Help with a Math Formula

[Runnin' Rebel]

I went to dinner tonight to the best Italian Resturant in town IMO tonight with my daughter. It's right down the street from my house, I know the owner and he goes to the UNLV basketball games. He sits in the luxury suites, I sit down in row G behind UNLV's bench with the scubs lol.

All the wait staff know me, I've never had a bad dinner there. We had 2 orders of steamed clams in white sauce. For my entree I ordered blackened Salmon and my daughter had lobster ravioli, unbelievably the best. I had 2 glasses of Ruffino Chianti, very good.

I tipped 25-30% because I never have to ask for anything. I know the owner doesn't skim the tips from his workers like the hotel's do.

The white broth is incredible



Lobster Ravioli


My battery died at the resturant or I would show the Salmon. But it was sooo good


Sent -3 or -7

[adamlea]

Originally Posted by Runnin' Rebel

What bothered me here, (Las Vegas) is the practice that all corporate events that hold their meetings at the hotel with receptions or dinner is the 23%. They call it a service charge and the hotel locks up almost 7.5% of the gratuity on top of the 85.00 they charge for the chicken dinner.

Since I waited tables while I was in college and law school, I had to weigh in on this thread. My experience has been that the entire tip always went to the server(s) - the restaurant never got any of it. Almost all of the places I worked added gratuities for parties of 10 or more to ensure that the server got a decent tip.

Serving a group is hard work - getting all of the food out at the same time, making sure all of the orders are correct, beverage/cocktail service, etc. Invariably, as soon as I served a drink, someone else would order another one. You're constantly on your feet going back and forth between the table(s), the kitchen, and the bar.

Sure, it was my job - but aside from tips, I was only being paid $2.35/hr., which pretty much covered taxes withheld from my checks. You'd be surprised at how many people would leave $75 or less on a $1,000 check and not think twice about it. In addition to a server's gross hourly wages, the restaurant reports 15% of a server's gross sales as income.

Anything less than $150 on $1,000 puts the server in the red. If the "service fee" is, in fact, a large party gratuity that all goes to the server(s) - as it should - then I don't see a problem with it. If it's just a way for the hotel to pad the bill, then that's a disingenuous and deceptive practice.

When I dine out, I expect attentive service. By the same token, I understand that a server can have an off night and that sometimes a delay or a screw-up is completely beyond a server's control. I pretty much have to serve myself before I'll leave anything less than 15% and most of the time I tip 20% or more if the service is exceptional.

I waited on Evel Knievel once and he left me $50 on a $30 check. Generosity is a class act all the way around.

[daveathall]

I am just astounded at the hourly rate that these people earn, locutus49 mentioned a Oprah show that concluded non US people are the worst tippers I can see why, TBH, in this day and age, being paid what amounts to less than £1.40 an hour is just criminal, in fact it's not much more than slave labour, I would never in my wildest dreams imagine that a server would be on anything less than £6 an hour, I give a 10% tip in the UK and think that to be fair, now I know what these people earn in the US I would tip a lot more than that when I am over there. I don't think that we are bad tippers, it's just that most non US people know or wouldn't even dream about the low level of the servers wages.

Honest fellas, I'm just astounded, is this real? Do people in the civilised world earn less than £1.40 an hour? That is just outrages.

Sorry if this comes over as a rant, perhaps I am not as eloquent as some here when it comes to expressing my opinion, If I have offended anyone I apologise, I type the way I speak and without my gestures and facial expressions this may come across in the wrong way, Im certainly not having a go at anyone here.

[powerfunk]

It is illegal to pay less than the minimum wage altogether. If the server's tips are less than the gap between subminimum wage and minimum wage, the employers legally have to make up the difference. In reality, they don't always.

[VICI]

Originally Posted by powerfunk

Whoa, "restaurant gratuity?" Never heard of that. That sounds shady. The servers should get all of anything called "gratuity" in my book...

[adamlea]

Originally Posted by powerfunk

It is illegal to pay less than the minimum wage altogether. If the server's tips are less than the gap between subminimum wage and minimum wage, the employers legally have to make up the difference. In reality, they don't always.

In all the years I worked in the service industry, my annual wages never averaged out to be minimum wage - and not once did my employers ever make up the difference. That's been a long time ago though. I do know that employers can pay tipped employees less than minimum wage per hour, but I have no idea what that hourly rate is now. A lot of servers and bartenders do pretty well for themselves - it just depends on their location and their clientele.

[powerfunk]

Originally Posted by adamlea

not once did my employers ever make up the difference. That's been a long time ago though.

Yeah, I don't think times have changed much on that front unfortunately.

Originally Posted by adamlea

I do know that employers can pay tipped employees less than minimum wage per hour, but I have no idea what that hourly rate is now.

The subminimum wage has been frozen at $2.13 since 1996. I think that is a big reason why the "standard" USA tip has increased from 15% to 20% since then.

Also, kudos to this forum for such a civilized discussion! Tipping is the #1 crazy-argument-causing topic on the Internet.

[Runnin' Rebel]

I'm going out to dinner next week with a few people and the wine alone is gong to be $2500-$3000. It's that way all the time for this group. I haven't had to pay cause it's a corporate thing.

I'm confused on the gratuity for the wine. Add that to the dinner bill and it's north of $4000.00 so you should tip the waiter, the sommelier, bus person etc.. You open a 800 dollar of wine should the waiter get 120--160 grat ?

[Rockrolex]

In the U.S., I generally tip 20% of the total bill. In London, most restaurants automatically add 12.5% gratuity to the bill and waitstaff don't expect more. In other countries in Europe and So. America, I generally tip between 10 - 15%, depending on the country and the restaurant, unless the gratuity is automatically added to the bill.

[Thunderball57]

I always tip 20%; 25% at my usual haunts. I also tip the chefs. It's paid off big time for me over the years, not to mention I don't have to worry about my food.