tip jars

[TheMatrix31]

Re: tip jars

No problem with the tip jar. If you want to leave something, leave it. If not, then don't.

We have one at the ice cream shop, and it's nice to get a couple dollars here and there to pay for some fast food after work, or to have on hand when paying for parking...but if someone doesn't leave something, I couldn't care less.

I usually tip a bit if its a place I frequent and they're friendly and know what I want, etc. If it's busy, if they do a good job. I try not to when the chick is hot, why empower more chicks and inflate their sense of self even more? Last thing I want to do is encourage bitchy chicks just because they're hot.

[Scottdau]

You are playing for the service. At least that is how I see it. So I have no problem with tip jars.

[Antec]

Re: tip jars

I don't tip at fast food places especially when you pay at 1 window and get the food at the next but at Dunkin Donuts I'll usually let them keep the coin change and just take back the bills.

[Trevytrev11]

Re: tip jars

We have one at the ice cream shop, and it's nice to get a couple dollars here and there to pay for some fast food after work, or to have on hand when paying for parking...but if someone doesn't leave something, I couldn't care less.

This is basically how I see it. I remember when I was working during high school and college and making a just barely over minimum wage. A few extra dollars here and there were sometimes the difference between going out on a Friday night or staying in or taking my girl out or doing nothing. I don't mind adding an extra $1 or $2 when I go out. The difference between an $8 lunch and a $10 lunch pretty much goes unnoticed, but for the person on the other side, it probably means a bit more.

I typically never carry or pay with cash, so tip jars don't reap the benefits like receipts with a tip line, but when I do use cash, the change always finds the jar.

It definitely is optional and I don't think anyone should be expected to donate, but for those that can, I'm sure it is well appreciated.

I do find it funny that these jars, which I almost never used to see show up everywhere these days. Subway, Ice Cream Shops, Coffe and Doughnut shops, etc.

[mkharsh33]

Re: tip jars

I carry little cards that say "Don't eat yellow snow" and "Don't pee into the wind" - best tips I could ever give.

(Actually, I don't really carry those cards around).

[NYJets]

Re: tip jars

No problem with the tip jar. If you want to leave something, leave it. If not, then don't.

Same, I don't think I've ever gotten a dirty look or anything for not leaving anything. Seems to me that the vast majority of people don't leave anything in them. I just see it as a completely optional thing. It's not like a sit down place where a tip is pretty much a part of the cost.

[Trevytrev11]

Re: tip jars

Same, I don't think I've ever gotten a dirty look or anything for not leaving anything. Seems to me that the vast majority of people don't leave anything in them. I just see it as a completely optional thing. It's not like a sit down place where a tip is pretty much a part of the cost.

Regardless, usually they are near the cash register and don't come into play until the transaction has concluded and you have received your food...too late for them to f with it.

[SuperBowlNachos]

Re: tip jars

What's worse then a tip jar is the automatically added gratuity. It's not like they have to work any harder. They would either be serving 8 people at one table or two tables of 4.

It usually hurts them too since my family will tip 20% or more since they are making constant beer runs.

[Scott]

Re: tip jars

What's worse then a tip jar is the automatically added gratuity. It's not like they have to work any harder. They would either be serving 8 people at one table or two tables of 4.

It usually hurts them too since my family will tip 20% or more since they are making constant beer runs.

Some restaurants have auto gratuity on parties more of more than 6..

[TheMatrix31]

Re: tip jars

Yeah, I have a problem with auto-gratuity more than the jars. Some people know that they're getting their portion regardless and end up slacking off.

[Trevytrev11]

Re: tip jars

I don't mind the auto-gratuity on large groups so much. Often times they will designate one person to a large group and only that group so instead of having their normal 3 or 4 or 5 tables, they get one. And for me, I almost always leave at least 20% and they usually only auto-gratuity me for 15%, so it's ends up being favorable to me.

And it is a bit harder to serve one table of 12 instead of 3 tables of 4.

Usually customers are rotated in to servers sections so one group goes to server A, the next to server B and so on. This prevents one server from getting three tables at once and allows them to get drinks and take an order from one table while the next table is just being sat and then that process is repeated.

When you get a table of 12, you have to get all 12 drink orders at once, then come back and take all 12 orders and then you are constantly refilling drinks, etc. It's the same work, obviously, but the work load is a bit increased and not as organized, I guess....at least that is what my wife tells me when I bring all of this up to her...she was a waitress for the better part of 5 or 6 years during HS and college.

[AUChase]

Re: tip jars

It depends on where the tip jar is at.

I don't mind them, but I don't tip that often. I've never tipped at the bar. I have watched stupid drunks guys tip "insert hot bartender's here" a few dollars after paying six for a small mixed drink.

[55]

Re: tip jars

My grandmother worked for many years waiting tables at a little Italian restaurant that was frequented by "wiseguys" so to speak and they always tipped extremely well and even with her modest job she was able to afford a very nice apartment, a nice car and spoil all of us kids and still put money away for her retirement.

That has stuck with me over the years and while I'm not wealthy like those guys were by any means, I do a hell of a lot better financially than people in the service industry do so I try to go the extra mile and help them out a bit. It's the least I can do. Some people don't have the capability to get great jobs like some of us have, you know?

I always tip 33% or so at sit down restaurants (i.e. a $10 tip on a $30 bill for a total of $40) and I always throw at least a couple of bucks in the tip jars at places where I don't sit down to eat. Man, I even tip the pizza man $5 every single time. It's just the way I was brought up is all.

There have only been a handful of times in the past decade that I didn't tip at all and that was because either the service was extremely slow and/or bad or the food was terrible. I refuse to even pay for the food in those instances and just leave. I've got a couple of good stories about those instances, but I'll save them for another thread another time...

I'm lucky though, as most places I go out to eat and/or pick up takeout food at are places I regular a lot (I eat out six nights a week) so they all know me there so I always get top notch service and free stuff sometimes. A little bit extra goes a long way and if you can't afford to tip a few measly extra dollars then you probably shouldn't be eating out in the first place. Just my take on it anyway.

[slickdtc]

Re: tip jars

I work at a pizza place and we do get tipped sometimes. It is very nice because we never expect it. It's usually just a dollar or two and maybe once or twice a night, but it's good to have a few bucks straight to your pocket because we're not getting paid much. We don't have a tip jar, though. They do it of their own accord. And we don't do anything extra, because the food is already made (if they called in/web ordered). The one exception is on very large orders (like 10 items or more). They usually run up over 100$, and I've found that typically those people leave a 5 or 10$ tip.

The one problem is, we pretty much all do the duties of the job. Oven, pizza making, order taking, ringing people up. So it's luck of the draw with who gets the tip.

My gf worked at StarBucks and they made SERIOUS tips there. But they split it up by hours worked for the week, so you'd get the appropriate %. She'd make at the least, 60$ a week in tips working 30-35 hours. But she also had to deal with tougher customers.

[slickdtc]

Re: tip jars

I think a tip jar is a good thing, though. It's not hurting anyone, but it's also a reminder that if you want to, you can. I think just the presence of a jar may encourage people to throw in loose change or be a little more charitable, but I can also see some people being turned off because then they feel like we're asking them to do it. One store around here has a clever line on their jar: "Gas money for the crew." I liked that and I usually throw in a few bills.

It kind of pissed me off that a manager at another place in our chain removed his tip jar and had a sign that said "Don't tip" (or something to that effect, my friend relayed me the story). You don't have to have the tip jar, but to say something like that, I felt like that was wrong. Might've been a problem with people hawking over the walk-ins to get the tips when everyone else did all the work to make the order, though, so it's tough to really judge without knowing the full story.