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Tips & tipping general discussion

So let's say my meal with my friend was $50 and we tipped $5. That's $5 for 30 minutes. Do you not think that's enough money? Do you think that server (with many other tables) deserved to get $10 extra for 30 minutes? I think not. That's waaay too much. Our waiters get $7 per hr here.
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I wasn't saying that it's fair or even deserved (I would find it fairer to live in a non-tipping culture where servers were paid a living wage to begin with), but in American culture, that's just what those levels of tips communicate. But you said that you're not concerned with sending a message anyway. . .

ebola
 
Few things are trashier than inappropriate tipping.





What do I hafta to do get an infraction?
 
manboychef said:
I think that in a restaurant every employee should be paid a flat ten dollars and tips should be pooled and spread out over each position equally. It would lead to everyone working harder to help everyone else.
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agreed. in places i have worked service, tips are pooled and it certainly seemed to leads to a generally higher level of service.
manboychef said:
Still it is a pretty dick move not to tip at all especially knowing that 4.75 an hour doesn't go very far. People can raise the question of why do you stay if the pay is so low? Lots of folks just don't have many options.
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agreed. i find a lot of shitty tippers use societal mores as their excuse but it's just cover for being a miserable tightwad :)

alasdair
 
It begins with the American idea of trying to find a way to pay people as little as possible. The mom and pop places I don't mind paying server minimum because you can develop a regular clientele that will take care of you.

It is the multinational concepts that the guy on the top is making amazing heaps of cash that is paying server minimum that I find disgusting. Pay people a living wage to begin with...that way when life's little bills appear (car trouble, health problems, kids hair catches fire) your employees won't end up suffering.

Wage slavery is killer. The restaurant biz is very cutthroat, and the great jobs are filled up with people that have gone to college for nursing, and graphic design...or older folks that have been there for ten or fifteen years....or there are so many servers you get very few shifts. I was executive chef of a country club making 30k a year doing eighty hours a week. One cannot live on that.

I mean twenty five percent off everything on the menu is pretty awesome....but I would rather be able to afford to pay full price at a restaurant that I havent worked five doubles in a row in. I'd also like to be able to see a doctor instead of just be on the bootstraps plan if I'm sick...or even be able to take a day off if I'm sick.

Sorry for the rant...I'll go back to the server station now.
 
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I normally only tip 10%, nothing if they're shit. If the bills about 50 quid then a fiver tip, if it's 50-100 then I might leave a tenner. I know they do it different in America but I only go out to eat with my girlfriend on a frequent basis, If the bill is like 80-100 quid they ain't done anything extra, just brought our more expensive food. There's one waitress we had at a restaurant in Covent Garden and she got my missus a free champagne cocktail on her birthday and was attentive, and just generally nice. She got a good tip.

I also went to Garfunkles in the 02. They took our order and 20 mins later said they didnt have the ingredients for the starter. Everything was overpriced and we didnt get what we want, and in the hour and a half we where there I got 1 beer served to me = no tip.

Most of the time in the UK they add a 12.5% service charge on your bill anyway. I've never said no, so I guess even the Garfunkles guy got some kind of tip, I just didnt leave extra cash
 
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I always tip 20% or more, unless the server is just an absolute dick.


Your general worth as a human being is based solely on how well you tip. I don't care if you killed a bunch of kids, if you tip 20% you are OK in my book.
 
I give the barista at Starbucks $1 for a drink. Dunkin Donuts too. When I moved to my current location, I read info from the Chamber of Commerce about what my City offers small business owners like breaks on there Façade ( the front of their shop ), so sometimes people make out, even if they aren't making just servers wages.
 
tkarr said:
I just tip proportionally to bra size
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Kudos for coming up with a method that makes no less sense than the existing method of pegging tips to the highly variable cost of the food and drinks.
 
ΔΔΔyep...I'm a dude...so old lady's and gay guys tip me very well. Made forty in about two hours today. But the kitchen is filled with new hires... so service I slow....kept getting triple sat.
 
What I've noticed from being in the industry 15+ years is that the cheaper the restaurant the cheaper the tip. As you go up in food service the tips get better. Depends on city as well. When I worked in big cities tips were always 20% or better (same goes for nice restaurants in nice neighborhoods) but when I work in cheap diners or shitty little towns tips are anywhere between 10-15% TOPS (with some stiffs as well). I put a lot into my service..my opinion on the matter is that everyone whould work a busy service shift at least ONCE in their life and then maybe people would understand.

Manboychef: I can't stand tip sharing. I have worked with pooled tips before and I hated it. Not only do I end up taking more tables and responsiblity than my fellow co workers but to tip share with the kitchen, who routinely gets paid much more than I do hourly just pisses me off. I work my ass off for those tips, I have to tip out on my sales percentage, no matter what I get tipped and I also have to pay taxes on my sales (at least 10% of my total sales or I'll be audited), no matter what I get tipped. Back of the house employees do not have to pay taxes on their tips. But this is just my OPINION though...Oh and I disagree about the food runners job being the hardest...that is a cake walk. All you have to do is take a tray to the designated table and drop food off. I opt out of a food runner if I have the option. OFten the food runner will just "auction" your food. I always write down in order so I can serve food without having to ask who ordered what. Again, just my opinion though ;)

As for how I tip..I base it off of service. I don't think a shitty server is entitled to a good tip just because they are a server. Excellent service gets 20% shitty service gets way less. If I'm ignored 0%. TIPS: To Insure Prompt Service!!
 
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I refuse to tip my waiters - but for some reason, they still get upset.


(This is the most brilliant joke I have ever made)
 
Aporia said:
What I've noticed from being in the industry 15+ years is that the cheaper the restaurant the cheaper the tip. As you go up in food service the tips get better. Depends on city as well. When I worked in big cities tips were always 20% or better (same goes for nice restaurants in nice neighborhoods) but when I work in cheap diners or shitty little towns tips are anywhere between 10-15% TOPS (with some stiffs as well). I put a lot into my service..my opinion on the matter is that everyone whould work a busy service shift at least ONCE in their life and then maybe people would understand.

Manboychef: I can't stand tip sharing. I have worked with pooled tips before and I hated it. Not only do I end up taking more tables and responsiblity than my fellow co workers but to tip share with the kitchen, who routinely gets paid much more than I do hourly just pisses me off. I work my ass off for those tips, I have to tip out on my sales percentage, no matter what I get tipped and I also have to pay taxes on my sales (at least 10% of my total sales or I'll be audited), no matter what I get tipped. Back of the house employees do not have to pay taxes on their tips. But this is just my OPINION though...Oh and I disagree about the food runners job being the hardest...that is a cake walk. All you have to do is take a tray to the designated table and drop food off. I opt out of a food runner if I have the option. OFten the food runner will just "auction" your food. I always write down in order so I can serve food without having to ask who ordered what. Again, just my opinion though ;)

As for how I tip..I base it off of service. I don't think a shitty server is entitled to a good tip just because they are a server. Excellent service gets 20% shitty service gets way less. If I'm ignored 0%. TIPS: To Insure Prompt Service!!
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I feel you. I use head to foot to remember where food goes. My ideal restaurant is everyone, including servers, make ten an hour, and everyone must be proficient on all job codes (ie...servers cook sometimes, and vie versa)

The reason I see this working is you really need an elite team of skilled individuals. If a person can't carry their load they get terminated...to avoid sharing tips with dead weight. I personally hate sharing tips. It leads to certain folks abusing it.
Had a dine and dasher...he was planning it but had mad good service.
 
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L2R said:
how on earth are americans able to figure out 15%? ;)
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its one of those things we're taught as children, along with what races to hate, how to make a button stand, who to vote for and how to make a roux.
 
I do tip, but I find it quite a strange and primitive system in the US. I just wish that restaurants in the US stopped paying slave wages and relying on tips to motivate their staff. I feel better paying a flat service percentage (which we have here, but we pay tip above that if service is good) that goes to everyone, versus someone having to wish I would leave a tip afterwards. I dislike small talk, especially when I see that the person feels indifferent and is just doing it to achieve some false sense of rapport, for the tip. I value promptness, knowledge of menu, etc, not fake smiles and etc.

I do leave large tips for a great meal or great service, but I wish there was a way to get it to the whole places. Besides, the meal always seems to cost less because the restaurants have left the labor out of the price. I've seen people get yelled at for not leaving tip. I understand but I find it very strange. In most other places, a "tip" is a bonus, not a requirement.
 
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