report Share Posted May 18, 2009 One thing which started in Edmonton a couple of years ago ( so don't know if this is elsewhere or not) was that the MANAGEMENT was taking a portion of all tips that came in. Friends who used to be regulars at one place were told by their usual waitress she was leaving and why; since then I have heard of several others. I don't go to those places any more..how would other people deal with this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PassedOut Posted May 18, 2009 Report Share Posted May 18, 2009 One thing which started in Edmonton a couple of years ago ( so don't know if this is elsewhere or not) was that the MANAGEMENT was taking a portion of all tips that came in. Friends who used to be regulars at one place were told by their usual waitress she was leaving and why; since then I have heard of several others. I don't go to those places any more..how would other people deal with this? Could it be that the management is withholding a percentage for income taxes? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al_U_Card Posted May 18, 2009 Report Share Posted May 18, 2009 I always try to leave a decent tip and since here in Quebec they "tax" the meals twice AND they calculate at 8% what a waiter will receive on average, (and if the tip is written on the receipt they tax the entire amount) I always leave the tip in cash even when I pay by plastic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackshoe Posted May 18, 2009 Report Share Posted May 18, 2009 One thing which started in Edmonton a couple of years ago ( so don't know if this is elsewhere or not) was that the MANAGEMENT was taking a portion of all tips that came in. Friends who used to be regulars at one place were told by their usual waitress she was leaving and why; since then I have heard of several others. I don't go to those places any more..how would other people deal with this? Could it be that the management is withholding a percentage for income taxes? It could be. If it were, I would expect management to have said so. I think the best way to deal with an establishment that takes tip money from employees without explanation is to not patronize that establishment - and to tell the management why I'm not. It is, of course, entirely possible that the government has somehow put the employer on the hook for the employee's proper adherence to the tax laws. If that's the case, it's probably time to leave the country. :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hanp Posted May 18, 2009 Report Share Posted May 18, 2009 The Danish idea that tipping is tax evasion makes perfect sense to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdonn Posted May 18, 2009 Report Share Posted May 18, 2009 Zman you are a hell of a slot player. Anyway I don't know why everyone is so against the idea of tipping. The cocktail waitress in a casino seems like a perfect situation for me, in the sense that you may be served repeatedly in one outing by the same person so any tipping situation impacts service in the near future. Why shouldn't people get better service if they are willing to pay for it? And why shouldn't a server who offers better service get paid for that? Of course there are situations that are dumb too. I hate when they don't tell you at a restaurant that the tip has been included, I tend to leave extra on top if they tell me. There are also some buffets where when you pay at the beginning there is a line on the bill where you can leave a tip, but I feel there is some pressure to leave some on the table for people who refill your drinks and take your plates away as well. And let's not even talk about dealers at the Wynn... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdonn Posted May 18, 2009 Report Share Posted May 18, 2009 The nicest tip I ever heard of occurred in 1993. Every year during The Masters in Augusta, GA a number of homeowners will vacate their homes and rent them to players in the tournament. The couple who rented their home to Bernhard Langer in 1993 did a little extra. They came by several times during the week to make sure everything was satisfactory, brought fresh flowers, etc. When they returned home after the tournament's conclusion they found their tip....the set of clubs with which Langer had just won The Masters. I think that was a class act. Ever heard of Kerry Packer? "He regularly tipped Bellagio dealers $1 million. All 700 dealers would get a cut," recalled Bobby Baldwin, on the telephone from his office as Mirage Resorts president and chief executive officer. And Packer's monster tip to an MGM Grand cocktail server? Also true, Baldwin said. "He liked the service the girl was providing. He asked her if she had a mortgage. She said yes, and he said, 'Bring it in tomorrow and I'll pay it off for you.' It was for $150,000." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chas_P Posted May 18, 2009 Report Share Posted May 18, 2009 Ever heard of Kerry Packer? I didn't say it was the biggest....just that it was nice and classy. I guess paying off a cocktail server's mortgage is pretty classy too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonottawa Posted May 18, 2009 Report Share Posted May 18, 2009 I guess Anna Nicole Smith's hubby was 'classy' too. I find mega-tips creepy/goofy. You want to be classy, make a charitable donation or whatever. 'Nicest I heard of' deserves 'Ever heard of ... nicer' Touchy, touchy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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