What I think might be missing from this otherwise thoughtful piece is that the majority of states in the USA have "tip-credit," in which the server is not making a full minimum wage. The restaurant industry pays far less in actual taxes than the jewelry or mortgage industry, because they pay only a small percentage in salary to folks who are expected to make up the difference in tips.
Add to that, a somm is a higher-paid employee - years of experience, education - they do far more than serve, they are also selecting a wine menu and participating in cocktail development with the chef de cuisine.
Of course, Oregon is a special place where we insist that our service industry be paid full-minimum wage - but in that is the word "minimum" which is horrifying and basic.
A mortgage specialist can probably do fine affording a life at 40 hours a week, more or less. So can a jewelry counterperson, who is paid a flat salary plus a commission on sales. But that poor (I mean that in the fiscal sense, not the emotional sense) sandwich gal is not likely going to ever buy a house at $14.20 an hour.
Contrast to Europe where even servers are paid a living wage - and it's why beers in Switzerland are $14, sure - and they don't need tips.
Not to shame you! You were shamed in turn! But this is important to consider.
Al valid points, Judy. However, my tipping practice is one based on the kind of service I receive, not on the intricacies of the various economic models at work in the economy. Moreover, nothing about service provided by the the fiscally-challenged sandwich gwoman was personal or unique to me, unlike the server at a sit down restaurant or the dealer who give me a pair of Kings. I think a place like sandwich shops, if they believe there is justification for additional payment beyond the stated price and without providing any personal service of any kind, ought to simply add a service fee that can be used to pay employees more. Finally, this all leads me to ask, should I tip the person at the counter of 7/11 when I buy a Slurpee (I like the cola flavor) or at the drive through fast food restaurant or to greeter at Walmart?
But Tom, it's not an "intricacy" of restaurant economics - it's baked into the entire experience and social contract of patronizing any restaurant in the United States. They have been exempt from minimum wage laws for as long as any of us have been alive, for the express reason that a baseline level of tips/gratuity will be received for any baseline level of service. Then more if the service is more. SHOULD it be this way? Of course not. But the restaurant industry has lobbied successfully to keep it this way for over a century. If you're drafting your own personal treatise on how to tip w/o acknowledging (or caring) how and why we have the social contract and set-up we do in this country regarding restaurants and related service staff, that unfortunately is something worth being shamed for.
The coffee house/sandwich shop tip is a different story - these are fully minimum wage slaves, so tips are not covering for the fundamentals. But having worked these jobs myself, the tips do very much make a difference (they're split evenly amongst the staff that day, so the person who made the sandwich, coffee, what have you, who wiped down the tables, cleaned the floors, etc. are all included.) But again, this is a social contract issue - the practice began because minimum wage has not in fact kept up with inflation. So if you want to partake of these services, there is an expectation now of a bare minimum tip for services, usually $1 per transaction, more if there was something exceptional happening to give more for.
Personally, I think baseline gratuities should simply be automatic - if it's a $1 service fee per transaction at the sandwich shop, or 18% baseline at a restaurant, just make it the expected, necessary thing that it is. From that baseline, your personal philosophy/approach to "tipping" (aka giving more for more) works beautifully. But "tipping" in the States is not a "hmm, did you earn this with something exceptional?" question, even though we frustratingly make it optional - even after artificially depressing these workers wages saying they'll make up for it in tips - and therefore suggest that this is the case.
We could change baseline wages and product prices, and then become like Europe where tipping is optional and even offensive. Or like the service people who don't ask for tips of any kind, because their employment contract is sufficient as is. But until we do, we can't compare these things apples to apples, and pretend it's a fair consideration and the serious discrepancy between them not our problem.
Tipping in restaurants is a uniquely American thing. My French friends are appalled. They want to know the real price of things, and in France, the listed price is what you pay. If there is great service, you might leave a euro coin - a true gesture of appreciation. The equivalent here is the slight overtip. Having been a server myself, I like to round up. Anything even slightly over 20% is seen as grateful generosity waiters remember. I also delight in overtipping breakfast waitresses (why are they always women?). Since I'm getting the same level of service as I would for a $50 dinner, I might go ahead and leave $5 for a $12 breakfast.
Checking into a hotel in Australia, I once handed a bellman a AUS$5 note for bringing my bags to my room. He was furious. Handing it back with some rudeness, he said "Sir, I make perfectly good money here and I don't need your charity." Now that's a tipping culture I can get with.
It's also important to distinguish between a gratuity and a bribe. If I receive particularly good and attentive service from the waitress at the House of Pancakes I too might tip $5 on a $15 bill. It's a "thank you". If I check into a hotel I will be staying at for three day or more, I might tip the front desk person $20 or more, look them in the eye and tell them, "Thank you, I appreciate your attention.". It's a bribe, of sorts, meant to garner additional attention during my stay.
Ah! A "service fee" or "service charge" goes to the restaurant for overhead, such as credit card charges, not to increase the base salary.
And I don't think the sandwich shop thinks that there is any justification for their employees getting extra money....if they did, they would raise prices and wages....
I don't think we can have a valid conversation about paying tips unless we discuss why they would need/expect those tips in the first place or the laws that support the restaurant owners.
As to the 7-11 answer - or Walmart or fast-food restaurant - those workers are not covered, legally, under tip-credit and thus do not receive them. I try to tip my gas station attendants when I have extra cash.
The vast majority of restaurants don't have a service charge. Neither to food counter places. So, presumably an added on service charge COULD go to supporting higher pay, right? I've tipped gas station attendants also, but usually not out of habit, but if they have been particularly helpful or attentive. By the way, when I first moved to Oregon I thought the rule that gas had to be pumped by an attendant was ridiculous and silly. Now....I adore the service.
The reason we tip waiters in America is because their "wage" tends to be about $2.37 an hour, a figure that has remained unchanged for decades. Restaurant owners, of course, can choose to pay waiters a decent hourly salary, but why would they want to do that, economically-speaking. (Compassion might be a good motive.) We don't tip the barista or the person who hands you a sandwich because they are salaried workers, not that the salary is great, of course.
Is that why we tip the person who brings good to our table with a smile, gives good recommendations, and good banter? I don't know. I just gave the tip. I also realized there was a higher level of engagement and service and attention that was paid to me by the servicer. I never thought about their wages. And what about the $200 bottle of wine. Do I pay 20% for that and 20% for the $50 bottle of wine. Same effort by the server, but a $30 additional tip for the $200 bottle.
What I think might be missing from this otherwise thoughtful piece is that the majority of states in the USA have "tip-credit," in which the server is not making a full minimum wage. The restaurant industry pays far less in actual taxes than the jewelry or mortgage industry, because they pay only a small percentage in salary to folks who are expected to make up the difference in tips.
Add to that, a somm is a higher-paid employee - years of experience, education - they do far more than serve, they are also selecting a wine menu and participating in cocktail development with the chef de cuisine.
Of course, Oregon is a special place where we insist that our service industry be paid full-minimum wage - but in that is the word "minimum" which is horrifying and basic.
A mortgage specialist can probably do fine affording a life at 40 hours a week, more or less. So can a jewelry counterperson, who is paid a flat salary plus a commission on sales. But that poor (I mean that in the fiscal sense, not the emotional sense) sandwich gal is not likely going to ever buy a house at $14.20 an hour.
Contrast to Europe where even servers are paid a living wage - and it's why beers in Switzerland are $14, sure - and they don't need tips.
Not to shame you! You were shamed in turn! But this is important to consider.
Al valid points, Judy. However, my tipping practice is one based on the kind of service I receive, not on the intricacies of the various economic models at work in the economy. Moreover, nothing about service provided by the the fiscally-challenged sandwich gwoman was personal or unique to me, unlike the server at a sit down restaurant or the dealer who give me a pair of Kings. I think a place like sandwich shops, if they believe there is justification for additional payment beyond the stated price and without providing any personal service of any kind, ought to simply add a service fee that can be used to pay employees more. Finally, this all leads me to ask, should I tip the person at the counter of 7/11 when I buy a Slurpee (I like the cola flavor) or at the drive through fast food restaurant or to greeter at Walmart?
But Tom, it's not an "intricacy" of restaurant economics - it's baked into the entire experience and social contract of patronizing any restaurant in the United States. They have been exempt from minimum wage laws for as long as any of us have been alive, for the express reason that a baseline level of tips/gratuity will be received for any baseline level of service. Then more if the service is more. SHOULD it be this way? Of course not. But the restaurant industry has lobbied successfully to keep it this way for over a century. If you're drafting your own personal treatise on how to tip w/o acknowledging (or caring) how and why we have the social contract and set-up we do in this country regarding restaurants and related service staff, that unfortunately is something worth being shamed for.
The coffee house/sandwich shop tip is a different story - these are fully minimum wage slaves, so tips are not covering for the fundamentals. But having worked these jobs myself, the tips do very much make a difference (they're split evenly amongst the staff that day, so the person who made the sandwich, coffee, what have you, who wiped down the tables, cleaned the floors, etc. are all included.) But again, this is a social contract issue - the practice began because minimum wage has not in fact kept up with inflation. So if you want to partake of these services, there is an expectation now of a bare minimum tip for services, usually $1 per transaction, more if there was something exceptional happening to give more for.
Personally, I think baseline gratuities should simply be automatic - if it's a $1 service fee per transaction at the sandwich shop, or 18% baseline at a restaurant, just make it the expected, necessary thing that it is. From that baseline, your personal philosophy/approach to "tipping" (aka giving more for more) works beautifully. But "tipping" in the States is not a "hmm, did you earn this with something exceptional?" question, even though we frustratingly make it optional - even after artificially depressing these workers wages saying they'll make up for it in tips - and therefore suggest that this is the case.
We could change baseline wages and product prices, and then become like Europe where tipping is optional and even offensive. Or like the service people who don't ask for tips of any kind, because their employment contract is sufficient as is. But until we do, we can't compare these things apples to apples, and pretend it's a fair consideration and the serious discrepancy between them not our problem.
Tipping in restaurants is a uniquely American thing. My French friends are appalled. They want to know the real price of things, and in France, the listed price is what you pay. If there is great service, you might leave a euro coin - a true gesture of appreciation. The equivalent here is the slight overtip. Having been a server myself, I like to round up. Anything even slightly over 20% is seen as grateful generosity waiters remember. I also delight in overtipping breakfast waitresses (why are they always women?). Since I'm getting the same level of service as I would for a $50 dinner, I might go ahead and leave $5 for a $12 breakfast.
Checking into a hotel in Australia, I once handed a bellman a AUS$5 note for bringing my bags to my room. He was furious. Handing it back with some rudeness, he said "Sir, I make perfectly good money here and I don't need your charity." Now that's a tipping culture I can get with.
It's also important to distinguish between a gratuity and a bribe. If I receive particularly good and attentive service from the waitress at the House of Pancakes I too might tip $5 on a $15 bill. It's a "thank you". If I check into a hotel I will be staying at for three day or more, I might tip the front desk person $20 or more, look them in the eye and tell them, "Thank you, I appreciate your attention.". It's a bribe, of sorts, meant to garner additional attention during my stay.
Ah! A "service fee" or "service charge" goes to the restaurant for overhead, such as credit card charges, not to increase the base salary.
And I don't think the sandwich shop thinks that there is any justification for their employees getting extra money....if they did, they would raise prices and wages....
I don't think we can have a valid conversation about paying tips unless we discuss why they would need/expect those tips in the first place or the laws that support the restaurant owners.
As to the 7-11 answer - or Walmart or fast-food restaurant - those workers are not covered, legally, under tip-credit and thus do not receive them. I try to tip my gas station attendants when I have extra cash.
The vast majority of restaurants don't have a service charge. Neither to food counter places. So, presumably an added on service charge COULD go to supporting higher pay, right? I've tipped gas station attendants also, but usually not out of habit, but if they have been particularly helpful or attentive. By the way, when I first moved to Oregon I thought the rule that gas had to be pumped by an attendant was ridiculous and silly. Now....I adore the service.
The reason we tip waiters in America is because their "wage" tends to be about $2.37 an hour, a figure that has remained unchanged for decades. Restaurant owners, of course, can choose to pay waiters a decent hourly salary, but why would they want to do that, economically-speaking. (Compassion might be a good motive.) We don't tip the barista or the person who hands you a sandwich because they are salaried workers, not that the salary is great, of course.
Is that why we tip the person who brings good to our table with a smile, gives good recommendations, and good banter? I don't know. I just gave the tip. I also realized there was a higher level of engagement and service and attention that was paid to me by the servicer. I never thought about their wages. And what about the $200 bottle of wine. Do I pay 20% for that and 20% for the $50 bottle of wine. Same effort by the server, but a $30 additional tip for the $200 bottle.
Tom, if you’re buying $200 bottles of wine, perhaps I need to reconsider my subscription. 😂🤣😁