No More Restaurant Waiters

[Dave Hounddriver]

I suspect this approach will fizzle out in the higher end restaurants that make most of their profits on alcoholic drinks.  The good waiters are the ones to watch your drink like a a hawk and be there to offer another when you have one mouthful left to down.  With some of the prices they charge, the profits from one extra round of drinks will pay that waiter's salary for the duration of your meal.

Its too easy to say no or just get annoyed when a machine asks you if you want another drink.  Anyway, the trained waiters in these kinds of restaurants are already making more than $15 an hour so that part of the industry will not be severely affected.

[AlwaysRt]

I was in a Chili's restaurant in Tampa Florida last year, they had the do-it-yourself ordering/paying/play games tablet there. They had waitresses too, she used it to take our order and pay at the end. Seemed like more of a toy than an improvement.

[robert k]

4 hours ago, AlwaysRt said:

I was in a Chili's restaurant in Tampa Florida last year, they had the do-it-yourself ordering/paying/play games tablet there. They had waitresses too, she used it to take our order and pay at the end. Seemed like more of a toy than an improvement.

If the waitress paid your bill at the end I would call it an improvement! Just kidding.

[Happyhorn52]

On 6/30/2016 at 6:36 PM, not so old china hand said:

With regards to tips: does a bus-boy bring the food and drink to the table? Or do they use robots? in any case there will still be kitchen and bar staff on low wages.

The average wage in the US is around $44,569.20 per year per the Social Security administration. Admin Assistants make around $14 hr so a restaurant wage of $15 hr is generous. No tip needed!

[Dave Hounddriver]

20 minutes ago, Happyhorn52 said:

The average wage in the US . . . 

Following on this thought, "The median hourly wage for a Taxi Driver is $16, as of June 24, 2016" 

http://www1.salary.com/Taxi-Driver-hourly-wages.html

That site does not seem to say if that includes their tips, but we all tip cabbies no matter what they make and as to waiters, the ones making big money in the high end places expect the largest tips. 

[JJReyes]

One news article I read claims that the word "tip" comes from the British "tipple" which means, "Have a drink on me." It was given for extraordinary service. The amount was the price of a drink at a nearby pub. This expression of gratitude became an optional amount that you added to a restaurant bill for, again, extraordinary service. It morphed into an automatic expectation of 10%, 15% or 20%. Restaurant owners had found a way to increase revenues by compensating their wait staff through the tip system.  

We sometimes get really bad service. My wife insists I still give the expected tip because it has now become wages. That irritates me. Another peeve is some countries automatically add 15% as gratuities. The restaurants often hide it from naive Americans hoping you drop an additional 10%, 15% or 20%. A magazine article raised my blood pressure by suggesting that for high end establishments, you should add between 25% to 40%. 

Recently, we were in Bear Lake on the Utah side. At the order window of a burger joint, there was a tip jar with the words, "Help pay my student loans." My wife asked if she was really a student. The response was, "Yes. I am a nursing student at Idaho State University on the other side of the lake." In was very cute ploy having the tip jar and they conversed for a few minutes. I added to the jar an amount equal to our entire bill. I told my wife, "There! I am now a 100% tipper."

[Jollygoodfellow]

4 minutes ago, JJReyes said:

It morphed into an automatic expectation of 10%, 15% or 20%. Restaurant owners had found a way to increase revenues by compensating their wait staff through the tip system.  

We sometimes get really bad service. My wife insists I still give the expected tip because it has now become wages.

Not here in Australia as we dont tip as we do not follow the American way in this small neiche. The problem comes when we visit places like the Philippines where the American influence has corrupted the normal ways of life by them thinking the world is the same all over and you have to tip. The Americans and possible others do not leave their ways at home when they travel so in the end others take advantage of it causing an expectation that was never there before the foreigners invaded. 

[JJReyes]

Speaking about taxi drivers.

London cabbies were once famous for memorizing the names of streets and they could get their fare to a destination using the quickest route. During our last visit, we hailed a taxi to take us from Paddington Station to Kew Gardens. The driver was Pakistani with limited English abilities. He was either unfamiliar with Kew Gardens or just didn't know how to get there. Our driver has to find another taxi driver, probably a fellow Pakistani, for assistance.

The bill was nearly GBP 40 and that's the amount I offered him. He got mad and started cursing in his native language. Rather than wasting time arguing, I gave him an additional GBP 5 and quickly walked away.

In the Philippines, taxi drivers have this look on their face like they don't know your destination. It doesn't matter whether you gave the destination name in English or Pilipino. They will hesitate for one or more minutes. What they are trying to find out is your familiarity with the city. A newbie will be given a city tour, increasing the fare. If you say, "Take EDSA, make a right turn on Makati Ave." the driver will be more careful. Sometimes they still try to scam you by saying, "Sir. Ma traffic." Then they take the back roads prolonging the journey and thereby increasing the fare.

 

Edited July 2, 2016 by JJReyes

[Happyhorn52]

As an American I have a problem with over tipping on foreign vacations. On my last trip to Thailand I found myself giving the bartenders 100 Baht tips after serving me a half dozen drinks during the evening. I know this is to much, but I'm on vacation and want to be generous. I also don't like carrying around a pocket full of coins.  One night I was drinking at a beer bar in Bangkok and a 13-14 year old flower girl kept coming up trying to get me to buy one of her flowers. I finally relented, paid her 100 baht for a flower and then gave it back to her since I was drinking alone and didn't want or need a flower. An hour later she showed up with 3 of her little friends and they each expected me to buy them a flower. It cost me 300 baht but I learned a valuable lesson.

Edited July 2, 2016 by Happyhorn52

[Tukaram (Tim)]

That ordering machine would be  a huge improvement over here. It is rare to find any proper waitstaff in the Philippines. They simply do no understand service.  So if I do happen upon a good one, I tip well as encouragement. 

I have used those type of machines in some US fast food joints, it was a telephone at the table, and speaking to a person directly would have been preferable - it was as bad a speaker as most drive throughs.  A tablet would be much better, than the phone system I used.  But... no waiter... no tip.