Joe's Crab shack doesn't want their customers to tip. The restaurant chain will be paying their workers a standard hourly wage [that is somewhat higher]. This they believe will induce their wait staff to work for them for a longer period of time. If you dine out often, what do you think of this? Would you prefer to dine in a restaurant where you aren't expected to tip?
I think it's something that the US needs; the tipping fiasco is an outdated custom where employers exploit it to pay lower wages, and expect the diner to pay for the servers wages too. Many countries don't allow tipping and even if people tip it's 10% and nowhere near the silly amount of 25% in the US. People should get paid a good hourly wage and people will know how much they will spend when they go out and not get lumbered with a huge tip bill. The amount of times the talk of the tip ruins an evening out with friends makes me not want to go out. Most of the time we have to decide on a tip before we go out, which is silly. Places where you don't have to tip are better because the staff will be getting a decent wage (hopefully) and if the service isn't good, you can still complain. Everyone knows where they stand. Staff will probably stay as many go to where the best tips are, and if staff stay, then there is better continuity of staff with knowledge and loyalty.
Over here in the UK tipping is still seen as something you do if the service you get goes above and beyond what you were expecting, and I think that's the way it should stay. If a waitress for example is earning the minimum wage, and does her job then no tip. She's being paid fairly for what she's done. If she does extra then I'll tip, because not only as she done her job that she's paid for, she's gone out of her way to help me to make her customer, in this case me, have a better experience.
This is the way I see it. In general no or very little tip.. for example I usually pay with cash and if I liked the food and the service I usually leave the coins as tips. If the service was amazing then I'll consider tipping more. The waiters get a decent wage and often I eat in family owned places so just eating there already makes it more profitable for the waiters too since it's their business also.
If low-margin restaurants are forced to pay $15-20 an hour to wait staff, or even half that, expect to see their food prices go through the roof. You can also expect at least some of them to shut down. Those who survive will lay some people off, replace some workers with machines, and re-structure their businesses in such ways that you won't get that same personalized service. If restaurants are forced to pay servers far more per hour, forget about the good service you normally get when your server knows they'd better do a good job if they want to make more than $15-20 a DAY. Particularly if tips are also outlawed.
It depends on how much they're going to get paid. It needs to be enough that they can actually live off of. $8 an hour is nothing to live off of. Tips really help these people because they can take home money every night to pay for groceries and gas. They need to be realistic about how much they'll pay. Rent is high these days.
Frankly, I prefer to tip a minimum of 25%, calculated on the total before taxes, at our favorite restaurants where the hostess and waiters know our names. We have no-rush conversations about family, recommendations on the best/freshest meat/fish/fowl and new entries and appropriate wine, et cetera. No rush of the appetizers, main meals and desserts, to get us out of the restaurent. We enjoy the extra attention and service, and we appreciate the extra thank you conversation when leaving. My view of no tipping restaurants offer no incentive to the worker-bee to take the extra steps to service the customer. Rather, they work under fear of harsh management dictates and close supervision. My thinking is that such restaurants are doomed to enter a death spiral.
I was guilt tripped into tipping more when a friend said that the servers only get paid $2-3 per hour. My argument that it's not my fault that the place pays low didn't wash as they said 'that's how it is' and you have to tip more. The prices were average, but not cheap too, so you can't say the profit margins were low. There are high end restaurants that pay low too, and their profit margins are high, so there is no excuse not to pay more, but they rely on the tips to encourage people to join them. If people get minimum wage then they can't complain, but if they get below, then why do they accept the jobs? My friend used to be a server and some days got no tips so she left in the end.
A lot of places also when you look at the bill, it will say service charge included so in theory that should go to that particular waiter or waitress anyway. If it does or not, that's a different matter but that's for the restaurant owner and staff to sort out, not me as a paying customer.
Yes, I would. I don't like to figure out a tip at the end. I also really don't like it automatically added to my bill. Some servers or service is not worht a 20 percent tip. I was just thinking I haven't been to Joe's Crab Shack for a number of years, I should take a trip there. There is one about an hour or less from here. I do like their food. I think the no tipping policy is a plus.
