Tipping question on dining plan

[tbuot]

I have read that the TS's include gratutities. Is this correct? I want to make sure the CM's get a tip.

 

[investgirlmd]

From the information I have read an 18% tip is included. Of course you can always pay more if you have really good service.

 

[granmaz]

We left more, in varying amounts depending on service, when we were there on the dining plan.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

1) Tipping is already included in the dining plan.
2) The server gets 18% regardless of level of service.

 

[Maria395712]

tip more if they are good they have to tip the busses and the people that got it for free why not
maria

 

[formernyer]

I didn't tip extra because I felt that 18% was more than fair given the inflated prices at the restaurants. Two of my TS meals were for lunch (1 adult and two children eating off the kid's menu)...one of the lunches came to $100 and the other came to $120. I felt that 18% was more than fair for the meals.

My third TS restaurant was CP, which is a buffet. The servers there have a home run with the 18% tip because they don't even have to bring the food to the table!

Don't get me wrong...if service was exceptional or I did a lot of plate sharing at the TS meals, then I would have left something extra. I also would have left extra tip if they brought me the free desserts that sometimes come out on special occasions. Short of something like that though, I have no guilt with leaving only the 18% tip which is already included.

 

[JimMIA]

I have read that the TS's include gratutities. Is this correct? I want to make sure the CM's get a tip.

Yes, both 18% tip and tax are included in the dining plan.

I'm with Maria -- I'll probably tip a little extra, even though I'm paying for my dining plan rather than getting it for "free." I usually tip 20% unless something is wrong. I don't eat in restaurants I think are overpriced, and if I choose to use my TS's for breakfast or lunch, that's my choice...not some shortcoming for which the waitstaff should be punished.

The waitstaff work hard for their money and I still dimly remember working to help defray college expenses. I also understand that a major portion of tip income goes to important beer research, and in the long run, that benefits us all.

 

[KarenAylwood]

The waitstaff work hard for their money and I still dimly remember working to help defray college expenses. I also understand that a major portion of tip income goes to important beer research, and in the long run, that benefits us all.

 

[JimMIA]

That was not meant as a joke...

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

At a buffet, the 18% is more than sufficient in my book.
At a sit down, I consider tipping a bit more if the service deserves it. If it doesn't, they get the 18%. I think we bumped up to 20% or so at Spoodles from 15 (the rate last year) for really good service.

Also remember to tip on anything you pay out of pocket and on beer, wine or other libation research as the case may be. They don't get an automatic tip on anything purchased outside the dining plan.

 

[Houston_Disney_Fan]

We were on the DP last year, and took extra $20 bills for good service. At the end of the meal, we took a vote. The servers earned the extra money 4 times, at Kona Cafe, 50's Prime Time, Coral Reef and WCC. All the others got whatever percentage came with the plan.

We had truly horrible service at Chefs de France, but he got the standard amount anyway. Nothing we could do about it.

 

[kaytieeldr]

I didn't tip extra because I felt that 18% was more than fair given the inflated prices at the restaurants. Two of my TS meals were for lunch (1 adult and two children eating off the kid's menu)...one of the lunches came to $100 and the other came to $120. I felt that 18% was more than fair for the meals.

That's an interesting perspective... especially given that the servers have no say or effect on the food prices...

We had truly horrible service at Chefs de France, but he got the standard amount anyway. Nothing we could do about it.

Okay, sure, you couldn't stop the tip - but if you get poor service in any restaurant, speak to a manager. They can't fix problems they don't know exist.

 

[Stitch65]

We'll be on the DDP in May and I actually plan on tippin the chefs . Why you ask? Well my son has allergies and at every resteraunt he'll need something "special" made for him. Last time we were in the world, I bought a box of "thank you" cards, wrote a quick thank you so much in the middle and stuck about 5 bucks in the card. Yes I know that 5 bucks is peanuts to a chef salary, but I'm hoping that the though will count since 5 bucks is all I can afford for 10 TS's! Since this has nothing to do with the server I'm not adding on to their tips. Now having said that, if we have great service from the waitperson we will leave extra...

 

[formernyer]

That's an interesting perspective... especially given that the servers have no say or effect on the food prices...

Thanks for your rudeness, but you basically just reinforced my point. The server at my $120 lunch received close to $22 as a tip. We were in the restaurant for approximately 75 minutes. That works out to $17.60 per hour from my table alone. He was handling 4 tables that I could tell (maybe more). This means that he was guaranteed tips of $70.40 per hour, which equates to approximately $150,000 per year in tips alone. I won't speculate on what his salary is (and I'm sure it isn't much), but that's just icing on the cake. I'm sure he has to give up a portion of his tips to the bus boys, but it certainly wouldn't be more than 25%. Looks to me like the servers are making WELL OVER $100k per year just to take orders, carry food to the table, and smile pretty.

Go ahead and flame me, but I think 18% is a VERY generous tip, and especially so in the expensive restaurants where the bill is higher for only slightly enhanced service.

 

[Lewisc]

Was that the same waiter that allowed your child an adult appetizer? I would have tipped extra if a waiter did that for me. I certainly agree 18% is a reasonable tip for good service.

Your "analysis" ignores the time at the beginning and end of the waiters shift when he's setting up and not waiting on many tables. I don't think $120 is a typical lunch bill. Your analysis also doesn't take into account that some non-Dining guests may tip less than the appropriate amount. I'd think the nice thing about MYW Dining guests is the problem of getting stiffed by a rude or ignorant guest is gone.


Unless it's changed for 2006 most of the non-Disney owned restaurants like Chefs De France base the servers tip on the money Disney is paying them, less than $25, and not on the menu price of the food ordered.

Thanks for your rudeness, but you basically just reinforced my point. The server at my $120 lunch received close to $22 as a tip. We were in the restaurant for approximately 75 minutes. That works out to $17.60 per hour from my table alone. He was handling 4 tables that I could tell (maybe more). This means that he was guaranteed tips of $70.40 per hour, which equates to approximately $150,000 per year in tips alone. I won't speculate on what his salary is (and I'm sure it isn't much), but that's just icing on the cake. I'm sure he has to give up a portion of his tips to the bus boys, but it certainly wouldn't be more than 25%. Looks to me like the servers are making WELL OVER $100k per year just to take orders, carry food to the table, and smile pretty.

Go ahead and flame me, but I think 18% is a VERY generous tip, and especially so in the expensive restaurants where the bill is higher for only slightly enhanced service.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

That's an interesting perspective... especially given that the servers have no say or effect on the food prices..

I don't think he was trying to blame them for the food prices. I think he was trying to point out that in a place like your local American Bistro, a family of 4 runs up maybe a $60 tab. At 15% there, that's $9 on the tip. At 20% that's 12.

Not to compare the quality of Disney with a local American Bistro but we ran up about $280 at Spoodles counting the drinks we paid for out of pocket. That's $42. 50.4 now at 18%. And note we did cash tip for the drinks. And let's face it. When we're at our local American Bistro, we might get the salad or chicken to keep the cost down. On disney dining, it's the expensive stuff.
There's a difference in his mind between the two. Someone that's slaving away making 9 bux on an hour and a half a table might prompt a bump up for excellent service much more readily than someone already making 42. Yes I know tips must be shared. But that is the case in both places. Now we did indeed bump him up to 20% at Spoodles because the service was truly outstanding that night. But I can see the guy's point.

 

[Mom of Sleepy Bashful and BabyDoc]

I don't think he was trying to blame them for the food prices. I think he was trying to point out that in a place like your local American Bistro, a family of 4 runs up maybe a $60 tab. At 15% there, that's $9 on the tip. At 20% that's 12.

Not to compare the quality of Disney with a local American Bistro but we ran up about $280 at Spoodles counting the drinks we paid for out of pocket. That's $42. 50.4 now at 18%. And note we did cash tip for the drinks. And let's face it. When we're at our local American Bistro, we might get the salad or chicken to keep the cost down. On disney dining, it's the expensive stuff.
There's a difference in his mind between the two. Someone that's slaving away making 9 bux on an hour and a half a table might prompt a bump up for excellent service much more readily than someone already making 42. Yes I know tips must be shared. But that is the case in both places. Now we did indeed bump him up to 20% at Spoodles because the service was truly outstanding that night. But I can see the guy's point.

Yea, me too. Unless you are in a big city, WDW meal prices are high. And on the dining plan, a family of three could easily spend $90 or more on lunch at say, Le Cellier.

Our family of 5 will spend over $150 at Chefs de France! That's at least $27 for the server and more if they are good because I will give them a bit more tip. I wish I would have made that when working at any of the three restaurants I have worked at in the past.

 

[formernyer]

I don't think he was trying to blame them for the food prices. I think he was trying to point out that in a place like your local American Bistro, a family of 4 runs up maybe a $60 tab. At 15% there, that's $9 on the tip. At 20% that's 12.

Not to compare the quality of Disney with a local American Bistro but we ran up about $280 at Spoodles counting the drinks we paid for out of pocket. That's $42. 50.4 now at 18%. And note we did cash tip for the drinks. And let's face it. When we're at our local American Bistro, we might get the salad or chicken to keep the cost down. On disney dining, it's the expensive stuff.
There's a difference in his mind between the two. Someone that's slaving away making 9 bux on an hour and a half a table might prompt a bump up for excellent service much more readily than someone already making 42. Yes I know tips must be shared. But that is the case in both places. Now we did indeed bump him up to 20% at Spoodles because the service was truly outstanding that night. But I can see the guy's point.

Maybe we're thinking alike and I just read his comment wrong. I know there there are general rules on tipping, but I just don't happen to agree with them in extreme cases. Let me offer an example...

Let's say I go into a restaurant and order just a plain cup of coffee. I'm waited on by the server and the server brings me the cup of coffee, brings me a refill if I want it, brings me my bill, and cleans up the table when I'm done. My bill comes to around $1 give or take depending on the place. I would never leave less than a $.50 tip and in most cases I'd leave $1. That's 50% to 100% of my bill. By acceptable "rules" I should only have to leave $.15 to $.20.

Similar situation...A family of four eats at a Chinese restaurant and the meals are only $4.99 each (not unheard of around here). Add in your cokes and your looking at a total bill of about $25. I would probably leave a minimum tip of $6 tip, but not because I applied some sort of percentage...I would just figure that the server deserved no less than $1.50 per person, even though it works out to 24% of the bill.

On the other hand, I'll use your example at Spoodles. You ran up a $280 bill for 4 people. The server is probably a bit more experienced/sophisticated than the chinese food server, he probably did a bit more work for his tip (since there would be an extra course and he probably talked to you about daily specials), and I think he would certainly deserve more than $1.50 per guest. But do I believe he deserves the $50+ that he is receiving from the DDP simply because 18% is considered the standard tip? No, I don't. I won't repeat my analysis from before (which Lewisc found the flaws in as usual), but simply put...he's serving around 4 tables at a time...that's $200 an hour. I'm by no means trying to put down waiters, but I honestly don't believe it's a job which deserves wages of $200 per hour. Most college graduates with many, many years of work experience never earn that high a wage in their life. Flame me if you wish, but if I was paying OOP for the Spoodles meal (which I would never do simply because it's out of my league), I'd leave either a $25 or $30 tip depending on the service I received. Even at that, I'd feel like the server was being very much overpaid for the work he performed.

 

[QueenT]

I'd be curious to know the actual annual take home of servers at some of the TS restaurants at WDW. DD21 is a server at a high - mid restaurant, Macaroni Grill, in the Dallas area.

It is usually busy there, average dinner w/ drinks for 4 people probably runs around 80$, which at 20% would give her a 16$ tip.

In that type of restaurant servers cover 3 - 4 tables max. Turnover is maybe 1hr per table avg. Bigger groups sit longer. Dinner shifts run 4-5 hrs.

She works 40 hrs/wk, works like a dog, is in the top end of server sales ($/head), & after taxes takes home maybe 10$/hr. A far cry from 100 - 150k.

Why? There is no enforced gratuity (apparently there is on the plan). Some people tip more than 20%, many tip less, sometimes much less. Salary is a mere 2.50/hr or some ridiculous amount, it covers taxes just about, doesn't usually cover her insurance.

Also they work a 3 - 4 hr shift for lunch, 4-5 for dinner. Most days only include 1 shift, my daughter has to work doubles (lunch + dinner) to make enough $$. In a shift, even when they are on a wait, there will be dead spots while they wait the table to be cleared, the host to seat the guests, etc. Sometimes a long wait. They also have seasonal slow/busy times that impact income. If the cooks screw up the server is the one who doesn't make money, chefs are salaried. If she gets hurt or is sick, too bad, no paid time off, no disability.

That being said, if she were making an enforced 18% she would be ecstatic. Anything on top of that would be excellent. I don't think she would end up with anywhere close to 100k though.

If they make that much down there, maybe I should send her!

 

[formernyer]

I'd be curious to know the actual annual take home of servers at some of the TS restaurants at WDW. DD21 is a server at a high - mid restaurant, Macaroni Grill, in the Dallas area.

It is usually busy there, average dinner w/ drinks for 4 people probably runs around 80$, which at 20% would give her a 16$ tip.

In that type of restaurant servers cover 3 - 4 tables max. Turnover is maybe 1hr per table avg. Bigger groups sit longer. Dinner shifts run 4-5 hrs.

She works 40 hrs/wk, works like a dog, is in the top end of server sales ($/head), & after taxes takes home maybe 10$/hr. A far cry from 100 - 150k.

Why? There is no enforced gratuity (apparently there is on the plan). Some people tip more than 20%, many tip less, sometimes much less. Salary is a mere 2.50/hr or some ridiculous amount, it covers taxes just about, doesn't usually cover her insurance.

Also they work a 3 - 4 hr shift for lunch, 4-5 for dinner. Most days only include 1 shift, my daughter has to work doubles (lunch + dinner) to make enough $$. In a shift, even when they are on a wait, there will be dead spots while they wait the table to be cleared, the host to seat the guests, etc. Sometimes a long wait. They also have seasonal slow/busy times that impact income. If the cooks screw up the server is the one who doesn't make money, chefs are salaried. If she gets hurt or is sick, too bad, no paid time off, no disability.

That being said, if she were making an enforced 18% she would be ecstatic. Anything on top of that would be excellent. I don't think she would end up with anywhere close to 100k though.

If they make that much down there, maybe I should send her!

Based on the facts you provided it is very hard to imagine coming up with a $10/hour figure. You stated that she gets $2.50/hour in salary, so you're saying that her tips are only $7.50/hour??? You already stated that she serves 3-4 tables per hour with an average bill of $80. You stated that some pay 20% and some pay a lot less. Let's assume an average of 15% on an average of 2.5 tables per hour (which allows for down time on the 3-4 tables per hour average). That still works out to $30/hour in tips. Let's assume she has to turn 25% of that over to the bus boys. You're still at $22.50, plus $2.50 in salary for a total of $25/ hour. That's a far cry from $10/hour!!! Even if my assumptions and math are off by a little, they certainly aren't off by that much! You mentioned "after-taxes"...let's keep in mind that salary is measured net unless you're analyzing personal finances. When was the last time you were offered a job and the offer was made on a net basis? Taxes differ greatly by person and are not expected to be deducted when throwing around salary figures. The assumptions I made about the amount Disney servers must be making were gross salary amounts. Of course taxes, insurance, etc. must come out of that. Those are expenses...not salary.

To address the other part of this topic, it would be hard to compare Disney to a non-Disney server job. For one, they are booked to capacity from the time the restaurant opens until the time it closes, every single day (this may be new since the DDP, but that's the way it is now). Tables are not empty for long at all. There is less than 5 minutes between the time that one party leaves and the next is seated, so down-time is minimal. Prices are much higher...even without alcohol, you can't feed a family of 4 for $80 at Disney. I'd venture to say that the average bill for a family of 4 at a non-buffet TS in Disney is somewhere in the $125-$175 range. Some of the buffets come close to $80 if you are paying child's price for two of the meals, but you can't really compare the buffets to sit-downs since the servers do a lot less work (although in Disney they still get 18% guaranteed).