To tip or not to tip – who is right ?

[mommym]

There is a great little Mexican joint in my neighborhood – across from Endolyne Joe’s. We frequent it alot because you can call in your order then go pick it up.

With little kids its easier for us to eat at home then sit at the restaurant most times.

So here is the question – when I call in an order for pick up. Am I suppose to tip when I go to get our food ?

I think I probably should and my husband says its not necessary.

Opinions ?

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[Carson]

I don’t think its necessary, but if I like the food and people I usually do. Not %15 but a dollar or 2.

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[Aim]

You’re right. I always tip for takeout, though I will tip slightly less than if I’d had my meal there.

Basically, the servers are taxed on sales +10%, as the gov’t assumes they make an average of 10% in tips. Just a handful of people not tipping can drive down their average to the point where they are actually paying the IRS tax on money they didn’t even earn.

The “assumed tips” law applies to their base pay too – base pay is **under** minimum wage assuming that tips will make up the rest. So if a server does their job and does it well, they could still end up making less than minimum wage if someone stiffs or shorts them on a tip. It’s not fair, and it’s not right.

In an ideal world, food servers (and bartenders and busboys and all the others that make a restaurant run) would be paid a basic, livable minimum, and tips would truly be based on service and would be optional incentive for great service. Unfortunately, that’s not the way it currently works, so you really need to tip 10% at bare minimum in order to not have your server paying to serve you.

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[christopherboffoli]

I think Steve Martin put it aptly, in his role as Vinnie Antonelli in the 1990 film My Blue Heaven: “I’m Italian. I tip everybody!”

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[saney]

Aim,

You are right in that servers are taxed on sales. But I have worked at many restaurants through the years, and we always had a different server key for ringing to go orders…they didnt figure into our individual sales.

I do not tip on a to go order…just as I do not tip when i get food from the Jack In The Box drive through.

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[Admiral935]

On take out’s I tip from time-to-time. In this case, I’m half-Italian. :-)

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[maplesyrup]

I tip for takeout if the server has to box up my food and if I didn’t have to wait long.

Usually 5-10% though.

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[hollyplace]

When I worked at a restaurant at Alki, people would always order food to go and a server would have to stop waiting tables to ring in an order, then pack the order out of the window, napkins, sauce and anything else they needed. I know people don’t realize how that can throw you off when you have tables, but it makes it a bit more hectic if the restaurant is busy. The real problem ends up being that the sales are rang in under the employee number. The percentage that you tip out to the dishwasher, bartender, and busser is taken out of your tips based on your total amount of sales. So if the customer doesn’t tip, then it is essentially costing the server money to pay the tip to the back of the house. Some people tip, but LOTS of people here in WS don’t tip on to-go food, they will hand a pizza guy a $5 bill but not on an order they had to walk in to get. Unfortunatly it is often the same people that get food to go every couple of weeks. The wait staff would see someone-that didn’t tip on to-go orders come in the door and would try to hand them off to a new server. Remember, tip your server even on to-go orders and you won’t have to ask if they put extra sauce – they will remember and want to make you happy so you come back.

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[Admiral935]

Right on, thanks.

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[KBear]

Passive-aggressive servers who deliver poor service to seated customers who didn’t tip on to-go orders are sure to earn less in tips overall.

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[moxilot]

KBear, I think hollyplace means that when the same person who didn’t tip before comes in for another to-go order, the staff is less than enthusiastic about helping them.

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[KBear]

And my point was, if their lack of enthusiasm shows, they’ll probably get a smaller tip. Not everyone believes in tipping for to-go orders, and it sounds like different places calculate servers’ sales differently when it comes to to-go orders. But everyone knows about tipping for dine-in service, so servers will be shooting themselves in the foot if they don’t treat diners well.

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[saney]

when i moved here from the southeast, i was surprised to find out that not only does washington state have it’s own minimum wage, but servers are entitled to that as well. when i waited tables in north carolina (in 2000), we got $2.15 per hour; even though federal minimum wage was like $5.00.

servers in seattle are making at least $8.55 per hour plus tips.

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[Aim]

Tangent: I sure can’t live on $8.55/hour. That’s $1300/month. When the “rule” is 30% of your income should be for your rent, that means you’d better find a place for $400/month. Ouch. We gotta get the minimum wage raised.

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[dhg]

I suggest a riot or a walkout at all restaurants where staff do not have a special code for takeout. What holly describes is nuts and is no way to run a restaurant. Some places have only a small number of takeouts but others appear to have half their business or better in takeout. I’d like to think the owner is making enough to share the wealth without the need for tipping the staff.

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[hollyplace]

DHG -A seperate code for takeout would have solved the problem, but the owners didn’t feel the same way. Moxilot, that is exactly what I mean. Everyone does know to tip when dining in, and hopefully they will give some thought to tipping when picking up there to-go order from a dine in restaurant too. It doesn’t need to be 20%, but a couple of dollarss would be fair.

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[Semele]

Aim, you aren’t asked to live on $8.55 an hour. It’s 8.55 and hour PLUS tips. I have waited tables in many states and would have been very happy to make the state’s minimum wage plus tips. Not very long ago I worked in Chicago (definitely not cheap to live) and made $3.15 and hour plus tips.

Also, talk to most servers and they still are expecting 20% tips (I always do having been in that field at one time). When in many areas you make what you called a “base wage” which is not true here in Washington.

I do agree you should tip on a call for takeout order to a restaurant, but it is nominal of maybe $2 or so.

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[BBGuest]

Do you tip at drive through or to go coffee?

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[Aim]

Semele, you’re right, I don’t have to live on $8.55 an hour. I’m very lucky in that I have a fantastic job and make more than that. However, regardless of whether or not you factor in tips, $8-10/hour is not a livable wage, and even $15 can be tight to live on. I wasn’t saying that servers live on minimum wage alone, but rather that there are a lot of folks who live on that. And it’s not right.

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[Semele]

I agree, it’s not right. But that was not the question. Can we try not to turn an honest question into a soapbox for something different? It happens all the time on these boards. If you are not happy with the wages people make then try and do something about it if it means so much to you. But once again, that is for another thread as the question was not do you think our minimum wage is too low or should servers get paid salary and get rid of tips, but should you tip on a take out order.

That answer seem to be from most us, yes.

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[hollyplace]

I tip baristas at the coffee drive thru or walk up. $1 each visit for 1 or 2 drinks.

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[JoB]

we almost always throw something in the tip jar at the register when we pick up take out..

tonight.. the wait staff at Pho99 brought us tea while we waited…

and when we got home and unpacked…. the bag was brimming with adds…

glad we left that extra couple on the table.

it’s too easy to think that service only happens when you are seated for a meal.

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[Aim]

Oh good god, there was no soapbox involved. I clearly answered the question, and *clearly* labeled the comment about minimum wage as a tangent, though a completely relevant tangent.

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[waterworld]

I am fortunate enough not to have to try to make ends meet on either minimum wage or minimum wage plus tips. I think people who work at restaurants and coffee shops work hard at physically demanding jobs for generally low wages. If I thought the wages were fair, maybe I wouldn’t be inclined to tip for takeout, but that’s not the world I inhabit. Really, I think of tipping as doing my small share to increase the wages of those who are serving me. So I tip 15% or more on takeout, and over 20% when I eat at the restaurant. Yes, I tip the baristas too. (I don’t do the drive through fast food thing, so I don’t have a position on that one.) That’s not to say I think tipping on takeout is required, and I know a lot of people don’t tip at all for takeout. It just doesn’t feel right to me.

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[matthewdarling]

having been in this business almost 25 years, i know how little it takes all around to make everyone happy. its not hard to give good service and its not hard to be appreciative of that service. i do not expect to get tipped for togo orders (no matter how much a hassle it might be at the moment), but it is so nice when i am. a togo customer is just as important as a seated customer. BUT, remember what TIPS originally stood for… To insure Prompt Service.

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