Tipping is an abomination!

[Syt]

This thread, like any tipping thread on an international forum, really underlines the one demographic that really sucks isn't blacks or Hispanics or even poor whites, but fucking foreigners.  God, they're all terrible, whether polite German travelers, drunken Japanese businessmen, or Desi engineers with annoyingly-specific caste-based dietary needs.  If they haven't been in country a year, the legislation we should push for is for them to be barred from restaurants.

Alternatively, you could enforce minimum wages for waiting staff, so they don't have to rely on the kindness of strangers to make a living.

[Admiral Yi]

Tyr, sit down before you hurt yourself.  Yi, the money you give the waiter does not go directly to the waiter.  It typically goes to a big pot which management often dips into.  So you really aren't "Cutting out the middleman".

Pooled tips are the exception, not the rule.  Not once have I heard of management dipping into a tip pool.

Where do you get this stuff from Raz?

[Razgovory]

Tyr, sit down before you hurt yourself.  Yi, the money you give the waiter does not go directly to the waiter.  It typically goes to a big pot which management often dips into.  So you really aren't "Cutting out the middleman".

Pooled tips are the exception, not the rule.  Not once have I heard of management dipping into a tip pool.

Where do you get this stuff from Raz?

You could try reading the OP.

The laws regarding tip sharing and tip pooling, which occur in virtually every restaurant, are even more complicated. Federal law allows mandatory tip sharing, but only among employees who customarily receive either direct or indirect tips. That means servers, bussers, food runners, and hosts and hostesses can be required to pool their tips with each other, but not with managers. Unfortunately, the line between service and management is fuzzy in many restaurants, and differences between state laws further complicate matters. A California judge ordered Starbucks to pay $105 million in 2008 for forcing 100,000 baristas to share tips with supervisors. Last week, the New York Court of Appeals reached the opposite conclusion, ruling that New York law allows the arrangement. Chili's has also lost a multimillion dollar judgment over tip sharing.

[jimmy olsen]

Maybe American bars are very different to ones I'm used to...but surely you typically order more than once at a bar? For every beer you give a tip?

If you pay per drink, yeah. Most people get a tab though and just work out a tip for the final bill.

I agree with Yi, Raz, pooled tips are the exception.

[Admiral Yi]

That's bizarre.  Pooling tips is very rare in my experience.  Who else here works/has worked for tips?  Pooled or unpooled?

Though I don't think it's entirely accurate to describe Starbucks supervisors (who are just the poor schlubs slinging coffee that get to lock up) sharing tips as "management often dipping into it."

[Razgovory]

So what is your definition of management.

[Admiral Yi]

So what is your definition of management.

For a place like Starbucks I would say the store manager and the assistant manager on up.

What is your definition of often?

[Ideologue]

This thread, like any tipping thread on an international forum, really underlines the one demographic that really sucks isn't blacks or Hispanics or even poor whites, but fucking foreigners.  God, they're all terrible, whether polite German travelers, drunken Japanese businessmen, or Desi engineers with annoyingly-specific caste-based dietary needs.  If they haven't been in country a year, the legislation we should push for is for them to be barred from restaurants.

This is another annoying thing in tipping discussions. Often Americans will bitch about foreigners being cheap. That our culture of tipping is obviously exactly the same, we're just tight.
The American system really is very strange to people from most countries. It is very hard to actually grasp the intricacies.

No, it isn't.  I thought foreigners were supposed to be good at math?

Alternatively, you could enforce minimum wages for waiting staff, so they don't have to rely on the kindness of strangers to make a living.

I could also enforce, or let's be clear, advocate for, all sorts of things.  How many times has anything I've asked my government to do actually been done?  Only once, in living memory, when we invaded Iraq.

Since a change in the legal regime for tipped workers is probably impossible in America, it strikes me as easier to attempt to educate foreigners on our apparently arcane cultural practice of multiplying a number times .2, and hoping that they can comport themselves with some dignity when visiting my country.  Take solace in the fact that when in the Holy Roman Empire, I will happily do as you tell me the Holy Romans do.

[Razgovory]

So what is your definition of management.

For a place like Starbucks I would say the store manager and the assistant manager on up.

What is your definition of often?

Frequently.

It would appear that we are in agreement, since assistant managers and store manager on up were the ones getting in on the tip pool.  I've heard of many cases were management take a cut on tips.  It's sometimes illegal but exactly what is some waitress going to do about it?  Sue?

[Sophie Scholl]

Tyr, sit down before you hurt yourself.  Yi, the money you give the waiter does not go directly to the waiter.  It typically goes to a big pot which management often dips into.  So you really aren't "Cutting out the middleman".

Pooled tips are the exception, not the rule.  Not once have I heard of management dipping into a tip pool.

Where do you get this stuff from Raz?

Having worked in 5 bars, pooling has been done if the bartenders that are working together want to, but it isn't mandatory except at my current job.  Not only do we have to split with everyone who is in the bar, but also the giftshop and seemingly anyone else in the building.  It's a horrible plan and one of the reasons I'm leaving.  When I bust my ass and pull in $350 in tips during my two hours bartending solo and then have to clean up and reset by myself, I sure as fuck don't want to split it with the 15 people outside doing nothing during that time frame.  I have no problem with tipping out the door guys, barbacks, and other non-tipped positions and always made sure to do so out of my tips, but they generally make a different payrate per hour and have much less strenuous jobs.  I know, I've barbacked and bounced.

[11B4V]

That's bizarre.  Pooling tips is very rare in my experience.  Who else here works/has worked for tips?  Pooled or unpooled?

Rare from what I've seen. My other half has worked as a Bartender/Waitress at three different places since I've know her. Management has never dipped into anybody's tips. The shitty bartenders/servers love pools. The last place she worked one of the shitty bartenders tried to talk the others into a pool. They all said fuck no. On a busy night that person would clear $50-$60 working the bar and pull-tabs. I've seen my other half bring down $250 for a night. Highest she made in a night at the last place she worked was a tad over $400.

   

[11B4V]

It's a horrible plan and one of the reasons I'm leaving.  When I bust my ass and pull in $350 in tips during my two hours bartending solo and then have to clean up and reset by myself, I sure as fuck don't want to split it with the 15 people outside doing nothing during that time frame.  I have no problem with tipping out the door guys, barbacks, and other non-tipped positions and always made sure to do so out of my tips, but they generally make a different payrate per hour and have much less strenuous jobs.  I know, I've barbacked and bounced.

Very well said

[Ed Anger]

This thread, like any tipping thread on an international forum, really underlines the one demographic that really sucks isn't blacks or Hispanics or even poor whites, but fucking foreigners.  God, they're all terrible, whether polite German travelers, drunken Japanese businessmen, or Desi engineers with annoyingly-specific caste-based dietary needs.  If they haven't been in country a year, the legislation we should push for is for them to be barred from restaurants.

I like the cut of your jib.

[Warspite]

I hate tipping culture, and I've worked three jobs in the service industry.

[Malthus]

Seems the trend is setting in to tip 20%, in major US cities.

Here, it is still presumptively 15%. In fact, those little electronic billing machines have two settings for tipping: "15%" and "other", which then has to be entered manually.