Do you tip?

I never go out to eat unless I know I have enough for a decent tip. As most servers are making minimum wage or less, tips make up a huge part of their income. So even if the food isn't the greatest, or the service is slow or impolite, I always tip. I know that they put up with enough bullshit in a day to earn it

(besides, they don't mind you taking extra candies if you tip well)

 

At the restaurant I work, and from what I hear pretty much every other restaurant, there's a system where servers 'tip out' the support staff. Where I work, 3.5% of food sales go to the kitchen guys/expo/other support and 2.5% of alcohol sales go to the bartender.

Say, for example, a table of four sits down:
Person 1 gets a $16 entree and a $6 beer/cocktail, and tips 15%.
Person 2 gets a $22 entree and a $6 beer/cocktail, and tips 10%.
Person 3 gets a $24 entree and two alcoholic beverages worth a total of $12, and tips 0%.
Person 4 gets a $16 entree and a glass of water, no charge, and tips 5%.

The server would be tipping out $0.71 on person 1, who tipped $3.30,
$0.92 on person 2, who tipped $2.80, $1.14 on person 3, who didn't tip, and $0.56 on person 4, who tipped $0.80.

All in all, the server would have gotten $6.90 from this table, of which she would have to tip out $3.33 for a net profit of a whopping $3.57. If none of them tipped, the server would have had to pay that $3.33 out of their own pocket. Considering in the United States, servers make paltry wages, and in Canada often earn a dollar or two below minimum wage, it's flat out wrong not to tip.

This isn't really speaking to how things are outside of North America, where tipping isn't the norm. Presumably, servers earn a fairer wage in other parts of the world, thus essentially eliminating the need for tipping.

 

Yes, I do tip, based on the service.

I love it when waiters/waitresses, while doing swift service, are able to chit chat with you as...everyday people. Ya know, like you can be talking about some other restaurant you've been to and, while handing you your food, they'll be like 'oh yeah, I love the so-and-so there'; stuff like that... Those kinds of waiters/waitresses I don't mind tipping extra to.

 

Ayeeesh, I honestly had no idea that people felt so strongly about this, or that servers earn such stupidly low wages. A rule so important should never be so implicit and paying your employees below minimum wage should just be illegal. It's nothing but a huge testament to the horribly broken system we have going on here in the states. In all seriousness I have been having fun with this thread but I try my best to tip when I am able. Even if I didn't, its ridiculous to say I can't enjoy a nice meal every now and then because awareness about this is not high enough to fairly expect everyone to do it all the time whenever they eat out, and there are plenty of reasons someone who isn't insensitive or a dick might not tip for example they may be from a country that doesn't have their head on backwards where it isn't the custom to do so, or they could simply have grown up not knowing it's supposed to be mandatory, which is perfectly sensible considering there is no logical reason a tip should have to stand for anything more than a reward for exceptionally good service. The only person who's living I should ever be obligated to support is myself.

 

Kageshiro, the thing is that a waiter at a really high-end restaurant can make obscene amounts of money. At some BS place that tries and wretchedly fails to be fancy, it might be a situation where waiters are barely if at all scraping by, but if you go somewhere that is well spoken of by your social circle, they make more money than you do. That is not a matter of speculation. But your friends are there, and they are watching you. If you think they are going to listen to someone who stiffs the waiter, then you have lost your mind.

 

Absolutely.

 

Yeeeeeees, I remember well my days waiting tables...4 summers while I was in college. It is shit work, on your feet, running constantly, catering to assholes, thinking intensely about nothing much at all ("If I grab these salads, then dish those soups, I can get them to Table 17 and deliver menus to Table 4 in time that maybe the cooks will have entrees up for Table 9; but if the entrees aren't ready, I can get desserts out to Table 6 and take orders at Table 12").

Given that you get stiffed by a fair number of people who are convinced you're ripping them off, making far more than they are (I was making $2.50 an hour, well below minimum wage, in 1984), or that they shouldn't have to pay for service...I was lucky to average 10% of what I served in tips (excluding drinks, despite that they take a good deal of time and attention) on a really good night.

Yeah, I remember those days. And I f-ing well tip good service...and I know what lame service looks like...and I know what a busy vs. non-busy dining room looks like. I also know what the wait staff can control and what they can't. For service, standard is standard: 20% of your meal. If service was good, we go up from there. If the service really sucks, we'll go down...if you earn less than 15% from us, you've really pissed us off. Ten percent or less, and I'm scathingly angry at you, and the low tip is only the beginning of the bad karma you've earned from our interaction.

We almost never leave nothing at all.

 

Not usually one to give tips unless I'm at a restaurant and the food and service is exceptional. I'm not tight fisted by any means but, it's not that much of a big thing to tip in the UK, considering employees are required by law to earn minimum wage.

 

Absolutely! In the States, it's rude not to tip. It implies you received terrible service, which may happen if a restaurant is short-handed, the server is new, someone in the kitchen screwed up. It is usually not the server's fault, unless it's sheer inattention. Then there are sommeliers, maitre'd's, and the cloakroom attendant, washroom attendant, and the valet. If you can't afford to tip them all find another restaurant. Don't embarrass your self.

I understand that in many countries there are different rules. If you're travelling, read up on them. It's one of the reasons we get a bad rap as tourists.

I do not tip counter help unless they're delivering food or drink to my seat. Always, always tip your barman and get to know them. You'll make a friend and get a generous drink.

Then there negotiating the hotel staff. Bellmen, doormen, the maids, and the concierge. If they do anything for you be generous.

Service people in general get tipped, unless they're the owner of the establishment. If the person who cuts your hair owns the salon you don't tip, but if they're renting they're chair then definitely.

I'll even try to tip any grocery store personnel who my help me getting my things to the car or take my cart, especially if the weather is nasty. Usually they're not allowed to, but I always make a point of asking. Same with the people who dry my car off after it's been washed.

Why all this rigmarole, because people's livings depend on it. In some cases, it is just returning a kindness, being a human being.

 

I tip because my friends give me hell about it, but I'm against it. Enough said.

 

I never tip when I am in my own country, as we do not have a tipping culture here. I would tip in countries where tipping is a social requirement.