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Diner’s refusal to tip on wine takes money from server’s pocket
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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Comments
By Keith
March 20, 2009 3:06 PM | Link to this
What the restaurant with holds is not the same as what you claim as income at the end of the year. Generally most servers do not claim all their tips as income and end up not paying tax on all of them. We always tip 20% on the whole bill unless service is really bad. I personally think we overtip most of the time as most waiters do not give real good service. As far as wine is concerned I’ve had to open it for a number of waitresses in the past. Most wait staff in restaurants are undertrained on wine and the restaurants generally make a whole lot more on the wine than the food they are serving as the wine prices are set too high. To top it off most restautrants have inadequate wine storage and serve wines too warm. I personally think the customer gets the shaft in most cases.
By Ed
March 17, 2009 4:48 PM | Link to this
This is incomprehensible to me. I always tip on the total check, including wine. Why wouldn’t I? The person in this story must have the misfortune of getting a lot of cheap skate customers.
By cathy
March 16, 2009 4:52 PM | Link to this
Color me surprised. I actually did not know that servers were taxed on their total sales plus anticipated tips. I agree with Karl the Brit: this seems wrong! While I generally tip ~20% for the food served in a restaurant, I tip less for carry-out orders. And, while I never omit a tip for wine served,,, in my heretofore ignorance, I have occasionally tipped a bit less than 20% on more expensive wines (thinking that the server did the same amount of work for a $90 bottle of wine vs a $30 bottle). Now I know better. Thanks for reporting this info!
By Karl Laczko
March 16, 2009 3:20 PM | Link to this
Call me a naive Brit here, but surely this is justification for a more European style of billing, where typically 10-15% service is included in the Bill and additional tips are at discretion. If the service is truly bad you complain and get the bill reduced, regardless of whether the fault is kitchen or server. Being paid less than minimum wager (for the UK) and then taxed on total Sales as opposed to actual Salary & Tips just sounds wrong, although the implication is that you get more under-tippers rather than over if you’re losing out on average. As I said, maybe a naive Brit, if so just ignore me.
By Ann
March 16, 2009 2:38 PM | Link to this
It never occurred to me NOT to tip on the wine/alcohol that I am served. It boggles me that anyone would do such a thing. Like ChiefWino, I generally tip a minimum of 20%. I can’t remember the last time I didn’t.
By Free Spirit
March 16, 2009 9:06 AM | Link to this
I, too, include the wine in the total for tipping. Wine is part of the total dining experience. Many times the server offers his/her opinion or advice on a wine to go with dinner. Attention to keeping wine in the glass shows that the server is keeping an eye on the customer. It’s all those little things that make an exceptional dining experience and that’s why I tip 20%. And if those guys can afford a bottle of Cakebread, adding a few more dollars onto their tip isn’t going to break their wallet.
By chiefwino
March 16, 2009 7:29 AM | Link to this
I always include the wine in the total for tipping. It is no different than including the price of the slice of cheesecake that was made somewhere else and simply put on a plate and served. I usually do 20% and round to the nearest dollar. If I do reduce the tip because of bad service (not the kitchen screwing up) I will try to let the manager know about the problem. If it is a kithcen error, I let the server know but I do not cut the tip.