Cook Co. tax tweaks tips too

Dan wrote:

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You are absolutely correct. I had the best service consistently in Australia where tipping isn't customary and is sometimes considered rude and presumptuous. Just pay servers decently and increase the food price 15-20% and call it a day.

While I don't think tipping is fair the way it's done, I hesitated to advocate doing away with it because of my experiences in Austrailia. Contrary to your experience, the service I received was more erratic than here. I went away from too many meals thinking that I would have had better service if they realized a tip would be made based on service.

Sure $2 more isn't much, however, if you eat out 1-2x/week thats over $100 each years.
And if a server says that I should stay home cause I can't tip 20%, I'll gladly stay home or get it to go. 10-15% is still a lot better than 0%.
One last note- if you want to get paid minimum wage in food service, try fast food.

Hmmmm wrote:

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Especially since most people round up anyway. Or if it's a group and everyone's share is $12.67, most just kick in $13.
Though some servers can be demanding - on the Drex show a while back, he had a couple servers say if you can't tip 20% stay home. With this economy, I figure servers are better off with parons who tip low (10-15%)- it may be all they can afford and if people stop eating out - then there's less of a need for servers (as well as oher restaurant personnel.)

Drex always has on a bunch of idiots - including the host.

While tipping is a stupid practice in the first place, it's here to stay. What remains ridiculous, though, is that the tip should be based on the amount spent. If two people go out to eat, and one has a hamburger for $10 and the other has a steak for $20, the server is doing exactly the same amount of work for each. Perhaps it's time to start tipping based on the quantity and quality of the service, rather than the price of the food.

BTW, in most countries tipping -- if practiced at all -- is seen as what it's supposed to be: a reward for good service, not an entitlement.

K Pearson wrote:

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Changes on the scale you suggest should be based on more than just your vacation in Australia.

I lived there for over a year; not a vacation.

Roy L wrote:

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While I don't think tipping is fair the way it's done, I hesitated to advocate doing away with it because of my experiences in Austrailia. Contrary to your experience, the service I received was more erratic than here. I went away from too many meals thinking that I would have had better service if they realized a tip would be made based on service.

A tip does not make good service. Tips are expected. Consider it a service fee. Unfortunately, it is quite often for average service or worse. The people should be paid what they are worth by management, not by tips.

tax rates may vary from city to city, but they do correlate with the cost of living; thus don't be cheap and tip on a pre-bill tax.

i have a "tip card" and i use it to determine the tip....pre tax. i would never tip for the tax amount and unless i get exceptional service i never tip 20%.

when taxes were only 8% i used to just do the tax times 2 for the tip amount, but not anymore!

i have been a bartender for over 10 years and been a waitress for two years, if i do not receive the service i would give i tip accordingly!

BTW I was tipped well for giving good
service!

And for those servers who believe that if i don't tip 20% i should stay home, please note that TIP stands for to insure promptness and is VOLUNTARY. if you don't like it, instead of me staying out of the restaurant, why don't you stay out of the restaurant serving business!

Tyler wrote:

Good Lord. How cheap can the writer possible be??? She obviously has never waited tables. Waiting tables is HARD work! She should stop nit-picking and tip on the entire amount unless she wants to look like a tight wad in front of her guests. If you can't afford to tip than don't go out to eat period. I'm sure she makes a lot more money than the struggling students waiting tables to pay tuition!

That's a good solution. It's much better for servers and the rest of the restaurant staff to get nothing rather than have a server get a bad tip.

actually the idea that "tip" stands for "to insure promptness" is wrong -- if that were the case, wouldn't we tip BEFORE we got our food?

Tip This wrote:

Why does someone deserve 20% of the bill for carrying food from a kitchen to a table? If they want a good job, they should go to college.

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Go sit in the corner!

Let's see... tax up 1%... if you were doing 20% of total bill,.01*.20=.002 or .2%. On a $20 check that's four cents. On a $200 check, that's a whopping 80 cents. Print some real news, please.

By the way... waitpeople are paid subminimum wage, they are expected to make their living on tips. It's only right to pay someone for the work they do. It's a silly system, I know. In the UK, wait staff are paid a proper wage, and tipping is rare. But this is not the UK. If you're a cheapskate, please eat at home. Don't stiff people trying to feed their kids, often without any help from a husband.

Cheesecake Chick wrote:

i have a "tip card" and i use it to determine the tip....pre tax. i would never tip for the tax amount and unless i get exceptional service i never tip 20%.

You sound like one of my friends who embarasses the entire table with his cheapness when you go out to eat with him.
The only time I've ever had service rude and condescending enough to tip less than 20% was at Tao in Las Vegas. Pretty good food but the waiter was the absolute worst and ruined the entire experience. I hope he enjoyed his 7%.
At least it was post-tax.

Pathetic wrote:

To be honest, I would traditionally eat at Ruths Chris(excellent steak in my opinion but for another debate) but with the increase in taxes for Chicago, I will stay in the burbs. My wife and I would usually have about a $225 bill (dinner wine etc) and then tip accordingly, but with the tax increase, i know it is petty, its just not worth it anymore. I'll go to Mortons in Naperville. I have just had enough of the tax and spend Crook County.

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Dang. Petty? If you can afford $225 for dinner, then it doesn't matter where you eat. Quit whining.

i think i deserve a 20% just for putting up with all the 708ers that go out once a year and think that i have to entertain them. They have nothing to say to each other and i have to be the buffer. Anything over $10 per person is fine dining for them lol. And no we do not have twice baked potatoes. Do you see any kids around? No? So why do you ask for a kids menu?

I usually tip 20% of the pre-tax sum, but then deduct 20% off the tip to pay the taxes on the income that the server is surely not reporting to the IRS.

Tip This wrote:

Why does someone deserve 20% of the bill for carrying food from a kitchen to a table? If they want a good job, they should go to college.

1. you are cheap. you are also a chump. I wonder what your job is? Such an attitude is indicative of people who are generally insignificant.
2. most servers are in college or are college graduates. I have a teaching degree. I like to work hard, so I supplement my teaching income by serving. This is because some society-approved "college track" jobs are not important enough to the powers-that-be to pay adequate wages.
3. For bills up to a hundred dollars, the difference between a pre-tax tip and a post-tax tip is 2 dollars or less. So... you don't want to tip on the tax? OK, if it makes you feel better. I know that's the "protocol" or whatever, so I'm not going to get salty about it.
But for less than two dollars, it sounds like a waste of time to argue about it, and try to be all superior pointing out the "proper" amount to tip on.

Dave wrote:

If two people go out to eat, and one has a hamburger for $10 and the other has a steak for $20, the server is doing exactly the same amount of work for each..

you're right. better start tipping $4 on that hamburger.

haha. seriously, though, I know what you mean. But keep in mind that, when comparing less-expensive restaurants to more expensive restaurants, higher prices *usually* mean finer service and more support staff, which means the server tips out more. So it kind of does make sence to have to tip more at a steakhouse than, say, a diner, because what goes on behind the scenes that contributes to your *presumably* enhanced experience has to be paid for, often by the server.

I tip out about 7% of my food and beverage sales (which is about 35% of my earnings assuming 20% tips) each night to my food runners bussers, sommeliers, etc.

I kind of need to earn the $18 to bring three $30 steaks to a table, because it costs me about $6 to bring them to the table, whether you tip me or not!!

Tyler wrote:

Waiting tables is HARD work! She should stop nit-picking ... I'm sure she makes a lot more money than the struggling students waiting tables to pay tuition!

I would agree, to a point. We were at Braxton Seafood Grill in Oakbrook on July 7 for dinner. Braxton usually has _excellent_ service. This time though, with the restaurant mostly empty, the male server took an awfully long time between appearances. Then, after leaving the check, never came back. We finally left cash on the table. As we were leaving, he was just yapping away with his coworkers without a look towards his customers.

At least the host said goodbye.

He got his 20%, but we won't be going back to Braxton anytime soon. I don't care how "hard" the job is. Work is not yapping with your friends while customers need attending to. Management needs to be supervising their servers in a restaurant of this caliber.

Wowie wrote:

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I would agree, to a point. We were at Braxton Seafood Grill in Oakbrook on July 7 for dinner. Braxton usually has _excellent_ service. This time though, with the restaurant mostly empty, the male server took an awfully long time between appearances. Then, after leaving the check, never came back. We finally left cash on the table. As we were leaving, he was just yapping away with his coworkers without a look towards his customers.
At least the host said goodbye.
He got his 20%, but we won't be going back to Braxton anytime soon. I don't care how "hard" the job is. Work is not yapping with your friends while customers need attending to. Management needs to be supervising their servers in a restaurant of this caliber.

1.) Why did you leave him 20%? 2.) Did you tell the host or speak to the manager? Tipping sucks, but it is the way things are. Was it just the waiter that was bad? Was the food good? Was the table clean? By talking to the host or manager, you can make sure that the water does not get the tip, but the "hidden" workers do get there share.