A note on credit cards and on tipping

[Lisa]

Just wanted to post a note about using credit cards at our facility and/or other restaurant type places.....

If you go home the next morning and look at your online account, you may notice that the transaction amount on hold is for more than what you expected it to be. This is because one of the banks involved in the process (I don't know if its the credit card processing or the user's bank) puts a hold on the account for the amount we run, plus 20% in case the user has added a gratuity on the card. This does not mean that is the amount that you will be charged when they actually put the charge on your records.

There is nothing we are doing wrong or anything we can do to change this processing. Somewhere in the banking industry they assume that everyone may want to add 20% gratuity. Trust me, I wish that were true.

Speaking of tipping, please remember to tip your bartenders and servers. They do so much more than serve your drinks and food. There is a lot of work that gets done behind the scene to make sure that you are eating at a clean table, get clean utensils, have salt and pepper on the table, etc.

Back many years ago, the government decided that waitstaff or tip earners need to be taxed on their tips. Part of that process included that restaurants can be audited on their food sales and amounts claimed by their employees of tips earned. They expect our employees to be getting on average 15% gratuity. If that doesn't happen, we have to raise our prices so that we can pay them the difference. In today's economy, we don't want to have to raise our prices. We would rather have you decide if someone is doing a good job, kept the eating area clean, and provided great service. If that isn't the case, we want to take care of our personnel issues. However, there are times when I know that our staff have done that and even gone over the top to clean up after children (or drunks), entertained customers, and did not get a dime in tips. You are our best resource for knowledge on how well our employees are doing in their jobs. The ones that earn the most tips get to work the best hours and usually stick around the longest.

[DirtySanchez]

I tip 20% or more depending on the service.
I do think it's gay that waitstaff have to depend on tips. Min. wage laws should apply to all employees in all types of business. Save your "But, your food would cost more" argument. I'd pay extra for quality. It's not that I mind tipping, just a lot of people don't tip what they should and hard working people get fucked.

[Lisa]

I tip 20% or more depending on the service.
I do think it's gay that waitstaff have to depend on tips. Min. wage laws should apply to all employees in all types of business. Save your "But, your food would cost more" argument. I'd pay extra for quality. It's not that I mind tipping, just a lot of people don't tip what they should and hard working people get fucked.

If for some reason our staff do not make what they should in tips, we adjust and increase the pay for that pay period. We never have staff not make the min. wage.

We've actually thought about increasing the food prices and placing a statement that gratuity is built in to the price so no tipping was needed on our menus. However, in discussion with others, it was advised that the public would be greatly offended if we did that.

Until we bought this business, I never gave much thought in to how much it costs to prepare someone's meal. The overhead. You have the energy to run the ovens, lights, etc. Then you have the labor costs to prepare and serve. You have the insurance (lots of that). You have the costs in storing the products before you prepare it such as freezers, etc. Of course, you have to factor in repair costs on all of your equipment that at some point or another will need repaired.

So a small business needs to take advantage of being able to pay waitstaff on the lower wage in hopes that they can make at least min. wage with the tips.

Now, life would be a lot easier if we did everything off of the books. But we always feel that honesty is the best policy.

[f.sciarrillo]

I usually tip between 15% and 20% depending on service. Although there have been times that I gave more.

[DirtySanchez]

You see. This is what gets me. My Dad owns a construction company. You can understand the overhead involved in building someones home? Fuel/tools/insurance/mistakes/training new employees.

He's gotta pay at least min. wage.

My bonus at my employer depends on how low I keep the overhead and how high I keep the revenue. "Profit margins". We have to pay the min. we have a shit ton of overhead. You should see our phone bill. haha

None of this is even arguable, because all companies have to do this.

Relying on tips is bullshit because people are not "required" to tip, and there are some cheap assed people out there.

I think it's cool you cover for your employees if they don't make the tips, but that would get expensive after awhile. Why not just raise prices a little, pay your employees a little more and ALL share the tips as a sort of bonus, and let the customers out of it? Just a thought.

[Lisa]

Because people won't pay more. They generally look at the following:

Husband: I feel like ribs tonight.
Wife: Well, we can go to restaurant X and pay $15.95.
Husband: Yeah, but let's got to restaurant Y. Its only $11.95 there.
Wife: But you like restaurant X's a little more.
Husband: I know but I can buy two more beers for the price difference.


Now, you would think, "gee, at least he's buying two additional beers for the price difference," but you have to pay for those beers you sell, cooler space to keep them cold, insurance to sell that beer, etc. You really aren't making it up on two more beers. So, I can't count on that difference to pay the extra wages out of that $4 price difference.

For the most part, people will sacrifice some quality for price. They won't sacrifice a large of amount of quality..if your food sucks, they still won't buy it. In our area, most people will not pay a lot more for a higher quality unless its a very special occasion. We can't live on special occasions, we need them for every day dining (or once a week or some sort of regular basis).

[DirtySanchez]

Yeah YOU= all restaurantuers. Not JUST you.

I'm not specifically blaming you for the fact people having to rely on tips. And I def. do not need an economics lesson. Thanks though.

[Naga]

Ha... Brian, what IS the phone bill avg. for that place??? That's a VERY interesting question...

Anyway, yeah... Business is business as always. It's not easy, it's just business. Expense + employees' pay + insurance +/- business = overhead margin. The adding of "business" even suggests that things are going well. If something happens tomorrow and a lot of people decide to go out more, that's a bonus. If things get hairy, watch out

Anyway, thanks for the heads-up Lisa. I don't use a credit card going out to begin with, but if I ever have to, I WILL keep that in mind

[Lisa]

We've gotten more calls lately "the day after" someone has used a credit card questioning the amount. With the ability to get online and see transactions, they see the higher amount and question it all the time. They assume that we are some how ripping them off. We always have to have them wait til the end of the next work day and call us back if they still see a higher amount and try to explain the 20% extra that the banks reserve on the transaction just in case. This is important to keep in mind if you have a $100 bill for the night, tipped in cash, and thought that you should still have $5.00 in your account to go to the store for a pack of smokes. You may not have that $5.00 available to you. We have one guy that even after 3 months, accuses us of overcharging him even though we have proof that we didn't and he has not been able to show us that we did. We promised to make anything right if he shows us his statement....he'd rather make a stink about it each time he comes in...."oh, I'll never run a tab on a credit card with you again." He insists on trying to pay for each trip to the bar with his credit card (he just doesn't realize he still has holds on for 20% over that $10 charge).

duh

[Eldorado]

Let me make sure I have this down. So if I already included the tip in my payment the night before, it still adds an additional 20% to cover it?

I guess that is no different from what happens at some gas stations when you decide to pay at the pump.

[Lisa]

Let me make sure I have this down. So if I already included the tip in my payment the night before, it still adds an additional 20% to cover it?

I guess that is no different from what happens at some gas stations when you decide to pay at the pump.

I'm not sure...but I think that the following happens...

You give your credit card and we run it for the base amount, let's say $30 just to make it easy.

We run that $30 through and you sign the slip showing $30. At that time, you can write a tip amount on the slip or not (some people prefer to pay tips with cash).

If we process what we call "A Tip Adjust", let's say for $5.00, you will see right away that we processed $35.00 and nothing more will be on hold on your account.

However, if you tipped with cash, and we do not do a tip adjust to your credit card transaction, the bank assumes we just didn't do it yet, and holds 20% extra and you would see a hold on the account for $36.00 instead of the $30.00.

I'm not 100% sure that is the case...but I've never had a call when someone has left a tip that they were charged extra so I'm assuming that the tip adjust function says that its the final amount.

[Banned]

oh...you forgot to mention the really awesome cook at the alley popper.
sorry..self plug.

[DirtySanchez]

oh...you forgot to mention the really awesome cook at the alley popper.
sorry..self plug.

What Joe? Does he still work there? He's awesome!
Back to the kitchen. I've got your tip right here! lol j/k

Seriously though, does joe lightner still work there or did he retire?

[Lisa]

Chef Joe is still with us....in all honesty, don't know what we would do if he didn't.

We have other cooks though who do a rather good job. If they just learn everything they can from Joe, they will succeed.

Of course, Joe has to have his hearing aids turned on if you want to even try to communicate with him

You know....we've had the place for 4 years now....happy anniversary to us. And I have to say, right now, the quality of the food is the best that its ever been. We've undergone some personnel changes in the kitchen and I wouldn't want to see it change for awhile now. Its very good right now.

[Banned]

Tip To insure propt service. I think a tip should be to reward to waitress for service above the standard required by law. A smile, fast service, They should be paid Min wage for cleaning. This is just a way to keep business cost down. I always paid my employess Min wage or above. As a dairy farmer they often made more than I cleared at the end of the month. It is a cost of doing business.
Should you tip the owner of a bar if he is serving?

[Lisa]

Tip To insure propt service. I think a tip should be to reward to waitress for service above the standard required by law. A smile, fast service, They should be paid Min wage for cleaning. This is just a way to keep business cost down. I always paid my employess Min wage or above. As a dairy farmer they often made more than I cleared at the end of the month. It is a cost of doing business.
Should you tip the owner of a bar if he is serving?

Why of course you should! At 40-50%!