What do you tip?

[Nordling]

How did it all begin?

 

[fandango]

I have always found tipping to be a very strange American custom and so many different jobs expect a tip its quite hard not to mess it up.

Im from the UK so a standard tip in a restaraunt is 10% but I lived in America for 2 years, over here a tip is generally considered as a little extra reward for good service rather then the expectation every time. I was in a restaurant once and the waitress came up to me at the end and asked if she had offended me in some way? I said of course not, that she was great and why she would even think that and she told me it was because I had only tipped her 10%. I asked my American friend I was with at the time and he told me that what I had done was basically a slap in the face for the waitress so I had to call her back over explain myself and ended up tipping her 50% as an apology even though I didnt feel I'd done anything wrong in the first place.

I had a similar experience in a bar on a night out with some American friends I hadnt known very long, one of them pulled me to the side and said I had made everyone else very uncomfortable for not tipping the bartender on a round of drinks I had just bought. In the UK I might tip a bartender at the end of the night if they've been exta nice but certainly not after every drink. So I felt had to go back over to the bartender tip him and apologise and also to the group and explain that I just didnt know I was meant to.

Both times I was made to feel like a giant cheapskate asshole just because I was new there and didnt know how big of a deal tipping is to Americans.

 

[Teagan]

I have always found tipping to be a very strange American custom and so many different jobs expect a tip its quite hard not to mess it up.

Im from the UK so a standard tip in a restaraunt is 10% but I lived in America for 2 years, over here a tip is generally considered as a little extra reward for good service rather then the expectation every time. I was in a restaurant once and the waitress came up to me at the end and asked if she had offended me in some way? I said of course not, that she was great and why she would even think that and she told me it was because I had only tipped her 10%. I asked my American friend I was with at the time and he told me that what I had done was basically a slap in the face for the waitress so I had to call her back over explain myself and ended up tipping her 50% as an apology even though I didnt feel I'd done anything wrong in the first place.

I had a similar experience in a bar on a night out with some American friends I hadnt known very long, one of them pulled me to the side and said I had made everyone else very uncomfortable for not tipping the bartender on a round of drinks I had just bought. In the UK I might tip a bartender at the end of the night if they've been exta nice but certainly not after every drink. So I felt had to go back over to the bartender tip him and apologise and also to the group and explain that I just didnt know I was meant to.

Both times I was made to feel like a giant cheapskate asshole just because I was new there and didnt know how big of a deal tipping is to Americans.

You really shouldnt be made to feel like an asshole for it. I know a huge stereotype is that "foreigners" are bad tippers and I dont necessarily think it's cause they're cheap but dont actually know our customs with it.

As servers were not supposed to bring up tips either when they're bad so im surprised that server had the nerve to come up and ask you about yours. Anywhere i worked that was a firable offense. One place I worked at a server went out to the peoples car to ask them why they didnt tip him anything after having a $60 meal and giving them change for $100. Instead of rectifying it they complained to the manager and he got fired on the spot. It's shitty cause he still had to claim a 10% tip on their table, and tip out the bartender on them as well.

I dont understand and never will understand why some people feel it's okay to go out to eat and have a server wait on them and not tip them. If you dont have the money go somewhere without servers. Its not that hard to do. A billion places dont have servers nowadays. Heck order take out from the place and dont sit and eat there even. Or get a cheaper entree, or skip the alcohol. Not tipping at all actually hurts the server a lot.

 

[PRISM]

I thought that in America, waiters and waitress were paid minimum wage, but the restaurant could subsidize up to 40% of the minimum wage with tips.

 

[Teagan]

I thought that in America, waiters and waitress were paid minimum wage, but the restaurant could subsidize up to 40% of the minimum wage with tips.

Servers make about $2-3 an hour. Depends on the state and all. The rest is supposed to be tips. If a server makes under minimum wage with tips included the restaurant is required to pay them the rest. Usually though the person is fired if that happens. Rarely it's their fault but it's done to teach others not to do it really. So you risk your job claiming you made under MW, so most even if they didnt make MW will claim they did at the end of the night. Take in to account a lot of servers must tip out to other people (depending on the place it would be bus boy, kitchen staff, bartender, hostesses, etc) it can lead to them owing money at the end of the night. Ive had this happen before. Not due to being a bad server but the place itself being dead with no traffic. So one bad table can mean a lot to a person at the end of the night.

 

[DuoShi]

Two bucks pretty much every time. Sometimes three bucks.

 

[DudeExtreme]

I normally do 20% + because I know the kind of crazy pressure restaurants give their employees. They barely get enough to get by plus if something happens like someone skipping out on paying for the meal, the restaurants in many cases will take it out of the waiter/waitress's salary or at least threaten to. If the service is really bad, I still normally do 15% but in my experience that seldom happens. If I treat others treat kind, well and with respect, I find out that I get excellent service. I believe in Paying it Forward long before this saying became popular.

I know folks in their 60s and older are from a different mindset. 10% if the service is great, the best ever. None if it's bad. I've been told that I give way too much at times and of course I think they don't give nearly enough. Because I'm not great with math, I have a tip app that I use offer.

I've noticed that some of the worst tippers are groups, especially a Christian group from church. Many of them expect to be treated like Kings/Queens and can get rude for the little they tip.

 

[RedHerby]

Here in Northern Europe the situation is differenent, the salary of the horeca staff is better, said that, I know from practice that tips can be a substantial part of your income, I worked from age 17 to age 21 as a cook in a restaurant where the tips was split between all staff, including the kitchen staff, and it was, if I remember correctly, a nice bonus of 25% above my salary (basicly minimal wage but because of the extra hours and the weekend hours a bit more)

So, maybe not needed, I tip, rounding up, for example, I did just eat Indian, the bill was 13.10 ( and of course the beer part of the bill is more then half), I paid with a 20 bill and said "5 back is ok", the waitress did understand me, English can be problem here in Berlin, but this part goes always smoothly

 

[JerryBoBerry]

Im from the UK so a standard tip in a restaraunt is 10% but I lived in America for 2 years, over here a tip is generally considered as a little extra reward for good service rather then the expectation every time. I was in a restaurant once and the waitress came up to me at the end and asked if she had offended me in some way? I said of course not, that she was great and why she would even think that and she told me it was because I had only tipped her 10%. I asked my American friend I was with at the time and he told me that what I had done was basically a slap in the face for the waitress so I had to call her back over explain myself and ended up tipping her 50% as an apology even though I didnt feel I'd done anything wrong in the first place.

I may get a lot of people annoyed at with me on this comment. :?

10% is still 'okay' and done by enough people she shouldn't have been that offended. Definitely not to the level of a 'face slap.' But to be honest if she had done that to me I would have gone back to the table and collected up the 10% I left (or asked her directly for it if she had grabbed it already) and not given her jack shit. The calling you out directly for 'only' leaving a 10% tip was a really rude move on her part and I would have been pissed. At that point her customer skills took a nose dive and i'd have said fuck it, given her nothing and never returned.

 

[Gen]

Im from the UK so a standard tip in a restaraunt is 10% but I lived in America for 2 years, over here a tip is generally considered as a little extra reward for good service rather then the expectation every time. I was in a restaurant once and the waitress came up to me at the end and asked if she had offended me in some way? I said of course not, that she was great and why she would even think that and she told me it was because I had only tipped her 10%. I asked my American friend I was with at the time and he told me that what I had done was basically a slap in the face for the waitress so I had to call her back over explain myself and ended up tipping her 50% as an apology even though I didnt feel I'd done anything wrong in the first place.

I may get a lot of people annoyed at with me on this comment. :?

10% is still 'okay' and done by enough people she shouldn't have been that offended. Definitely not to the level of a 'face slap.' But to be honest if she had done that to me I would have gone back to the table and collected up the 10% I left (or asked her directly for it if she had grabbed it already) and not given her jack shit. The calling you out directly for 'only' leaving a 10% tip was a really rude move on her part and I would have been pissed. At that point her customer skills took a nose dive and i'd have said fuck it, given her nothing and never returned.

Yeah, calling someone out for not tipping is rude as hell, but to call them out for not tipping enough is ridiculous. That is far from a slap in the face! To confront someone for not giving you enough of their money is nuts.

 

[mynameisbob84]

I dont understand and never will understand why some people feel it's okay to go out to eat and have a server wait on them and not tip them. If you dont have the money go somewhere without servers. Its not that hard to do. A billion places dont have servers nowadays. Heck order take out from the place and dont sit and eat there even. Or get a cheaper entree, or skip the alcohol. Not tipping at all actually hurts the server a lot.

I think it's very much a cultural thing, like you say. In the UK, servers are paid minimum wage (usually more than minimum wage) and are tipped on top of that (though not in the same way servers in the US are. Over here, it's more of a "oh, there's five of us, the meal comes to £90, everyone chip in twenty so we don't have to worry about change and the server gets a tenner because they were nice"). I think here, servers are just viewed as people doing their job. They're not dependant on tips (though I'm sure they welcome them), they're dependant on wages, which their employer pays out of the money they make from the customers. So when we go out for a meal, we just kinda view the server the same way we would the person behind the till in a shop, or the person serving us McDonalds, or the person who's come to fix our boiler. The service has a fixed price, which we pay, and the person carrying out the service gets paid a fixed wage agreed upon with their employer. The rest we don't really worry about. So I can definitely see someone who isn't familiar with the way American servers are paid, going over there and assuming it's the same set-up we have, and tipping very little or not at all as a result.

 

[Teagan]

I dont understand and never will understand why some people feel it's okay to go out to eat and have a server wait on them and not tip them. If you dont have the money go somewhere without servers. Its not that hard to do. A billion places dont have servers nowadays. Heck order take out from the place and dont sit and eat there even. Or get a cheaper entree, or skip the alcohol. Not tipping at all actually hurts the server a lot.

I think it's very much a cultural thing, like you say. In the UK, servers are paid minimum wage (usually more than minimum wage) and are tipped on top of that (though not in the same way servers in the US are. Over here, it's more of a "oh, there's five of us, the meal comes to £90, everyone chip in twenty so we don't have to worry about change and the server gets a tenner because they were nice"). I think here, servers are just viewed as people doing their job. They're not dependant on tips (though I'm sure they welcome them), they're dependant on wages, which their employer pays out of the money they make from the customers. So when we go out for a meal, we just kinda view the server the same way we would the person behind the till in a shop, or the person serving us McDonalds, or the person who's come to fix our boiler. The service has a fixed price, which we pay, and the person carrying out the service gets paid a fixed wage agreed upon with their employer. The rest we don't really worry about. So I can definitely see someone who isn't familiar with the way American servers are paid, going over there and assuming it's the same set-up we have, and tipping very little or not at all as a result.

Like I said I fully understand is someone is foreign and in the US and they don't understand our culture and how tipping works here. I dont blame them really. And saying a thing to them about it is rude as fuck. I would never do that to someone or try to shame them for it. What i'm more talking about is the US people who know exactly how it works and still choose not to tip. I served for years at many a restaurant and the worst tippers were not foreigners, but Americans by far. Usually families actually. And I get budgets are tight in families but that's why you make the choice to go somewhere without a server to begin with. We have a giant variety of restaurants here without servers so they have options and choose not to use them. It's rude and selfish of them to go out and not tip.

 

[RogueWarrior]

American here, so I have the American perspective on tipping. I also delivered pizza in my past. Used my own car, own gas, more frequent oil changes,etc. They kind of take care of that now with a delivery charge, but what you may not know is that not all of the delivery charge goes to the driver. Where I worked you eventually got up to about 90% of that charge, but it never went all to the driver. We always knew which frequent orderers tipped and which ones didn't. Just so you know.Tip your pizza people. Or if they are on a multiple run and know you, guess who's getting last?

I always tip at least 20%. Unless the service was horrendous and it was obvious the server didn't care. Has happened very few times.

OK, now storytime.

Once I tipped 200%. It was only me and the bill was about $20, so don't be too impressed. I was at a casual dining chain and sitting at the bar. The bartender was slinging drinks, taking food orders, playing part-time hostess and basically just busting her ass. And she was good. I was impressed. I left about a $40 tip and a note saying that I appreciated her work. Maybe that made her night, maybe not. I felt good when I left.

I was with a group of idiots (myself included) at another place one time. These idiots (both male and female) I was with almost to a person had worked for tips at one time or another. We ordered food and way too many pitchers of beer (no liquor place) and stayed way past our welcome. Our server was fantastic through it all. Our total bill came to about $300. By the time everyone pitched in (remember these are former servers mostly) there was about $500 laying on the table. Everybody was good with what they threw in. As with any group of people, leaving is not a smooth and efficient exercise. Bathroom stops, goodbyes, etc. I know this is not proper server protocol, but I appreciated it. Our server came up to us (not all of us, just the one's who were hanging out by the restroom waiting) and said an almost tearful thank you.

Whatever your views on tipping, if you have a chance and can do it, make someone's day.

 

[ronin]

I dont understand and never will understand why some people feel it's okay to go out to eat and have a server wait on them and not tip them. If you dont have the money go somewhere without servers. Its not that hard to do. A billion places dont have servers nowadays. Heck order take out from the place and dont sit and eat there even. Or get a cheaper entree, or skip the alcohol. Not tipping at all actually hurts the server a lot.

Depends which country you live in of course..

I never "tip" a waiter. I just round it up because I don't want to wait for my change and from experience the majority of the people are like that here in Belgium.
If the bill is 19,10 euro and I pay 20, they'll get 90 cents. If the bill is 19,90 they'll get 10 cents. And they don't give me a sour look or ask me why I only gave them 0.5% because a waiter in Belgium actually gets paid a decent salary ($11 to $14 an hour) to do their jobs.

 

[helloimc]

I double tax for ease, that comes out to about 15-20% (may vary state to state and whether the location local or not)

 

[Red7227]

Did someone say tip???

 

[Johndoe91]

I went out to eat at a restaurant I've never been to last night, and I wasn't impressed with the place, but the place was packed to i still tipped well.

What got me about the bill was that it had the tip amounts on it, and as I do the math now, Im pretty sure they weren't right, which is weird.

Also, gratuity was spelled qartuity, dunno if the fact that it was a Mexican restaurant had anything to do with it, but that confused the fawk out of me.

 

[JerryBoBerry]

I went out to eat at a restaurant I've never been to last night, and I wasn't impressed with the place, but the place was packed to i still tipped well.

What got me about the bill was that it had the tip amounts on it, and as I do the math now, Im pretty sure they weren't right, which is weird.

Also, gratuity was spelled qartuity, dunno if the fact that it was a Mexican restaurant had anything to do with it, but that confused the fawk out of me.

Just my guess.
It was all entered by hand into the cash register by someone who typo'd and probably rounded up to 25% or 30% for people that don't know how to math on their own. Just to see if the 'suggested' tip would work to increase tips.

 

[RubyDimples]

Did someone say tip???

Immediately when I saw this...it was like a car crash I just HAD to watch. I even laughed about four times already.....I must have a twisted sense of humor..hahaha :lol:

 

[AliceTTLG]

Just thought I would revive this since I saw it, and tipping is one of those things that I am very very VERY serious about. after 5+ years being a server making half of min. wage it just matters to me. I worked at a place that avoided paying the difference when your tips didn't add up to minimum by writing you up for not "working hard enough" to make good tips ( even if you only had 1 or 2 tables for a 5 hr shift). We were often slow and when we were busy we were desperately understaffed ( at times one delivery driver one server and one manager running kitchen in the middle of lunch rush). We sat and bused our own tables, prepped food items, boxed orders, cleaned front of house and part of back of house, handled service window, front counter, and phones. I would say that only about 25 -35 % of my time was spent serving but we still only made server pay.

After that I tip everyone as much as I can. I've tipped fast food workers, the people who bag your groceries, gas station employees and pretty much anyone who gives me friendly customer service, especially if they are stuck working on a holiday or I notice someone being a total dick to them. Servers bartenders hair dressers taxi drivers and tattoo artists get at least 20% but much more if they are making an effort. If I go out to eat with some of our relatives who are poor tippers I will stay behind to leave extra for the whole bill because I cannot stand to be part of a group that tips poorly. If I go out with friends and they don't tip I will point it out and if they make a shitty comment about tipping I won't go places they tipping is the norm with them. Tipping is a thank you a validation of effort. People don't have to be nice and chipper all the time and dealing with the public's disrespect and crack many a happy person. A generous tip would make my night sometimes even my week. I remember a lot of customers who gave a little bit extra and helped keep me from becoming a bitter depressed server. Even being a consistant tipper was nice because I always felt my service was good. Getting no tip or a very poor tip makes you wonder what you could have done wrong. Tips are personal.

ok done spewing. few things get me riled up like the tipping debate

 

[LeahLace]

Oh I thought this was an actual token tip thread (I just blow it all, I'm terrible with money)

But in America, I tip 15%-20%, unless the service is very poor. Even then, I always tip. Waiters, bell hops, cabbies, valets, etc.

In New Zealand, I don't tip unless I'm super impressed. Here they have liveable wages for waiters, even at McDonald's. I tried to tip once and the lady thought I'd just left money accidentally! She turned such a cute shade of red when I told her I thought her service was amazing and I loved her make-up and she more than deserved it.

 

[Alice_Biscuit]

Thank you for this thread, I had no idea how important tipping was in America! Now when I go visit, I won't be the asshole foreigner who tips badly. >.<

In the UK, you can definitely live off a server's income without tips, though it's not fantastic money. Here in the UK, I tip around 10%, but only if service was actually good. The server is always surprised and grateful, as tipping just isn't a big thing here.

Service is generally pretty crappy in the UK. So few servers actually smile! American servers always look so smiley and friendly. :3

 

[GreatDane]

It all depends on the restaurant that I go to, how busy it is at the time, how many servers are on at the time, how many people are in the party at the time, how well the service was. I base it out to start at 15% better the service, the better the tip. If the server is on top of the drinks and friendly that will automatically bump it up to 25% or more. Keep in mind though that with larger groups the restaurant will automatically add 18% to the bill to cover the tip.

The worst tip that I have left was around 5% because of how bad the service was. the family was there for over an hour and only had one refill on the drinks, the food came out cold and we couldn't get the bill to pay until I got in touch with the manager. never went back to that place.