Sonic - do you tip? (1 Viewer)

[Schweddy]

The last few times I have gone to the Sonic drive-in, the car hops have attempted to pressure me into tipping. It is unnerving as I do not believe they warrant a tip - it is fast food for crying out loud! Same for Starbucks...it's fastfood.

The following are two different locations and two different times at Sonic.

Scenario 1:
Daughter and I went to Sonic during "happy hour" (2-4pm). She ordered her Cherry-Lime something or other and I ordered a cranberry iced tea. My kiddo let me know that she was taking care of it and I let her. Happy Hour is half price. The girl came and gave us our drinks - my 17 year old handed her a $10. The total was like $2.20 which included tax.
The girl looked at my daugher "Ok - thank you is there anything else?"
Daughter said "Ah yeah...you can give me my change."
"Oh I'm sorry, here yah go", she handed my daughter back a $5 then turned to leave.
Daughter quipped "All of it please!"
"Oh... There." and skates away.

Scenario 2:
I ordered a Breakfast burrito this morning. Thats it. I already had a drink.
The lady came to the car and handed me my meal.
"That will be $3.27 please"
"Here yah go", I handed her a $5.
"Ok thanks!" and started walking away.
I said a bit loud, "Oh, was it $5? I thought it said $3.27"
The lady handed me my change with a nice go to hell look.

Anyone else have similar happen to them?

 

[rivrrat]

Holy ****ing hell.

I would refuse to tip them just for being presumptuous bitches. As a waitress, the only time you assume you keep the change is when the customer says KEEP THE CHANGE. Even if I was going to tip them, I would refrain from tipping them based on that behavior alone.

Secondly... no, I don't tip fast food.

 

[Jucon]

They bring your food to your car at Culvers too and they don't expect a tip. I'd never tip the person at Sonic unless I was going to be giving them my number as well :mrgreen:

 

[American]

Hey everybody, vauge posted a thread!!!!!! Come see, looky......he posted!!!!

 

[SgtRock]

I always tip at Sonics, usually just a buck. However, I do not go to Sonics much I do go to Keller's. Anyone who lives in the Dallas area would be familier with Keller's. Its a drive in thats been around forever. They serve beer too. Imagine that, sitting in your car drinking beers. The cops don't say a thing about it. Its been that way for a long time. Keller's has the best onion rings in the world. I usually get the number 5 Double cheese burger with special sauce on a toasted poppy seed bun, rings and a long neck Coors banquet beer. and then I continue to oder beers after I eat. I always tip there. A few years ago they closed the last Prince's drive in on Lemmon avenue in Dallas. I don't know if they still have Princes in Houston. Maybe Danerea can answer that.

 

[pragmatic]

The last few times I have gone to the Sonic drive-in, the car hops have attempted to pressure me into tipping. It is unnerving as I do not believe they warrant a tip - it is fast food for crying out loud! Same for Starbucks...it's fastfood.

The following are two different locations and two different times at Sonic.

Scenario 1:
Daughter and I went to Sonic during "happy hour" (2-4pm). She ordered her Cherry-Lime something or other and I ordered a cranberry iced tea. My kiddo let me know that she was taking care of it and I let her. Happy Hour is half price. The girl came and gave us our drinks - my 17 year old handed her a $10. The total was like $2.20 which included tax.
The girl looked at my daugher "Ok - thank you is there anything else?"
Daughter said "Ah yeah...you can give me my change."
"Oh I'm sorry, here yah go", she handed my daughter back a $5 then turned to leave.
Daughter quipped "All of it please!"
"Oh... There." and skates away.

Scenario 2:
I ordered a Breakfast burrito this morning. Thats it. I already had a drink.
The lady came to the car and handed me my meal.
"That will be $3.27 please"
"Here yah go", I handed her a $5.
"Ok thanks!" and started walking away.
I said a bit loud, "Oh, was it $5? I thought it said $3.27"
The lady handed me my change with a nice go to hell look.

Anyone else have similar happen to them?

Have always tipped at Sonic. (the only fast food where i do tip) Usually a buck or two.

Have never had the experiences you describe above. That would annoy me greatly. Typically i delay addressing tipping until after i have received my change. Old habit.....



.

 

[lizzie]

I always tip at Sonic. I do whatever I can to encourage industriousness. That being said, I always pay with my debit card, and tip in cash, so they can't just assume that they get to keep all the change.

 

[BWG]

First of all, what those two did was deplorable. I once was signing my credit card receipt in a restaurant when the waiter, who happened by at that same time, remarked that I had forgotten his tip on my receipt. I held up a $20 bill between my index and middle finger and said, 'No I didn't forget anything' and stuck the bill in my pocket as I left the restaurant. I don't recall where my habit of leaving a cash tip come from, but I always have as long as I can remember.

When my daughter was in high school, during a break in after school activities, she and a friend decided to go to work for the local Sonic. On the third day the register came up short so the manager took up the difference from the all the girls tips. That was the end of their brief career at Sonic...LOL

But I always tip well (unless I get extremely, horrible service) because both of my kids worked as waiters/bartenders through college, so I know how hard they work for them and how disappointed they are when they get 'stiffed'.

SgtRock talked about beer in a drive-thru burger joint in Dallas. I remember one when I was a kid in the Manchester area of Houston. I don't recall the name of it, but it was built similar to a Prince's with the canvas awning.

 

[Schweddy]

I always tip at Sonics, usually just a buck. However, I do not go to Sonics much I do go to Keller's. Anyone who lives in the Dallas area would be familier with Keller's. Its a drive in thats been around forever. They serve beer too. Imagine that, sitting in your car drinking beers. The cops don't say a thing about it. Its been that way for a long time. Keller's has the best onion rings in the world. I usually get the number 5 Double cheese burger with special sauce on a toasted poppy seed bun, rings and a long neck Coors banquet beer. and then I continue to oder beers after I eat. I always tip there. A few years ago they closed the last Prince's drive in on Lemmon avenue in Dallas. I don't know if they still have Princes in Houston. Maybe Danerea can answer that.

Keller's is amazing. Havn't been there in ages. I am more inclined to tip there, but more of the "kinda" variety in the poll.

 

[jamesrage]

I always tip at Sonics. they get around a one to two dollars regardless of how much food I buy. A actual restaurant I tip more or less depending on service. From what I understand from what my friends tell me they only partially pay waiters and waitresses and expect them to make the difference up in tips for which taxes are taken out.

 

[earthworm]

Tipping is demeaning, even insulting, and a thing of the past.
These places must be forced to pay a living wage - and this info must be openly posted - either one way or the other.
To add...things change....those who do not are conservatives....

 

[Tucker Case]

Never been to a Sonic, but apparently one just opened in Chicago recently.

Generally, I'll tip any waitress/waiter if they do the same basic things as a waiter/waitress at any restaurant. I don't care if it's fast food or not.

If all they do is sit behind a counter, push buttons, and then call out a number making me come forward, get my food and bring it back to my seat, they don't get a tip.

 

[rivrrat]

Tipping is demeaning, even insulting, and a thing of the past.

WTF?

Geez. I'm sure glad that the rest of the country doesn't agree with you. LOL

 

[Tucker Case]

WTF?

Geez. I'm sure glad that the rest of the country doesn't agree with you. LOL

Just don't try to tip a cop. They get pissy about it.

 

[rivrrat]

Just don't try to tip a cop. They get pissy about it.

Depends on what you tip them with. *wink wink, nudge nudge*

 

[Tucker Case]

Depends on what you tip them with. *wink wink, nudge nudge*

I'm gonna guess that the beating I receive would be twice as bad if I tried the "wink wink nudge nudge" style of tipping on a cop.

 

[digsbe]

I used to not tip much, but this week my brother recently started working at a Sonic. They get paid like $3 an hour and rely on tips for income. Historically I have just had them keep the change, but now I am going to tip more when I go.

With your 2 scenarios I would say that neither deserved a tip. They were pushing and almost trying to force you to tip them, and that isn't right. I've never had anything like that personally happen to me at Sonic, but I did witness a shooting/attempted theft of one once.

 

[Josie]

Wow! I didn't know they made so little. I'll tip from now on too.

 

[rivrrat]

Do note that when people work jobs like that for less than minimum wage, the company is obligated to pick up the tab if tips don't suffice. So, the employee will always make at least minimum wage.

 

[earthworm]

WTF?

Geez. I'm sure glad that the rest of the country doesn't agree with you. LOL

But many do, many do not tip, per this poll.
And the "fast" places are replacing the "slow".
In the 60's I worked at Sears and Roebuck tires and batteries...half my pay may have been in tips, and I earned them...young, foolish, and healthy back then...
But its a changing world.

 

[disneydude]

Tipping is demeaning, even insulting, and a thing of the past.
These places must be forced to pay a living wage - and this info must be openly posted - either one way or the other.
To add...things change....those who do not are conservatives....

I disagree, I think that argument is generally used by people who want to make themselves feel better by "justifying" not leaving a tip. If restaurants were forced to pay a higher wage to make up for tips, it would be passed on to you in the price of the food. I prefer to have more control over it myself and will reward a good server.

That said....tips should NEVER be expected as in the example. Sure, the server may "inside" expect a tip, but it should always be left up to the customer. I hate it when a server asks me "Do you need change"....I will deduct from their tip when they do. However, good service always gets a 20% + tip from me (probably because I waited tables all through college and law school)....

 

[disneydude]

Do note that when people work jobs like that for less than minimum wage, the company is obligated to pick up the tab if tips don't suffice. So, the employee will always make at least minimum wage.

Absolutely not true. Don't know where you got that information, but it is wrong.

 

[Spartacus FPV]

Tipping is demeaning, even insulting, and a thing of the past.

First time I've ever heard anyone say that... people on the fringes are terrible judges of what constitutes a "thing of the past." Here's a tip, if everyone else is still doing it then its not a thing of the past. Thats like calling the internet a thing of the past.

These places must be forced to pay a living wage - and this info must be openly posted - either one way or the other.
To add...things change....those who do not are conservatives....

Way to try and make this political... I'm not for any private business being forced to pay high school students a "living wage," nor forcing anything else for that matter.

 

[rivrrat]

Absolutely not true. Don't know where you got that information, but it is wrong.

I got that information from previous employers wherein I worked the job for $2/hr + tips. But if my tips didn't average out to minimum wage, the employer paid the rest. Oddly, this happened with every single waitressing job I've ever had. So, I'm not sure where YOU got YOUR information from.

 

[digsbe]

Do note that when people work jobs like that for less than minimum wage, the company is obligated to pick up the tab if tips don't suffice. So, the employee will always make at least minimum wage.

Thanks for sharing that, I had not known that previously. I didn't think any company could justify paying $3 an hour simply because the server didn't get tips that hour (or had no customers).