Quote Originally Posted by armin View Post
I graduated college recently but am still serving while looking for a career. People that don't tip drive me nuts, esepcially the people that come in and get a kick out of treating you like jack and being inconsiderate and rude and then leaving something like a buck on 50$, makes me wana choke em. Due to some jacked up and outdated laws servers still only make 2.14 an hour, half of what original minimum wage used to be, minimum wage has since gone up to like 7+ and server wage has stayed the same. As long as there is no laws in place restaurants will just continue to pay servers 2.14 an hour and servers will be dependent on tips, which has been really shitty over the last year tip income has gone down considerably due to the economy. In case anyone is wondering 18-20% is a good tip, 15% is ok and anything below that is garabage since most waiters have to tip out about 5% of their tips to bussers, bar, front desk and such. Ok that's my rant sorry to bore. To answer the question I always tip 30% min
$2.14 an hour is criminal and I cannot understand how they can get away with that. You are willing to get angry at the customer, but at the end of the day it is the industry and lack of regulation that allows your boss to get away with not giving you a fair minimum living wage. That's where the money should be coming from. If I ever went to America, knowing how they treat waiters I would certainly tip. I feel less obliged in the UK where workers definitely earn more than that, but still in that industry they are probably not having their earnings declared by their bosses and the money is still mediocre. I would feel obliged to tip. But I would still have my thinking of "Why should I tip here when other cultures don't have this system and function just fine without it?".

There are some interesting comments about tipping here if anyone is interested. Personally, I find it quite a fascinating area.

If employers pay their waiters/waitresses a wage to provide services to customers, why is it customary (and expected) to tip? | Notes and Queries | guardian.co.uk