If restaurant workers were paid at least $15/hour, would your tipping habits change?

Tide1986 · Mar 27, 2015

This question occurred to me while reading about the impact of Seattle's $15/hour minimum wage on restaurant workers. Personally, I would probably cease leaving tips for restaurant workers; and I would expect consistent, professional service across all levels of restaurants.

Gr8hope · Mar 27, 2015

Most of us would rarely go to restaurants because the cost of a meal would increase substantially. The market cannot sustain that level of pay at this time without reducing the number of employees and increasing prices.
I certainly would not tip someone already making $15. an hour and my tolerance for low quality and poor service would be very low.

Bama Reb · Mar 27, 2015

Gr8hope said:
Most of us would rarely go to restaurants because the cost of a meal would increase substantially. The market cannot sustain that level of pay at this time without reducing the number of employees and increasing prices.
I certainly would not tip someone already making $15. an hour and my tolerance for low quality and poor service would be very low.

I couldn't imagine any chain restaurants such as Waffle House being able to maintain their current price structure and pay all of the help $15 or more an hour. Remember, that is just a starting point. Imagine that if tbe dishwasher who just started last month is getting $15 an hour, how much would the Chef who has been there 10 years expect to make? The breakfast that cost $7.50 yesterday will cost you $27.50 tomorrow.

To the OP: A breakfast for two goes from $15 to $55. A 15% tip runs that up to $63.00.
I'm doing more than reducing the tip I leave. I'm eating at home.

PacadermaTideUs · Mar 27, 2015

Gr8hope said:
Most of us would rarely go to restaurants because the cost of a meal would increase substantially. The market cannot sustain that level of pay at this time without reducing the number of employees and increasing prices.
I certainly would not tip someone already making $15. an hour and my tolerance for low quality and poor service would be very low.

Like

Many (most?) restaurants would be forced to reduce hours and/or positions or simply go out of business due to pricing themselves out of the market.

ValuJet · Mar 27, 2015

The tipping threads are always fun.

Bamaro · Mar 27, 2015

If servers are paid $15/hr, most restaurants would need to consider a no tipping policy.

crimsonaudio · Mar 27, 2015

Tipping would most likely go away as it has in most of Europe.

Al A Bama · Mar 27, 2015

Bamaro said:
If servers are paid $15/hr, most restaurants would need to consider a no tipping policy.

We'd probably need to TIP the owners to help keep them in business. That is if SERVICE is good/excellent. If it's bad, then they go out of business and we cook our own meals at home.

TIDE-HSV · Mar 27, 2015

crimsonaudio said:
Tipping would most likely go away as it has in most of Europe.

THIS is the answer. In Europe, when I've absent-mindedly left a tip in line with what I would here, I've had them push it back across the table and say "That's too much." It's an annoyance to them, if not a mild insult. I've chatted with a couple of them. Basically, they said that they were well-paid, and, while they appreciated a few extra coins as an appreciation for their service, they didn't need to receive a bribe in order to do good work. The incomes of most American servers are so uncertain, 100% of them would have grabbed the money and run...

TideEngineer08 · Mar 27, 2015

PacadermaTideUs said:
Like

Many (most?) restaurants would be forced to reduce hours and/or positions or simply go out of business due to pricing themselves out of the market.

Perhaps we would eat at home more often and become less fat as well.

Displaced Bama Fan · Mar 27, 2015

If fast food workers are included in this "raise" I would also expect that customer service at the "sit down" restaurants to go down as there's no incentive for customer service if they are getting paid the same as fast food employees.

AV8N · Mar 27, 2015

If the minimum wage were raised across the board (with no exceptions for tipped workers), I would imagine tipping would quickly go out of style. After all, $15 is supposed to be the "living wage" everyone keeps talking about. With the servers' labor cost going up some 700% and others' going up over 100%, I don't see how food prices don't rise substantially. Now, if they only go up 18-20%, it's probably a wash for a sit-down place if tipping is no longer expected. I may slip a few dollars to a really good server, but I would no longer feel obligated to tip 15% to the server who provided the bare minimum of acceptable service.

exiledNms · Mar 27, 2015

ValuJet said:
The tipping threads are always fun.

Aren't they though? I still recall getting torched here by someone for some innocuous comment I made in a tipping thread. <shudder>

Jon · Mar 27, 2015

exiledNms said:
Aren't they though? I still recall getting torched here by someone for some innocuous comment I made in a tipping thread. <shudder>

probably by me and iirc you deserved it

TIDE-HSV · Mar 27, 2015

Displaced Bama Fan said:
If fast food workers are included in this "raise" I would also expect that customer service at the "sit down" restaurants to go down as there's no incentive for customer service if they are getting paid the same as fast food employees.

However, this doesn't seem to be the case. In Europe, I get service as good as or better than here. Also, I get better service in what few fast food places I can frequent. It may just be a cultural matter, but it's certainly not for lack of tipping. Also, even in expensive restaurants over there, the servers have a large compartmented leather pouch. They figure your bill and give you your change at table-side. There's no running back and forth to a computerized terminal. Honesty is assumed...

tide power fan · Mar 27, 2015

TIDE-HSV said:
However, this doesn't seem to be the case. In Europe, I get service as good as or better than here. Also, I get better service in what few fast food places I can frequent. It may just be a cultural matter, but it's certainly not for lack of tipping. Also, even in expensive restaurants over there, the servers have a large compartmented leather pouch. They figure your bill and give you your change at table-side. There's no running back and forth to a computerized terminal. Honesty is assumed...

I find it a much slower pace in Europe, my time is mostly spent in the UK.

Displaced Bama Fan · Mar 27, 2015

TIDE-HSV said:
However, this doesn't seem to be the case. In Europe, I get service as good as or better than here. Also, I get better service in what few fast food places I can frequent. It may just be a cultural matter, but it's certainly not for lack of tipping. Also, even in expensive restaurants over there, the servers have a large compartmented leather pouch. They figure your bill and give you your change at table-side. There's no running back and forth to a computerized terminal. Honesty is assumed...

I think with Americans being so credit card centric, this probably wouldn't be advantageous. In addition, you're dealing with European servers v. American servers. American math skills are not where they should be and I doubt many of the servers would be able to manually compute the bill and make correct change.

http://www.politifact.com/virginia/...ays-us-students-scoring-bottom-math-and-scie/

In this chart, the US ranked 36th in Math. Below the OECD average. Sad, but true.

http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2013/dec/03/pisa-results-country-best-reading-maths-science

TIDE-HSV · Mar 27, 2015

Displaced Bama Fan said:
I think with Americans being so credit card centric, this probably wouldn't be advantageous. In addition, you're dealing with European servers v. American servers. American math skills are not where they should be and I doubt many of the servers would be able to manually compute the bill and make correct change.

http://www.politifact.com/virginia/...ays-us-students-scoring-bottom-math-and-scie/

In this chart, the US ranked 36th in Math. Below the OECD average. Sad, but true.

http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2013/dec/03/pisa-results-country-best-reading-maths-science

I'm afraid you're right. Even as I typed my post, I was thinking that most American servers couldn't handle it. Years ago, when we still owned the condo in Vail, we started out skiing one morning and I realized I needed glove liners, since it was significantly colder than I'd expected. Next door to our development was the "Evergreen Lodge," which was really about a five story hotel, big enough to have a small accessory shop on the ground floor. I circled around, clunking along in ski boots and up to the shop, which was open. However, a morose-looking late teenager was behind the cash register. I picked out what I needed and tendered $15. He apologized that their network was down. I asked if he could open the register. He could. I suggested that I could just leave the money, take the change and leave my business card, with my phone number next door and, at the end of the day, I'd check back by and, if my purchase caused a problem, we could back it out and redo it. He replied "But I wouldn't know how much change to give you." I let that sink in for several seconds. Then I replied that I'd just leave the $15, take the $1.57, sign my name and check back at the end of the day. He brightened up at that and said that would work. I went off just shaking my head...

cbi1972 · Mar 27, 2015

TIDE-HSV said:
I'm afraid you're right. Even as I typed my post, I was thinking that most American servers couldn't handle it. Years ago, when we still owned the condo in Vail, we started out skiing one morning and I realized I needed glove liners, since it was significantly colder than I'd expected. Next door to our development was the "Evergreen Lodge," which was really about a five story hotel, big enough to have a small accessory shop on the ground floor. I circled around, clunking along in ski boots and up to the shop, which was open. However, a morose-looking late teenager was behind the cash register. I picked out what I needed and tendered $15. He apologized that their network was down. I asked if he could open the register. He could. I suggested that I could just leave the money, take the change and leave my business card, with my phone number next door and, at the end of the day, I'd check back by and, if my purchase caused a problem, we could back it out and redo it. He replied "But I wouldn't know how much change to give you." I let that sink in for several seconds. Then I replied that I'd just leave the $15, take the $1.57, sign my name and check back at the end of the day. He brightened up at that and said that would work. I went off just shaking my head...

For a humorous but foul language account of a ski lodge salesperson's incompetence and the buyer's over-the-top vengeance, google david thorne gloves

Jon · Mar 27, 2015

TIDE-HSV said:
I'm afraid you're right. Even as I typed my post, I was thinking that most American servers couldn't handle it. Years ago, when we still owned the condo in Vail, we started out skiing one morning and I realized I needed glove liners, since it was significantly colder than I'd expected. Next door to our development was the "Evergreen Lodge," which was really about a five story hotel, big enough to have a small accessory shop on the ground floor. I circled around, clunking along in ski boots and up to the shop, which was open. However, a morose-looking late teenager was behind the cash register. I picked out what I needed and tendered $15. He apologized that their network was down. I asked if he could open the register. He could. I suggested that I could just leave the money, take the change and leave my business card, with my phone number next door and, at the end of the day, I'd check back by and, if my purchase caused a problem, we could back it out and redo it. He replied "But I wouldn't know how much change to give you." I let that sink in for several seconds. Then I replied that I'd just leave the $15, take the $1.57, sign my name and check back at the end of the day. He brightened up at that and said that would work. I went off just shaking my head...

based on everyone I've ever known who worked at a ski resort, though he may have also been stupid he almost certainly was stoned

If restaurant workers were paid at least $15/hour, would your tipping habits change?

If restaurant workers were paid at least $15/hour, would your tipping habits change?

No, I would keep tipping my usual percentage.

Yes, I would lower my usual tip percentage.

Yes, I would stop tipping restaurant workers.

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