Fast food tipping??

[Idaho45guy]

Went to the little town of Colfax, WA yesterday to pick up my new pistol at my FFL (the only FFL in the county, now) and stopped at a fast food place called "Zips".

It's a local chain with a couple of dozen locations in the Northwest with pretty good fast food. I have been stopping by this one for probably the last 20 years on my trips to Spokane. There is another one 20 miles away in Moscow and I visit that one a couple of times a month.

The food is really not that cheap for fast food. I usually buy the two for $5 Papa Joe burger special (cheeseburger with a slice of ham added) and a large tots and no drink and the total is just over $10.

So I walk into the Colfax location and about fall down due to a super slippery tile floor. Seriously, it felt like it was coated with cooking oil and soap. I manage to make it to the counter and instead of the typical fresh-faced and bubbly teen, I am greeted by a sour-faced middle-aged woman who obviously has made a lot of bad life decisions.

And on the counter is a giant bright silver tin tip bucket.

Wait, what? This is a fast food place!

I pay for my meal with my debit card and there is a section on the receipt for a tip. I grab a pen out of the tip bucket and mark it out. I get my usual receipt with the order number on it.

When my order was ready, an employee walked the 20' to my table and handed me my tray. I guess that's why they want a tip.

I ate my meal and the fries were inedible; way, way over-salted. Done on purpose because I refused to tip?? I took my tray to the garbage and dumped it and hobbled my way out the door without saying a word.

I sent an email to their corporate office complaining about my experience and left a negative Yelp review. I've never done that before. It was just so offensive to me that a fast food place that I've been going to for decades now wants me to tip them for not calling out a number and walking 20' with my food.

Anyway, that's my geezer rant of the day...

[RichardF]

I am of the same mind. If the server comes to the table, brings me drinks, takes my order and brings the food to the table I will tip. Oh yeah, and ice cream places that mix stuff into the ice cream.

[JSnover]

I don't tip at places like that either. The wait staff is kid with a paper bag. The chef puts frozen food in, takes cooked food out, stacks the components into sandwich form.
It isn't necessarily bad, but it doesn't warrant a tip.

[popper]

Did you get tipped when you were working (steel mill, auto parts, medical)? Used to be 5%, then 10, now 20%. You are just subsidizing the workers who 'should' be getting paid for their work. No different than the farm worker that gets welfare as the employer doesn't want to pay decent wage. The TIP was a European custom by the 'upper' class to show they were wealthy (1780s).
Actually it appears to have started in pubs where the TIP was to get you good booze and rapid service. So it was really a bribe.

[dragon813gt]

I just ignore the tip jars. If they aren’t providing a service I don’t tip. And even when they do provide a service I tip accordingly. They start out at 20% and work up and down from there. Going up is extremely rare these days as I find myself tipping less because service has gotten worse.

Anytime there’s a tip line on the receipt the wife feels the need to tip something. This includes when she picks up food, that was called in, at the Italian or Chinese restaurants. I can’t make her understand they didn’t do anything to warrant a tip. Ringing up the order and handing it to me isn’t tip worthy.

I don’t need a fast food place to bring the order to my table. I will wait at the counter and pick it up. It’s more efficient for everyone this way. I have the same issue w/ a lot hotels and their breakfast service. I don’t need or want someone to bring me scrambled eggs, bacon and potatoes. Put it out so I can serve myself like most places. Same goes for orange juice and coffee. Having to wait for someone to bring it out to me isn’t efficient for anyone. And then I’m supposed to feel obligated to tip for this service that does nothing but slow me down in the morning.

[Bent Ramrod]

These are the people that demanded a “Living Wage” for going through the motions and getting the orders wrong. I read the overhead menu and when my turn comes, I ask for a Number 4, Medium, and it’s for here. They answer, “Is this for here or to go?” “What do you want?” “Small, medium or large?” “Would you like to supersize?” “Do you want a cookie (or salad or whatever) with that?” All, of course, mumbled.

I’d sooner tip a computer program, with glitches, than these strivers for a Better Life.

[Scorpion8]

I don't tip when I do all the work. Tip jars have popped up in every location I can think of, even one of our auto parts stores. But if I'm going to the self-serve soda fountain, getting my own bag of ships, and all they do is run the cash register.....whom am I supposed to tip? Myself? The guy from the distributor stocks the shelves with chips and snacks, as does the local Coca-Cola bottler in the drink coolers. Am I supposed to tip because the place is open and somewhat clean (although very often out of straws at the self-serve soda dispenser)? I thought those were things you did to get me into THIS store and not some other store.

[dragon813gt]

I wouldn’t worry to much. Tip jars will be a thing of the past at fast food chains just like people that work there. Automation WILL replace them in my lifetime. The CEOs have stayed that’s what they want and have begun investing in the R&D. Sucks that high school kids won’t have the fast food industry as a first job. But when people demand a living wage for a part time job, not a career, they’re going to be replaced by robots where the cost to run them is cheaper over the long run.

[reddog81]

I'll tip for good service even if it's at a Chipotle or Subway, but if the service is mediocre or poor they don't get anything. To me it's all relative to the work they do and the service they provide. If I pay cash often times I'll just throw the change in there. If a family of 10 comes in and orders $100 worth of food leaving a $5 tip seems reasonable. If I come in and get 1 $5 sandwhich it seems odd to have to tip, but I'll do it if the service was really good.

[am44mag]

Went to the little town of Colfax, WA yesterday to pick up my new pistol at my FFL (the only FFL in the county, now) and stopped at a fast food place called "Zips".

It's a local chain with a couple of dozen locations in the Northwest with pretty good fast food. I have been stopping by this one for probably the last 20 years on my trips to Spokane. There is another one 20 miles away in Moscow and I visit that one a couple of times a month.

The food is really not that cheap for fast food. I usually buy the two for $5 Papa Joe burger special (cheeseburger with a slice of ham added) and a large tots and no drink and the total is just over $10.

So I walk into the Colfax location and about fall down due to a super slippery tile floor. Seriously, it felt like it was coated with cooking oil and soap. I manage to make it to the counter and instead of the typical fresh-faced and bubbly teen, I am greeted by a sour-faced middle-aged woman who obviously has made a lot of bad life decisions.

And on the counter is a giant bright silver tin tip bucket.

Wait, what? This is a fast food place!

I pay for my meal with my debit card and there is a section on the receipt for a tip. I grab a pen out of the tip bucket and mark it out. I get my usual receipt with the order number on it.

When my order was ready, an employee walked the 20' to my table and handed me my tray. I guess that's why they want a tip.

I ate my meal and the fries were inedible; way, way over-salted. Done on purpose because I refused to tip?? I took my tray to the garbage and dumped it and hobbled my way out the door without saying a word.

I sent an email to their corporate office complaining about my experience and left a negative Yelp review. I've never done that before. It was just so offensive to me that a fast food place that I've been going to for decades now wants me to tip them for not calling out a number and walking 20' with my food.

Anyway, that's my geezer rant of the day...

I will tip a SMALL (less than $3) amount at Sonic since they actually come out to your car to give you your food, and are usually pretty good about making sure you don't need any condiments or anything else while you sit there. That's as far as I go for fast food though. If they aren't constantly refilling my drink, checking to see how we like the food, and doing everything else you typically expect at a sit down restaurant, I see no reason to tip them.

[country gent]

Ive notice that the age of the workers in fast food resturants around here is rising. The people behind the counters and drive thrus are getting older. A lot of the "career" jobs, the better paying factory jobs are gone. Some of the factories now only hire thru temp agencies meaning someone is paying the middleman there also. I don't know how many times Ive heard the tips more than make up for the low salary. In a fancy restaraunt or golf clubs maybe, in most regular reteraunts or fast food places no.
I tip for good service, good food ( well prepared, nice servings sizes, politeness and such all factor into my tip). I don't care for the ones that factor the tip in with the bill for several reasons, the main one is it takes the performance factor out of my hands. Another is Several times weve had reservations and had to wait at the bar dueto not being ready we were factore in tips on drinks waiting for the resteraunts over booking along with the meal.

[Thundarstick]

Sorry, but having a son work at a Sonic as a cook (guys cook, girls car hop) and hear him complaining about the girls making the same per hour AND tips, while the cooks bust a hump with no chance of picking up tips I will never tip there!

I only tip at sit down restaurants, I'm polite to my servers, tip well, and extra well if the service warrants it.

[1911sw45]

To Insure Promted Service. Tips. No tipping to fast food, tip sharing places or for bad service or food. I don’t eat at any place that automatically includes the tip in the total.

[Gavetta]

give them a buck, they are not earning squat and a buck wont put you in the poor house.

[higgins]

When I was traveling for work years ago I started seeing requests for tips for the maids start showing up in a few motels, usually a note in the bathroom. Never left one. I don't know if they still do that. I don't tip in fast food places. I do tip in restaurants where they serve me, and I tip my barber.

[JSnover]

To Insure Promted Service. Tips.

If that was true, wouldn't you tip before you got your food?

[redhawk0]

I won't tip fast food...period!!! If they want a higher wage job...go out get it...but don't expect a McD's paycheck to pay all the rent. Its for school students, part timers, and people needing a second job...its not a job for making a living at.

Get off your lazy butt....and get a real job if you expect more pay.

my 2 cents.

redhawk

[Walks]

I tip at my regular stops. The Donut Shop, because they usually see me coming and have 2 donuts bagged & ready for me. They know the varieties that I like and I always get fresh warm donuts, with a happy "GOOD MORNING Mr. Schendel"
I tip at the TOGO'S SUB Shops, they make their sandwiches EXACTLY THE WAY YOU WANT IT AND WORK TO MAKE SURE IT'S RIGHT, WITH A SMILE . Their Sandwiches make subway look like the **** they really are. And THEY MAKE THE BEST SUBMARINE Sandwiches YOU CAN FIND IN SoCal.
I never go into a coffee house because I refuse to pay $3 for a cup of coffee I can make at home for 25cents and take with me in a Travel Cup. And I refuse to go into a starbucks because of their anti- UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION stance.

Hell I've seen a tip jar at a drive-thru McDonalds.

When I go into a true sit down restaurant, I tip according to the quality of the service. It helps that I usually eat in the same few places.

[dragon813gt]

If that was true, wouldn't you tip before you got your food?

I’ve done this at restaurants and bars plenty of times. It’s never failed and I end up w/ very attentive service.

[marlin39a]

Aren't those folks up in Washington State getting $15.00 an hour for flipping burgers? And they want tips? I guess that's the millennial way.