Lexi has been asking for steak so last night I gathered up the gift cards and we went to the Keg for dinner. Ashlyn, not so interested so it was just the three of us. I should also add that heading over to the Keg on a typical Wednesday for dinner is not how we roll, but I had some gift cards burning a hole.
We all had a nice steak and the bill was $220 and I left a tip of $20, which I thought was fair considering we saw our waitress 4-5 times over the hour we were there for a total of about 10 minutes total time on our table, if that. She was on the refills and even gave Lexi a refill on her fancy drink which I think prompted Shan to ask how much I left. Feeling guilty I gave her another $10 cash money, bringing my tip from 9.5% tip to 13.5%. But it really got me thinking on the way home…what if we all just ordered a burger ($25) instead of the steak ($45) and said no to the appetizer ($16)? That would have knocked $96 off our bill bringing the total to $124 and I would have tipped the exact same amount ($20). That’s a 16% tip and all of a sudden I am back in the societal good books? Because I ordered less expensive menu items? “Girl, I know we all just ate like we have a big house in Bridgewater but see what you can squeeze out of these gift cards wouldja?”
Society – “Well these poor staff only make minimum wage.”
Let’s try to figure the math on that. I would assume a typical shift is 4-5 hours and a server might have 4-5 tables in their section. Number of guests and duration of stay is hard but if you average it out based on our visit that is about 4 tables every hour spending about what we did ($220). If each of those tables tipped the 15% societal norm that is $33 x 16 tables over a 4 hour shift. That’s $528 non-taxable income. I am told that each server needs to share about 7% of that to the kitchen and the bar. So $528 – $36 leaves that poor server with only $492 on the night in un-taxed tips. They also made $15.80/hour minimum wage so add another $63 to that total and you have $555 on the night, or $138.75 /per hour worked and most of it is tax exempt.
Society – “Well not all servers work at the Keg.” – EXACTLY, so why would 15% of the bill even be a thing?
Tipping 15% at Subway or McDonalds is not the norm and the kid making minimum wage there is working way harder, and taking more shit from customers, than any server I ever had at the Keg. When the prices go up at Subway to balance the cost of providing that sandwich people get pissed. No tip.
I also don’t like tipping people who are already getting paid for what I am getting. When did we start tipping for haircuts? I pay over $40 these days at Tommy Gun’s for shave on the sides. In and out in 15 mins, do I need to make it $50? A massage? You rubbed my back for an hour and it cost me $120, now I need to pay another 15% on that? Is my insurance going to pay 80% of the extra 15% because I can only afford to go for a massage because it’s covered. None of it makes sense to me. I’ll give a bouncer at the club a tip for letting me bypass the lineup. The hairdresser who stayed a little late to fit me in…tip. The mechanic who gave my car a wash before giving it back. Those above and beyond type things. Half of the time I go to a restaurant these days and the food is shit and we pay for it anyway, and leave a tip.
When I go for wings at Tapps I make sure the wings are on special and my bill with an iced tea is usually around $20. Usually I tip $10 but sometimes $8 if my drink is empty for a considerable time, or I get charged for ranch dip. 50% in this situation because I am not going to leave $3 on the table to someone who has been serving me food for the last hour. Is it still the same 15% expectation on a bill for $20?
I am not saying don’t tip, I am not an animal. I just think $8-$10 dollars per person at the table is LOTS at a restaurant where you are being served. It should be the new norm regardless of the bill total. These 15% tarrifs will not stand.
