Should I still tip?

[Morgan3820]

I was in town this afternoon, and stopped to eat at a restaurant while there. As I know the server somewhat, from eating there frequently, I brought up this forum thread, and asked her for feedback. She remains a server at the diner, because she likes the people, and makes very good money. She makes $3,100 per month in wages from the Diner owner, and averages about $7,600 more in tips.
Common sense says she doesn't claim all of her tips on income tax, making it extra sweet.

Check my math but that is $128400/year. I am not sure what to think about that. Should I be happy for her or upset at the requirement to tip someone to fill my water glass that makes more than my nurse wife, or engineer me.

 

[kayoh190]

Check my math but that is $128400/year. I am not sure what to think about that. Should I be happy for her or upset at the requirement to tip someone to fill my water glass that makes more than my nurse wife, or engineer me.

Well, she's certainly an outlier. What do you suppose the median income is for a waitress? I sure I can find nurse and engineer outliers that make far more than $128K too. I'm not happy with our country's tipping culture either, but it's not like the majority of these folks are out there making lots of money. Don't hate the playa hate the game!

 

[schmookeeg]

I have room in my heart to hate both.

 

[LesGawlik]

Even a crappy server can take care of a dozen people at a time. A dozen people per hour, at even just $2 a person is $24, plus their wages, is good money. A good server can take care of 20 people, so that is $40 hour plus wages.

So my scenario of paying $5 person works out to $100 hour in tips, plus wages.
That is really good money.

But you run into the table of 12 that has constant demands and complaints, order the most expensive items on the menu and then leaves $5 on a total bill in the hundreds. I understand that carrying a $2 coffee to me takes about as much effort as a $50 Tomahawk chop, but cost is the common metric of effort.

 

[NoBShere]

hmm, for those that want to tip then go ahead an tip. For those that don't want to tip, then don't. While I know my personal preference, I see no reason why anyone should be required to tip and I'm rather certain that tipping is not required. Some establishments have automatic service charges and if you don't like that, then I would suggest going somewhere else so that they the market can correct, if necessary. It cracks me up how we have so many laws/rules and we love to add more rules that just don't exist.

Personally, I have no issue with the practice of tipping. For me, it must be earned. For restaurant servers, for the most part that is being pleasant as its not the servers fault if something isn't prepared properly but, they can impact how it is handled. I like the practice of paying for performance and calculating a 10 to 20% tip before i order to ballpark overall cost of meal is easier than calculating out an airport diversion so understanding the cost of a meal really shouldn't be an issue for this crowd. In some regards, the tipping practice is the opponent of the "everyone gets a trophy" and entitlement crowd.

 

[EdFred]

Common sense says she'd be well advised to. The IRS will impute unreported tips. A red flag is reporting 8% under the assumption that this is a safe-harbor against further investigation.

Why would a Canadian employee working in Canada report anything to the IRS?