*edited post title to make it clear that this is a joke
America will do anything but pay workers a living wage.
POS systems including tip requests really piss me off. We recently discovered a great local restaurant and we order food from them (and pick it up, to take home) a few times a month. They have one of those POS systems and it really irritates me to have to tap ‘No Tip’ in plain view of the cashier every time. We’re picking up food; I’m walking up to a counter, collecting a bag, swiping a credit card and leaving. Why the fuck would I tip for that? I don’t tip at the grocery store and cashiers there do the same amount of work.
As a bartender, if someone is picking up a to go order it’s expected that they won’t tip.
Most places mark Togo orders such that the staff aren’t tipping out on them (for obvious reasons) so it shouldn’t make a difference to the worker that they didn’t get a tip on it.
Who gets the tip of they do? Back of house or owners?
If an owner is taking the tips owed to the employee that’s illegal. Most places have a tip share suggested policy. At my place the kitchen gets 10% of food sales as a tip… Typically whether or not the customer has chosen to actually tip.
In the UK you’re legally supposed to split it among the staff rather than the owner.
Whether that actually happens or not is anyone’s guess.
I don’t tip at the grocery store and cashiers there do the same amount of work.
You will soon!
Why the fuck would I tip for that?
Because many restaurants split tips with the back end, and, well, somebody made the food.
Sure, and theoretically that’s covered by the price that was listed on the menu. If it’s not, it’s the restaurant’s problem, not mine. Fuck that noise, seriously.
it’s the restaurant’s problem, not mine
But you’re supporting the restaurant. You’re keeping the system afloat.
I’m supporting the restaurant by eating there, and paying menu prices for food. If they need me to pay more, they can raise their menu prices. I’m not going to guess how much things actually cost.
spot on. I’ve had enough of tipping. I have gone out to eat and anywhere i get service so much less this past year, but it has been worth it. I’ve saved money and sparked interesting conversations with people in my circle when I bring tipping up. this is a weird hill for me to die on, but I do not care anymore.
how about a discount from the restaurant because I was polite to my servers and was not a disruptive customer? no, because that doesnt make any sense lol
tipping has creeped its way into everything and has turned us against each other for a batshit insane concept that should have never been normalized.
if they want more money, charge more money. this guilt trip at the end of the bil they force upon me at the end of my meal is just so insane. they’re just asking me to give them more money for no reason, full stop.
Tips keep the system afloat. The reason there aren’t mass strikes demanding an end to tips is because the system works for most.
Sure, racial minorities are significantly discriminated against and many will receive hardly minimum wage with tips but the majority of tipped workers is fine with it. And that’s all that is required for an unjust system to persist.
Tipped workers are fine with it because they make more money with tips than they would on hourly wages. This is directly the fault of people feeling the need to tip egregious amounts. If people stopped tipping, or started tipping significantly worse, tipped workers would stop being okay with it really fast, and would demand an end to the system.
If I go sit down in a restaurant and get table service, I tip, but I do that once a year, maybe. If I get delivery, I tip the driver. But I will absolutely not tip if I go into a restaurant, pick up food at the counter, and walk out. Never.
I’m confused why you draw the line there but not in the first two examples. In all your examples, those people are doing their jobs that they should be getting paid adequately for already.
I don’t like being waited on; it makes me uncomfortable, even when it’s someone’s job to do it, and I alleviate that discomfort by tipping them for it. When I put myself in that situation I feel like I’m being lazy (“I could pick this up myself, but instead I’m having someone do it for me”), and it feels appropriate that I should pay more for the privilege of being lazy. The tip is my way of saying “Sorry you’re having to do this.” It’s silly, I know it is, but you asked, so there’s your answer.
Restaurants need to pay their staff a living wage instead of expecting patrons to subsidize the owners’ greed.
It’s also a matter of trust … we’re handing off money to a restaurant that will pass on the amount to the employee or employees … who decides who gets it? do they share it? do just the waiters get it? does the owner get a cut? do the kitchen staff get some? is it shared equally? Do they add up everything at the end of the day? end of the week? end of a shift?
Some places are good and fair with distributing tips but some places aren’t and no one ever gets to know what any one does with the funds.
This happens a lot, often tips are stolen from immigrant workers by the restaurant. I was at an Indian place and the guy I was with knew our server. I already had my suspicions about the place so I just asked the guy if he gets his tips. He says the owner takes all tips.
He ended up standing with his back to me so I could put $10 in his hand. Fucking absurd.
In some restaurants the waiter or waitress gets to decide how much of their tips they’re going to share with their busser.
My first job was a bussing tables, and my first waitress was this old, mean, greedy woman who never shared her tips no matter how good you did.
It was my first job so I didn’t stand up for myself, but I had some older German tourists come in one day and the man basically made me take a huge tip because “you are working so hard!” Told me to keep it for myself. Thank you German couple! You helped me realize my worth and that job didn’t last the summer.
I’ll never work in food service again.
Me fucking either. I worked at a franchise of a huge pizza chain. After two years, I was general manager. I was in that position for six years. It was absolute hell. I was salary at the federal minimum of $36k a year. Commonly worked 60+ hour weeks. When I was off I was doing the scheduling and answering calls and texts all day from the employees and assistant managers.
We were a high volume store. Sometimes over 200 products an hour. 40 employees during the busy season. This job damaged my already poor mental health and put my alcoholism into overdrive. It was absolutely abusive.
I did learn a lot of people skills. I learned how to work under extreme pressure, although I wasn’t good at dealing with it at the time. My district manager would sometimes hire people and I could usually tell within five minutes if they were worth a shit or not. I was rarely surprised.
I participated in this abusive system through scheduling. Everyone but the delivery drivers and assistant managers made minimum wage or slightly above. It was $5.15 when I started and $7.25 when I left. If someone was good I would schedule them 30 or 35 hours. If I wanted someone gone I would schedule them two four hour shifts so they would quit. That way we didn’t have to pay overtime or unemployment.
Everything about it was abusive and sick. 20% of the customers were absolutely insane assholes. The assistant managers were lazy and constantly called off knowing I would have to cover. I wasted most of my 20s at this shithole.
Never again will I work food service. Never again will I manage a large team.
By the logic, i should pay tip for every item i buy, it is produced by somebody in a factory somewhere.
Or you should stop visiting restaurants that ask for tips entirely.
It’s not like the waiter is doing the majority of the work for your meal when you sit down.
Ah yes the solution to tips is boycotting my favorite restaurants, that will show them that I don’t want to tip!
“You have my favorite food and great service, but I would rather you just raise your prices and pay your staff more.”
Yep that’s what they would see from my boycott
The waitresses and waiters and everyone can’t survive without tips, so let’s just give them no business and no tips!
It’s the idea of the Applebee’s 10 dollar meal that’s actually 12 dollars. What business wouldn’t want to give their employees top dollar and have to advertise higher prices? It’s a win-win for the business. They aren’t going to change until forced or highly encouraged.
Getting rid of “Tip wages” would be the solution
No one should be required to rely on tips as income
It should be known no one is required to rely on tips as income
Then we can all stop with the tips
I’ve only ever found one restaurant that does not take tips.
Where do you imagine the rest of the money from the receipt goes?
To the owners. Do… do you not know how private businesses operate?
That’s it, you sure got me, I don’t know how businesses operate. Do you?
The costs of goods and overhead like employee wages should be included in the price. Raise your prices to what they apparently should be instead of begging your clientele to help give your employees a living wage out of the goodness of our hearts. Such a system only punishes the considerate by milking them of their cash (likely more than they wouldnif your prices were corrected) and rewards the assholes by artificially deflating their prices.
I worked at many restaurants when I was in college and only one of those many split tips. It’s far from a universal rule.
I worked in the kitchen of 2 restaurants in college and got no tips, only a low hourly wage. Also quit both jobs without giving a fuck because they sucked.
POS: “Please tell the cashier.”
Me to the cashier: “This place needs to pay you a living wage. Let me know if you and your coworkers need help setting up a union.”
POS: “not like that”
“Actually cancel my order, this make people tip to avoid an awkward interaction is bullshit and I’m not spending any money here.”
“Here’s your tip in cash. Remember to not report it.”
A lot of establishments force employees to put tips into pooled tip jar, which the manager distributes. Maybe they are fair. Maybe they keep a chunk for themselves.
I assume they’re robbing their employees. Whenever possible I do a stealthy hand-off.
If they want to get involved then they can pay their employees more. If they’re leaving it up to me, then it’s literally none of their business.
I’m so used to telling homeless folks I have no money that I’m pretty sure I can look the barista or whoever straight in the eye and say “No tip.”
Actually kind of fucked society pushes us to that point, huh?
I really almost never have cash on me anymore so my soul is unburdened. I sometimes do charitable acts but it rarely involves giving money to people on street corners. That’s just a 9 to 5 for a bunch of them.
I always carry cash, but it’s in unreasonable denominations (usually $100 and a $50), and it’s only there “just in case” (i.e. lost my phone and need a cab home, and my credit cards aren’t working). There’s no way I’m giving $50 to a homeless person, I’d rather donate to a local shelter instead.
That said, if I have the time, I’ll offer to take them to get some fast food. They can tell me about their life story, and I know they can’t use my money to buy drugs.
Over the last six months or so, I haven’t tipped once in any establishment whatsoever. I decided it was a cancerous practice and people deserve to be paid what they’re due.
so you just go out and eat without tipping
No, I haven’t been out to eat in over six months.
When we say we’re against tipping people really say “then don’t eat at restaurants” as if that isn’t the best thing we can do for ourselves financially. By not paying restaurant prices I only give myself more money.
I’m Mexico a customer was beaten to death for not paying a tip. WTF, they killed a person for not paying like 5 dollars
Big doubt, got a source? I’m guessing there was more to the story.
It’s me. I decline to tip once, and now I’m deceased.
I’m sorry for your loss.
The punchline is that the cashier doesn’t get any of the tips; they’re pure profit for the business.
“Hi customer, would you like to give us bonus money for no reason other than your accommodating nature?”
Yeah. Only ever tip in cash and in person. The suave 20-in-the-handshake looks cool but it’s risky.
How is it risky? Once I bribed two people within five minutes in Chicago to get on a flight I was late for. What did I risk?
Yup, bribes aren’t illegal unless it’s to government employees. And even then, I think it’s only illegal to accept bribes, with maybe an exception if you bribed someone to get away with a crime.
So yeah, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with bribes, I just don’t do it because screw that noise.
Yeah that’s when I’m hitting cancel.
Usually it isn’t the store pushing this, but Square itself. They take a percentage of each transaction so they naturally want to make the charges as high as possible.
Oh thanks for clarifying this. I thought Square as in “don’t be a square” and POS for well, “piece of shit”.
Fake news. This can all be configured in square.
As someone who uses square at our business, you can indeed customize it a little bit. Though I’ve never seen the “talk to a cashier button.” Ours says custom tip where someone can place a zero $$ tip as well.
But to the point of square taking a cut… The entire amount (including tip) has a percentage taken by square… So they do want you to have as big a transaction as possible because they make more money.
Though I’ve never seen the “talk to a cashier button.”
Well yeah, that’s the joke here.
Consider me ‘got’ lol
Yeah, we make POS systems and were asked for tipping functionality on the card machines as soon as we started selling to restaurants.
Recently we also added it so you can record cash tips as well, rather than them just being pocketed. Optimistically, this is so it can be shared more equally between staff rather than just giving it to the pretty girl who takes your money. Realistically, the owner is probably taking the lion’s share.
I agree. The folks who run Square are, indeed, Pieces Of Shit.
That’s what you meant, right?
I don’t get why people talk shit about you, your comments are funny
Thank you, I try.
A buck. And never return. Fuck that.
Or no sale and never return. The cancel button is right there.
I just never back to that place and also I’m going to give them a bad review
Bro if there’s a website to share this feedback.
I was just at a restaurant where it was 20%, 30%, or 40% tip, and Custom.
Food was good but fuck that, I’m done.
Eh, custom -> 0% works. I prefer to leave cash tips anyway.
Custom -25% inconvenience fee.
I wish that worked…
I also wish I could charge businesses for my time dealing with their BS. For example, I needed to go down to the bank to open a new account because they couldn’t identify me, but when I showed up, there were no bankers present. So I made an appointment, and still had to wait for a banker. Or when I had to wait on hold for half an hour just to cancel a credit card because there’s no way to do that online (and they have no branches), and they do that just to have a chance at convincing me to keep it.
If companies can charge me a fee for “maintenance” or “convenience” or whatever, surely I should be able to charge them a reasonable per-instance inconvenience fee (i.e. my hourly rate at my job, or what I’d charge for contract work).
Dude I think I’d be switching banks, if it’s that much of a hassle to get established, I don’t want to know the hassle if something actually needed to be done
I mostly did it for a signup bonus, so I was technically compensated, but I’ve had BS like that with all sorts of other businesses, like waiting on hold to talk to someone to fix a mistake they made. Maybe that’s an airline, insurance, or retailer. Waiting for 5-10 minutes is fair, waiting over an hour is not.
These orgs can charge a late fee if my payment is late by a day due to things outside my control (e.g. an error in their payment scheduler), but I can’t charge them for wasting my time due to them cheaping out on support staff.
It’s a pretty common problem IMO, but the customer has no recourse.
I always do custom, becausr tip should be pre tax and those machine calvulate on the final amount. I’ll not tip if the service was awful. And never tip if I jave to get my own food.
c/assholedesign
OP, just saying “(not real, fyi)” in the text part of the post seems a bit misleading.
Sorry, I’ve posted lots of this guy’s stuff here and I assumed most are familiar with him, but I just had the afterthought to add that text to the post body since this one seems sort of plausible.
I’ll tweak the title to be more clear.
I’d just turn around and leave without paying and leave what ever it is I was gonna buy right there at the counter
Well you’ve already been charged so…
The cancel button is top right
Cancel button in this case and leaving WITH what you’ve paid for in your case.
No. The machine asks you for a tip before you pay.
Time to leave your shit on the counter and leave. Vote with your wallet.
Tipping culture is weird and I only ever hear people mention it in the context of hating it. Yet they seem to have the mindset that there are no other options.
Have you talked to a lot of servers about it? I have a few friends who are servers who hate the idea of cutting out tips and just making minimum wage because they would make significantly less money.
Tips were first used as a way for rail lines to avoid having to pay black coach attendants a wage.
It isn’t surprising that service workers don’t want to abolish tips, since that’s primarily how they get paid now - but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t abolish them. The owners should have to pay their workers a living wage. By making that the consumer’s responsibility, it frees the business owner from the responsibility of paying their workers for their labor.
Tip wages are exploitative, plain and simple.
Crazy thought, really really outside the box lateral thinking type shit, but how about paying them a living wage instead? Seems to work for other industries. I’m not tipping my welder.
I mean, if we’re waving a magic wand, I have a huge list of other improvements for society
Legally mandating a minimum wage is not magic. It can be done, other countries have already done it, and the US is already doing it, in other industries. This is really not as far fetched as you make it out to be.
For maybe a month or two, but when the restraints are no longer to hold on to good staff at minimum wage, employers will have to start offering more to get people to work for them.
Yeah – The goal is not to keep servers, etc. working at minimum wage, it’s to eliminate tips in favor of employers paying a livable wage.
I’d rather the menu prices reflect the actual cost of the item, including the service workers’ wages, than have to tack on another n% at the end. And, at least back in the before-times for the like, month, I worked as a server, I would’ve loved to go to work and not worry about “Oh shit, it’s the Sunday church crowd” and resign myself to not making any money that shift.
I like your optimism.
That’s the tipping I like. When I’m getting served. I want to sit at my table and enjoy the whole experience. I want my water refilled, I was to be asked if I want another drink. I want the courses the flow on and off the table. I want to be able to talk about the dishes. Then I want to tip based on how well it all went.
Obligate tipping for counter service is bullshit.
Exactly. Servers can make bank on tips, especially on holidays.
I don’t think we should ban tips, but we also shouldn’t let restaurants pay servers under minimum wage and there should be something printed on the bill/POS about tips being appreciated but not required. Also, tips shouldn’t be required to be shared, customers should be able to select who gets the tips (waiter, cooking staff, or shared).
As a server, tips for me were huge.
But that’s for a role that’s a bit more involved than fillings gas or pouring coffee. The waiter’s our agent at the restaurant, fighting with (armed!) kitchen staff always on the verge of a breakdown, rejecting shit product and passing along tips for good stuff, etc.
I’m tipping drivers if the toppings aren’t slid to one side. I’m tipping my cabbie. I’m tipping my barber as he does a lot with very little.
But I’m not tipping people where there’s little interaction or judgement for me specifically. My bus driver, the flight attendant, the pilot, the gate agent, the carny operator, the pet food guy, my grocer, my pharmacist. No weasel no grease.
And if it’s forced it’ll be the last. That’s it. I’m still boycotting restaurants because they couldn’t abide by the regional health officers instructions on masking. I can do this.
Having said that, minimum wage is the minimum. Enough of this bullshit where tipped staff makes less base pay.
