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US waitress was fired for posting a picture of a tip receipt on Reddit

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Re: US waitress was fired for posting a picture of a tip receipt on Reddit

#71

Post by jnsaff2 »

clicks wrote: post #57
zura wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I personally don't get whole this tip tradition - just give me the check stating the exact amount I have to pay. And give the appropriate salary to the wait{er|ress}.

Thank you. I find the power imbalance in these situations to be very uncomfortable -- half the time in the back of my mind I'm thinking to myself this waitress has a big smile on her face because ultimately all she wants is a nice tip; the smiley front is unauthentic. Just please give the servers and waiters a proper salary and let me go on with my day. The very idea of tipping to me is absurd and silly. What constit…

As an outsider this is my theory: The reason is to quote as low as a number as possible to make people feel this is cheap. And one place can't start "doing the right thing" and paying a decent salary because they would be perceived more expensive and they would also upset people who are used to the status quo.

I also find it ridiculous that the sales tax is not included in the price written on the sticker in the stores in the US. But again, I guess quoting a lower price and charging more when the customer has already made up their mind is better for the business.

Re: US waitress was fired for posting a picture of a tip receipt on Reddit

#72

Post by antihero »

clicks wrote: post #57
zura wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I personally don't get whole this tip tradition - just give me the check stating the exact amount I have to pay. And give the appropriate salary to the wait{er|ress}.

Thank you. I find the power imbalance in these situations to be very uncomfortable -- half the time in the back of my mind I'm thinking to myself this waitress has a big smile on her face because ultimately all she wants is a nice tip; the smiley front is unauthentic. Just please give the servers and waiters a proper salary and let me go on with my day. The very idea of tipping to me is absurd and silly. What constit…

"Just give them a nice salary."

It's silly naive thinking like this...

Tips exist because they are a way for the customer to give a good server some money directly.

Unless there was a cast-iron legal guarantee that the money from the "automatic" tip goes direct to all low-paid staff (servers and chefs), then I want to be able to give my money to the server direct.

Re: US waitress was fired for posting a picture of a tip receipt on Reddit

#73

Post by antihero »

berlinbrown wrote: post #55
Osiris wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've always thought that the idea of a gratuity as a requirement is just a scapegoat for employers not wanting to pay their employees for the effort they put in. I've never understood why I have to tip a waiter, a pizza delivery guy, or a grocery bagger, but not the guy that changes my oil. When I lived in Mexico, grocery stores had bag boys and they were all under 12 years old. Those kids weren't employed by the sto…

It is a perfectly fine system but apparently in America, you have to leave a 20% tip under all circumstances. If the service is bad, who cares, leave the 20% or you are an asshole and we will post your information online. God help you if you are caught not leaving a tip.

I thought the point was that if you received poor service you left only 10%, and for dire service you leave 0%, but better be prepared to back that up verbally.

Re: US waitress was fired for posting a picture of a tip receipt on Reddit

#74

Post by yesbabyyes »

ryaniscool wrote: post #69
zura wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I personally don't get whole this tip tradition - just give me the check stating the exact amount I have to pay. And give the appropriate salary to the wait{er|ress}.

Maybe you've never been able to compare a society where tipping is normal with one where it isn't? I grew up in the USA (tipping) but have lived in Australia for the past four years (no tipping). Restaurant service is horrendous in Australia except at the most expensive restaurants. Food is often brought out at different times for different people in your party. It's not uncommon to go out for office lunch and 1 or 2…

A counter point: in Sweden, where I live, tipping is optional. Many people tip 5-10% if they are satisfied, but service staff are not dependent on tips.

While service can be impersonal, it is usually without the kind of faults you point out. You can generally count on correct service.

Re: US waitress was fired for posting a picture of a tip receipt on Reddit

#75

Post by clicks »

antihero wrote: post #72
clicks wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you. I find the power imbalance in these situations to be very uncomfortable -- half the time in the back of my mind I'm thinking to myself this waitress has a big smile on her face because ultimately all she wants is a nice tip; the smiley front is unauthentic. Just please give the servers and waiters a proper salary and let me go on with my day. The very idea of tipping to me is absurd and silly. What constit…

"Just give them a nice salary." It's silly naive thinking like this... Tips exist because they are a way for the customer to give a good server some money directly. Unless there was a cast-iron legal guarantee that the money from the "automatic" tip goes direct to all low-paid staff (servers and chefs), then I want to be able to give my money to the server direct.

> Tips exist because they are a way for the customer to give a good server some money directly.

That is silly. Why is waiter work so unique that it's one of the very few that requires this kind of payment? If you want to pay money directly, you can do that for cashier clerks at gas stations, clothing stores, auto service men, middlemen of all sorts in business offices, etc. etc. Why not pay them directly too then?

What I'm arguing is that the tradition of tipping is something that should not be. I would be okay with tipping in the most extraordinary of circumstances, where the worker clearly goes out of his way to provide unexpectedly superb service, but it should not be seen as necessary in other normal situations; I don't see a really good reason why it has to be any different from other jobs.

As another commenter in this thread from Sweden pointed out: it works for them. The norm is that waiters are not tipped. It seems to be working okay for them, let it work in America too.

Re: US waitress was fired for posting a picture of a tip receipt on Reddit

#76

Post by daniel-cussen »

ghshephard wrote: post #26
artursapek wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nobody's arguing this on legal grounds. Even if it's technically okay to leave without tipping, it's a shitty thing to do.

Except, in this case, the person actually paid the 18% tip directly to the serving person, and didn't want the restaurant taking an additional "service fee".

Apparently not, he didn't tip anything to anybody.

Re: US waitress was fired for posting a picture of a tip receipt on Reddit

#77

Post by tlrobinson »

berlinbrown wrote: post #31
droithomme wrote: post #20

The waitress's own accounting of the incident is exceptionally self serving and false. The signature as originally posted was quite legible. Her original accounting of the incident was completely fabricated because she didn't actually serve the table, though she represented herself as if she did. For example, the customer's name, Alois, is a man's name, but the customer was actually a female with a male's first name.…

Exactly. Look at it from the other side, Applebee's has to protect their brand. They can't have waitresses posting information about customers online. That is why she was fired. I was immediately shocked by the waitresses' behavior. That one comment set you off that you had to violate your customer's privacy? Also, I wonder if some media outlets are rightly masking the customer's personal information but I saw some p…

"I wonder if some media outlets are rightly masking the customer's personal information but I saw some posts with the fullname in the image."

It's also ridiculously easy to find the original receipt by uploading it to images.google.com

Re: US waitress was fired for posting a picture of a tip receipt on Reddit

#78

Post by DrJ »

ryaniscool wrote: post #69
zura wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I personally don't get whole this tip tradition - just give me the check stating the exact amount I have to pay. And give the appropriate salary to the wait{er|ress}.

Maybe you've never been able to compare a society where tipping is normal with one where it isn't? I grew up in the USA (tipping) but have lived in Australia for the past four years (no tipping). Restaurant service is horrendous in Australia except at the most expensive restaurants. Food is often brought out at different times for different people in your party. It's not uncommon to go out for office lunch and 1 or 2…

Counter point: Japan and Korea as I remember did not having a tipping system and yet services are great.

If you have an issue with your server you complain to the restaurant so the bad waiters get fired.

I don't understand why as a culture Australia would tolerate such behavior in servers who's job is serving. (Would you tolerate translators who couldn't translate? programmers who couldn't program?)

Re: US waitress was fired for posting a picture of a tip receipt on Reddit

#79

Post by edanm »

rdtsc wrote: post #34
droithomme wrote: post #20

The waitress's own accounting of the incident is exceptionally self serving and false. The signature as originally posted was quite legible. Her original accounting of the incident was completely fabricated because she didn't actually serve the table, though she represented herself as if she did. For example, the customer's name, Alois, is a man's name, but the customer was actually a female with a male's first name.…

It doesn't even matter what the original thing was about. The way it was handled by the restaurant's PR team is what turned this small sub-reddit topic to a social media nightmare. In one single night, that PR person, probably drove away tends of thousands (if not more) of customers. It doesn't matter who is right or wrong at that point, them not catching which side the public was on, and just arguing back and forth,…

"In one single night, that PR person, probably drove away tends of thousands (if not more) of customers"

How did you get to that conclusion?

Based on anecdotal evidence from the past, I tend to think very few people (outside of the HN/Reddit crowd) follow this type of news, and of those who do, almost no one cares enough to actually change their behavior.

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