You say you leave nothing when the service is not
to your satisfaction, but I am sure you are not
saying the truth. I am certain that you do leave,
after a while, and that you don't stay there
forever just because the service sucked.

That is not true. We bring them food that they like. They just stand at home in the barn or stall all day long, eat, shoot the crap, and ruminate.

We do all the work for them.

It's about fair that we take a little milk from them every day for what we do for them. they don't have use for that milk anyway.

I tip minimum thirty percent on the dollar of food and drinks.

I do that because I want the waiting staff to like me, and they ususally do. I get first choice seats, I get the best cooked meals, I get the best service, everybody calls me "Honey" and they dust my shoulders when I leave with a little broom-looking brush.

I do that also because I can afford to. I don't have a car, a woman, kids, a house, a job, I don't smoke and don't drink. I give to charities all the money I have once every year, after I cover my expenses.

Tipping is a charity, and I tip well because these girls (in my town only women stoop so lo as to wait on tables) work like horses. They run up-and-down the entire stretch of the restaurant, all day. True, they make good money, but they deserve it. They make about four times a month of what I make, but they work for it, dammit. I get tired just looking at them. Sometimes I get dizzy, when a waitress goes around my table too fast. They corner well, and they are good at handling and carrying.

I especially leave a large tip when I get lousy service. Then when they collect the money, and ask with a big smile, how was the experience, I usually answer with a big smile, esp. in Chinese restaurants, and explain precisely what was wrong with the meal or the service. A big smile all the way though the explanation.

Then the chinese waitress does not know what to do: smile? be angry? Be sad? Be contrite?

Mostly they do the Chinese thing that they always do when they are in a fix: they pretend they don't know how to speak in English, and mutter incomprehensibly, with a red face.

And I think when I leave a fifty percent tip on those occasions, I better than get my money's worth.

it's not always about money, you OP... In china, yes, we know that, but this is Canada and America. We have a sense of humour here, and a sense of the right kind of pride.

I get all that and they smack me on the a$$ on my way out.

I used to go to a chinese restaurant in Toronto. I don't know what the setup was. But all the workers left the place angrily. In a few months, all quit. There was no problem, there were always new ones to fill their places.

I think what happened was that the owner-manager told the new hires, something to the effect that tips are shared, and he showed them a schedule, that everyone puts their tip in this box, and at the end of the day they divide it up.

Of course he had at least half of all tips, and the cooks got some, too, but they did not, he pocketed that too.

Most waiters and waitresses went home with twenty bucks earned in a day. They were told, that the longer they say, their shares will increase.

Then they left angrily, eventually, when they realized that the chinese owner was a scumbag.

They were all chinese, but they served minto boxes and other japanese food.

Everybody always sides with the cute one.

The cute also get infinitely more smacks than the fatazz boitchess (male or female) like me.

Ontario is as near put a communist regime as you can get in these days.

There is: Free medicare, free dental for the welfare people, free money, free food, free sex (but you get what you pay for, in this case), free movies, free dvds, free masturbation (it's in the human rigths code of Canada, when Canada learned what goes on in very devout Islamic countries), and all the free air you can suck up in your lungs and take home with you.

Yes, I also agree, that Mandy has a good point, as long as her audience comprises only delusional lunatics and post-op lobotomy victims.

Yell, o Rosie!!

I wonder how you survived. You got fifteen percent tip, on the average, and you gave 100% to the customers.

That left you a deficit of 85% per meal. You lost 85% of the price of every meal you served.

And still, you smiled.

Maybe you smiled for the same reason that explains the son. You gave your all to the customers (100%); eventually a pregnancy was bound to happen. In the meantime, that put a big smile on your face.

It would have on mine, too, given a chance.

You mention something at the registrar,
not at the register.

Seventeen years of college for you, and
that's how much you remember?

"I remember sayign something at the
resitrar's office, when I left nothing, and
I got badly serviced."

ah.. And who says they are paid well? They are not at all.. Plus the insults they sometimes recieve from customers. Its really not easy serving people. They deserve every tip they can get.

It sucks when people have to share tips. What if someone worked hard and earned a large tip and they have to share it with someone lazy and rude who does not deserve it??? That is not fair!!!

Now this part I do agree with you. I have never worked where I had to share tips with other wait staff....

I have seen it too many times where you have those that should not be waiting tables but making the same as eveyone...Not right to me...

I did what is called "tip share" when I worked. It is for the bartenders and bus boys. They don't get paid any better than the wait staff. The bus boys clear the tables so the wait staff can seat people quickly and the customers might order drinks while at the table, so the bartenders are making the drinks.

I didn't really mind it. It wasn't split 3 ways. It was a small percent of the tips

When I first started, I didn't like the idea either. But when there is a line out the door, having the bus boys bus and set the table, helps a lot!

I've never run into (when working) people that didn't bust their butts to do their job. I worked at the Steak N Ale across from Six Flags, so it was always busy lol

I worked in a restaurant years ago as a cook and let me tell ya I saw those girls work hard. Certain differences about them produced varying results, but they worked it though. They had to deal with each others mess or lack of and the customers attitudes, especially the ones during a bar rush. They made good money. I should know cause I had to do it when everyone calls out but the cook and two managers. Give you 3 guesses who busted ***. During a bar rush, I took in over 650 dollars in tips from waitressing and cooking. My managers caught a few dollars on a weak fly. But here's where it sucked, they had to take all their tips and pool it in together and divvy it up between them. In a way it looked like a separate payroll account. The money was taxed of course and then hit with the individual tax. It had been snowing that week. A girl here and there would show up but I worked those floors alone cause I only stayed a block away. Something about alcohol and snow..I don't know, but I raked in $5000+ for the week. They girls were my friends so I put it all into the pot. Hell I had super mad overtime. I was triple for 45 hours in 3 days. Some cooks and others had snow day insurance with hours from their vacation applied. The waitresses didn't have that luxury, so yeah, it sucked. So, I helped. That occupation is a (*JOB*). It's up close and personal to another human being. Not over a phone or behind a computer or even up under a hood of a car. Did I like what I was doing? Lets just say grilling that steak or flipping pancakes was more enjoyable. Those girls deserve more in that industry; benefits, insurance packages and the whole 9. That kind of service is worth more than the fifty cents found under a overturned ashtray.

ya know...even if waiters got paid a decent wage, I would probably still tip them because I know it's hard work

I usually tip 20-30% depending on how hard I messed with the wait staff, I even have tipped people who didn't wait on me if I busted on them too.

I'm feeling you there. I had a couple of good ones out of the bunch. A girl and a guy. They were sharp as a whip. I had them doing short orders in 2hours. They should have been cooks. They got burned too.

Well I can appreciate all of the jobs because they all make the waiting tables easier. If the cooks mess up or takes too long then the waiter hears about it. People like drinks with meals so the bartenders do that job for the waiters. The bus boys clean off the tables quickly so more people can be sat.

I guess that is why I don't mind the tip share. The place I worked at though, the cooks had a regular wage and so did the managers.

Oh I did forget the host/hostess. I did that job too and let me tell you, the waits were hard. No one likes to wait for a table. They are on the front line of it all