Uber’s goal is to make the process of hailing a cab seamless and easy, without requiring users to carry cash or even have any idea what street address they’re at. The company’s success shows how much people like this integrated pricing model, but as the company lowers fares, drivers earn less money. Yet asking for tips, even with a sign in the backseat, can get a driver in trouble. [More]
tips
Waitress Caught Editing Customers’ Tips To Add $10 Or $20 For Herself
By 2.13.15
One good reason to pay your restaurant bill in cash: Tipped employees get that money right away without having to worry about being docked fees for card-processing. Another good reason: A scammy server can’t artificially inflate your credit card tip with some crafty work of the pen. [More]
Crowdfunding Page Seeking Tips For Pizza Delivery Guy Hits $20K In Donations
By 1.16.15
He didn’t get the $7 tip he was forced to return for delivering pizzas, but now it seems a pizzeria worker who was stiffed the first time around by a Massachusetts car dealership will be doing just fine: A GoFundMe campaign set up by a stranger who saw the video and was outraged has hit $20,600 (as of Friday afternoon) in donations in just two days. [More]
Passenger Tips Philly Cab Driver Almost $1,000 For A Two-Minute Trip
By 1.15.15
It’s a dream come true for anyone who depends largely the generosity of others to make a living — land a huge tip for a small or otherwise not difficult job, and walk away happy. But one Philadelphia cab driver was so shocked by an almost $1,000 tip for a two-minute that he was more worried the passenger had made a mistake than he was excited about his windfall, at first. [More]
L.A. Restaurant Adds Gratuity Line For Kitchen Staff To Every Check
By 12.4.14
While it’s surely the mark of a good consumer to reward a server for taking orders and ferrying food to and from the kitchen, what about the people on the front lines who are making that cuisine happen? Though many restaurants pool tips to ensure that line cooks and other kitchen staff get a piece of the pie, some workers feel they’re not getting their fair share of gratuities. That environment has prompted one L.A. restaurant to add a line to all checks to make up for any tipping gaps. [More]
Florida Couple Tips Waiter $1,500 And Buys A Few Cases Of Beer For The Staff
By 11.12.14
There are some stories we’re sick of hearing about frequently — consumers behaving badly, data breaches and scummy scammers — and then there are those that only increase in delight the more often we encounter them. In yet another example of the generosity of strangers, a Florida couple tipped their waiter $1,500 and bought a few cases of beer for the entire staff to share. [More]
College Students Pitch In To Tip Delivery Driver $1,268 For Two Pizzas
By 10.10.14
Tipping a lot for pizza isn’t unusual — how else can one adequately express thanks for delivering a cheesey piece of heaven? — but in most cases, “a lot” means maybe $10. But when a bunch of college students pooled their resources to make one pizza guy’s night, they managed to drop a pretty hefty chunk of change on just two pizzas, giving him a $1,268 tip. [More]
Restaurant Owner Won’t Apologize For Shaming LeSean McCoy Over $.20 Tip
By 9.9.14
Not to overwhelm the pages of Consumerist with stories about NFL running backs, but when the league’s best set of legs shows himself out to be one of the country’s worst tippers, we can’t not cover the story. [More]
Restaurant Realizes Maybe It Shouldn’t Force Servers To Pay Credit Card Fees Out Of Tips
By 8.21.14
Earlier this month we told you about the Minnesota restaurant owners who decided the best way to offset increases to the state’s minimum wage was to deduct credit card transaction fees from servers’ tips. While it’s legal for businesses to do this, a poll of Consumerist readers found that 91% of you think it’s not a wise idea. Looks like the restaurant owners have finally gotten that message. [More]
Restaurants Can Deduct Credit Card Fees From Servers’ Tips, But Should They?
By 8.7.14
A few days ago, the minimum wage in Minnesota increased for the first time in years to $8/hour, putting it slightly above the federal minimum of $7.25. Some businesses are responding to the pay hike by tacking on “minimum wage” fees to customers or by taking credit card service charges out of servers’ tips. [More]
Servers Sue Celebrity Chef Daniel Boulud For Wage Theft
By 6.12.14
Workers at Daniel Boulud’s eponymous restaurant in New York City who ferry $220 meals to customers say the Michelin-starred chef has been cheating them out of tips and other wages. [More]
Waffle House Sort Of Sorry For Refunding Waitress’s $1,000 Tip
By 6.11.14
Yesterday we told you about the Waffle House waitress in North Carolina whose $1,000 tip was automatically refunded to the customer who’d left it because of a policy at the restaurant chain. After being shamed in the media for keeping one of its employees from keeping money that would have greatly improved her life, Waffle House is now saying that maybe it should reconsider things. [More]
Waffle House Policy Keeps Waitress From Keeping $1,000 Tip
By 6.10.14
If you’re looking to leave a very special tip for your Waffle House server, do it with cash. That’s the lesson learned from the story of one WH waitress in North Carolina who couldn’t keep the 4-digit tip left by a generous customer. [More]
If Someone Left You A $5,000 Tip, Would You Share The Wealth With Co-Workers?
By 5.9.14
The “Tips for Jesus” movement appears to have struck again, with a mystery diner here in Philadelphia giving a $5,000 tip to his waitress and leaving another $2,000 for the restaurant’s bartender. These two can now do what they want with the money, but what about the co-workers who weren’t lucky enough to serve the generous tipper? [More]
Bartender’s Dog Makes Full Recovery After Customer Left $1,000 Tip For Pet’s Surgery
By 5.2.14
It’s Friday, which makes it the perfect time to relay this happy news: Tucker the Dog, whose owner is a bartender who received a $1,000 tip to help pay for his surgery, is making a full recovery. He had to undergo emergency surgery to after swallowing a plastic ball. “”There are so many nice people out there,” she said of Tucker’s well-wishers. “We really got lucky.” [NJ.com] [More]
Customer Leaves $1,000 Tip To Help Bartender Pay For Her Dog’s Emergency Surgery
By 4.25.14
Kindred spirits are a wily sort of spirit — you never know when you’re going to run into someone who has a lot in common with your life. And while it’s reward enough to share interests with a stranger, when that sharing leads to a whopper of a tip, well then, that’s extra nice. [More]
Waitress Nets $1,000 Tip, Tickets To Hawaii, A New Car & Her Dream Job In Best Prank Ever
By 4.1.14
We know, we know — you’re feeling weary of all things April Fool’s Day/prankish. But bear with this one, because it’ll probably make your insides feel warm and glowy, whether through jealousy or because a deserving waitress just got a crapload of awesome tips during her shift as part of a delightful prank. [More]
Restaurant Industry Says Servers Don’t Need A Pay Raise
By 3.26.14
Earlier today, a White House report called on Congress to raise the federal minimum wage for tipped employees for the first time since 1991. A trade group representing the restaurant industry fired back at the report, claiming that servers are already paid well enough. [More]
