I was at a fancy restaurant the other night, and it got me thinking about tipping (because, why wouldn't it?).
I don't at all understand some of the concepts behind tipping. Particularly, I don't see why tip amount is based on price of the bill. It's not as if service gets better as the food does. The following example illustrates my point: if Sally orders a $7.00 burger and tips 20%, and Tom orders a $25.00 filet mignon at the same restaurant, also tipping 20%, Tom will tip the server $3.60 more than Sally for the exact same amount of food. Yes, Tom's meal was of greater quality, but it's not any more work for the server to bring him his plate. The server doesn't deserve more from Tom, and it's unfair that society would berate him for not tipping more than Sally for identical service.
If it was commonplace to tip chefs, then this would all make sense. Better food often equals better culinary abilities, so a chef at a nice restaurant would probably deserve more. But, we don't tip chefs, we tip servers. And it's madness.
My only hypothesis is very elementary, and it's that a more expensive bill might mean more items served, which means more work for the server. But this hypothesis only holds weight if all items on a menu are the same price. What kind of bizarro world would that be?
Someone really screwed up with this concept.
I really wonder what a certain chef in Mendocino CA would have to say about all this? Points are well made. Hey, what are you doing in a fancy restaurant anyway?
ReplyDeleteSometimes to make a point you have to make up a scenario.
DeleteYa know, I've never thought about this. I don't know why. I have worked as a server, so I naturally have that I used to be a sever tip well theory. But, you make a valid point here. My husband hates to eat out, b/c so much of the money is spent tipping. Most of the time we'd rather just cook at home.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure as a waiter I would push these thoughts far far away from my brain, and hope for very steep bills. Regardless, it doesn't make sense to me. Servers should be tipped, but maybe on the basis of, I dunno, something like how often they smile at you or something.
DeleteI think this idea has more application for different items from the same restaurant, than it does for different restaurant price points.
ReplyDeleteThe service you'll get from an expensive restaurant generally outshines that of a casual one. Further, the challenge of timing a dinner party's food is often forgotten and the quality of your food is largely dependent upon it. Fire an order too soon and you'll be presenting an entree while diners still have their salad or you'll let it sit under a heat lamp. Fire an order too late and your customer waits too long between courses.....
I guess what I'm saying is there are an array of elements that should be taken into account for tipping...not just the quality or price of the food.
I agree, more elements should be taken into account for tipping. But I think the majority of people simply look at the price of the bill, and as long as their server wasn't a complete a-hole they tip based on that. Which is silly.
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