A Guide to Tipping at Hooters (Repost)

Given all the talk about tipping in post comments, emails and Facebook posts, I've decided it might be a good time to repost my in-no-way-expert guide to tipping at Hooters that I wrote way back in the infancy of this blog.  It seems that there are quite a few people that don't exactly know how to tip at Hooters.  Given this question - which in itself implies there may be some difference between Hooters and other restaurants - I compiled a few tipping guidelines.  Please note that tipping is completely up to individual discretion and this in no way reflects what one "should" tip at Hooters.  This is just one way of addressing a somewhat common dilemma.

I'm really not that type of girl.

Tipping at Hooters depends on several factors and – in my opinion – has major differences that separate it from general restaurant tipping.  Following, you find a few guidelines that I believe should be considered when deciding what to tip your Hooters Girl.  Please note that this is not what Hooters Girls expect to be tipped, as tipping is based on individual preferences, but simply one way of looking at the Hooters tipping debate and how I would personally tip at Hooters.

1.  First and foremost a tip at Hooters, or elsewhere, should mainly be dependent on food service.  While Hooters is known for a specific brand of entertainment, it is most importantly a restaurant.  As such, your initial tip should be strictly based on service, as it would be anytime you dine.  Were you seated promptly?  Were your drinks and entrée orders taken efficiently and delivered how you ordered them?  Were your needs anticipated and met before you had to ask?  Etc.

What you tip based on service is largely up to each individual.  Generally a restaurant tip is between 15-20%, varying according to service.  So basically for the initial tip, tip like you would at Applebee’s, Red Robin, or wherever.

2.  After your service-based tip, you should note the other elements that make Hooters, Hooters to supplement your tip.  Specifically, I am refereeing to the entertainment each and every Hooters Girl should provide her guests.  Did your Hooters Girl play a game with you?  Did she dance or sing?  Did she hula hoop and pour your beer?  Did she provide you with signature service?  Basically, what did your Hooters Girl do to go above and beyond basic restaurant service to give you Hooters service?

Once again, the amount of this supplemental tip is based on individual preferences.  As the food service is primary, this shouldn’t be expected to be as large as the first part of the tip (unless you deem it appropriate).  I would personally suggest between 5-15%.

3.  There are several other things to take into account when tipping at ANY restaurant.  First, does your state pay servers minimum wage or do they have a special restaurant pay rate?  In states in which servers make, say, $2.14 your tip will be supplementing their wage and this should be acknowledged.  Also, most servers will be required to “tip out” other employees within the restaurant.  For example, I personally tip out at least three people every shift: hostess, bartender, and dishwasher.  Our system requires I tip them at least 1% of my sales each, but on busier nights I typically will personally tip them more.  Remember, you’re not just tipping your server, but many varied employees who also made your dining experience possible.

As stated originally, these are not strict guidelines, but one way of tipping at Hooters.  Most important to note is that a tip should never be expected but is rather earned.  Feel confident tipping an amount you deem appropriate as long as it reflects the level of service you received.

Hooters Tipping Around the World

Recently, a conversation developed over on my Facebook page that I thought deserved a little closer examination. Basically, what it came down to was one of my German fans saying that though tipping is not the norm in Germany it is still expected at Hooters. Here’s what he said:

Tips are very low here. You can read on every bill that Hooters Girls are tip motivated :( Some people won't understand this as in Germany tips are included in all other restaurants...This concept is really poor.

How can you say no when she's being so polite?

This was an interesting to point to me. As I understand it, though Germany – along with most of Europe – includes tips in their prices (therefore making tipping unnecessary), Hooters doesn’t follow this system. Being that my family is from the Netherlands and I’ve spent quite a bit of time there, I am familiar with the fact that people don’t tip. In fact tipping can be seen as rude to some people. Or at least the surest sign of a tourist.

Now let me make it clear that I think this system works. I also think that our American system of tipping works as well. In the end, I don’t care what the system is as long as the server is getting properly compensated. And that is where the system at the German Hooters totally falls apart.

While it’s nice of the German Hooters to put a reminder on the bottom of each check that “Hooters Girls are tip motivated,” it doesn’t seem like a very effective plan. I mean if I lived somewhere where I never tipped, a subtle note like that isn’t going to tell me that this one place is somehow different. And even if it did put the idea of leaving a tip in my head I still probably wouldn’t assuming that like every other restaurant my tip had been paid as soon as I plopped down the dough for my wings.

My question is why? Why is that Hooters gets to make it’s own rules and confuse the shit of everyone in a country that does things a different way? After all I see nothing wrong with spreading American foods to other cultures – the Dutch love KFC just as much as I love their pannenkoeken so I suppose it’s only fair. What I do see a problem with is trying to be so American that you end up screwing your own employees out of proper reimbursement for all the hard work they do for you. It sounds like a great way to make money that (sort of) gets the business off the hook. That I don’t like at all.

So this makes me curious. Are other international Hooters the same way? Do they all run on a tip system even if traditional tipping isn’t culturally the norm?  And of course what are your thoughts? Lets have a little healthy discussion, friends.

Don’t forget to become a fan on Facebook! Maybe you’ll inspire me next post!

Portlandia

I'm going to a magical place called Portland for the weekend.  I will now provide you with a video.

If you're from Portland and you've seen this, you rock.  If you're from Portland and you haven't seen this, you're welcome.  If you're not from Portland at all, jealousy is totally acceptable.



Where young people go to retire!

We Have Paper Towels

How kind of you to ask, creepy-mouthed towel roll

If you’ve been to Hooters before, you’re probably familiar with the fact that we conveniently place a big roll of paper towels on every table.  Being that pretty much every menu item does or can come with sauce those paper towels are very, very necessary.  It’d just be evil of us not to have them there for our guests.

Of course we sometimes don’t make it easy to find them.  By this I mean that they sort of hide behind the menus in the caddies.  Really not hidden at all.  Since the world is self-involved and unobservant, I always make a point of referring to the placement of the paper towels just to cover my bases.  Or, if they’re at a table where I can access the paper towels, I’ll actually turn the whole caddy around obviously positioning them for easy access.

It goes a little something like this:  As I’m placing the set-ups on the table (as many Hooters goers will know, we have no place settings on the tables before hand), which involves some creative, overachieving folding on my part, I gesture to the paper towels.

Sauce:  “And just so you know there is a whole roll of paper towels behind the menus just in case you run into big messes.  We like you to be prepared.”  I always through in some cute statement.  How Hooters of me!

If that doesn’t make the location of the damn towels clear I don’t know what does.  Even with that obvious warning, all too often the food will come out and people will be left thinking I’m a total bitch who only left them with one paper towel.  This is probably because – yes, even at Hooters – as a server I totally blend into the wood paneled walls.  After all I’m just a waitress and as such say nothing of consequence or real meaning.  Doing that would imply intelligence.

Perhaps next time I’ll put a strobe light on top of the towels with a sign that says, “plenty o’ towels for your dirty face.”  That way if you don’t notice the towels and turn the strobe light off you’ll risk a seizure.  Or I could take that nice soft roll of industrial style paper towels and bop you over the head with it.  But then again you probably wouldn’t notice that either.

Hey was the light fixture just talking?

What Would Hooters Do?

One of the many reasons I love Hooters is the diversity of our clientele.  You can walk into Hooters any given day and you’ll see businessmen, older couples, families, first dates, high school kids, lady’s night celebrations and pretty much anything else that comes to mind.  In fact not much surprises me anymore as far as guests go.  I’ve pretty much seen it all.

Given my rather jaded point of view, I was incredibly surprised to find out the profession of two seemingly normal guests I see every few weeks.  Now outwardly there is nothing out of sorts about these two gentlemen.  Both are middle aged and stop into Hooters on their way to working on a lakeside cabin one of them owns. 

Originally I thought the only off thing about them is that one is a vegetarian.  For the record I have nothing against vegetarians.  It’s just that Hooters isn’t particularly vegetarian friendly.  So I made it my mission to use our menu to create innovative vegetarian options – a somewhat difficult and impressive feat.  That’s how they became my regulars.  Because I gave a shit.

I'm guessing this is pretty much entirely accurate.

Anyway, in the process of me creating some of the coolest regulars I know, I found out that these seemingly normal Hooters regulars are really anything but.  You see these Hooters lovers are in fact Episcopal priests – if we’re getting specific one is actually retired.  Yes, you read that correctly.  I have two regulars who spread the word of God.  If anyone ever had a question of Hooters appropriateness it has officially been answered.  God is on Hooters’ side.

Perhaps even more awesome than their vocations, is the fact that they are totally unabashed by how much they truly enjoy Hooters.  In fact last time they were in, one kindly asked if he could purchase a stack of our to-go cups.

Retired Awesome Priest:  “Do you think you could possibly sell me a sleeve of your to-go cups?”

Sauce:  “Of course!  Having a picnic?”

Retired Awesome Priest:  “Actually yes, I’d love to have some for our next church potluck.”

Sauce:  “I love that!  What do you think the reaction will be?”

Still Priesting Awesome Priest:  “Well that’s the beauty I think.”

Retired Awesome Priest:  “Right.  The fun will be in seeing what the flock thinks.  And then of course telling you all about it.”

I talked our manager into just giving them the cups based on the conversation alone.  I hope to get an invite to the next potluck.

Guest Post: A Rainy Day at Hooters

Ray, a referee and Hooters fan from New Jersey, shares a damp tale of why Hooters hospitality really goes the extra mile.  Have your own Hooters story?  Have a great serving story of any kind?  Share it here!  Any and all guest posts accepted at sauce@accordingtosauce.com.


For over two decades officiating has been an enjoyable, and sometimes lucrative, avocation of mine.  Basketball, soccer and girls lacrosse are my sports and I've spent many an evening or weekend officiating them.

One Saturday I had four lacrosse games to officiate.  Naturally, after the assignments were dutifully completed, the obligatory post game refreshment stop at Hooter’s was ‘on tap’.

Ray with a few of his favorite Hooters Girls, Crystal & Lauren.

Saturday saw Mother Nature throw us in northern New Jersey, an absolute haymaker.  The first game, a varsity girls game was handled in very chilly and cold conditions.  No real problem.  I'd dealt with cold before.


It only got tough when I headed off to another town seven miles south for three youth lacrosse contests.  During the first game it started raining and never let up.  We were on field turf so the games went on. It was literally bone chilling, working the games shivering and by the last contest feeling like you were running with fifteen extra pounds due to drenched clothing.


That Hooter’s stop was not to be denied.  I drove the eight or so miles South to the Hackensack store.  In uniform, from the field I swung the door open and got some incredulous looks.  An entrance not unlike Rod Taylor barging in on guests, ragged and exhausted after returning from the futuristic journey in the original Time Machine.  The girls knew what I had done. They were surprised we even played and were nothing but sympathetic when they heard our schedule.  Customers asked the reasons behind my woefully freezing and soaked appearance.  The girls with their hospitality and concern were fabulous.  Another reason Hooter’s is such a special place with employees going that extra mile.


Regina was punching in an order when I came in.  I worked some of her high school soccer games a few years ago so she knows my officiating routine.  Having played she knew to ask what field turf facility I was working on.  Lauren, in casual gear so I assumed she was getting off duty, showed a lot of concern and emphasized to "get dry as soon as possible."  Crystal poured me a seven ounce beer.  I sipped and still shivered.  Another young lady, I believe it was Heather, talked sports after hearing my officiating exploits.  Not to forget, Heather offered to put hot tea on for me given my sorry soaked state.
   
I enjoyed two small beers.  I know it was cold, but the amber liquid in moderation replaces some fluids.  Then a much needed coffee to go. After chatting with manager, I got a large cup filled to the brim.  Still shivering some of the scalding beverage spilled a little on my hand.  And it didn’t even hurt.


Walking to my car I couldn’t help think how wonderful and concerned these dedicated young ladies are.  They made my visit in adverse conditions a lot better and for the first time in hours a feeling of warmth was returning.


The next day I officiated AAU basketball.  I returned to the same Hackensack store a lot drier but made sure to say a sincere and appreciative thank you to the young ladies who worked when I was there a day ago.


“Hey, we were happy to help,”  Lauren said. “We love you.”  The feeling is mutual.

I'm Health Nuts

Every year as swimsuit contest time comes around Hooters goes into health mode.  Suddenly girls who never think of what they eat, let alone visiting a gym, become obsessed with changing their bodies.  Now, let me make it clear that the vast majority of these girls are between 18 and 20-something and still have dream metabolisms that can take fried food on like champions.  It’s not they’re unhealthy on purpose, it’s that with a nearly perfect body that can down cheeseburgers with little to no consequence counting calories is usually pretty far from mind.

Wings is not part of
Dr. Hooties' healthy
menu prescription.

Of course many of these girls don’t really do that good of a job with the whole healthy thing simple because it's so very out of the ordinary for them.  For example, a girl might have a salad for lunch but she’ll get the Cobb.  Which is not just a salad, it’s a salad with three chicken strips on top not to mention bacon and cheese.  And of course they have it with ranch.   Or they’ll get a salad and have a hearty side of cheese fries.  Sorry, not healthy.  It’s a start, but it’s only the first inch of the healthy diet marathon.

I, on the other hand, am generally very conscious of what I eat and how I exercise.  It’s not that I constantly need to keep my weight in check, it’s that eating healthy and working out just makes me feel better.  And of course, being a college track athlete the whole working out and eating right thing really became a way of life for me.  Yes, I do love a big plate of grease with a side of cheese now and again but it’s certainly not the norm.

With my habits I tend to be the go to girl with diet and exercise questions – especially before the swimsuit contest.  Generally the questions are pretty generic and involve me talking about what I do day in and day out as far as eating and working out.  Sometimes this is met with further questions and sometimes it’s met with shock.  Usually it’s somewhere in between.

So there I was answering the “how can I be healthier question” and giving my usual spiel one day.  I gave an overview of my eating habits and how that's really the biggest part of losing weight and getting a lot of visible toning.  All that was fine until I started talking about working out and eventually got to how P90X can be a really good option for a lot of people because it pretty much tells you exactly what to do.

“Oh P90X!  I’ve heard about that.  Can you tell me more about that?”

I oblige and start lining out how it’s a muscle confusion program built on variation.  Blah, blah, blah.  When I get more into the actual substance of the P90X workout plan she stops me.

“Um, I just figured it was a pill or something to help me lose weight.  I don’t really want to work out and all that hard stuff.”

Face meet palm.

I'm Good at Excuses Among Other Things

Sunday was our swimsuit contest and with it came a very busy week for me.  Not I that was even competing.  Unlike last year, I decided against competing in the swimsuit contest.  Ironically I am in even better shape now than last year, but decided it just wasn’t something I felt like doing this time around.  There are a few very good reasons for this, but given the growth of this blog – and readership by some people who might like total honesty on this subject – I can’t really elaborate on them.  I’ll just say it’s all very political and leave it at that.

Even though I wasn’t in the contest it still ruled my life last week because somehow I was roped into being MC and hosting the whole event.  And let me tell you that required an awful lot of planning.  So really I was host and party planner and really unprepared to do either.  The responsibility fell into my lap and I had no choice but to get shit done.

Naturally this means that the contest was pretty awesome because I seem to build my life on overachieving.  I had games and funny things to say and sweet giveaways.  I even hear I was better than the two radio DJs who hosted the last two years.  That’s right, hosting is their job and I was better.  Go figure.  Sauce goes above and beyond once again.

All this really is one big excuse as to why I haven’t posted in a week.  I apologize.  I promise to post lots in the next few days.

Oh and my article for the June/July issue of Hooters Magazine was due last week too.  There, another excuse.  By the way, did you pick up my last one (April/May if you're keeping up here)?  It’s probably the best one yet.  Read it.