I worked for a company called “waiters on wheels” in the Bay Area…essentially door dash before cell phones and the internet. We used handheld radios.
We got minimum wage + tips, and our salaries didn’t pay for gas and car upkeep so we survived or perished based on tipping. It’s hard, thankless work only to be at the whim of your customers mood for your livelihood.
Worse, you pay taxes as if you are tipped 15% on all orders, but the average tip was closer to 8% when you count non-tippers.
Back then, stoners were the worst. Usually paying at least partially in change, rarely a tip at all, maybe an offer of a bong hit for a tip at best.

If you hire a service to deliver, remember there’s an actual person between you and them, and you only hurt the person by not tipping, not the company. If the order is screwed up, it’s unlikely to be their fault, they can only take what the restaurant gives them. Keep that in mind, service people deserve to be paid for their work, and the tip is part of their pay.

Yes! I noticed that also.

Excuse me waiter. There's a hair in my watch.

I suppose someone could win or lose by a hair with that watch.

That's all I got.

At 1:45, there's a restaurant on the left called "Sear's Fine Food". It's still there (in fact, I ate there a couple of weeks ago). It was built before WW2. There was a waiter who worked there until he was 109. Lotta history in that place.

http://www.searsfinefood.com/

The election is over.

But our problems aren't.

Did the infrastructure get better? Did healthcare become affordable and available to all? Did the school system lurch forward at every possible chance? Did COVID just disappear?

That's ALL OURS.

Tired of losing DECADES of advancement because of wishes, hopes, and dedication to a Lord Savior of American when we only have Joe and Mitch to get anything done.

Suck it up buttercup. Don is done. Let's work to see no one like him ever comes again. If we become great, guys like him will be your waiter.

Oh for fuck sake! Roger can't let a single goddamn thing go, can he? He's spent so long grinding axes that I'm surprised the entire planet's not covered 3 inches deep in metal shavings.

I'll bet he got short-changed by a waiter in 1965, and on his next album there's going to be a song called 'Oi! That Was A Fiver, You Cunt! Gimme My Bloody Three Pence! Also: Fuck David Gilmour.'

Within the last year or so, I've noticed more and more that people refer to me as "Boss." Store clerks, waiters, etc. It seems it's happening more and more and it really annoys me.

So now when someone refers to me as "Boss" I reply, "Oh! Spent some time in the joint I hear.

I'll also say the same thing if I hear someone fart.

On what @SDGundamX said, before I read his post I was going to say that passion industries are generally known for notoriously long hours, bad pay and horrible treatment. I was actually going to mention game developers (especially what I've read about crunch time before release), also chefs who often get paid less than the waiter staff, and of course most creative jobs where job insecurity and poor pay abounds.

It's simple economics. These industries know that these people are willing to put up with more to do what they love. There may not even be a conscious decision on an individual level for a given employer looking to hire, you simply know that you can find employees for X profession at X level of pay and can't really offer more if you want to stay competitive with your competitor. Meanwhile there are people streaming in who don't consider the pay or conditions beforehand and are just adding to a surplus of workers.

That's not to say that people can't be successfully, job secure or wealthy in these sectors but we know most notably from the arts that most of the money accrues to the top actors, top musicians. I do agree that when you see these people giving motivational speeches about 'never giving up' or 'always chasing their dreams', there are dozens who put in just as much effort but never got their lucky break.

The arts may be one of the worst examples, but I think this is true to a lesser extent for all 'passion' industries. It's textbook selection bias and our tendency to lionize success. On a related point, it's like how we idolize successful entrepreneurs and think their autobiographies contain the holy grail to success when perhaps the hypothetical book by a failed entrepreneur detailing their failings might actually be more beneficial to our lives.

So when the waiter trips and spills it on your lap, that's just "Surprise Tea"?

I like russians
I like russians
Half the world is what their country spans
They like red and they're hairy and they're not "muricans"

I like russians
I like russians
You never see them having tans
They drink vodka, make caviar, and are hockey fans

I like russian food
As long as the waiter's not nude
It's made from potatoes that they grow all their lives
The girls are quite pretty and make great trophy wives

(and so on)

The world today seems absolutely crackers,
With nuclear bombs to blow us all sky high.
There's fools and idiots sitting on the trigger.
It's depressing and it's senseless, and that's why...
I like Chinese.
I like Chinese.
They only come up to your knees,
Yet they're always friendly, and they're ready to please.

I like Chinese.
I like Chinese.
There's nine hundred million of them in the world today.
You'd better learn to like them; that's what I say.

I like Chinese.
I like Chinese.
They come from a long way overseas,
But they're cute and they're cuddly, and they're ready to please.

I like Chinese food.
The waiters never are rude.
Think of the many things they've done to impress.
There's Maoism, Taoism, I Ching, and Chess.

So I like Chinese.
I like Chinese.
I like their tiny little trees,
Their Zen, their ping-pong, their yin, and yang-ese.

I like Chinese thought,
The wisdom that Confucious taught.
If Darwin is anything to shout about,
The Chinese will survive us all without any doubt.

So, I like Chinese.
I like Chinese.
They only come up to your knees,
Yet they're wise and they're witty, and they're ready to please

-- Eric Idle, from Monty Python's Flying Circus
Youtube so you can experience it in all its glory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NH2P_pVze6s

One of the ugly side-effects of tipping that I didn't see mentioned above (though I didn't read all the comments), is that the waiter/waitress get pegged for anything that's wrong.

Meal cooked wrong? Bad food? It comes out of the tip. The chef still gets his/her full check even though they're at fault.

My thoughts on tipping...
I'll start off by saying that these come from a U.S. person.
It seems like older generations tip less or maybe it's as you get older you realize you need to hang onto your money more.
A piece of advice passed onto me that I believe in is that if you can't afford to tip then you shouldn't be going out.
I tend to tip 10% for fair / poor service, 15% for normal / expected, and 20% or more for good. Tip jar places, I'll give a buck most of the time and not a percentage and this is also true for pick up orders.
I'm not sure why, but even if I get shitty service, I still tip. I don't go back, but the message is that even without giving decent service you still get a tip and I don't agree with that so I need to stop tipping crap service.
The places I go to a lot, I tend to tip more because you get to know the people that work there and they are more apt to know what I want almost without asking.
I believe in tipping as an incentive system and don't think they should get rid of it.
Individual places set up how tips are distributed. I think it's old school places where the waitress (waiter) tips out the busboy and cook and whoever else helps them provide better service. This makes sense to me as incentive. Another method is the pooling of tips and splitting them out evenly. This doesn't make sense since someone may not carry their own weight and be rewarded for that. There are other methods to curb that behavior. Full Metal Jacket comes to mind. I think the business itself can take a cut of the tips which to me seems pretty lame unless the owners are actively providing service.
In Oregon, service people get minimum wage (no waiter wage) so with tips, you can actually make a really solid living.
I always thought the smartest people in this trade are the ones that work at high class joints. 20% of a 10$ tab is 2$, but 20% of a 100$ tab is 20$ and that's some payola for likely a comparable amount of service.
For the math challenged, an easy way to figure out ~20% is to take the first two digit of the tab, multiply by 2, and then move the decimal one to the left. So for a 56.78 bill... 56 * 2 = 112... 11.2 or 11.20 tip.

@ChaosEngine

Is a waiter staff really able to contribute that much to the experience though? I've always felt that food quality, environment, speed of service are far more important. Politeness, being available at the right times are all very routine nowadays.

When you do want more information on a menu item or a recommendation they can be helpful but whether you want that is largely out of their control. Otherwise, I've never really felt one way or another about a waiter, overwhelmingly they all do a satisfactory job.

That's why I reckon the purpose Yelp/TripAdvisor serve in restaurant reviews is far superior to tipping and those exist everywhere. You can be more exact, no single employee is disproportionately affected and arguably the potential for attracting other repeat customers is more beneficial than a one off tip.

@Grimm
@ChaosEngine
@Sagemind

thanks guys!
thats exactly what i was looking for.
though i have to admit a particular curiosity in regards to what a "decent" or "living" wage would amount to,which is too specific for most people to actually state.

the reason i am so curious is because since 1978 i have been in the business in one capacity or another.i have been a captain at a few 5 star places.ran two 4 star ballrooms and have bartended at some of the most amazing clubs.

i worked very hard to learn the techniques and particulars of my trade.i learned from the best so i could be the best.started from the bottom,listened intently and learned the trade from some of the most talented people i had ever met.

so what am i worth? what would be considered a "living" wage?
the reason i say this,tongue firmly planted in cheek,is because when people find out how much i made they..and i am not exagerating here..literally lose their mind.

i did very well,but i worked my ass off to get it.
and i was worth every penny.
but i didnt just do it for the money...thats just...soulless and void of any meaning.i did it for the challenge.i did it for pride and knowing that the majority of people out there could not do what i do.
and i happen to enjoy meeting people:bonus!
love what you do and the money follows.

or did.

i recently left the business out of disgust.
maybe i am just getting too old and cranky but corporate eateries have douched the profession i adored for decades.

a corporate trained waiter/waitress is just one notch above useless.
i know i know..thats my experience and does not reflect on ALL servers but fuck that,i am old and i am free to bitch about the younger generation.

no pride.
no discipline.
just whining crying and more whining.
and god forbid you offer advice to these know-it-all wankers...
"well,when i was at olive garden"..oh fuck me....
only been in the biz for 30 plus years..yeah..what would i know..
just let grandpa hump the ten tops because you got double sat and are now in the "weeds".
fucking pussies...

gah..sorry for the ranting,but watching my profession go down the shitter is upsetting.

tipping is not mandatory in the states.
though if you are experiencing the "new wave" of servers,who i have seen openly give stink eye to customers,i can see why you may think otherwise.

i always looked at my profession as a sub-contractor.
my relationship is with my customer.THEY are my business and i treat them accordingly.you should not do this job strictly for the money.might as well go sell your soul and become a crack dealer...same difference.

ok..now i am just rambling.
suffice to say:
tipping is not mandatory.
new generation of servers are a gaggle of whiny non-conrtibuting pussies who think they know everything because they worked day shift at olive garden for a year.

and if ever offered minimum wage to do what i did,i would stab the person in the eye socket with a dirty ball point pen.

/end rant

folks i will be here every tuesday! dont forget to tip your bartenders and wai...oh....nevermind.