Etiquette: ‘Take-out’ employees deserve tips, too

Q: My wife and I love the pizza from a particular restaurant and have been getting takeout there once or twice a week for some years. I have gotten to know most of the folks who work there, and when I call to place a to-go order I just say “the usual.”

My question: Should a gratuity be added to the bill. While it’s true that the individuals who bring my order when I arrive to pick it up have not put in the same amount of customer service as a waitress had we dined in, I still feel some kind of a tip is in order. I just don’t know how much. We usually ask for a change of some items on the pizza ... subtracting an ingredient we may not like for another one we may prefer. Do you feel that a gratuity should be offered for a food order that you pick up as opposed to one that is delivered.

A: Thank you for this question. This is a subject for which individuals and etiquette experts rarely seem to agree on a definitive answer. To tip or not to tip comes down to a voluntary act of the individual paying the bill. Since each person has varying thoughts about why a tip is necessary in the first place or questions how much to tip or has varying amounts of discretionary funds, the answer seems to remain somewhat convoluted. Add “carry out” or “take out” to the scenario and there is more indecision.

While I do not want my answer to become a dissertation on tipping, I do feel some background on the subject is necessary to assist individuals in the tipping decision process. Unless customers routinely check the U. S. Department of Labor’s Minimum Wages for Tipped Employees’ basic hourly wage schedule, they are totally unaware of the fact that not all tipped employees are paid minimum wage. The federal mandated minimum employee tipped wage rate is $2.13 per hour, and 17 states follow that guideline. Just imagine for a moment, working for $2.13 per hour in today’s world of living expenses.

Some states, such as Alaska, California and Nevada, require that all minimum wage employees be paid that state’s minimum wage rate. Illinois, however, can pay tipped employees anywhere from $4.95 per hour to the state minimum wage rate, which in February 2015 went up to $8.25 per hour.

Throw into the formula the fact that a tipped employee who, in Illinois, may be receiving only $4.95 an hour waiting tables, but generally receives a 15 percent tip per table, then compare that to the $4.95-per-hour employee who works in the restaurant, or pizza parlor, who handles “carry out” or “take out” orders. That employee normally has to explain the menu and specials not just once but perhaps several times, writes down the order, listens to a change or several changes, and makes sure those changes are written down correctly to be understood by the chef or kitchen staff, maintains politeness to the customer who just cannot make a final decision, does the packaging, verifies the order is correct, and handles the payment.

Is that service not worth a tip as much as that of the waiter who comes to your table and takes your order and passes it onto the chef?

Another so-called tipping scenario to consider: the customer who sits at a bar and orders a beer. The bartender turns, gets a cold beer out of the cooler, removes the cap and hands it to the customer along with a glass (or sometimes not even with a glass). Is that bartender normally tipped? Yes. Is that bartender doing any more than the employee who is taking your “take- out” order? I do not think so, yet rarely is the “take-out” employee tipped. Somehow, that does not make sense.

Now back to the answer to your specific question. This pizza restaurant employees have built a relationship with you to the extent you can ask for “the usual” and get it. They accept your requests for changes to add this or remove that. Whether or not they are getting paid more than $5.95 per hour, do I feel a tip is warranted? Yes, I feel a tip is warranted, especially for that relationship and accommodating service. The amount could be another short dissertation on my part, but a 12 to 15 percent tip would be appropriate and much appreciated.

This story was originally published March 26, 2016 at 3:30 PM with the headline "Etiquette: ‘Take-out’ employees deserve tips, too."