So I was at Panera Bread today with a friend. They had one of the credit card machines that

[Maraya1969]

asks you how much of a tip you want to leave and gives you examples like 15% etc. only you are not sitting at a table but standing behind the register. I must have said something to my friend such as, "I hate these things', So the girl at the register mistakenly said "Oh we don't get that money"

So I thought that Panera was playing that "take the tip from the employee game" and wanted to speak to the manager. The manager said that the money was for all employees and that the girl at the register was new and didn't know yet. So I said, "Why doesn't Panera Bread just pay their employees more?

It now occurs to me that this very much like fraud by making it seem like you are paying wait staff. WHY DOESN'T PANERA BREAD AND EVERY OTHER COMPANY PULLING THIS KIND OF DECEIT JUST PAY THEIR EMPLOYEES MORE?

Tips used to be given to a person for their services. As a waitress many years ago I know that is what I was working for. You were paid peanuts because you were paid in tips and it made you much better at your job because of it.

I can't find the current CEO's salary but the previous one made 3 million in 2015. I imagine it is a lot higher than that.

[dalton99a]

1. It is now privately owned

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JAB_Holding_Company

Subsidiaries
Coty, Inc.
Peet's Coffee
Mighty Leaf Tea
Caribou Coffee
Jacobs Douwe Egberts
Einstein Bros. Bagels
Keurig Dr Pepper
Krispy Kreme
Panera Bread
Au Bon Pain
Paradise Bakery & Café
Bruegger's
Pret A Manger
Insomnia Cookies

[TeamPooka]

2. They own the whole damn food court

[RainCaster]

7. And a large part of the airport too

[MyMission]

77. Owned by a Nazi family that supported Hitler

Very interesting story. Thank for posting.

I keep a list and boycott those companies because their family wealth was built by their support of Hitler and their use of forced Jewish labor. My dollars won't help them pay the pseudo-reparations they've pledged.

Controversy (from Wikipedia)

On 24 March 2019, the family admitted that Albert Reimann Sr. and Albert Reimann Jr. were supporters of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party, and that historical research revealed that the company used 175 forced labourers and employed a foreman who was known for his cruel treatment from 1943 onwards.[32] The family has vowed to give €10 million (US$11.3 million) to charity.[33]

Two months later, several of the Reimanns revealed to The New York Times that their mother, Emilie Landecker, Albert Jr.'s mistress, baptized as a Catholic like her mother, was the daughter of Alfred Landecker, a Jewish man deported to the Izbica Ghetto in 1942. His ultimate fate is unknown although many Jews sent to Izbica were held there pending transport to the Belzec and Sobibor extermination camps. They have renamed the family foundation after him and doubled its budget to €25 million (US$28.2 million), to fund projects that honor the victims of the Holocaust and Nazism.[34]

And about tipping:
I always keep extra cash for tipping so servers can take it home, and so it doesn't get recorded or taxed. If I'm served at a counter (rather than table service) I often put some cash in their tip jar, especially if I'm eating in. If it's take out I tip less because they aren't cleaning my table or washing my tray or cup.

[doc03]

3. Last time I went to Panera I ordered a half

sandwich and half salad and water. Total $13.07 I cancelled my order and walked out.

[iluvtennis]

29. agree, prices aren't cheap at Panera, so don't understand why they can't give the workers a bit more

[LibDemAlways]

34. Been to Panera exactly once.

Overpriced and nothing special. Not going back.

[Captain Zero]

55. totally agree

Nothing Special sums them up for me. Campbell's Chunky Soup $1.75 on sale at grocery.

[durablend]

62. It's the only place

Where a reheated bagel would close to ignite in my microwave. Dunno what the hell they put in them.

[calimary]

68. I've never been in one.

But this is illuminating for other restaurants where I have indeed seen this. I think I’ll start tipping in cash. That way the server who earned it will get it.

[soldierant]

84. Be sure to hand it to the server

so the bus-person doesn't get it all (if the server wants to share with the bus-person, they still can.)

[MichMan]

85. I was once a busboy for several months while in college in the late 70's

Last edited Mon Oct 7, 2019, 08:53 PM - Edit history (1)

While I was lucky to earn $20 gross for working an entire shift for minimum wage, the servers would openly brag about taking home $100 a night in untaxed cash. One time, one of them give me $1.

[soldierant]

89. OK, that's crappy.

[calimary]

88. Yes. The direct approach.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

35. Half a sandwich? You on a diet?

[doc03]

41. My budget is on a diet. What would a whole one with a salad run $20?

I went across the street to Bob Evans and got a country fried steak with potato and vegetable for $7.99.

[tblue37]

51. Their half sandwiches feel like whole sandwiches to me. nt

[kcr]

66. Same. They're really two sandwiches

If I order a whole "sandwich", I wrap the second one for lunch the next day.

[cwydro]

75. I frequently order just half a sandwich.

I just can’t eat these huge helpings regularly served in most restaurants.

[louis-t]

80. I stopped while in Cleveland on Saturday.

I had a $5 gift card. Half a sandwich and lemonade, nearly $10. Prices there seem to go up at 3x the rate of inflation.

[Me.]

4. I Only Tip In Cash These Days

I make sure to have cash when I go out

[Hortensis]

12. That's our preference also. Tips should not enable gross

underpayment of employees.

[Me.]

17. ...

[George II]

25. I've done that for years, figuring the service person gets to take home some case each night.....

I got into that habit when I was driving a cab while in college (MANY years ago!) It was the kind of job where there wasn't a regular schedule, just show up at the garage when you wanted/needed to work - it was first come first serve (they had about 50 cabs) When I found myself short of cash I'd go in and end the night with $50-60 cash. Regular shifts were about 4-midnight, but I was young and ambitious (or stupid) so I'd go in about 1 PM and work until 1 or 2 AM. Sometimes I got yelled at for coming in too early - EVERY garage had a crabby guy in a cage just like Louie DePalma of "Taxi".

Anyway, I've gotten off topic - from that experience I learned how important tips were and how a cash tip was appreciated.

[Me.]

38. ...

[Nay]

33. That is what we do as well. I want our actual waitress to get the tip, and for her to

get cash.

[Me.]

37. I Really Dislike How Some Big Companies

are so greedy they nickel and dime their own employees.

[oldsoftie]

59. And cash cant be tracked. Dont let the govt takes the cash option away

[Me.]

73. +1

[KPN]

71. Good on you. Ditto here unless i'm in a cashless

situation I can’t easily fix at the moment. The folks who provide the service prefer and appreciate cash as well. With our less than progressive income tax system, I don’t really care if most of those cash tips go unreported at income tax time. I say until the industry pays them what they deserve, more power to the service folks!

[Me.]

72. I Don't Care Either If The Tips Go Unreported

They earn little enough as it is

[Backseat Driver]

5. Hah! - did anyone try one of the new grain bowls?

It's not uncommon at the better restaurants (not usually the cattle line order at a register type) to divide up a server's tip and share it by percentage with the hostess, bartender, busser, and even back of house; additionally, for all but upper management, the wages of the diners are also stagnant. The gap is obscene, and the labor stats are FUBAR!

[spooky3]

6. I ordered from a food delivery service

and the web form gave options for tips. I chose zero because I wanted to pay the driver in cash for exactly that reason—that the driver would otherwise get next to nothing. But after I submitted the order the company charged me 20% despite my choice. I immediately emailed them to complain and got a standard corporatespeak response.

I consider that worse than fraud.

Will never order from them again.

[TeamPooka]

11. File a complaint with your credit card company

It’s the only way that delivery service will learn and they take those complaints very seriously

[Drahthaardogs]

8. Why would you tip someone at Panera?

This gratuity shit is getting out of hand.

[lunasun]

24. 100% agree I went to buy some veggie juices premade off a shelf at a place this week to go &

after using my credit card to pay at the station it asked me on the screen if I want to leave a 10%-20% tip . For what ?ringing me up ???

[cwydro]

76. Agree. I'm a good tipper, but generally don't tip someone at a register.

That’s just silly.

If I wanted to tip them, I’d give them cash.

[Hotler]

9. I don't tip take out, and I don't put the tips on the credit card.

I give tips in cash.

[C Moon]

82. My friend's a waiter at a local steak house.

He gets PISSED when people don't tip for take out, and not only that, when people only tip a couple of dollars, he'll tell them to keep it. :O
He said it takes a lot of time putting the orders together, and people should give good tips.

Personally, we leave a few dollars for take out. I don't know that I would tip 20% for take out unless they did something special for the order.

Anyways, I'm kind of with you on that one.

[Hotler]

87. Who orders a steak to go? When I talk take out....

I mean fast food. I don't order a sit down meals to go. I like to enjoy them fresh and hot.

[WestLosAngelesGal]

10. When I worked as a server...

When I worked as a server... I never received one tip from my credit card sales.

Ever since, I always tip my server in cash.

[dalton99a]

15. +1

[Leith]

23. Same here

Management keeps most tips given via credit card. It's yet another nasty thing they do to the employees who do the work to keep the business running.

[at140]

53. Your restaurant was not honest

Most wait staff I talk to said they will get a share of tip left on credit cards.

[kimbutgar]

13. I never tip on takeout food.

And I try to tip in cash when I dine in. My husband’s niece says that’s the only way they get to keep the tips.

[Maraya1969]

46. I wish an investigative journalist would done a story on all of this.

[bucolic_frolic]

14. Find good locally owned restaurants

where the money goes to the owners and the employees and therefore stays in the community.

Some of these chain restaurants I can't get past the odor.

And it's really a question of "how much of your money goes into the food?"

If you add stockholders, investment banking, global management, royalties - there is a lot less for your food and a lot more going to wealthy people. Yet Americans eat at hideous chain restaurants every day.

There's nothing like a family owned restaurant.

[unblock]

16. If all that's going on is tip pooling, I have no problem with that

Tip pooling lets the people washing dishes pick up a bit extra. It also encourages everyone to act as a team, do waitstaff is more likely to cover each other's tables when someone is slammed or needs a break.

Ever try to get a drink refill when your server is on break and there are three other servers ignoring you? Tip pooling reduces that considerably.


That said, if what's really going on is tip theft by management, obviously that's unforgivable.

[getagrip_already]

18. it's only ok if .....

Management is barred from taking a share (it is actually illegal in MA). What used to happen was everyone from the GM down got a tip in "proportion" to their earnings, so naturally mgmt got the lions share.

Management doesn't deserve a share of tips. They are on salary with benefits. They may also be ownership.

[Susan Calvin]

26. Thank you, I did not know that.

The only people who get a tip should be people who serve me, people who prepare the food, and people who clean up.

[Maraya1969]

81. Just remember the point. At Panera you stand at the register and order and you are expected

to bus your own tables.

The ones who should be tipping these people are the corporate owners who are actually skimming absurd amounts of money for themselves and expecting their customers to pay their employees for them.

[unblock]

30. I agree

[cannabis_flower]

70. I don't consider tip sharing ok

It's only okay if the wait staff is paid the same wage as the kitchen staff. Restaurants are allowed to pay tipped employees less. In Texas kitchen staff have to be paid minimum wage of $7.25 /hour. Waiters only have to be paid $2.13/hour.

[Maraya1969]

78. You know what? It's not OK because this is not a restaurant where someone waits on you.

I didn't even realize until later yesterday that you are supposed to bus your own tables! Now I remember going to another Panera Bread years ago and bussing my table - BUT I didn't pay extra at the register for someone to do that!

The fucking nerve of these people. I think I am going to go on Yelp and Google and give some reviews to let others who, like me until yesterday are blissfully unaware of having my pockets picked once again by corporate America!

[getagrip_already]

79. Then don't leave a tip - your choice...

You don't have to tip for takeout, or even at a served table. It's your choice. It's your choice to not give a few bucks to the homeless, or to charities that do relief work, or give presents on special occasions (like trump).

Your choice.

So is voting. So is party affiliation.

Just saying.

[Maraya1969]

57. You stand at the counter and order and you are

expected to bus your own tables.

[unblock]

61. You don't have to tip in that sort of place

I usually tip $1 though.

[yaesu]

19. the only time i eat out is during the summer when I'm traveling, I can cook much better dishes

than what is found in restaurants around here and I enjoy cooking.

[Trueblue Texan]

20. There is a bar in town...

...where we've gone there to shoot pool a couple times. I always put the tip on the card and I've noticed on my statement the tip is never charged. I wonder now if the waitress just isn't ringing up the tip because she figures she won't get it anyway. Next time I'm going to ask. Maybe I should make all my tips cash ones.

[madinmaryland]

27. I've noticed that also. I have seen it in many places over the last ten years.

[cwydro]

21. Well, now the girl at the register is in trouble.

I just tip them with cash.

[Maraya1969]

50. No because when I spoke to the manager she just said that girls was new and didn't know. She was

not in trouble.

[Mr.Bill]

22. In California, restaurant workers get full minimum wage.

The amount of tips does not lower their hourly pay. Many restaurants do tip sharing, and are allowed to do so by law. Like someone else mentioned, this promotes working as a team and gets some of the tip money to the people in the kitchen you don't see. If you tip in cash, that waitperson is still required to pool that money. Pocketing it can get them in trouble or even fired.

I tended bar at a country club for awhile. When two people come in for dinner and their bill is, say, $75 and $30 of it was drinks I made, I should be entitled to some of that tip, even though the people never saw me.

[Maraya1969]

47. Yea, when I worked at a different restaurant we gave a percentage of our tips to the bartender and

bus boy (bus people)

[Trailrider1951]

28. The only time I tip take-out service

is if it's a family-run business. Example: My local Teriyaki place in Orting. Family owned and operated. The food is always fresh, cooked to perfection, and served up with a smile and a few pleasantries. Always worth 20%.

[ooky]

31. After reading this thread, I am going to all cash tips.

[Beringia]

36. Me too

[AllaN01Bear]

32. i have always tipped in cash. friend of mine couldnt figure out why i always left a proper tip.

[Initech]

39. I never, EVER leave tips on those machines, for that reason.

I don't know how places like this don't get dinged for wage theft, because that's exactly what it is.

[mtngirl47]

40. They offer to add the tip on the credit card because

most people don't carry cash.

I have a small store at my business and I sell candy and ice cream, etc. People want to buy a candy bar for 87 cents with their debit card.

My daughter worked as a waitress and bartender all through college so I know to tip in cash.

[Maraya1969]

49. I wouldn't use a card at small business but I'll happily pay for a pack of gum at 7/11 with my card

[Phentex]

42. It's expensive to eat there and I figured it's not necessary to tip...

someone takes your order, you pick it up and then drop off your own dishes. The staff should be paid well for doing whatever it is they do. But I can't imagine the prices going any higher for what you get. Sometimes I tip a dollar using the machine. I'm not really sure why.

[Maraya1969]

48. You are supposed to bus your own table too! My friend kind of suggested that to me and I was like

"No that doesn't make sense" But then again why would they have the baggage center there is they didn't want people to bus their own tables.

[Thunderbeast]

43. I ate at a restaurant on the Oregon coast this summer

A sign on the wall reminded patrons that the FEDERAL minimum wage for tipped workers is $2.15 per hour. A SAD situation, I admit. Clearly it was posted to encourage generous gratuities.
While the sign is technically accurate, it failed to mention that the minimum wage for ALL workers in Oregon is at least $11.25 per hour. It is higher in urban counties.

I found the posting of the sign deceptive and dishonest. While I don't begrudge the wait staff, I have had my last breakfast at this establishment. I left quite GRUMPY!

[druidity33]

58. They're required by law to post that...

most businesses post it in the "break" area, but some places don't have a break area and/or wall space that is available to just employees.

[Thunderbeast]

67. In Oregon, they must post Oregon's minimum wage law.

[YOHABLO]

44. I've noticed the tip jar at Starbucks, why are we tipping employees to run a cash register?

WTF? So Panera is not paying their employees enough money to live on? HA just a joke there. Of course they're not, and many restaurant chains are getting away with murder. McDonald's employees in Denmark, and I do mean Europe, are paid $20 dollars and hour. So much for that socialism going on over there. Must really suck.

[Duppers]

45. Not surprising to me.

I'm just not trusting. Leave cash tips, folks.

[at140]

52. I like the American tipping system!

Countries in Europe and Australia include "service charge" in your bill so there is no additional tipping.
I prefer to pay tip based on quality of service. If waiter service was cheerful and attentive I will leave 30% tip. If service was average, 15% and lousy service gets 10%. Only once in 3 decades I left zero tip because the waitress never came back to the table and my pancakes were burned and I wanted them replaced.

Funny thing is my credit card company sends me a message when the tip exceeds 25%, asking me to notify them is there was an error.

[a la izquierda]

60. I think dining culture is very different here in Europe and I much prefer it as an American abroad.

No one is checking on you every 10 seconds. They're not dropping your bill with the "oh-so-subtle" hint to hurry up and leave. Dining is a leisurely affair.
Also, a I do not expect people to have to fake happiness and cheerfulness, when they're having a crappy day, just so they get enough money to make rent and eat. Something about that is toxic and weird. I waited tables while I was in college and for a bit after. It was horrendous.
And yet, I'm actually considering leaving my job in the States; it might mean having to wait tables or bartend for awhile. And I'm completely ok with that (at least if I have to do it in Frankfurt or Rotterdam).

As for Mexico, I feel mostly the same as I do about Europe, except that tips are more commonly expected than 10 or 15 years ago. When I'm in Mexico, 15% is standard for me (and pretty much everyone else it seems).

[Beakybird]

54. My wife is a barista at Starbucks

She gets a flat $0.50 an hour for tips. It never goes up or down.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

56. I always tip in cash.

And I almost never tip for carryout.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

63. Another form of deceitful fees; in this case trying to guilt-trap you into it. . . . nt

[Phentex]

83. We could ask why we fall for this...

unless it's a place where we are going to eat all the time, why should we feel guilty? I know I do sometimes. But I don't know them, and they don't know me and I feel I am paying more than the average price for a salad & tea and I pick it up myself and bus the table myself so WHY should I feel guilty?

[Butterflylady]

64. Thanks for alerting me about

This tipping problem. Illn make sure I will handle this myself. However, I stay away from a company that sells a chocolate chip cookie for 1.79.

[matt819]

65. There was an article about Panera a few months ago

Can't remember where. The gist of it was that Panera was shocked - just shocked - that they had roughly 100% annually turnover. No one stays. And they can't figure out why.

Well, I'm not in the food biz, and I'm not a CEO or anything, but I do have a suggestion.

PAY YOUR EMPLOYEES A LIVING WAGE!!

[RhodeIslandOne]

69. I only pay tips in cash

A lot of places have cups for tips, so that’s how I’ll pay it.

However, if you’re behind a counter as a barista you shouldn’t be making a waiter/waitress wage.

[cbdo2007]

74. We need to get rid of tips completely so there isn't this complexity.

The corporations use this to say "well we don't pay them more cause they get tips" and there are these questionable situations now where you don't know if you should tip or not because now people expect tips for everything. If more places would just do away with tipping, then the employees know exactly how much they make and can decide whether they like that amount or not, and the customers aren't put in the middle of this wage battle where I'm tipping someone at a counter for getting me a small coffee to go (which should never need a tip).

[MichMan]

86. The tipping system is great for those servers who are young and attractive with big boobs

They make out very well; the less attractive ones not so much.