scrubbedexpat099

There are plenty of college graduates washing dishes.

penguinbar

Yup!Actually if you are a member of Local 6 which is a restaurant union in NYC you make $20 plus an hour as a dishwasher.

Pulaski

No wonder eating in NYC is so d@mned expensive!

penguinbar

It depends on what you consider expensive. I know of some very reasonable places . FYI most restaurant employees( myself included) get the minimum server/bartender wage which is $5.00 an hour.

Yorkieabroad

This was late - about 10pm, and they were talking about having worked the dinner shift - I can't remember the specifics, but the $80 number stuck in my head. It wasn't even a classy place - regular steakhouse type place with $10 burgers and $12-15 steaks....can't imagine a table for 4 would come to much more than 60ish bucks....guess that means they were working 6-8 tables an hour (no idea if that sounds reasonable or not as never done it)or maybe the tips in Texas are like everything else here....BIGGER

Pulaski

It sounds to me like you need to get into the union!

penguinbar

I used to be. You can't just join Local 6. You have to get a job in a restaurant or hotel that is a union shop. I was in the Union for nearly seven years and then I left that job. It was about 15 years ago and I wanted a changE. Unions have their good points and bad points.

jeffreyhy

This might depend on how each state's sales tax laws are written and apply to your state, or some states, but not all states.

Regards, JEff

jeffreyhy

I notice that in this thread the terms 'tip' and 'service charge' seem to be used interchangably, and I wonder if the two things are the same or different? Perhaps it depends on the establishment? And with respect to sales tax, I wonder if the state or local sales tax laws might make a distinction?

I notice that in the referenced article the receipt shows an 'automatic' 18% "tip", and then provides a place for "Adtl Tip". I don't know what Applebee's does with such tip money, and the writer did not say, but as a customer I would take it literally and assume that the staff is given the 18%, which isn't a bad tip. Was the service so good that an additional tip was deserved? If the 18% isn't given to the staff, the writer's complaint isn't with the customer, it's with the establishment.

Getting back to sales tax, it's clear from what's shown of the receipt that Applebee's bases the tip on the cost of the food + the sales tax. (And sales tax is on the food only, not food + tip.) I don't know about others but I tip based on the cost of the food alone. The article doesn't mention where in St Louis this Applebee's was, but sales tax varies around St Louis county from as low as ~7% to almost 10% in St Louis city. A 10% sales tax really jacks up the tip when it's included in the calculation.

Regards, JEff

Yorkieabroad

I normally tip on the basis of whatever sales tax is charged on - ie food and drink. Our sales tax is normally 8.25 (may be 6.25) so the mathS is quite easy to just double the sales tax and thats your tip.

jeffreyhy

Thanks for making that "food and drink", I should have written it that way. Same as me, so I feel that I'm not a lone 'Cheap Charlie' by using the pre-tax approach.

Regards, JEff

Jerseygirl

A lot of restaurants in areas that attract Brit/Euro tourists automatically add the tip onto the bill. I presume it's because we are not used to tipping and often leave without leaving a tip.

jeffreyhy

What has the reason for automatically adding a tip to the bill got to do with whether the state or locality charges a sales tax on an automatic tip?

Aside from the fact that they couldn't tax the tip if it wasn't automatic.

My point was, not all states tax an automatic tip.

Regards, JEff

Jerseygirl

No need to get your knickers in a twist.

Yorkieabroad

Even with my Yorkshire roots, I'd never really thought of myself as a Cheap Charlie....until now

Seriously though, I'm surprised that folk calculate a tip on sales tax...the "double the sales tax" method was something an american colleague told me years ago when I came here on business - I just assumed it was a pretty normal way to do it!