Tipping

[Peanut]

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!

[Slade]

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.

[Cure]

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.

[Peanut]

Originally Posted by Slade

For the most part, I don't tip. Usually I don't carry cash anyway.

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?

[TheCanadiandrome]

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

[Cure]

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.

[senpai]

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!

[Powder]

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.

[TheCanadiandrome]

Originally Posted by Cure

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.

Lol why not

[Slade]

Originally Posted by Peanut

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?

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.

[Candy Kappa]

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.

[sdp]

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.

[Jester]

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?

[pennydreadful]

Originally Posted by Candy Kappa

Tipping is not really a thing in Norway, since waiters have proper pay like other jobs.

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.

[CyberCubed]

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?

[Netkeeper]

Originally Posted by Cure

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 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.

[Amaranthus]

I don't tip.

[Katie]

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.

[MrPliggins]

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.

[Peanut]

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.

Originally Posted by Jester

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?

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

Originally Posted by pennydreadful

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.

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.

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

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'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.