Could someone do the math (guess) on what a bus driver, house keeper, or buffet waiter/waitress would make per hour/day/shift if all guests tipped at the amounts "suggested" on this thread and others? I may want to switch careers. Does anyone have knowledge of how these employees share tips/tip out, etc.?
It's always been weird to tip ~20% at a Disney buffet to me. We are often hurried in and out in about an hour, and it appears our "Server" has at least 5 tables at a time. If the meal for a family of 4 is $160, everyone tipped 20% (I know they don't) and they take 5 tables every hour for 5 hours, that's a lot of tips. (And a lot of work, I know, I served for 3 years in college, as I believe everyone should at some point.) What I don't know is, (and why I do the 20% ish usually) is who they are sharing (if anyone) the money with. If the sweaty guy in a costume is getting some, it makes me feel better, or the person cleaning up (I'm sure they are), etc. It's not my place to personally judge what this person is worth (American economy as a whole already does this) who is serving at a buffet, but I know it's not equal to my doctor. I'm also not going to knowingly tip to a point they make what my Dr is, because it doesn't take the skill, knowledge, expertise, etc. Sadly, it's probably more than my children's public school teacher, etc. I would also argue the person is only marginally more skilled than a random local buffet waitress, who is making significantly less because they don't have Disney's artificially inflated food prices as a part of the 20% calculation of a tip. I have read many many many articles that Disney employees hardly make enough to survive. Is this more about ride operators and store/food cashiers? Or does this include servers. If so, what am I missing? I will continue to tip 15-20% and have faith in the system, and throw some extra for those that go above and beyond.