If you're a server, bartender, hostess etc., what are your concerns regarding the wage increase? I've been hearing from friends and coworkers that they're worried about actually netting less income as a result of the wage increase.
Has anyone experienced this first-hand yet?
Posted Oct 2, 2018, 1:36 AM UTC
Our restaurant is Increasing tip out to the house from 6% to 7%. Meaning if someone doesn’t tip on a 100$ bill. We have to give 7$ out of our own pockets. Similarly, if someone tips 10% on that bill, we keep only 3$ and give away 7$ to the house. Somehow there are still people who don’t realize this is how it works. Maybe tipping is a tradition that should’ve been left in the past, but the fact of the matter is that that’s how things work right now. And until that changes I don’t see why customers choose to try to make a point by not leaving a tip when they receive great service. Last year there was a noticeable increase in tables leaving below 15% tips after the wage increase, which went away after a few months. We’re all terrified of what this final raise will do to tipping habits.
I love when people think they’re going to abolish tipping by just not tipping their server. That’s not making a difference, and that’s taking it out on the little guy - not the one actually calling the shots.
Amen. And in fact management/owners won’t even notice, because they’re getting the same amount regardless. Just the server who suffers.
Then work in a better industry 😂
What does that have to do with the point that I'm making...? I'm just saying, if people want to make a difference that's not how they're going to do it. Take it from someone in the industry ;)
But on the other hand if you get shit service should you be expected to tip anything ? We had a meal out recently the service was beyond bad, still left a tip but not 15%
That’s completely fine, in fact i would do the same. I’m not saying a tip should be given regardless of service. What I can never understand is when I serve a table for hours, giving great service the whole night, even stay longer just for them. And I’m greeted at the end of the night with 10%.
I agree that's not right either. I don't mind giving a good tip for good service.
I'm wondering if people have say a 200-300$ bill to pay, because of say a purchased bottles of wine, should the tip be as high? Individual drinks yes, because it took more time and labour to get those drinks.
Also when using payment machines, and selecting % amount it charges it based on the total bill including tax. If it's a small bill I don't mind, but on a larger bill I don't think percent should be after tax amount . What's your thought?
Both of those situations I agree is where the system is flawed. For example, Serving a 100$ bottle of wine takes the same amount of effort as a 30$ bottle of wine. But regardless of how true that is, the server is still tipping out the restaurant on a percentage of the total amount, no matter what. So if a table with a high bill tips less because they feel like their bill was wracked up by things that didn’t require any extra effort, the server could be walking away with nothing. Eg: 20$ tip on a 250$ bill. If tip out to the house is 7%, the server pockets a whopping $2.50 of that tip they were given. Luckily I don’t work in a place with expensive wine ha ha.
Follow-up question: Do you think employers are using this as an opportunity to make more money from their staff, rather than have the wage increase benefit the workers?
Do you think gouging employees is how the service industry makes money? They make money by people walking through their doors, they get people walking through their doors with great product and great service, they get great hospitality from happy service employees. Gouging them accomplishes nothing and the ones that do gouge their staff will shut down because they can't retain good enough employees to build revenue from customers walking in. Stop with the stupid pitch fork questions and give your head a shake.
No harm in asking. It's not an accusation.
Fair enough. Sorry, just having an over load with all these minimum wage threads, we need a mega thread or something.
I don’t think employers will intentionally take advantage of it. But they will have to adjust the hours employees can work to offset the increase while maintaining the sales to stay afloat. That’s what happened to a lot of businesses when the minimum wage increased in Toronto.
Increased tip out percentage to house, lower tips from customers, and hours getting cut because labour costs went up. Definitely concerned about making less now that last month. Most servers understand that they make more than minimum wage once you include average tips, but I wouldn’t consider it a job most people would want without that additional compensation. Customers can be really awful sometimes, upper management doesn’t always care about their serving staff and it’s often unpleasant hours to work. Not to mention, not having time during your shift to eat, drink or use the washroom if it’s busy.
Most places seem to be increasing the server’s tip out percentages to the HOUSE by 1%.
Netting less because people are going out less?
The assumption is that customers will be less inclined to tip, drink prices have gone up, and house tip (based on sales of the increased drink prices) has also gone up.
I think if anything they will net less because people are more inclined to come in for specials which are cost effective ways to get people in the door. I do think that tipping will dip back down from 20% to 15% (maybe as low as 10%) as people perceive the wage change. I don’t think the average consumer thinks even for a minute about tip out structures. I don’t think you’ll see any major changes until the Jan to Mar time frame. That’s when most businesses will be past the holiday bump and most patrons will be living with holiday debt
So now that $15 is across the board (that excuse that wait staff make below minimum no longer applies) can I just stop tipping? Like I don't tip other minimum wage workers, like when was the last time you tipped the guy helping you at Home Depot or the stocking staff at Walmart?
You were never forced to tip.
No. But ive been told off and ive even insulted by the wait staff...
I agree.
Do you tip when you’re provided a service? Do you tip your taxi drivers? Your barber/hair stylist? Genuinely curious if restaurants are the only place you tip.
I only tip at restaurants cause of the "less than minimum wage" argument. I thought of it as mandatory. Which i felt was fair. I do not tip anyone else unless they provide service that was better than expected. Movers? Hair dressers? Taxi? I dont usually tip, as they arent usually "better than expected".
Im just curious, if stopping tipping wont make restaurants change, what will? Just stop eating there? Have the servers all quit at once?
To stop tipping your servers because you want to see change is a really naive idea, especially at chain-stores. It doesn’t affect the people who actually call the shots in any way or form. They probably won’t even be aware that their servers aren’t being tipped. It’s not on their radar to care.
Nothing is mandatory, you always have a choice. The easy complicit one is for you to tip (or not), the hard one is to actually try and make actions to see the changes you’d like.
I heard from a friend in retail today, their wage and commission structure changed to reflect the minimum wage and they're anticipating a loss
How has morale been? I was hoping this would be a big improvement for everyone, but it seems like a lot of worker morale has been negatively effected.
Why the hell would they accept that?
Because, While Calgary struggles, retail workers are easy to replace.