Do drive-thru clerks expect tips now?

[elicross]

Has this happened to you?

I go to Sonic for a late-night sundae. Cost is $3.17. I hand the girl at the drive-thru window four bucks. She hands me my sundae and says "Do you want your change?"

I was so taken aback, I don't know what I said. I think I said something like "Um, yeah...a little?" And she said "You do?"

And I said "Uh, it was $3.17, right?" And she said "Yes." And I said "I gave you four dollars?" And she said "Yes."

And I said "Then yes, please."

And she said "Okay, it'll be just a second." And she went away and came back in a few seconds with my 83 cents. Handed it to me without a word.

But what the hell? Has this happened to anyone else? Is this a thing now? Clerks at drive-thru windows expecting tips?

[phantomman]

Yet another ungrateful excretavore......

TURN THE NIMITZ INTO THE WIND!

[elicross]

Launch the ready five!

[curtisstetka]

I've never encountered that. I think you just ran up against an "enterprising" driveup window operator who had figured out a way to augment her wages. Perhaps a call to the manager/owner of the establishment is in order.

[ch willie]

No, no. At Sonic, they do expect tips. I'm not defending the girl's behavior. She should have been polite, tip or no.

[Offshore Angler]

Did she give you a good cleavage shot when she handed you your food?

[curtisstetka]

Not familiar with Sonic. But it does seem screwy for someone jockeying a drive-up window to expect a tip. I mean, what can they do that's above and beyond?

[Vics]

This happened to me once when I ordered a pizza at work. Can't remember the cost, but let's say it was $10.50 and I handed the guy a $20. He say's "how much change do you want back?" Like you I was rather taken back and said "all of it." I knew he wanted a tip and while I always do tip delivery folks (and I did tip him) I thought that approach was rather rude.

[rudutch]

if they start paying me when the dick my orders up, I might be inclined.

[Totally bored]

O just throw the girl a couple bucks tip

[CocoTone]

Thats pretty brazen question to ask a patron!! I tip when the service deserves it. They ask, then I tell them"not now! You just blew it!!"
I have had the knobs at the Tim Horton's drive thru not even bother to give you any change,, and i lose it on them. If they give me flack, I get a manager involved. Thats just bullshit.

CT.

[grito]

That's wrong. I've noticed it happening more frequently. I went to Carl's Junior and got a similar reaction. They bring out the food tray and the girl asked if we needed anything else. I said no, and she just stood there, eventually sighed loudly and walked away. Fuck. Go get me a refill or take my order at the table and I'd be more than happy to give you a tip. If I have to stay in any sort of line and get my own drink no tip for you!

[phantomman]

Did she give you a good cleavage shot when she handed you your food?

I see the conversation has ascended to its usual intellectual level......

[elicross]

No, no. At Sonic, they do expect tips. I'm not defending the girl's behavior. She should have been polite, tip or no.

I can understand them expecting a tip at Sonic if you park they bring you your food on a tray -- esp. if they come back at some point and ask if everything's okay, if you need anything else, etc. like a real waiter/waitress -- but this happened at the drive-thru window, which is just like the drive-thru at McDonald's or Taco Bell or anywhere else.

I'm happy to tip a waitress in a restaurant. I'm a good tipper. I always give 15%, even if the service is bad, and usually give more than that. I always tip the pizza delivery guy. But I am not going to start tipping people for handing me a bag of food out a window -- especially if they act like they expect it.

[Wilko]

Fuck 'em. No tip.

[Offshore Angler]

I see the conversation has ascended to its usual intellectual level......

I really see myself as more of a pragmatist.

[guitar george]

Everybody expects a tip these days.

Well here's a tip:

If your jobs involves standing behind a counter slicing bagels and pouring coffee, you're not waiting on me, I'm waiting on you.

[Totally bored]

ahh yur all cheap None of use have a daughter ?


I worked all kinds of crappy jobs in the day and man I was po. When some rare person tipped me it was the biggest thing ever.


Just sayin.

[phantomman]

I really see myself as more of a pragmatist.

Nothin' more pragmatic than a tasty set of "cupcakes" delivered to your table by a comely Hooter girl.

[Totally bored]

[elicross]

No, I don't have a daughter. Or a son. I do remember working some crappy jobs in my youth. I was a cook at a Pizza Hut. Never got a tip. I worked at a Braum's (ice cream/burgers). Never got a tip.

And I certainly wouldn't have asked for one. I'd have known that if you have to ask for a tip, you're not getting one. Plus, I knew better than to expect a tip for doing nothing but taking someone's money and handing them their food from behind a counter.

But there's this widespread sense of entitlement these days. Everybody thinks they deserve a little something extra just for breathing. Little tip jars and cups have sprung up next to cash registers everywhere, in places where we never used to tip. And most of us go ahead and dump our loose change in there because we don't want to be seen as cheapskates.

But come on...I draw the line at the drive-thru window. That's ridiculous.

[Totally bored]

Never got a tip.

Now we are getting somewhere.

[phantomman]

Rightly so, Eli.

I don't mind dropping my change into a jar specified for "Jerry's Kids", "March Of Dimes", etc. But I resent some zit-popper's implied demand for a tip based solely on the fact that they remembered to stuff some napkins into the bag along with my McBurger.

[elicross]

Now we are getting somewhere.

Like I said, I'm a good tipper. I tip well when it's warranted. I've given the pizza delivery guy a few bucks when the pizza was an hour late (because for all I knew, it wasn't his fault). The fact that I don't want to start tipping people for sticking their hands out a window does not spring from some deep-seated bitterness I harbor because I never got a tip in jobs where I never expected a tip.

[elicross]

I don't mind dropping my change into a jar specified for "Jerry's Kids", "March Of Dimes", etc. But I resent some zit-popper's implied demand for a tip based solely on the fact that they remembered to stuff some napkins into the bag along with my McBurger.

Speaking of which: She didn't even give me a napkin with my sundae! I guess I'm lucky I got a spoon.

[ch willie]

Remember, restaurants are allowed to pay less than minimum wage because of the tip system.

I agree, the drive-through ought to be tip-less, but the people working there are likely being underpaid because the company expects them to recoup on tips.

[elicross]

I'm pretty sure every hourly worker has to be paid at least minimum wage. Maybe there's an exemption in cases where the worker is in a job that traditionally receives tips as a matter of course -- like waiters and pizza delivery people. But any fast food manager who pays his drive-thru clerks less because he thinks they'll make up the difference in tips is living on another planet, and the workers need to take that up with the boss and possibly with local labor authorities.

Whatever the case, it shouldn't be the customer's problem.

[redb]

No, I don't have a daughter. Or a son. I do remember working some crappy jobs in my youth. I was a cook at a Pizza Hut. Never got a tip. I worked at a Braum's (ice cream/burgers). Never got a tip.

And I certainly wouldn't have asked for one. I'd have known that if you have to ask for a tip, you're not getting one. Plus, I knew better than to expect a tip for doing nothing but taking someone's money and handing them their food from behind a counter.

But there's this widespread sense of entitlement these days. Everybody thinks they deserve a little something extra just for breathing. Little tip jars and cups have sprung up next to cash registers everywhere, in places where we never used to tip. And most of us go ahead and dump our loose change in there because we don't want to be seen as cheapskates.

But come on...I draw the line at the drive-thru window. That's ridiculous.

if you were not getting paid full minimum wage because corporate changed your wage schedule you would damn well expect a tip.

I agree that there is a huge problem with entitlement and co-dependance, but in the case of a worker whose income is dependant on your generosity I think I can handle it.

I tip the sonic girls on the rare occasion I go there. I tip when I go and pick up pizza. As long as its not a credit card tip I do it (corporate takes a cut, the government takes a cut, basically everyone who's not the guy or gal busting their ass takes some). I figure that if I was them I would really appreciate a tip so I just do it.\

I'm pretty sure every hourly worker has to be paid at least minimum wage. Maybe there's an exemption in cases where the worker is in a job that traditionally receives tips as a matter of course -- like waiters and pizza delivery people. But any fast food manager who pays his drive-thru clerks less because he thinks they'll make up the difference in tips is living on another planet, and the workers need to take that up with the boss and possibly with local labor authorities.

they are living in the reality of part time workers being unable to form unions or form PACs has resulted in them being able to do whatever they want.

and there isnt "maybe" and exception, there is one.

[elicross]

if you were not getting paid full minimum wage because corporate changed your wage schedule you would damn well expect a tip.

No, I wouldn't. Why would I? If I worked in a job that has never traditionally received a tip -- like at the drive-thru window of a fast food joint -- why would I expect customers to start tipping me just because my boss cut my wages? Why would I expect customers to even *know* my wages had been cut?

I figure that if I was them I would really appreciate a tip so I just do it.

I'd really appreciate it if Jessica Biel knocked on my door right now and slept with me. Doesn't mean I expect it. Why should I? What precedence is there to make me think she'd do that? And what have I done to deserve it?

and there isnt "maybe" and exception, there is one.

Well, if fast food employers are using this exemption as a rationale to cut drive-thru clerks' pay on the assumption that they'll make it up in tips -- and so far I don't know that this is anything more than a hypothetical -- then that's at least a violation of the spirit of the law, and may be a violation of the letter of the law. That should be dealt with. But the way to deal with it is not for drive-thru clerks to ask if they can keep 83 cents on a three-dollar purchase.

If fast food companies really have decided that, instead of raising prices, they'd boost their bottom lines by cutting their employee's throats and reclassifying clerks as tip-earners who don't have to be paid minimum wage, then they should find a way to let the public know they're doing this. Although, if this is something that's actually happening -- rather than just a hypothetical for argument's sake -- then my reaction would probably be to stop going to those restaurants rather than to start tipping the drive-thru clerk.

[elicross]

By the way, this thread really proves that on the Internet, absolutely *anything* can become an argument.

I posted to ask if anyone else had ever had a drive-thru clerk ask them if they wanted their change...and now it's officially become a debate over whether or not people deserve tips!

Now I'd like to know if everyone who's taken the position that a drive-thru clerk should be tipped really means it, or if they're just arguing for argument's sake. Let's have an unofficial, unscientific poll. The last time you went through the drive-through of a major fast food restaurant -- spoke your order into the microphone, pulled around to the window, and handed your cash through the window in exchange for a sack of food -- did you tip the clerk? And if so, how much?

All I ask is that anyone who responds be absolutely honest. I won't know if you're lying just to back up the position you've taken in this thread...but God will.

[ch willie]

If they've got a tip jar in sight, I tip. If not, I figure there's no tipping.

However, cow tipping is another story

[elicross]

Okay, so that's one "no."

[boobtube21]

I tip no one except waiters/waitresses, and pizza guys. And I tip well.

But if all you're doing is handing me fast food, donuts, etc...you can suck it.

[boobtube21]

OK, here's an exception...and I really don't get into too many situations where the problem in the OP might occur as I don't eat fast food, etc.

But I do pop into Starbucks every once in a while for my beloved Frappacino. If the cashier is super nice, they get a tip. Why? I don't know, I just do it. But if all they do is take my order and my money and offer no friendly service, why would I tip them?

[hippiebob01]

I worked at Sonic about 2 years ago as a summer job. Everyone there gets paid minimum wage except the guys in the kitchen. I want to say they make just a little more.

I didn't expect a tip when I gave food out, but it was nice when the rare person just gave me something. I never would ask anyone if they wanted their change or not.

Sonic managers are usually very anal about their employees' behavior (the brand prides itself on customer service).

[CocoTone]

Instead of a tip, give em your biz card.

CT.

[Fripperton]

Here's a tip. Pay attention in school and you won't end up in a job where you wear a paper hat and a name tag.

[rudutch]

you know what they say about expectations

[Totally bored]

I just had a thought:

Next time you go to a Sonic , pretend you went to a place that has $5 hamburgers instead of $3 Hamburgers and throw the po girl a $2 tip.

To answer your question Elicross, everybody gets a tip from me. the Dude that makes my sandwich at Subway, the gal that makes my coffee, even when I pick up Pizza I throw a couple bucks. It comes back to you in good Karma points. Example: The owner of the Pizza place gives me free stuff occassionally because he knows I treat his staff good. Everybody wins.

I must be amongst a minority because most people are very grateful for a tip so I'm thinking many of use people don't tip.

[elicross]

I worked at Sonic about 2 years ago as a summer job. Everyone there gets paid minimum wage except the guys in the kitchen. I want to say they make just a little more.

Okay, so then nobody at Sonic -- let alone this drive-thru girl -- is getting less than minimum wage on the idea that they'll make it up in tips. I figured that was the case, but it's good to know.