I request a tip to eat at a fast food place. I have failed to receive any tips and no longer eat fast food due to the experience.

Tip fast food? Sure! Here's a tip: Go back to school and get yourself a marketable skills that is worth paying for.

Tip someone for handing me a cup of coffee or a bag of takeout food? Really? Where is the service? I want a tip for getting out of my car and walking to the counter to order and pay for my food.

Maybe we should tip the cashier at the supermarket for ringing up my groceries. How about you pay me a tip for going through the store looking for the items I had to bring to the register?

I'm old school. A tip is for good service. I will tip huge when the service is good.

Some of these fast food workers are also going to school.

I know I always had part time jobs while going to school.

Maybe get to know some of them before categorizing them. You might be surprised.....

I think it's nice to surprise people with a random act of kindness now and again. The world has gotten so hard and mean-spirited.

You're more harsh and bitter than I am. And that's saying something.

I do know of at least one teen working a 5 Guys Burgers that has a better future in mind. Meanwhile the oldest granddaughter is/was at state university on a pre law track as she was hosting (low pay) at a fish house restaurant. 5 years later, not only is she the manger, but she goes to new ones opening to train the new staff.

I see her in hospitality now for a career. IDK what she sees. If she didn't graduate with a BA, she will. I guess I better catch up. ;):D

Some remarkably average people (NOT saying this is your grand daughter) make a LOT of money in the chain industry doing just what she is. Chains rely on consistency to stay relevant and pay good money to their people who help with that. If she's sharp enough to legitimately look at a law career she'll probably do awesome.

I have been a little surprised by some of the posts in this thread but variety, spice of life, all that.

I get lunch two times a week tops. The average "tip" I give the folks at DD and TB (the only places I visit) is $1.50. Three dollars a week to make a kid happy.

They remember and it is fun.

BTW, I tip the baggers at the Navy Commissary, the kids at ACE, etc. when they help me take stuff to my car, especially since my hip that hasn't been replace is giving me issues.

I know, Big Money.

One more BTW. I worked in food services and as a bartender in HS and college, summers on the water as a guide. My daughter worked summers in HS at a local crab shack as a waitress, my son as a bus boy at the same place until he was hired as a apprentice mechanic.

She now does very well in her own business, he is a lawyer.

We all learned more about human nature, how to handle people of all types, from those experiences.

i'm with you. i tip when appropriate. if i dont feel like i dont need to, i dont. simple as that. i drink coffee black. i rarely tip if they just put coffee into a paper cup for me...now if they make my wife an esspresso drink, yea. a buck or two. i dont eat fast food.

i dont get offended at all if someone provides the option for a tip. its my choice after all.

as far as thinking FF worker, or any other worker is beneath me.. that's weird. i am grateful they do their jobs so i dont have to go behind the counter to make my own sandwich..i am blessed i got college behind me. i wont fault a person that didnt have the same path.

I have definitely noticed smaller portions along with higher prices at restaurants.
The smaller portion size is ok with me...a person doesn't need a 'plate-full' every time.

The higher prices are due to their costs being more.

I tip the same as before.

In DC the folks working at Micky D's are older folks that barely speak English. It is an interesting dynamic. I'm sure most of us here think of FF employees as young kids but I think that day is long gone, at least in the bigger cities.

And in most of those stores they have the screen where you place your own order and don't interact with a cashier.

No way I'd be giving a tip there.

^^^ Just do a Kramer and empty out a pocket full of change next to the screen.:)

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/S4XNcTQT-yY" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

One last post from me on this.

There is a place called Fiesta Pollo near the Navy Base.

https://www.fiestapollo.com/photos

It is now owned by a Nicaraguan and a women from El Salvador. Everything is fresh and incredibly good, made while you wait either inside or in the drive through....all staffed by folks from South American countries. I get dinner for my wife and I once a month.

I always get breakfast for dinner.

Now, the young ladies at the drive through window are about as cute as can be, and they work it like you read about...and are great at what they do.

$3.00 dollar minimum tip. If they call me, "Papi", $5.00.

Are they playing this old 1/2 a Spaniard like a Bandurria?

Damn right they are.

I will typically tip, if it's a choice at the fast food joints (and definitely at "real" restaurants). We've all been there working the low wage job (well, most of us have), and I know they appreciate the couple extra bucks that don't mean much to me at this point.

Yeah, could do that but I don't think I can get my leg up on the counter for a donkey kick like Kramer did

;)

^^^ A great Kramer scene...he knew exactly how to do it. :)

That sexy Latina accent is all it takes to pull you in. The persona and attitude that goes along with it - well that just seals the deal! :p

^^^Exactly.

My local Chinese food is family owned and staffed yet they ask for tips at the take out counter. No tips.

The local deli is also family owned as is the bagel shop but they both hire school kids to do the work so yeah I tip at those two.

I normally stay away from traditional "fast food", other than Five Guys or Bubakoo's Burritos. I sometimes tip in those places. Most places I eat in are more of "healthy food" places where they do put a bit of effort into making the food. They do work a little bit harder, so I feel a bigger tip is more warranted. I do tend to be a bit of a higher tipper most of the time anyway.

As far as tipping servers in restaurants, Again it depends on the service I get, but I also look at the big picture. Is the place packed? Are they short staffed,( as most places are nowadays...) and the servers overworked. How friendly and attentive are they, etc...

I also do tip gas attendants. Not allowed to pump our own fuel here in Jerzey, except for diesel. But you will not get a tip if you come up to my window and are yapping on your phone ( as all the Indian attendants do..) That's just effin rude...

.

Damn, I am old as you.

I don't go out to eat much, generally know the owner. What am I going to do, stiff Mike's kid, or the guy that has been working there forever, that is a sit down restaurant type place though. There are a couple places I go for burgers where I tip them. Tiny's looks to me like a single wide trailer with a tin awning attached, picnic tables but nothing inside. It works out to be on my way a lot of the time, fairly stellar burger and fries, been too long since I ate there.

Hagen's in Carmichael has inside or outside seating. Trust and believe if it is July and the sun is up, Hagen's gets the nod. They also have these Italian ice things. Whatever fruit is in season is the one you want, that or coconut. Directly in a line between my house and my parents, I am the king if I show up with one of those Italian ice things at their house. Those are all high school kids working there, toss a few bucks in the cup every time. I doubt if it is going for a college fund, beer maybe. Go on the right Saturday evening and you will see some fine old motor vehicles at that place. There was a guy there once had a black 1956 Olds coupe with an LS swap, it was astounding.

One time I was at a band fundraiser for my grandson. It was on March 14, 3/14, so naturally they were selling pie, because band people are sort of geeks. I give this guy $20 for a piece of pie, tell him to keep it, and he is trying to make change. "You can't give me twenty bucks for a piece of pecan pie." It is a fundraiser for the band, I gave you guys that pie. Then the light bulb goes on and he thanks me. Gave me two pieces, which was nice.

I always tipped pizza delivery guys. I always tip them when I get take out, 10% because it is easy to figure and close enough to 8%, which is what California used to make you declare on your charges, when I waited tables anyway. I don't want them to have to pay to hand me my food. When I was paid an hourly wage, people who earned tips were paid less than the regular minimum wage. I can't recall what it was exactly, half of minimum for people not earning tips maybe. I think minimum wage is minimum wage now, which is $14 or $15 in California, and why all the restaurants started hurting. Their hourly labor costs are up, if that expense doubles suddenly, it is going to hurt, and that pain gets passed along.

I tip, well when warranted, which is more often than you would think, especially in a nice place. I am of the opinion that working as a waiter or waitress is a good job for a young person. It develops the ability to interact with people and learn to read them. Public speaking is a useful talent, many find it difficult to talk to someone they don't know, do that all day long waiting tables. It is a job you can do while attending school. Depending on the place, you can make good money. During Jazz Festival in Old Sacramento, I would make thousands of dollars over a three day weekend.

My daughter worked at an ice cream place last summer. Pay was below minimum wage because of tips. The tips never got to the point of her making minimum wage. Pretty sweet racket as an employer if you can pull it off. So yeah, when the kids come out to get my order at the ice cream place, I tip. I also tend to get more ice cream on the cone or in the cup as a result so there's that.

My wife was craving a burger from Sonic last night... Seeing the young lady's eyes light up when I tipped her a $20 was such a joy.

getting thru college, i worked at my parents restaurant.

packing up chinese food to go was a lot of work!! i rarely got tipped. i got hardened to it and quit caring. i didnt expect any. but when i got one, it would blow my mind. if any waitstaff helped me, i just gave it to them. it was so little anyways, since it was so rare it was better in their pocket than mine.

what it showed me was that some togo food sucks to pack up. a tiny elderly korean woman just gave me togo dinner last week. there were boxes within boxes full of banchan, and sauces, etc. i tipped her like i was sitting at her table eating. she earned it. it was so tidy that i had no worries of it blowing up in our new car. she had it down to a science. its a lot of work.

I'm going to "up my game" with regards to "who" and "how much" when it comes to tipping thanks to this thread. And I know Chick-Fil-A doesn't allow their employees to accept tips because I've tried a few times. As they say there when ya tell them "thank you" .... it will be "my pleasure". The $$$ are totally insignificant in my life... mebbe I can make someone's day :)

Or try too....

Thanks....

Have a good friend from high school, who in school took a position at McDonald's. He never left, and has just finalized his third franchise.

People need to let go of their preconceptions of what is a respectable job and not. Teachers have threatened for decades that fail to learn and you will end up a garbage man, few if any every further explain that a garbage man out earns them by a pretty wide margin quite often. My wife took a part time gig with The Bay in high school, seasonal help through xmas, has had two employers in her life and now runs 16 stores for GAP Inc., out earning me healthily in the process.

"Marketable skill" is a widely misused term. When will knowledge of customer service, and food sales ever not be a marketable skill?

I snipped some stuff but your overall point is terrific.

My daughter has a business degree from ASU and interned at a event planning company in Scottsdale her sophomore year on. They hired her when she graduated. She has done some really neat stuff.

She started bartending at the Phoenix Open when she turned 21 making huge money for the week.

She owns her own business now but returns to the Open every year to bartend: She still has clients in AZ and makes about 5k in tips for the week while she meets with her folks early in the week. Networking is a skill and she learned it early.

She is also very financially adept, as is my son. It is not a "skill", it is learned behavior.

The notion that that "servers" are not worthy is preposterous: I can guarantee her yearly income far exceeds most of the the chuckle heads she is "serving".