Do you tip?

[Gandalf]

Yeah I'm a waiter so obviously I sympathize and tip appropriately everywhere even for my coffee. That's also because I seem to try to seduce every girl that ever serves me coffee ever and that always starts with the tip. If I'm lucky enough I might get one back. As a waiter if I make 15% then I'm thrilled but usually it's closer to 12% or 13%. I'm not working at a high end institution, it's Applebees so it is a bit ghetto and you get the ghetto crowd who just don't tip no matter what. We have to claim whatever credit card tips we make plus 8% of whatever our cash sales were and that's deducted from the check. So if you pay cash and don't tip at least 8% then I'm actually LOSING money waiting on your table. Kinda shitty.

You see, that really sucks. Why is it on the customer to make sure you are getting enough to live? That should be the companies obligation and they should be making more than enough profits from their regular business anyway. Like I say, I'm out of the loop these days...but just find it very odd the way things are in the west. Well America and the UK actually. I heard in a lot of European countries tipping is not the norm. It certainly isn't in the parts of Asia I have been to.

[Gandalf]

There is definitely no sense of customer service out here which is different to home. Waiters are functional and do their job, no need for fake politeness or bothering you excessively. In taxis too drivers are straightforward and there is no nonsense involved. They drive you there, then you pay and go. No need for the overbearing sense of customer service that I remember in the west. Small talk in taxis is so annoying.

I prefer the bluntness and just get it done attitude people have here. They do their job, I pay the bill and you say goodbye and do it again later. No complaints. It suits me anyway.

[OumaFan]

Now that I think about it I probably tip cabs too much, of course I rarely if ever take them, but dude's just driving ffs and they get paid normal wages I think.

But yeah waiters, its all they make so its just not right to stiff them IMO. I can even put up with some stupid mistakes, people have bad days, just fix it move on. If they're rude, obviously different story.

[armin]

I graduated college recently but am still serving while looking for a career. People that don't tip drive me nuts, esepcially the people that come in and get a kick out of treating you like jack and being inconsiderate and rude and then leaving something like a buck on 50$, makes me wana choke em. Due to some jacked up and outdated laws servers still only make 2.14 an hour, half of what original minimum wage used to be, minimum wage has since gone up to like 7+ and server wage has stayed the same. As long as there is no laws in place restaurants will just continue to pay servers 2.14 an hour and servers will be dependent on tips, which has been really shitty over the last year tip income has gone down considerably due to the economy. In case anyone is wondering 18-20% is a good tip, 15% is ok and anything below that is garabage since most waiters have to tip out about 5% of their tips to bussers, bar, front desk and such. Ok that's my rant sorry to bore. To answer the question I always tip 30% min

[Gandalf]

I graduated college recently but am still serving while looking for a career. People that don't tip drive me nuts, esepcially the people that come in and get a kick out of treating you like jack and being inconsiderate and rude and then leaving something like a buck on 50$, makes me wana choke em. Due to some jacked up and outdated laws servers still only make 2.14 an hour, half of what original minimum wage used to be, minimum wage has since gone up to like 7+ and server wage has stayed the same. As long as there is no laws in place restaurants will just continue to pay servers 2.14 an hour and servers will be dependent on tips, which has been really shitty over the last year tip income has gone down considerably due to the economy. In case anyone is wondering 18-20% is a good tip, 15% is ok and anything below that is garabage since most waiters have to tip out about 5% of their tips to bussers, bar, front desk and such. Ok that's my rant sorry to bore. To answer the question I always tip 30% min

$2.14 an hour is criminal and I cannot understand how they can get away with that. You are willing to get angry at the customer, but at the end of the day it is the industry and lack of regulation that allows your boss to get away with not giving you a fair minimum living wage. That's where the money should be coming from. If I ever went to America, knowing how they treat waiters I would certainly tip. I feel less obliged in the UK where workers definitely earn more than that, but still in that industry they are probably not having their earnings declared by their bosses and the money is still mediocre. I would feel obliged to tip. But I would still have my thinking of "Why should I tip here when other cultures don't have this system and function just fine without it?".

There are some interesting comments about tipping here if anyone is interested. Personally, I find it quite a fascinating area.

If employers pay their waiters/waitresses a wage to provide services to customers, why is it customary (and expected) to tip? | Notes and Queries | guardian.co.uk

[armin]

Oh trust me I get mad at my boss more than any guests, he treats us like garbage, even though we're consistently the top restaurant in secret shoper surveys in our company. They did away with a few positions like expediter and such because supposedly the company wasn't doing well enough financially, yet a month after this they sent his ass on a 3 week cruise on the french riviera with like 15 other gms. It's just a bunch of corporate bs...the day I get out of the industry will be a glorious one...

[amat]

I think tips are good because it makes the server work it really does, I definitely think quality of work would drop if tipping went away. Only on the busiest nights do I have to tip out 3%, host, bartender and expo. Like I said Applebees is a bit ghetto, this fcking 2 for 20 is cool because it makes people come in but I neeever get more then a 4 on it, it's nuts. Almost never.

[Andre]

I graduated college recently but am still serving while looking for a career. People that don't tip drive me nuts, esepcially the people that come in and get a kick out of treating you like jack and being inconsiderate and rude and then leaving something like a buck on 50$, makes me wana choke em. Due to some jacked up and outdated laws servers still only make 2.14 an hour, half of what original minimum wage used to be, minimum wage has since gone up to like 7+ and server wage has stayed the same. As long as there is no laws in place restaurants will just continue to pay servers 2.14 an hour and servers will be dependent on tips, which has been really shitty over the last year tip income has gone down considerably due to the economy. In case anyone is wondering 18-20% is a good tip, 15% is ok and anything below that is garabage since most waiters have to tip out about 5% of their tips to bussers, bar, front desk and such. Ok that's my rant sorry to bore. To answer the question I always tip 30% min

Next time they come in why not Tip stuff over the non tippers that would be quite just in a screwy kind of way ..
.."whoops here comes your meal and drinks.

[El Kabong]

I tip usually because the places I go out to I frequent certain establishments and I appreciate the service they give me. Now I don't like it when they add the tip into a check, that's bullshit!

[VictorCharlie]

I think what some of yall are mising is that many bartenders and waitstaff make pretty damn good money in only a few shifts and at a relatively small price to the consumer. This is actually a much better system for the US considering what the price for goods would be if the food and beverage industry had to pay a reasonable rate to keep good help. If I had to pay my barstaff what they were worth it would cost me a at least 400% increase in hourly wages paid which would probably account for at least a 30-40% increase in overhead. You can bet your ass that my owner would have made sure to pass this increase along to you the consumer.