{"id":59939,"date":"2014-07-31T11:09:13","date_gmt":"2014-07-31T09:09:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whalecottage.com\/blog\/?p=59939"},"modified":"2014-07-31T20:13:02","modified_gmt":"2014-07-31T18:13:02","slug":"tipping-has-the-gratuity-reached-the-tipping-point","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chrisvonulmenstein.com\/blog\/cape-town\/tipping-has-the-gratuity-reached-the-tipping-point\/","title":{"rendered":"Tipping: has the Restaurant gratuity reached the tipping point?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Tips\"<\/a>There is nothing that makes a lovely dining experience leave a sour taste in one’s mouth more than the tip drama! \u00a0 Is tipping an old-fashioned habit that should cease given that most waiters are full-time employed?<\/p>\n

It appears that tipping is on the decline, in America at least, and the reasons may be the poor economic climate, the declining service levels, the fact that waitroning still is not a career, that restaurants increasingly are adding a service charge, or that restaurants have realised that tips may in fact spoil the whole dining experience. \u00a0It is of course the most bizarre business practice for a patron to have to pay the ‘salary’ of the restaurant staff!<\/p>\n

Recently my colleague and I were invited to try a restaurant in Hermanus. \u00a0There were no Ts & Cs mentioned in the invitation, but on arrival an increasingly cocky waiter told us that desserts were extra. \u00a0He neglected to tell us that one coffee and one glass of wine would be too. \u00a0 He was so loud and overbearing that I decided to not tip him. \u00a0He took extreme offence, loudly and confrontationally asking if there was not a tip, and if not, was his service not up to scratch. \u00a0I will not go back there in a hurry, even though the owners had been more than generous, for fear of getting another mouthful from the waiter. \u00a0I have stayed away from my favourite restaurant in the city centre, due to the pertinent demand for tips from two of its servers, and very iffy service on subsequent visits, not matching the quality and stature of its Chef Owner.<\/p>\n

An article on the Fine Dining Lovers website<\/strong><\/span><\/a> caught my eye, and commented about the progression of tipping: ‘ …what started as a way to \u2018reward service quality and increase economic efficiency\u2019 has quickly become an \u2018obligation\u2019 for diners and a \u2018matter of survival’ for servers’.<\/em> \u00a0Americans leave $42 billion in tips per annum. \u00a0 The article asks if waitrons should not be paid a minimum wage, to alleviate the dependency on a tip, as waitrons are paid a ‘sub-minimum wage<\/em>‘ in America.<\/p>\n

Why would any patron or customer have to pay for the compensation of the staff of the supplier? \u00a0Surely restaurants must build staff costs into their pricing. \u00a0Patrons don’t tip the cleaners nor the chefs, so why should the waitrons benefit from an archaic system? \u00a0 Surely it is in the interest of restaurants to build a solid base of staff, including waitrons. \u00a0Offering waitrons full-time employment with a fixed salary, as they do for their chefs and cleaners, would surely lead to lower staff turnover in restaurants, lessen the ‘begging’ for tips, and enhance the restaurant experience!<\/p>\n

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com<\/strong><\/span><\/a> \u00a0Twitter: WhaleCottage<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is nothing that makes a lovely dining experience leave a sour taste in one’s mouth more than the tip drama! \u00a0 Is tipping an old-fashioned habit that should cease given that most waiters are full-time employed? It appears that tipping is on the decline, in America at least, and the reasons may be the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false},"categories":[3,124,266,25,20,22,21],"tags":[32378,26778,32377,13,1720,32373],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t