Rant: Tip Culture

[Diddy]

Complaining is part of tip culture, but under no circumstances should you ever complain directly to the customer like in diddy's case. That should be instant termination even in a diner.

That's what pissed me off. With the change it was till like a 12.5% tip so i didn't feel it was that outrageous. Lower then it should have been I'm sure but she should have served me enough times to know I usually tip her well. Maybe that's what the problem. My thinking was I've over tipped her in the past and ill make up for it next time. Her thinking, he usually leaves a good tip he snubbed me this time. Go back and [expletive] with the cook I don't care just don't do it within earshot of the customer.

[planet planet]

http://www.stltoday.com/entertainment/d ... e2a87.html

A lawsuit filed last week in St. Louis Circuit Court alleges that the two restaurants owned by chef Cassy Vires, Home Wine Kitchen in Maplewood and Table in Benton Park, have required employees to participate in unlawful tip pooling.



Renick and Hernandez's suit alleges that Vires and Renbarger violated the federal Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 and the Missouri Minimum Wage Law by requiring the two servers to contribute their tips into a tip pool that was then distributed to managers and kitchen staff as well as other servers and bussers.

Now closed.

http://www.feaststl.com/the-feed/articl ... ec.twitter

[lukethedrifter]

http://www.stltoday.com/entertainment/d ... e2a87.html

A lawsuit filed last week in St. Louis Circuit Court alleges that the two restaurants owned by chef Cassy Vires, Home Wine Kitchen in Maplewood and Table in Benton Park, have required employees to participate in unlawful tip pooling.



Renick and Hernandez's suit alleges that Vires and Renbarger violated the federal Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 and the Missouri Minimum Wage Law by requiring the two servers to contribute their tips into a tip pool that was then distributed to managers and kitchen staff as well as other servers and bussers.

Now closed.

http://www.feaststl.com/the-feed/articl ... ec.twitter

Vires and Renbarger had initially opened Table as a communal dining experience in June. In December, after considering feedback from patrons who weren't crazy about the concept, that they switched gears and transitioned into a more traditional dining experience. No word yet on what led to the ultimate decision to close the doors.

I have a guess. Also, Home in Maplewood is still open.

[stlouie_lipp]

No need for your internal Emily Post to debate the merits of 15 percent or 18 percent here. At Noodles & Co., the recommended tip is nothing.

"Respect doesn't cost you anything," Noodles CEO and Chairman Kevin Reddy said in an interview. "Being nice doesn't cost you anything, and we don't really feel that folks should have to pay something additional for us to appreciate that they're choosing us over another restaurant."

Reddy stressed that the recommended policy isn't about denying team members tips since the policy means that Noodles must pay workers enough to make sure that it's not an issue. (He also mentioned that some customers insist on tipping despite the policy, which workers will then accept.)

http://money.msn.com/top-stocks/post--s ... t-ceo-says

[heyzeus]

No need for your internal Emily Post to debate the merits of 15 percent or 18 percent here. At Noodles & Co., the recommended tip is nothing.

"Respect doesn't cost you anything," Noodles CEO and Chairman Kevin Reddy said in an interview. "Being nice doesn't cost you anything, and we don't really feel that folks should have to pay something additional for us to appreciate that they're choosing us over another restaurant."

Reddy stressed that the recommended policy isn't about denying team members tips since the policy means that Noodles must pay workers enough to make sure that it's not an issue. (He also mentioned that some customers insist on tipping despite the policy, which workers will then accept.)

http://money.msn.com/top-stocks/post--s ... t-ceo-says

Upside of eating at Noodles & Co: No need to tip your fellow man!
Downside of eating at Noodles & Co: The awful, godawful food.

[lukethedrifter]

no need to. we pay them enough. oh, go ahead.

[JL21]

I just met a friend out for lunch. The service was pretty good... until it came time to pay. It took 20 minutes to get a bill. And even then, we didn't get the bill from the server. We went up to the bar to pay (rather than continuing to wait).

Of course, once the server realized we had left the table, he ran to find us. When it was our problem, he didn't give a [expletive] about getting us a bill. But the second it looked like we had dined and dashed, then it became a priority, and he gave us the bill at the bar.

I tipped $3 on a $32 bill. I have no idea if that's a bad enough tip but it's under 10%.

I guess that's my question. What's an appropriate bad tip? You want it bad enough that they know, "Hey, your service licked donkey nuts" but you also don't want to be a total jackass and stiff someone completely.

[Michael]

I guess that's my question. What's an appropriate bad tip? You want it bad enough that they know, "Hey, your service licked donkey nuts" but you also don't want to be a total jackass and stiff someone completely.

First world problem, etc.

[Joe Shlabotnik]

I guess that's my question. What's an appropriate bad tip? You want it bad enough that they know, "Hey, your service licked donkey nuts" but you also don't want to be a total jackass and stiff someone completely.

I have no problem being a total jackass. Someone keeping me waiting 20 minutes after my plate was empty would not get a tip from me.

[tlombard]

The bill problem is why I won't go to TGI Friday's for lunch anymore. It is close. There is something for everyone and nobody completely hates the place. You can get good deals especially with emailed coupons so the lunch is cheap. But I won't go there. We get seated quickly. Our order is taken quickly. We get our food quickly. We get refills while we are eating sometimes even when we don't need them. The service is great all the way until we are finishing up and need that bill. The last three times we've waited between 25 and 40 minutes just to get the bill. It literally takes longer from the time we finish eating to get the bill than it does to get our food from the time we walk into the door and it seems to be consistent. That annoys the heck out of me.

And to change the topic a bit, how does everyone feel about tipping delivery drivers, especially the places like Grubhub and some pizza places where you have to enter your tip up front if you pay by credit/debit or else you have to tip cash. I rarely have proper change (or even cash) to tip so I have to do it up front... and then the order takes forever or something isn't right and they have to go back and fix it. But even then, is it the driver's fault it took forever? Most likely it isn't and I can't stiff them or give them a bad tip for that but you have no way of knowing unless you are ordering from Domino's with their tracker.

I actually called Domino's one night and told them to cancel my order even though it was already out for delivery. According to the tracker, the pizza was 'checked for quality' and then sat there for 50 minutes before it went out for delivery. 45 minutes later, the pizza still wasn't delivered. I called them to cancel because my pizza had been finished cooking over an hour and a half before and still wasn't delivered and the lady answering the phone just said OK and cancelled the order. If I hadn't cancelled, do I blame the driver and not tip because it took them so long to deliver it? They may have been saddled with multiple deliveries because it was late and nobody else was there. That isn't the driver's fault. I can only assume the driver did the best they could. Other than cancelling the order (which screws the driver who was probably a block away at that point), there is no way to alter the tip to get the point across to the person responsible for screw ups when it comes to delivery. And why in the heck would they even cook the pizza immediately if they know they aren't going to have anyone who can deliver it for a freaking hour???? When I worked at Fazoli's during high school we would have pizza ready to buy by the slice and 30 minutes after it came out of the oven, it went in the trash because we couldn't sell it and that is to people who are going to eat it within minutes.