tipping your waitress

Not all resturaunts require the waiter to share tips with the rest of the staff.

Also, if I get bad service, I am sorry but then I leave a bad tip. Maybe if you get a bad tip you should review how your service was to that customer. Sure there are some rude customers who leave bad tips just because, but I think the majority of us are not like that.

At the end of the day, it is the customer that determines your paycheck and if you offer them bad service just because one time they left you a bad tip, the will continue to leave bad tips or even have a little talk with your manager.

I work in retail, I know all about rude customers and if you really feel that you did the best you could to offer them great service the first time and they stiffed you "just because", by all means don't go out of your way.

reply to post by snowflake_obsidian


I hardly "expect" a tip if I really muffed the service. But a 10% tip on a table you busted your ass on is very rude in my opinion.

reply to post by Boondock78

why am i expected to give the waitress more just cause my bill is more?

Some places pool the tips and divide them to staff other than those waiting on you. The waitstaff is required to pay out a certain percent to the staff. Usually this is less than the 15%. Thus when someone tips less than 15% the server gets less from the tipping pool than the rest of the staff.

reply to post by Boondock78


2-3 Quid most
i am a horrible person and they must make a fortune in Tips
anyway

I do tip at least 15% and more if they keep my husbands tea glass full.

It all depends on that tea glass. The smart ones catch on quick and bring him a pitcher.Lol

I way overtip at the beauty salon. I undertip at our full service gas station and to the pizza delivery dude - but I still tip.

Originally posted by SantaClaus

If you decided to put your goin-out shoes on and pay for a meal, you better be able to afford the service, otherwise, Arby's has a drive-thru.

^^^^^^please save it.....i can afford the service. i can afford the tip also. fact is though, i don't toss the tips around cause it is the unwritten rule.
coupla bucks unless i feel like we had the treatment...


and I am not there to walk out at the end of my shift broke.


^^^^^you are there to serve me my meal though....tip all depends on you my friend...


That's like taking up space at a bartender's station all night, and then never tipping. You have taken a spot that could be used to bring in money, and did not allow the waiter to make anything off of you.

That is the perfect example of the term "wasted space."

^^^^sitting down to have a steak dinner with my wife and only giving you say $5 on a $35-$40 meal is wasted space?
i don't think so.....it brings in money for the establishment, just not to you.

again, just as you wait staff have no obligation to to serve me with style, i do not have any obligation to tip you at all, period.

just saying.
this whole mentality of "i'm gonna get a fat tip just because" is just plain warped.

I'm quite sure that most restaurants would rather you stay home than spend your $35-$40 in their establishment if you're not going to treat their servers with respect by at least tipping what is customary if the service was satisfactory. Your business loses its importance at that point. Quite frankly you would cause discontent within the staff, and it's important for restaurant owners to keep their staffs happy. Who would want to wait on you?

Do you dine often at the same restaurant? If you do, and your "throwing a couple bucks on the table" as you walk out, I would imagine that you could very well be hated by the employees. Maybe that's something you dig on. Personally, I wouldn't want to eat at a restaurant where the staff hated me. What's the fun in the that? Not to mention they are preparing your food. You know, the stuff you eat?

Dining in a restaurant should be an enjoyable experience. Knowing I was making the people serving me miserable by not tipping in a customary manner would certainly detract from the experience for me.

As for why you should tip more for a steak than a burger, in most cases the steak takes longer to make and the customer takes their time enjoying it. You may order, get your burger and fries, and scarf them down in 30 minutes. More than likely your going to be occupying that table for considerably longer when you order a steak. Consequently, more tip. If the steak eaters occupy a table as as long as two sets of burger eaters, a server should be able to expect their hourly compensation (a majority of which comes from tips) to be consistent. Seems like common sense to me.

I almost always tip 22-25%. Bad service might result in 15%. I even tip 15% at a buffet. Of course I eat a lot, which means there's a lot of plate clearing going on.

I am rarely unhappy with service. Maybe I'm an ideal customer.

reply to post by niteboy82

That was an eye-opening post.
I had no idea a waiter had to do the extras on better meals.

In my nexk of the woods, large parties---even parties more than two--are automatically tipped 15% at least. To avoid the disgraceful thing that happened to you.

I tip for good service, usually 20%, a bit more for excellent service or if I am a regular.
I tip 15% for average service.
Hell, I even tip the guy at the pizza place when I pick up my food. He knows I am at work, it's always ready and I get extras with a smile.

Bad service gets several pennies or other small amounts of change.

reply to post by Boondock78


While I agree with the Mod who accidentally edited my post, I cannot claim ownership over anything that was said there.

reply to post by Boondock78


Just to clear up a little accident there, when I went to reply to SantaClaus' post, I accidentally hit the edit button instead. Just thought I would clarify that most of those words were my own, and not to send any animosity anyone's way.

Mods make mistakes too! :bnghd:

Tipping a GOOD server 15% or LESS is a slap in the face.


It's a tough job, if only having to keep a smile on your face all day.

People treat servers worse than they treat freaking criminals at times. It's pathetic.


However, if you get a server with a crappy attitude and POOR service ability (NEVER comes back to your table after bringing your mean with a scowl on her face), then I say....to hell with her/him. They don't deserve a tip if they can't at least TRY!



I, like DFB, always tip at least 25 - 30% and HAVE tipped over 100% when I had an AWESOME server.


They work hard for that money and they deserve every bit you can spare them.




Jasn

I tip and very well I might add. Having worked as a bartender where I was paid min. wage and me and the barmaids split the tips; If it weren't for the barmaids flirting with the customers, I wouldn't have made jack, even though I worked my butt off. The fringe benefits were great however.

Now I can afford to maybe over tip on occasion but never less than 20% unless the service was abominable, even then a solid 15%.

[edit on 7-12-2007 by whaaa]

I tip 10% whether it was my last dime to my name or not. You have to draw the line somewhere.

Originally posted by Musky
I'm quite sure that most restaurants would rather you stay home than spend your $35-$40 in their establishment if you're not going to treat their servers with respect by at least tipping what is customary if the service was satisfactory.

^^^^^i disagree. i relly doubt the establishment cares. as long as the dinners are getting sold and people are in the chairs, the restaurant is making money....and btw, lets face it, there is no shortage of waiters/waitresses out there.
if a waiter gets pissed cause they are not getting enough in tips and they quit, there will be someone to fill the spot the next day.
who decided 15% is customary anyway? i certainly wasn't involved in that discussion.



Do you dine often at the same restaurant?

^^^^no, not really. there are 3-4 restaurants we go to but the only regular joint we visit is the sushi house. when i am at the sushi house, i give the sishi chef a ten dollar bill each time. we've kinda made friends with him.


Dining in a restaurant should be an enjoyable experience. Knowing I was making the people serving me miserable by not tipping in a customary manner would certainly detract from the experience for me.

^^^^^not me. i am not there to make them feel all warm and fuzzy with a fat tip. i am there to eat dinner with my wife.

a server should be able to expect their hourly compensation (a majority of which comes from tips) to be consistent. Seems like common sense to me.

^^^^^what seems like common sense to me is that the wait staff not 'expect' any certain monetary amount...do their job, do it WELL and EARN the tip.

the whole point of me starting this thread was not to get into a debate about how much, but to talk about the fact that at least to me, it seems these days the wait staff expect a certain amount of a tip from you, just because it has become 'customary'.
i don't agree with that....

i don't believe in the automatic tips.
i am also very easy going. i don't bitch at em if my food is not perfect. i don't send food back. i don't freak out if my drink is empty for 5 minutes.
so in my opinion, tossing a few bucks($2-$5) down after we leave is compensation enough.
i figure we are there under an hour and just at my table they made 5 bones, plus their $2.25 an hour so, they made $7.25.
not bad.

i never got tips when i was wrenching. i was on a flat rate. the book says it should take me 2 hours to repair something but for whatever reason it takes me 4, i don't get paid for 4....i get paid for the two...
why no tip for me.....


i just simply have a problem with the wait staff that expect a tip, just because it has become 'customary'.

Originally posted by Boondock78
i never got tips when i was wrenching. i was on a flat rate. the book says it should take me 2 hours to repair something but for whatever reason it takes me 4, i don't get paid for 4....i get paid for the two...
why no tip for me.....

Good question. I went to get my Christmas tree today. I tipped the guy that trimmed the bottom of the tree for me 10 bucks, then tipped the guy that loaded it on my car 10 bucks. I also tip the mechanic that does my oil change/tuneups, and even tip when I'm getting gas at a full service station.

Sounds like you didn't have clients as nice as me. But I believe in tip karma.

reply to post by niteboy82


thats awesome that you do that....i would have gladly accepted a tip but none was ever offered and i was a wrench for a long time....i never expected one though.

as a mechanic, we have to come out of our pocket for tools and such.
a lot of people don't know that...the shop don't furnish the techs with tools. i spent THOUSANDS of dollars on my box and tools

reply to post by Musky


I am pretty sure that restaurant owners and managers care more about how their customers are being served and the reputation of their restaurant than they do about how much their servers are being tipped.

Now I've never complained to a restaurant manager, but I know people who have and never in the story they tell do they mention the manager asking "Well, How much did you tip the last time you were here?"
It usually goes "I'm sorry ma'am/sir, what can I do to fix the situation?"

How many people really sit there and figure out the exact percentage? Not everyone carries cash with them, not everyone has calculators and/or can figure 15% in their head.

I understand that many servers expect tips because of how servers are paid by their establishments and what not, but honestly you should serve well because it is your job...not because of the tips you get.

On the other hand I do not feel that tips should be taxed or restaurants should be allowed to pay less than minimum wage because a server may get tips.

My fiance's best friend is a garbage man, he gets a fair amount of tips too, and he still makes a fair amount of money from his company.

Originally posted by snowflake_obsidian
]

I am pretty sure that restaurant owners and managers care more about how their customers are being served and the reputation of their restaurant than they do about how much their servers are being tipped.

Now I've never complained to a restaurant manager,

i agree and i also have never complained to a manager.
if we go somewhere and we have a bad experience, we simply do not go back. i know that people get in bad moods. maybe the waitress just got done or is in the middle of a double shift...any number of reasons...

i see people that carry tip calculators in their wallets....
they bust out the automatic 15%-no-matter-what
-----

my point was not that i don't tip, it was that i don't tip automatically.

FACT is, it is their job to serve you their food.
FACT is, as a customer, you're not obliged to tip anything at all
FACT is, the 'tip' is an incentive for the wait staff to not simply serve you, but keep your drinks filled, bring you more rolls when you're empty, etc....that is what the tip is supposed to be for...

these days it seems like the 15% is expected as an automatic....it's not though. least not for this guy

It's pretty easy to calculate the tip here -- double the tax on the meal (8.5%).

I always tip unless the waiter was completely inept because I have two small children and they make a freaking mess when we eat. As far as I understand it the waiters kick down to the bus staff who have to deal with my kids and their mess.

My ex is an Aussie. in AUS and Europe, the tip is added in to the bill. So he'd never tip. I found it embarassing, especially when we got really good service. So I ended up making sure I had enough on me on the rare occasions when we'd go out to tip after he got up and left.

I've seen hidden camera shows where waiters spit in the food if they don't like their table. Not that many waiters are like that, but you never know. I'd rather give a couple extra bucks out of my pocket if they're decent workers than take a chance that next time I go there I'm going to get a side of saliva with my order.

I'm more confused on who to tip outside of a restaurant. Do you tip the furniture delivery guy? The hairdresser? The cable guy? How much is an appropriate tip for the pizza delivery person? Heavy matters for my little brain.

reply to post by MajorMalfunction


i give the pizza guy like $2...the only person i tip WELL is my tattoo artist..
she has done a LOT of work on me and has cut me some serious breaks with the prices....

say the tattoo was supposed to be like $75, she'd charge me $40 and i would tip her $20...
even if i had to pay full boat for the ink, i tip her well.

i have been in her booth many times and many more to go, so, i want to keep her happy.