Tipping

[brellium]

Just wondering what everyone else's thoughts were on tipping.

I usually tip around 20%, and have always been of the school that there is no reason not to tip. Yet, today I did not tip waitstaff for the first time in my life.

My fault entirely as in I should've known better, the site was hosting two 20ish groups and some smaller groups (seriously they had 5 or more separate stacks of table cards, holiday lunches/parties). They left the food under a heat lamp for 10-15 minutes or more before it got to me. took a bite, paid the bill and walked out.

[schild]

My bands are 15%, 20%, and 25% (+).

Getting 25% requires a monumental effort. Places like Cut at the Venetian and Salt&Time, Foreign & Domestic, or Wink in Austin get 25% out of me nearly every time.

20% is typically saved for diners where the people there are selling cheap food and still have a good time. The bill is already pretty cheap, so hitting 20% there isn't a concern. Hell, Waffle House typically gets 20%+ outta me.

15% probably applies to nearly 90% of restaurants where service is like "I'll be your waiter and forget half your drinks."

Good service is hard to find in any profession, but especially hard to find in dining. Unfortunately, in a tip based economy, the person with the wallet is your god, so don't be a shithead.

[Rendakor]

I go from 10-20%. Usually 20%, with points deducted for forgotten drinks and fucked up orders.

[jgsugden]

I tip most things around 20% adjusted by performance, but I also provide a common sense filter. 

If it is a cheap place, or I order cheap off the menu, I'll tip higher for good service.  I don't punish people because the menu items are cheaper.  If I'm waiting in a cafe for a loooooong while and only get a $2 soda with lots of refills, I might leave a $10 tip.

If I order at an expensive place or the food I order at a reasonable place is the overpriced item, I tip lower than 20% - down to 12 to 15% for reasonable service.  I don't feel bad leaving a 12% tip on a $120 meal if the server didn't really do much more than listen and carry food. 

I rarely do not tip at all.  Even if your server is a jerk, they are often sharing tips with other people like hosts and bussers.  If you screw the jerk, you screw them too. 

[Kail]

Usually I tip 15% for basic competence, and 20% for someone who looks like they're putting in some effort above the bare minimum.  Generally rounded so that I can pay without getting much change. 

The only time I tip less than 15% normally is when I'm paying for an entire group, because that gets expensive fast.  I suppose I might theoretically tip less if the server was REALLY bad but I'm generally pretty hard to annoy with that kind of thing.

[Paelos]

20% at lower end places, 15% at higher end places.

The exception is Waffle House where I always tip at least $5. Those people work hard for next to nothing.

[Samwise]

Generally 20%-25% for compulsory tipping situations, and change plus an extra $1 in tip jars.  I base tips more on how often I go to the place than on how good the service was.

[brellium]

20% at lower end places, 15% at higher end places.

The exception is Waffle House where I always tip at least $5. Those people work hard for next to nothing.

All tip places the people work for next to nothing, I think it's what? 2.15 an hour?  Which is why I pay 20% for tips and generally 5 dollars for everything tip wise (except Starbucks, I don't tip on my Espresso the once every other month or so I stop there)

[Bunk]

Yeah its funny how I tend to tip higher when the food is cheaper, especially if I think its good value. I get a Bahn Mi at a local Pho place for lunch, and they only charge like six bucks for it, and I get tea at the table. I'll flat tip at least two bucks on that out of principal.

Mostly though 15 - 20 depending on service, a little higher if they went out of their way for me. Sister waited for 15 years, I get what its like.


Edit: Starbucks is a good point - do you tip on counter service or only sit down? Sometimes I tip a buck when picking something up, or at the beer store if they act friendly. Usually I only really tip for table servers though.

[brellium]

Yeah its funny how I tend to tip higher when the food is cheaper, especially if I think its good value. I get a Bahn Mi at a local Pho place for lunch, and they only charge like six bucks for it, and I get tea at the table. I'll flat tip at least two bucks on that out of principal.

Mostly though 15 - 20 depending on service, a little higher if they went out of their way for me. Sister waited for 15 years, I get what its like.


Edit: Starbucks is a good point - do you tip on counter service or only sit down? Sometimes I tip a buck when picking something up, or at the beer store if they act friendly. Usually I only really tip for table servers though.

I never carry cash/change (habit from working on Mill Ave. in downtown Tempe, it's easier to brush off the 'Mill Rats' with "I don't have cash"), that and a tip to press a button on a 3,000$ machine for a 2.25 coffee?

[MrHat]

I was recently told that you are suppose to tip when picking up take out too.

I don't understand that one.

[Nebu]

I was recently told that you are suppose to tip when picking up take out too.

I don't understand that one.

No.  If they provide no service, they get no tip from me.

I tend to tip 10% for minimal effort, 15% if they do their job, and 20%+ if they were good.  More if they are a student (I always live in college towns). 

[Chimpy]

I used to work for tips when I was in school, so I tend to tip higher than "average".

I pretty much will never tip under 15%, usually tip around 20%. Good service almost always is around the 25% range for the kind of places I frequent.

For places with a tip jar that are just carry out type places I don't usually leave anything as those employees are paid like normal hourly employees.

[TheWalrus]

I tip too much, and I know it. But I figure the poor fuck needs it. If you really fuck up my order you get 5 bucks, size of bill doesnt matter.

[NowhereMan]

I don't understand America. I expect a business to be paying people enough to live on, if I know they're not I won't give them my custom. The % tip I also really don't get conceptually, quality of service isn't really tied to the quality of the food or establishment. It seems weird that someone that gives you crappy service in a medium restaurant gets 10% of $80 and someone who gives excellent service in a basic place might get 20% of $40. They're getting the same tip but one of them gave you crap and the other did a good job.

That said I do tip in restaurants where I've gotten really good service, usually £5-10 depending on good or 'actually improved my night'. In South East Asia I did tip a fair bit because I knew I was making a stupid amount of money relative to people serving me and they were generally really nice so I went overboard with extra money for the laundry guy, off-licence dude and stuff.

[Chimpy]

Usually in higher-end places the staff get paid a better wage (though not like sensible country level wage.) It is the people who work in the "turn tables as fast as you can, get stiffed by 60% of your clientele" kind of places that make the slave wage and work the hardest (the aforementioned Waffle House being an example.)

I will never, under any circumstances, tip under 10%. People who are "tipped employees" have income tax withheld from their shitty wages assuming that they get 9% of their sales as a tip. When I worked for tips, a paycheck for a 40 hour work week would usually be around $60 after taxes were taken out.

[Khaldun]

20% unless some extraordinary horseshit has gone down that I know full well is directly attributable to front of the house service. (Based in part on having been back of the house in my earlier life).

I would be very glad to see tipping go away IF IF IF I had documented proof that the owner was paying a living wage. Right now I think some of the places switching over to a no-tipping model have not proven to my satisfaction that they're paying staff what they're worth.

[Malakili]

Usually in the 20+% range. All things being equal, I tend to err on the side of tipping high because the people are working a job I know I'd hate and probably running into a fair share of assholes who tip poorly for no reason.

[Mithas]

Same as pretty much everyone else somewhere around 20%. I've only not left a tip once in my life. Terrible service and it was clear she was paying more attention to the tables that had the better dressed business people. I hate it when servers assume I don't have money because I don't dress that nice.

If you aren't going to leave a tip, you are better off telling a manager why you aren't rather than just stiffing them and leaving. Otherwise the server just thinks you are a jerk. Telling the manager might actually change something.

[Evildrider]

15-20% here.. but it depends mostly on the service.  I refuse to tip if there are no services rendered and I may tip lower if it's like at a buffet and all they really do is remove plates.

[Teleku]

15% every time no matter how great of god awful the service is.  It's just an American food tax to me.

But I also think they should just pass a national law that bans tipping (or at least makes it an automatic percent nobody has any control over), to help us join the rest of the civilized world.

20% at lower end places, 15% at higher end places.

The exception is Waffle House where I always tip at least $5. Those people work hard for next to nothing.

All tip places the people work for next to nothing, I think it's what? 2.15 an hour?  Which is why I pay 20% for tips and generally 5 dollars for everything tip wise (except Starbucks, I don't tip on my Espresso the once every other month or so I stop there)

There are a few states (such as California) where all staff must make at least minimum wage.  I didn't realize till my 20's that we are so ass backwards that most states let employers not actually pay their employees.  I'd assumed minimum wage meant minimum wage.....

[brellium]

Same as pretty much everyone else somewhere around 20%. I've only not left a tip once in my life. Terrible service and it was clear she was paying more attention to the tables that had the better dressed business people. I hate it when servers assume I don't have money because I don't dress that nice.

If you aren't going to leave a tip, you are better off telling a manager why you aren't rather than just stiffing them and leaving. Otherwise the server just thinks you are a jerk. Telling the manager might actually change something.

I wrote on the receipt the reason for not leaving a tip and I'm pretty sure it was actually a manager who took the receipt (the only person not wearing black in the establishment).

[Strazos]

I tend to over-tip, unless given a reason not to.

I'm single, with lots of disposable income.

[Lantyssa]

Almost always 20% or $2-3 if a really cheap meal/snack.  It has to be pretty lousy service for me to tip less.  If we're a semi-large group and had decent service then I'll usually go up a bit more.

[MahrinSkel]

I generally tip around 20%. Exceptions are for buffet type places, where I tip a dollar for each place setting (since at most they clearing dishes and refilling drinks 20% seems too much, but nothing is too cheap), and exceptionally poor service (you get a quarter, prominently displayed so it is clear I didn't just forget).

I tend to round up to the nearest amount easily made out of my change (if 20% would be $2.50, but the change brought back doesn't include coins that come close, they get $3).

--Dave

[apocrypha]

I rarely eat out - it's expensive in the UK - but when I do I always ask the wait staff if they get tips or if the manager takes them. A surprising number of places take the tips away from the staff. I never eat in those places twice.

Some places pool the tips and share them between wait staff and kitchen staff too, which I'm in two minds about. On the one hand kitchen staff are often paid crappy wages too and they never get tipped otherwise. On the other hand it means you can't directly reward good service from a particular person. But preparing and serving food is a collaborative effort, so it doesn't change my tipping either way.

So I tip 15% or so, rounding up to the nearest £5 or whatever cash is in my pocket. We have a legal minimum wage in the UK though, although employers still often find ways to ignore that. Some people use that as an excuse to not tip. I won't eat out with those people twice without an argument.

[Quinton]

15-20% and I'll go above that if the service was above and beyond expectations or the group was creating a lot of work for the waitstaff.

I tend to also go above that if it's a cheaper meal so as to not leave an absurdly small tip.

What about delivery?  I tend to tip delivery drivers about 10% and am not sure what's reasonable there.

[ezrast]

I aim for 20% or so. It generally doesn't occur to me to actually evaluate the service before deciding on a tip. Sometimes I'll even do 15% on takeout if their Square thing asks me to because I'm beta like that.

Bars are where I lose consistency. I feel like I should tip but I have no idea what value to ascribe to the bartender taking like 15 seconds to hand me a bottle of cider.

[Teleku]

Yeah, the whole "give me a buck everytime I pour you a glass of beer" thing has always pissed me off.

[Samwise]

I always tip my bartenders well, especially at bars I'm a regular at.  Makes it much easier to catch their eye when the bar is crowded, and occasionally results in free drinks.

[Tmon]

I pretty much do 20% although if the server does something really stupid I might drop it to 10% very rarely they are so bad that I don't leave anything.

[Ceryse]

I'm an asshole.

I only tip if I get great service (in which case I usually tip 20-25%). Only exception is food delivery, which will always get a tip dependant on how much my food cost, as I hate dealing with the 'let me get you your change' bit, so I just let them keep the change. Probably averages 20%, I think. I get very quick delivery these days, so I wager I tip more than most around my neighbourhood.

But with restaurants, etc.? If I don't get good to great service, I don't leave a tip at all. It isn't my job to pay you a fair wage and I refuse to reward mere competence or shitty service. Now, I don't actually know if here (Alberta, Canada) they actually require tips to make a liveable wage, and I don't really care. It doesn't matter much, however, as I rarely eat out (and when I do, I'm usually not the one paying). I've never understood the tipping culture, or giving money to people like your mail carriers. I don't get it. Why should I pay you for doing your job properly?

And yes, I've worked a job where tipping was part of my income. Still don't get it.

[Malakili]

I'm an asshole.

Well, at least you know it.

[Rendakor]

What about delivery?  I tend to tip delivery drivers about 10% and am not sure what's reasonable there.

I've always tipped my delivery drivers a flat $3; lately my favorite pizza place has been using their cellphones to take signatures instead of a paper slip, and on their app it asks for a percentage based (12%, 15%, 18%) tip which I don't really understand. Carrying in two pizzas isn't substantially harder than just carrying one, so I don't tip based on a percentage. So even when I'm paying with my card I do my best to tip in cash.

[TheWalrus]

I'm an asshole.

Well, at least you know it.

Seconded.