No, I've never been a waiter. I've never carried someone else's luggage, cut hair, driven a taxi, or parked someone else's car. But I have worked in customer service. Most jobs are, in fact, customer service-related, even if they don't involve some kind of money transaction on the side. But the most famous job in which tipping is expected is being a waiter.
Let's read that again. "Job in which tipping is expected." It's baffling, really, that a job exists in which one gets paid a sum of money, then is "expected" to get more money from the customer. Unless, of course, you're in England, or you're in America serving British tourists. If you've ever been to the British Isles, you know that tipping is not customary over there, and the service (compared to North America) reflects that. They don't know that in the States, you must tip 15-20 percent on the average food bill, less than that if you're in a buffet-style restaurant, more if you're in a party of at least six, 10 percent on whatever bottle of wine you order, a dollar to the bartender for every drink, and — in some fancy restaurants — 5 percent for the waiter captain.
God, the British are lucky. Their only worries are (a) the strengthening Euro, and (b) Welshmen.
The concept is quite understandable. Performance-based salary is a noble concept, and there's really no other silver-bullet method beyond what the customers think, and their impressions on the wait service comes in the form of extra dollars. I don't fault that part of the system. Everyone loves money. But in a world where everyone in the government, media, and various Wal-Marts appear to be beyond correction ... how come 99 percent¹ of restaurant bills come with bonus money? If 99 percent of job tasks in the world were done successfully, we'd have already engineered a form of bacon that would cure leukemia and built a trash-powered car.
Article comments
1 - Joanne Huspek
Oh, hilarious.
I've been a waitress, and I can tell you that relying on tips is a brutal business. Which is why I was only a waitress for two weeks.
2 - Diana Hartman
most wait staff are paid less than minimum wage...the only thing i have ever been able to surmise is that somewhere along the way, employers figured out how to get the customer to pay some of the help directly...i think this is what airlines are doing now, but instead of calling it tips, they're calling it fees; and instead of giving it to the help, the airlines are making us long for the days of stagecoach rides...
i waitressed for over 20 years from the time i was 16...the public was largely generous - although i have no idea why, especially when some of my co-workers were blatant about licking utensils and wiping them "clean" before setting a table, screwing up orders beyond comprehension, spilling on customers and sometimes flirting with a man who was out with his wife...
i did well in the job...if it hadn't been for the tips, there's no way i could have afforded it, though...wait pay was and is abysmal...there were many days when tips paid for daycare, groceries and gas...that's probably not likely now...
3 - El Bicho
Mr. Pink doesn't tip
4 - STM
It's interesting that many Americans, having been told that tipping isn't necessary in Australia because the wage for hospitality staff is set by arbitration courts and is one they can actually live on, and probably isn't any lower than that of many American vacationers, decide not to tip when they come here so they can hang onto a few bucks. Fair enough too.
I've been a victim of that, however, when I was young and working as a waiter. I always thought: "Oh, great ... Yanks. They tip 20 per cent, not 10." But no, it never happened, although they were never nasty.
Despite them getting more attention than the Queen's corgis, they generally just paid the bill and left. It happened on a number of occasions, with a couple of notable exceptions.
I guess you have to see it from their point of view. After a lifetime of reaching into their pockets, it must be nice to be in a place where there's no expectation that you'll pay over and above, especially in a place like Sydney which is one of the most expensive cities in the world anyway, and can rest easy in the knowledge that you're not depriving anyone of the ability to pay next week's rent.
It's customary in Australia, especially in better restaurants (which might have been the problem in my case, because it wasn't) to tip waiters about 10 per cent if you like the food and service, but it's no big deal if you don't. Bar staff only expect you to leave your small change (which includes $1 and $2 coins in Oz) on the bar, and taxi drivers only expect that you might round out the bill with a small amount.
It's about cultural differences. Higher wages set by the courts mean that even "lowly" waiting staff don't need to depend on their tips to make a living, but will of course always be thankful if they have some cream on their cake.
The other side of the coin is that I have been stung by this in the US and have unknowingly upset people by not tipping. On my first visit there around '79/'80, I was in an outdoor bar with a few mates at a lovely place called (imaginatively :) Coconut Grove, and after a few hours the waitress turned around and delivered a stream of invective that would have made a sailor blush. Worse, it even made Australians blush.
The problem was, she had no understanding of cultural differences, and nor did we. She didn't realise that by not explaining to us her situation regarding tips, giving us a gobful only made us more determined not to leave her anything - partly too because we just didn't know any better.
Luckily, an American man who had travelled extensively, and who sat at a nearby table, understood the situation, and explained that situation both to her and to us - which resolved it.
But I must say, tipping every bastard is an impost in the US, especially when you don't live there and you're doing constant head-miles about how much you should tip so as not to offend.
On the other hand, I have had quite a few experiences in the US where people wouldn't let me pay a cent - including two cab drivers - just because I was Australian, so it all comes out in the wash.
It's one of the reasons I'm the first to speak up when I hear idiots putting sh.t on Americans.
Governments are problems everywhere, but from a foreigner's point of view, I can safely say the average American is about as hospitable a person as you'll find anywhere on this planet.
Just remember though guys ... 10 per cent at restaurants in OZ if you're happy with food and service :)
5 - Matthew T. Sussman
Then STM, how do you tip in an Australian restaurant located in Ireland?