I Don't Understand...

[EPCOT_Rocks]

Most restuarants in Orlando (disney or Otherwise) charge a service fee for large parties. It is coustomary for this fee to be between 15 and 18%. The reason is because most of our foreign visitors don't realize the coustom and thus grossly undertip. It is the expectation that if you thought the serivce was good, you should throw in a few extra dollars. For those that are from elsewhere, the minimum wage for servers in Florida is $2.13 per hour. This is why if there is no service charge attached to your bill, you should tip as follows:
Poor Service - 10% ...remember we are still making up minimum wage
Fair Service - 15%
Good Service - 20%
Excellent Service 20+%

Also remember, the cooks are paid by the hour, so if your food took to long, don't penalize the server...assuming they tried their best.

 

[MKCP 1985]

I am afraid the waitstaff do get penalized if the food is unacceptably late coming out. I was in a restaurant in a resort town not too long ago, where the kitchen is behind glass and you can see the food orders being prepared.

It was funny to see our entrees come up and sit . . . and sit . . . and sit. . .

Finally, another waiter walked by our table on the way to somewhere else and I asked him if he wouldn't mind checking the order up and seeing if it was ours and if someone could be so kind as to bring it out. Yes, it was our food.

Yeah, our waiter was busted (and no - the restaurant wasn't unusually busy).

Poor service begs the question - and I'll pose it to EPCOT Rocks - why tip at all? If the fellow is making under minimum wage and doesn't give a good effort, why give your own hard earned money to pay the slacker 10% of your meal check? Would a dining patron on the short end of poor service not be doing those who come later a favor by helping eliminate the slacker from the work force, so that another, hopefully more eager replacement can be hired into the job? If the waiter is so unqualified for the job, why pay him to continue? That 10% may be just enough, added to the hourly wage, to keep him returning to make dining miserable for others, and his poor results means the others who share a percentage of tips make less money as well.

That said - I'll admit something. I have a very hard time leaving less than 10%. This bark is worse than the bite.

 

[Gravydeen]

Tipping at a Character meal

Are you still supposed to tip at those rates for a character meal or do you consider the entertainment value as non tippable(if that is a word)? When my family of five goes to Cinderella's Table and spends $160, or whatever it is, a 15% tip will be $24, which seems sort of high for a tip. What do you think?

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

The tip is then supposed to make up the difference to bring their salary to at least a minimum wage level.

Ah the joys of a free market economy.

Still there’s nothing in law that makes tipping compulsory, Hell at 15 - 20% a meal that’s a souvenir T shirt gone every meal for moving some crockery items a few feet and not expectorating in my dinner.

 

[SteveUK]

I was a server in a rural area of NY a couple of years ago. I was paid $3/hour plus tips. At the end of the night I was expected to tip the busboy, dishwasher, hostess, and bartender 10% (which I did not mind doing at all b/c they work hard too!). I never had a lot of experience getting "stiffed", but the average tip was about 15%. I always tip at least that, much more for excellent service, because who can live on $3/per hour? I hope in the UK restaurant owners pay a descent wage.:animwink:

It seems that the UK and US have very different systems. If you work in a restaurant in the UK, you will be paid a reasonable wage. That is because it isn't a great job, but you get paid an acceptable rate so you wouldn't have to rely on tips to survive each week, they are a bonus. The idea of working in a job like you describe, where you rely on tips and have to pay others etc seems a really harsh deal to me. How can you work in a job and rely on it to pay your bills, if you have no way of ensuring a certain level of income? I wouldn't do a job that didn't contract me a salary that I can survive on, anything above that is a bonus, but I have the security of a set amount.

 

[boudica]

Okay, this has nothing to do with Disney, but all this talk of tips has me wondering. At those Buffett type places, Golden Coral ect. Is 15%-20% expected for the servers there? All they really do it bring a pitcher around and fill your glasses? I usually only leave them about 10%, now I'm afraid I'm stiffing people.

 

[typhoonguy]

It seems that the UK and US have very different systems. If you work in a restaurant in the UK, you will be paid a reasonable wage. That is because it isn't a great job, but you get paid an acceptable rate so you wouldn't have to rely on tips to survive each week, they are a bonus. The idea of working in a job like you describe, where you rely on tips and have to pay others etc seems a really harsh deal to me. How can you work in a job and rely on it to pay your bills, if you have no way of ensuring a certain level of income? I wouldn't do a job that didn't contract me a salary that I can survive on, anything above that is a bonus, but I have the security of a set amount.

I agree then that it's just a difference in US vs UK (and or other parts of the world). A similar such situation lies within many sales jobs. No salary, just comission. But to many people the opportunity to make a big chunk of change is what makes them take that chance. Take a guess how much servers at the Poly Luau make... chances are you should triple your guess and then you will be closer to what they bring home. But on the other hand, take a guess at what bartenders and servers at comedy warehouse make, divide it by 4, and you'll be close. I think it's the opportunity to make more that drives people here in the states to choose to take these types of jobs. In High School I was a server at an Applebees one day a week and I made a KILLING (for a high school student).
Opportunity........

After all, isn't America supposed to be the land of opportunity? Or something like that...

 

[Kadee]

This whole tipping debate can very easily get out of hand. But I'll throw in my 2-cents anyway. TIPS = to insure proper service: this means that if I do not get proper service, I do not tip. AND I tell them why. I also tell the manager and send an email to the corporate office. There is no excuse for bad service. If I get average service....what is expected of them, I happily tip 15%. If the service is really good, I tip at least 20% (usually more). I've seen servers work their butts off trying to please people and get nothing. That is just not right. It is also not right to leave a server who did practically nothing the same tip you would leave a server who went above and beyond. I live in south Alabama just north of the tourist trap (Gulf Shores) and this is pretty much what everyone does. I've also lived many other places due to my husband being former Air Force and the tipping practices were pretty much the same all over the U.S.

Now, for my take on the DDP and the 18% tip. If you consider that most people on the plan order WAY more food and MUCH more expensive food than if they were NOT on the plan, the servers are getting a substantially higher tip that if they were not on the plan and tip even 20%. When we went on the old silver plan, the built in tip was 18%. We did order everything we were entitled to but didn't always eat it. The server definitely got a much larger tip than he/she would if we were not on the silver plan. We still left an extra tip IF the service was exceptional. Only one time (at CRT, of all places) was the service not exceptional.

 

[EPCOT_Rocks]

First off, you can complain and still tip. If you go into a store, and the person behind the counter is rude, you don't get a portion of their hourly wage. Tips are PART of a servers hourly wage, and thus one should always be included except in the most extreme circumstances. As for character shows, it's all the same. I will say that the nicer the restuarant, the better the service should be, and you should tip accordingly. Also remember that in most restuarants, especially upscale places, a decent chunk, sometimes as much as 30% goes to the bartender, food runner, host/ess.

I should also point out that there are certain people that as a group, don't tip well. Many servers will pay less attention to younger people, Europeans and South Americans because they generally don't tip as well (those of us who are culturally aware know this is a matter of coustom and not because those people are cheep). There are two ways to approach this. You can of course tip poorly because the service was poor, but this continues the opinion of servers that these groups don't tip well. Alternatly you could tip well, and stick it in their face so to speek, of course who wants to give money to someone who has given bad service just to prove a point?
My suggestion is to start at a percentage you feel is the most you will leave and adjust for service. I always tip 20% unless I find a reason not to.

 

[EPCOT_Rocks]

The standard tip for a buffet server is 1 to 2 dollars per person, depending on the level of service. A good thing to do if you really want to be on top of these types of things is to look at the number of tables the server is working.
At a place like Golden Corral the server probalby has 8-9 tables. Figure if each table tips a dollar per person, they will probably make about 15$ per hour at peak time. At a place like Denny's the servers probably have about 5-6 tables. This server probably makes a similar amount of money. The server at Royal Table probably only has 3 tables. They will likely wait on about 20 people every two hours and likely make about 4$ per person. This is 40$ an hour before they tip out and after they pay the service help they probably end up with about 25$ an hour, and remember the serving periods in places like this are usually only 4 to 5 hours. All and all, most servers who are GOOD in a place like Orlando make around 125$ a day. That figures in peak and non-peak season and so forth. Thats about 25,000 a year.....if you wanna know how that works out, check out the real estate prices in Orlando.....happy tipping!!

 

[kennygman]

That's why I wondered about tipping - it's been my experience (and others I worked with) when I waitressed that the more money a customer had, the more they tipped. For example, the Packers tip quite a bit. Businessmen tip a lot. Someone who comes in dripping diamonds and gold...they tip a lot.

Anyways, just wondering about everyone else's experience or thoughts...

I have to disagree. While working in a tips industry I found that those who looked like they had the most didn't tip the best. The people who had done some type of service work tipped the best and had the best attitude...by far.

My 2 cents anyway.

 

[kennygman]

Hey, doesn't everyone need some more cake? I sure do!

Then you can have your cake and eat it too. :king:

 

[Scar Junior]

Now I am wondering if Minnesota is different because our servers make minimum wage. Are most states different? My friend works at that terrible Sci-Fi restaurant in DS and he never mentioned anything about only making $2 an hour. He told me he does very well actually. It's like when I was on the CP and bought clothes at the Banana Republic Outlet. I argued with the person because they charged me tax on clothes. We don't have that up here; yes that's correct: no tax on clothes at the Mall of America.

Additionally, restaurants differ on whether or not they have to tip out. Sometimes it's optional, sometimes it's required, sometimes the servers keep all their tips.

 

[Scooter]

I hate this whole tipping thing.
I'd rather just pay a little more for my food and have the owners pay the servers a decent wage.
Why is it MY responsibility to make sure servers can pay their bills and rent?
This system is just a way to make the owners richer and put the guilt trip on the customers for their servers low wages.
I have to report all my income to the IRS but most of the servers I know don't.
When people become servers they gamble that their tips will be awesome but if they aren't they complain and make fun of and complain about the guests who "Stiffed" them.
I don't like being talked about behind my back because I only had 9 dollars in my pocket and ordered an 8 dollar meal and could only leave a dollar for a tip.
Any way you look at it, tipping is optional.
I'll tip who I want, when I want, how much I want and I Have no trouble sleeping at night.
If owners paid their employees a decent wage, there wouldn't be any issues.
It's not my concern how much you make an hour.
Sorry if this seems harsh, I'm just tired of getting slammed for not leaving 3 extra dollars for a hamburger that cost me 8 dollars.

 

[nibblesandbits]

Sorry if this seems harsh, I'm just tired of getting slammed for not leaving 3 extra dollars for a hamburger that cost me 8 dollars

Actually, if you figure 15% for an 8 dollar check the tip would be $1.20 and if you left 20% it would be $1.60.

 

[EpcoTim]

I've seen it happen first hand at Disney before. Some cheapskate won't tip because "we won't ever see them (the server) again". I was at the bar at the restaurant in MGM that's supposed to be like a house of the 50's when I heard that.

It's true, I do tip very well at places around my house, because it always gets me better service, free drinks, free food, etc........but the same should hold true for anywhere. You get good service, you tip well. At my ex's bday last year we left 100% tip becuase our server put up with us, and was right there whenever we needed anything. The same should go for anywhere, no matter where you are.

 

[unkadug]

I think it should be life requirement that everyone should at one point in their life work in a service industry.

It really opens up your mind in how to treat other people, by seeing how others are treated (both good and bad) from both sides of the coin.

Anyone who never tips has never worked in a service position!

 

[EpcoTim]

I think it should be life requirement that everyone should at one point in their life work in a service industry.

It really opens up your mind in how to treat other people, by seeing how others are treated (both good and bad) from both sides of the coin.

Anyone who never tips has never worked in a service position!

Exactly. I worked for tips in college, and a couple of jerks can completely ruin your night/paycheck everything.

 

[Craig & Lisa]

The value of the meal also says how much the tip will be, in April we ate at JIKO's, the whole meal was 164.00 for 4 people, Myself, wife,12 year old son and 10 year son. At 18% that's not a bad tip. Then for Crystal Palace it would be alot less. But consider this Disney moves people thru the eateries very fast so those tips pile up pretty fast, so for a regular place off property they don't move you as fast and they will not make as much in tips as a server at WDW.

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

Anyone who never tips has never worked in a service position!

either that are they dont feel pressured into following a herd mentality. Do you tip cleaners?

Perhaps everyone should do some time in the military then they wouldnt whine so much at the horrors of not receiving a tip.