heh

You didn't fix "I'm an sh**y tipper".

Fair enough, I just kinda feel that if you can afford to blow $200+ on a restaurant tab, you could throw the kid waiting on you a few extra bucks or something. I guess that's just my opinion, which is also somewhat biased since I've worked in the service industry until recently.

If I'm to assume that Sol is an American then I'm to assume that he knows before he goes to the restaurant that 20% is standard & that if he's not willing to tip properly & continues to dine at said restaurant anyways then I think "douchebag" is quite fitting. If you don't go in to restaurant expecting to tip 20% then you belong at McDonalds w/ the rest of the douchebags. If you're in Europe where servers are actually paid a decent wage (my wife makes $15/hour plus tips when she's in Paris) then you're probably an OK guy. The fact that you know you're a "****ty tipper" & continue to do it though just sort of proves my case.

Wait, wait, 20%? No ****ing way, it's 15%.

A friend of mine and his family were in Texas a while back and went to some random restaurant. So they have their meal or whatever, he pays the bill and tips the waiter something like $10 [which is more than I would have tipped anyway] and he starts getting uppity because apparently he isn't tipping enough. So my friend says "Oh sorry" and brings out his wallet, takes his money back from the waiter and leaves the restaurant.

I thought 10% was standard and that increased with quality of service. Or maybe I just live in a cheap state...

I would have done the same thing. If I ever have a waiter get uppity about what I tip, I'd just take it back. I don't tip horribly to start with, so if they have a problem with it, they need to either give better service or get themselves a new job.

Of course, this will likely never happen, as I always tip in cash, not credit, and I never place the tip down until I am leaving the table.



I usually tip ~10% minimum (unless the waiter really does something STUPID, like throw food on my lap, or catch the table on fire, or something else equally insane), 15% for average, and 20% max. I never go over 20%. Note that most restaurants, when they have mandatory gratuity, charge 15%. So I think that should be the average.

I'm also the kind of person that doesn't leave exactly a percentage, if I get change for my bill that usually is laid down as well, because I hate carrying change around. I consider it them doing me a favor

I didn't bother to read three pages of replies...

However, 5 minutes might be a little long, but not terrible. Not remembering drinks? Well, that could be worse, I mean she may have been new or something. Not everyone's perfect and you can't really expect as much from that industry. I will say though, I have left bad tips on purpose before.

I was at a restaurant once, and the waitress NEVER returned to fill my drink back up. Not once. So, I left a penny on the edge of the table. No tip doesn't mean they had bad service, it could just mean you were a dick. A penny, that tells them you weren't satisfied with their service.

Someone hit it on the head here with a sushi story. Why do I have to pay more for a tip just because my food is more expensive yet the service remains the same, or is lesser.

It's like when you go to a chinese buffet... I've been to a few where they automatically add the tip onto the bill (Although it states when you walk into the restaurant they do this), yet all the waiters do is refill your water occasionally and take your dirty plates away to the kitchen. I know it's not a glorious job, but seriously, why should you get a higher tip for replacing water, than a waiter or waitress working at a busy restaurant running back and forth repeatedly for me and my friends/family?

I'm a generous tipper, but only because I've done those ****ty jobs before and I know just how ****ty they can be. Most of these kids are trying to put themselves through school. I know an extra 5 bucks more than most people here and there isn't much but still, it's something. It's not a fun job, and you have to deal with ****ty people and ****ty customers on a daily basis.

Hey that was me, I'm sorry, but here in ****in' Yehaw-ville we tip a minimum of 34% because we're the FRIENDSHIP STATE.

I love threads about restaurant tipping because they always turn out exactly the same: A bunch of people calling a bunch of other people douchebags.

I'm afraid this person does not speak for the rest of us... (Texans)

I'M THE BEST TEXAN IN MASSASSI, YOU SHUT UP.

;(

We'll settle this over BGJ NF NH!

Yeah but for once it's not focused on the fact that I don't tip bartenders.

Shut it douchebag!

That's a common misconception. It's actually 20% & has been for awhile. Anything less than 18% is basically a slap in the face.

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SavingandDebt/SaveMoney/HeresATip20PercentIsTheNew15Percent.aspx

That's odd. I haven't been to a restaurant in several years that charges anything less than 18-20% gratuity. Where do you live?

hmm. i sometimes tip bartenders.. but the price of drinks a the bars is already so outrageous... it's pointless.

Consider:

At the grocery store a couple blocks from my house, a handle of Captain Morgan's sells for $23.99 (it was even down to $19.98 for a little while, but that was a damn good deal). In addition, two liter of coke is generally 2 for $3. Those materials will make roughly 30 Rum and Coke's for a total price of ~$30. At the bar, a Rum and Coke will cost me $6, assuming I'm at a cheap place, which runs me up to $180 for 30. So if I'm already paying 6 times more than I need to be, why the HELL am I going to tip on top of that?? (yes, I understand that you're paying for the service and the hang-out spot, but that much of a markup is still ridiculous.)

(Generally I stay at home, and make my own drinks anyway.)

Is that link actually telling you to tip hairdressers and barbers 15-20%? Barber's income is practically pure profit.

and to Mentat's link, I'm not gonna tip more, just because some cultural analyst thinks I should.

(and are we really that lazy as a culture that we would rather pay 20% than calculate out 15%? It's not like it's *ANY* more difficult, regardless of what the article may say. It's still just basic math.)

(for anyone that doesn't know, take your total bill (ie $31.45), move the decimal one place to the left, ($3.15). That's 10 percent. If you want to tip 20%, double that number ($6.30), if you want to tip 15%, divide that number in half, and add it to the original (in effect, multiplying *1.5) ($3.15 / 2 = #1.58) ($3.15 + $1.58 = $4.73 <- final tip). I just did that all in my head in about 20 seconds. If you're incapable of such math, you're either mentally challenged or in 3rd grade or lower.)

That obviously depends on their wage. If they're charging you less than $25 they're very likely working for tips.

I'm not asking you to take her word for it. I'm asking you to do your own research & to assume that the person you're tipping is claiming 100% of their tips (see IRS tipping laws). There are people here that are actually ****ing servers in the ass.

$25 for a barber?

The average for a haircut at a barbers here is £6.

I'm referring to hairdressers. That's not exactly the same as a barber. I don't actually know how much to tip a barber because I've cut my own hair since I was 12.

You're completely right, but here's my logic in that situation. Why should I pay extra so the owner of whatever restaurant I'm working at can continue being a dick? If the waiter is good at what he/she is doing, they'll be able to find a job where they're treated with respect. If they're not, they'll continue to get ripped off by their employer until they get fed up with it and change careers. Either way, the greater good dictates that I not adjust my tipping habits to account for owner/managers' douche bag policies.

Holy crap! I've never paid $25 for a haircut in my life.
Barber is around $10, pricey hairdresser is $15 for men's, I've seen $20 advertised before and laughed at how ridiculously expensive it was.

^agreed

(oh also, based on your signature, I make baby Jesus cry alot.)

Regardless of what's nice or right, the point is, no server is walking home at the end of the day making less than minimum wage, by law. So no one's getting ****ED IN THE ASS just because they're making 8 an hour instead of 15, ok?

Stay in school, kids! Or else Sran will **** you in the ass!

that may be an effective anti-dropout campaign, but it's based entirely on fantasy.

Many of the finest dining establishments pay a crappy wage. This is why they force patrons to pay 18-20% gratuity. I don't personally think the owner is being a dick if he's following a standard practice (many owners pay themselves poorly for the first 3 years just to survive). It's difficult for a server to go elsewhere when this practice is system wide. They could quit but what if this is what they want to do? A server is a respectable career in many places. My wife actually has a 2 year diploma from a world-renowned hospitality school in Paris, France. She's worked in fine dining establishments in both London & Paris. She does exactly what she wants to do, she's damn good at it & she earns a decent wage (mostly because her clients are mostly foodies & wealthy people that know how to properly tip). I don't disagree that there's a problem w/ the system but this problem isn't solved by not properly tipping.

A professional server shouldn't be making anywhere near minimum wage. I think that you have a warped sense of the value of servers. They're definitely getting ****ed in the ass if they provided good service & you don't tip them properly.

The Alot does not understand why you tell him these things.

A deep dark one? Wanna talk about it?

I don't understand how anything that's calculated into the check and I am required to pay can be called 'gratuity'.

I'm in almost complete agreement with you. I agree that the restaurant business is no picnic, and I agree that serving at some levels is a respectable career. I'm happy for your wife and I wish her all the best. I also, agree that not tipping properly because you "disagree with the system" is pretty retarded. If you disagree with the system, don't fail to tip. Just don't eat out at all. And I do tip well (almost always at least 20%, and up to 30% or even more if I'm extremely satisfied with the service). I also never tip based on the quality of the food, but rather on the quality of the service. However, I do *NOT* agree with the practice of adding ANY mandatory "gratuity." I guess it just reminds me too much of that saying, "Don't piss on my head and tell me it's raining." I don't think it's right for restaurants to hide behind some "gratuity" system so they can make a profit (by paying their servers less). If you can't pay your servers a decent wage without tips, and still turn a profit, then develop a new business model, or charge more for your dishes. I would rather eat at a slightly more expensive place and not be forced to pay a tip, then eat at a less expensive place and be "tricked into paying more under the guise of "gratuity". For this reason, I boycott any place that I know to charge a mandatory "gratuity". I'll go to another restaurant of equal quality, and be willing to both pay more for the food and tip more than the other place would have required, just because I don't see it as being underhanded. I'll also boycott a restaurant that doesn't serve quality food. If I'm paying to have someone else cook, it damn well needs to be as good as or better than my wife's cooking (which is saying alot (lulz)).

^wow that was a book.

Lastly, here's an example of a casual dining restaurant that in my mind does a pretty amazing job, overall. Denny's. Food's always good, and pretty inexpensive. Restaurants are always clean (though I don't know if I've ever used a restroom at Denny's). The service is almost always very good, (very friendly waiters/waitresses that keep my drink filled, and check in about as much as I like them too). And they don't require a "gratuity" which is a damn good thing for them, cause I usually tip around 30% when I go there, whereas if they had a mandatory "gratuity" I'd go there only once, and they'd only get that 15 or 18 percent.

The trick to getting good service is to ask for someone specifically. You can also get far with leaving an awesome tip once. Or by going to a place like Denny's when the old waitresses are there.