Waiters try to turn the tables on bad tippers

NEW YORK -- Waiting tables is a stressful job and sometimes not even lucrative, given servers' reliance on tips for income.

In some states, restaurants are legally required to pay as little as $2 or $3 an hour. So if a server earns $30 in tips on a bad night, he or she could walk out having earned less than minimum wage after tipping out the bartender and busboys (a common practice in most restaurants).

To level the playing field, waiters are taking action. Some are resorting to guerrilla tactics -- it's not uncommon for waiters to confront stingy tippers, or to blog about them on sites such as WaiterRant.Net.

One former waiter, Yakup Ulutas, is proposing restaurants change the system. Ulutas, a 36 year-old restaurant manager in Atlanta, founded a non-profit organization, Fairtip.org, to persuade restaurants to implement an automatic 20 percent service fee on every check. He estimates 2,500 waiters have joined.

You'd be hard-pressed to find a server who wouldn't love to see his or her employer slap an automatic tip on to every check. But wouldn't it make more sense for restaurants to hike prices by 20 percent and raise workers' salaries?

"That wouldn't work," Ulutas says. "Many restaurants wouldn't be able to afford to pay higher wages."

The low-margin restaurant business is notoriously difficult. Raising server wages could easily zap the profits of small to midsize restaurants.

But diners also have seen a rapid rise in the tipping rate. Zagat Survey, which surveys the top restaurants nationwide, found that the average tip has increased to 18.7 percent in 2006 from 17.75 percent in 2000.

One academic thinks that if the tipping rate rises too high, dining out would become prohibitive for many people, and restaurant sales would stall.

"Tipping is about buying social approval, and the way you do that is to at least tip an average amount. But most people want to tip a little bit better than average. That exerts an upward pressure on tips," said Michael Lynn, an associate professor of consumer behavior at Cornell University School of Hotel Administration.

It makes sense for the restaurant industry to establish a norm before tipping rates move up to the point of pricing diners out of the market, Lynn said.

While most restaurants already charge an automatic service fee for large parties, at least one restaurant now charges an automatic 20 percent gratuity, or "autograt," as it is sometimes called, on every check.

Per Se, a pricey New York restaurant started by star chef Thomas Keller, caused a public outcry when it implemented a 20 percent service fee last year. All fixed-price menus at Per Se cost $210, according to the restaurant's Web site; assuming customers spend about $100 for wine, a tip is likely to be around $60. The restaurant said no patrons have refused to pay the service fee, and some guests actually tip above the required amount.

Theresa Burkhart, a 31 year-old waitress and actress in Manhattan, says the fee charged by Per Se is the proper minimum.

"I find it unacceptable for people not to know that the tipping rate is 20 percent," Burkhart said.

That sentiment is widely shared on the Internet; a database started on one Web site -- bitterwaitress.com -- allows servers across the country to submit the names of customers who tipped less than 17 percent. Actress Sandra Bernhard is listed in the database for having skipped out on a tip after eating a $120 complimentary dinner at a club in Rochester, N.Y., where she performed.