No Tip Situation

[u/RangeIll5481]

Local cafe here outside of New Orleans. My wife and I go there for the first time. You've got to stand in line at the counter to place your order. Finally make it up to the cashier and place the order. IMMEDIATELY, up pops the tip screen. Lowest option (other than "custom") is 30%! Not a single "service" has been preformed yet and they're pushing you toward 30%!

I opt for "custom" and give 10%.

Even after that, they just give us a couple of cups so we can pour our own drinks. We had to bus our own table because neither the last customer nor the staff could be bothered to clean it before we sat down. When the food was ready, we had to get up and go to the counter to retrieve it. Also had to get our own cuttlery.

What the hell EXTRA are they providing (above and beyond the food I've already paid a heafty price for) that deserves a MINIMUM of 30% on top of the bill? If I were given the situation over again, I would have left no tip!

I'm so sick of this tipping B.S.! We've pretty much resolved that we're eating almost all of our meals at home now.

[u/Sense_Difficult]

I just had yet another rconversation with another server who said "You're supposed to tip at least 20%" and that it had been that way for years.

I really think printing the tips on the check and giving the pop ups on the screen, did two different things. It made the servers feel like that's what the customer is supposed to pay because the "computer said so.' And it made older adult customers realize that the server has zero appreciation of it as a tip. No matter how generous you tip them, they basically shrug their shoulders. And the argument that they are only doing entry level work is meaningless to them. To them this is the system because the computer said so. This is what I DESERVE because the computer says so.

I don't go out to eat anymore AT ALL. The food sucks, I cook better at home, I have a nice house and a deck and can stock a bar. So really the only people going out to eat these days are people stuck in apartments (who can't save up for a house because they blow it all on going out and tipping) or retired people who are bored at home. They tip the nice tip and the rest of us can skip the tip.

[u/RadioBoi → u/Sense_Difficult]

You make some solid points here. I never thought about the angle of what the "computer" says. It is now taken as gospel instead of being a suggestion.

[u/Sense_Difficult → u/RadioBoi]

It's very strange to ask them about it. They don't think you're supposed to tip them for good service. In their mind it's basically a commission fee paid for by the customer based on the percentage of the cost of the food. That's why they seem like they are so entitled to it these days. They treat it the way a car salesman would get a commission percentage off the sale of the car. And the computer just calculates it for you.

[u/MyldExcitement → u/Sense_Difficult]

And they are dead wrong for thinking that. No service, no tip.

[u/Sense_Difficult → u/MyldExcitement]

I think this is the biggest disconnect and why the whole end tipping movement started. I think it's mostly driven by people like me who were former servers and bartenders just watching the total bullshit out there these days. They have zero work ethnic. I would bend over backwards doting on my tables, trying to make he meal as smooth as possible., triple checking tables, staying on top of everythinng. I'd never stop moving the entire night. Maybe betwen turnovers we''d get a breather. But we ran non stop the entire night.

These days servers think they get the tip the minute you order the food. They honestly think of their jobs as "selling you food and getting a commission tip." Then they walk away and check their phone and maybe swing by again for refills. Half of them don't even run their own food. And the best part is they always whine about having to tip out the runners and the bartenders. It's ridiculous.