The key here is tipping for the service you get, but also whether the waiters are compensated for providing take out service. Let's take Pei Wei. They are set up with separate employees, separate door, separate cash register, separate counter, to give take out orders to customers. I am assuming those employees are paid a salary, and don't live mainly off tips. There is no tip jar out there., either. Compare that to a nicer restaurant, like Cool River. If you call up and order a couple of steaks to go, I'll bet a waiter takes the order, packages it, acts as his own cashier and collects from you when you arrive, while getting paid practically nothing because they get really good tips for table service. This takes as much time, if not more, than serving someone the same items at the table, and you should tip for it.
I have no problem leaving a small (read 5%) tip for takeout... Because they are typically getting you your food fast and that person still has to get tips. But... 1. I do takeout to save money... ie. I won't have the expense of drinking drinks and having dessert etc. 2. I'm saving the restaurant a seat. That's right they get my money, and don't have to have me sit for an hour which means they aren't able to serve another potential customer. Part of me wonders why its not CHEAPER. Because part of the cost of their food has to be the time it takes you to eat and the service and the a/c and the free refills, etc. Some places actually will not allow specials or have jacked up prices on take out. MAKES NO SENSE!
what happens when i get home and the order is screwed up...its not like im at a table in the restaurant and can return it...im screwed. do u think ill get the automatic tip back? which brings back the orginal argument that a tip is a reward for service FOLLOWING a mean...it is not a service charge...if they want to create a to go service charge fine, but dont call it gratuity.
also, on to go orders you are not paying the cost of replacing table cloths, utinsels, plates, glasses, ice , water, washing the aforementioend items and paying someone to clean tables, wash dishes, etc. take out is considerably more cost efficient. it is one of the reasons chinese restaurants are some of the most cost efficient...that and the road kill they serve from the back alley..but that is a totally separate issue....
Again, you over-privileged dilettantes are blaming the waiter for things that have no bearing on his task. The waiter does not rent a space, pay for tablecloths, pay for washing plates, or profit from $3 iced tea. They have to stop waiting on tables, answer your phone call, listen to you trying to decide what to order, turn in the order, get it from the cook, make your baked potato, package a bunch of croutons, salad dressing, other stuff, leave the people who are going to actually tip him, find the phone order guy in the busy lobby, get paid, make change-this takes exactly the same time it takes to wait on a table. The waiter isn't standing by the table waiting for you every second while you are at a table, he's doing other things. Again, this doesn't apply to Popeye's or Pei Wei or Sonic. Maybe the restaurant should charge less for takeout food, but they don't, and that doesn't have anything to do with the poor waiter you are bending over and shafting while you walk back to your Mercedes complaining about the overpriced food you just bought. Another thing, at the place I worked, we had to put 10% of our tip pool, defined as 10% of our total food sales (each waiter was his own cashier), to go to the bus boys and hostesses. Again, to go orderers who did not tip cost us money. It was like armed robbers entering the establishment, except without the guns. Maybe you all should just get to go at McDonald's and leave the nicer restaurants in peace. And all college students should have to be a waiter for one summer, so they could learn some basic facts about the workplace.
EDIT In an attempt to be provacative I over stated my case, so now I'm backtracking. In any event, AccurateHorn, you waited tables, you didn't cure cancer. Get over yourself.
ive made possibly over a thousand takeout orders in my lifetime and the phone is and order is never taken by a waiter..it is usually the hostess or bartender...two places where the phone is located. the waiter shouldnt be near the phone, he/she should be out servicing the clientele. i used to wait tables at one of the pappas restaurants when i was in school..same rule applied there.
I just wanted to add something that I've already said.Waiters and Waitresses make minimum wage. If the tips don't make up the difference, they are still paid at least the federal minimum wage. So let's get off this argument of how much they make or how much work they do. Lots of people work a LOT harder than any waiter in this world and still only make minimum wage.
