Tipping
 

So, this is something I've had on my mind for awhile. I've become known as a notoriously good tipper at restaurants I frequent every so often. I know the whole % thing people tend to go by, but I've worked out my own tipping scheme that, without going into specifics, generally revolves around how many beers I end up getting offered without asking during a meal.

My tip usually starts at $15 and works up. I haven't tipped below $15 in about 5 years, even for slow or poor service. My fiance and people I go out with think I'm nuts, but I honestly don't mind tipping well, because I see the abuse some of these kids get and I like to imagine my tips generally make their nights a bit better. I'm also incredibly easy to satisfy and I'm never a difficult customer.

What is your position on tipping? What do you generally take into account? What is your tip threshold? If you're a waiter/waitress, how much is actually considered a good or great tip and if you saw that person coming back again would you go out of your way to give them better service? Am I insane for tipping what often amounts to 1/4 or more of my total bill? Answer my burning questions!

For the most part, I don't tip. Usually I don't carry cash anyway. But sometimes, I will let them slide my card for a tip. Depending on if I know the server or if the server actually did a really good job. Half the time around here. It's more of a "Hey, I'm so and so, I'm the waiter/waitress. Whadaya want?" type deal.

Most I ever tipped was ten bucks to girl I know.

My position is to tip well, even for crappy service.

The only thing I take into account is what I can afford. I don't go out if I'm low on money, though, so I'm gonna tip well, anyway.

My tip threshold I guess is like $50. That's the highest I've ever tipped.

No, you are not insane.

But yeah, they live of tips, basically, so I help how I can.

Yo, what? You don't tip AT ALL? You gotta explain to me your reasoning behind that. You know these people pretty much make their living on tips, right?

Usually it depends on service but generally speaking I tip well. Even to delivery drivers

Yo, so like, when you go to Sonic, bell hops come out to your car with your food. Am I supposed to tip those people? I never know and forget to ask.

I don't know the percentage because I suck at math but I tend to do $2 bucks for every $5 dollars I spend. I guess that's like 20% idk. Anyway, one time this waitress was SO mean to me. And I don't know why. I was very kind. Don't know who took the jelly out of her doughnut that morning but I gave her a $0.11 tip because I didn't want to leave her with the impression that I forgot to tip her. I just didn't like her service. What a meanie, right!

I go by friendliness. Even if they mess up, if they're doing their part to ensure I'm in good spirits & feel cared for, that goes a long way. However, that cheerful attitude won't count for much if I barely see you. Maintain a presence. Check up with me every so often & be accessible if there's an issue. One time, a waitress argued that I didn't need the side of honey mustard I requested because it was already on the sandwich, & literally got angry with me that I still wanted it. F*ck off. I don't typically dip fries in ketchup, I like that golden goop instead. If I want extra, or anything, period, it's not your place to judge or tell me how to do things. She was a real bitch, & despite the place being practically empty, paid me no mind whatsoever. That was the only time I ever really screwed over wait staff. I left a lone penny as my opinion of her service. Outside of that incident, I am typically a generous tipper, as funds allow. If nothing else, I will stick to the typical percentages.

Lol why not

For the most part, no I don't. I did say if I know the person or if they actually did a good job I will. People around here are rude as sh*t anyway.

Tipping is not really a thing in Norway, since waiters have proper pay like other jobs. But I tend to tip at restaurants, I keep it either 10% or round it to closest fifty or hundred.

I've gotten more used to tipping when I'm in a foreign country, since it's often a (main) part of what waiters get paid.

I ****ing hate tipping and how overly complicated it gets and different it is from culture to culture and the cultures were tipping doesn't exist have it way better. I'd rather have my meal be more expensive than have to deal with it. My hate of tipping probably started with a girlfriend I had in High School who was a hostess and had been a waitress and no matter what I tipped she would always get mad. For the argument that they make most of their money from tipping, well that's not the fault of the costumer. Also if everyone tipped the outrageous %'s people on the internet say they do they'd be making pretty damn good money. If they don't like how much they make then they should look for another job, it's that simple. And I don't buy the whole "poor student" like I mentioned my gf in HS was a waitress and on busy nights she would make plenty of money. Now I've also been on the other side of the coin, my cousin owned a restaurant and one time when he was on vacation my family agreed to help run it and I had to be a waiter some days with no salary, I was only 13 or so at the time so any money was great and sadly I only worked the "dead" times and got almost no tips, I was pretty bummed since I had no salary, even a $4 an hour salary would've made me happy at that time with no tips. So yeah I can relate as well even if that was only for a few days.

With my rant out of the way I don't see how people don't tip at all if the service is fine, I mean it's a social thing you have to do in your culture then you've got to do it for common courtesy. My problem with tipping is with waiters getting mad because you tipped the wrong %, they should be happy with what I give them. I don't know what people may consider me but I guess I'm a "good" tipper if I the bill isn't high but I'm a "bad" tipper if the bill is high. I dread returning to the States and having to deal with tipping there again. I also don't understand people who tip when they get bad service. If I get bad service it's coming out of the tip, hell the definition of tip is that they earned it. If they give me an amazing service I tip extremely well, if the service is absolutely terrible then I won't even leave a penny. This whole minimum % thing is B.S. Also I refused to tip Pizza delivery men when I also had a "delivery" charge. I realize that doesn't go to the delivery man but if you don't do it you are sending the message that you are not going to pay for a delivery charge and a tip to the owner and he'll adjust, I think for that reason I pretty much stopped ordering Pizza just to avoid the awkward moment of him not receiving any tip.

As most of you guys know I'm living in Mexico and here tipping is both a little bit easier but also more annoying. Here the standard tip is 10% which is fine and easy to calculate and no biggie. The problem I have here is people ask for tips for pretty much anything you can imagine, now for those things you only give the equivalent of a quarter or so but when every f-cking person expects to receive a tip it starts adding up. I'm talking about tipping at your gas station, whoever bags your groceries, the people who "help" you park in the parking lots, people who give you a hand with whateve and basically a bunch of things that you didn't need any help with whatsoever.


So yeah the short version: I hate the social stigma when it comes to tipping, to me you should tip appropriately to the service you received.

I'm not sure if wait staff like me. I tend to tip fairly generously, 15% or more....BUT...I tend to also, since I only really carry my debit card out, give a tip + the change that brings it to the next dollar: ie if the bill comes to $30.15, I'll probably tip $4.85 to make it and even $35 off the card.
Is that evil?

Same thing over here; tipping really isn't a thing in Australia because our minimum wage is so much higher than what it is in the US.

One thing I'm curious about, if you tip does that specific waiter who tended your table get the money, or does all the tipping money go into a huge pool and at the end of the day the tips are divided equally among all the workers?

I only ask this because several times after a tip is left at the table and I'm walking out, I see a completely different waiter than the one who served me go to the table and take the cash. I never say anything but I don't know if that guy was being a jackass by stealing another waiters tip, or they're supposed to do that since all the money is combined together at the end of the day. Anyone know?

I would. Working at Sonic is not pleasant, it is a high-pressure/high-speed workplace, and a tip would probably make your carhop's day. That said, I don't know if Sonic carhops get paid below minimum wage.

While I rarely go out, I make it a point to tip everyone. Including delivery -- please guys, do tip your pizza people. They do even more work than wait staff does, they deserve it.

The only time I've refused to tip was when the service was absolutely atrocious. But I won't go into detail about that one time. It wasn't pleasant, let's just leave it at that.

As for treatment of people that tip? Whenever I got tips, I would indeed remember the person that did it and would go out of my way to make sure they got what they wanted as fast as possible.

I don't tip.
http://new2.fjcdn.com/comments/I+don...e0a390c6b3.jpg

I tip pretty well. The better the service the better the tip and I'll tip up to 50%.

As far as food, I don't tip fast food workers, they don't do much service type stuff. Just order takers. Servers in sit down restaurants and bus staff I'll tip.

I also tend to stay in better hotels and will tip the cleaning staff, porters, and valet staff. Couple of bucks each time they do something for me or one big tip at the end.

I also tip my hairdresser well if they do a good job.

I also have wondered about Sonic! If you pay with your card and don't have cash, there is no place on the receipt for a tip. This led me to believe that you aren't supposed to leave a tip. However, I felt bad not giving a tip, especially to the carhop who I kept having over and over.

I always tip 20%. Senpai, 20% on $5 is $1, not $2. I divide whatever my bill is by 5, and there is my 20%. Sometimes I'll give a little more or less due to service.

For bartenders, $1 for a beer or $2 for a mixed drink is usually expected. I've met people who didn't even know you should tip bartenders. But bartenders probably make the best tips. I think bartender tips are pretty high for what they do.

I also used to tip my hair stylist when I got haircuts (before I shaved my head). I tipped the coffee shop girl the other day for serving me a water and talking with me a while. I guess I just tip when I feel like it sometimes. But Sonic still really makes me wonder.

So, it seems like most of us are (generally) decent tippers with our own thought process behind it. Some of us are human scum, but that's to be expected.

I'd really like to hear something from someone who actually waits tables, or is in another line of work that works for tips, because it's something I'm weirdly interested in. Unfortunately, I don't actually know anyone in that position. When my fiance was a Starbucks barista they used to split their tips between 7-10 people and end up with like $5-$10 each. That doesn't seem like a lot for an entire week worth of tips, but I imagine most people don't bother to tip there at all.

I don't think so. I also generally round out the tip to the nearest dollar just to make it even.

I live in Canada, but even still waiters/waitresses get paid below minimum wage, so that's why tips are a large part of their earnings.

I've also noticed and thought about this, but I think it depends on the place. Sometimes I'll go to a restaurant where the names of the waiter/waitress is on the bill, or even on the little bill holder they bring out when you're done. In those cases I'm assuming if they don't get the full total of the tip, it at least raises some kind of % that they receive of the tips at the end of the collection period. I don't think splitting tips evenly would be very fair in the service industry, because you always notice people who are clearly more competent and hardworking at their job than others and I'd hope my money isn't going into the pocket of someone not pulling their weight.

Well... there's that, but it's not our fault they chose to be a waiter or waitress. And minimum wage is $15 around these parts, anyway.

I mean, do you feel sorry for the strictly commission-based salesman who goes door to door selling vacuum cleaners who doesn't sell enough vacuum cleaners in a given pay period? You shouldn't.

I've been told by friends in the service industry that this sort of thing is a huge pain in their ass, so I don't do it anymore.

This varies from restaurant to restaurant.
Some places pool all tips and then everyone gets a set percentage, so that people who aren't wait staff get a cut as well.

Some places don't.
You could always just ask the server what the deal is in their restaurant, and go from there.

Me? I start at 20% and then go above or below that depending on service, with the caveat that willfully horrible service is the only thing that'll make me go below 20%.

Horrible along the lines of just upright being a dick to us, not if food is late or what I want from the menu isn't available. Stuff happens, and I've worked in the food industry long enough to know that there's a whole host of things beyond anyone's control.

But a nice, honest, wait person can expect a bare minimum of 20%.

Your state is the exception, not the rule.
Here in MA waitstaff can expect to get $3 an hour to start.
http://www.dol.gov/whd/state/tipped.htm

I don't live in the states. Waiters live of their salaries instead of tips here. The only people you tip are the pizza delivery guys and the guys who carry your luggage at a hotel or something.

Wouldn't tip at a restaurant unless the food was better than an orgasm and I was treated like a king by the staff.

Minimum wage rates are lower for jobs where tipping is common. $2.75 is starting for tip jobbers here.

Minimum wage is more for retail type jobs not tip jobs.

Where do you you live that minimum wage is $15? Here its only $8.50.

Usually, my mom and dad tip if the service is good. There was one time at Denny's where my mom, bro, and I went, and the waitress was a b*tch so Mom didn't tip her and it took a long time for the food to get to us. But most of the time if the service is good, they'll tip, and they usually tip a few bucks or more depending.

Seatac, WA. It's been $15 for over a year now.

That doesn't mean they're getting $15 an hour. Like Katie said, they get less than minimum.

And the same way they can choose a different job, you can choose to not eat out at all.

Not in this state. Full minimum wage all around. http://www.nolo.com/legal-encycloped...aws-35471.html

"Is the minimum wage different in Washington for tipped employees?

Although the FLSA and the laws of some states allow employers to pay tipped employees a lower minimum wage, Washington law does not. In Washington, tipped employees are entitled to the full minimum wage for every hour worked."

As stated, every place does it differently, some places have different state and local laws as well, which also aren't always followed or enforced in the restaurant industry. What is most common, though (in the US) is that waitresses have to "tip out" at the end of their shift, by paying a percentage of their sales to the busboys, hosts, bartenders, etc. It's assumed that they make at least 12-15% in tips, so they pay (and are also often taxed) based on this.

So, if you give them a ****** tip or none at all, they often have to pay out of their own pocket to serve you. I have no problem doing this to those that deserve it by being hostile or disrespectful, if it's bad enough that I'd never allow them to serve me again anyway. I'm more forgiving of incompetence, though those people won't get more 15%, or even 10% if it was really bad. Most of the time I tip at least 15-20% rounded up to a whole dollar amount, or more if the bill is small (like a $2 tip on $1.50 coffee at a diner).

I guess I ought to then. It's always been time consuming anyway as I suck HARD at math. :P

This is such a horribly faulty statement. While yeah, I probably wouldn't tip wait staff if minimum wage was as high as it was there and they didn't get paid below it, you still made a terrible statement: a lot of people don't get to choose their jobs. When jobs are so hard to come by, many people get stuck with whatever they can find. I'm really bothered that you even think that. Do you know how hard it is to get hired right now?

Yeah; I've got plenty of friends with legit 4+-year degrees that don't do anything even closely related to what they went to college and spent all that money for. Some things just don't pan out.

Not sure at all where the idea comes from that people go to the old Job Board and pick whatever they wanna do for the rest of their life. Or the old "just keep trying until you make it at what you want to do" chestnut.

I'd venture MOST people don't really get to pick their jobs, and just put up with whatever they can get paid to do. That's... really pretty obvious if you look around, actually.

Maybe it's the only job they could get. You don't know what people's circumstances are - maybe they're doing this part-time while they study so they can get another job. Maybe they have kids at home and they're just trying to make ends meet. I don't think people should get crapped on when they're just trying to make a go of it. Depending on where you live and what the unemployment rates are like, finding any kind of work can be hard - not everybody is able to just go and pluck a high-paying job off the employment tree.

I mean - every job in society is necessary. If there are no waiters or waitresses, you can't go to a restaurant. Going to a restaurant is a choice - it's not the same as someone rocking up at your door unsolicited trying to sell you a vacuum cleaner. If you don't want to tip, go to McDonalds or a place where tipping isn't expected.

I'm with Harvey Keitel on this issue. Steve Buscemi's observations might be amusing in a movie context, but IRL they're still lacking in empathy.

Sounds like the majority here at least understand what those in service jobs have to deal with, and are willing to show their appreciation for the work (we) do. I myself have worked in pizza delivery, and I can tell you from experience, that drivers depend almost entirely on their tips. When you are driving a vehicle for a living, expenses add up quickly. There is the obvious cost of gas for making the deliveries, which usually comes out of the driver's own pocket- those delivery charges mostly go to the STORE, not the driver- drivers get only a small percentage of those charges, meaning that on slow nights, they may only see 5$ or so at the end of their shift. Then there are other costs- maintenance of the vehicle(usually their own) for the job, insurance, food-handler's certificates (required in many places) and other things like food and drinks. (They have to eat, too!) Here in Texas, although drivers (and wait staff, I believe) DO get minimum wage, that is only 7.25 here, so they are still making very little. So those tips go a long way to keeping them on the road and getting your food to you!



That is the most horrid thing I've ever heard about a very hard-working and underappreciated industry. You don't CHOOSE to be a wait-person, you do it because you need a job. People who think getting jobs is easy, have never had to really LOOK for one when jobs are scarce, or had to "settle" for whatever they could get.



^ This. And yeah, I know that some jobs here in Texas are below minimum, as well. Like cleaning staff in hotels and the like. 3$ sounds about right.



It's even lower here! $7.25. Though it is supposed to be going up, but how much, I'm not sure.



And it has been for several years now, ever since 07 and that nasty recession Bush Jr. left us with. It took me a year and a half to find the job I previously had at McD's- and that's in a small town with a very limited job market.



If there's a job board around, it's FAR from where I live, or else I'd go pick one off of it myself!



Bravo penny!! My thoughts exactly! I'd kiss ya' if you weren't so far away, LOL!!

LOL just send me some cyber-tongue later on, Marvel. ;)

I'll send it the AD group section....

Damn I'm moving there

Oh, good...we're being assholes and whining about how life isn't fair again. Now this thread truly belongs in the GD!

And it's in that sweet sweet USD, too. If I was making my average daily wage in USD right now I'd f*cking retire by 40.

I already did that joke on the first page.
Get out of my sight.