they don't, it's a law that if they do not receive enough tips to equal minimum wage the employer has to make up the amount to get them to min wage. if they don't, that's illegal and you can sue them
Servers get tips. Sure there are assholes that don't tip but most people do. In fact, most servers at most restaurants make far more in tips than their "higher paid" hourly co-workers. Because of this universal FACT the federal government has established a minimum wage for "tipped" employees that is lower than the prevailing wage for other positions. Even so, servers (the good ones) still generally make more than the kitchen staff and, in fact, at every restaurant I've managed my servers (the good ones) typically made more than me!
On the other side of the coin, it is not the customer's responsibility to make up the server's pay and that is not what tipping is. Normal human beings thank people who do things for them and in the monitarily driven society in which we live, cash is the easiest way to do that. Tip your server as a way of showing your appreciation based on the service you receive from him or her, not on what happens in the kitchen and not because you feel obligated.
@that_creepy_guy I can't speak for every place, but I know multiple places that had a policy that if a server didn't make enough tips to hit minimum wage more on more than one or two times in a month they would fire them because they didn't want to have to be covering the difference
Tipping is so widely accepted as norm here that I don't accept the "make your employers pay you more, it's their job not the customers." Unless every single person in the country decides overnight at the same time to stop tipping for good, those laws aren't going to change. If you go out to eat and everything goes well, and whether or not the food takes longer than hoped, but you know your server did everything they could and did a good job, yet you still don't tip or tip very poorly (18-20% is the average these days in the US), because you have the mindset of "it's not my job to pay them extra for my food, I already paid for it, it's this amount in the menu" you're a jerk. If you can't afford those prices, eat at home or go somewhere without service or go to a cheaper restaurant.
I don’t know if I agree. I think most people in the US who don’t work in food and beverage or tippable service businesses would gladly get rid of tipping if they could. They just don’t know how. Now, whether or not they would be willing for food prices or other charges to go up accordingly to compensate for eliminating tips is another matter entirely.
I would gladly get rid of tipping too in exchange for a set hourly wage. What I was trying to say is that whether or not the changes can or will take place, everyone knows how it is right now. There are people who think "if I don't tip at a place that I know the employees are paid way below minimum wage, and everyone else does the same, it will become a problem enough so that employers will have to change how they pay their employees, so I'm doing a good deed and being progressive." That isn't helping because right now, those people are too few and far between to have a real effect, but they affect those they don't tip plenty. Then there are the "why should I tip on top of the money for the food?" If you want to only pay for the food, go to a restaurant without servers and get the food yourself from the counter or whatever the set up is. If the only business I lose is from people who wouldn't have tipped anyway, I only save time and energy to better serve those who would.
"And remember, Your server is not responsible for how long your food is taking to cook,"
Actually they do:
1. When do they put the order in?
2. Do they forget to put in the order?
3. Do they forget to bring you your food?
4. Do they put in your order wrong?
5. Do they drop your food?
6. Do they bring you your food obviously made wrong(such as bbq sauce on ribs, but you ordered the sauce on the side)?
7. When do they decide to come to get your order?
8. When do they put in your order?
9. When servers decide not to check up on where the food is(such as the kitchen lost a ticket, but the server never checked up on it and now it's 45 minutes later, nothing has been started yet).
10. When servers decide to be too chit chatty to let you place your order.
11. When servers have decided for us(me and my husband) that they were out of something, but brought us the next closest thing instead of asking and it turned out to be wrong so they wasted time.
I so sick and tired of servers LYING!
I'm sorry you feel that way, and it does happen when it shouldn't. There are however, just as many reasons that people sometimes don't understand when it isn't the servers fault. In the past, I've had 2 groups arrive at nearly the same time, sit near each other close enough so that they can see when the others' food arrives. It's a busy Saturday night during peak business hours and there's a wait to get in. The kitchen staff is doing everything they can to get food out as quickly as possible, and the servers are doing the same. One group orders a bunch of pizzas with a lot of substitutions and it takes a few minutes to get around the table even if there's only 5 or 6 people because of the level of detail in the order. Group 2 is ready to order 5 minutes later and orders 6 large salads all as they come. I rang the first order in already, before group 2 even decided they wanted salads. Fast forward say...15 minutes, and the salads for group 2 are ready. They go to the table and
group 1 flags me down complaining that they ordered before the other people, where is their food? Well I say sorry because pizzas take a lot longer than salads and it will likely be another 15 to 20 minutes until theirs is ready (because the restaurant is literally full of people). Another 10 minutes goes by, (30 since they ordered and the ticket was rang in, but closer to 40 since they began their order and it took 5 minutes to type all of their changes into the system) and luckily everything was right except for one pizza. It has a topping it shouldn't but I don't know how to prove to you it wasn't my fault, but I don't want to rudely point fingers at the kitchen staff because they are SWEATING back there. So yeah, the kitchen messes up sometimes, but since you don't watch your food being made, oftentimes the blame goes straight to the only face you see, your server.
Also, I hope the ridiculous issue of servers bringing you random replacements for what you order is a rare occurrence.
On the other side of the coin, it is not the customer's responsibility to make up the server's pay and that is not what tipping is. Normal human beings thank people who do things for them and in the monitarily driven society in which we live, cash is the easiest way to do that. Tip your server as a way of showing your appreciation based on the service you receive from him or her, not on what happens in the kitchen and not because you feel obligated.
Actually they do:
1. When do they put the order in?
2. Do they forget to put in the order?
3. Do they forget to bring you your food?
4. Do they put in your order wrong?
5. Do they drop your food?
6. Do they bring you your food obviously made wrong(such as bbq sauce on ribs, but you ordered the sauce on the side)?
7. When do they decide to come to get your order?
8. When do they put in your order?
9. When servers decide not to check up on where the food is(such as the kitchen lost a ticket, but the server never checked up on it and now it's 45 minutes later, nothing has been started yet).
10. When servers decide to be too chit chatty to let you place your order.
11. When servers have decided for us(me and my husband) that they were out of something, but brought us the next closest thing instead of asking and it turned out to be wrong so they wasted time.
I so sick and tired of servers LYING!
Also, I hope the ridiculous issue of servers bringing you random replacements for what you order is a rare occurrence.