New min wage and tipping

[daboy]

What a smug answer
And FYI servers are not exempt from new labour laws, only liquor servers have their own catagory

Servers will still be paid under minimum wage, If you don't have the money to tip your server 15-20% don't go out to eat. /end.

 

[fuji]

What a smug answer
And FYI servers are not exempt from new labour laws, only liquor servers have their own catagory

Which is almost all servers...

 

[JunoxGrey]

What a smug answer
And FYI servers are not exempt from new labour laws, only liquor servers have their own catagory

What's smug about it? Do you want to work for $9 an hour? I've actually been there so I'm not sure what you're getting at I don't think you realize how chaotic and hard it is to be a server. Imagine serving a table of 10 and they drop you $20? TRASH.

 

[Indiana]

In Canada I tip equal to the tax, with the option to add or subtract depending on service.

 

[Occasionally]

What's smug about it? Do you want to work for $9 an hour? I've actually been there so I'm not sure what you're getting at I don't think you realize how chaotic and hard it is to be a server. Imagine serving a table of 10 and they drop you $20? TRASH.

I've worked as a waiter too in the early 90s when minimum wage was $6.00, but as a restaurant worker I got like $5.00/hr.

Worker as a server is not hard. And I was doing it when I was around 20 at the time. And the tips you get when added to the min wage will blow away any other low end job. All the people working fast food, at the mall, etc.... are getting a flat rate crappy hourly wage. Wait staff get an hourly wage close to it, but tips should literally triple your hourly.

Unless someone works in a crappy restaurant with few customers, anyone working at a normal eatery or even better, a high end place should be getting at least $100 tips per shift. And a shift is never even 8 hrs like most normal jobs. Come in for 6 hrs...... 6 x $5/hr = $30. Plus $100 minimum per shift = $130 for 6 hrs work..... $20/hr.

That table for 10 that gives $20 is an anomoly. How about that easy table for 2 that gives $20? That happens too.

It's not like someone's entire shift is waiting on one table for the entire night. Someone may attend to 50-100 people in a shift, where the tables turnover twice. Even if each person just gave a $1 tip, it still equates to a decent hourly wage when you do the math. It won't make you a millionaire, but it's far better than any standard flat rate low end hourly job.

Another thing too..... it was better back in the day because more people did cash, while now 99% of people do credit/debit, but let's face it. Any cash tip..... nobody is claiming that for income tax. I didn't, and I doubt anyone else I worked with did either. Back then, there was a tip bucket at each station and the servers working each station divvyed it up at the end of their shift. Right into their pocket. Nobody is tracking that for T4 purposes.

Another greedy thing too is that tipping has gone up.... it used to be 10% growing up. Then 15%. Now people seemed pressured to do 20%. At one restaurant (I forget which but it was recent), the credit card gadget had pre-determined tipping %'s. It was 20%, 22% and I think 25 or 27%. Then press F4 to enter your own.

 

[gcostanza]

In Canada I tip equal to the tax, with the option to add or subtract depending on service.

This is very acceptable.

 

[superstar_88]

I tip 10-12% regardless of "new expectations".

I find that when I tip under 15% I get a dirty look. When I tip 15% no big deal they just walk away. When I tip 20% (by accident) they give a beaming smile. Now they even expect tipping for takeout to go. More dirty looks when I just take my takeout bag and go. They want a dollar for putting my burgar in a bag.

 

[james t kirk]

They're still being paid less hourly and relying on tips.

I think servers are probably not the right people to vent your frustration on.

Ah, don't know where you're getting your information from but I have 2 friends who are waiters and they make a very good living. Tips especially, although they complain about those who tip on VISA as there is a paper trail and they have to pay taxes as opposed to cash, which gets put right in the pocket.

 

[james t kirk]

Agreed,...it has NOTHING to do with service,...

Its not done in Europe,...is that because every server in Europe is lousy,...???

I can assure you that tipping is still expected in Europe. If they don't have a "service charge", they will tell you point blank that service is not included.

 

[james t kirk]

What's smug about it? Do you want to work for $9 an hour? I've actually been there so I'm not sure what you're getting at I don't think you realize how chaotic and hard it is to be a server. Imagine serving a table of 10 and they drop you $20? TRASH.

Most restaurants, if the party is over 6 people automatically add on 15%.

I don't mind tipping for good service (and that includes the kitchen). I'll usually tip 20%

But I won't tip for shit service (which is very very rare, but it does happen).

 

[james t kirk]

I've worked as a waiter too in the early 90s when minimum wage was $6.00, but as a restaurant worker I got like $5.00/hr.

Worker as a server is not hard. And I was doing it when I was around 20 at the time. And the tips you get when added to the min wage will blow away any other low end job. All the people working fast food, at the mall, etc.... are getting a flat rate crappy hourly wage. Wait staff get an hourly wage close to it, but tips should literally triple your hourly.

Unless someone works in a crappy restaurant with few customers, anyone working at a normal eatery or even better, a high end place should be getting at least $100 tips per shift. And a shift is never even 8 hrs like most normal jobs. Come in for 6 hrs...... 6 x $5/hr = $30. Plus $100 minimum per shift = $130 for 6 hrs work..... $20/hr.

That table for 10 that gives $20 is an anomoly. How about that easy table for 2 that gives $20? That happens too.

It's not like someone's entire shift is waiting on one table for the entire night. Someone may attend to 50-100 people in a shift, where the tables turnover twice. Even if each person just gave a $1 tip, it still equates to a decent hourly wage when you do the math. It won't make you a millionaire, but it's far better than any standard flat rate low end hourly job.

Another thing too..... it was better back in the day because more people did cash, while now 99% of people do credit/debit, but let's face it. Any cash tip..... nobody is claiming that for income tax. I didn't, and I doubt anyone else I worked with did either. Back then, there was a tip bucket at each station and the servers working each station divvyed it up at the end of their shift. Right into their pocket. Nobody is tracking that for T4 purposes.

Another greedy thing too is that tipping has gone up.... it used to be 10% growing up. Then 15%. Now people seemed pressured to do 20%. At one restaurant (I forget which but it was recent), the credit card gadget had pre-determined tipping %'s. It was 20%, 22% and I think 25 or 27%. Then press F4 to enter your own.

Bingo.

I've done a LOT of shitty / tough jobs in my life. I can remember very well being in High School working after school and weekends at a large department store. That was nonstop work and could be downright disgusting. Part of my gig was to clean the public washrooms in the evenings. There were times when I would use a shovel because some woman dropped a log on the floor, or threw her rag on the floor. (Women are pigs in the washrooms compared to men, I can assure you.) All that for $4.00 an hour and never ONCE did anyone tip me because I was making minimum wage. When I was in University, I worked in construction and spent the summers boiling my brains out on job sites doing incredibly dangerous work (iron working). If I wasn't risking my life in the field, I was welding in the shop or painting steel with an airless sprayer out back without any kind of protective equipment at all. (Well, I did have a welding helmet, otherwise you'll catch the flash and that's never good.) 7 bucks an hour. And no-one tipped me because I was making a low wage.

So maybe the answer is to outlaw tipping in restaurants and let restaurants pay their employees a fair wage. Sure, it would cost more, but it would make a lot of sense.

 

[james t kirk]

I find that when I tip under 15% I get a dirty look. When I tip 15% no big deal they just walk away. When I tip 20% (by accident) they give a beaming smile. Now they even expect tipping for takeout to go. More dirty looks when I just take my takeout bag and go. They want a dollar for putting my burgar in a bag.

I do not tip for take out.

Sorry.

And really, why are we taxing on the bottom line when there is 13% tax in there. Tipping on tax?

 

[james t kirk]

More than tipping, I'm wondering about Toronto Community Housing. (i.e. government housing (which is what they accurately called it until someone decided that calling it was it is was stigmatizing).)

You've got all sorts of people living in government housing. Some get free housing, and others pay a token amount of rent. (If say they work a minimum wage job.) I've always been ok with this because I figured that the people doing he jobs that pay very little are in a way working on the cheap for the rest of us. So you need to have people working on the cheap, so you need to have government housing.

But now, if the minimum wage goes to $15 an hour, should those people living in government housing now be required to pay MORE towards the rent on their domicile? As it stands right now, they are paying but a fraction of the real costs of what it costs to keep the government housing up and running.) Say for example the real cost of that 2 bedroom government housing apartment is $1,000.00 a month and minimum wage buddy is currently paying $300.00 a month. It would make sense that same minimum wage buddy now pay $500.00 a month say. (All numbers being purely for discussion purposes only.)

I can just see the cars being tipped over and lit on fire if that happens.

But realistically, they should pay more.

 

[fuji]

Bingo.

I've done a LOT of shitty / tough jobs in my life. I can remember very well being in High School working after school and weekends at a large department store. That was nonstop work and could be downright disgusting. Part of my gig was to clean the public washrooms in the evenings. There were times when I would use a shovel because some woman dropped a log on the floor, or threw her rag on the floor. (Women are pigs in the washrooms compared to men, I can assure you.) All that for $4.00 an hour and never ONCE did anyone tip me because I was making minimum wage. When I was in University, I worked in construction and spent the summers boiling my brains out on job sites doing incredibly dangerous work (iron working). If I wasn't risking my life in the field, I was welding in the shop or painting steel with an airless sprayer out back without any kind of protective equipment at all. (Well, I did have a welding helmet, otherwise you'll catch the flash and that's never good.) 7 bucks an hour. And no-one tipped me because I was making a low wage.

So maybe the answer is to outlaw tipping in restaurants and let restaurants pay their employees a fair wage. Sure, it would cost more, but it would make a lot of sense.

If the full minimum wage is extended to servers I'd agree with you. But remember, back when you were earning four bucks an hour a server was probably only getting two, and hoping for tips to make up the difference.

Extend the full minimum wage to servers and I have no problem abandoning the practice of nearly mandatory tipping.

That said personally I tip lots of people others never tip and I tip generously. I'm conscious that I'm doing much better than almost everyone and that in large part is because of luck as much as skill. I never, ever give handouts to the homeless but for anyone making their way through life working a hard job I'm generous.

 

[yomero5]

I find that when I tip under 15% I get a dirty look. When I tip 15% no big deal they just walk away. When I tip 20% (by accident) they give a beaming smile. Now they even expect tipping for takeout to go. More dirty looks when I just take my takeout bag and go. They want a dollar for putting my burgar in a bag.

I think it's unreasonable for a server to expect more than 10% for just doing their job. It's not the customer's fault that servers are under paid and are made to rely on generous tips. It's the owner's/management's fault for under paying their staff or the servers for accepting that job. I have never received a dirty look from a server, in my life, and wouldn't care if I got one. Twice in my life, I have tipped zero for poor service. I don't even remember the look on the servers' faces.

 

[Jasmine Raine]

More than tipping, I'm wondering about Toronto Community Housing. (i.e. government housing (which is what they accurately called it until someone decided that calling it was it is was stigmatizing).)

You've got all sorts of people living in government housing. Some get free housing, and others pay a token amount of rent. (If say they work a minimum wage job.) I've always been ok with this because I figured that the people doing he jobs that pay very little are in a way working on the cheap for the rest of us. So you need to have people working on the cheap, so you need to have government housing.

But now, if the minimum wage goes to $15 an hour, should those people living in government housing now be required to pay MORE towards the rent on their domicile? As it stands right now, they are paying but a fraction of the real costs of what it costs to keep the government housing up and running.) Say for example the real cost of that 2 bedroom government housing apartment is $1,000.00 a month and minimum wage buddy is currently paying $300.00 a month. It would make sense that same minimum wage buddy now pay $500.00 a month say. (All numbers being purely for discussion purposes only.)

I can just see the cars being tipped over and lit on fire if that happens.

But realistically, they should pay more.

Community housing is set geared to income so as income goes up the rent will as well by the pre-determined % set out. I think it is like 30% or something. Don't quote me on that. But yes the rent will go up for those people.

Most restaurants, if the party is over 6 people automatically add on 15%.

I don't mind tipping for good service (and that includes the kitchen). I'll usually tip 20%

But I won't tip for shit service (which is very very rare, but it does happen).

I will usually tip 15% for regular service, and 20-25% for good/great service.

I won't tip for crap service either, but I will make sure to tell management why. I equally call the management over when I am tipping 25%. I think management needs to hear both good and bad feedback.

 

[Piratos]

I worked in the service industry when I was a student. I tipped well then and have since then. Generally these days when I dine in good restaurants it is a business dinner. My company decided to put a 15% cap on tips. Any more and you eat it. I think that is fair as it really works out to around 17.25% because using those machines when you hit 15% you are adding 15% to the total tax in.
I do have one beef and that is tipping on wine. Should I really be paying someone $45+ to open a $300 bottle of wine considering the effort is identical to opening a $50 bottle of wine? The restaurant owner is making 300% on the wine, shouldn't he or she pay the staff out of the restaurant's cut?

 

[SchlongConery]

Because when you don't tip, it's like taking money out of there pocket. They make less based on the premise they are going to get 15% tip on top of there salary. Unless the service is horrible, stop so cheap and do the right thing.

Most servers have to "tip out" 3-5% to the "back of house" staff like dishwashers, cooks etc. So if you don't tip on sat $100, the server will have to reach into their own pocket to give the back of house $5 or so.

I really dislike the premise of tipping as it really just an added service charge on top of the price of the food and drink. But, as it is our custom, the servers do rely on this to make maybe a living wage. I've dated servers and I know how they feel and how hard they work. So even if I get shit service, I'll still tip 5% so the server is not out of pocket. I tip 15% as a standard and 20% for really goos service. If I can afford to eat out, then I can afford the tip. Even if I disagree with the premise.

 

[FAST]

I worked in the service industry when I was a student. I tipped well then and have since then. Generally these days when I dine in good restaurants it is a business dinner. My company decided to put a 15% cap on tips. Any more and you eat it. I think that is fair as it really works out to around 17.25% because using those machines when you hit 15% you are adding 15% to the total tax in.
I do have one beef and that is tipping on wine. Should I really be paying someone $45+ to open a $300 bottle of wine considering the effort is identical to opening a $50 bottle of wine? The restaurant owner is making 300% on the wine, shouldn't he or she pay the staff out of the restaurant's cut?

Agreed on the wine issue,...I do not tip @ 15% on wine,...I add my tip by entering it manually,...YA,...call me cheap,... but I put up with a lot more shit, and crappy working conditions than servers for my income.

 

[rhuarc29]

Servers will still be paid under minimum wage, If you don't have the money to tip your server 15-20% don't go out to eat. /end.

That's unfair. Even as someone who tips 15% for average service, 20%+ for good service, and a minimum of 10% for below average service, I STILL think obligated tipping is wrong. The employer should be paying a fair wage, and any additional tips should be a sign of appreciation, not an expected obligation.