Sheila Langford gets paid a whopping $2.13 per hour by her employer to wait tables at the International House of Pancakes in Centerville. But because of tips, it's more lucrative than the $6 per hour she gets from her other job as a cook at The Arbor restaurant in Layton. Even after sharing with those who bus tables and "expedite" the food, she can make around $8 to $10 per hour, she said.
True, the occasional customer will "stiff" her and not leave a tip, but Langford says she likes the tipping system. "You feel more motivated, and there's no down time, because you're constantly thinking ahead on how to make it a good experience for the customers. You earn your tips, if you are willing to put forth the effort."
The term "tip" supposedly comes from the mid-18th century innkeepers' signs, "To Insure Promptness," which urged customers to give an extra coin for quicker service, according to the Protocol School of Washington, based in McLean, Va.
That has evolved into today's system, where the restaurant lets the customer evaluate the server's performance and pay much of the salary. Yesteryear's standard tip —10 percent of the bill — now denotes a cheapskate or poor service. The Zagat restaurant guide says booming economy of the late 1990s boosted the average tip to 16-18 percent.
Customers may think a tip is icing on the cake; for servers, it's their bread and butter.
Hillary Rodham Clinton found that out during her Senate campaign when word got out that she'd stiffed a waitress in a New York diner. After being denounced in the media, she apologized and mailed the server a $100 savings bond.
It seems that "Service with a smile" become "Show me the money." While no one is forced to tip generously, there are subtle pressures to do so. In Southern California, some upscale restaurants are adding "gratuity guidelines" on their bills. The Utah Restaurant Association is busy printing its credit card-size tipping guide in numerous languages to let Olympics visitors know the amounts they're expected to give. (In much of Europe, service charges are automatically added to the bill; in Australia, tips aren't commonly expected.)
Pizza drivers write in letters-to-the-editor that if you're a non-tipper, they often go out of their way to deliver your pizza last. Even fast-food eateries now display a bucket for tips near the register.
Several Internet Web sites www.stainedapron.com, bitterwaitress.com and www.waiters-revenge.com allow disgruntled servers to write about revenge tactics when they don't get the tip they expect, such as spitting (or worse) in the person's food on their next visit. "If you don't tip at least 15 percent, I bet you have ingested your server's saliva at least once," a writer states at The Stained Apron site.
Kim Stahler, a former waitress who created the site, guesses that the stories sent in are a mix of both truth and fantasy. But in her 15 years in the restaurant industry, she's seen plenty of retaliation. "The industry has the unique quality of forcing employees to rely on the whims of the public for their pay," Stahler said, "so that restaurants can save millions in labor. Employees also lack normal channels of verbal response if they are treated badly by a customer, because any rebuttal means no tip. We have to suck up a lot, and this results in a lot of repressed anger waiting to break out."
But diners shouldn't fear food tampering as retribution for low tipping, says Melva Sine, president of the Utah Restaurant Association. "I am not saying it couldn't happen, but an employee would be putting their job at risk if they tried this, because food safety is a top priority in the restaurant industry," Sine said. "That would be cause for immediate termination. And restaurants are so busy with people, somebody would see them."
The Deseret News asked readers for their opinions on tipping. A few agreed with "Miss Manners" etiquette expert Judith Martin that tipping should be abolished. Mike Davis, a former Utahn, visited Japan and enjoyed not having to worry about tipping in restaurants, hotels or cabs. "It is almost an insult and if you try they will refuse it," Davis said. "The result is that you feel whenever someone is helping you, it is with an eye towards offering genuine service, not to see how much loot you have in your wallet."
Here are some tips on tipping:
IN UTAH, EMPLOYERSare legally required to pay servers just $2.13 per hour, with the idea that tips will boost the pay to at least minimum wage.Utah servers in fine-dining restaurants average $12 per hour when tips are included, Sine says. Figures on casual dining were not available.
A TIP DOESN'T ALWAYS reward one individual server. Most restaurants require the wait staff to share tips with the person who clears (or "buses") the tables. Some servers say they also "tip out" the bartenders, cooks, hostesses and other kitchen help. Some restaurants have a "tip pool," where all servers put their tips in one pot that is divided evenly at the end of the night. But sometimes customers choose to use a low tip as punishment for factors beyond a server's control.
THE SIZE OF THE TIP tends to decrease with the size of the party, which is why many restaurants impose a mandatory service charge for groups of six or more. According to the consumer marketing NPD Group, single diners leave an average tip of 19.7 percent. That number drops to 13.2 percent for five people.
Many customers leave big tips for social approval, because they think the waiter expects it, or to appear financially well-off. In other research, a waitress raised her tips by touching her customers on the hand or shoulder when asking if the meal was satisfactory. Introducing yourself, offering a smile, kneeling or squatting at eye-level for a brief conversation, presenting the check on a tray, or writing "thank you" on the check can all increase tips.
THE RESTAURANT INFLUENCEShow much a server makes. If it's a less-popular restaurant or a slow night, servers take home less. Since the tip is usually calculated on a percentage of the bill, it follows that it will be less at an inexpensive eatery than at a fine-dining restaurant. But fine-dining customers usually expect better service. Langford says her diners get the same level of service at the less-expensive IHOP as they do at a fine-dining restaurant. Due to higher volume, her overall pay is almost the same as that of her brother, who works at the more upscale Christopher's in Bountiful.
LINES HAVE BLURRED between quick-serve and sit-down dining. For instance, at Guru's, customers order their food and get drinks at the register, take a number and a server brings out the order. Should you tip? "We pay close to minimum wage to our servers, because we don't want people to feel like they have to tip," said Guru's co-founder Deven Moreno. "But we tell our servers if you want to go the extra mile — refill their drinks, bus the table and maybe have some pleasant conversation, they will usually get a tip."
SERVE-YOURSELF BUFFETS are another matter; some readers wrote that they don't tip at such restaurants. Yet, at some buffets, the wait staff is only paid $2.13 per hour. At HomeTown Buffet, "hostesses" and "hosts' are paid $5.15 per hour, "But they depend on the tips as well," said manager Kevin Duffin. "They wouldn't continue to be here if they weren't getting tipped well."
Pizza drivers are usually paid at least minimum wage but must supply transportation.
"I don't think they will ever abolish tipping," said Sine. "It would be a major cost to the industry if they were to do away with it. And when the wait staff really go out of their way, the customer can reward them for it."
E-MAIL: vphillips@desnews.com