Tipping @ Sonic?? (Page 2)

Well, I guess I learned something new today! Now I can go home, right?

I think you could say the Sonic people have to do all that as well: they take the order (on their headset), they don't refill drinks usually, but if you ask them, they will refill it, they have to clean-up after cars that dump their trash on the ground and drive away.  But they probably get paid minimum wage.  I think that's why I don't feel a tip is necessary for fast food. 

Wait-staff at restaurants have a different, lower wage that assumes they will also make tips.

and so does the person at mickey d's or whataburger.

personally, i think it's silly that customers have to wonder about this kind of stuff to begin with.  

the restaurant should make it clear that tiping is customary or not.  then we'd could avoid that akward moment right after we pay.  especially with to-go food from sit-down restaurants.  at most places you don't interact enough with the person serving you (or packaging your food) to determine if they deserve more/less than what's customary....so just pay those employees a little more and recoop it by charging a to-go charge or higher menu price for the convenience.

Like when they have a tip jar at the coffee shop, or the convenience store, or the water ice stand? 

restaurants, not places like that.  it's pretty obvious that the person at the coffee shop or ice stand with the hand written sticker on the glass jar isn't depending on tips to fill the gap between their hourly wage and minimum wage.  it's not so obvious at Sonic or in the take-out process at your local Outback Steakhouse.

I'd tip at a car-hop (A&W, Sonic, etc.) if the server is bringing food/drink out to my car and I'm paying cash or otherwise have a way to leave a tip. 

I DON'T tip if the establishment (and this includes airport vendors) expect the tip up front when I order rather than at the end of the meal or if they don't provide a means to include the tip.  If I recall at Sonic, you order and then swipe a credit card to pay for the transaction.  There wasn't a way to leave a tip in that transaction.   

As for "tipping out" at the end of the day (and I have kids who work in food service)...if management is too lazy to distinguish between the parts of their business, the deserve what they get.  Good servers will leave or ignore the part of the business that is unprofitable to themselves. 

I rarely go through a drive through (too many mistakes) so the thought of take-out orders from a sit-down restaurant is even less appealing to me.  (But then again, I've been accused of living in the dark ages...)

I worked at Mcdonald's for 2 years 1 of those years basically full time.   I got tipped a few times and when you did you hated it.  Basically means they totally trashed the area and left you 2 cents.  I got tipped at Kmart a few times when I worked there.  We kept our mouths shut since we had to load 100 40lbs bags of manure into the guys truck.  Maybe why it explains I do not like giving a guy a $1 tip on a $3 bottle of beer that all he did was take the top off.

If the restaurants want to keep following this broken business model, fine.   I would happily pay an increase in food prices to take tipping out of the equation.  

Actually I think most would not want the increase in prices in America. Even with server wages many restaurants make less than 10% profit at best. Go from $2.13/hr to $7.50/hr for the servers and that profit is likely gone unless the prices of the meals increase likewise. 

<---in the biz for 25 years. 

Anywhere with a decent computer system generally backs out togo food from a server's sales now. But yeah, some do not. 

We tip 20% every time we eat out and someone serves us well (the overwhelming majority)....10-15% is our way of saying your service sucks...there is no way in hell I don't pay for someone to serve me, no matter how poorly. I don't know if it's standard, or required, or whatever.  In fact, my wife and I never think that much about it.....we just do it.  We ultimately fight poor service by never going back.

If we order a pizza to be delivered we do the same to the driver.  I have no idea what is "standard"....never even thought to ask. 

I think part of the reason we tip the kids like we do is that most of them work for an azzhat.....and they work hard anyway.  I agree, we rarely eat food like that.....but when we do, we take care of the kids who serve us.  My wife calls it karma......I think she's a nut.....still, we live a charmed life in our minds, so who knows?

I had NO IDEA Sonic carhops didn't make min. wage.  That absolutely changes my perspective on tipping.  I shall have to start tipping there now!

so, i started googling this.  sonic carhops actually DO get paid a waitstaff wage.  i feel like going back to my local sonic and tipping all the carhops for all the times i didn't realize they weren't earning min. wage!  also, this does NOT apply to the drive through window, that person is paid min. wage.

i learned something new today!

I agree 100%.  I think tipping is super confusing in general. 

These threads always bring out the cheapskates that try to rationalize it to themselves whey they are cheap. 

Next thread will be "do you tip a bartender, he just pours a beer like a Mc Donald's worker?"

It's a dollar people.  Does it really make or break you budget if you give them an extra dollar?  If so, perhaps rice and beans is more appropriate and not Sonic.

Yes, I worked for tips in my youth and am slightly biased but I can see that many here did not.

We tip at Sonic, but it isn't much.  It's usually like "keep the change" or "keep the change and a buck".  The total bill rarely reaches $10 so it's likely that it's in the 10%-20% range.  They probably don't get as much in tips, but they probably make up for that in volume.  

My wife is always a big tipper, she usually starts at 20% and goes up from there.  Kinda drives me nuts because even when the service is bad, she'll "only" give them 15%.  

If I tipped 20% at my Sonic visit it would have been > $5 (large order with two hungry sons and myself) which I just didn't think was appropriate...As I said in my initial post, I told the car hop to keep the coins and I gave her a buck as well. 

I feel bad for anyone being underpaid for what they do however I don't owe them anything... I "owe" my tip based on the level of service I get with my meal...

You're wrong to label people cheap simply because they don't tip the way you do..

I never said 20%.  There is a social custom with going to a restaurant and Sonic is one of those that tips are appreciated and expected.  It's an extra dollar or less for crying out loud.  I stand by my statement that these threads expose the cheapskates.  If you don't wan to tip go through the traditional drive thru that many Sonic's have or go to McDonald's. 

These thread come up and they usually have many with your attitude of "I don't owe them anything"... life is to short to be a douche and probably get your food sneezed in... trust me that does happen.

I know of no social custom to tip at fast food restaurants, which Sonic falls into that category.  Sonic is no different than McDonalds, other than they bring your food to the car, which is about a 10-15 yard walk from the building.  I'm sorry, that is not a service that requires tipping.  It's not someone driving food to your house from miles away, and its not a bartender or wait staff making drinks and working tables. 

If Sonic pays the person working the drive through window more than the people taking food out to cars, that's Sonic's issue.  I have never seen Sonic advertise that their "carhops" should be tipped, and I've never heard anyone tipping at Sonic until I read this thread.

My questioning tipping at Sonic makes me neither a cheapskate nor a "douche."  I tip 20% or more when I eat out.  Less if the service is poor.  I'm questioning it because it makes no sense.

I believe that tips are for good services rendered.  Walking my food 10 feet to my car does not fall into that category.  I will tip for a drink at a bar, my shoes getting shined, my hair getting cut, and all other "social customs."  Tipping at Sonic is simply not customary in my opinion.

As to the sneezing comment, I'm failing to see why that would happen. The food is bagged prior to it coming to the car. If you don't tip after your food is received, how would they sneeze in your food?  Maybe if you go to a particular Sonic frequently and the carhop remembers you, that's about the only scenario I see that happening.

It's fine if you want to tip at Sonic.  But don't call other people names just because they feel the same way you do.  I would consider that to be douchebaggery.

This makes no sense at all. If the reason to tip is that the staff is underpaid, then the staff is underpaid. Whether the person skated out to my car or just passed my food through the window doesn't affect how they are paid. I might agree with the "go to McD's" approach, since no one tips at McD's at all, but as the discussion above with going to a traditional restaurant and getting the food "to go" indicates, you should still tip or not based on the restaurant, not whether you ate it there or at home (or in your car, like some kind of animal).