Ok lets go with the OP's original question and decide not to tip at all you go out and grab a bite to eat at a restaurant and the waiter wasn't anything special not bad but not worth tipping either.. then what? The restaurant picks up the slack they make up for the lack of tips that each server gets by probably raising the price of the food on the menu. I guess what I'm saying is that while it is customary to tip and maybe a decent restaurant would "suggest" a 10% gratuity then its really up to you if you tip or dont. Either way you're the one going out for a good time and spending $6-$10 on a burger anyways then you might as well tip the server while you're spending money for going out. To not tip I guess in my mind would be like getting all dressed up for a night out at a club and not drinking at all once you got there.
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Tipping
- Thread starter cycocelica
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It's one thing to tip the waiter/waitress for doing a good job but why are we expected to tip them just for serving us? Aren't they paid by their employer to do just that?
I don't mind tipping at all I just don't like the mentality that we "have to" tip someone for doing their job and if we don't it's rude or something. Teachers don't get tips and their job is much harder and much more important than waitressing.
I've worked as a waitress for a long time, I never expected tips. If I got them, great, if I didn't that was ok too.
A lot of times I go out and don't drink at all. I go out to dance and to be with my friends. Drinking is secondary.
So basically we all tip for service and its the quality of it and you're right if I see the waiter/waitress chit chattin with her friend over in the corner and I gotta wait to get a refill on my drink then your tips gonna be lower. In the end the restaurants going to jack up the price so if they constantly have to cover staff because theres a trend of not tipping happening then guess what that $8.95 burger you ordered is probably now $12.95 and yes restaurants would pass the bottom line onto the paying customer in the form of menu increases.
I figure 15% for average/typical service. From there it either goes up for better service or down for sub-par service.
Because for what ever messed up reason the restaurant industry doesnt pay the employee's the wage they need to live off of which is the minimum wage. I assume to keep the bottom line as low as possible so that the low prices attract people to go and eat out at a restaurant because I know if restaurants had to pay minimum wage, your food would be EXPENSIVE.
The other portion of this whole thing is YOU are going out to have a good time be it have a meal at a nice place, drink, watch football what ever.. so tips kind of go along with spending money that night be it if you tip $1 or 10% or 20% if the food was great and the service exceptional.
I guess tipping really tries to encourage good behavior on the job, if you kiss ass or flirt like crazy then people are probably more inclined to give you a bigger tip but for some people they make their bill payments solely on the tips people leave them and they need to survive too and yes minimum wage is absurdly hard to live on.
The other portion of this whole thing is YOU are going out to have a good time be it have a meal at a nice place, drink, watch football what ever.. so tips kind of go along with spending money that night be it if you tip $1 or 10% or 20% if the food was great and the service exceptional.
I guess tipping really tries to encourage good behavior on the job, if you kiss ass or flirt like crazy then people are probably more inclined to give you a bigger tip but for some people they make their bill payments solely on the tips people leave them and they need to survive too and yes minimum wage is absurdly hard to live on.
As a waiter in Australia I was earning around $18 to $21 an hour during the week, up to $28 an hour on weekends and around $38 an hour on public holidays. In Australia the wait staff don't just take orders, they deliver and clear food, take drinks orders, clean and re-lay the tables. We don't have "bus boys" and drinks waiters are few and far between, usually they're sommeliers in the higher end restaurants.
We don't expect a tip here because well, at those rates we don't rely on them to live. People still do tip if they think you've delivered excellent service and those tips are usually spread out between floor and kitchen staff.
I think the s*ithouse wage wait staff earn in the US is deplorable. Staff should not rely on the kindness of others to make minimum wage. The wage rates I listed above were the mandated wages for my level of experience and age and were pretty damned good if you ask me - still hated the work but the money was always pretty good.
Now, most wait staff are employed on a casual basis and if the place isn't big enough to warrant attention from the authorities they will pay the staff significantly less in cash under the table. Even then it's around $15 an hour.
I will tip in a country where the custom asks for it but if it doesn't then you'll get a tip if you've provided excellent service.
We don't expect a tip here because well, at those rates we don't rely on them to live. People still do tip if they think you've delivered excellent service and those tips are usually spread out between floor and kitchen staff.
I think the s*ithouse wage wait staff earn in the US is deplorable. Staff should not rely on the kindness of others to make minimum wage. The wage rates I listed above were the mandated wages for my level of experience and age and were pretty damned good if you ask me - still hated the work but the money was always pretty good.
Now, most wait staff are employed on a casual basis and if the place isn't big enough to warrant attention from the authorities they will pay the staff significantly less in cash under the table. Even then it's around $15 an hour.
I will tip in a country where the custom asks for it but if it doesn't then you'll get a tip if you've provided excellent service.
Yeah but out of the % of people that do go out to a bar/club how many do you see not drinking? the whole point of going out may not be drinking it is to have a good time,dance and meet people but drinking is still a very very large part of the whole club/bar experience.
In all the places I worked I got at least minimum wage and the food wasn't expensive at all.
And I'm not against tips at all. I'll tip if I get a good service. I might tip or not if I get average service (I don't think I have to tip someone because they did just what they we're supposed to do anyway) and I don't tip at all if the service was bad.
I believe someone mentioned that usually staff that depend on tips that dont meet the minimum wage with the tips they provide automatically get paid more by the restaurant till they meet the requirement. Also I wonder what percentage of waiters/waitresses have multiple roles too to clear and setup tables, refill condiments, take your orders, deliver food, clear it. I'd imagine a large percentage of restaurants don't have bus boys and depend on their wait staff to fill those roles for much less then hiring another person to do it.
The question is why not tip though? even if you tip a couple bucks then whats the harm? the places that dont deserve tips are pizza/coffee places that pay their workers at or above minimum wage, the excemption to the rule above is if the guy delivers your pizza I'd expect a tip for driving around trying to find your house and if I made your coffee drink to your exact specs.
The question is why not tip though? even if you tip a couple bucks then whats the harm? the places that dont deserve tips are pizza/coffee places that pay their workers at or above minimum wage, the excemption to the rule above is if the guy delivers your pizza I'd expect a tip for driving around trying to find your house and if I made your coffee drink to your exact specs.
Well yeah if the service is crap then I dont think the server expects a tip then and if they drone about it then in that case its tough s*it. But at the least if someones doing a good job maybe not great but they're taking your order correctly and delivering your food exactly as you ordered it and occasionally doing a drink run to see if you need a refill then they deserve a tip of some sort.
Besides whats another 10% on a bill anyways?
Besides whats another 10% on a bill anyways?
So I should tip someone because they could take my order correctly? For me a tip is a reward, I don't feel obligated to reward someone because they did exactly what they should be doing anyway. And I didn't expected it when I was a waitress either.
Right now I work in sales. We get prizes when we perform better than average, not when we show up to work and just do our job. Why should waitressing be any different? Why should we reward restaurant staff for just doing their job? I'll tip them when they do more than average.
Time to update the resume and find a new job. As for the single parent working there, she needs to find another job obviously.
I am glad someone sees this the same way.
You know, that is exactly what I want.
I want the restaurant to pay the servers a decent wage. Then charge me whatever for the food on the menu to cover the costs.
Then, I can feel free to tip -- or not -- based solely on the waiter's service. Crappy service -- no tip. Excellent service -- excellent tip. The server is motivated to provide the best service possible in hopes of being justly rewarded.
Right now our culture of "the tip is expected" is broken. It is unfair to even consider not leaving a tip because we know that the server's wages are based on the expectation of tips. But, there is no motivation for the waiter to provide any better customer service than the bare minimum required to avoid being fired. If a customer does leave a crappy tip, or no tip, it is THEY that are labeled the cheapskate -- the waiter never thinks "Gee, he didn't leave much of a tip, I wonder if he was unhappy with my service, did I do something wrong? Maybe I should improve."
Not to mention the stories -- I don't know how apocryphal they are -- of what can happen to your food if you are a known "non tipper".
im only required to do three things in this life. eat sleep and die.
and taxes lol
It took me a long time to adjust to not tipping while I was living abroad. Just seemed alien though horrible service helped with that.
But in a culture where people earn their salaries off tips, to just tip $1 is just someone being a cheap dick. If the service sucks, then fine, tip a $1. But if service is good or better than expected, tip well.
But in a culture where people earn their salaries off tips, to just tip $1 is just someone being a cheap dick. If the service sucks, then fine, tip a $1. But if service is good or better than expected, tip well.
I 'm with you. I have no problem tipping 20% and often do it for good service. Even average service gets 15% from me (at least....I tend to round the bill up to the nearest dollar just to make math easier). Only when the service is beyond crappy do I go under 15% or not tip at all.
I don't tip at coffee shops and places like that either, unless I pay with cash and have some spare change, I'll usually throw it in the tip jar.
I tip 20% as a matter of practice at restaurants, and less if the service is poor.
Yeah, I agree with the others that say that it shouldn't be mandatory, but until restaurants start paying the wait staff a better wage and increase food prices to offset it, I'm not going to punish the waiter or waitress in the meantime.
Yeah, I agree with the others that say that it shouldn't be mandatory, but until restaurants start paying the wait staff a better wage and increase food prices to offset it, I'm not going to punish the waiter or waitress in the meantime.
Tip is reward fro doing a good job
if someone is merely doign the job they willingly employed themselves in why am I required to pay the diff for what they signed as their wage and what they think they should be getting.
There are plenty of jobs that pay min wage or above that they could be working at.
Yes I tip when I get good service. but I dont tip the take out people.
delivery yes, take out no.
if someone is merely doign the job they willingly employed themselves in why am I required to pay the diff for what they signed as their wage and what they think they should be getting.
There are plenty of jobs that pay min wage or above that they could be working at.
Yes I tip when I get good service. but I dont tip the take out people.
delivery yes, take out no.
(1) That's what i'm saying. I customarily tip, just because it's a social norm, but sometimes I ask myself, "when did it become customary to tip and why?"
The whole idea behind tipping is to encourage good service, do you not agree? But if everyone tips 10%,15%,20% based on custom, what is left as encouragement? The whole idea of turning tipping into a custom is, and I use the term loosely, communist. (do I need to explain this?)
(2) You make clowns cry.
up until recently I worked as a doorman at a beergarden/bar
waitresses made 2.45 an hour, often worked 10-12 hour days, put up with lots of crap and creeps, and worked in 90-100 degree heat while having to climb stairs continually in order to fill orders.
needless to say I tip often and tip well, typically 30 percent depending on where I am and how much work the waiter or waitress has (ie slow lunch shift I tip more)
waitresses made 2.45 an hour, often worked 10-12 hour days, put up with lots of crap and creeps, and worked in 90-100 degree heat while having to climb stairs continually in order to fill orders.
needless to say I tip often and tip well, typically 30 percent depending on where I am and how much work the waiter or waitress has (ie slow lunch shift I tip more)
If you have a problem with tipping, don't eat out.
Most places let you do take out and then not tipping is fine.
Until all restaurants start paying a living wage to their workers, you shouldn't eat out and not tip, or tip $1 (which is more an insult than a tip).
I'm all for places eliminating tipping and just raising prices 15% - it would make things much easier - but either way, it's you and I who are paying in the end.
Most places let you do take out and then not tipping is fine.
Until all restaurants start paying a living wage to their workers, you shouldn't eat out and not tip, or tip $1 (which is more an insult than a tip).
I'm all for places eliminating tipping and just raising prices 15% - it would make things much easier - but either way, it's you and I who are paying in the end.
Same, I tip 15% on average, but I've tipped as high as 40-45% I don't understand being cheap and not leaving a tip, I guess it should just be included like in many other countries, then you wouldn't have a choice. I tend to tip higher at nicer restaurants as well. There is a local French restaurant where the owner, from France, cooks and at times serves you. I think they have one waiter and one bus boy as well, I tip very high there. Also tend to tip high at steakhouses, $60 tip on a $200 for a 2 hour meal, I'd love making that much bank, but thats what good service gets.
I never tip at coffee shops or whatever either, if you gave me the sheet I could and would gladly make my own Frappuchino, but I would hate to serve myself in a restaurant.