I recently visited the US on holiday to visit daughter number 2 where she is working in a restaurant in New York as an intern for 6 months as part of her Erasmus programme on culinary entrepreneurship at DIT Cathal Brugha Street.
Wouldn’t you love it? 12 kids in her class all go to New York for six months as part of their course.
They are living in two flats in Brooklyn and all of them have jobs (which they got themselves) in different hotels and restaurants in Manhattan.
Luckily her place is a lot nicer than most of the apartments that I lived in when I was young - my mother refused to enter some because they were so bad!
My daughter is paid $12 (€11.02) an hour but is not allowed earn tips. I wondered about this because tips are such an important component of any front of house restaurant, especially in the US.
Having reflected on it from the business owners point of view, I can see that because tips are such an important component of take home pay, permanent professional staff would have a justifiable gripe that their earnings would be negatively affected if the company used interns in a way that was cheaper for the company but diminished the earnings of full time staff.
Tipping-point
Which brings me on to my next point, the tipping culture in the states. The old rule used to be 10 – 15% or double the tax (which would be twice 8.8%) but I can tell you it’s moved on massively since then.
Tips are expected everywhere from the taxi at the airport, the greeter at the hotel, the bell hop who takes your bag, the bellhop who delivers your bag, the person who cleans your room, and that’s before you go to the bar for a drink or have a meal in the restaurant.
I have always tried to tip well because I was that foot soldier for so many years and I believe in rewarding good service. What irks me is when there is an expectation of a tip when the experience is poor or mediocre.
I also like the fact in America waiters work their own tables and keep their own tips where as they are often pooled or shared in Irish restaurants which means that, theoretically at least, someone who provides bad or no service can earn the same as someone who goes that extra mile which is never a good model.
We went to Smith & Wollensky for the gala meal and I was quite shocked at the final account for the six of us.
Wine doesn’t come cheap in the states I was in the cheap part of the list at $87 a bottle, the waiter suggested a couple of “sharing plates that he would decide and bring to the table for the starter” which ended up costing $120 dollars (5.5$ per prawn but they were big and juicy!).
When the bill was presented a 120$ gratuity was already included and there was a line on the bill for additional tip where I parted with a further $30. Sales tax was €62.06 which left us with a whopper of a bill of €931 for an excellent meal but it didn’t come cheap. The service was excellent - but was it that good?
Another service irritation is the suggested level of tips on restaurant bills. Many restaurants print out on the end of a bill suggested tipping guidelines for example 15% = good, 18% = great, & 20% = excellent. This makes you feel like a skinflint if you go for 15% or less.
I'm told that this is because of fear of tourists who are not plugged-in to the tipping culture leaving servers high and dry on big bills.
Most floor staff receive low pay - and that hourly-rate is generally swallowed up by their tax payments and it's not unusual for them to get a monthly payslip with take-home pay of $0.00.
The tips are their bread and butter, rather than an add-on.
We did a day’s water sports on a boat and the captain made a speech saying that the staff needed our tips to help feed their families - and there were tip buckets and notices at every individual sport which you were encourage to partake in (about 5 different activities).
Finally after I had already tipped 5 times there was a guy sticking a bucket in your face as you disembarked. I’m all for tipping but this was excessive!
So, New York is a fabulous city and I really enjoyed the 24/7 buzz of the place but if you go there with 5 girls and the current exchange rate be prepared to feel like a human ATM machine.
Back to work now,
Bobby
Read more advice from Bobby on www.bobbykerr.com - and hear him live on Down to Business from 10am every Saturday on Newstalk.
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