i know im strapped for cash as most college students are. and i know damn well i deserve and need my money more than some dude i dont know at all who is just giving me my food and the bill (which if I could I would refill my own drinks and pick up my own food but I don't have that option do i)
i mean seriously, do any of you tip at a mcdonalds or burger king when they hand you your food....i dont think so and nor do they expect you to. takes more effort than making a drink in my opinion too.
Well, I think the solution is pretty obvious then -- if you can't afford to tip when you eat at a nicer place than fast food, then ... *drumroll* don't eat there! Go to McDonalds and save your money.
I agree that tipping SHOULD be about "above and beyond" service and if it were my rules I would tip nothing for "blah" service and up, say, 20% for great service. However, it's not my rules, it is society and culture, which practically dictates a minimum 10-15% tip no matter what. If I try to protest "the system" by leaving nothing, I am the one that looks like a cheapskate and my intended message is completely lost.
I remember once eating at a reasonably nice seafood place and the family seated at the table next to mine was complaining about the bill. They had ordered an enormous seafood platter (this restaurant's specialty) and were charged something like $19 a head instead of the $15 they had seen in some newspaper ad from a number of weeks prior. The wait staff explained, that ad was about a month old, that lead times for publication meant those prices had been set about 6-8 weeks ago, seafood prices were seasonal and, at the time, prices were rising everywhere. The customers were irate, made a scene and ended up paying exactly the bill, leaving no tip at all. I know this because the restaurant owner was so exasperated that he turned to the nearest guy that would listen -- my table -- and went on about how market prices were beyond his control and all that.
Now, this family was Asian. So am I. I hate to bring racial stereotypes into this but you know as well as I do that a lot of Asian folks are cheap and don't tip well (if at all). My parents are, unfortunately, like that too.
Not wanting to perpetuate the stereotype, I resolved to do one better than the other guys. I happened to be paying for the meal that day, and (rude customers aside) it was pretty fantastic -- we even received a cold cut appetizer platter "with compliments from the chef"! (Seriously, how many places do that anymore?) I left something like a 30% tip. The manager actually met me at the door to thank me for my patronage and offered to give me a free appetizer next time I came.
Sadly I never got a chance to go back, and I don't think they are there anymore.
Another time I took 11 teenagers out for dinner at a fairly upscale steak restaurant. It was their "grad" dinner for completing a 2-year leadership training program under my tutelage at a summer camp. They loved it -- semi-formal clothing, slicked hair and make-up on the girls. I told them to order whatever they wanted, which they took advantage of (except the one boy who suddenly decided he was vegeterian and ordered only a fried onion and a baked potato. At a steakhouse!) We kept the waitress busy. When the time came I gave her my credit card before even asking for the bill. "I don't even want to see it", I told her, "just run it through." I gave her a nice tip that night, for putting up with 12 rowdy summer-camp personalities! When the bill comes to something like $300, what's another $50?
Normally I tip 15% for food, I give a couple bucks for haircuts and delivery people. I round up to the nearest whole dollar, too, like another poster mentioned doing.
