Why some US restaurants are banning tips

Post by LastTrain » Tue, Aug 25, 2026, 1:48 PM UTC

xienze wrote: post #54

_zoltan_ wrote: post #4

finally. they should pay employees a better wage instead of relying on patrons to pay the tips (which might or might not end up with the employees...)

I think you'd be very surprised to learn that in a lot of cases, tipping pays much better than whatever a "reasonable" hourly wage for taking an order and carrying food to a table would be. If you're serving three tables that each have $100 checks and you get at 15% tip, that's $45/hour... yes it may average out higher or lower but you're not gonna like how much eating out costs if employers are expected to pay the h…

Post by account42 » Tue, Aug 25, 2026, 1:48 PM UTC

tossandthrow wrote: post #138

getfacl wrote: post #31

The biggest barrier to ending tipping in the USA is that restaurants are almost always over staffed there. The owner wants the maximum ratio of servers to customers possible. In the typical USA system, being paid primarily in tips means the server is highly incentivized to upsell the customer as much as possible and do everything they can to increase the total bill, and therefor increase their tip. Essentially a comm…

> Instead of checking on the customer every few minutes This is likely one of the absolute worst features of the US dining system. So many times I have been sitting in deep conversation with friends or colleagues just for a waiter to claim all attention to ask if we want to have refilled water. That they can even push themselves to such rude behavior is entirely insane to me.

Post by walrus01 » Tue, Aug 25, 2026, 2:15 PM UTC

joenot443 wrote: post #332

walrus01 wrote: post #33

We need to at least normalize not tipping for counter service. Given the current wage structures and labor laws in the US and Canada, if I sit down at a table and I receive table service, I'm going to tip 15% unless the service was abhorrent. I am not going to tip if I order and take my food from a counter and serve myself (and then almost certainly clear my own table as well), or I buy any other form of product stan…

What are the Canadian labor laws you're referencing? To my knowledge, the only province which still has the "liquor server" minimum wage is Quebec - everywhere else gets the same minimum wage as other workers. To be clear, a server in Ontario is not legally allowed to be paid any less than $17.60/h _plus_ their tips.

Post by TheCoelacanth » Tue, Aug 25, 2026, 2:18 PM UTC

yostrovs wrote: post #173

dofm wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In Europe you'll wait 20 minutes to get the attention of a waiter for salt or ketchup until your food is cold. You could ask for the salt or ketchup when the meal arrives. Also Europeans are not, I think, accustomed to asking for salt, or ketchup, on already seasoned food. So your request is actually unusual.

It's amazing how much is attributed to culture. What if I like more salt? European are not accustomed to ask for salt. What if the chef forgot to add salt? You'll wait till your food is cold. It's culture.

Post by account42 » Tue, Aug 25, 2026, 2:28 PM UTC

yuye wrote: post #318

JohnFen wrote: post #315

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is what I do as well. Then I don't return to that restaurant on the basis of shenanigans.

It's pretty common where I live in Asia, and they almost always write it on their menu, too. I don't really see it as shenanigans as long as it's communicated in advance. We don't have a tipping culture, though.