Observations from a Tipless Restaurant

Re:Observations from a Tipless Restaurant by mcphilip on Tuesday July 30, 2013 @11:52AM (#6127774)

While I'm sure there are good waiters that do their best to treat all customers equally, I can confirm that their tends to be a snap judgement made about the tipping probability of a customer. In one place that I worked the waitstaff used the euphemism "Canadians" to refer to customers that weren't likely to tip (e.g. "I just got sat with a table of Canadians...").

That being said, I sympathize with waiters and tend to tip relatively well since I know firsthand the pressure of only making $2.15/hr + tips on an unpredictable schedule that ended anywhere from 11:30pm to 2:00am (depending on how long my last table stayed).

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Re:Observations from a Tipless Restaurant by manicgeek on Tuesday July 30, 2013 @11:58AM (#6127826)

I'm sure that euphemism is based in experience, but as a Canadian, I've found that most of my compatriots (myself included) feel it's only polite to tip at least 20%, and we're VERY IN TO BEING POLITE. :)

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Re:Observations from a Tipless Restaurant by mcphilip on Tuesday July 30, 2013 @12:01PM (#6127844)

I'm not sure where the term originated at that restaurant, but it probably had nothing to do with Canadians' behavior since it was in a small Texas town that only saw an actual Canadian every once in a blue moon. :)

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Re:Observations from a Tipless Restaurant by cantankerous on Tuesday July 30, 2013 @12:17PM (#6127982)

It may not be meant to make any sense. I worked in retail (probably like most people, ever) and we seemed to have a variety of signal-type words that made no sense to customers...or management. Makes the job more fun.

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Re:Observations from a Tipless Restaurant by pfranz on Tuesday July 30, 2013 @02:41PM (#6129091)

I'm pretty sure the origin is in irony because if someone overheard you calling them "cheap" or a negative stereotype there would be a problem, but if you we overheard calling them "Canadian" it's a lot more benign. I've heard "Canadian" used when working in restaurants outside of Texas, so I think it's fairly common in the US.

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Re:Observations from a Tipless Restaurant by rdouble on Tuesday July 30, 2013 @01:41PM (#6128613)

Maybe they were from Canadian, TX.

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Re:Observations from a Tipless Restaurant by notahacker on Tuesday July 30, 2013 @01:20PM (#6128450)

I've met Canadians that described the income they used to earn from tips in a top Vancouver restaurant as being far more than they could hope to earn in a mid-level professional job.

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Re:Observations from a Tipless Restaurant by goodcanadian on Tuesday July 30, 2013 @03:38PM (#6129485)

I am only guessing, but Canadians (on average) tend to tip lower than Americans. I have always considered 10-15% standard. In the U.S., they tell me that it is 18-20%. I could never bring myself to tip that much when I lived there. There may be a core of truth to Canadians appearing cheap to American waiters which may be where the euphemism started.

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Re:Observations from a Tipless Restaurant by samatman on Tuesday July 30, 2013 @01:41PM (#6128607)

Are you sure they didn't use "Canadians" to refer to black people?

Because from my understanding that's much more common.

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