Originally Posted By ssWEDguy Every once in a while you'll make a reservation and the quoted price will include "Pre-paid gratuities." A version of this at WDW is the 18% that is automatically figured into your bill if you have a larger group. I don't get this. Isn't a gratuity intended to be a "tip" from the guest for service above and beyond? So if it's "Pre-paid" then where's the incentive for extra quality service? Can I elect to "un-tip" a pre-paid gratuity if the service is less than expected? I don't think so. (I should try this someday) It seems to me that a "pre-paid gratuity" is just a way to pay the cast member less, and push part of their regular hourly pay off onto the guest.
Originally Posted By CMM1 You are talking about a procedure which is pretty much standard in many restaurants and/or hotels. I believe the reason that it is done is that is simply takes more staff to service such a large group and the higher rate means that all involved will be taken care of. Yes - it is no guarantee of good service but it is most likely more difficult to provide good service to a larger party than it is to a party of 2 or 4.
Originally Posted By Chelledun I used to be a waitress, and I can completely understand why they do this. Realistically speaking, some people are NEVER going to tip well, no matter how good the service is. Maybe they were brought up that way, or think they don't have enough money. I've had folks tell me the food and service was wonderful and then leave a buck on a $40 tab. My father-in-law used to do that, in fact, until I set him straight. If that happened to a server on a table of, say, 10 or 20, that could ruin your whole night. If you have a group that large then you likely won't have many other tables, and such large groups seem to linger. At my restaurant it was just a 15% automatic gratuity for parties of 6 or more. I usually left it off (we had the option) if the total was less than 8, banking on receiving more. With 8 or more, though, I just couldn't take that gamble. If service was really atrocious, the customer would complain to the maanger and the server would be in trouble. I think that is incentive enough to still provide excellent service. In general, servers are doing their best. No one WANTS to give bad service, make poeple mad, and receive bad tips or get in trouble. Since working as a waitress, I always like to cut people some slack.
Originally Posted By t1lersm0m <<You are talking about a procedure which is pretty much standard in many restaurants and/or hotels.>> Yes, I live in PA and many restaurants in my area do this also. I have a friend who feels that when you have a bigger party, you each only need to leave a buck or two. I don't understand that. Each person should leave 15-20% (if the service was good) based on their meal/drinks. I don't think that just saying let's each leave a buck or two is sufficient. Maybe a lot of people have that opinion, and that's why they have to do it. When a waiter/waitress services a big table, they must spend a lot more time/effort on that table. I don't necessarily agree with billing you for the tip, but that's because I leave good tiips. If there are people out there who feel the way my friend feels, then I understand why they have to do that.
Originally Posted By NJFIREGUY You know I was a Terrible Tipper until I Dated a Waitress who set me straight. You dont realize how much of their income actually comes from tips I dont like the tip added to the bill because I like to be sure it goes right into their pockets especially if its good service I dont even like to Tip on the Credit Card If I Charge a Dinner I usually Tip in Cash. That being said if the service is bad I would just complain regaurdless Id have to be REALLY angry to effect someones income.
Originally Posted By Disneymom443 My dd has waitressed, (where she worked they don't add the tip to the bill) and when she would work a large group and spend so much time on them and then only and a $1 or $2 it would make her upset. My DH has always left large tips. When we went to WDW in 03 the tip was put in the bill and he would leave 20% in cash. I've really only had one time when I didn't want my DH to leave a tip.. We were ordering,(DH,DD,DS& me)she took the orders and I hadn't given mine yet and she started to take the menue and walk away. I had to say... I would like.... Her responce was oh... She never came to see if we needed anything, and would only talk to my husband..... That would have made me mad if the tip was included.She did get on just not as big as my HD normally gives.
Originally Posted By Goofyernmost I can totally agree with that. I have seen so many people that just don't tip well because they still think $1.00 is a lot of money. My father in law had all kinds of money but my wife and I always supplemented the tip after he got up and walked away. Also if some do the math and see how much 15% is on a large group they get sticker shock and decide that's just too much money so they cut it back.
Originally Posted By jmishica If you are referring to the magic your way dining, I think it's great! It's an 18% tip, which is usually 2% less than I customarily tip, so I actually save while on vacation!
Originally Posted By vbdad55 If it's going to be 'mandatory' then raise the menu prices and pay the wait staff what they're worth. Instead we pay that portion, the restaurant doesn;'t have to pay their portion of SS on it....
Originally Posted By ssWEDguy >> If it's going to be 'mandatory' then raise the menu prices and pay the wait staff what they're worth. << See, this is what I'm talking about. I'm not begrudging the wait staff a decent income. But if the restaurant is already making it mandatory, haven't they already simply raised the price of everything on the menu by 18%, so that the wait staff can at least be decently compensated? But that 18% doesn't show up in the menu prices directly. It's kind of handled "under the table" and "after the fact."
Originally Posted By t1lersm0m ^^Well, the mandatory amount is only for large tables. How often do you really eat out with that many people? I personally only do once or twice a year. And you are basically right. The restaurant gets to pay the wait staff less, while not being taxed on the income they would be taxed on if we paid that money directly to the restaurant with higher prices. Unfortunately, that's the way it is in restaurants. And it doesn't stop them from raising prices every year or two. Sometimes more than once a year.
Originally Posted By Liberty Belle I don't like the tipping system in general - I guess I'm just not used to it because we don't have it in Australia, and it's always an irritation to me when we're travelling overseas and encounter it. Here waitstaff get paid a regular wage so they don't have to rely on tips, and you only leave a small tip if you really want to express your appreciation. I really dislike automatic tips that are included regardless of the size of your party, which I've experienced a couple of times. I agree, just raise the menu prices.
Originally Posted By ssWEDguy So, we'll raise the prices by 18% on the back end. Rather than raise the prices in the menu itself, where they would be noticed. ----------------------- One more question on all this -- Wouldn't it be a good thing if at least that 18% would go to the server that waited on you? I'm betting it doesn't. More likely that this 18% goes into the daily "tip pot" that is split percentagewise among all the restaurant's service workers -- table seaters, table service, bus persons, cooks, etc. Leaving cash as a tip instead of adding it to your credit card bill is a way of trying to avoid that split. But most table servers are honor bound to turn in all cash tips to the "tip pot."
Originally Posted By ssWEDguy >> I guess I'm just not used to it because we don't have it in Australia, and it's always an irritation to me when we're travelling overseas and encounter it. << I did some business travel in Japan a few years back, and was pleasantly surprised in the reverse direction. Tips that I was offering were being regularly refused. Because they don't tip there. Eventually I was counseled to knock it off. Because good service and civil discourse are more the norm. Offering tips is practically an insult.
Originally Posted By ssWEDguy And to the wait-staff of the world here in the US -- I am not begrudging you guys the decent wages that you deserve. Tipping is here to stay. It just drives me nuts that we've managed to sneak business costs into a backend mechanism that was intended originally to honor SUPERIOR service. Not simply help toe the bottom line.
Originally Posted By Chelledun >>Leaving cash as a tip instead of adding it to your credit card bill is a way of trying to avoid that split. But most table servers are honor bound to turn in all cash tips to the "tip pot." Do you really think this is true of most restaurants? It certainly wasn't true where I worked. I'm not sure if it is true at Disney or not, but many of my friends were servers, some at chains and some not but few had any type of "tip pot" except at like coffee houses. For me that was the big incentive of waitressing - the hearder you personally worked, the more you got paid.
Originally Posted By t1lersm0m ^^Yeah, I don't think tip pots are the norm. I think they are more the exception. Most restaurants allow each server to keep the tips they earned. How do you reward a server for good service if they have to split their tips with another server who provides bad service?
Originally Posted By pixiedust1 This is been a issue and a pet peeve of mine for years... I think in our hometown back up north they pay the servers $2.95 a hour, here is Florida I think it's $3.15 a hour... Why most of the states feel we should pay their workers wages is still amazing to me... No other job that I'm aware of figures in tips as wages , below the minimum wage rate... Just pay them trhe going rate, and any thing left by customers is a plus, but not mandatory or required...
Originally Posted By Goofyernmost Tell you what is required though...paying income taxes on tips even if you didn't get any. The Government requires rest. to tally the total sales generated by each waitperson and then figures that there is a 15% tip so it is reported as income even if the waitperson didn't get a penny. What a wonderful system for grabbing the little guy. On the other hand in many high end establishments the tips can be quite large so based on tips alone a pretty good income happens with no other way of accounting for taxability. Oh, well!
