How much usually be it percentage or just plain old dollar amount? Or iz u a cheap azz bastid?

wow some big spenders up in here....

unless you cook the food and bring it to yourself (and your guests) you shpuld tip a minimum of 15% of the TOTAL bill. none of this before tax bullshit. it is not the server's fault there is a tax on restaurant food. if you get bad service there is not need to leave a 'decent' tip. the minimum will suffice. on the other hand if your server was especiallly helpful, informative, friendly, efficient or whatever throw in a few extra bucks. it won't kill you and it will make him/her feel like they did their job well. if it's terribly busy, i'll leave a few extra bucks (if the service was fine) because i know what servers go through to make your food come out right. it ain't aall about the kitchen. i can't tell you the pressure servers are under to get your meal out correctly. kitchen workers get an hourly rate and they don't particularly care how long a table waits for its food. the server is the one who pushes to get it out quickly.

i almost always leave more than 15% but there have been one or two occasions where i have left less. i literally had to get up and find our server (and food). i asked for water and she got nasty with me. oh no. those are rare occurrences though.

anyhow, when in doubt, leave more. if the bill is 40 bucks, i generally leave 8 (assuming its good service). i never leave less than 3 bucks, regardless of the bill. it just seems insulting to me. i mean, before yoo go out to eat you need to factor in the aproximate cost of a decent tip. if you can't afford that, keep your ass at home or order take out.

I make it a point to embarass people who go out to eat with me, but are tightwads when it comes to tipping. It pisses me off when people don't tip.

You should never tip as a matter of course. Why the hell should we?

I do tip - tax drivers, barbers, waitresses - but only if they deserve it. All of this set % stuff is absolute bollocks.

If I'm in a restaurant and I've had great food, screw the waiter, I should be tipping the chef.

I remember a guy took me out to lunch, and he tipped HORRIBLY.

Never went out with him again....I was a server at the time and he knew it.

I HOOK my hairdresser UP. She makes me look good, so I tip her VERY well.

1p1p1i3 said:

see now, that's a buncha shit. the bottom line is you go out to eat because you don't feel like cooking or serving yourself. those who serve you should be appreciated. the server will tip out the host, the bartender and in many cases, the kitchen. the server tips those people out based on total sales. they also pay taxes based on total sales. if you skimp out on your server, they still have to pay all those people at the end of the night. in essence, you aare then causing your server to PAY to SERVE YOU. that is a bunch of shit. if you go out, take care of those who take care of you. in the states, servers max out at about 3 bucks an hour. yes, they chose the job but you chose to go out to eat. the standard percentages are set up mostly for cheap asses who would not tip anything if they didn't "have" to. i don't see what the problem is with tipping on a percentage. i find the only people who take issue with this method is people who would prefer to not tip.

OK NOW THIS IS WHEN I ALWAYS GET IN TO A DISPUTE WITH WHOM I AM GOING OUT WITH ..LOL ..I AM NOT A TIPPER ATALL ..NOW THE ONLY WAY I TIP IS WHEN THE WAITRESS IS VERY FREINDLY AND VERY NICE .. .IF YOU HAVE AN ATTITUDE OR DONT ANSWER MY QUESTION IN A NICE WAY NO TIP.. I REMEMBER ONE TIME IT WAS THIS WAITRESS SHE WAS XCELLENT , HER PERSONALTY WAS GREAT , SHE WAS SO FRIENDLY AND HELPFULL I THINK I LEFT HER A $5 TIP. .

lace17 said:

on a bill of 25-30 bucks, that's cool (by industry standards). if the bill was more than that, though, it is on the lesser side. not knocking you or anything. what you give is your business. but, speaking from the other side of the table, if i've done a good job and taken good care of a guest (which i always do) and i only get 10 percent...honestly, i'm going to politely bring the guest back his/her change. they apparently need it more than i do.

I used to be a server...geeze..we worked darn hard for our $$$ . Now, if the waitress/waiter brings me my extra hot water for my tea...big tip...otherwise.....normal tip....always a good tip tho

Folks don't realise the servers don't make minimum wage.....and rely on tips to live.

and....btw.....my hairdresser luvs me.....she gets a good tip from me as well.

pippet said:

If servers don't make minimum wage, then what use is minimum wage?

Lots of people have crappy, badly paid jobs. I've had plenty - I got no tips.

Yes, servers work hard, so do a lot of people.

SassierBritches said:

Surely a MUCH MUCH better system is this:

The price on the menu includes everything - cost of the food, service, heating and lightning, everything. If I pay that, great. Servers, kitchen staff, everyone gets a wage. Then
* I know what I'm paying
* Staff know how much they're earning
* Good staff can be properly rewarded with gratuities - I'll tip if someone really does a good job.

Let's say I order a $10 steak - the waiter make $1 for carrying it 30 feet?
Let's say the next table over, someone orders $100 bottle of wine - that waiter makes $10? It doesn't seem right.

Once tipping becomes "the norm", it's no longer tipping, it's just charging by another name.

1p1p1i3 said:

It would be much easier and more fair to waiters for restaraunts to pay them a reasonable hourly rate than to make them rely on tips. But that would, of course, mean higher prices across the entire menu. Restaraunts are far more concerner about their own sales, than they are their servers earnings.

The government certainly considers tips as wages, since servers get taxed on their tips. If a server is making 3 bucks an hour, at the end of two weeks, they're lucky if they get $30 paycheck once all the taxes are taken out.

Servers do ALOT more than just carry a plate to your table. They're explaining the menu and answering your questions about it, taking your order and ringing it in, getting all your drinks including countless refills as well as cocktails, pre-bussing tables (removing dirty plates and glasses throughout the course of the meal, as well as when you leave), helping other servers carry large orders to a table and get refills for them as well, restocking both the bus stands as well as the expo line in the kitchen (this includes condiments, garnishes, soups, deserts, etc...). In many kitchens, the orders are only half-done when placed in the window, and it's the servers responsibility to complete the order. This includes finding their ticket, pulling all the necessary items from the window, letting the kitchen know if anything is missing or incorrect, and assembling the dishes (adding condiments, dressings, garnishes, etc...). Salads are almost always the server's responsibility. Deserts are also usually the server's responsibility to prepare, including sundaes, milkshakes, cobblers, whatever. Even after the restaraunt closes, they often have to stay for another hour or two to do the closing work, rolling silverware, closing down the expo line, wrapping up everything and putting it all away in the freezers/refrigerators, sweeping, cleaning up that entire side of the kitchen, cleaning out all the bus stands including cofee pots, iced tea brewers, restocking the stands, taking out the trash, totaling up your sales and doing all the related paperwork with that, then tipping out the bussers, food-runners, and bartenders.

There's grocery stores in my area that will pay people upwards of $9 per hour to simply ring up peoples orders, they don't even bag the items. Comparably, thats only a small fraction of a server's responsibilities (and at least a cashier gets to do one person at a time, servers can easily have 10-15 seperate checks going at the same time), yet they make less than $3 per hour if people don't tip.

The 15-20% is just a guideline. If you ordered a $160 bottle of Dom and about $40 worh of food, the server isnt going to expect you to tip on $200. But likewise, if you and 5 of your friends come in and all order breadsticks and waters with lemon, then sit at the table and chat for 3 hours, you should certainly leave more than 15% of your $10 check.

It would probabbly make more sense to some if we stopped calling them tips and started referring to them as service fees or wages, which is what they really are.

People that have a problem paying for service at a restaraunt should just stick with drive-thrus..

1p1p1i3 said:

first off, in the states tipping is the norm.
when you order a steak do you ask if anything comes with it? do you like it prepared a certain way? if you forget to specify what temperature you'd like it cooked (rare, med rare, medium, well, etc.) do you want your server to remember to ask you? as far as knowing what you're paying...look, if i go to a bennigan's or friday's i know what the menu prices look like therefore i can expect an approximate expense PLUS tip. if i eat at charlie trotter's or le bec fin i know what those prices are and therefore can make the same approximation. the server did not make you come in and order just as you did not make the server take that job. the bottom line is, however, "when in rome...". you don't go somewhere that requires a tux and walk in with jeans on. you knew where you were going and you should have dressed appropriately. the same goes for tipping. if you go out to eat, you know that is how the server gets paid. you know its expected and you know its the norm. if you don't wanna follow suit, don't go.

when i work, i have about 10 tables at a time. every single one of my tables gets the experience of being my only table. my mind may be in a million different tasks but i will give every table undivided attention so they leave, not only full, but happy. that is my job. do you tip for massages, manicures, haircuts, etc.? or are you against tipping altogether? any kind of service, performed in full, needs to be compensated for. when you pay the bill at a restaurant, you are paying the restaurant costs...not the server. you are paying for the rent of the restaurant, the food and everything else...including the (maximum) 3 bucks and hour the servers get. i don't think throwing a few bucks in the way of the person who brought everything to you and answered all your questions and gave you good enough service that you were able to relax and talk with your friends while all of your refills and plates are taken care of is too much to ask.

its funny. servers are the first person to hear it if things aren't perfect or if there is some kind of complaint. yet, nobody wants to pat us when we do a good job. you have to practically suck some people's dicks to get a dollar out of them. geez. if times are that hard, just cook and serve yourself. or go to a buffet.

I understand that in the US, tipping is the norm. I still think it's crazy that it's understood that you pay $10 for your meal, but "really" you know it's like $12. If tipping isn't discretionary, it's not tipping, and that's what annoys me.

If someone's done their job, I think it's up to their bosses to reward them. If they've really given me a great service, gone out of their way, been really friendly, then I'll tip. But if someone's brought me a pizza and a coke, and spent like 30 seconds serving me, why the hell should I personally pay their wages.

i'd rather the gratuity was calculated into the check, like in other countries.

but i tip 20% unless the food and service sucked then, minimally

all these threads about money today!

I don't get the principle of tipping, and it actually annoys me. I usually leave the change, but that's laziness from my part. If a waiter does a bad job, i complain about it to his/her boss. If the service is truly exceptional, i will tip, moderately.
As many said before: if you have to pay a tip, it's no longer a tip. Include it in the price of the food, raise minimum wage, i don't care, but stop the hypocrisy. I know countries where you pay for cover, for your chair, for the walking distance (bar - inside - outside), and for taxes. None of this is included in the listed price. At least the amounts were fixed. If a steak dinner at a restaurant is $15, that's what i want to pay for the whole restaurant-experience. It's common practise here in bars/restaurants to put up a sign that asks not to tip. And rightfully so.

(btw, it's pretty clear that in a 'normal' market situation servers would prolly earn more than the $3/hour. I have no problem with that, i just think that the obligatory tipping is a silly system)

Always!!! The amount depends on the server. The better they are the more they get. If they're really, really bad then I'll still leave a dollar or something!

some restaurants in the states have automatic gratuity costs. usually they are not enforced unless the party is five or more. i'm all for a gratuity button at ever restaurant...then i don't ever have to worry about getting stiffed again. at the end of the day, when i go to work i want to make money. i certainly don't want to have to PAY to serve someone...and that is exactly what happens when you don't tip. the taxes come out of my check (which, by the way, is almost always $0.00) whether you tip or not. its factored on a servers sales. if you don't tip me, it costs me to serve you.

I tip 20% but if the service is not great I do %15. I used to wait tables for 3 years so it's just automatic (a paycheck for 2 weeks work is usually from $6 - $20, so if we don't tip they DON'T get paid, literally). I think everyone in the world should have to wait tables for some brief stretch of time to get an idea of what servers go through. It's bad enough people feel like they have the right to treat you like shit just b/c you're wearing an apron It's hard work yo!

I'm kinda fuzzy on all the services that require a tip though I don't remember to have dollars on me when I go to the airport/hotel, but I usually catch myself. I think I routinely over-tip just b/c I don't want people to think I'm an arse

Some of you people just don't get it - the bottom line is this: TIP YOUR FUCKING SERVERS!!!

Fine, the system "sucks" or whatever but as it is now if you don't tip the server they end up paying to serve you that night, like Sassyfras said. At the end of the night, the server counts out all their tips & they pay out to the bartenders & to the bussers. I forget how the whole system runs (it's been a while) but by not tipping them b/c "you don't like the system" you're really fucking them over. Please understand this, it's a fucked up thing to do & they're just doing their job!

tipping is about having some class....really.

If you can't afford to tip, you can't a fford to eat out.

now i must say i dont really tip all taxi drivers because the ones in chicago ..lol they will keep your money ..this happen to me once , i gave the taxi driver instruction on where i want to go ...ok so we arrive at my destination .. i gave him a twenty dollars , i think the cab ride was about 11 dollars ..so i am waiting for my change back ..lol he says oh i cant keep the change ..i told him no .. thats one reason why i dont tip some of the taxi driver . they take it upon themselves to just keep your money .

SassyFras said:

I have to say, that's pretty messed up. I take it that that's the US situation?

Do you guys tip your piercer? I have always tipped between 5 and 10 (depending on the person, the piercing, the cost, my satisfaction) in the US but when I got my septum pierced here, in London, it was very embarrassing trying to tip the piercer. We didn't know what to do - I wanted to give her money, and felt weird walking out the door without doing so, but she didn't want to take it because they don't receive tips.

Natsume said:

I tell you something, if I planned on going back to a piercer [not that I've got anything pierced], I'd definitely tip!! Those are people you want on your side!

If service was good - yes. If not, no tip.

[quote]first off, in the states tipping is the norm.
when you order a steak do you ask if anything comes with it? do you like it prepared a certain way? if you forget to specify what temperature you'd like it cooked (rare, med rare, medium, well, etc.) do you want your server to remember to ask you? as far as knowing what you're paying...look, if i go to a bennigan's or friday's i know what the menu prices look like therefore i can expect an approximate expense PLUS tip. if i eat at charlie trotter's or le bec fin i know what those prices are and therefore can make the same approximation. the server did not make you come in and order just as you did not make the server take that job. the bottom line is, however, "when in rome...". you don't go somewhere that requires a tux and walk in with jeans on. you knew where you were going and you should have dressed appropriately. the same goes for tipping. if you go out to eat, you know that is how the server gets paid. you know its expected and you know its the norm. if you don't wanna follow suit, don't go.

when i work, i have about 10 tables at a time. every single one of my tables gets the experience of being my only table. my mind may be in a million different tasks but i will give every table undivided attention so they leave, not only full, but happy. that is my job. do you tip for massages, manicures, haircuts, etc.? or are you against tipping altogether? any kind of service, performed in full, needs to be compensated for. when you pay the bill at a restaurant, you are paying the restaurant costs...not the server. you are paying for the rent of the restaurant, the food and everything else...including the (maximum) 3 bucks and hour the servers get. i don't think throwing a few bucks in the way of the person who brought everything to you and answered all your questions and gave you good enough service that you were able to relax and talk with your friends while all of your refills and plates are taken care of is too much to ask.

its funny. servers are the first person to hear it if things aren't perfect or if there is some kind of complaint. yet, nobody wants to pat us when we do a good job. you have to practically suck some people's dicks to get a dollar out of them. geez. if times are that hard, just cook and serve yourself. or go to a buffet.


[This message was edited Thu Apr 15 11:47:48 2004 by ella731]

1p1p1i3 said:

yup..good ol' us of a, lol. when i've travelled overseas i noticed that tipping is not mandatory and, in some cases, there isn't even a spot on the credit card slip to add gratuity. when i asked my friend about this he said the pay is higher than in the states. i think that's where confusion comes in. most people outside of the industry (in the us) think the server is paid a competitive (or at least minimun wage) salary. in fact, we make well under half the minimum wage cost yet have to pay the same amount of taxes as anyone else. if my sales are 1000.00 for the night, i have to claim 18-20% by law. that comes out to 180-200 bucks. now, if peeps stiff me and i only make 130 that night...guess what...i'm still paying taxes on the 180-200 dollars. this is why servers NEED their tips. i mean, besides to pay the bills.

SassierBritches said:

That is sooooo messed up.

I promise - next time [first time!] I'm in the US, I'll tip like a good 'un