Tipping Etiquette

Mame wrote:

Maybe some people can multi-task easier than others - I've never understood why a server bringing some water to one table can't nip over to another one and check on things, then on the way to the kitchen, give another new table some menus and say that you'd be right with them - some people can only do one thing at a time. If you know the menu, the prices, the vagaries of the cook that day, what's the problem? I loved it when I was doing it. I'd do it again if I didn't live in such an expensive city and was willing to work nights.

I admit I did leave out the distinct possibility that it was easy for you simply because you're good at remembering a million things at a time. Smile

I don't have the best short-term memory, so it's certainly possible that it was just a lot harder for me than for you. However, when you're saying that it's not that hard of a job, you might take into account that you're in the minority in feeling that way-- I know most other people who've actually done it felt like it was a real challenge to be good at it. I mean, just look at the range of things people have said in this thread about what they want from a server. It's tough to learn to read which people are going to be offended if you come back too often, and which want a lot of attention. Some people want you to take their drink order immediately, and others are irritated if you ask too soon...there's just more to it than plop the plate down with a smile and ask if it's what they ordered.

Quote:

And I wasn't trying to bash Americans. I am very fond of my American relatives and friends; I also said I'd seen some rude Canadians. I think Americans do tend to be a bit more vocal and to be frank, the servings are usually the issue.

Sorry, I guess I can see how you read my response as thinking you were bashing Americans, but I didn't think that at all. (I was just focusing on being sure no one read me as making gross generalizations about Canadians.) Let me stress again, I am NOT being sarcastic-- I wonder if on the whole Americans are more of a pain to wait on. Boy, do I know what you mean about the portion size issue. I'd serve people a meal that would be two meals for me, and they'd complain about it being skimpy... Rolling Eyes

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What irks me is that breakfast and lunch portions are huge, while the dinner portions tend to be smaller while costing more for the otherwise same thing.

I almost always have leftovers from the first two meals and then am left hungry and eating too much bread at the third.

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Walter Hinteler wrote:

jpinMilwaukee wrote:
I emailed my sister yesterday and asked her this:

Would you rather get paid a lower hourly wage and make tips or a higher hourly wage and no (or at least less) tips?...

I'm sure, you would get similar responses here when you'd ask .... only pointing 180° in a different direction

Well why don't you go ask them and get back to us, Walter.

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I can actually only rely to what I know from surveys and what I'm told - noone I know of what like that.
(That might certainly a German-like attitude: it's better to know that you've always at least $2,000 in your pocket than less.)

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Walter Hinteler wrote:

I can actually only rely to what I know from surveys and what I'm told - noone I know of what like that.
(That might certainly a German-like attitude: it's better to know that you've always at least $2,000 in your pocket than less.)

Well... you should tell your fellow Germans that they are losing out on earning potential with an attitude like that.

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I agree with JP. Incentive is what makes capitalism work.

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jpinMilwaukee wrote:

Well... you should tell your fellow Germans that they are losing out on earning potential with an attitude like that.

Actually, in the end they get more - compared at least with the figures here on the thread - and most of it guaranteed!

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And the lack of it makes socialism fail.

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Walter Hinteler wrote:

jpinMilwaukee wrote:

Well... you should tell your fellow Germans that they are losing out on earning potential with an attitude like that.

Actually, in the end they get more - compared at least with the figures here on the thread - and most of it guaranteed!

How much do German servers make per hour and how much is a standard tip?

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Well, as said, we don't get paid by hour but earn a monthly salary here.

An average waiter, in a normal, a bit better restaurant here in our village gets about $2,000 per month (39 hours work per week, five days).
All above gets paid extra (between 25% and 50% surplus re overtime, Sunday/public holiday work etc).
60% of the salary additionally in December. (Not sure how much the extra vacation payment is, seems to be a private arrangement between employer and employees nowadays.)

Generally, people give between 5% to 10% tips. (I suppose, here, in our village, $50 per day would be the minimum, even on bad days like now in rainy November.)

Six weeks holidays are paid, of course without tips as well as you don't get tips but the same salary when ill :wink:

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2000 * 12 months = $24,000 a year
24,000/52 weeks = $461.54 a week
$461.54/ 39 hours a week = 11.83 an hour

So lets figure 11.83 an hour plus a tip percentage of 10%

If you were to only serve 3 tables per hour with each bill being $30 (a midrange restaurant with 2 people eating) you would make 11.83 an hour plus $9 in tips for a total of 20.83 an hour.

My sister in NY making $5 an hour plus 20% tips would make $23 working that same hour ($5 an hour plus $18 in tips).

A difference of $2.17 for that same hour.

So you see, Walter, your earnings potential is extremely limited by a higher wage per hour and smaller tip percentage. Had the bills been higher than that, your servers in Germany would have lost out on even more money. The time higher hourly wages help is when the server is not actively serving tables.

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Earning potential may seem limited but there is something to be said for being able to forecast one's budget within a reasonable guaranteed income with paid sick days and paid vacation days. I'd be very surprised if most American restaurants paid the latter.

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one item that needs to be included when comparing income , is the cost of health-insurance .
i've noticed that several a2k posters from the united states have said that they either cannot get proper health insurance or that the cost is out of their reach . i believe those were people actually in the workforce or business people .
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while this has nothing to do with tipping , the "three big" car manufacturers have more than once said that one of the reasons for maintaining car manufacturing facilities in canada (ontario specifically) is the (government)health insurance . to put it simply : it lowers their production costs .
while i don't know what individuals have to pay for health-insurance in the united states , several studies have shown the premiums to be much lower on the canadian side - and you are never 'uninsurable' or have to pay a higher premium for any reason .
speaking personally , knowing that i have adequate and reasonably priced health-insurance gives me a great deal of comfort .
hbg

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hbg, Health insurance is a big issue in the US. When Bush took over the white house, our country had 39 million Ameriacns without health insurance. Those numbers increased to over 46 million after Bush ran our country for six years.

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jpinMilwaukee wrote:

If you were to only serve 3 tables per hour with each bill being $30 (a midrange restaurant with 2 people eating) you would make 11.83 an hour plus $9 in tips for a total of 20.83 an hour.

A normal meal would be about $30, in a restaurant.

Of course, the monthly salary includes health insurance as well as payings for the pension.
And your sister gets 6 weeks paid holidays you said?
And since those people serve on Sundays as well - your sister gets 50% plus on those days? 25% on Saturdays?
(That are some the reasons why you generally earn more in various professions than we do here in Europe, I think.)

As said, as far as I'm told $50 per day as tips is thought to be a minimum (and therefore taxfree Laughing

).

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She does have insurance (Although admittedly most servers do not), I don't think she has paid vacation and even if she does it wouldn't be 6 weeks, and she does not get a boost in pay if she works weekends per hour, but does make more on tips on the weekend.

How do they figure a 25 or 50% increase for working weekends if you get paid by the month anyway?

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Well, that's regulated

a) by law
b) by tariff.

a) Labour law gives the minimum you must get.
b) tariff regulations usual are higher.

When I worked - as a leading social worker - on shifts in a home for disabled persons, I got a plus of nearly 50% to my regular wage due to working in night hours, on weekends and public holidays.

Actually, it's so easy to figure that I think, I misunderstood your question: everyone knows, when it's e.g. a Sunday or a public holiday.

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Walter Hinteler wrote:

Actually, it's so easy to figure that I think, I misunderstood your question: everyone knows, when it's e.g. a Sunday or a public holiday.

Right... but if you are paid for the whole month, how do they figure an extra 50% if you worked 2 Sundays during the month. I guess I am asking 50% of what?

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There's a theoretical hourly wage ... your salry is divided by the monthly hours - like you did it before. (Though that depends on the various tariffs: the one here in question isn't online with the actual wages but only with the general description.)

I was paid equivalent to civil servants ... but to their tariff as it was 10, 15 years before Crying or Very sad

(As hourly work that is, and only re overtime/weekends/nights etc)

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Give it up Walt... there's a reason we don't have hofbraus on every corner... though I wouldn't mind it.

Capitalism thrives on incentives. Socialism strangles ambition.

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Tipping Etiquette

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