Re: Question on Tipping
I used to work at Jason's Deli. There, about half the time your food is brought to you (if it's large or if it's something that takes a little while to make), and someone cleans your table. Drinks are self-service. Nobody tipped on credit card receipts since you pay before you get your food or anything. Every once in a while people would leave cash (such as a dollar or two) on a table. If I had to guess I would say it was probably around 1 out of 50 tables.
I'm not saying it's right or wrong, but that's about how it was. If you left cash on the table, it obviously isn't going anywhere other than the busser's pockets. The busser at Jason's Deli always had to work really hard and move really fast for about a couple hours during lunch hour to keep enough tables clear for more people coming in. On the other hand, giving a tip just for cleaning off a table does sound like a bit much. On the other hand though, I would say they do more work than a car hop at Sonic, who simply had to walk a short distance and come back. As opposed to a busser who had to walk around pushing a heavy cart (I had to do it sometimes, and that thing was extremely hard to push even for a guy after it got loaded with dishes), constantly stack up dishes, and clean up after a lot of people that seem to get ranch dressing everywhere after devouring their salad. At some places, the busser doesn't even push a cart around, but has to go back and forth carrying dishes. Again, it may not need a full 15% or anything, but it's way more work than a Sonic car hop.
I think the main reason only about 1 out of 50 people tip a busser at a place like Jason's Deli as opposed to a car hop at Sonic or even the person that fills up your drink at a buffet, is that the person that busses your table is usually never seen. They come after you leave. When you never have to look a person in the eye you probably won't feel guilty for not leaving a tip.
I say just tip in proportion to what they do. Out of all the services one could provide, how many did they provide and how difficult were they? Perhaps tip 50 cents at Jason's Deli where it only goes to the busser. Perhaps at a buffet where plates are taken, but drinks are not refilled or food is not ordered or brought, tip $1. If it's a buffet where drinks are refilled and plates are taken away, tip $2, and so on. I know leaving 50 cents might sound lame and insignificant, but if a busser at Jason's Deli got 50 cents with every table at lunch hour, he/she would make out pretty well and be pretty happy. With car hops, I say just simply round up (if you're paying cash), or 50 cents if you're doing credit card.
Also, I think just judging by the amount of service they do as opposed to doing a percentage of the cost makes more sense. Why should a waiter at an upscale restuarant that serves you 3 expensive gourmet burgers make twice as much in tips as someone at a hole-in-the-wall that brought you 3 cheap burgers? They probably did the same amount of work, one just brought out cheaper food. I don't believe it's harder to carry more "gourmet" food.
That's just my 2 cents. Also, when I worked for Jason's Deli I was a day time delivery driver. Most of my orders were basically catering orders to OKC business, hospitals, etc. Many of the orders were around $500 to over a thousand dollars. I'm not exaggerating at all when I say that roughly 50% of people would tip at all.
Take into account someone had to make about 100 sandwhiches, cut them up into quarters, and arrange them onto trays. Someone then had to stack them all up in their car, gather utensils, chips, etc. Someone then had to drive across OKC on expensive gas, haul everything up, usually taking mulitple trips going up and down elevators to the 10th floor of some downtown tower or OU medical tower. Said person than had to set everything up on a table.
Most of the people that didn't tip were pharmaceutical reps buying for hospital offices that hadn't arrived yet (but conveinently didn't tell any nurse to put on a tip or add one over the phone when the order was put in), or a receptionist that signs the receipt, but doesn't tip because the boss didn't tell her to leave one. In other words, these reps or business people or doctors didn't have to actually look the delivery driver in the eye, so they usually didn't feel guilty about not leaving a tip.
Of course, the occaisonal 10% tipper with a $500 order (so a $50 tip), would usually make up for the non-tippers and we'd make out pretty well, but it was still pretty shocking. The most extreme example when I worked there was on a $16,000 order, where workers actually had to work overnight baking cookies, etc, and vans had to be borrowed and many people had to be brought. The tip was absolutely 0. It was for a well-known OKC event. I can tell who it was if anyone cares.
Again, just my two cents.
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Originally Posted by JuJuBeans
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