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March 16, 2009 | Uncorked | Wine advice and commentary - wine tastings and events around Dayton, Ohio
 

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Monday, March 16, 2009

Diner’s refusal to tip on wine takes money from server’s pocket

By Mark Fisher | Monday, March 16, 2009, 06:45 AM

I received an email from a server whom I presume works in a fine-dining restaurant (based on the Cakebread Cabernet) who wanted to both vent and educate. And she did indeed bring up some points I was not aware of, mainly that diners who don’t tip or tip a very small percentage on wines are actually costing their servers money. Here’s the email:

Unfortunately, this happens all too often. Last week, I had two gentlemen sit down for dinner, and after making numerous comments to me about how we have a great selection of wines at wonderful prices, ordered a bottle of Cakebread Cabernet. I preceded to present the wine, open the wine, and poured the wine throughout their dinner. After they were finished dining, one of the gentlemen asked for the bill, but asked for the wine to be on a separate check. Of course, I obliged. When I returned to picked up their signed checks, I thanked them and they told me how wonderful everything was and thanked me for my terrific service. When I went to close out their checks, I was floored to discover that they had not tipped me on the wine. Again, it’s not like this was the first time this has happened, but it doesn’t make it any less infuriating!
What people fail to understand is that servers are taxed on their sales, their total sales, not just on what they are tipped. When we are taxed on out sales, it is assumed that diners have tipped at least 10% at our restaurant. ( I do know that the federal government only assumes 8.5%). We are required to claim all of our tips for tax purposes, and if our tips claimed do not match a percentage of our sales, we are taxed on our sales anyway. Understandable, we are then at a financial loss. I do not think it is fair for me, or any other server, to have to pay for the wine consumption that I did not enjoy myself. I think the general understanding is that we are only taxed on our tips, and that is not the case. This is also why not tipping on carry-out orders is frustrating.
Servers make $3.65 an hour. We live on our tips. We also have to tip out the bartenders and bussers from what we make. Perhaps if you open this topic up for discussion, or even make it a point to be pondered upon, diners may have a better understanding and be more inclined to tip on that next bottle of wine or carry-out order.

We opened up this topic last week on the Taste: Dayton Food and Restaurants blog, and it prompted quite a robust discussion of 60-plus comments, from servers and diners.

Were you aware of these rules? What are your tipping habits regarding bottles of wine?

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