Let's not forget, that Reagan started taxing waiter's tips at 8 percent of the cost of meals, weather they make that much or not. So in effect you can be taxed on money you did not make. I was a waiter then, and I always thought that was a little unfair. The secret to tips and service is to tip the waitress well the first time you're served, even if the service was just OK, if you plan to be back. Word will get around, and when you do come back, you'll get great service, because they know you tip well.
Also, many times the rudest and most difficult customers tip the best.
Sometimes the nice customers are the worst tippers..
And on a side note, what happened to the belly aching about Gene having to support that worthless baby breeder? Now it's the other way around complaining that Mary Lou is supporting Gene. C'mon, she's allowed to share her tips with him if she wants to. It's her money to do with as she sees fit.
On the subject of tipping, there are a few restaurants where my wife and I are regulars, and we do tip well because as beauhonkus pointed out, the minimum wage for wait staff is much less than for other workers because they're expected to make it up in tips. We usually receive very good service too. Maybe the tips have something to do with it. Maybe we've just been blessed with good wait staffs where we dine. Then again, we're also friendly with our servers. The ones who feel they're too good to smile and chat with their servers are also usually the ones who don't get as good of service.
As someone who once worked as a busboy, and who did not get a share of any tips, I can tell you that servers sharing tips with kitchen staff is up to the policy of the individual restaurant. Some share, many don't. As for the minimum wage, busboys are NOT exempt, since it is not assumed that they will be getting tips. In fact, because of this, many restaurants have started eliminating the busboy position, having the lower-salaried servers clear tables instead. I won't argue the fairness of any of this, but I will tell you that as a restaurant patron, I tip based on my overall dining experience, the quality of my meal, and the cleanliness of the restaurant, as well as the attentiveness and efficiency of my server.
although I know it's true,I dislike wait staff or bus boys(no bus girls?) being dependent on tips. the wage should be sufficient and the tip should be an optional extra. of course the price of meals would go up, but you were being expected to make up the difference already
Oh, and by the way, the definition of a slumlord is: a landlord who owns slum buildings, esp. one who fails to maintain or improve the buildings and charges tenants exorbitant rents.
Celine, a "slum lord" is not simply a person who provides low income housing. A "slum lord" is someone who makes NO repairs, is generally an absentee landlord, and is, in general, a scum bag. Mary Lou's dad providing low income housing so his workers can afford a place to live (because no matter where you are, beach workers are seasonal workers, and outside of the tourist season, things can be tough) COULD, if you would simply make the ATTEMPT to see something a different way, show that this is a GOOD man, who is trying to make life a little better, and the fact that he is gruff is a cover. But you will never see that, will you?
Celine, you said "If sharing with support staff was so necessary, how come the waiting staff don't have to share their tips with the chefs or the kitchen staff?" In the US, they do -- in an awful lot of places, especially in mid- to up-scale restaurants. It's not socialism or any evil plot -- it's just the way the system works.******It's also not always true that low-income equals slums in the US. There are plenty of neighbourhoods in the US (even at the beach -- I could take you to more than a few of them!) where folks are blue-collar workers, or folks in the service industry who can make ends meet, but not by much. These aren't projects (council housing) -- many, many homes in lower-income neighbourhoods are small, but tidy and well-kept, owned by house-proud folks, they're just not McMansions with season passes to the theatre. Everybody has to be somewhere. You rail continually at all of us about not making assumptions and decisions about places in the UK and Europe because we don't live there (even though I, ahem, DO live in Europe) --- please do us the favour of not telling us how it is in the places where WE live.
