waiter rant seems to have completely missed the point. He admits/exemplifies Shaw's points: that the current system doesn't work because it doesn't work to provide feedback on the service due to tip pooling (and varying tipping practices among customers), and that he wants the possibility of higher wages rather than a reliable paycheck.

What really bugs me is that it's considered gauche to even try to use the (broken) tip system. We got shitty service at Dino, but I left 20% because, well, you're an asshole if you don't help these poor, exploited waiters. I knew that stiffing him wouldn't even send a message, much less only hit HIM in the pocketbook, because customers are unreliable jerks and tips don't really reflect the quality of service.

So the system doesn't work -- why does it exist? Because it's a tax dodge. That's not enough reason for me. Give waiters a living wage. Build it into the prices. If they fuck up, have their boss yell at or fire them. If they want the excitement of not knowing what a night's take will be (or if they can afford health insurance), they can get paid in lotto tickets. But I'm sick of feeling like I've just watched a Sally Struthers commercial every time the check comes.

I don't know why you would be more comfortable with say a $5.00 dish being listed as say $6.00 instead. Now you can choose to pay the extra dollar, where otherwise you couldn't. You could say that that extra dollar is not a choice, but believe me it is. If it isn't a choice, what is the difference between a tip and a service charge or a general increase in prices? The appearance of charity?

I am not a diehard fan of tips, but I am pretty sure that my restaurant couldn't exist in another system. They just couldn't afford the increase in wages vs. what would certainly be a decrease in customers. Now, when I make mistakes they impact me rather than the owners of my restaurant.

So while I am not wedded to tipping, I will say don't you dare even feign to insult waiters. I have only done it for like a week and a half and I will say that it is probably the hardest job I have ever had. I am actually dreaming of working in a law office again just so that I won't have to wait tables again. You may not think that your comment comes across that way, but it does. And when you work a day being paid mainly to put up with people's crap it becomes tough to listen to people who have never waited tables talk about it. It is not like tipping is a surprise, no one springs it on you with the check. If you don't want to tip, don't go out to eat.

Hey, I'm not voting for less money being spent in restaurants or given to waiters. I'm not sure why you and the waiter rant guy feel that eliminating tipping in favor of fair wages means less money for you. It doesn't, and apart from waiter rant's hand-waving about employers stealing from you, I haven't heard why it would. As you say, tipping is not a surprise. People know how much a meal out costs, and it includes tip. What would be so bad about having the full price reflected in the cost on the menu? It's not like people are being fooled into thinking everything is 20% cheaper than it is. It speaks well of you that you're concerned about your employer's business model being affected, but if he can't operate while paying his employees a living wage, he shouldn't be in business.

In Europe many people can make a living waiting tables. Here it's a transitional job for all but those who work in the more expensive restaurants. I'm not sure why the US model is considered more desirable by wait staff, but I'm all ears (perhaps it's just being uncomfortable with having your income model radically transformed). From a customer's perspective, though, it stinks for a variety of reasons.

And Charles, I didn't mean the minimize the difficulty of waiting tables. It's exactly my point: why is a moral obligation being introduced to a simple transaction? If tipping was a system to encourage good service, it'd be one thing, but it's not; it doesn't work that way. Instead it's a way for restaurateurs to get away with paying their employees $2/hour, pawning off responsibility for them to the customer. I know waiters are busting their asses and getting nothing for it; but I just want a burger and a beer -- why am I being placed on the hook for their welfare, when a business owner is in a much better position to make sure they're treated fairly?

When somebody comes to fix the DSL, I don't have to worry about whether he can make rent this month, or if he's in school, or has kids, or how well his last three appointments paid. And that's how I think business ought to be conducted.

I wouldn't dismiss the impact of the "tax dodge" so quickly. A waiter/waitress only has to claim tips up to a certain percentage of their sales. Let's say its 15% and that waiter/waitress makes 20% in tips, that extra 5% is completely tax free. The actual legalities of this aside, I would argue this is how wait staff at your “average” restaurant make their money and survive (and even more so for bartenders who regularly make 30%-40% of their sales in tips).

I bartended my way through grad school, and regularly claimed my tips up to whatever the legal level was...whatever was left over I just kinda kept quiet about. At the end of a given year the IRS said I had made something like 18K, when in reality I lived "higher on the hog" then than I do now in making 5 times as much salary at a “regular job.”

Everywhere I went in Europe had shitty service. Worse than Left Bank. Here, it is, in my experience, fairly unusual to get bad service. That seems to come out in favor of tipping, from the customer's point of view.

And I don't think that each individual tip is meant to be an individual message. The collected tips form the message, and anyone who's worked at a restaurant knows that the good waitresses end up with more in their pockets at the end of the night than the bad ones.

i had pretty much the opposite experience living in italy...not that service was so incredible there, but on the average it was as good or as bad as anywhere i've dined here, AND i didn't have to worry about doing the tip at the end of the meal.

I wrote about this yesterday--basically, I think the system is broken and I would much prefer a tip-free method of compensating servers.

I have to agree with you Catherine. I don't know why people are always saying that service is worse in Europe, because in my experience it isn't. I've been there many times and I must say that my restaurant experiences have usually been better on average, if only because you don't get those obnoxious caffiene-loaded bubbly waitresses who think that kneeling at your table and wearing a huge fake smile will get them more of a tip. This holds true in Australia as well.

Sorry about being angry last night. But I was tired, sore and smelled like ketchup. I don't know why you have to marry ketchup bottles, I really don't. Would anyone out there be offended if they got a half filled bottle of ketchup?

I think the problem is that waiters can take a fair amount of abuse at their jobs. And when you are paid to hold it in, it just kinda comes out in other places.

I don't know if tipping is the best solution out there. Personally, I have never minded tipping because that is just what you do when you go out to eat. I don't feel particularly magnanimous when I do it. So I guess my question, without anger or sarcasm, is what is the difference, assuming the meal costs the same, with tipping and having the extra money just added to the prices and appearing on the menu?

I just don't like the baggage that comes with it. Having to do math, for one thing. Worrying about how you'll appear to your date, for a second. And creeping tip requirements for another (15% used to be standard; now 18% or 20% is -- I'm all for adjusting for inflation, but these are percentages).

Tipping also exacerbates the irritation I feel about restaurants shifting all their profit to alcohol (just charge a profit-making price on everything, god dammit, instead of tripling the retail price for wine!). If bottle of wine B costs twice as much as bottle of wine A, does the waiter have to work twice as hard to open and serve it? It's silly.

I really have no idea how the financial structure of restaurants in this country got so fucked up, but I would love to see it untangled. DC's Dino is trying to fix the wine cost problem; Per Se's trying to fix tipping. I hope this is the start of a trend, but I'm not particularly optimistic.

also irritating: tipping basically guarantees that, as a young'un, I get worse service when I go to a restaurant, because waiters (wrongly) assume that I won't tip well.

How about a compromise?
For places you just want to get a beer and a sandwich for lunch, say for $10 or less per person, the tip should be included. I'm not sure how many places in DC you can get a sandwich and drink for less than $10, but you can adjust per area. What I mean is, if you go to a place where the service is bound to be the same whether it's Chili's or Applebee's and they all serve basically the same food with the same dull smirk on their face, you shouldn't have to worry so much about impressing your date. I can understand the living wage argument for that. It might actually improve the service...
For any place you go to eat specifically for the service and the ambiance (the place you go to order $30 bottles of wine), tipping should be based on a percentage. I worked in a 'high-class' seafood restaurant for 6 years and here is my reasoning: these servers had to buy their own tuxedos to work at the restaurant. They worked semi-long hours and were required to declare up to 14% of their cash tips and all of the credit card ones. Their entire paycheck (the $2.15/hour) was used to pay taxes.
But the customers came to eat expensive food and have their servers wipe their nose for them. These people worked for their percentages. They were also professionals at what they did and it wasn't just a college job for them. I'd say they deserve more than adding a few bucks to each plate.

Also, when we were in Italy, the service wasn't bad, but it was also perfunctory, like they were just doing their job. We didn't go to the restaurant for the experience, just the really yummy food. I miss gelato...

well, I'd say it depends just how many bucks are added to each plate. If a restaurant averages $50 a setting, why not institute a service charge between $7.50 and $10? I'm not arguing that talented waiters at expensive restaurants shouldn't be better-compensated than waiters at greasy spoons.

As for the service in Italy... I don't know, I thought that frequently we were treated very graciously. But it's tough to untangle the quality of service from the fact that Americans are known to tip, hostility to encroaching tourists, Italian ideas about hospitality, and who knows what other cultural differences.

I'm definitely with you, Tom. I feel like a fool whipping out a calculator in restaurants, but it's the only way I feel confident I'm not screwing people over.

But I don't think changing the system is impossible... check out the menu at Chez Panisse. Right there at the bottom: "Service charge: 17 percent". They just calculate the "tip" and put it right on the bill, and they're very insistent that you not pay more.

Here's a Hint on 8th grade math:

Step 1: Move decimal point one slot to the left. That's 10%
Step 2: Divide that in half. That's 5%.
Step 3: Add them. That's 15%.

And let's not forget the restaurants with no tipping: fast food and the like. The help there is rarely friendly, rarely concerned with the customer and just clocking it in. Granted its fast food, but a "real" restaurant charging similar prices but with wait staff (and tipping) results in better service.

You just aren't going to get the best service at a regular restaurant without tipping. There's no motivation to do so and the management can't police every waiter to that degree. I mean, how many cars would a salesman sell if he didn't commission? How hard would a real-estate agent work if they were just salaried? Some jobs just aren't cut out for a fixed compensation model. Waiting tables is one of them.

What about the way the Britons tip? I went on a date with this British guy once and this is what he told me:
The servers get paid a higher wage than American servers and at the end of the meal, the server just rounds up to the next highest even number. If your bill is $27.00, they round up to $30.00. If it's 32.00, they round up to $40.00. I guess the theory is that it will all even out by the end of the night. Plus it's pretty dummy proof and easy for the percentage impaired.
I don't think we should just let it be if so many people are unhappy with the system.

yeah, HaH is right -- the math isn't so bad. But I do really like the British way of doing this.

I think you're wrong, though, HaH, about tipping being mandatory to certain industries in order to get decent service. There are plenty of service jobs that are done just fine without tipping. And of course, the expectation of a tip can result in worse service for folks wrongly thought to be stingy tippers. Plus, there's the gray area of tipping -- how much do you give a delivery guy? Do you tip the maitre'd as well as the waiter? What about the usher at the ball game? What if I didn't ask or want you to carry my bags up, hotel guy?