Question: Tipping in Restaurants, for Services, ??

[CanadaDoll]

Whenever I'm travelling I make sure to acquaint myself with the tipping customs and adjust, some places consider giving a tip to be in bad taste and add it to the bill in advance.
Some places here charge an auto-grat, for parties over a certain number, and I adjust to that as well.
Basically I tip for any service, and amount is dependent on the level of service I recieve. I've tipped nearly 90% before, cause the fella serving me was phenomenally good, and I've had an instance where I didn't tip because the girl was horrible, I tipped the girl who took over for her after some of the others I was with complained, the new girl was very good.
I find it depends everytime[huh] , at certain grocery stores a tip is added for the porters who take you groceries to your car, and they are not allowed to accept tips, because the company already charges for them, my rule of thumb is 15-20 percent, and if they don't want it they can let me know

 

[carebear]

Originally Posted by PrettySquareGal
I had started a thread about tipping etiquette not too long ago and now it seems to be gone. Has there been some housecleaning here, or am I just not seeing it? I had wanted to post the link here.

Your thread is still there:
http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=9562&highlight=tipping

Looks like PrettySquareGal should offer Zohar a tip for finding it.

 

[PrettySquareGal]

Looks like PrettySquareGal should offer Zohar a tip for finding it.

Zohar- Thanks! I'd tip my hat off to you, but as most know, I am fedora-less. Well, except for in my avatar.

 

[Cousin Hepcat]

When my furniture was delivered, I tipped.

Great, Thanks all, and glad to see the previous thread on the same subject . I of course have always tipped wait staff well particularly since my mom raised me on waitress wages & tips - and, in tipping the furniture delivery guys, I'll go back to my coworkers and say, "Survey of people WITH CLASS says, *I* was Right!" lol

- C H

 

[Lady Day]

I have found, being on both sides of the spectrum, you tip more for 'less educated jobs', or physical jobs, and none at all for 'intelligent jobs'.

Examples for tipping: Waitress, bell boy, doorman, shoe shiner, mover,valet etc.

Examples for not tipping: Recptionist (or jobs using a phone for some reason [huh] ), retail person, cashier at grocery, computer repair guy, mailperson, etc.

Now before everyone snapps at me I have had a plethora of gigs on both sides, and I have found, right or not, in general for it to be true. The 'higher' up the job, the more you get paid, the less you get tipped.


LD

 

[Cousin Hepcat]

Now that sounds like a good way to sum it all up.

I have found, being on both sides of the spectrum, you tip more for 'less educated jobs', or physical jobs, and none at all for 'intelligent jobs'.

Examples for tipping: Waitress, bell boy, doorman, shoe shiner, mover,valet etc.

Examples for not tipping: Recptionist (or jobs using a phone for some reason [huh] ), retail person, cashier at grocery, computer repair guy, mailperson, etc.

Now before everyone snapps at me I have had a plethora of gigs on both sides, and I have found, right or not, in general for it to be true. The 'higher' up the job, the more you get paid, the less you get tipped.


LD

 

[Jay]

I also thought of the Resevoir Dogs scene, however, I worked 3 summers at a golf course where the tips were what made the job worth going to. Now I always make sure to tip good. I don't really have experience with fields outside of waitresses and barbers, though.

 

[CanadaDoll]

I have been tipped only once, and oddly enough it was at my art gallery.[huh]

 

[pigeon toe]

I only tip in restaurants, but that's only because I don't have enough money to be getting new fridges put in or getting valet parking! I used to put my change in tip jars at coffee shops and the like, but now I always need change to do my laundry. Tipping can be a pain in the neck, I really wish we only had to tip for people who do physical work or something extra special for us.

 

[beaucaillou]

I have found, being on both sides of the spectrum, you tip more for 'less educated jobs', or physical jobs, and none at all for 'intelligent jobs'.

Examples for tipping: Waitress, bell boy, doorman, shoe shiner, mover,valet etc.

Examples for not tipping: Recptionist (or jobs using a phone for some reason [huh] ), retail person, cashier at grocery, computer repair guy, mailperson, etc.

Now before everyone snapps at me I have had a plethora of gigs on both sides, and I have found, right or not, in general for it to be true. The 'higher' up the job, the more you get paid, the less you get tipped.


LD

I definitely think this used to be true, and was the impetus for tipping in general: people who had none or reduced salaries or hourly incomes became dependent on the good faith of others.

It's interesting now as the lines between classes become increasingly blurred, and the service sector and 'intelligent' sector are less and less stratified. In the last three restaurants I've worked in, almost none of the staff had less than a Bachelor's degree, and many servers in reputable restaurants make upwards of 6 figures a year, more than most 'intelligent jobs'.

 

[FedoraGent]

My general tipping

I tip restaurant staff and bartenders. I usually gauge the responsiveness of the waitstaff and bartender. If they've been great, I'll leave them 2x the tax which has been pretty good. However, if someone hasn't been what I would consider an exemplary service provider, then there is a bit less. Now if they were downright bloody rude, then that's a whole different issue...but I don't leave lint.

Jon

 

[Chanfan]

A few things I hadn't seen mentioned are the specifics for bellhops and maid service (in hotels).

I had learned a generic rule of "a buck a bag" for bellhops, and "a buck a bed" (per night) for maid service.

I tend to 18-20% for wait staff myself. I sometimes tend to round up a bit. I'm not quite as generous as the previous poster with my bootblack. The shine is, I think, $3, and I just give him a $5.

My little pet peeve is many of my friends like to tip cash, I believe on the idea that taxes can then be avoided. I only tip cash if paying in cash - adding it to the credit slip is too convenient, and hey, I don't get to skip taxes myself.

Take out I'm not sure on - I guess if it's a place that regularly does take-away, I tend to not tip. But I have read (on places like waiterrant.net) that sometimes take away can be more work than table service…

 

[Diamondback]

My personal rules:

Sit-down restaurant or greasy-spoon, generally in the 15-20% range, wherever tab+tip comes to an even dollar or half-dollar. If service is exceptional, I'll even go as high as 25%, but I hold to a rule that vocal endorsements and scathing denunciation alike, I gotta be able to write a detailed explanation why.

Subway/Quizno's/other sub-shop or espresso-joint, maybe a buck.

Bell-desks, buck a bag.

Cabbies, depends on attitude and tab. A slow cabbie with a pleasant attitude gets far more than one who does a two-minute run but has a real "downer" attitude.

My tech-geek, I just buy him an expensive lunch at somewhere like the Olive Garden. My former driver, an expensive technical book from the local air museum's gift shop. Of course, it helps to consider my IT-guy and I have known each other since elementary school, and my ex-wheelman and I worked on projects together in high-school...

 

[Phobic]

I tip the required people (wait staff, cabbie, etc), and others if they've been very good, or I've been very appreciative of their work. I.E., I tip the AAA guy, even if it only takes him a few minutes to save my car.

Having worked as a busboy for a while, I must say that waitstaff make BANK. But that plays largely into my theories regarding working at a job where one makes tips. Conversely, at my current job I'm the Cashier/barista/smoothie dude/occaisional short order cook, and my on best night in eight months I went home with $1.50 in tips. but its all good.

 

[Riposte3]

I tip waitstaff and my barber. My barber shop charges $8, and I give the person who cut my hair a $10 and let them keep the change.

Waitstaff get roughly 15% (I'll usually round up to the nearest dollar or .50). My definition of "waitstaff" is someone who takes my order, brings my food to the table, keeps my drink filled, and (optionally, depending on the restaurant) brings me the bill and takes my payment.

Sometime in the last 10 - 15 years, I started getting told that anything less than 20% was "cheap" because "cost of living has gone up." My response is that the cost of what I'm ordering has also gone up. For average service, 15% is appropriate. If it's good service, or if I'm with a large group (because that's automatically more work), I'll give more. I'll also give less for poor service. (The guy in the local diner who walked by my empty glass 4 times and went back to chatting with his friends who were eating there instead of refilling my drink :rage: got no tip. The other waitress noticed and refilled it just before I got fed up and asked. Keeping my drink topped off is one of my pet peeves.)

I don't tip at buffets. I have to get my own food, that's the biggest part of waiting, and just keeping my drink filled isn't worth more than they're getting paid.

I also don't like places that make the waitstaff turn in their tips at the end of the night and split them among the cook, busboy, etc. The others should get decent regular wages and not rely on tips, because they have no interaction with the customer. As far as the cook, well, I'm not going to give a good waiter/waitress a bad tip because the cook messed up. It's the cook's mistake, not hers. Even worse, if the cook messed up and the waitress fixed it, what do I do? She deserves a bigger tip for the extra effort involved, but the cook who caused the problem in the first place certainly doesn't! (I'll usually give the higher tip anyway, because I don't want to stiff the waitress. So the cook doesn't figure into it anyway.)

I DESPISE tip jars for similar reasons. I don't want to give a higher tip because someone gave me good service when I know that it's going to get split up among people who had nothing to do with my experience.

For pizza delivery, if there's a delivery fee I'll figure the tip amount then subtract the fee. Otherwise, it's just being double-billed for the same service.

-Jake

 

[Elaina]

Only problem at buffets is the waitress is still making whatever they make in your state. Here, doesn't matter what restaurant you work at, you're getting $2.13 an hour.

On the same token, I'm bad about my coffee getting refilled. I drink about 4 cups a meal and I get terribly annoyed if I can't get any. Same thing with the waitressress that think men are the tippers, and so forget me and my son. I also tend to get annoyed when 3 of us are there, and they don't give my son silverware.

 

[Riposte3]

Only problem at buffets is the waitress is still making whatever they make in your state. Here, doesn't matter what restaurant you work at, you're getting $2.13 an hour.

On the same token, I'm bad about my coffee getting refilled. I drink about 4 cups a meal and I get terribly annoyed if I can't get any. Same thing with the waitressress that think men are the tippers, and so forget me and my son. I also tend to get annoyed when 3 of us are there, and they don't give my son silverware.

Personally, I think making waitstaff rely on tips is almost abusive. If you do your job you should get decent pay and not have to rely on the generosity and decency of others. Unfortunately, tipping for a buffet amounts to paying extra for a service you have to perform yourself, and I won't do it.

My thing about drinks comes from being a thirsty eater. I can easily go through 3-4 glasses of coke in a single meal.

-Jake

 

[zeus36]

I tip the waitress around 20% unless they are bad- then they get a quarter. Bartenders usually get a buck, even after a refill.
I usually hand the cash to my server and tell them thanks; I don't like to leave it on the table.

That brings up another question. I mostly pay with a credit card and I pay only the subtotal. I write under the gratuity section "On bar" or "On table" and again hand the cash to the server.

How many add the tip to the subtotal and have everything on the card?

 

[beaucaillou]

FYI to everyone, if you tip a bartender *really* well the first round or two, your drinks will be *considerably* stronger the next time. And you are likely to get better service everytime. Just sayin'.

 

[carebear]

FYI to everyone, if you tip a bartender *really* well the first round or two, your drinks will be *considerably* stronger the next time. And you are likely to get better service everytime. Just sayin'.

And if you go to a (fine-dining) restaurant frequently, good tipping for the waitstaff and valets will pay off in things like reservations even when "full" and all sorts of other fringe benefits.

The great love of my life was a fine dining waitress. She taught me a lot of things.