If you like calculating your waiter's tip instead of a restaurant forcing you to give one, Cheryl Glenn wants to make sure you can.
The Maryland delegate (D-Baltimore City) is sponsoring a bill that would ban restaurants in the state from adding automatic tips for parties of fewer than ten people.
Glenn says automatic tips discourage some waiters and waitresses from providing good service because they know they'll still get their tip.
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8 comments:
This is absolutley rediculious. The reason restraunts do that is because large parties are more likley to not tip at all. Servers/Bartenders bust their ass, if the service is bad, most restraunt managers will remove the grat. As long as its clearly stated in the menu its fine. If you dont want to tip then get CARRY OUT.
Although time could be spent on more important things, I agree with Glenn. If I go in a restaurant and see any where there will be a mandatory tip for 5 or more people, I leave.
I should have the right to tip according to the service my party receives.
Waitstaff tend to complain a lot about tipping practices now a days. However, the staffs attitude, 9 times out of 10, dictates their own tip. I was a waitress at a Friendly's. Even when I worked the day shift I never walked out of there with less than $100 a day.
As a waitress, it's very annoying that large parties and groups will come into our restaurant because they know we do NOT add gratuity. Obviously if they were going to tip, they wouldn't mind going out to eat somewhere else. This weekend, I watched another waitress bust her butt for 2 hours on a group of 20, their bill came to over $400, and they tipped her $10. She was great with them - I agree that quality of service should dictate what tip you get, but that's just ridiculous.
When I go out to eat in a large group of people, 7 or more, I fully expect for gratuity to be added to the check. However, if we start to get bad service from the waiter or waitress I simply request to speak to the manager. I let the manager know that if they expect the gratuity to be paid at the end of the evening then he needs to a) replace our server with a more competent one, or b) instruct them to step their game up or there will be no tip. I have only had to do this on 6 or 7 occasions over the past decade or so but it is VERY effective. A couple of managers have even offered to comp us an appetizer or something when the service was beyond horrible, but in general we ended up with great service. The biggest problem we have had dining in a large group is that most of us order the same thing... same entree, cooked the same way, everything. You would think this is the easiest sort of order to place but for some reason there is usually a problem. At least one person's entree is usually missing. In the event that there have been no problems with service, we typically tip more than the gratuity added to the check.
Applebee's in Salisbury and Suicide Bridge have ALWAYS been the absolute best places for us to go in a large group. Never ever ever had any complaints!!
Most places will remove the automatic gratuity if you ask the manager.
When I was a server, I almost always chose to forgo putting it on the check when I could. I'd explain to them that I'd prefer to get paid what I'm worth and more often than not I'd get 20% or more gratuity for it. Every once in a while I'd get screwed over, but when I tracked the tips I still got more than 15% in the decent restaurants all things considered.
Some places wouldn't let me remove the gratuity. I found it odd that people would often not see that the tip was added in already, and they would double tip me.
One of the worst cases you could find, though, were large groups that would ask for separate checks in an attempt to circumvent the auto gratuity policy. You could tell who was asking out of convenience and who was trying to be cheap. When I got the cheapos, I'd break the bills down by hand but also take the gratuity per the restaurant policy.
The whole issue is a great sociological experiment, though. I'd venture to guess that most people would rather take a known amount of money and slack off then choose to give 100% effort and try to maximize their potential tips.
Most customers appreciate hard work, politeness, and honesty (like when their order is messed up), and they tip a premium if you offer this to them. But over all, the shore doesn't tip nearly as well as the central part of MD. Serving over here was a pay cut of about 22%.
No one should go to JAIL for not paying a tip for bad service. This happened in Pennsylvania (link at the bottom) and probably inspired this bill. I don't mind there being an automatic tip on a TRULY large group. Six people is not a large. Six people is two couples going out for a meal with their kids, or one family with 4 kids. The number associated with a "large group" needs to be seriously considered.
I have worked both in the front of the house and back of the house. I've waited tabled, hosted, cooked and managed. With all of that experience I can truly say that none of these rules matter to people that put forth effort and work in restaurants that serve decent food. (because if you work in a place with bad food then forget it)
What I would tell those above that wait tabled and are tired of being stiffed- it happens to everyone at some point or another. Some people are bad tippers and few never tip. Those people suck, but it's life and it's part of the culture of the job *YOU* chose to accept. If you can't take being stiffed occasionally, then you are in the wrong profession. However, if your argument is you are getting stiffed "all the time" then you are either not good at your job, not putting forth effort or your personality just doesn't have what it takes to be a server. There are very good people that just aren't good at serving. This isn't a knock on any of you, but should serve as a wake up call. If you are starving as a server then maybe it's time to switch jobs.
LINK: http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local-beat/Time-In-Prison--70426052.html?yhp=1
We don't need this type of government interference . Let private businesses do what they want and patrons have the choice of eating somewhere else.
I myself would never eat in a restaurant that forced me to tip a certain percentage.
I wrote 3:24. I agree with 3:46. No government interference is needed- but that goes for not arresting people for not paying a forced gratuity. Forced gratuity is bogus. I also managed and delivered pizzas when I was younger. I, in effect, was a server, but I used my car, burned my gas and caused wear and tear on my car to do so, yet there was no FORCED tip. I know some pizza places shamefully charge one now (and don't pass it on to the driver in some cases), but that didn't happen when I delivered and I still *somehow* paid the bills and got by. Work hard. Don't rely on BS rules to weasel money out of people.
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