The reason fancy restaurants should get more tips is much different then what people think. It isn't really related to the price of the food, but rather the fact that fancy dining is "slow food". That means they will serve less customers and get fewer tips, and thus the tips must be correspondingly bigger to make up for it. The theory being that a waiter is like a street performer - they're "paid" by their customers.
I've been to different countries around the globe.
All I can say is that tipping is most prevalent in Northern America.
If you don't tip, waiters don't give you good service. Many of them even 'tamper' with your food.
In some European countries I've been to, especially high-class hotels (UK, Germany, Italy, France), the 'tips' are charged together with the food bill. 'Hidden charges' as they call it. So once you pay, you actually give the waiter/tress a portion of the service fee. So I don't pay extra tips for them, though most waiters in the UK expect you to. Not really alarming, since EVERYTHING in the UK is taxed. Hell, even going to a public toilet requires a small fee.
In parts of China and Russia where I stayed, it is considered an insult to give tips to any form of service. When I asked a local waiter in a restaurant I've been to in Moscow, the waiter said he finds it "morally degrading" to be given tips.
In China, workers who carry heavy loads for you do not expect to be tipped.
In the Middle East, we don't pay tips. Tips are viewed as a form of charity, and only given to people who are homeless and jobless.
Originally posted by Darth Macabre
Well, most US restaurants combine all of their tips up and divide them between the wait staff, giving them all an equal share...
That isn't true, most food servers keep all of their own tips. In some places they tip out bartenders and busboys but still keep most of their own.
Casino dealers are another story, they are forced to split all of their tips with other dealers and in some cases, management.
Originally posted by Symmetric ChaosHey, dude offered it, I accepted it. In my defense, he was there two weeks and was an incredible nuisance.
You better have stolen them rather than give in to the social pressure to pay people.
But back to the thread, I view tipping as a good thing, it increases the chance for excellent customer service.
Originally posted by The Dark Cloud
Yeah, in most states they get $2.01 an hour, that's a real high wage isn't it.A few have to pay federal minimum which is now $7.25.
That's the thing in many a case, the waiter makes less than MW, yet is taxed at the state's MW rate. So if they do get stiffed by a customer not tipping, they're essentially paying for a portion of that patrons meal.
Edit: I should add, this is what I read, not first hand experience, as I've never had a job where tipping was the norm.