The $100,000 a year waitress isn't a myth: Some hard truths about tipping in Canada

[msommers]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

*Flirty Waitress grubbing for a tip as you pay* “Soooooo what are your plans for the night”

*Me at 5pm on a Saturday* “Well the plan is to go home take my pants off and watch Netflix”

Classic

Was going to type exactly that

[lasimmon]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

For me the one thing where service can be good or bad is whether the server is attentive to drinks.

Yep. I always order a water because in Calgary you almost always finish your beer before they even come ask if you want another and I hate eating without something to drink.

Also usually have to ask 3 times for a water to finally get one.

[Mitsu3000gt]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

So people who tip based on how good the service is, what exactly is good or bad service at a restaurant?

My experience is almost always exactly the same:

- Bring menu
- Take drink order
- Bring drinks, take food order
- Bring food
- Check back in 3 minutes to see if the food is ok
- Take plate, offer dessert, say no, bring bill

That is literally the bare minimum that they are being paid to do, so IMO that does not warrant a tip whatsoever. I can't see how it does, especially when they are already paid a very good base wage for the line of work (i.e. no schooling, special skills, or experience required). Also in 90% of the restaurants I have been to, the server doesn't even bring your food or drinks, other employees do. They fill the first water and take the order - that is it. They might check on you after the main courses come and then you don't see them again until it's time to pay or they want to try sell you more booze.

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

I always just tip 15% or round up to whatever change makes sense, though someone told me last week that this is considered cheap now.

This is, in my opinion, the main reason Calgary service is so bad - so many people automatically tip 15-20% just because their server showed up to work that day. Even if tips aren't great, they are still making a very respectable $15/hr. The abundance of expense accounts in Calgary over the years probably did nothing to help that scenario. The reason service is so much better in most other countries is because they either have a very low minimum wage so they have to work for the tips, or there is no tipping required and the people working there are there because they actually want to be.

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

I've never had bad service that I can remember. I can't think of how to screw that up really, unless you order something and they just forget about you, which I assume is pretty rare. I don't know how you'd really do it better either. What do you expect of a server in order to earn your max tip amount?

I also noticed the pre-calculated tip amounts are more often being set for the after tax amount, which is some sneaky BS

I go to a restaurant 2-4 times a week and IMO there isn't always an opportunity to go above an beyond, that is just the nature of the business. If the customer doesn't need/want anything more than baseline service, there is no reason to tip. Let's say I'm out with my Grandma or something though and they have ridiculous food customization requests, strike up long boring conversations with the server, etc. - I am going to tip extremely well because at that point not only is the table getting something extra but we are causing extra work for both the server and the kitchen. Or if I'm out with a bunch of people and we have the server make 10 individual bills, I am going to tip more because I am making extra work for them. When I am on vacation I usually tip really well (if they even accept it) because A) I might have a lot of questions if I am not familiar with the food and B) the service is usually much, much better to begin with than anything you find in Calgary.

It comes back to my earlier point though - if you are going to tip servers for literally just doing their minimum job requirement or showing up to work, why not also tip flight attendants, janitors, nurses, cleaning staff, etc. who probably deal with way more crap day to day working arguably far more underappreciated jobs. Why don't those people also deserve tips? If you have a kid in school that misbehaves often or requires extra work, should we be tipping teachers? There are so many professions far more deserving of tips, IMHO. From what I have seen I think flight attendants should be tipped a lot more - several airlines allow staff to accept tips and I bet 99.9% of people do not tip flight attendants, but many of those same people probably don't blink an eye when they add 20% for bare minimum service at a restaurant. To me, that doesn't make sense.

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

The unreported cash part, especially for higher end places, is pretty minimal. Everyone uses cards unless they're at a bar.

Certainly credit cards are more common, but a lot of people still use cash at least from my observations. Especially older people who don't trust banks/credit cards. I know several people who pay cash almost all the time (even at the grocery store or for gas), and I see it a fair bit at restaurants and especially pubs. It's also really common with group meet-ups where people come & go throughout the night, they usually just toss cash on the table and leave rather than track down the server to make an individual credit card payment. I'm sure it depends somewhat on where you work, but there is probably more cash being used at restaurants than you may think. When I used to work retail/customer service, a lot of people who would pay cash would also feel the need to tell a long story on why they don't use credit cards, governments spying blah blah blah haha.


One thing I hate at restaurants is when the server stands over your shoulder while you are trying to pay and all of a sudden their attitude improves ten-fold. They start flirting, touch your arm, they ask about the food, ask where you're headed after, force a couple smiles, etc. At least don't make it so painfully obvious that the only thing you care about is the tip. A lot of the servers I get just act like they are not happy to be there, but know they are going to get that 20% anyway from most tables so there is no incentive to improve their attitude. I drink a lot of water when I go out, so one thing I personally appreciate is if the server is paying attention and keeps my water glass full. Lots of restaurants now just put water on the table though so the servers do even less. Water orders are also commonly forgotten altogether (more at pubs than restaurants) and you don't even get one until half-way through the night. Usually they only care if your alcoholic drink gets near empty though (they will ask when you still have half left haha), because that increases tips. Other things that bother me is waiting a super long time for the check after we're clearly done eating, or if they ignore drink refills - those are ways they can stand out compared to other servers.

[ercchry]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Yep. I always order a water because in Calgary you almost always finish your beer before they even come ask if you want another and I hate eating without something to drink.

Also usually have to ask 3 times for a water to finally get one.

Stop eating at earls?

[HiTempguy1]

Why do we have to ask for water? I've never understood that. Just bring water to the table FFS.

[lasimmon]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Stop eating at earls?

Pretty standard in most Calgary restaurants.

[ercchry]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Pretty standard in most Calgary restaurants.

i dunno... most place i go either just bring water, or the first thing they ask is "sparkling or still"

... i dont run into these issues unless im dragged to a suburban chain restaurant

[Mitsu3000gt]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Pretty standard in most Calgary restaurants.

+1, water is the single hardest thing to get a server to bring you because it doesn't add to the bill amount. At pubs especially it can be brutal, you often have to ask multiple times and rarely do they just offer the tables a round of waters. I always order a beer and a water at the same time and I would say the water shows up less than 50% of the time, so I have to keep asking. At high end restaurants you usually get the first (tiny) water right away (the still or sparkling question), and then it's a crap shoot whether or not you ever get a refill.

[J-hop]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

i dunno... most place i go either just bring water, or the first thing they ask is "sparkling or still"

... i dont run into these issues unless im dragged to a suburban chain restaurant

Hahaha on my first pass I read that as “most places I go I just bring water”, pictured a guy sitting there with a blender bottle shaker cup

[asp integra]

When I lived in Australia I noticed the service both at bars and restaurants was terrible compared to what I was used to in Calgary.
I would tip like normal and noticed the service was immediately better and they would always come to me first vs other people waiting.

[googe]

I don’t think the min wage theory holds up. Washington, Oregon, and California all have a min wage that is the same as untipped employees, and that is not conditional on if they make enough in tips. In Seattle that is guaranteed $15/hour plus tips.

[suntan]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

I see, I never drink enough coke for a refill, and they aren’t stupid enough to forget alcoholic drinks around here. They know that pads the bill, turns the table faster, and buzzed people are more loose tippers. I don’t tip less for slow/wrong order, it’s usually out of the server’s control, and I’ve never had it completely wrong, just a failed ingredient substitution if anything, like swiss vs cheddar.

The worst in recent memory was at Ruth’s Chris for lunch and my medium rare was well done, which I barely said a word about when asked how it turned out, and they apologized profusely, then the manager came over, apologized again and comped our steaks. We were drinking Macallan 25 though, so they probably didn’t lose anything on the final bill.




Ah, you’re right actually, Canada is different (except maybe Quebec apparently). The IRS doesn’t let you get away with that. You have to report your employees tips, and if disbursements don’t match, they’ll go after you for for failing to withhold and remit tax on those wages.

Another point that got little attention in the article, waitress said she is not only at a high end place (the place itself being an outlier) but that she makes more than the rest of the servers there. So an outlier among outliers.

Also, she clarifies that she didn’t gross 100k, but 100k is an approximation in order to correct for the unreported income.

You probably don’t know this, but on a meal, you’re not supposed to tip the drink cost.

[googe]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

You probably don’t know this, but on a meal, you’re not supposed to tip the drink cost.

You're definitely supposed to include the drink value in your tip calculation

[spikerS]

I haven't given in, and I won't to the "new" tipping structure. 18, 21, and 24% fuck that.

I still use the 0-5-10-15%, and in exceptional circumstances where someone went way above and beyond, 20%+

I don't think it's being cheap, but I am not going to tip 18% for bad service.

[ExtraSlow]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

You probably don’t know this, but on a meal, you’re not supposed to tip the drink cost.

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

You're definitely supposed to include the drink value in your tip calculation

Goddammnit, now I don't know what to do!!!!!

[Tik-Tok]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Goddammnit, now I don't know what to do!!!!!

I only use the entire bill because I triple the GST for acceptable service, lol. Math is hard.

I quadruple if tits and ass are hanging out.

[killramos]

Not tipping for drinks. Lol. That’s rich.

The irony is the drinks are pretty well the only thing your server actually brings you, meals are usually brought out by busboys.

[suntan]

Yes indeed that was the rule.

You now have media trying to set the standard to 20% of the entire bill. Good ol' USA.

[killramos]

and income tax used to be illegal, but here we are lol

[suntan]

Point being, it is possible to make a living in this city being wait staff. Job still sucks, but making money is possible in that occupation. Working at a mid-range restaurant (Keg) should be viable for a young person, even before the NDP fucked that all up.