ScoopKW

Most of us in this thread think that $2.13 per hour plus a large tip percentage is a ridiculous way to earn a living. The problem is people like fvandrog, who basically represents the vast majority of foreign tourists, along with homegrown cheapskates. Those of us who DO have a little empathy for our fellow man need to tip more and more to subsidize the tightwads and to keep up with inflation. Which is why 20% is the new "standard" and that's going up fast. We'll be at 25% before too long. Annabelle: http://washingtonpolicywatch.org/2013/04/16/politifact-rates-national-restaurant-association-statements-on-minimum-wage-false/ http://www.restaurant.org/advocacy/All-Issues/Minimum-Wage/Overview http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Restaurant_Association http://inplainsight.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/18/17325972-looking-for-a-big-increase-in-the-minimum-wage-dont-bank-on-it?lite Edward: I can't explain why none of your suggestions can possibly be implemented without turning this thread entirely political. Short of a revolution to bring down the United States government, nothing you have said will work. The representatives who are keeping American workers down are popular with those same American workers because of a rabid hatred of anything that smacks of socialism. Half of America votes against their financial interests every election cycle because of promises to not be like France, and to keep discrimination (and cheap, plentiful handguns) the law of the land.

I agree with all the replies. If you're trying to break into the industry, they're offering you a shot. Take it. Either you'll like it and can start the climb to where you want to be. Or you won't like it and you can just skip that job when you update your resume.

All well and good. But how is ANYTHING going to be accomplished when the National Restaurant Association lobby is shoveling money at our legislators to make sure the minimum wage stays at $2.13 for tipped employees? The culinary unions (of which I'm a member) cannot compete. And the legislators ALWAYS favor the big corporations over the workers. That's just how it is here.

(my bold) Scoop, do you have a citation for this statement? Aren't you lumping all restaurant owners in with Union bosses? The National Restaurant Association is the primary reason tipped employees are still sitting at $2.13/hour. This is the lobby that fights tooth and nail against any kind of wage hikes. They have the most to lose, after all. Google ANY story about "minimum wage" and "National Restaurant Association" and you'll get your citations. As for other recent replies: 1) Edward J -- You seriously overestimate the power unions have. We get it. You HATE unions. But so few front-of-house workers are organized, there is nothing unions can do for them. 2) fvandrog -- If nothing else, thank you for proving everything I have said about foreign visitors and their tipping practices.

This happens occasionally where I work as well. We send them something from the menu that we can make FAST. Then we send it, "with the chef's compliments." We have several 1-minute appetizers. That's what we usually send. They don't really want something free at the end of the meal. They want something free RIGHT NOW. They're hungry, after all. They also notice that people who sat later than they did are getting their food first. That's the problem that needs to be fixed. Put something nice in front of them in a gigantic hurry and it's likely you'll mollify them. That's what "on the fly" means where I work. Basically, this says, "Look, we know we screwed up. Here's something you'll enjoy while we fix the problem. We're on it, and you're important to us."

The restaurant owners all shovel money at our government making sure none of that happens. Do you have any suggestions that would actually work in the USA?

It was a German guide to the Florida Keys. It was specific to the Keys. The only other place mentioned was Miami, and only the airport. Can't remember the title though, sorry. This was 25 years ago.

You don't have to go back too far: "what is difficult to wrap one's head around is the fact that wait-staff nationwide hasn't done anything to change the status quo." What, exactly, can America's wait staff do? Rise up with pitchforks and torches? Hold a general strike? To suggest that they can do anything at all is to greatly overestimate a citizen's power in the United States.

You have said in previous threads about American tip culture that you are loathe to visit the USA because of the way tips work here. I'm going completely from memory here, because we're talking about older threads and my Google-Fu isn't up to scratch today. But we've had this debate many times. And it's always the same thing from visitors. "Why don't the servers just rise up and demand better." As if that's an option. Frankly, I think the way foreigners regard our tip culture is unfair. There's no other way to put it. "We don't have to pay so much where we live, so we shouldn't have to pay it in your country either." There are many, many cultural idiosyncrasies that I also annoying when I visit other countries. But I suck it up and deal with it because I refuse to be the stereotypical ugly American. All I'm asking is for a little quid pro quo.

I am simply at a loss. From the tone of your post, you are looking at us in America as a city dweller looks at a farmer, covered in "dirt/dung/chicken-bodily-fluid." To put it as bluntly as I am capable, your tone is condescending. You and several other EU, UK and Canadian members have asked for a simple, honest and direct answer to why you need to tip your servers in America when you don't have to do so at home. You have been given that answer time and again by Americans who work in the trenches of the restaurant business. I consider my post, #139 to be the definitive answer. That's why we tip 20% -- because we know our server makes $2.13 an hour (with limited exceptions in some progressive cities). And most of us have enough empathy for our fellow man to say, "Nobody can live on $2.13 an hour. It isn't possible. Let's bump this up to something reasonable." There's your answer. And yet you still can't wrap your heads around it. Comprehension is not "apparently impossible." Communicating it isn't impossible either. I have done so quite effectively. You are simply making excuses -- you do not like our reality so you substitute your own. Personally, I would like a reality where everyone makes a living wage and nobody has to worry about getting sick. But that isn't how it works in America. We play the game of life with the cards we are dealt. And the reality is that servers make $2.13 an hour almost everywhere in this country, and most people are scared of falling ill. Welcome to my reality. It has been this way my entire life. And I doubt it will change anytime soon. And sadly, it is also reality here that almost nobody cares about this.

But I had no problem with the religious tracts as such, my problem was that they were usually left instead of a financial tip, and neither my landlord nor supermarkets accepted those as currency. I just couldn't see why someone who spent eleven bucks on dinner couldn't manage even a dollar as a tip. When I first went off to university, the town where I ended up was tiny, and the restaurant was pretty much the only place I was considered old enough to work. So, absolutely, no force was involved in my getting a job there, but my options at the beginning were few; as soon as more reliable ones showed up, I went after them. I think – based on the many discussions I've had about this with people from various EU countries – that what is difficult to wrap one's head around is the fact that wait-staff nationwide hasn't done anything to change the status quo. You're assuming that Americans live in a functional democracy with representatives who care about their constituents. Our government isn't even dysfunctional anymore. It's broken. There. I've said it. The United States government is broken. Servers are NEVER going to see their minimum wage increased when the lobbying group for the big chain restaurants is shoveling money at our legislators to keep the minimum wage at $2.13 per hour for tipped employees. What exactly are the servers of America going to do to change their situation? Nothing. They are powerless. Nothing will be done for them because there is no money in it. Big corporate restaurant chains are quite happy to let their patrons pay the server's wages. This deferral makes them even more than the 20% in tips -- they don't have to pay as much Social Security, and health care taxes that way. So again, why is it so hard for people from the EU and UK to wrap their head around the fact that servers make $2.13 per hour and would literally starve if it weren't for tips. Why do we need a morality lecture every time we return to this point? That's how it is. The server is powerless to change that. I am powerless to change that. And I don't have a spare billion dollars to throw at Congress to get it changed. Frankly, I don't think one billion would cover the bill. There is a lot of money to be made keeping American workers down.

This point is the problem I have. I f it is expected to pay 20% tip - even when the service is unacceptable - and basically everyone does pay 20% - where is the insentive to work hard. The tip will be there anyways, even if they do a bad job, because it is expected of the patron. Other considerations - cash from day one, not having to claim (all of) it on taxes seem quite ligitimate, but working harder to get better tips, I'm sceptical. Servers who cannot handle this work don't last long in the industry. And they don't make a profession out of it. And if you read the whole thread you will discover that 20% is not paid by "basically everyone." Some people aren't going to leave a penny no matter what the service is like. Some people are still living in the year 1958, and tip 10% no matter what. MOST people Tip somewhere between 10%-30%, with 20% being the average and that number changes based on the quality of service. So yes, there is incentive. The front of house staff where I work have made this their profession. And they make considerably more than I do in the back of the house. Every evening, they will have tables that tip well, some that tip poorly and some not tip at all. It's just part of the job. As for the reason for the tipping culture, one need look no further than the National Restaurant Association, which has spent millions of dollars fighting against minimum wage laws. Tips exist because people know that their server cannot live without them. The year is 2013 -- why are we paying so many workers $2.13 per hour? That's as archaic as separate drinking fountains for different ethnic groups. I am dumbfounded by the visitors to the US who cannot wrap their heads around the fact that the person bringing their food makes $2.13 per hour. That's what they make. They haven't had a raise in 30 years. The reason for the escalating tip amounts is that inflation keeps marching on, but their income is stuck in the 20th century. These visitors act like our tip culture is tantamount to robbery. They complain to anyone who will listen, and take out their frustration with the system on the person who is making $2.13 per hour. If they don't like the way things work here, they shouldn't visit. They can write a letter to the head of the National Restaurant Association explaining that America will have to do without their tourist dollars this year because they've decided to take the moral high ground against countries that don't pay their workers fairly. But that isn't going to happen. They're going to come here, eat in our restaurants and not tip (or begrudgingly undertip, complaining the entire time).

I disagree. Every country has their "screwage" for visitors. The cost of a cup of coffee sitting in a piazza in Italy compared to buying it at the counter for instance. It's silly that the same coffee costs fives times more if I want to sit down to drink it. The VAT in the UK. It's ubiquitous. And VAT adds FAR MORE to the cost of one of my trips to England than tipping at restaurants adds to a foreign visitor's US visit. The difference is, I pay the tax without complaint. I knew about the tax before arriving. My options are either "pay" or "not travel to the UK." You know how things work in America. Your options are either "pay," "not travel to America," and we give you other options -- "Be a miserly yob and not tip." "Eat at fast food restaurants that don't have a tipping culture." "Buy food at markets and cook it yourself." You can get around our cultural annoyances when you visit. I cannot get around yours. I don't think foreign visitors have ANY right to whinge considering the expenses I am expected to quietly accept when I visit their country.

The difference being that your server in the UK makes a decent salary before tips. Here in America, the server makes next to nothing (with only a handful of cities, like San Francisco, bucking the trend). Your server also does not have the equivalent of the NHS -- they usually have to pay out the nose for health insurance on their own. Or, more likely, they do without. And the government taxes them on what it thinks they should be making in tips. If you undertip, the server pays more in taxes than they receive in tips. They are basically PAYING to serve you. If you don't like those facts, by all means go the grocery store route. There is no harm whatsoever. But hurting your server financially because you don't like the way things work here is simply unacceptable. I don't like the way things work here, either. But when I go out to eat, I tip my server well. That is part of the cost of the meal. When I travel to the continent, I know that if I sit down at a cafe for a cup of coffee, it will cost more than if I have the coffee at the counter. I'm not going to whinge on about that on the Internet because that's how it works across the pond -- I can either accept it or drink my coffee standing up, with all the locals (which is what I usually do.) I also think the VAT rates in the UK come close to usury. I don't get ANY value added and yet I still have to pay the tax. I don't see why I should have to pay it. Again, I can whinge on about it. Or I can simply chalk it up to visiting a great country and pay the tax. Our tip rates are the same as your VAT -- an annoyance for visitors but quite necessary for locals. Quit whinging and unrivet that wallet.

I've yet to work in a kitchen where "Behind!" isn't S.O.P. I don't know how many times I was about to swing around with a pan full of flaming-hot stuff to my plating area when I stopped myself because someone said "behind." Otherwise, someone -- perhaps both of us -- would end up splashed with scalding hot oil. And when I swing around with something hot, I say, "swinging around hot." I also find myself saying "corner," "corner out," and "timer," every day. Furthermore, we call back instructions to the expediter. Basically, our kitchen sounds like the dialog of a WWII submarine movie, except with kitchen lingo instead of "fire torpedoes." If I found myself in a kitchen where "behind!" wasn't accepted practice, I'd quit and find another kitchen. It sounds like a great way for people to injure themselves to me. As for Jerry's project, I would like to add "cut up a chicken 8 ways" and "truss a chicken" and "bone a chicken" to the list of things to practice. No matter what the mystery ingredient is, chicken probably compliments it. Even though the chef is a butcher, it's good to know anyway. And it will save you some money in the market. EDIT -- The big, major, number-one difference between home cooking and cooking professionally is time management. This is a industry that measures time in minutes. Thirty unproductive seconds can throw off the whole rhythm and suddenly the cook is dans le merde. That's why your chef isn't concerned about making four dishes in an hour and you are. The absolute best thing you can do for yourself is have a clock at eye-level while you practice the stuff you're practicing. See how long it takes you to accomplish various tasks. (And of course, try improve your time.) Try to learn to multitask. Do the things that can mind themselves first, so that they're working while you do the things that require 100% attention.

Say "Behind" as you approach someone from behind. Do. It. Every. Single. Time. Never forget to say behind. Or you could cause an accident, potentially a serious accident. (As any pastry cook who works with hot sugar can attest. Learn how to dice an onion/shallot quick. Do a lot of them. I'd also practice bias cuts on carrots/celery. And I'd Google the "how to peel garlic with two metal bowls" video, if you don't know that trick already. Get in the habit of grabbing pan handles with a tea towel. Every. Single. Time. Just assume the pans have been in a 500f oven. They probably have. You won't be any help at all with blisters all over your hands. Tongs. You can pick just about anything up with a pair of tongs -- a pan, the contents of the pan, the asparagus you're working with. Etc. Equipment. I work at a very busy restaurant. 90% of my day, I need the following: Pairing knife, chef's knife, usuba, serrated knife, microplane, tweezers, tongs, fish spatula (aka turning spatula) -- having one of these is a must, plating/saucing spoons, peeler, multiple silicone spatulas, thermometer. The ceramic mandolin is nice to have, as well. I would also bring an oyster/clam knife, just in case. Sauces. Have bechemel and hollandaise committed to memory. Four judges, so roughly a quart of sauce. Be able to make a mayonnaise with a bowl and a whisk. Learning to cheat a beurre blanc using a little cream would probably put a smile on the chef's face, as well.

I say it is a commission. Servers in the US are not very different from car salesmen -- they make a pittance of salary/hourly wage and must sell in order to make a decent living. The good ones upsell without being pushy. "Chef fired the new harvest of scallops for us before we opened. And let me tell you, it was the sweetest scallop I've ever tasted." Or, "We just got the first legal kobe ribeyes that were imported into the US. They're not on the menu yet. But we have six available." That sort of thing. When done right, the server is your "buddy," giving you insider info about the menu. When done wrong, business suffers.

I completely agree that nobody should feel required to tip for bad service. I almost never get bad service when dining out -- and it doesn't matter where I am. I just seem to have a knack for it. I have a good craich no matter where I go. I chalk it up to always being genuinely enthusiastic. It's just my nature. But I do have a problem with "culturally, that's a million miles from where I come from." I travel often and extensively. I have had cultural "problems" with the way things are done elsewhere -- but I suck it up and "do as the Romans do" because that is what is expected of me. I am not going to be the ugly American when I travel. The world sees quite enough ugly American travelers. (I cringe when I see them, too. They're an embarrassment.) I do my utmost to blend in as much as possible. Try THAT in a Muslim country during Ramadan, for instance. So I see no reason why visitors to my country shouldn't hold themselves to the same standards that I do when I'm visiting THEIR country. Here, we tip our servers. That's just how it is. We can debate the merits all day long. But for the time being, that's how it is. So people visiting this country should respect our cultural idiosyncrasies. Just like Americans should do when traveling -- domestically or internationally, doesn't matter. I'll bet there are a bunch of Amish people in Pennsylvania and Ohio who are sick of ugly Americans, too.

First of all, I don't hate unions. I'm in one. The union gives me job security, and keeps my employer from exploiting me. (Having to work overtime without the overtime pay, or similar shady practices.) I'm in a restaurant that doesn't NEED any of that, so I find the union to be largely irrelevant. But I know my history -- organized labor has largely been a force of good. Kids now go to school, not to work. We have weekends, and a 40-hour week. Overtime is an accepted part of the US employment experience. Frankly, I feel sorry for the cooks and servers who aren't in a union. The cooks make anywhere between a quarter to one half what I do. (And our place turns a serious profit, so I feel my salary is well earned.) But the cooks who come out of the culinary union training programs are the worst of the worst -- much worse than even the for-profit culinary "schools." So I don't see how union training or certification will help matters in the US. You give your years in the business as a kind of street-cred all the time. Here's mine -- I've worked nearly all of my adult life in US tourist towns, and most of that in the restaurant business. The servers I know universally have issues with the tipping habits of Canadians, most Europeans and most Asians. The time is long gone when we can just chalk it up to ignorance. It's not at all hard to Google the customs in the United States and try to be a "when in Rome (NY), do as the Romans do" traveler. And I know I've mentioned this before -- I have read guidebooks to my hometown (in German), that suggest that visitors can save money by not tipping. "They won't be happy, but they cannot do anything about it. If they add a tip automatically, ask the restaurant manager to remove it." Europeans in particular seem to think our tip culture is tantamount to cultural armed robbery. Even when they tip, it is usually very grudgingly. Granted, there are many visitors who "get it" and don't seem to mind adding 15-20% because they know the server makes jack-squat otherwise. (Places like San Francisco are the exception. But even then, try to live in SF on minimum wage with no benefits. Can't be done.) And while you might chafe at the notion that your countrymen are poor tippers, let me say this as bluntly as I can: No server in the United States jumps for joy when a tour bus full of Canadian visitors rolls up to their restaurant. Not one. Not ever. That's not my problem, as I'm back of the house (and quite well paid, incidentally). But I hear the stories from the servers. I have 20 years of anecdotes on my side that says your assessment doesn't square with reality.

Canada has the same tipping culture as the US? News to me. Canadians are just about the worst tippers on earth. Ask any server in any tourist town in the US.

Comments? Sure -- how exactly do you expect this to change? It would be GREAT to have the kind of apprenticeship programs they have in Europe. But do you seriously think ANYTHING is going to change here? Not when for-profit "universities" can fleece the unknowing out of so much money. (I have co-workers with high five-figure debt. At least cooks in Las Vegas make around $40K.) You may as well post about how you're against mass murders. Opinion won't change the crazy gun culture we have in this country. And opinion isn't going to change the tipping culture we have here. Our government isn't going to fix our broken minimum wage laws. Hell, we're never even going to get decent healthcare in this country. And quite frankly, it's unsettling to see people from Canada and Europe -- who have the kind of health care that I can only dream of -- tell me that they don't want to tip my friends in the front of the house because of the "unfair system." How about a little empathy for the people making $2.50 an hour with no benefits whatsoever? Or, if someone is so high up the ivory tower that he or she cannot abide leaving a tip, then voice displeasure by not eating at any restaurants that have waitstaff. Or don't visit this country in the first place. There are plenty of places that do things the way you want them done. Spend your hard-earned vacation Euro or dollar there.

It's the United States -- you expect things to be logical? It would also be logical if we switched to the centigrade scale and used the same system of weights and measures as the rest of the world. I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for that to happen, either. Our tradition in the restaurant industry is to pay servers next to nothing. And then to expect the diners to pay the servers' wages. The only thing I find appalling is people who don't tip because they don't like the system. People who don't like the system should not participate -- they should eat someplace where tips are not part of the equation. Or cook their own food.

I'm with you on this one. It's the sanctimonious attitude that bugs me, not the words/incantations. Lately, I respond, "And may the force be with you."

We hire a "mystery shopper" company to send folks to eat at our place. They critique us to the mystery shopper company. That company passes the results to us. We make adjustments.

Then there is a swath of fast food joints that no longer fit the bill. What I can't understand is the restaurant owners alienating such a large portion of their market. I'm Mr. Lefty Liberal, but when I open my place, I'm not going to call it the "Gun Control, Socialized Medicine, Free Speech, Gay Rights, Sex-Ed, Tax-the-Rich Bar and Grill for Atheists and Agnostics." If you want people's business, make your place as uncontroversial as possible. I'll bet Papa John's, Chic-Fil-A, Darden Group and all the rest are feeling the pinch of a ticked-off market.