Monday 27 September 2021

Missing tips

When Jenny and I are in a restaurant, we're always aware that tips added to a credit card payment may never reach the server but be stealthily extracted by the management. Which is why we always leave a cash tip on the table instead.

Restaurant staff have been fuming about these missing tips for years, but it's only now that the British government is acting to stop what is effectively theft and ensure any tip or service charge goes to the server it's intended for.

It will become illegal for restaurant, bar and café owners to siphon off the tips, a move benefitting up to two million workers. Members of staff will also be able to see tipping records, and if necessary take employers to a tribunal*.

But this won't be any help to those servers who encounter the no-tips brigade, those mean-minded diners who either never give a tip or only give a tip if the food and service are impeccable. Which is unlikely.

We always give a tip unless the meal was a genuinely disastrous experience. We're not going to quibble about a dirty knife or insufficient smiling or bland coffee. And we know how much the probably underpaid servers rely on tips to top up their pay.

Of course tipping is an absurdly antiquated practice that should have been abolished years ago and replaced by decent and reliable salaries. Nevertheless there's a certain satisfaction in seeing a server's face light up when they get an unexpectedly generous tip.

I imagine the new law can't come in fast enough for all those servers who're systematically fleeced by their employers.

*But will the new law be properly enforced?

18 comments:

  1. Do you tip binmen/postmen at Christmas? If so how much are you supposed to give them? What's the protocol?
    Soz, slightly off topic, but need to know!
    Sx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ms Scarlet: We don't tip either, but I don't know what other people do. Not much point tipping the postie, as we get a different one every day.

      Delete
  2. As a matter of principle, I don't add or leave a tip if Service Charge is added to the bill. If it is not, I always leave a cash tip.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ramana: Service charges are tricky, you have no idea if some of that goes to the servers or if the management pocket the whole lot. Ideally we'd leave a cash tip as well, but if the server gets some of the service charge then we're tipping twice over.

      Delete
  3. I also wish tipping was abolished and they just pay them a decent wage.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bijoux: Absolutely. Tipping is a historic curiosity. And it encourages servers to fawn over their diners to get a nice big tip.

      Delete
  4. I hate the whole tipping system and people should just be paid well. And am baffled about knowing who (other than restaurant servers) you are supposed to tip and how much. I actually avoid most tipping situations. That said, I know how little the base pay is for servers and I always tip then well - generally 25-30%.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Agent: The norm here is to tip servers, cabbies, hairdressers and hotel housekeepers. The usual percentage is 10 per cent, which is a lot less than the US and Canada.

      Delete
  5. I tip well but rarely have the cash on hand to make sure they get it. I will remember to bring some. It's so awful they don't get paid enough.

    One bugaroo I have, not too sure what to do but, sole proprietor business sometimes have a tip option when I pay and I equate it to when I had my own business. I would never take a tip or I would price my services appropriately.

    I usually tip these as they are expectantly looking at me. So kind of shamed into it. But it niggles.

    XO
    WWW

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. www: It's not the custom here to tip sole proprietors, it's considered insulting. You only tip employees - except for cabbies, though a lot of them are employees working for a taxi company.

      Delete
  6. When my daughter owned a restaurant she deducted the cost of the credit card from tips. She also shared the tips with the buss staff and cooks, "who make the servers look good."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Joanne: Deducting the cost of the credit card seems unusual. I don't think that's the general practice over here.

      Delete
  7. We tip in cash directly to the waiter. In the posher places a service charge is included in the bill but we still tip the waiter personally as goodness only knows where the service charge ends up.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Fly: Indeed. "Service charge" could mean just about anything, from the laundry bill to the manager's bank account. It's just an excuse to push up the price.

      Delete
  8. Here, tipping is looked down upon if you don't do it. I remember the wait staff used to be happy with 15% but now they are all but demanding 25% or even 30% tips. Don't even get me started on the DoorDash and other places that deliver food. Yes, they don't make much but and I always tip but to watch people get called out on social media makes me mad because tips are not required. Posting someone's receipt online seems a bit much. I always tip in cash.

    Tipping should be a thing of the past at this point. Just pay them a living wage and stop the tipping.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mary: Wow, a 25 or 30 per cent tip is quite a bit extra. And I didn't know people were being singled out on social media for not tipping enough. That's disgraceful. But as you say, tipping should be a thing of the past.

      Delete
  9. I certainly agree that tipping should be replaced by decent salaries. Glad steps are being taken to try to ensure the worker gets the tip. Of course, leaving a cash tip on the table may not always get to the server anyway if they have busboys who can easily pocket what's there I've sometimes thought.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Joared: I haven't seen any sign of tips being taken by busboys. I would have thought if they did that regularly, the servers would get suspicious about the lack of tips and start asking questions.

      Delete