Restaurant customer arrested for crime of undertipping

[Radar]

Originally Posted by Ernestine

I hate the whole culture of tipping. Why should any employee's wages be dependent upon the kindness of strangers?

Because tips are not your wages. They are a gift over and above your wages. You are not entitled to be tipped. Your wages are what you agreed to be paid by the restaurant and nothing more. The word TIP is several hundred years old and comes from an acronym To Insure Promptness. It's an incentive for people in certain jobs to perform well but is by no means guaranteed.

I've worked as a casino dealer and as a bartender. I've had to live on my tips and I tip well when the service is good. But I don't hesitate to speak or to vote with my dollars. If someone gives me poor service I leave a poor tip or no tip and I let them know exactly why.

Originally Posted by Ernestine

I've worked as a waitress, a bank teller, a store clerk, a supermarket cashier and several other service positions. I always tried to give good service in spite of low wages, yet I was only given tips in one of these positions. Why?

Because it is only customary in certain situations. Bank tellers, store clerks, and supermarket cashiers generally make more money on their salary so people don't feel that tipping is appropriate. A gift is a gift, and you're not entitled to it. It's not a matter of "aristocracy", it's a matter of courtesy. It's a matter of rewarding those who perform well and not rewarding those who don't. In this way they determine their own income. Nothing could be more fair.

The only problem I had with tipping is the general communist nature of the Casinos. I would work my ass off, remember people's names and their action, I'd help them out if they forgot to press bets, joke with them, and help them to have a very enjoyable experience. I'd sometimes collect a thousand dollars in tips in a night. In the meantime they'd have cold, stone-faced, burnout dealers who were rude and unfriendly to customers (my ex-wife is still one). They'd collect all the tips and divide them equally with all the dealers (except those counting who got an extra share and the high-roller dealers who didn't have to share). I would come in the next day and pick up a $120 tip envelope. I was paying for thier houses, cars, the braces on thier kids faces, etc. I was being punished for being successful and industrious and they were being rewarded for being lazy and inept.

This is a large part of why I'm out of that business.