Restaurant Tippers Research Paper

The space given to the bartenders is secluded to only them and is only, rarely, invaded with his approval. Whereas, the space provided for the waitress’s is often invaded by both the costumers and the bartenders. Even though the space given to the customers is also where the waitress must work it is often hard for the waitress to move through customers due to their carelessness of her presence. When the waitress’s space is invaded or when they are held back from doing their job they must always remain passive.

I mean, why would people want to that? How the hell did the practice of giving people free money for no reason whatsoever (aka: tipping), become so popular? I mean what’s wrong with us? And the thing that makes less sense, is that in most parts of the world, we pretty much only do it at restaurants! What makes restaurants so special?!

As a recent employee in the restaurant industry, first as a hostess and later as a waitress, I have had the opportunity to experience the system of tipping not just from a customer’s point of view.

“Tips are accepted not expected” not always the case. In certain restaurants management will automatically generate a 18% gratuity when there are larger parties being served. In a recent article on the 1010 wins.com website ( “tip dispute leads to arrests at soprano’s“ )the reporter tells of a story where people actually got arrested because they refused to pay the mandatory 18% tip. At some point consumers should have the right to draw the line when it comes to tipping. Michael Lewis says “ our natural and admirable reluctance to enter into the spirit of the thing causes the thing to lose whatever value it had in the first place”(23). Tip amounts should not be mandated by the size of the party. A gratuity should remain based upon the quality of the service that was provided.

Finally the reason is should be raised is because of the amount of work a waiter has to do every time they work. Knowing from personal experience it can be a hassle waiting on people with bring their drinks and making sure that they are satisfied with what they order, and yes that is what waiters are supposed to do but it is a hassle when you have to deal with people who are rude and impatient.

People often feel that a servers tip will depend on the level of service they receive as a

Studies show that the classic tip is 15% that is extra money you may not have. If you don’t pay you will be looked at as lesser, according to the Thought Catalog. If someone wants to eat and not pay extra it really isn’t fair. This is why restaurants need to pay all workers at least minimum wage. Another reason tipped workers should be paid more is that an waiters salary is fully based on your customers mood.

Tipping your server is very important, to them. Servers basically rely on tips to makeup for our low hourly wages. Some people just want a nice meal without spending a bucket of money but tipping your serve is almost a must. I’ve worked at 2 different restaurants and serves where only paid $5.00 or $4.75. If I work a

Since servers are tipped and cooks are not, they are unable to assist each other in the restaurant. Other servers are not able to help each other because it affects the tips they earn. These waiters and waitresses are not able to easily split a tip when they assist each other. This has been shown to create an unfavorable atmosphere in restaurants. Places that do not accept tips have seen an improvement in the relationships between their employees.

Although personality may play a role, a majority would get tired or grumpy over time. Tipping on the other hand, makes for a great reward system that favors respectful and hard working staff over those who think of customers as just another burden. In the article “Counterpoint: Customers Reserve the Right to Hold Wait Staff Accountable via Tips” The author summarizes the purpose of tipping by stating it “Enables customers to reward good service and choose not to reward poor service.” This statement, although simple, outlines the negative and positive reciprocation that tipping brings to servers, and will only continue to convince wait staff to improve their stance on work.

In this scenario, the problem I see is that as the waiter I must do as the owner wants me to do and not what I want to do that includes gratuities. Whether it is coffee or a piece of the pie that might be thrown away. If as an employee, I am not happy with my work hours and the policies that the owner has set regarding gratuities because he does not like police then I should find somewhere else to work that is more officer friendly and gives better hours.

In most restaurants in the United States, waiters receive a large portion of their compensations through tips from customers. Generally, the size of the tip is decided by the customer. However, many restaurants require a 15% tip for parties of eight or more. Using concepts from organizational architecture, discuss

I chose to research this subculture because I was so curious about it. I have some friends that wait tables, but I hadn’t really thought about how being a waitress involves so many things aside from serving food. Waitressing is more about handling all different types of people, and learning to multitask successfully than just serving food. When I go out to eat, I usually only notice if the waitress or waiter is nice to me and my party. I make sure that all of the food and drinks come out the way we ordered them, and I also pay attention to how the food tastes. When I started my research and observation for this ethnography, I started to pay more attention the server when I was eating at restaurants. I started to notice how many tables the server waited on, I noticed how many times he or she had to take food back to the kitchen because someone thought it was wrong or not cooked right, and I also noticed how unhappy he or she was when they left a certain table. I have also

The desire to tip your server has become the expectation for compensating wait staff to enhance their performance to provide excellent service to make up the difference between low wages and the high wage earned through tipping. The major problem I have with restaurants that pay their support staff lower wage base on higher tipping is that there is not a reflection in the price of food. These restaurants spends less money on salaries while lowering their overall fixed costs. Allowing customer to dictate the tip amount is unfair to the wait staff as they have not control over the amount of tip. Though this encourages wait staff to perform at their fullest potential when serving larger groups for a bigger tip. An organizational structure comprises

They expect me to be patient, clear with orders, not demanding, and aware of what is going on. I must know what food they just told me was done and where to take it, but first I need to pay attention to hear when my name is called. There is usually more tension between the kitchen and waiters than there is with any other workers. The roles are so different. The kitchen staff usually looks at servers as just wanting to get a good tip, and that we do not care the extremities the kitchen has to go to for us. It is important that servers respect the kitchen staff; they are in charge of the food we will be serving. “Servers, as mediators, need their food when their customers demand it: sometimes this is before the food is ready; at other times after. If servers demand food too early, cooks are stressed; but if they don’t pick up the food on time, the food is poor and the cook seems incompetent.” (Fine 105). This is the most true on Friday and Saturday nights. Everything seems to be more chaotic on these nights, since most people decide to go out. This is good because it brings in more business for the restaurant, but then there are always more unhappy customers on these nights as well. Overall, positive interaction with the kitchen staff can make amazing things happen.