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How much do you tip?

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whytemyke

Honorary Canadian.
Ok. Archaix believes that because waiters are given up to minimum wage for anything they don't make in tips that he is free from tipping shitty waitstaff. I believe that it is unethical, selfish and immature not to tip at least 10-15% even for bad service (late with drinks, takes forever to get the order, no refills, etc). I also tip between 20-25% for good service, as well.

What's GAF think?
 
whytemyke said:
Ok. Archaix believes that because waiters are given up to minimum wage for anything they don't make in tips that he is free from tipping shitty waitstaff. I believe that it is unethical, selfish and immature not to tip at least 10-15% even for bad service (late with drinks, takes forever to get the order, no refills, etc). I also tip between 20-25% for good service, as well.

What's GAF think?
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It's unethical, selfish and immature to not pay your waitstaff a livable wage. Waiters and waitresses in many countries get by just fine without a culture of tipping. If a server is a big jerk and ignores you, no way should you tip at all. If the person was nice, then 10-20% is fine if you feel like it.
 
whytemyke said:
wow. you people never eat at the same place twice, do you?
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I don't eat out a whole lot, no. But how fucking hard is it to bring somebody their meal and fill up a drink every now and then? Wait staff these days make more money than they should.
 
I'll usually give $3 or $4 if the service was good.

I don't bother with the percentages.

Bad/slow service, you get NOTHING! (a dollar if I'm in a good mood)
 
Usually a $50-70 meal leaves $6 or so. A $71+ meal usually yields $8.00 or so. For bigger parties, my family's left $20 tips before.
 
mr_pink.jpg
 
Don't tip, live in Australia where waiters get paid good wages. Some people still do tip for great service, though.
 
Poody said:
nearly 15%. I usually do 1 dollar tip for every $10.
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Umm..that's more like 10%

the problem with not tipping is that is screws the wait person. Our wonderful government taxes them at a 15% rate no matter what. So if you don't tip you just hosed that waiter. I don't think it is fair but this is the reality.

That being said I tip about 16-20%.

I wish that tipping didn't exist and people just strived to do a good job and be payed for it.
 
whytemyke said:
Ok. Archaix believes that because waiters are given up to minimum wage for anything they don't make in tips that he is free from tipping shitty waitstaff. I believe that it is unethical, selfish and immature not to tip at least 10-15% even for bad service (late with drinks, takes forever to get the order, no refills, etc). I also tip between 20-25% for good service, as well.

What's GAF think?
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Even having worked in the restaurant industry I will say this line of thinking is wrong. It only promotes and reinforces bad service. It is backwards that restaurants still depend on tipping to get away with paying their staff poorly, but theres no need for customers to pick up the tab for shitty service. If I don't do my job at work I don't get a pat on the back, I get the boot and even though restaurant owners may turn a blind eye if bad waiters and waitresses aren't getting tips they will move on like they should. If a sit down restaurant gave you the option to get your own food then maybe tipping should be viewed as a neccessity if you opt for it. Last time I checked though as a customer in say TGIF or other sit down restaurants in my area you might get a funny look and even the boot if I walked back into their kitchen and placed an order.
 
Poody said:
nearly 15%. I usually do 1 dollar tip for every $10.
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Then you're only tipping 10%. Math is fantastic, isn't it?

I base my tip percentage on the service I recieve. My base starting point is 20% for tips, and it goes up or down from there based on how the service was. If I'm at a place where the waiter was fantastic, I'll go up to around 25% or so.

I also base my tips on the place I'm eating at and what the bill is. For instance, if I'm at the local Japanese resturant, They usually get like 35% tip from me, if not more. They love us there, and are always giving us really fantastic service and free things.

If I'm eating some place and I end up getting a very small bill, I flesh out the tip so the waitress gets a huge tip amount. For instance, if I eat wings at the bar across the street from my house, my bill ends up being $4-$5. The waitresses end up doing a lot of work coming back and forth filling up drinks and taking the bones away and whatnot, so I don't really think it's fair that they do all that for like $1. What I do in this situation is leave $10, which ends up giving the girl about a 50% tip or so.

I don't feel bad about being generous with my tips, as I know these people work hard at what they do.
 
Depends on how fast i get waited on...Plus i know assholes who dont wait on us "black" folk because we're supposedly bad tippers.

Just know im not one of the people who tip bad...ever.
 
If the service sucks, zero. If you have mandatory gratuity bring your manager, or I'll take it up with AMEX. Either way, I won't have to pay for bad service. Though there was one time when my cousins and I were younger (college) when we drew the tip on the bill and left that.

Average service is usually 10%.

Excellent service is totally open, especially if I've been drinking :)
 
One thing you should keep in mind when tipping is that in some restaurants (like the one I used to work at), the kitchen staff do get a small percentage of the tips. So, if the service sucks, but the food is still good, I still give something small.

Regardless, even if though they live on these tips, other people in the world get promotions and raises, based on the quality of their work. I don't think you should be rewarded for doing a shitty job.
 
30-40% if the waiter/waitress is nice. It's not their fault if food is brought up late, it's the kitchens. Your waitress is not your cook -- a lot of morons overlook that when tipping.
 
I wish there was some kind of rule one what you are supposed to tip people when you get you're haircut, or.. have a pizza delivered.. the driving must be a bitch now with gas prices. I'm never sure what to give these people.
 
Ecrofirt said:
Then you're only tipping 10%. Math is fantastic, isn't it?

I base my tip percentage on the service I recieve. My base starting point is 20% for tips, and it goes up or down from there based on how the service was. If I'm at a place where the waiter was fantastic, I'll go up to around 25% or so.

I also base my tips on the place I'm eating at and what the bill is. For instance, if I'm at the local Japanese resturant, They usually get like 35% tip from me, if not more. They love us there, and are always giving us really fantastic service and free things.

If I'm eating some place and I end up getting a very small bill, I flesh out the tip so the waitress gets a huge tip amount. For instance, if I eat wings at the bar across the street from my house, my bill ends up being $4-$5. The waitresses end up doing a lot of work coming back and forth filling up drinks and taking the bones away and whatnot, so I don't really think it's fair that they do all that for like $1. What I do in this situation is leave $10, which ends up giving the girl about a 50% tip or so.

I don't feel bad about being generous with my tips, as I know these people work hard at what they do.
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Math *is* fantastic. You're tipping 100% in your example. :D
 
At least 20%. People who don't tip waiters are trash. I agree with Synapse though, I wish there was some sort of standard to go by for delivery people, barbers, cab drivers etc. I never know how much to tip.
 
AlphaSnake said:
30-40% if the waiter/waitress is nice. It's not their fault if food is brought up late, it's the kitchens. Your waitress is not your cook -- a lot of morons overlook that when tipping.
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If my food is late and cold it is most definitely the waiters fault.
 
too much..

for meals of 10 dollars or less I tip 25 % at least.. sometimes 50%.

for meals closer to 20 dollars it dips to 15-20%. But I always feel like a jackass if I only tip 15%.
 
Jugendstil said:
At least 20%. People who don't tip waiters are trash. I agree with Synapse though, I wish there was some sort of standard to go by for delivery people, barbers, cab drivers etc. I never know how much to tip.
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Why are they trash? Not everyone can afford an extra $10-20 each time they go to dinner to give out of sympathy because the staff are in a dead end profession they chose to be in. I think it's pretty ridiculous that some waiters make more than some police officers.

Gotta love this country and it's 'tipping culture.'
 
siege said:
Why are they trash? Not everyone can afford an extra $10-20 each time they go to dinner to give out of sympathy because the staff are in a dead end profession they chose to be in. I think it's pretty ridiculous that some waiters make more than some police officers.

Gotta love this country and it's 'tipping culture.'
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You can always move to another country where tips are put into the bill itself and forced on you.

And if you can't afford to tip, don't go out to eat.
 
I tip between 15-20% as a general rule for decent service. I'll tip more for really good service, and probably even more if it's a place I'm a regular at (currently don't have such a place)

That said, I think people who tip 15% for wait staff even for bad service are suckers. I'll usually leave a tip even if the service is bad (but it'll be small -- most recently was a $1.50-ish tip on a $20-ish bill in an absolutely empty restaurant, where the waitress wasn't particularly friendly, never came by to check on us and where we actually had to get up and basically tell her we were leaving to get the bill. In retrospect, I think it was generous), and on a few golden occasions where the service was absolutely aggravating, I've left nothing.That's happened maybe three times over the last 10 years.
 
I used to work for tips once, so I typically leave 20% if the service is good (or cute). The percentage drops real fast for lousy service, though.
 
It's funny because when I tried tipping in Singapore there was this sudden awkward moment. :lol Turns out, by law, they already include a 15% "service fee" in the price of everything. So tipping is obsolete.
 
It depends. If it's a place where the only service I get is food handed to me, I don't tip at all despite the canister. Sorry Ben & Jerry's, pay your people more. As generous as I am, I'm also practical. If I'm finding my own table, cleaning up after myself, and taking care of my own refills (if available), there's no reason to leave a tip anywhere in that equation.

If it's a restaurant where I'm seated and ultimately, well waited on, that's a different story. I generally leave $2 minimum, that's just fair. I don't punish the guy/gal for the food, they're not in the kitchen.

All of the above is exclusive of arguements about our "tipping culture." It exists, and as of now it's considered a faux pas to not leave anything unless you have an absolutely terrible waiter or waitress. Do I think they should just be paid more? Of course, but that's not going to change if I stiff them.
 
15%; down 5% each for lack of service (delivery usually is this by default; if you drive like a maniac or kiss ass it might not be), extremely slow food, and general assholery; up 5% each for attentive service, extremely quick food, being a cute girl, and being an obvious broke student.

One of my current jobs is tipped, so in general I'm generous to people like me but severely displeased if they cut corners I wouldn't---there've been times where I've refused tips due to mistakes I've made, and I feel no compunction about not tipping people who make those mistakes with my meal.
 
$0.00

That's the great thing about Australia. Employees get a decent pay that tipping is unnecessary.

Rlan said:
Don't tip, live in Australia where waiters get paid good wages. Some people still do tip for great service, though.
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Yeah, and I wish they wouldn't. Australia doesn't have to become anymore americanised than it already is. I don't want Australia to be conditioned into a society where tipping is obligatory.

Both my sisters have waited tables and because of that feel a false sense of... I dunno, comradery. So they always tip for excellent service.
 
I still don't understand why restaurant tipping is related to the amount of the check, as opposed to the number of people dining. The waiter's doing the same amount of work if I order just a burger or a steak, so why do they get even more of a tip just because what they're carrying happens to cost more?
 
Usually from 10-20%

And if in a group, usually a dollar a person.

And if bad service...anywhere from .50 to a dollar.
 
20 if service is good, over 20 in unusually awesome circumstances
between 15 and 20 if service wasn't optimal
under 10 if they somehow really pissed me off and I want to send them a message

for bartenders, if 20% is small I kind of have a minimum of a buck a drink.
 
I usually tip 15-20% and I hate people who tip shitty but when the service is bad, you don't have to tip shit. If it was a requirement, then it would be called a fee. They already charge a shit ton for food and drinks (that are probably watered down), so it's a give and take. I'm not falling for the hooker with a heart of gold trying to survive on less than minimum wage. I didn't put a gun to her head. Fuck it.
 
Vlad said:
I still don't understand why restaurant tipping is related to the amount of the check, as opposed to the number of people dining. The waiter's doing the same amount of work if I order just a burger or a steak, so why do they get even more of a tip just because what they're carrying happens to cost more?
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Sometimes the tips are split evenly, even among the cooks. In that case, cooking a $20 steak would require more work than say, a roast beef sandwich and that's where it all goes. I think some of this is myth, though.
 
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