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Served: My Plea To Tip Kindly
I wanted to address the stereotype issue. When I receive good service I will always give more tip than 15%. Standard 15% even if the service wasn't that good. What I've seen however is that server's stereotype too and assume we are not going to give a good tip. We get lousy service because why bother when they don't expect us to have the decency to give a good tip. I've been to many restaurants where people are seated before us, paid more attention to than us, and then how are we supposed to react. If we tip less, then we're playing to the stereotype, if we tip the standard amount, we're the suckers. It's a catch-22 I think. I will still continue to give 15% tip but reserve the right to speak to the manager if I feel the service lacked. I respect my friends in the industry but it's not fun to spend all that money for a night out and be ignored by the server too.
Served: My Plea To Tip Kindly
I know I'm a little late to the table, but this is an issue that always gets me wound up and I just wanted to add my 20%
I was a barista for years, at an independent coffee shop and I depended on tips to survive. My minimum wage salary barely covered my rent and utility costs, so my tips provided me with food and other essentials as well as funds non essential items and activities which a person needs from time to time. To me a barista is no different than a bartender, they just serve different kinds of beverages. And I would assume that most people tip their bartender, even if all they are ordering is a bottled beer.
I actually labeled my tip jar "Karma Jar" and with the exception of one Hindu woman who found it offensive, people were very responsive to it. I always tip at least $1 esp if I know the tips are being pooled.
I also always tip the pizza delivery guys. They may get paid more than server rate, but they have to use their own car, and making frequent short trips does add to the wear and tear of any vehicle, plus buy their own gas and we all know how that's been lately. People have told me that it's not necessary to tip when a delivery fee is added to the bill, but more often then not that delivery fee goes to the restaurant, not the delivery guy. Pizza delivery can also be a rather dangerous occupation, for more info visit
http://tipthepizzaguy.com/
Which is a little snarky here and there but does give some perspective from the delivery guy's point of view
Served: My Plea To Tip Kindly
bitterwaitress.com a very funny and unfortunately frequently accurate site. I am a fifty-plus year old who has worked in the restaurant industry since i was old enough to hold a job and i have experienced the best and the worst that this occupation has to offer. I have been waitress, bartender, pastry chef, sous chef, manager, you name it- in several areas of the united states and in france. My personal observation is that most snarky customers who undertip or stiff the servers are generally HUGELY unhappy people who make themselves feel bigger and better by trying to make others-servers-feel small. Power trip. Supercilious behavior. General jerkiness. I once worked in a great beer-plate lunch-burger joint where we could tell the customers to screw off, get out, basically give thier guff right back to them. Sometimes it felt really good to call a jerk a jerk. I also like the line a fellow waitress friend uses on occasion when being jerked around by a customer. She sweetly smiles and says," boy, it must suck to be YOU." Generally, i love my job. I only wait part time now, and on most days it still takes me an hour or so to "decompress"--but i know that those snarks are out there and the law of averages states that i will have to wait on a few of them. I try to ignore them while giving them marginal service-sufficient service, nothing more. Then there are those times that the stereotype doesn't hold true. That is a welcome thing; unfortunately though, here in the deep south the stereotype usually holds true. I try to be a fair tipper--standard 15 percent, 20-25 percent if i have great, attentive service. Good tipping really IS good karma.
Served: My Plea To Tip Kindly
I have read the comments with great interest. I live in New Zealand and generally there is no tipping. If I take a taxi I round up the amount owing, if the fare is a straight $20, then that is what I give. That is the norm here. There is no tipping of hairdressers for instance, and you might tip a waiter/waitress after having received truly good service and on a special night out. That amount is given as a thank you but it is not expected. The minimum wage here is $12.00 per hour from age 16 and that is before tax. I can't get my head around tipping. I feel that a working person ought to receive a "proper" wage and should not have to rely on tipping (people's mood etc etc) to make a living. Let the price of the meal reflect the true cost of that meal. Having said that, should I travel to the States, I would make an effort to find out how to tip correctly but I would prefer not to have to think about what is appropriate to give and suffer embarrassment through ignorance.
Served: My Plea To Tip Kindly
Servers remember who tips and who doesn't. The tippers will get more of my time, service and hospitality than the ones who tip poorly or not at all.
Served: My Plea To Tip Kindly
If you ever leave less than 10% for ANY reason - you are a thief. By federal law at least a 10% tip must accompany all service transactions. The problem with the law is that they punish the victim. You see, whether you tip or not Uncle Sam still taxes the server for a 10% tip, thus making not tipping a crime. The server pays a fine for a bad tip in the form of income tax. So when you do not tip you are actually taking money they earned from other customers. That makes you a thief. If the service was not up to par, speak with the manager. If you do not speak with the manager but leave a poor tip the service wasn't bad; you are just cheap. And to be quite honest if you get any food, be it what you ordered or not then the server has earned a 10% tip.
Served: My Plea To Tip Kindly
What about cows? Any thoughts on tipping cows?
Served: My Plea To Tip Kindly
I am a good tipper, WHEN my server is good. I believe that just like a bonus at other jobs, extra tip is all about how you work. For satisfactory service I'll give 15%. But, if the waiter is rude or ignores the table, I don't mind tipping less that that. I'm a reasonable person . . . if they can't figure out what they did wrong, then they'll probably just do it to someone else.
Served: My Plea To Tip Kindly
@Jnash - As far as I've been taught, by my etiquette-conscious parents, it is not expected to tip the owner of an establishment - as he or she is receiving all of the profit anyway!
So, if your barber owns his own shop, or even your server (that is, if you are being waited on by Anthony of Anthony's Pizza) - a tip is not customary, nor expected.
And why should it be?
Served: My Plea To Tip Kindly
Once while tending bar at a smallish neighborhood pub, a gentleman seated at the bar left a few bills on the bar for me and went out the door. The man seated next to him, wide-eyed, snatched up the money and followed him out the door yelling "Hey Mister. You forgot your change." (Several other patrons, and me, watched open-mouthed). Shortly, the man returned, put my tip back on the bar and muttered something like, "he said it was for you."
Served: My Plea To Tip Kindly
Another thing you have to remember, is that the US is one of very FEW countries that tip. You go pretty much anywhere else in the world and they don't - it's included in your meal price.
So when you slam tourists for not tipping, they may come from some where where this is tradition and they figure, erroneously, that you are getting paid well enough to make a living.
Served: My Plea To Tip Kindly
I work in a very upscale bar and restaurant in Southern California. I personally think that most people don't tip as well as they would if they knew what goes on with their tip after they leave it. A server in our restaurant has to tip out 5% of their sales to the expediters (the gentlemen who keep track of the courses as they come out and deliver them to the tables...these are the guys you see who don't actually take your order or reccommend wine to you, but can balance five plates on each arm). Then that server must tip out the same percentage to their bussers (who are resposible for clearing, keeping waters filled, bringing bread and butter, etc). Then the servers must tip out their bartender, based upon their liquor sales figures (that's me..oh, and then I also must tip out bussers and expediters for bringing and/or clearing any food consumed at the bar). So say the bill is $100. That's $5 to the bussers, $5 to the expediters, another few bucks for me if the diners drank...and if the diners left 15% ($15), the server is keeping a few bucks.
Granted, this is a problem. And it becomes more of a problem because then a server feels cheated and doesn't tip out internally the way s/he should. So things happen like that particular server's food always seems to come out a bit late, or the waters don't get filled as promptly as they could, or the drinks seem to be a bit weak...and then the cycle begins anew with the leaving of a smaller-than-average tip.
I don't know the solution. I know I'm irritated when I make drinks all night for a particular server and I get three dollars from them at the end of the night while they are claiming "bad tippers". But I know the servers are irritated at having had sales figures on food totalling $1500-2000 and walking out of the restaurant with 80 bucks. Maybe if we were salaried, this wouldn't be the case. But a lot of bartenders and servers I know do these kinds of jobs for the cash...there is an attraction in being able to put one's paychecks in the bank and never touch them because there is always cash in the pocket. Having served and bartended for years, I am a good tipper...quite good...but with the internal tip-out system varying from place to place, even I don't know if the tip I'm leaving will come out accurate for everyone in the end...and I can't afford to start tipping 40-50% across the board.
Phew...what's to be done?
Served: My Plea To Tip Kindly
I often leave the standard 15% tip, with the exception of breakfast service at diners. Then I will usually tip higher, 20% or so. Why? Because breakfast is the meal where people are most likely to be in a rush to leave, without leaving a tip or tipping poorly. Just an observation.
Served: My Plea To Tip Kindly
@wunami....bitter much? you chose the career to help people? or to get money? just wondering. yes, I generally tip at or above standard for regular service and above and beyond for great service.
Served: My Plea To Tip Kindly
Oh and the pizza delivery person makes minimum wage or more, plus reimbursement for their mileage, and they do nothing but pick up their order and go. I still tip 10%, but that's it. It's just like getting curbside service at a chain restaurant.
Served: My Plea To Tip Kindly
I tip as much as I can to anyone who serves me. Just came back from a very splurging vacation where I tipped doormen, baggage handlers, concierges, waiters, captains, hair stylists, shampoo people, cab drivers. As far as I can remember, all had started out giving good service, and all continued, with maybe a little added warmth, if I saw them or used their services again.
Big tipping is a nice thing to do, and good karma, if/when you can afford it.
Served: My Plea To Tip Kindly
Okay, well the payscale I found for EMTs was ranging from 24K to 50K.
I'm not sure about all states, but in most states, servers don't make minimum wage. They have a "special" category for careers that are expected to make tips. In Missouri, that minimum wage is $3.30/hour. Which doesn't break $10K per year at 40 hours a week, which is nearly unheard of in the serving world. God forbid we be treated like salaried workers and be given benefits. And no server ever always gets premium nights (Friday and Saturday nights, preferably the first/last weekends of the month b/c that's when people get paid). Most restaurants have a "must work X number of lunch shifts". Lunch shift means you're usually lucky to break a true minimum wage per hour.
As far as hours go, most restaurants don't stop serving food until anywhere from 9-11 at night. Depending on the logistics of the evening, you might be able to get out in a hour. I've had many a Friday/Saturday night that started at 4pm and lasted until 1am. And I've had to throw a drunk out of a downtown restaurant, cut off someone else from drinking, and deal with a few bums.
I don't think servers serve a "public" duty like EMTs do or compare in level of importance. But to somehow say that servers don't deserve tips b/c you seem to hate your chosen career is just a leap of logic that defies any sort of reasoning.
I guess I could tip my doctors. But I think their salaries of anywhere from $250K to millions/year depending on specialty is good enough for me to think they're well off. And really, if tipping does depend on quick, friendly, efficient service with active listening to ensure that correct orders are taken and served to you promptly...how many doctors would really deserve their 10%-20%?
Served: My Plea To Tip Kindly
I always tip after tax at restaurants when its just me and my husband. But if the service is bad I tip pre-tax. Here's my scale.
Pre-Tax 15% - Very Bad/Waited too long for everything/never had my water filled
Pre-Tax 18% - Bad service but want them to know it
After Tax 18% - Mediocre service but don't want to be a jerk
After Tax 20% - Good/Excellent
After Tax Over 20% - a regular server/patron of restaurant or bar or server is a friend
What are other people's thoughts on tipping pre-tax? When I have a party and the tip is included in the bill, its always pre-tax?
Served: My Plea To Tip Kindly
which reminds me: i used to get cat litter delivered from my local place in brooklyn. the delivery guy would always for some reason refuse my tip. so to make myself feel ok, i would go buy him a really good bar of chocolate and give that to him, which he would always accept gladly. it sort of annoyed me that i felt compelled to do that because it made a lot of extra work for me and cost more than i would have had to give him. but he was a nice guy.
Served: My Plea To Tip Kindly
i believe that people who deliver food are paid next to nothing and depend on tips for their income.
Served: My Plea To Tip Kindly
@onepercent99: having delivered pizza myself, yeah. please tip the delivery drivers. nothing pisses them off more than people who will stick their hand out waiting for that penny after they've given you 13 bucks on their $12.99 pizza.
Served: My Plea To Tip Kindly
how bout the pizza delivery guy?.....do we tip them?
Served: My Plea To Tip Kindly
@raoulduke: I'll see your barium enema and raise you being a medical student. I mean, I have to PAY tens of thousands of dollars just so I can deal with your deadly infectious disease and smelly poop. Shouldn't that be worth some sort of tip?
Also, I'm an EMT. Perhaps it should be worth a few bucks if I have to throw out my back to carry some fatass down some stairs just so they can get to dialysis for the diabetes that was brought on by their own inability to not eat 50 cheeseburgers a day. Or maybe I should get a few bucks every time I'm vomited on by a drunk who clearly knows but ignores their limit. And how much for that time a patient waited until we were in the ambulance before starting his projectile diarrhea (think tubgirl)? EMTs probably get paid less than servers at many restaurants and work worse hours. Everyone else in the world is asleep and we go into your house and save your ass from dying. That's service.
There is much to be escalated if you start down this road.
Served: My Plea To Tip Kindly
what about restaurant owners or managers cheating servers out of tips?
as a former restaurant owner, i used to hear horror stories from servers about owners/managers "witholding" tips .... especially in situations like banquets where the tip is added onto a big bill and then needed to be broken down amoungst the servers.....
servers with their hearts in the right place usually do very well making tips, while the "sharks" who size up customers usually "tip" themselves off to their tables.
people aren't stupid. it's a crap shoot, but for the most part, if you do the right thing, it usually works out....
Served: My Plea To Tip Kindly
Tipping does get out there. But I don't think anyone is ever going to be correct in stating that you shouldn't tip your dang blasted SERVERS of food, unless they've performed their job poorly. And then, you should also make sure to follow up with a manager regarding your complaints. A bad server reflects poorly on the entire restaurant, not just your meal.
There's no need to tip takeout. All that's been done is that it was bagged up. Even if you have to pay a server for it, I never expected a tip and was pleasantly surprised when I received one.
Face it people, if you had to eat at a restaruant that paid full minimum wage, food would be at least 20%+ higher than it already is. Unless you're eating at a buffet, it's not just the food that makes eating out enjoyable. It's that you are able to choose from a wider variety than your freezer, someone brings it to you, keeps your drinks filled, perhaps offers some sparkling dinner conversation, and clears your table afterwards. They deserve a tip for working to make your evening pleasant. 15% is nice. 20% is better. 10% usually means that you were satisfied, barely. Nothing is a bit fat YOU SUCK which is a perfectly legitimate complaint to make when it's necessary.
Served: My Plea To Tip Kindly
How about the men and women who perform your Barium enema! Let's tip them too. After all what service can be more personal? Tipping gets a little"out there" in terms of who gets what.
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I wanted to address the stereotype issue. When I receive good service I will always give more tip than 15%. Standard 15% even if the service wasn't that good. What I've seen however is that server's stereotype too and assume we are not going to give a good tip. We get lousy service because why bother when they don't expect us to have the decency to give a good tip. I've been to many restaurants where people are seated before us, paid more attention to than us, and then how are we supposed to react. If we tip less, then we're playing to the stereotype, if we tip the standard amount, we're the suckers. It's a catch-22 I think. I will still continue to give 15% tip but reserve the right to speak to the manager if I feel the service lacked. I respect my friends in the industry but it's not fun to spend all that money for a night out and be ignored by the server too.