Is it any wonder that diners have widely divergent opinions on the proper way to navigate restaurants in 2024? A new YouGov survey provides insight into U.S. consumers’ attitudes toward restaurant policies that help owners cope with their shrinking profit margins: time limits on tables, billing tap water, automatic resort fees, and cancellation fees for reservations that are not honored. .
But one answer stood out among the 40 etiquette questions YouGov asked more than 1,000 adults: 51% of Americans think it’s “acceptable” to leave no tip after receiving “bad service.” . More men than women said hardening servers due to poor service was acceptable (55% for men, 47 for women), and more Republicans and independents than Democrats said the same. thing (55% for independents, 51 for Republicans and 47 for Democrats). .
The survey did not attempt to define “bad service,” but its results indicate that the majority of Americans still view tips as discretionary, based on the level of service provided and not, essentially, as a mandatory add-on to help pay the advance. -home workers who receive as little as $2.13 an hour in some cities.
The age-old issue of tipping remains a topic that sharply divides Americans, who are more in agreement on other, newer policies in place at American restaurants. Seventy percent of Americans, for example, think 20 percent automated service fees are unacceptable, while 31 percent of respondents think time limits on tables are acceptable.
The fact that a majority of Americans think tipping is discretionary is “PRECISELY why we need a single minimum wage – a full minimum wage with tips on top of that,” texted Saru Jayaraman , president and co-founder of One Fair Wage, a group that seeks to eliminate tipping. tipped minimum wage nationwide. The organization, and others, have argued that tipped employees have twice the poverty rate of other workers and the highest rates of sexual harassment of any industry.
“Aside from the fact that tipping has historically been an incredibly unreliable source of income and subject to customer whims and biases, we are seeing a huge increase in ‘tip fatigue’ as more and more industries attempt to obtain the exemption from which the catering sector benefits. “, Jayaraman added. “As tipping spreads, customers are tipping less and less, with the cost of living rising in recent years, and it is increasingly important that workers receive full minimum wage with tips on top of that.”
On the other hand, the National Restaurant Association has lobbied to maintain the tip credit, which allows restaurateurs to pay less than minimum wage as long as restaurant tips cover the difference between the tip and the full minimum wage in their jurisdiction. (If it doesn’t, the owner is legally required to make up the gap.) The NRA says the tipping model “maximizes server revenue, allows operators to hire enough servers, and maintains prices menus at an affordable level.” He also notes that in the tipping model, the median income for servers is $27 per hour when combining base pay and tips.
The NRA has promoted the tip credit in a variety of ways, including issuing press releases claiming that eliminating the tipped minimum wage would reduce the hospitality industry’s workforce, generate higher menu prices and would lead to a reduction in restaurant openings. Last year, the Washington Post reported that the NRA also funds “astroturf” groups in which servers and bartenders lobby against efforts to eliminate the tip credit.
In response to the findings of the investigation into the ban on tipping for poor service, Michelle Korsmo, president and CEO of the NRA, sent a statement to the Post. An NRA spokeswoman told the Post the association would have no further comment.
“Our surveys have shown that people who have worked in the industry say that customer service, teamwork and patience are among the top skills they learn from working in a restaurant,” Korsmo said in the communicated. “These are the skills that lead to excellent compensation for tips. While people say they are willing to adjust their tips based on service, people who work as servers enjoy the opportunity to provide excellent hospitality, which results in high pay.
Lizzie Post, co-president of the Emily Post Institute, the fifth-generation family business dedicated to all forms of etiquette, says the question asked by YouGov may have confused respondents. She said it was unclear whether the question focused exclusively on full-service restaurants or whether it included counter-style restaurants. From the Emily Post Institute’s perspective, diners should always tip at a full-service restaurant, regardless of the server’s performance. (In contrast, tipping at counter-service restaurants is discretionary, Post said.)
“It’s part of the deal, part of the game,” Post said in an interview. “When you walk into a table service restaurant – where you place an order with a waiter, they take care of it, they bring you food, they take it away – that, in our minds, n is not negotiable. You leave a tip no matter what, even if it’s the worst service you’ve ever had in your life.
Rather than leaving no tips, Post said diners should talk to the manager about any problems, whether it’s bad service or terrible food. “You might learn a few things about why things were so bad, and that restaurant probably should have alerted people to say, ‘Hey, we have a chef tonight.’ Things are going to be a little slow,” said Post, the great-great-granddaughter of Emily Post, the author and socialite.
“I think it’s really important to go out and talk about the problem, if the problem is so bad that you don’t want to hold up your end of the bargain,” she added.
Diane Gottsman, etiquette expert and owner of the Protocol School of Texas, said decisions about tipping depend on what customers consider “bad service.”
“If the food arrived late or did not arrive at the desired temperature, it could be the fault of the kitchen, lack of servers or a variety of other reasons. This would allow us to speak to the director and allow him to adjust the bill,” Gottsman said in an email to the Post.
“Rudeness is a good reason not to tip only after you have spoken to the manager and verified that others will not be harmed if you leave without leaving any type of tip. Often, tips are shared by others in a tip pool that benefits those who work hard to earn your trust and satisfaction. That’s why talking to the general manager and enabling him to get it right is the first suggestion,” she added.
Gottsman also noted that service charges — which are money belonging to the restaurant, as opposed to tips, which legally belong to tipped workers — do not automatically go to servers. “Be sure to ask where the fees are going and who will benefit before skipping a tip,” she said.
Michael Lynn, a professor of consumer behavior at Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration, said he’s not interested in telling people how they should behave when it comes to tipping.
“I myself am comfortable with the help of a counter providing only standardized service, but even I would not feel comfortable with a restaurant waiter when the service was bad,” said Lynn said in an email to the Post.
“If the service was bad enough (but the waiter wasn’t insulting or offensive), then I might tip as little as 10%. I know the server would consider 10% too low, but that wouldn’t deter me. But I wouldn’t stiff a restaurant server for doing a bad job. Only deliberately insulting or offensive behavior on the part of a waiter would allow me to stiff him. This is my standard, but I don’t think others have to accept it.
