Internal Server Error. That means the website your trying to connect to has a issue and can’t provide a more specific error code. It is a generalization code.
This website does not suffer from something as “simple” as a generalization code. It has problems that happen almost every week. It occurs often enough that I do not bother to participate in the AMAC polls anymore. It tells me that I have already voted or responded to a comment when I try to comment.
It has been in need of a serious overhaul for a long time.
Forgot, what helped me this time was to go to the top and log in, then close the window and reopen the email. This took me to the poll and it showed I already answered the question, but it allowed me to comment.
Status code 500 means an internal server error. Given the generally poor response times that this site has experienced over the last few months, I would say the server has finally reached the point where this server is badly over-taxed in terms of trying to handle the incoming requests from the members to handle the amount of traffic. Yet another symptom of AMAC not bothering to devote IT resources to keeping up their customer facing computer infrastructure.
The greatest display of extreme ignorance by a congressman, only eclipsed by the idiots that keep voting for him.
The Democrat party must think they’re doing a public service by giving a home to people like Hank Johnson, Pelosi, Bidin, Fetterman….
Really, how can such a dumb person be in such an important position? I mean, did this fool Johnson even graduate from school? Not that that really means anything, I know people that didn’t finish grammar school smarter than him.
It’s the person not the age. Each individual ages differently. E.G., Art Laffer, a prominent economist, is 82. take a minute and listen to his poised dialogue, articulation.
No, it’s the age as well, and there should be age limits. These jobs are not the Walmart greeter, they are the captains steering the ship of state and effecting the well-being of the whole world. Health declines with age…let’s be real. Biden, Pelosi, McConnell dispel the idea that with age comes wisdom…that “ain’t necessarily so.” Cognitive tests are useless with their doctors willing to lie. A good cutoff is that you can’t be more than 75 at the end of your term. But Congress will never vote itself term limits, age limits, or turn down a raise. We need a Convention of States to set boundaries.
Thank you, TomB!
I believe Diane at 90 is the oldest. We need age limits and cognitive tests.
Age can have the benefit of experience. If you have a corrupt heart you will not be of value to anyone but yourself. With that said it speaks volumes for mandatory term limits
Great post and with the number of aged folks shuffling through the Capital Halls proves that we need not only term limits but also an age cut off mark where they can no longer run for office. These people cannot talk or get around properly and they have the say on our country’s security and wellbeing and they have the authority to take us to war and worse yet a nuclear war. Cut off age needs to be eighty but from seventy on the need to go through mandatory Neurological testing each year and when they start acting like those you listed, they need to be removed. Trump was indeed right when he said the swap needs to be drained and it’s in Both Parties.
Well, Mitch is no ally of ours…we know he’s a TRAITOR!! Should have been voted out many years ago, so I ask, what’s wrong with you good people of KY?
Joe and Diane are snakes, and you know they’re snakes when you pick them up…..
HEY AMAC! CHANGE THIS FORMAT, OR IS THIS PERMANENT?
Texas has a special drivers license procedure for those over 80 years old. This is to see if one is competent to drive, including eyesight. Why doesn’t Congress have something like this? By the way Cannon Law in the Catholic Church sets a mandatory retirement for bishops at 75 (although the Pope doesn’t have to accept the retirement but a letter does have to be submitted) and Cardinals have limits after 80 years of age.
What was Pennsylvania thinking? Fetterman is not only incoherent, he is unprofessional. If I showed up at work in a hoodie and shorts my bosses would send me home. Years ago Paul Ryan told a few congressmen not to wear jeans with a sport jacket in the Capitol.
I know the drive by media gave Fetterman a “pass” and after the debate several early voters (I heard) wanted to change their vote but weren’t able to do so.
On another note I heard the last few years Strom Thurmond was in Congress an aide would tell him how to vote. Don’t know why he was warming a chair.
Grassley is 91 going on 61. I wouldn’t include him on that list. He’s in better shape mentally and physically than a lot of 65 year old folks I know.
However, you can add Fetterman to your list. While we should feel sorry about his health he certainly should not be serving in the Senate.
What? No all of the above? Add in Nancy Pelosi while you’re at it. I vote all the above, as they are all barely able to recognize where they are at any given moment.
The first three can go out separately or together don’t matter to me, I just hope Charles Grassley hangs around a lot longer. In my opinion he is a REAL PATRIOT the first three NOT SO MUCH!
You gave me a giggle but this sad excuse of a site exchanged it for question marks.
AMAC, please make a better website before you give another utterly useless poll.
More than likely a tie between 1 & 3 with a close 2nd between 2 & 4 but I’m keeping all my wagers in my pocket for we could have a 4 way tie for 1st place. Should be against the law to be that danged old in our Congress. 320+ years old for this 4 people? Wowzzzzzz!
A sixth selection should have been: “We haven’t gone out since the China Experiment that was to let government know who’s sheep and who’s going to give us trouble”
I do a minimum of 20% in sit down restaurants, even when the service is mediocre, figure anyone can have a bad day! I know, what a pushover, but not for the jab, surprised vax doctors didn’t have tip jars since the jab was free!
I tip at least 20% but I do gauge according to the service we receive. When we’ve been pretty much ignored because we don’t order drinks and there’s few other customers I may give less. If server has been attentive and/or engaging I add extra as if we did have drinks. I believe also we should care for each other. The lowliest to the highest are due equal respect and we should love as we are loved.
I agree with you Barb. We tend to be generous tippers, but only if the person serving us gives us good service. I like to tip the kids in places like coffee shops and fast food restaurants. Many times they are so delighted to receive it and I just like to add a little sunshine to their day. I feel that I can afford to do it. As long as I can, I will.
I tip as I always have. Less for bad service, more for good service. In other places the tip is automatically added to the bill and thus, you get terrible service.
Same here, except, if the tip is automatically added to the bill, I will not go to that establishment again. I understand that sometimes someone has a bad day, but without having to “earn” the tip, there is no motivation to work better or harder to please the customer. Same problem with Socialism, if everyone gets the same pay no matter the output, the output will drop to the minimum to keep the job.
Listen, I’ve had more than one job in my day that counted on tips. With the outrageous prices out there, you don’t need to increase the percentage you tip; 15% is enough. An increase is built-in via the increased prices. Also, tipping is only appropriate for certain jobs, like food service, taxi drivers, porters, or where you deem it right for outstanding service. I’ve actually had guys Ask me for a tip for a job that usually doesn’t qualify. Ask for a tip, or say “it’s not enough” and you get Nothing!
Years ago if you were a bagger at the commissary on a military base you worked for tips only. I don’t know if that is still the case today.
I had a college roommate who worked at an upscale restaurant in San Antonio (it was on the riverwalk so it got its fair share of tourists) . He was a busboy and they were only paid $2.25/hr (this was when minimum wage was $3.35/hr) but they were allowed to take tips. This practice was not uncommon for servers at several upscale restaurants. Don’t know if this is common today either.
I agree. Typically 20%, but sometimes more. I live in the heart of the oil industry. It is very difficult for restaurants to keep help when workers can get paid $100K to drive a truck. Many local restaurants have entire rooms that are closed because they don’t have enough servers.
What bothers me more is the outrageous cost of food. Of course, we all know who’s responsible for that!
Totaling against tipping. With the prices charged, particularly by “high end restaurants” businesses should pay their employees just like the electrician or plumber or the guy that pumps out you septic tank does. Why should restaurants only pay minimally while others pay more. Who wrote this “rule”?
If you’re not in a financial position to tip your waiter, learn to cook and eat at home. If you’re not financially able to tip your food delivery driver, get up off your lazy ass and drive to a restaurant and pick it up yourself. But remember to treat others the way you’d like to be treated.
I’ll repeat above Totaling against tipping. With the prices charged, particularly by “high end restaurants” businesses should pay their employees just like the electrician or plumber or the guy that pumps out you septic tank does. Why should restaurants only pay minimally while others pay more. Who wrote this “rule”?
But you said “should” knowing that they don’t. So, keep your body at home and cook/ serve/ clean up yourself if you’re not going to tip your server who makes $3/hr. They should be paid more, but they’re not.
As a general rule, I determine if I am being serviced by an “order taker” or an “order manager”.” Most individuals working at a counter are processing your order are “order takers” and should to be treated with respect and courtesy. But, they are not entitled to a tip. Waiters and waitresses are “order managers” responsible for the carrying out your specific instructions and taking care of you throughout your restaurant experience. They also should to be treated with respect and courtesy and are entitled to a tip. My general rule is a minimum of 20% with an increase for extra effort to make your meal an enjoyable experience.
Totally agree I think that you should tip based on the service you received and a good waiter or waitress knows that and no matter what kind of day they have had each customer is a new face and didn’t have anything to do with how the last one acted
I live in a small town and know most of our bar and restaurant owners and servers. We know of their daily struggles to make ends meet during our peak season and off season. We are always generous when tipping because we know we are supporting families and college students.
I agree. We have created a culture of people expecting free items from others. Where does it end? I waited tables for six years, so I am not unsympathetic to those who run their butts off to serve; however, there are tip jars everywhere and it is annoying. I think I am going to start asking workers why they feel like they deserve a tip in some places.
Perhaps they should unionize also? They could call it the “union of welfare consortium”.
Oh, wait…we already have the democrat party…they could just join that.
They wouldn’t have to work at all….EBT cards for everyone.
I agree. It’s time to do away with tipping. Other countries, such as Australia, do it because they value their employees. Tipping is another form of “spreading the wealth” that has been touted by our “Democratic” government. Spreading the wealth is a Marxist idea that has permeated our society to the point that instead of being an appreciation for good service to an expectation no matter what (entitlement!).
Tipping began as a way to let your server know how well she/he was doing his/her job. It was never meant to be mandated by the restaurant/hotel or whatever. They get paid a wage. Tipping is a courtesy, not a requirement
Most of my life finances were tight and I tipped the standard amounts at sit down restaurants only. At my present point in life finances are not a concern and I tip generously for two reasons: first , the folks doing these jobs can use the extra and second, since so much unearned money is out there getting people to work is hard. I want to reward and encourage those who came to work. Still, I only tip my barber and at sit down restaurants and lesser amounts for take out only at restaurants where I frequently also do sit down.
Why should a worker’s wage be dependent upon a customer’s generosity? Let the employer pay a fair wage and entergrate it in the price of the product as any other business expense. A tip used to be for exceptional service, gong above expected. Gratuitous = free. It puts too much pressure on the customer. Is he a generous person or a cheapscate? I just ant to buy the product, not be judged. The services where tipping is expected is expanding.
Sit down restaurants only. Average is 10% for breakfast, 15% for lunch and dinner. If they do good then more, worse then less. During the Wuhu Flu if the servers didn’t wear freedom muzzles then I add a double tip. I write it on the receipt what it was for
I don’t get the part about 10% for breakfast. That’s typically the cheaper meal and the server works just as hard…when I have breakfast and my total is low, I add aditional to help out the person. My mom was a waitress for 50 years and I know how tough it can be to serve jerks that act like you are scum.
Tipping was originally done to reward good service. It’s now become expected… regardless of the quality of service or if ANY service was provided. With the government mandating hiring minimum wages and businesses paying even higher wages in order to find employees the need for tipping should be reduced not increased. Employers need to pay the wages necessary to find and retain people… and price their products accordingly. Let us then return to tipping those employees who deserve them.
With the new mimimum wage protocols that are great for youth how do we keep mature citizens afloat with their “entitlements” that we paid in for years?c
Social security of $1100 a month based on 40 hour week is equal to ess than $7.00 per hour
Of course as a senior who do not have expenditures like food,gas, meds,etc. there is o longer for them a need for a quality life
If you are over 65 and need money for food or medications et off your butt and get a job.
What do you mean you had a stroke?
Well then your life is almost over so deal with it
Tipping allows me to acknowledge the exceptional server with at least 20% average to poor service results in 15% or less. When servers get to earn a wage such as in European countries tipping can be eliminated
Who ever thought that jobs at fast food joints were meant to be lifetime careers? C,mon people, get some initiative and aspirations to better yourself.
If I see a tip jar set out for tips, I evaluate what if any service the worker is doing for me. If there’s no personal service, there’s no tip. But if they are actively working for me personally, I will tip between 20-25 % based on their work accuracy, friendliness and personality.
Having been an employer the price of the product can exceed what people will pay. The workers always get little or nothing from many customers. They leave and you get lower or inexperienced people. Then you tip even less. Soon the business is closed. Big business will eventually wipe out the good small business because you don’t tip.
Tips are not guaranteed, good service gets a good tip. And putting a pizza in a box that I go pickup is your job. You get paid minimum wage to do that. Want more? Work at a work at getting a career while you make minimum wage. Many people work in minimum wage jobs don’t get tips, like a grocery store. I don’t tip everywhere that has tip jar.
I tip well at restaurants where I am served or when food is delivered by the actual restaurant (I don’t use delivery services). I refuse to tip anyone else for merely doing their job. I think it is insulting (toward other restaurant wait staff) for a $10+ hr barista, etc., to have a tip jar out.
The tip jars for normal work did not start with the plandemic. I saw plenty before that. It started with the I-deserve-what-I-didn’t-earn millennials who were raised to expect a trophy for showing up.
I give some little token to my regular deliverymen such as the postman and UPS driver, and when someone has gone above and beyond their normal job requirements, but other than that I tip mostly to waiting staff at eat-in restaurants from 10-20% depending on nature and quality of service. I do think that many folks have become entitled to getting a tip just for doing the job they were hired to do. With prices as high as they are, it is the employer’s duty to pay their workers a fair wage. If the employee doesn’t think that they are being paid a fair wage for their skills, they should negotiate with the employer, and that doesn’t work, take their skills elsewhere. If their skill set does command the wages an employee needs, it’s on them to acquire more marketable skills. It’s not the customer’s responsibility to pick up the wage slack due to employer greed, or low-skill wages…
This is actually a complex question. Most restaurants are small businesses with one or two locations. I know several owners and the margins are very small. If everyone were willing to pay, say, 40% more for all menu items, then a decent wage could be paid and still actually make a profit. The “handout generation” complicates things even further, not equating the ability to work with actually working. I’m not sure how the unemployment rate is so low because I see “HIRING” signs hundreds of times (no exaggeration) a day.
Beware of double indexing. A tip is calculated as a percentage of the bill, so when inflation goes up so does the bill and therefore the tip — it’s self adjusting. Now when I was (much) younger, the rule of thumb I was taught was to tip 10%. But at some point the expectation became 15%. That’s double indexing — not only has inflation increased the tip but the increased tip % has as well. Now the expectation is becoming 20-25%. That sort of math cannot continue forever — eventually the tip expectation will exceed the cost of the service. So, as consumers, we need to put our foot down and draw the line “this far and no further!” I’m all for appreciating good service and recognizing that many service workers are paid sub-minimum wage, but there has be limits!
Dittos to Concenerd Texan. And, I might a little economics lesson…
Inflation is directly tied to one thing: minimum wage increases. All businesses at some level (directly or indirectly) rely on minimum wage workers. However, minimum wage jobs were NEVER intended to be a primary job, and therefore minimum wage was never supposed to be a “living wage”. Increasing the minimum wage increases the cost of ALL goods and services, therefore, nobody benefits from minimum wage increases–including minimum wage workers!
Let me make a slight crrection to that statement: politicians who advocate for minimum increases are the only beneficiaries. The workers on the other hand are getting screwed, and end up asking for bigger tips to survive.
I was wondering if others had come to this conclusion. I agree that the tip should remain 15% for good service as the food bill increases. Subsequently, the server will receive an increased amount also. Why double dipping by increasing the tip to 20%? (Except in the case of superior service)
My pet peeve is today’s restaurants with the option to tip before gettnng food while prepaying . EVERY time I’ve done my usua l20% I get zero service, so that bit of “advance generosity” is over. My tips will be on the table from now on. Even that, however, can fail in a dem city like my own. Left a tip for a really nice young server and the restaurant manager picked it up. I would have asked for it back until my wife stopped me. All to say tips are appropriate due to food service low wages, but they should be earned. My wife and I now go to a restaurant where servers always get generous tips since the service is always prompt, pleasant and well-done. Sadly, such places are a dying species in today’s rude world.
When I tip I tip for good service. NOT just to tip.
Even most fast food places not make 15 dollars or better, more then I do.
The tip was originally for the waitresses, server, or bartenders that made $2.50 an hour. So they worked for tips.
I work in sales, I’m on the sales floor 10 hrs. A day. I make $5.80 an hour, plus commission (thats my tip) is I sell i make money.
You have to work pand give good service to get a TIP.
Just to be clear, most may know, but some may not. Workers at most fast food restaurants are paid full wages, with most, depending on location and worker availability, paying $15+ per hour. Servers at most sit down, service at the table restaurants are paid only $2-$3 per hour so that social security can be withheld. Their only real pay comes from the tips. I don’t like it, but that’s our current culture. At fast food restaurants I rarely pay a tip, unless I see a kid/individual, friendly, working hard, not asking for a handout but I feel could use a hand up. At service at the table restaurants, I tend to be generous, especially if they’re doing a good to great job, because it’s how they feed themselves and family, or pay for other necessities of life. I figure I can be a bright spot in their hard day.
It’s obvious that tipping is an uncomfortable topic, evidenced by the way the comment quickly turned to politics, totally off the subject. My wife and I have determined to live generously by giving freely as the Lord leads us. We are both retired, on fixed income, not wealthy, but have never lacked anything we wanted. “One man gives freely yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty.” Proverbs 11:24
Tipping started going up well before the plandemic. Since the minimum wage went up to $15+ in WA state, I don’t feel a 20% tip is necessary. And food prices have gone up as well since covid, so it’s expensive to eat out. I do it only once a month, generally tip 15%. But I do resent the tip jars in so many places where there is no real “service”. I seldom use them.
TIPPING SHOULD BE ELIMINATED WHERE ALL EMPLOYEES ARE GETTING THE MINIMUM WAGE OR BETTER. TIPPING was used as a major source of income for wait staff & cooks. I find it offensive that computerized kiosks are asking for tips. WTF? you are waiting on yourself.
I tip well unless the service is absolutely horrible. I travelled quite a bit overseas when working for an international company. I found it amazing. that when you tip in countries where no tip is required how much better service you receive when you return to that establishment. Try it you will enjoy the outcome.
For some unknown reason, Point-of-Sale software developers started hard-coded tipping into each transaction. It can’t be turned off or disabled. I know because I use POS and I’ve complained about it repeatedly.
Unless the service is terrible, I generally tip 20%, sometimes higher. Mostly at sit down restaurants. I’m I always friendly and courteous to the server. I’m sure they see more than enough jerks like my ex son in law who find something wrong every time and make an uproar to get out of paying.
My middle daughter was a waitress when she was young and I know what she went through.
A polite and friendly customer with a decent tip can make their day better. They have their own problems and circumstances and work hard.
Thank God I don’t have to work for the public.
Tipping should not be based on how much the meal costs!!! Tipping should be given for good service no matter how much the meal costs.
If the waiter or waitress serves a few diners. the tip should be according to what he or she has to do to earn a good tip!!!
If one gets bad service. 2 cents is a good tip…for sure.
1) Sure don’t like the new format. Looks like someone had to justify their existence, otherwise why change what was already working.
2) Topic got hi-jacked … although I agree with a lot of the comments!
3) Re: tipping. My daughter is in the restaurant business and has been for 20 years. She’s excellent at her job as a server as well as bartender. I have seen and heard of the many issues she deals with. Because of my direct exposure to her job and what it entails, I ‘over-tip’ whenever I eat out as long as the service is decent. The biggest problem in the restaurant business is that states allow a much lower minimum wage to be paid to ‘tipped’ workers. A few states actually pay the same minimum wage as non-tipped workers. Tipping would be less of an ‘issue’ if the employees could depend on a better minimum wage to start with. Better believe that restaurants take advantage of the pay disparity.
Re: tipping at other places (not restaurants) … I don’t believe in it. You sign up to stand behind a counter and provide a service which frequently takes no time at all. Now you want a tip? My tip is to get another job!
I work as a massage therapist, and I do keep my fees as affordable as possible- cause many of my patients are OLD people on fixed income. I treat each and every one of them with care, and do my best to help. Tips are appreciated but not expected. And remember, massage supplies prices went up, I pay more for electricity usage (laundry and dryer), rent is up. My Old people tip. They understand what I have to deal with and they know what hard work is. Younger (50 and below) tend to be more snotty and entitled and disrespectful and NOT tipping. Again, I treat everybody the same- no difference in quality. Please remember- your hairdresser, nail technician, massage therapist- they all went to school, they all do their best to make you feel and look your best- tips are appreciated.
Is this nonsense all you at AMAC can find to occupy yourselves with, given the panorama of real issues facing us today? What relevance has this specifically to seniors? I’ve reached the tipping point and will hit the “unsubscribe” button at the bottom of the page when this is sent. It is unlikely I will renew when my membership lapses, as I believe AMAC is floundering and looking for ways to remain interesting and relevant, and not doing too good a job of it. That’s too bad, because the idea of a seniors organization that actually represents our interests is an appealing one.
As to the tipping issue, I short circuit the issue by not patronizing establishments where tipping is expected. I don’t feel sorry for the workers who agree of their own volition to work under a ridiculous pay scheme. If they don’t like it, quit and find a real job. Given the plethora of “help wanted” signs I see out there, finding a job should not be an issue. So why, then, do people continue to work in “tip” jobs? I suspect a leading reason is because they are making more money than they let on, and all of the whining is just to keep up the image of poor overworked and underpaid wage slaves.
Since we don’t eat out very much, this isn’t really an issue for us. We never go to coffee shops or ice cream stores either. When we do eat out, we are very generous with our tips.
I used to look forward to the weekly poll and enjoyed commenting on the various questions. However, AMAC has updated the site to a level of incompetence unseen at any other site on the internet. Font too small, entering repeat personal data for any reply, no ability to check for “likes,” and the format forces you to the bottom of the site page for commenting. Hey, AMAC, please talk with your IT department and ask them to reverse the blasted upgrades. Thank you.
The structure/format for “Comments” and “Replies” to the weekly poll question is awkward. Once a particular comment has drawn a number of replies, it’s hard to tell where the replies to that comment end and a new comment begins.
I am “old school” and tip where the person getting it earned it. Restaurant wait staff being the first to come to mind. If I don’t have to stand at the entry when there are numerous tables vacant, and they are friendly in our interactions of drink order and appetizer to begin, and they check back in a timely manner for the order, the occasional check that everything is alright, and bring the check not too long after I am done, then I usually tip 30% or so. Each item neglected lowers the tip, and I have been known on a couple occasions to leave a single face down penny. As for counter sales, such as fast food, or a single drink at a bar, I do not tip. The concept of tipping is to show appreciation for doing a job better than average. A baggage handler will get a better tip if I have heavy bags than light, and less if they use a cart for bags I could have carried myself in one trip. If I know a place has people who “work for tips” I take that as these are people who choose not to panhandle or go for welfare, but can not find a steady job, yet want to earn their money. I tip them well also.
Another commentary page where there is no where for me to make a comment except to reply to someone else. This is frustrating, why even bother reading the pages anymore.
You have to scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page now first to start your own “original” comment. Not sure who designed this new comments board. I’m particularly disturbed they got rid of the upvote/downvote system. I don’t like having to RESPOND to each comment I agree or disagree with just to show my appreciation for someone else’s wisdom.
I seen something disturbing at a restaurant, the people at a table next to us left a tip for their waitress. Two juvenile delinquents picked up the tip walking by the table and ran out the side door. Since seeing that I started to ask the waitress (or waiter) for a refresher on my coffee (or drink) and handed the tip directly to the person. Just want to make sure they get the tip.
As for the juvenile delinquents, they were caught two days later doing the same thing at a different restaurant, Others (and me) informed the local police department of the theft, and with a photo from the security camera were able to catch them. Benefits of a small town.
Tipping has gotten way out of control. Not only servers are expecting tips but the employers are expecting customers to help pay their employees. TIPS are for service. Exceptional service gets an above average tip. Average service get an average tip. Poor service gets a couple of pennies. Don’t like the pennies, provide better service.
I usually tip 20% at restaurants, can’t recall when I’ve had bad service. I’ll also toss at least a $1 in the tip jar at my favorite bakery or favorite fast food restaurant cuz I appreciate them. When I’m out of town and my cat sitter charges per visit, I’ll tip her the equivalent of one extra visit. Heck, even when the AC/fireplace/furnace/plumber/etc. workman has completed a task, I’ll give them $10 and tell them to go buy an ice cream cone. I like to see their faces light up a little bit and they’ll remember me next time I might need to call them out for service.
Here is a tip for the AMAC I.T. Dept:
Puh-leeze fix this cotton pickin’ format on these polls and stop ignoring us.
You have been asked numerous times that this “new improved” format bites the big green zucchini.
CAPICHE?
If the service is great, I tip well. If the service sucks, I don’t tip at all. If the server is rude, I leave a penny. I will also tip DoorDash, or UberEats drivers because they don’t make much. They have to pay for Biden’s high fuel prices and the wear and tear on their cars. I will NOT tip the counter help at a fast food restaurant since they’re now making $12.00 to $18.00 per hour for punching some keys on a register and handing you a bag of overpriced “food.”
Do we tip people in department stores who bring us shoes to try and fit? Do we tip people who help us pick a cellphone and its subscription service? Why are we tipping people who serve us food? A server’s work is one of the easiest and least laborious in the service industry, so why are we tipping them? This has resulted in a culture of self-entitled people who think they should be paid for every step they make to bring you your food. I am a generous person, but I do not agree with tipping in principle. I think it corrupts people, and unnecessarily raises the cost of goods and services. Some countries forbid tipping, and we should follow suit.
I mostly disagree with your post. Most servers work for minimum wage and can only survive on their tips. Their job is not as easy as you describe. Servers are on their feet serving customers for long periods of time. If you are as generous as you say, you should reward servers for waiting on you. Certainly, you have the right to tip as you feel the value of the service you were given.
Tipping is out of control. With inflationary prices at restaurants, ice cream places, coffeeshops where you do most of the work you end up with an expense that not many people can pay. Either you will get all selve serve places or no places at all.
Fred, the old soldier (he fought in WWI) faded away in 1969. He was arguably the best Senator ever produced from the State of Illinois. I still have one of the 45s that he released when I was in high school back in the late 1960s.
On rare occasions when I go to lunch with the crew from the office, we just pay whatever they ask. Other than that I like to tip a dollar at the drive-thru Jimboy’s Tacos. You need to eat a Jimboy’s Taco, senor. They stayed open right through the pandemic.
Restaurants and many other businesses were hurt very badly by the draconian shutdowns by the Biden regime. I have always been a good tipper unless I had very poor, and/or unfriendly service. Post covid, I will tip generously at the restaurants and other service oriented businesses, especially those that are my favorites. Reason being, I want to make sure that the employees are happy and will take good care of me, plus I want my favorite places to stay in business. My wife and I also like to give Christmas gifts to our mail carrier, gardener, and others we hire who come regularly to our home.
I’ll tip for good food, good service but I will not tip everyone that has a hand out just because they think they deserve it. There were many other trades in my lifetime that made 30% to 70% maybe over 100% more a day than I did but I was expected to tip. In today’s world people expect help in their lives either materially or monetarily, they have lost the ability to better themselves with learning and hard work and occasionally doing without for the time being.
These AMAC polls are becoming a joke. The new format stinks! We want to discuss real issues that are impacting our nation and our daily lives.
I invite you to follow me on SubStack dot com (AMAC won’t let us include actual links). I’m currently writing a series of articles titled, “Is America on Life-Support?”
There you can comment on pertinent issues and share to those who have yet been exposed to truth. So far I have parts 1-3 and am just about to submit part four.
I encourage you to read and subscribe (free) to get these updates about the crisis in our nation. It beats commenting on if you tip or not.
Just go to Substack and type in my name. I’ve written this comment three times today on AMAC’s poll…and they will not allow anything resembling a “link”…..shameful.
I think tipping is OK . In restaurants that i go to frequently , it helps . The waiters are a little more attentive . I tip my garbage men . They’re great , My garbage men take everything i put out . My michanic does a good and quick job . I think tipping encourages more effort . And , pole dancers are also responsive to tips .
I don’t think that waiters need huge tips; They must be making plenty of money. Estimating conservatively, if:
* the average table has only 3 customers
* the average cost of a meal per customer is $12
* the average number of tables served in an hour is 10
* the average tip is 15%
* the average base pay rate is $3/hour
then calculating (((3 * 12 * 10) * .15) + 3) equals … wait for it … $57 per hour! That’s equivalent to a salary of roughly $115,000/year, way more than most of the country makes. At a higher-priced, more-popular restaurant, a good waiter could make much more than this. Perhaps twice as much.
So I’m not buying into the claim that waiters are oh, so woefully underpaid and therefore need huge tips. It would appear that many waiters make more than I do as a software engineer with decades of experience.
Also, it has never made sense to me that tips should be a percentage of the cost of the meal. Why should a waiter who works in a restaurant where the prices are twice as high get paid twice as much for doing the very same thing?
You are correct my son worked at a high end restaurant for two years before it closed down and made any where from three to four hundred dollars a night in tips far more than i ever made. And remember 99% of these people do not report this income.
Does anyone remember To Insure Proper Service as to what TIPS stands for? With that in mind, I tip those who provide me a service. I have a regular server at a local truck who when I sit down, my coffee and creamer comes automatically from here and she stays on top of my meal needs. She gets a minimum 25%. She embodies what service should be. And bonus! She has manners! Now there is something severely lacking from servers and other counter personnel!
Surprising! I’m making more than $75k by just doing the very easy and simple online job from home. Last month my friend received $94280 from this work by just giving only a few hrs a day. Everybody can start earning money online. visit for more details…
I don’t know what an “average” tip is these days, but I tend to tip a bit generously. I want service employees to make a decent living for a selfish reason: good servers mean good service when I return. My tips are almost never below 20 percent, and often between 25 and 30 percent — somtimes higher if the server goes out of his/her way to accommodate my guests and me.
This comment is so far down the line no one will see it, but here goes anyway. Tipping is the wrong term for this situation. TIP is an acronym for “To Insure Promptness,” given to a maître D upon arrival to get a dinner seat quickly. The item in question in this piece is a gratuity.
It is so stupid I have to scroll down thru a hundred comments just to comment.
Anyways, a tip is supposed to be based on whether you received good service or not. I usually tip pretty good even if the service is so, so. Maybe they are having a bad day and serving the public is ruff stuff. On the other hand, I’m not going to tip people for doing nothing. I’ve been at some places to pick up food and when you slide your card it asks for a tip. For what? Cooking the food? That’s what I paid for! Nobody served it to me! I work at a grocery store, am I supposed to expect a tip for stocking the shelves? We weren’t allowed to take tips from people when we used to help them out to their car with their groceries. It has gotten out of hand!
This is the first AMAC survey where none of the choices comes even close to my views. For most of my 8+ decades the norm in the U.S. at 15%, has also been the highest on the continent (the norm in Canada and Mexico are 10%). 15% has been my starting point for gratuities. This is for good service. Extra efforts should be rewarded while indifferent service should not. If I request and get something extra, then I tip bigger; if I cannot get a coffee refill, the tip goes down. I paid a good way through college with jobs that usually include tips, as did my wife and 2 of my offspring. I believe the current wage-earner problems are the result of political meddling and should not result in my changing my tip habits. I also believe that tips should be in cash and to the server. Putting tips on the credit card encourages employers to share tips where it no longer bears any relation to service. The practiceof employers collecting and distributing tips was also fostered and even forced upon businesses by the IRS beginning in the 1990’s in their zeal to tax more tips.
While I am on the soapbox, let me express my view of what I find a detestable practice. Some restaurants have adopted the practice of using their casth register programs to compute tips for tippers who cannot do elementary school problems. Many of theses programs start the tip rate at 18%, ignoring history with the idea that times are tough. Inflation caused by excessive government spending and Federal Reserve meddling has already caused prices to increase; the suggested tips are already higher without increasing the rate. Secon is the practice of some programs of including tax in the total upon which the tip is computed. What did my server do to earn a larger tip because she happened to work in a jurisdiction with a higher tax rate? Why should a server be penalized by working in a location with a lower tax rate?
What’s code 500?
Internal Server Error. That means the website your trying to connect to has a issue and can’t provide a more specific error code. It is a generalization code.
This website does not suffer from something as “simple” as a generalization code. It has problems that happen almost every week. It occurs often enough that I do not bother to participate in the AMAC polls anymore. It tells me that I have already voted or responded to a comment when I try to comment.
It has been in need of a serious overhaul for a long time.
I’ve had the same problem. I’ve complained and complained and they never bother to fix it. I guess for $16 per year they can’t afford any IT people.
Forgot, what helped me this time was to go to the top and log in, then close the window and reopen the email. This took me to the poll and it showed I already answered the question, but it allowed me to comment.
Agreed. This site now has a mind of its own.
Status code 500 means an internal server error. Given the generally poor response times that this site has experienced over the last few months, I would say the server has finally reached the point where this server is badly over-taxed in terms of trying to handle the incoming requests from the members to handle the amount of traffic. Yet another symptom of AMAC not bothering to devote IT resources to keeping up their customer facing computer infrastructure.
Regarding tipping, here’s a better poll question: Who do you think will tip over next:
1) Joe Biden;
2) Mitch McConnell;
3) Diane Feinstein;
4) Charles Grassley.
Hopefully they are playing London Bridges and they all fall down together never to rise from the ashes.
I think it’s a toss up. You forgot Fetterveg.
So we can’t upvote anyone any more? Upvoting you, George!
I DO NOT LIKE THIS NEW FORMAT AT ALL!!!
AMAC doesn’t care. Doesn’t have to……
He’s out in public and more visible to everyone.
Leave Grassley alone … he’s an asset, performs fine, and he makes a difference. But you can add Rep. J. Nadler to your list.
Jobba the Congressman!
agree
Remove Grassley, add Mitch McConnell.
Mitch needs to HET GONE!! Trader
My sentiments exactly, Tom.
Agree!
ABSOLUTELY!! There’s not enough room or time to list all of them that need to GO due to age, corruption, or their communistic actions!
That’s true about Grassley, but they forgot about the ultimate Marxist Bernie Sanders
All of the above….and never forget the frantic Hank Johnson, who feared that positioning too many troops at Guam would force IT TO FALL OVER !!!!!!!
The greatest display of extreme ignorance by a congressman, only eclipsed by the idiots that keep voting for him.
The Democrat party must think they’re doing a public service by giving a home to people like Hank Johnson, Pelosi, Bidin, Fetterman….
Thats understandable as Guam just rests on three coral pinnacles.
This man is ignorant! Who voted for such worthlessness.
Really, how can such a dumb person be in such an important position? I mean, did this fool Johnson even graduate from school? Not that that really means anything, I know people that didn’t finish grammar school smarter than him.
Guam
Grassley is the only one of sound mind or body!
At age 89, I believe he is the oldest!
It’s the person not the age. Each individual ages differently. E.G., Art Laffer, a prominent economist, is 82. take a minute and listen to his poised dialogue, articulation.
No, it’s the age as well, and there should be age limits. These jobs are not the Walmart greeter, they are the captains steering the ship of state and effecting the well-being of the whole world. Health declines with age…let’s be real. Biden, Pelosi, McConnell dispel the idea that with age comes wisdom…that “ain’t necessarily so.” Cognitive tests are useless with their doctors willing to lie. A good cutoff is that you can’t be more than 75 at the end of your term. But Congress will never vote itself term limits, age limits, or turn down a raise. We need a Convention of States to set boundaries.
Thank you, TomB!
I believe Diane at 90 is the oldest. We need age limits and cognitive tests.
I know we age differently, when you start falling, or can’t speak, It’s time to retire, we need some fresh blood in our White House.
Or at least a cognizant or sanity test for congress, senate, president, VP no mater the age. Sure harris would fail such a test.
Absolutely Joe Biden… he has totally lost it!
Biden. McConnell and Feinstein are in wheelchairs. Grassley? I think at the moment, he will fare better than Biden.
They will all fall together. The domino effect
Age can have the benefit of experience. If you have a corrupt heart you will not be of value to anyone but yourself. With that said it speaks volumes for mandatory term limits
Dan, you made my day! I nearly spit out my coffee laughing so hard, thank you.
5) All of the Above
Great post and with the number of aged folks shuffling through the Capital Halls proves that we need not only term limits but also an age cut off mark where they can no longer run for office. These people cannot talk or get around properly and they have the say on our country’s security and wellbeing and they have the authority to take us to war and worse yet a nuclear war. Cut off age needs to be eighty but from seventy on the need to go through mandatory Neurological testing each year and when they start acting like those you listed, they need to be removed. Trump was indeed right when he said the swap needs to be drained and it’s in Both Parties.
should check neurological tests no mater the age, look at VP harris for example, can’t even read a teleprompter correctly.
Ha ha! Good one ????????
They have mandatory retirement age for certain professions why not congress?
It is called term limits vote them out NO to mandatory retirement Support Convention of States
Yes , Convention of States, Amen!
You forgot the new PA Senator Fetterman. He is unstable on his feet as well at times.
Well, Mitch is no ally of ours…we know he’s a TRAITOR!! Should have been voted out many years ago, so I ask, what’s wrong with you good people of KY?
Joe and Diane are snakes, and you know they’re snakes when you pick them up…..
HEY AMAC! CHANGE THIS FORMAT, OR IS THIS PERMANENT?
Love this alternative response!! More relatively important if you ask me! 🙂
1, 2, and 3 have already tipped over.
Love it Dan! Amac needs you for poll ideas…all of them need to go!
When biden goes, I hope he takes Harris with him.
Its the domino effect as all four of them all intertwined.
????Good one! IMHO, it’s a tie between 1 & 3.
Texas has a special drivers license procedure for those over 80 years old. This is to see if one is competent to drive, including eyesight. Why doesn’t Congress have something like this? By the way Cannon Law in the Catholic Church sets a mandatory retirement for bishops at 75 (although the Pope doesn’t have to accept the retirement but a letter does have to be submitted) and Cardinals have limits after 80 years of age.
That is a very REAL question. Right now, it’s a toss up between Biden and McConnell.
Now that’s a tough poll to answer. Maybe the Las Vegas betting would want to get in with odds.
What was Pennsylvania thinking? Fetterman is not only incoherent, he is unprofessional. If I showed up at work in a hoodie and shorts my bosses would send me home. Years ago Paul Ryan told a few congressmen not to wear jeans with a sport jacket in the Capitol.
I know the drive by media gave Fetterman a “pass” and after the debate several early voters (I heard) wanted to change their vote but weren’t able to do so.
On another note I heard the last few years Strom Thurmond was in Congress an aide would tell him how to vote. Don’t know why he was warming a chair.
????????????????thanks, I needed that
Love it! Who cares about tipping. I am more worried about losing America.
5. All of the above
LOL, you win!!. Thanks, I needed that!!!
Grassley is 91 going on 61. I wouldn’t include him on that list. He’s in better shape mentally and physically than a lot of 65 year old folks I know.
However, you can add Fetterman to your list. While we should feel sorry about his health he certainly should not be serving in the Senate.
Hahahaha. Hopefully, 1, 2, and 3 simultaneously and SOON.
Within the next 6 months all 4 will be dead.
5) All of the above
Thx for the laughs! And to answer your poll I think you need “E” All of the above ????
What? No all of the above? Add in Nancy Pelosi while you’re at it. I vote all the above, as they are all barely able to recognize where they are at any given moment.
The first three can go out separately or together don’t matter to me, I just hope Charles Grassley hangs around a lot longer. In my opinion he is a REAL PATRIOT the first three NOT SO MUCH!
Don’t forget FETTERMAN!
???? now that is clever Dan.
The first three need to quickly and quietly retire. No shame in it, at all.
You gave me a giggle but this sad excuse of a site exchanged it for question marks.
AMAC, please make a better website before you give another utterly useless poll.
More than likely a tie between 1 & 3 with a close 2nd between 2 & 4 but I’m keeping all my wagers in my pocket for we could have a 4 way tie for 1st place. Should be against the law to be that danged old in our Congress. 320+ years old for this 4 people? Wowzzzzzz!
A sixth selection should have been: “We haven’t gone out since the China Experiment that was to let government know who’s sheep and who’s going to give us trouble”
Tipping…it’s for outhouses…
Ha! You ain’t tried cow tipping!
And for cows.
I do a minimum of 20% in sit down restaurants, even when the service is mediocre, figure anyone can have a bad day! I know, what a pushover, but not for the jab, surprised vax doctors didn’t have tip jars since the jab was free!
I tip at least 20% but I do gauge according to the service we receive. When we’ve been pretty much ignored because we don’t order drinks and there’s few other customers I may give less. If server has been attentive and/or engaging I add extra as if we did have drinks. I believe also we should care for each other. The lowliest to the highest are due equal respect and we should love as we are loved.
I agree with you Barb. We tend to be generous tippers, but only if the person serving us gives us good service. I like to tip the kids in places like coffee shops and fast food restaurants. Many times they are so delighted to receive it and I just like to add a little sunshine to their day. I feel that I can afford to do it. As long as I can, I will.
I tip as I always have. Less for bad service, more for good service. In other places the tip is automatically added to the bill and thus, you get terrible service.
Same here, except, if the tip is automatically added to the bill, I will not go to that establishment again. I understand that sometimes someone has a bad day, but without having to “earn” the tip, there is no motivation to work better or harder to please the customer. Same problem with Socialism, if everyone gets the same pay no matter the output, the output will drop to the minimum to keep the job.
Listen, I’ve had more than one job in my day that counted on tips. With the outrageous prices out there, you don’t need to increase the percentage you tip; 15% is enough. An increase is built-in via the increased prices. Also, tipping is only appropriate for certain jobs, like food service, taxi drivers, porters, or where you deem it right for outstanding service. I’ve actually had guys Ask me for a tip for a job that usually doesn’t qualify. Ask for a tip, or say “it’s not enough” and you get Nothing!
Exactly!
Years ago if you were a bagger at the commissary on a military base you worked for tips only. I don’t know if that is still the case today.
I had a college roommate who worked at an upscale restaurant in San Antonio (it was on the riverwalk so it got its fair share of tourists) . He was a busboy and they were only paid $2.25/hr (this was when minimum wage was $3.35/hr) but they were allowed to take tips. This practice was not uncommon for servers at several upscale restaurants. Don’t know if this is common today either.
Barb, well said and I tend to agree!!
I agree. Typically 20%, but sometimes more. I live in the heart of the oil industry. It is very difficult for restaurants to keep help when workers can get paid $100K to drive a truck. Many local restaurants have entire rooms that are closed because they don’t have enough servers.
What bothers me more is the outrageous cost of food. Of course, we all know who’s responsible for that!
Don’t waste your concern on vax doctors. They were paid very well for each jab that scared people into taking.
Wouldn’t know about those quacks – never went near one.
Totaling against tipping. With the prices charged, particularly by “high end restaurants” businesses should pay their employees just like the electrician or plumber or the guy that pumps out you septic tank does. Why should restaurants only pay minimally while others pay more. Who wrote this “rule”?
Good point, but they didn’t need one as the Pharma Cartel was lining their pockets.
If you’re not in a financial position to tip your waiter, learn to cook and eat at home. If you’re not financially able to tip your food delivery driver, get up off your lazy ass and drive to a restaurant and pick it up yourself. But remember to treat others the way you’d like to be treated.
Exactly. Agree.
I’ll repeat above Totaling against tipping. With the prices charged, particularly by “high end restaurants” businesses should pay their employees just like the electrician or plumber or the guy that pumps out you septic tank does. Why should restaurants only pay minimally while others pay more. Who wrote this “rule”?
But you said “should” knowing that they don’t. So, keep your body at home and cook/ serve/ clean up yourself if you’re not going to tip your server who makes $3/hr. They should be paid more, but they’re not.
As a general rule, I determine if I am being serviced by an “order taker” or an “order manager”.” Most individuals working at a counter are processing your order are “order takers” and should to be treated with respect and courtesy. But, they are not entitled to a tip. Waiters and waitresses are “order managers” responsible for the carrying out your specific instructions and taking care of you throughout your restaurant experience. They also should to be treated with respect and courtesy and are entitled to a tip. My general rule is a minimum of 20% with an increase for extra effort to make your meal an enjoyable experience.
Totally agree I think that you should tip based on the service you received and a good waiter or waitress knows that and no matter what kind of day they have had each customer is a new face and didn’t have anything to do with how the last one acted
I live in a small town and know most of our bar and restaurant owners and servers. We know of their daily struggles to make ends meet during our peak season and off season. We are always generous when tipping because we know we are supporting families and college students.
Service workers should be paid a living wage, do away with tipping.
I agree. We have created a culture of people expecting free items from others. Where does it end? I waited tables for six years, so I am not unsympathetic to those who run their butts off to serve; however, there are tip jars everywhere and it is annoying. I think I am going to start asking workers why they feel like they deserve a tip in some places.
Perhaps they should unionize also? They could call it the “union of welfare consortium”.
Oh, wait…we already have the democrat party…they could just join that.
They wouldn’t have to work at all….EBT cards for everyone.
I agree. It’s time to do away with tipping. Other countries, such as Australia, do it because they value their employees. Tipping is another form of “spreading the wealth” that has been touted by our “Democratic” government. Spreading the wealth is a Marxist idea that has permeated our society to the point that instead of being an appreciation for good service to an expectation no matter what (entitlement!).
Tipping began as a way to let your server know how well she/he was doing his/her job. It was never meant to be mandated by the restaurant/hotel or whatever. They get paid a wage. Tipping is a courtesy, not a requirement
Most of my life finances were tight and I tipped the standard amounts at sit down restaurants only. At my present point in life finances are not a concern and I tip generously for two reasons: first , the folks doing these jobs can use the extra and second, since so much unearned money is out there getting people to work is hard. I want to reward and encourage those who came to work. Still, I only tip my barber and at sit down restaurants and lesser amounts for take out only at restaurants where I frequently also do sit down.
Why should a worker’s wage be dependent upon a customer’s generosity? Let the employer pay a fair wage and entergrate it in the price of the product as any other business expense. A tip used to be for exceptional service, gong above expected. Gratuitous = free. It puts too much pressure on the customer. Is he a generous person or a cheapscate? I just ant to buy the product, not be judged. The services where tipping is expected is expanding.
Sit down restaurants only. Average is 10% for breakfast, 15% for lunch and dinner. If they do good then more, worse then less. During the Wuhu Flu if the servers didn’t wear freedom muzzles then I add a double tip. I write it on the receipt what it was for
I don’t get the part about 10% for breakfast. That’s typically the cheaper meal and the server works just as hard…when I have breakfast and my total is low, I add aditional to help out the person. My mom was a waitress for 50 years and I know how tough it can be to serve jerks that act like you are scum.
Tipping was originally done to reward good service. It’s now become expected… regardless of the quality of service or if ANY service was provided. With the government mandating hiring minimum wages and businesses paying even higher wages in order to find employees the need for tipping should be reduced not increased. Employers need to pay the wages necessary to find and retain people… and price their products accordingly. Let us then return to tipping those employees who deserve them.
With the new mimimum wage protocols that are great for youth how do we keep mature citizens afloat with their “entitlements” that we paid in for years?c
Social security of $1100 a month based on 40 hour week is equal to ess than $7.00 per hour
Of course as a senior who do not have expenditures like food,gas, meds,etc. there is o longer for them a need for a quality life
If you are over 65 and need money for food or medications et off your butt and get a job.
What do you mean you had a stroke?
Well then your life is almost over so deal with it
Tipping allows me to acknowledge the exceptional server with at least 20% average to poor service results in 15% or less. When servers get to earn a wage such as in European countries tipping can be eliminated
When I tip, I make sure the recipient knows it’s a GIFT and not subject to taxes.
I do not eat out if I am unable to tip with exceeding generosity!
Who ever thought that jobs at fast food joints were meant to be lifetime careers? C,mon people, get some initiative and aspirations to better yourself.
Here’s a Tip: Don’t smoke in bed!
especially if you are using oxygen
If I see a tip jar set out for tips, I evaluate what if any service the worker is doing for me. If there’s no personal service, there’s no tip. But if they are actively working for me personally, I will tip between 20-25 % based on their work accuracy, friendliness and personality.
Having been an employer the price of the product can exceed what people will pay. The workers always get little or nothing from many customers. They leave and you get lower or inexperienced people. Then you tip even less. Soon the business is closed. Big business will eventually wipe out the good small business because you don’t tip.
Tips are not guaranteed, good service gets a good tip. And putting a pizza in a box that I go pickup is your job. You get paid minimum wage to do that. Want more? Work at a work at getting a career while you make minimum wage. Many people work in minimum wage jobs don’t get tips, like a grocery store. I don’t tip everywhere that has tip jar.
I tip well at restaurants where I am served or when food is delivered by the actual restaurant (I don’t use delivery services). I refuse to tip anyone else for merely doing their job. I think it is insulting (toward other restaurant wait staff) for a $10+ hr barista, etc., to have a tip jar out.
The tip jars for normal work did not start with the plandemic. I saw plenty before that. It started with the I-deserve-what-I-didn’t-earn millennials who were raised to expect a trophy for showing up.
I give some little token to my regular deliverymen such as the postman and UPS driver, and when someone has gone above and beyond their normal job requirements, but other than that I tip mostly to waiting staff at eat-in restaurants from 10-20% depending on nature and quality of service. I do think that many folks have become entitled to getting a tip just for doing the job they were hired to do. With prices as high as they are, it is the employer’s duty to pay their workers a fair wage. If the employee doesn’t think that they are being paid a fair wage for their skills, they should negotiate with the employer, and that doesn’t work, take their skills elsewhere. If their skill set does command the wages an employee needs, it’s on them to acquire more marketable skills. It’s not the customer’s responsibility to pick up the wage slack due to employer greed, or low-skill wages…
This is actually a complex question. Most restaurants are small businesses with one or two locations. I know several owners and the margins are very small. If everyone were willing to pay, say, 40% more for all menu items, then a decent wage could be paid and still actually make a profit. The “handout generation” complicates things even further, not equating the ability to work with actually working. I’m not sure how the unemployment rate is so low because I see “HIRING” signs hundreds of times (no exaggeration) a day.
I don’t tip above my tax bracket rate.
If tipping went away then restaurants would cost a lot more and the result of no incentive is to make all service just ok at best.
Beware of double indexing. A tip is calculated as a percentage of the bill, so when inflation goes up so does the bill and therefore the tip — it’s self adjusting. Now when I was (much) younger, the rule of thumb I was taught was to tip 10%. But at some point the expectation became 15%. That’s double indexing — not only has inflation increased the tip but the increased tip % has as well. Now the expectation is becoming 20-25%. That sort of math cannot continue forever — eventually the tip expectation will exceed the cost of the service. So, as consumers, we need to put our foot down and draw the line “this far and no further!” I’m all for appreciating good service and recognizing that many service workers are paid sub-minimum wage, but there has be limits!
Dittos to Concenerd Texan. And, I might a little economics lesson…
Inflation is directly tied to one thing: minimum wage increases. All businesses at some level (directly or indirectly) rely on minimum wage workers. However, minimum wage jobs were NEVER intended to be a primary job, and therefore minimum wage was never supposed to be a “living wage”. Increasing the minimum wage increases the cost of ALL goods and services, therefore, nobody benefits from minimum wage increases–including minimum wage workers!
Let me make a slight crrection to that statement: politicians who advocate for minimum increases are the only beneficiaries. The workers on the other hand are getting screwed, and end up asking for bigger tips to survive.
I was wondering if others had come to this conclusion. I agree that the tip should remain 15% for good service as the food bill increases. Subsequently, the server will receive an increased amount also. Why double dipping by increasing the tip to 20%? (Except in the case of superior service)
My pet peeve is today’s restaurants with the option to tip before gettnng food while prepaying . EVERY time I’ve done my usua l20% I get zero service, so that bit of “advance generosity” is over. My tips will be on the table from now on. Even that, however, can fail in a dem city like my own. Left a tip for a really nice young server and the restaurant manager picked it up. I would have asked for it back until my wife stopped me. All to say tips are appropriate due to food service low wages, but they should be earned. My wife and I now go to a restaurant where servers always get generous tips since the service is always prompt, pleasant and well-done. Sadly, such places are a dying species in today’s rude world.
My father used to hand the tip in cash to the server to make sure she/he got it and right then.
When I tip I tip for good service. NOT just to tip.
Even most fast food places not make 15 dollars or better, more then I do.
The tip was originally for the waitresses, server, or bartenders that made $2.50 an hour. So they worked for tips.
I work in sales, I’m on the sales floor 10 hrs. A day. I make $5.80 an hour, plus commission (thats my tip) is I sell i make money.
You have to work pand give good service to get a TIP.
We usually tip according to the service we receive. 20 % sit down meals, poor service maybe 15%. Certain take out with friendly servers 5/15 %
Just to be clear, most may know, but some may not. Workers at most fast food restaurants are paid full wages, with most, depending on location and worker availability, paying $15+ per hour. Servers at most sit down, service at the table restaurants are paid only $2-$3 per hour so that social security can be withheld. Their only real pay comes from the tips. I don’t like it, but that’s our current culture. At fast food restaurants I rarely pay a tip, unless I see a kid/individual, friendly, working hard, not asking for a handout but I feel could use a hand up. At service at the table restaurants, I tend to be generous, especially if they’re doing a good to great job, because it’s how they feed themselves and family, or pay for other necessities of life. I figure I can be a bright spot in their hard day.
It’s obvious that tipping is an uncomfortable topic, evidenced by the way the comment quickly turned to politics, totally off the subject. My wife and I have determined to live generously by giving freely as the Lord leads us. We are both retired, on fixed income, not wealthy, but have never lacked anything we wanted. “One man gives freely yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty.” Proverbs 11:24
Chet, my wife and I are of the same mind ya’ll are. We agree with you totally!!!
Amen
Tipping started going up well before the plandemic. Since the minimum wage went up to $15+ in WA state, I don’t feel a 20% tip is necessary. And food prices have gone up as well since covid, so it’s expensive to eat out. I do it only once a month, generally tip 15%. But I do resent the tip jars in so many places where there is no real “service”. I seldom use them.
TIPPING SHOULD BE ELIMINATED WHERE ALL EMPLOYEES ARE GETTING THE MINIMUM WAGE OR BETTER. TIPPING was used as a major source of income for wait staff & cooks. I find it offensive that computerized kiosks are asking for tips. WTF? you are waiting on yourself.
I tip well unless the service is absolutely horrible. I travelled quite a bit overseas when working for an international company. I found it amazing. that when you tip in countries where no tip is required how much better service you receive when you return to that establishment. Try it you will enjoy the outcome.
It’s way out of control. I was buying something online the other day and there was a section to add a tip.
No way would I do that!
For some unknown reason, Point-of-Sale software developers started hard-coded tipping into each transaction. It can’t be turned off or disabled. I know because I use POS and I’ve complained about it repeatedly.
Unless the service is terrible, I generally tip 20%, sometimes higher. Mostly at sit down restaurants. I’m I always friendly and courteous to the server. I’m sure they see more than enough jerks like my ex son in law who find something wrong every time and make an uproar to get out of paying.
My middle daughter was a waitress when she was young and I know what she went through.
A polite and friendly customer with a decent tip can make their day better. They have their own problems and circumstances and work hard.
Thank God I don’t have to work for the public.
Agreed.
AMAC what have you done? The font size to write this post is tiny. Most of us on this site don’t see so well!!!
Tipping should not be based on how much the meal costs!!! Tipping should be given for good service no matter how much the meal costs.
If the waiter or waitress serves a few diners. the tip should be according to what he or she has to do to earn a good tip!!!
If one gets bad service. 2 cents is a good tip…for sure.
1) Sure don’t like the new format. Looks like someone had to justify their existence, otherwise why change what was already working.
2) Topic got hi-jacked … although I agree with a lot of the comments!
3) Re: tipping. My daughter is in the restaurant business and has been for 20 years. She’s excellent at her job as a server as well as bartender. I have seen and heard of the many issues she deals with. Because of my direct exposure to her job and what it entails, I ‘over-tip’ whenever I eat out as long as the service is decent. The biggest problem in the restaurant business is that states allow a much lower minimum wage to be paid to ‘tipped’ workers. A few states actually pay the same minimum wage as non-tipped workers. Tipping would be less of an ‘issue’ if the employees could depend on a better minimum wage to start with. Better believe that restaurants take advantage of the pay disparity.
Re: tipping at other places (not restaurants) … I don’t believe in it. You sign up to stand behind a counter and provide a service which frequently takes no time at all. Now you want a tip? My tip is to get another job!
I work as a massage therapist, and I do keep my fees as affordable as possible- cause many of my patients are OLD people on fixed income. I treat each and every one of them with care, and do my best to help. Tips are appreciated but not expected. And remember, massage supplies prices went up, I pay more for electricity usage (laundry and dryer), rent is up. My Old people tip. They understand what I have to deal with and they know what hard work is. Younger (50 and below) tend to be more snotty and entitled and disrespectful and NOT tipping. Again, I treat everybody the same- no difference in quality. Please remember- your hairdresser, nail technician, massage therapist- they all went to school, they all do their best to make you feel and look your best- tips are appreciated.
Is this nonsense all you at AMAC can find to occupy yourselves with, given the panorama of real issues facing us today? What relevance has this specifically to seniors? I’ve reached the tipping point and will hit the “unsubscribe” button at the bottom of the page when this is sent. It is unlikely I will renew when my membership lapses, as I believe AMAC is floundering and looking for ways to remain interesting and relevant, and not doing too good a job of it. That’s too bad, because the idea of a seniors organization that actually represents our interests is an appealing one.
As to the tipping issue, I short circuit the issue by not patronizing establishments where tipping is expected. I don’t feel sorry for the workers who agree of their own volition to work under a ridiculous pay scheme. If they don’t like it, quit and find a real job. Given the plethora of “help wanted” signs I see out there, finding a job should not be an issue. So why, then, do people continue to work in “tip” jobs? I suspect a leading reason is because they are making more money than they let on, and all of the whining is just to keep up the image of poor overworked and underpaid wage slaves.
Since we don’t eat out very much, this isn’t really an issue for us. We never go to coffee shops or ice cream stores either. When we do eat out, we are very generous with our tips.
I used to look forward to the weekly poll and enjoyed commenting on the various questions. However, AMAC has updated the site to a level of incompetence unseen at any other site on the internet. Font too small, entering repeat personal data for any reply, no ability to check for “likes,” and the format forces you to the bottom of the site page for commenting. Hey, AMAC, please talk with your IT department and ask them to reverse the blasted upgrades. Thank you.
Colleen, I agree with everything that you said.
The structure/format for “Comments” and “Replies” to the weekly poll question is awkward. Once a particular comment has drawn a number of replies, it’s hard to tell where the replies to that comment end and a new comment begins.
AGREED!
Historically, TIP meant To Insure Promptness. TIPS are To Insure Prompt Service.
F..k COVID and the politicians it rode in on
I tip above average, and when one is requested, I say, “Plant your corn early next year.”
I am “old school” and tip where the person getting it earned it. Restaurant wait staff being the first to come to mind. If I don’t have to stand at the entry when there are numerous tables vacant, and they are friendly in our interactions of drink order and appetizer to begin, and they check back in a timely manner for the order, the occasional check that everything is alright, and bring the check not too long after I am done, then I usually tip 30% or so. Each item neglected lowers the tip, and I have been known on a couple occasions to leave a single face down penny. As for counter sales, such as fast food, or a single drink at a bar, I do not tip. The concept of tipping is to show appreciation for doing a job better than average. A baggage handler will get a better tip if I have heavy bags than light, and less if they use a cart for bags I could have carried myself in one trip. If I know a place has people who “work for tips” I take that as these are people who choose not to panhandle or go for welfare, but can not find a steady job, yet want to earn their money. I tip them well also.
Another commentary page where there is no where for me to make a comment except to reply to someone else. This is frustrating, why even bother reading the pages anymore.
You have to scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page now first to start your own “original” comment. Not sure who designed this new comments board. I’m particularly disturbed they got rid of the upvote/downvote system. I don’t like having to RESPOND to each comment I agree or disagree with just to show my appreciation for someone else’s wisdom.
I seen something disturbing at a restaurant, the people at a table next to us left a tip for their waitress. Two juvenile delinquents picked up the tip walking by the table and ran out the side door. Since seeing that I started to ask the waitress (or waiter) for a refresher on my coffee (or drink) and handed the tip directly to the person. Just want to make sure they get the tip.
As for the juvenile delinquents, they were caught two days later doing the same thing at a different restaurant, Others (and me) informed the local police department of the theft, and with a photo from the security camera were able to catch them. Benefits of a small town.
Great job, Mike!
Tipping has gotten way out of control. Not only servers are expecting tips but the employers are expecting customers to help pay their employees. TIPS are for service. Exceptional service gets an above average tip. Average service get an average tip. Poor service gets a couple of pennies. Don’t like the pennies, provide better service.
Tip for Good service, sit down dining & for delievery services
If you rely on tips to make a living get a better job God knows there are plenty out there.
I usually tip 20% at restaurants, can’t recall when I’ve had bad service. I’ll also toss at least a $1 in the tip jar at my favorite bakery or favorite fast food restaurant cuz I appreciate them. When I’m out of town and my cat sitter charges per visit, I’ll tip her the equivalent of one extra visit. Heck, even when the AC/fireplace/furnace/plumber/etc. workman has completed a task, I’ll give them $10 and tell them to go buy an ice cream cone. I like to see their faces light up a little bit and they’ll remember me next time I might need to call them out for service.
Here is a tip for the AMAC I.T. Dept:
Puh-leeze fix this cotton pickin’ format on these polls and stop ignoring us.
You have been asked numerous times that this “new improved” format bites the big green zucchini.
CAPICHE?
^ ^ ^ That’s 3 upvotes.
If the service is great, I tip well. If the service sucks, I don’t tip at all. If the server is rude, I leave a penny. I will also tip DoorDash, or UberEats drivers because they don’t make much. They have to pay for Biden’s high fuel prices and the wear and tear on their cars. I will NOT tip the counter help at a fast food restaurant since they’re now making $12.00 to $18.00 per hour for punching some keys on a register and handing you a bag of overpriced “food.”
Do we tip people in department stores who bring us shoes to try and fit? Do we tip people who help us pick a cellphone and its subscription service? Why are we tipping people who serve us food? A server’s work is one of the easiest and least laborious in the service industry, so why are we tipping them? This has resulted in a culture of self-entitled people who think they should be paid for every step they make to bring you your food. I am a generous person, but I do not agree with tipping in principle. I think it corrupts people, and unnecessarily raises the cost of goods and services. Some countries forbid tipping, and we should follow suit.
I mostly disagree with your post. Most servers work for minimum wage and can only survive on their tips. Their job is not as easy as you describe. Servers are on their feet serving customers for long periods of time. If you are as generous as you say, you should reward servers for waiting on you. Certainly, you have the right to tip as you feel the value of the service you were given.
Tipping is out of control. With inflationary prices at restaurants, ice cream places, coffeeshops where you do most of the work you end up with an expense that not many people can pay. Either you will get all selve serve places or no places at all.
By the way, whatever happened to Everett Dirksen?
Fred, the old soldier (he fought in WWI) faded away in 1969. He was arguably the best Senator ever produced from the State of Illinois. I still have one of the 45s that he released when I was in high school back in the late 1960s.
What about Uncle Fester from Pennsylvania? Add it to the list……
On rare occasions when I go to lunch with the crew from the office, we just pay whatever they ask. Other than that I like to tip a dollar at the drive-thru Jimboy’s Tacos. You need to eat a Jimboy’s Taco, senor. They stayed open right through the pandemic.
Restaurants and many other businesses were hurt very badly by the draconian shutdowns by the Biden regime. I have always been a good tipper unless I had very poor, and/or unfriendly service. Post covid, I will tip generously at the restaurants and other service oriented businesses, especially those that are my favorites. Reason being, I want to make sure that the employees are happy and will take good care of me, plus I want my favorite places to stay in business. My wife and I also like to give Christmas gifts to our mail carrier, gardener, and others we hire who come regularly to our home.
I’ll tip for good food, good service but I will not tip everyone that has a hand out just because they think they deserve it. There were many other trades in my lifetime that made 30% to 70% maybe over 100% more a day than I did but I was expected to tip. In today’s world people expect help in their lives either materially or monetarily, they have lost the ability to better themselves with learning and hard work and occasionally doing without for the time being.
These AMAC polls are becoming a joke. The new format stinks! We want to discuss real issues that are impacting our nation and our daily lives.
I invite you to follow me on SubStack dot com (AMAC won’t let us include actual links). I’m currently writing a series of articles titled, “Is America on Life-Support?”
There you can comment on pertinent issues and share to those who have yet been exposed to truth. So far I have parts 1-3 and am just about to submit part four.
I encourage you to read and subscribe (free) to get these updates about the crisis in our nation. It beats commenting on if you tip or not.
Just go to Substack and type in my name. I’ve written this comment three times today on AMAC’s poll…and they will not allow anything resembling a “link”…..shameful.
I think tipping is OK . In restaurants that i go to frequently , it helps . The waiters are a little more attentive . I tip my garbage men . They’re great , My garbage men take everything i put out . My michanic does a good and quick job . I think tipping encourages more effort . And , pole dancers are also responsive to tips .
I don’t think that waiters need huge tips; They must be making plenty of money. Estimating conservatively, if:
* the average table has only 3 customers
* the average cost of a meal per customer is $12
* the average number of tables served in an hour is 10
* the average tip is 15%
* the average base pay rate is $3/hour
then calculating (((3 * 12 * 10) * .15) + 3) equals … wait for it … $57 per hour! That’s equivalent to a salary of roughly $115,000/year, way more than most of the country makes. At a higher-priced, more-popular restaurant, a good waiter could make much more than this. Perhaps twice as much.
So I’m not buying into the claim that waiters are oh, so woefully underpaid and therefore need huge tips. It would appear that many waiters make more than I do as a software engineer with decades of experience.
Also, it has never made sense to me that tips should be a percentage of the cost of the meal. Why should a waiter who works in a restaurant where the prices are twice as high get paid twice as much for doing the very same thing?
Most wait staff I know (including my 40 year old married daughter who works at Outback) make nowhere near that. Those numbers are not realistic.
You are correct my son worked at a high end restaurant for two years before it closed down and made any where from three to four hundred dollars a night in tips far more than i ever made. And remember 99% of these people do not report this income.
Does anyone remember To Insure Proper Service as to what TIPS stands for? With that in mind, I tip those who provide me a service. I have a regular server at a local truck who when I sit down, my coffee and creamer comes automatically from here and she stays on top of my meal needs. She gets a minimum 25%. She embodies what service should be. And bonus! She has manners! Now there is something severely lacking from servers and other counter personnel!
Surprising! I’m making more than $75k by just doing the very easy and simple online job from home. Last month my friend received $94280 from this work by just giving only a few hrs a day. Everybody can start earning money online. visit for more details…
See………. Www.Smartwork1.com
Jose can you see,
By the spam’s early light……..
Moderators: SPAM ALERT
I don’t know what an “average” tip is these days, but I tend to tip a bit generously. I want service employees to make a decent living for a selfish reason: good servers mean good service when I return. My tips are almost never below 20 percent, and often between 25 and 30 percent — somtimes higher if the server goes out of his/her way to accommodate my guests and me.
stopped all outside food eateries, their upset and i like CLEAN kitchens. BIDEN has stepped on the GREAT U.S.A.
This comment is so far down the line no one will see it, but here goes anyway. Tipping is the wrong term for this situation. TIP is an acronym for “To Insure Promptness,” given to a maître D upon arrival to get a dinner seat quickly. The item in question in this piece is a gratuity.
It is so stupid I have to scroll down thru a hundred comments just to comment.
Anyways, a tip is supposed to be based on whether you received good service or not. I usually tip pretty good even if the service is so, so. Maybe they are having a bad day and serving the public is ruff stuff. On the other hand, I’m not going to tip people for doing nothing. I’ve been at some places to pick up food and when you slide your card it asks for a tip. For what? Cooking the food? That’s what I paid for! Nobody served it to me! I work at a grocery store, am I supposed to expect a tip for stocking the shelves? We weren’t allowed to take tips from people when we used to help them out to their car with their groceries. It has gotten out of hand!
This is the first AMAC survey where none of the choices comes even close to my views. For most of my 8+ decades the norm in the U.S. at 15%, has also been the highest on the continent (the norm in Canada and Mexico are 10%). 15% has been my starting point for gratuities. This is for good service. Extra efforts should be rewarded while indifferent service should not. If I request and get something extra, then I tip bigger; if I cannot get a coffee refill, the tip goes down. I paid a good way through college with jobs that usually include tips, as did my wife and 2 of my offspring. I believe the current wage-earner problems are the result of political meddling and should not result in my changing my tip habits. I also believe that tips should be in cash and to the server. Putting tips on the credit card encourages employers to share tips where it no longer bears any relation to service. The practiceof employers collecting and distributing tips was also fostered and even forced upon businesses by the IRS beginning in the 1990’s in their zeal to tax more tips.
While I am on the soapbox, let me express my view of what I find a detestable practice. Some restaurants have adopted the practice of using their casth register programs to compute tips for tippers who cannot do elementary school problems. Many of theses programs start the tip rate at 18%, ignoring history with the idea that times are tough. Inflation caused by excessive government spending and Federal Reserve meddling has already caused prices to increase; the suggested tips are already higher without increasing the rate. Secon is the practice of some programs of including tax in the total upon which the tip is computed. What did my server do to earn a larger tip because she happened to work in a jurisdiction with a higher tax rate? Why should a server be penalized by working in a location with a lower tax rate?