Tipping

[BuddyThomas]

A server with decent people skills at WDW makes bank compared to many. You get the minimum 8. And even if you are a buffet server for drinks and taking care of bussing/guest service. You are going to do well with multiple tables throwing you dollars for tips an hour. More than many do. FL's minimum tipped position is higher than most states minimum wage. Its not unhealthy by any means.

I served at Steak and Shake. Talk about a place where people did not want to tip, I still did fine and I am socially awkward.

To the poster with the Planet Hollywood Story, that is tip pooling and that would be illegal if they took money out of your hourly pay to cover the tip pooling divided. That is an interesting situation.

LOL, I worked as a waiter at the Steak and Shake in Gainesville during my first year at University of Florida before I transferred as fast as I could. Not sure if it still exists. PS - they did not “pool” tips at Planet Hollywood when I was there and I have already responded that when they made me pay out of my own pocket, I was a young stupid kid and I didn’t know any better.

 

[celluloid]

LOL, I worked as a waiter at the Steak and Shake in Gainesville during my first year at University of Florida before I transferred as fast as I could. Not sure if it still exists. PS - they did not “pool” tips at Planet Hollywood when I was there and I have already responded that when they made me pay out of my own pocket, I was a young stupid kid and I didn’t know any better.

That's fair. But dang that sure is shady. I am sorry that happened. They should have gotten into big trouble for that.

Steak and Shake was the worst job I ever had, it is funny how common that is.

 

[MickeyLuv'r]

A server gets no salary after taxes. It’s that simple.

Wait...this is not correct in every state.

It depends on the state. Some states have minimum salary requirements for tipped staff. If they make below a minimum salary, the restaurant must compensate the difference.

It has been some years since I waited tables, but I was not required to tip bar staff. (They were paid a minimum salary, but tended to actually do much better than waitstaff.) I think that also might not be universally true everywhere.

Now that I think on it, I too recall being told that such a practice was illegal. When I hired, my employer was required to tell me about the state laws, and the minimum wage, and where to report any employer that did not follow the law.

 

[MickeyLuv'r]

This is the IRS info on federal law:

A tipped employee engages in an occupation in which he or she customarily and regularly receives more than $30 per month in tips. An employer of a tipped employee is only required to pay $2.13 per hour in direct wages if that amount combined with the tips received at least equals the federal minimum wage. If the employee's tips combined with the employer's direct wages of at least $2.13 per hour do not equal the federal minimum hourly wage, the employer must make up the difference. Many states, however, require higher direct wage amounts for tipped employees.

Additionally, some states follow Federal min, but a number of them are above that.

On top of that, local jurisdictions, like cities and counties, can also have their own minimum wage laws. Wage laws are quite a mishmash.

 

[tallica]

At Disney World the entire tip goes to server. It is the servers choice if and how much they tip their bartenders and server assistants. Management has no say in the tipping process to coworkers. In general at Disney the more you help a server the more they will tip you. At universal servers are required to tip bartenders and sever assistants a set amount based on sales.

 

[BuddyThomas]

At Disney World the entire tip goes to server. It is the servers choice if and how much they tip their bartenders and server assistants. Management has no say in the tipping process to coworkers. In general at Disney the more you help a server the more they will tip you. At universal servers are required to tip bartenders and sever assistants a set amount based on sales.

I am very curious what your source is for this, particularly since we have already had one member on this thread tell us that they worked on Disney property and were required to tip out barstaff and bus staff.

 

[tallica]

I am very curious what your source is for this, particularly since we have already had one member on this thread tell us that they worked on Disney property and were required to tip out barstaff and bus staff.

Personal experience and I know current tipped employees at both Uni and DW.

 

[BuddyThomas]

Personal experience and I know current tipped employees at both Uni and DW.

Hmmmm.

 

[RoadiJeff]

Why do you care? You're the one bragging about not tipping properly on a message board. Maybe care about that instead.

Your pal has a double standard when it comes to rewarding servers, regardless of whether they are lazy and incompetent. He seems to think the opposite when it comes to other types of workers. If it were not for the two of you who continue to unsuccessfully try to label me as someone who shorts a server for a tip I would not care at all what he thinks. Got it now? Good.

 

[BuddyThomas]

Your pal has a double standard when it comes to rewarding servers, regardless of whether they are lazy and incompetent. He seems to think the opposite when it comes to other types of workers. If it were not for the two of you who continue to unsuccessfully try to label me as someone who shorts a server for a tip I would not care at all what he thinks. Got it now? Good.

You’ve said a bunch of pretty outrageous things including that if servers don’t like it, they can go flip burgers at McDonalds (which is where you might consider dining if you don’t understand tipping etiquette). Also, where exactly are all these so called lazy and incompetent servers working? Please be specific.

 

[RoadiJeff]

You’ve said a bunch of pretty outrageous things including that if servers don’t like it, they can go flip burgers at McDonalds (which is where you might consider dining if you don’t understand tipping etiquette). Also, where exactly are all these so called lazy and incompetent servers working? Please be specific.

Outrageous? I am pretty sure I said something along the lines of if a server does not want to put forth the effort where part of what they earn is dictated by their job performance they can get a job flipping burgers at McDonald's. Not an outrageous statement at all.

And I repeated several times that there was only twice in my lifetime that I did not leave a tip due to extremely bad service. That goes back many, many decades. I seriously doubt those individuals are still working and the restaurants are probably not even there any longer.

More recently, for our traditional Valentine's Day dinner the other day, I left a 31% gratuity. I felt the overall service was well above what someone would expect at the same restaurant on a regular day.

 

[BuddyThomas]

Outrageous? I am pretty sure I said something along the lines of if a server does not want to put forth the effort where part of what they earn is dictated by their job performance they can get a job flipping burgers at McDonald's. Not an outrageous statement at all.

And I repeated several times that there was only twice in my lifetime that I did not leave a tip due to extremely bad service. That goes back many, many decades. I seriously doubt those individuals are still working and the restaurants are probably not even there any longer.

More recently, for our traditional Valentine's Day dinner the other day, I left a 31% gratuity. I felt the overall service was well above what someone would expect at the same restaurant on a regular day.

Don’t rewrite history- your exact quote: “If the kid in that article is unhappy with what he earns as a server he can flip burgers at McDonald's.”

That’s absolutely outrageous because you have no idea whether or not the person who wrote that “article” is a “kid “ and you dismissed the valid observations out of hand and went straight to the old “If you don’t like it, leave” garbage that is the pat response from so many people on so many subjects, without the slightest trace of empathy and understanding. And I’m still waiting for you to inform us where all these lazy and incompetent servers are working. Do tell!

 

[RoadiJeff]

Don’t rewrite history- your exact quote: “If the kid in that article is unhappy with what he earns as a server he can flip burgers at McDonald's.”

That’s absolutely outrageous because you have no idea whether or not the person who wrote that “article” is a “kid “ and you dismissed the valid observations out of hand and went straight to the old “If you don’t like it, leave” garbage that is the pat response from so many people on so many subjects, without the slightest trace of empathy and understanding. And I’m still waiting for you to inform us where all these lazy and incompetent servers are working. Do tell!

The article said that the person is a college graduate trying to get money to go to graduate school. Someone in that situation is usually in their early to mid 20s. Compared to my age, that's a kid.

The article also said that he/she "would be happy to get you what you need to make your dinner experience great". If they are not providing reasonable service that would be expected of a server then they are not making a dinner experience great. If they are overloaded and have to cover too much area and do not have time for drink refills, etc., I can understand that. However, when someone drops off the food and I never hear from them again (would you like a drink refill, care for any dessert this evening, etc?) but I see them standing in the back chit-chatting and they only make a second appearance to drop off my bill without saying a word, well that takes it to a different level.

I already said an hour ago that the two times I did not leave a tip were many, many decades ago. I believe one of those times was a Denny's back in the 1970s. I mentioned the poor service to the manager at the urging of the cashier and they called me the next day and asked us to come back and they would make it up to us. They said they had complaints from others about that server.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

At Disney World the entire tip goes to server. It is the servers choice if and how much they tip their bartenders and server assistants. Management has no say in the tipping process to coworkers. In general at Disney the more you help a server the more they will tip you. At universal servers are required to tip bartenders and sever assistants a set amount based on sales.

So they’re still tipping out.

 

[Eric Graham]

I worked as a busboy for my first job when I was 15. I ended up getting paid more than many of the servers there since they pooled tips. Also, I made extra money helping the bartenders cover the glasses during "bug nights" where they sprayed the retaurant. I was going to work as a landscaper that year, but they wanted me to pay a small fortune for my own uniform.

 

[Eric Graham]

Now I've heard that the government is cracking down on the reporting of tips. So awful!

 

[Phonedave]

Restaurants are exempt from paying servers the minimum wage all other employers must meet. So it’s understood that their income will come primarily from tips.

U.S. restaurants are de facto separating food and service costs and counting on customers to tip servers enough to keep them in the job. In most cases, the tip amount is merely suggested up until a certain party size (usually 6) and then added to the check as an automatic gratuity. If tips were intended to be a gift for extraordinary service, this wouldn’t be done.

Rick Bayless, who owns several Chicago restaurants (and Frontera Cocina in DS) now adds a 20% “service charge” to all checks at his Chicago restaurants regardless of party size. It’s stated on the bill which also says “feel free to leave more if you enjoyed the service.”

Like it or not, tips are expected in our system and not treated by the restaurants, minimum wage laws or IRS regulations as gifts. It’s fine with me if people don’t like this and think the system should be different as long as they go along with the current one until changes occur.

The upside to tipping is that it does in fact encourage servers to go the extra mile in hopes of receiving a generous gratuity. I’ve heard many people say the service here is better than in countries where servers don’t rely on trips.

Whatever your thoughts on it, tips in the current system aren’t voluntary gifts to supplement a server’s income. They are the income.

This is fine (or acceptable, or expected, or whatever the agreed to term may be) in these cases, where the tips are indeed part of the expected income of the server, because the salary or wage of the server otherwise does not include these wages.

Where it is becoming an issue, is the prevalence of tip jars of recent. It seems that all sorts of places where people are paid a full salary wage (ie. tips are not part of their designed income) all of a sudden have tip jars on the counter or when you pay the tip screen comes up.

 

[Phonedave]

Who has said that a server is expecting too much for not enough work? Also, I want someone to tell me where all these awful waiters are working because I eat out at restaurants every night of the week and I can’t even remember the last time that I had service so bad that I considered not tipping. Not tipping is actually not even in my vocabulary but I honestly can’t even recall any instances of bad service recently or in the past.

I have had a few. I likely remember them because they were few and far between, but I have had some really bad servers. I know the difference between server issues and kitchen issues. I have had server issues. Sometimes so bad that I once had a different server come over and apologize, ask if they could help me, and say they did not know where my other server went.