Should what happens at Applebee's stay at Applebee's?

[Speed Daemon]

Normally in China you don't pay tips anyway, and nor are they expected.

LOL...of course not! Not in a Communist country!

 

[Speed Daemon]

Jhawk, don't know if we're the exception or not, but if our delivery drivers (who are paid just slightly below min. wage, ~$6/hr I think) don't make at least min wage, we pay the difference. Granted, this has never happened and they make a ton with tips, but it's how we operate.

For the record, when I delivered food for a pizza restaurant, I got no hourly wages whatsoever. I was a 1099 contractor, not an employee, which is how businesses get around the worker protection rules.

I got $1.25 per delivery, which just barely covered the cost of buying, fueling and maintaining the car that I needed to do my job. I got no pay for mileage, and no tax breaks either under the then-new Voodoo Economics tax laws.

Tips were the difference between me making a living and working hard for nothing. I netted $20 a night on average, and if there was no delivery business, I didn't get paid.

The waitresses at the other restaurant in out mini-mall considered getting less than $250 a shift "disastrous". They got paid $1.00 an hour; the rest was tips.

 

[Speed Daemon]

I do leave a tip, usually around 10% which I believe is customary over here, but then the people serving us are paid a minimum wage!

Do you know that as a fact, or are you just assuming that? Have you really checked up on every restaurant you went to?

 

[Speed Daemon]

I'm not a server, but was told by a friend who had been a waitress for years, that if a server does not get an 8% tip, they are losing out from their check.

Good point. Thanks to "get tough" laws, the IRS and state governments tax waitstaff based on a calculation of what they might get if everyone tipped them well. Yet another example of "preventive law enforcement" harming innocent people.

 

[ocnbrze]

ok so this is my take:

first off, should the customer have written on the check like that?.....no.

should the waitress even though she did not serve the table get fired?......yes.

betraying the trust of a customer on behalf of the restaurant is not good. you have to remember that even though you are off of work showing any company related material like that is a no no for an employee. the receipt is a company document and posting that should be against most company policies.

now i'm not siding with the pastor. i think what she did was not right and that she is getting what she deserves. i feel really bad for the waitress, but she should not have posted it. i understand the importance of it. but she has got to understand that and how the internet works. she should know that it was going to comeback and bite her.

 

[Petrah]

Wow.

Let me start off by stating that waiters and waitresses should be tipped if they've earned it. That is without a doubt how I've always felt.

However, this bothers me: "What we do know is that separate checks came, each noting that an automatic 18 percent tip had been added, per the usual policy for parties of 6 or more." Um, no no no no no. I'll decide weather or not to pay for the tip. If they've earned it then they get 20%, no questions asked. If they don't, then I do not tip. Simple as that. But don't add it automatically on the bill for me. Just no.

I don't care for Applebee's, although I'm sure other, if not all, restaurants hold this practice with large parties.

How the Pastor handled it was bad. People can be mean when you make a mistake, and unfortunately I don't foresee this being let go anytime soon.

 

[sntaylor]

Do you know that as a fact, or are you just assuming that? Have you really checked up on every restaurant you went to?

It is basically an assumption, but based on law! I will grant you that there will be some restaurants that use illegal immigrants that won't be registered as working, or family members who may not see their full pay(often wouldn't see tips either!) But the vast majority of places are above board!

Having said that, there are differences in the minimum wage depending on age, 14 year Olds pay is lower than 16 , 18+..... But what work they can do is varied!

Tips should be a bonus for good fast friendly service, not to be relied on to be able to work!

 

[Speed Daemon]

It is basically an assumption, but based on law!

Maybe that's the law in Scotland but it's not the law in many US states.

The laws vary from state to state, and US federal law stipulates a minimum hourly wage of $2.13/hr. for wait staff, regardless of the state. That's a lot less than the general minimum wage in most states!

Generally speaking, jobs that traditionally rely on commissions or tips for a substantial portion of the employee's total income are exempt from "regular" minimum wage laws.

The bottom line is that "exempt" workers rely on your tips more than any other form of remuneration. If they take your order and deliver your food, they're entitled to some kind of a tip. Maybe not a great tip, but at least something.

I don't know of any restaurant where the wait staff prints the menus or programs the POS terminals to add mandatory service charges. So if the customer has a problem with a mandatory service charge, the right place to take the complaint is to the restaurant's management, not to the wait staff.

I know that there will always be certain people who have endless excuses to justify being cheapskates. That doesn't make it right however. I personally prefer to practice the Golden Rule. A clear conscience is priceless IMO.

 

[sntaylor]

Thanks for clearing that up, it still doesn't really make complete sense,

A minimum wage that isn't the minimum wage...but then the world series played by only one country and football in a sport that mainly handles the ball.... the "pants"thing, well that's just a difference in cultures

 

[jhawkkw]

Thanks for clearing that up, it still doesn't really make complete sense,

A minimum wage that isn't the minimum wage...but then the world series played by only one country and football in a sport that mainly handles the ball.... the "pants"thing, well that's just a difference in cultures

Technically, the world series is played by two countries. Toronto (Canada) has a team and won two world series in the early 90s. There was also a team in Montreal, but they moved that franchise to Washington DC.

 

[zuben el genub]

The players are really getting multinational - Most of the Asian countries now have players in MLB. One pitcher was from Australia. There is one player from Curacao - he said he wasn't playing in the Dutch baseball championship. Curacao is Dutch.

New rule lets interpreters go to the mound with the manager.

 

[unnamedny]

I really don't know how this works, but If I order a bottle of wine for $300 does it mean I owe $54 to a waiter for bringing it to my table?

 

[breadnatty08]

I really don't know how this works, but If I order a bottle of wine for $300 does it mean I owe $54 to a waiter for bringing it to my table?

Not that I order wine that expensive, but I usually take into account the beverage charge before tipping. Let's say our meal comes out to $350, but wine is $60 from that. That's a crutch in tipping in that if it really was great, you got some tips from the server or sommelier, then including the beverage for tip is what we'll do. Leaving a $50-$70 tip sounds ridiculous, but if it's something you only do a couple times a year and you had great service, go for it.

 

[jhawkkw]

Imagine if you were a celebrity and bought a bottle valued in the 1000's.

 

[Speed Daemon]

Thanks for clearing that up, it still doesn't really make complete sense,

A minimum wage that isn't the minimum wage...

IMHO the important thing to recognize here is that the system is a lot more complicated than just one "one size fits all" thing. For most every rule there are exceptions. And, like it or not, there are methods of payment other than wages. Like tipping, for example.

 

[ocnbrze]

so this whole thing reminds of that scene in reservoir dogs

now this is NSFW as it is un-edited with bad words:

Spoiler

i do not agree with mr pink's view on tipping.

 

[sntaylor]

IMHO the important thing to recognize here is that the system is a lot more complicated than just one "one size fits all" thing. For most every rule there are exceptions. And, like it or not, there are methods of payment other than wages. Like tipping, for example.

I understand that different professions and industries will naturally have different "minimum wages" but those trend not to be set by governments as they are often above a national minimum wage, which is what I took as being initially stated that waitresses/waiters get below this....

Clearly they have their own industrial minimum, but in no country should that be below the national min.

I am lucky as just before Christmas my workplace (local council) introduced a"living wage" giving a rise to all low paid employees, many getting nearly 75p per hour rise.... It is now sitting around