Tipping On Amtrak

[ScottC4746]

There's one thing I still don't understand in all this tipping business in the US (and maybe Canada as well?): what about the other staff members in a restaurant or on the train. Where I live you not only tip the waiter (provided the service was satisfactory) but everybody that provided a pleasant stay: waiter, bartender, kitchen staff, cleaners, etc. So what usually happens is that all tips are being collected and divided once a year among all personal. Advantage is that they all feel responsible for a satisfied customer.

There difference, IMHO, is that here in the USA, the table waitstaff (and only the waitstaff) can be paid far less than the legal minimal wage. That's because the law assumes their pay will get subsidized by tips. They are the only workers for which the law does this. In contrast, the kitchen staff, busboy/cleaner, etc, all have to be paid, at least, the legal minimal wage.

The exception, and one of the points of debate here, is that this apparently is not true for Amrak dining car waitstaff. Amtrak has chosen to not pay the dining car waitstuff less than minimum wage, but instead paid them way more than the minimum. A lot more to compensate them for the long hours, and being away from home.

I believe, if I was told correctly by a Californian, California is the only state that practice is illegal. State minimum wage is state minimum wage for everyone. (state minimum is higher than federal and veries by region $10 LA County $9.25 Orange County (Disneyland Hosts payment which is why I quit 24 hours after being hired.)

 

[ScottC4746]

Getting back to tipping. I have calculated and here is my plan this weekend:

I receive two dinners, breakfasts, and lunches. I took the most expensive item at each meal from the online sample menus I saw plus the cost of a side of meat at breakfast, soda at lunch, wine and dessert at dinner and came up with the following bases:

Breakfasts $9.25

Lunch $9 (not sure how that happened but it did)

Dinner $30.50

I calculated 20% because when tipping, I don't care what their salary is, they still did waiter work.

Breakfasts $1.85

Lunch $1.80

Dinner $6.10

I then rounded up or down to the nearest whole dollar to avoid nickle and dimeing them (I used to work as a courtesy clerk which is a great job if you like being tipped by loose change from the ashtrays so I refuse to tip in coins. This yeilded:

Breafast $2

Lunch $2

Dinner $6

Then the SCA (?) Sleeping Car Attendant. An earlier post of mine on this thread said in 1994 Emily Post said $2 per person per night. Sounds to me she forgot to increase with the times from her first edition. Based on comments on this thread I plan to do $10 per night even though it is just me. Again, they are still doing housekeeping work no matter what their salary is. Probably more than many would tip for their hard work. Of course this is negotiable depending out how well they do but no less than $5 per night.

Lounge/Cafe car I like to have one or two night caps and I have found $1 per round is generally acceptable.

Total tips

Sleeper $20

Dinner $20

Loung about $4

===============

$44 +/-

 

[AlanB]

There's one thing I still don't understand in all this tipping business in the US (and maybe Canada as well?): what about the other staff members in a restaurant or on the train. Where I live you not only tip the waiter (provided the service was satisfactory) but everybody that provided a pleasant stay: waiter, bartender, kitchen staff, cleaners, etc. So what usually happens is that all tips are being collected and divided once a year among all personal. Advantage is that they all feel responsible for a satisfied customer.

I can't speak for what Amtrak personnel do, but in many restaurants here in the US, the bus boys typically receive a small percentage of the wait staff’s tips each day. It's generally left up to the waiter/waitress to decide just how much of their take to share with the bus boy, and it's not uncommon to see differing amounts between the bus boys from the same waiter/waitress. And of course each member of the wait staff varies what they think is appropriate to give in the first place. But woe to the waiter/waitress who doesn't tip well, as they'll find that the bus boys do their section last and neglect it to the maximum that they can. That usually results in fewer tables turned over, which of course means less income for the waiter/waitress.

I have seen some restaurants where the wait staff will also give a small portion of their tips to the bartender, but that is less common to my knowledge. I'm not sure if there are any restaurants that see the wait staff tipping the kitchen staff, with one exception. That exception being Japanese restaurants, where the Sushi chefs do get a take of the tips from the wait staff. In fact, in most Japanese restaurants it's not left up to the wait staff to decide how much to tip. All tips are pooled by the house, and divided among the Sushi Chefs, bus boys, and the wait staff.

And all this occurs each night at closing generally, not on a weekly or other basis.

 

[AlanB]

But do any of them declare their tips on their tax returns?
After all, the tip comes out of your post-tax Euros (Dollars) :angry: .

Konrad,

I can't speak for Amtrak, as I'm not sure what, if any, IRS rules apply to them since they aren't "typical' waiters/waitresses; and I have no idea about the sleeping car attendants.

However, in general, the IRS doesn't trust the wait staff to do the right thing. And after years of many, many cheating the system about 28 years ago give or take one; the IRS imposed a new rule to prevent people from failing to declare their tips properly. At that time, estimates calculated that waiters/waitresses were probably declaring 2% of their tips on their tax returns.

So a procedure was devised whereby every restaurant needed to report to the IRS their total pre-tax sales. The IRS would then take 8% of that total, to allow for no tips or under tippers, and assume that the wait staff in total needed to declare enough monies to reach that total. Failure to reach that 8% total would result in the IRS imposing a levy against all workers evenly to reach the 8% mark.

After that new rule went into place, suddenly the waiters/waitresses started earning a whole lot more money in tips than they had been earning before hand. There was plenty of grumbling and muttering by the wait staffs, but few were willing to under report and risk the wrath of the IRS.

By the way, what I've presented is a bit of an over simplification of how it works, but can you get the idea without needing all the precise details.

 

[user 1215]

I went to Disney World last weekend and noticed in two restaurants that we ate at (both off Disney property) the server wrote in what a 15% tip was and what a 20% was. It was, of course, rounded UP to the next full dollar. At one place, the receipt also had a 15/20% tip suggestion printed on the receipt (calculated to the penny, AFTER sales tax).

The more and more I get ASKED to tip, the less likely I am to comply, or more likely I am to dip below that 15%.

Back to Disney for a sec - when I worked at the Yacht and Beach Club resorts, we mingled with the housekeepers. In the 9 months I did that job, I once heard one housekeeper declare loudly (off "stage", meaning in an employee area) that she got a $100 tip. Now, the Yacht Club is probably the 3rd most luxurious hotel on Disney Property, and this was on a conceirge floor. So, yes, I've seen rich benefactors bless their housekeepers, but for the most part, even at this high rate hotel, the take was a goose egg.

One of the most irritating things I ever heard was listening to servers belly ache about only making $2.15 an hour. At the time, I was making about $7/hr and that was half of what these whiners were taking in.

I also don't agree with restaurants (or other establishments) that require all servers to pool their tips and then distribute them evenly to the whole staff. Back tipping to your busser is sometimes regulated, sometimes not. Depends on the place.

But my NUMBER ONE gripe is when a restaurant owner takes money out of the tip jar and keeps it as revenue. That happened to me once when I worked at a coffee shop. I stopped working there.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

We mostly stay at the the 4-star to 5-star range.

Wow. For someone who claims to not care about lots of money, you sure do spend a lot.

Glad to know the Mandarin Orientals, Conrads, Pan Pacifics, Ritz Carltons and Four Seasons of the world are getting $300-700 per night of your rare resources...

*I* stay at motel 6s and Super 8s and sometimes Holiday Inns and the like. My family tended to stay at the high class joints, and I don't complain when someone else is footing my bill.

I went to Disney World last weekend and noticed in two restaurants that we ate at (both off Disney property) the server wrote in what a 15% tip was and what a 20% was. It was, of course, rounded UP to the next full dollar. At one place, the receipt also had a 15/20% tip suggestion printed on the receipt (calculated to the penny, AFTER sales tax).

There are a lot of people who can't do math. This is intended, I think, to offer people an idea of what a standard tip would be, so that they can extrapolate their tip from there.

 

[RTOlson]

It annoys me these recommended tips includes the sales tax in the calculation. It's kinda underhanded although I guess the cost difference is slight.

Regardless of how one feels about the government, sales tax isn't a direct part of the meal or the service. Thus, it shouldn't be included in the tip.

 

[Upstate]

I calculated 20% because when tipping, I don't care what their salary is, they still did waiter work.

dumbest thing i have read all day, maybe all week.

 

[Neil_M]

Its very simple. If you are not going to go back there again, don't tip.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

I calculated 20% because when tipping, I don't care what their salary is, they still did waiter work.

dumbest thing i have read all day, maybe all week.

The dumbest thing I've read all week is the extreme pride which you seem enjoy in parading your close connections with Ebenezer Scrooge.

Lets remove all the relationship to trains, and what these people make and all that. What you are doing, Mr. Upstate, is sitting here and parading in front of us, a bunch of people who generally like and respect the majority of OBS people who are hard workers, the fact that you, even though you can afford it, enjoy not giving on board service people appropriate tips for services rendered.

You know, I bet quite a few people on this board don't tip, for their own reasons. Not a majority I don't think, but some. But I don't see them strutting about, as you seem so fond of doing, proclaiming that they are a less charitable person than ScottC, and he is stupid for being as generous as he is.

I've made fun of people for being cheap in my life. I'm cheap towards myself, I do my best not to do it with others. I admit I leach, which is an unfortunate byproduct of my current life situation, but at least I have the decency to feel embarrassed and generally keep quiet about it.

If you want to boast and ride people, do it on your virtues, not your vices.

 

[jackal]

We mostly stay at the the 4-star to 5-star range.

Wow. For someone who claims to not care about lots of money, you sure do spend a lot.

Glad to know the Mandarin Orientals, Conrads, Pan Pacifics, Ritz Carltons and Four Seasons of the world are getting $300-700 per night of your rare resources...

*I* stay at motel 6s and Super 8s and sometimes Holiday Inns and the like. My family tended to stay at the high class joints, and I don't complain when someone else is footing my bill.

Ah...my faith in you is restored.

 

[njdon]

This thread ventured into many arenas but unless I missed it there doesn't seem to be any advice, based on experience, regarding the advantages of tipping upon boarding vs. tipping at the end of the trip(in sleeping cars). Has anyone found that by tipping at the beginning they receive some extra degree of service?

 

[AlanB]

This thread ventured into many arenas but unless I missed it there doesn't seem to be any advice, based on experience, regarding the advantages of tipping upon boarding vs. tipping at the end of the trip(in sleeping cars). Has anyone found that by tipping at the beginning they receive some extra degree of service?

Yes, many people have indeed seen some benefit to tipping early. But they've also seen that money go to waste on some occasions. So it's a mixed bag as to what you'll actually get. Which is why most people recommend waiting until the end to tip, unless something extraordinary has been done for you.

And of course there is still the whole idea that tipping is supposed to be based upon service. If you tip up front, you haven't received any service yet.

 

[catblue]

The questions were "Who", "When', and "How Much?". I am still interested in answers for those questions based on what you have done on your Amtrak trips. Thanks!

 

[amtrakwolverine]

if you tip upfront that could be seen as a bribe like you take care of me and (hands the person a $20) i will take care of you LOL

 

[Spokker]

In the cafe car I usually slip a dollar to the attendant at the register because everybody else in line does it. But then again, I don't go to the cafe car often, only on trips longer than 4-5 hours.

 

[D T Nelson]

Tipping up front would be too Al Czervik-esque for my tastes.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

In the cafe car I usually slip a dollar to the attendant at the register because everybody else in line does it. But then again, I don't go to the cafe car often, only on trips longer than 4-5 hours.

What I do, and what I see a lot of other people do, is leave the coin change. $5.50 cheeseburger, 50 cents for the attendant.

 

[ruudkeulers]

What I do, and what I see a lot of other people do, is leave the coin change. $5.50 cheeseburger, 50 cents for the attendant.

Which is very much the way we mainland Europeans do, but that's a different league then how we should (?) handle situations in restaurants or sleeping cars. In those cases and in normal circumstances I would agree with Alan & others: first establish the level of service rendered and then tip accordingly.

 

[MrFSS]

What I do, and what I see a lot of other people do, is leave the coin change. $5.50 cheeseburger, 50 cents for the attendant.

Which is very much the way we mainland Europeans do, but that's a different league then how we should (?) handle situations in restaurants or sleeping cars. In those cases and in normal circumstances I would agree with Alan & others: first establish the level of service rendered and then tip accordingly.

You are absolutely correct. Coming north on the CONO a couple of days ago we had the worst dining car attendant I have ever seen. The cook was even helping out by bring food to the tables as she wouldn't. In all my Amtrak travels (which aren't that many compared to many of you) it is the first time I NEVER tipped in the dinning car. No service, no tip. I didn't see anyone else leaving a tip, either.

 

[Upstate]

You know, I bet quite a few people on this board don't tip, for their own reasons. Not a majority I don't think, but some. But I don't see them strutting about, as you seem so fond of doing, proclaiming that they are a less charitable person than ScottC, and he is stupid for being as generous as he is.

is it a charity or are people taking in appropriate pay for doing their job?

 

[Hanno]

What I do, and what I see a lot of other people do, is leave the coin change. $5.50 cheeseburger, 50 cents for the attendant.

Which is very much the way we mainland Europeans do, but that's a different league then how we should (?) handle situations in restaurants or sleeping cars. In those cases and in normal circumstances I would agree with Alan & others: first establish the level of service rendered and then tip accordingly.

You are absolutely correct. Coming north on the CONO a couple of days ago we had the worst dining car attendant I have ever seen. The cook was even helping out by bring food to the tables as she wouldn't. In all my Amtrak travels (which aren't that many compared to many of you) it is the first time I NEVER tipped in the dinning car. No service, no tip. I didn't see anyone else leaving a tip, either.

I agree totally on the "No service, no tip" policy. I have had some really awful service on a few occasions and also didn't leave anything! A gratuity is a way of showing appreciation for service rendered!

 

[Green Maned Lion]

You know, I bet quite a few people on this board don't tip, for their own reasons. Not a majority I don't think, but some. But I don't see them strutting about, as you seem so fond of doing, proclaiming that they are a less charitable person than ScottC, and he is stupid for being as generous as he is.

is it a charity or are people taking in appropriate pay for doing their job?

Your command of the English language - or lack thereof - stuns me.