Society has determined that service at a restaurant is worth between 15%-20% of the final bill, but is it ever acceptable not to tip?
Science tells us there is almost no correlation between tips and good service, but surveys show that Americans relish the power to tip because we falsely believe it provides an incentive to provide good service.
Let’s consider a situation: you go out to one of your regular dinner spots for a snack with friends. The place isn’t too busy, and you’re not too hungry, so you only order a salad and a side dish. Your friends don’t get their food for almost 40 minutes. You get nothing. After repeatedly flagging down the waitstaff, you still can’t get your salad. Another 30 minutes goes by before your food finally arrives, around the time your friends are finishing their meal.
Obviously, it’s not the end of the world and there are far more disturbing stories littering the internet. Before asking what kind of tip this service merits, let’s travel with the New York Times to San Diego to visit a small restaurant called the Linkery. The Linkery’s waitstaff doesn’t accept tips. Instead, they levy an 18% service charge on all sit-down meals, which is split 3-1 between the waitstaff and the kitchen. If customers want to tip more, they are invited to donate to the restaurant’s charity of the month.
…every so often diners at the Linkery take offense. “I’ll go over to the table and ask if there is a problem with the service,” McGuan, the general manager, says. “If there is, then I offer to remove the service charge. Almost always, the customers’ issue isn’t about the service but about not being able to handle their loss of control.”
In some instances, this restaurant with a uniform charge completely removes the service fee, resulting in no tip.
Keeping that in mind:
Why Tip? [The New York Times]
(Photo: Getty)
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Has the human race gone absolutely mad?
A Tip is a Gratuity. They are synonyms.
gra·tu·i·ty
n. pl. gra·tu·i·ties
A favor or gift, usually in the form of money, given in return for service.
It is a FAVOR or GIFT, given in return for good service. It cannot, and should never be, required or expected. Social custom dictates that one is being rude if not tipping for good service. However, it is completely unreasonable to expect that one would tip if service is poor.
The problem here is that restaurant have offloaded the wages of their workers on to their patrons. And local governments have aided this by allowing them to pay substandard wages. Pay your servers a living wage, and don’t expect the patrons to subsidize your payroll, regardless of service.
To re-iterate:
A tip is a gratuity. It is NEVER required, though good service should be rewarded.
The “technical” term for a tip is a “gratuity”. If they give you nothing to be “gracious” about, they didn’t earn their tip. There ARE situations where a restaurant is incredibly busy and you can tell the server is doing everything they can to serve everybody fairly, in which case I think it is unacceptable to not tip. When they are busy, and they manage to notice you need a refill, plus stop and do the “chat” thing when they get a chance, they get an amazing tip.
However, when a restaurant is empty, you’re glass hasn’t been full since you sat down, and the server doesn’t stop once to ask how everything is going, need a refill?, etc., they haven’t earned their tip and I’m not going to leave it. When a waiter is rude or flippant and demonstrates to you that they really don’t give a crap about your business, or you see them standing in plain view of the floor on the phone/texting (ZERO tolerance for me, put the phone away you’re at your JOB), they get no tip and I speak to the manager. I am generally a good tipper, but crappy service earns a crappy tip.
Frankly, the whole business of tipping has morphed completely out of bounds of what it started as: A extra payment directly for exceptional service and/or for someone going above and beyond the job requirements.
I’ve waited tables, and I have a clear conscience when it comes to my viewpoint.
1) Why do I have to pay more for the exact same amount of work? If I order a $10.00 burger, or a $100 steak, it’s taking the same amount of time to deliver it. Why am I expected to pay that much more in tips? It’s not as if the wait staff or the cooks have to pay for those materials or time.
2) If I’m paying someone’s wages (which should be included in the price of the meal), why am I sharing that person with everyone else in the room? If that person collects 10% of ten meals at $100 dollars a meal in one hour, that’s $100 dollars an hour. I understand that servers do not always work 40 hours a week, and meals generally are less than this.
As I said, my belief is the price in labour should be included in the bill directly. If I’m paying your wages directly, I’m paying for your time, and you’d better be doing your job, which is to service my table.
3) I should not have to tip. Period. I firmly believe in the original definition of tipping, and if you tell me that you WILL be adding additional charges, I will tell you I WILL be spending at another establishment.
4) The vast majority of other business models builds in the cost of labor right in with the final product. It works fine for them. How would you feel if EVERYTHING required tipping, and you are directly paying for labor up front for everything from the gas attendant where you pump it yourself to your phone book delivery service?
5) I’ve heard it argued that this is the way it is, as if that lends some legitimacy to the procedure. Things change: Slavery was abolished, Smoking in public is on the decline in North America. Bigger things than tipping are changing.
I tip, when applicable and when desirable. I leave a $20 for someone who’s bill to me is $10 if service was excellent.
I’ve recommended good servers and establishments to many a people.
Tipping is NOT mandatory. Period.
@SimonMaia: Still, you know that the system is flawed, but not tipping is punishing the server for that. Not very nice of you.
(A law bringing wage to level would be great. So start writing a letter to your representative NOW. Or stop complaining and leave a tip.)
Generally I’m a generous tipper. I will use a sliding scale for poor, average or fantastic service. Only on one occassion did I ever not leave a tip – and I did so on my credit card receipt like this: Tip: 0!!!! This woman was so unforgivably rude that she deserved the exclamation points after the zero. It takes extremely bad service to warrant not leaving a tip – a long wait it often not the fault of the server. It really should only be a rude behavior from the server
I’ve been serving for a little while now at a small popular resturant with a lot of regulars. I do my best to spread out the wait times for my tables so that I provide uniform service to all tables at any given time. That said, the best way for me to increase my tips at tables has been to make notorious non-tippers (their are quite a few) wait longer so I can focus on tables that might tip me. If people don’t tip, tip very little, or are generous, then I usually assume it is less a reflection of my service and more a reflection of their financial situation. If you really want to let a server know he has don’t a great or not so great job, inform them or their manager, or leave a note.
It’s a hard call, as some issues that LOOK like waitstaff problems are actually kitchen issues–cold food, waiting on dishes.
If the server is explicitly rude, then do not tip. Otherwise, find out what the problems are and make an informed decision based on that.
Almost always, the customers’ issue isn’t about the service but about not being able to handle their loss of control.
This REALLY bugs me.
I hold no delusions that I am in control when I enter a restaurant. I am paying money for the staff to serve me food and drink for the costs they charge. If the food takes 40 minutes to arrive, prepared badly or served with a sneer, that’s not a control issue. That’s a service issue and to use psudo-psychology to place that back on the customer is awful.
A gratuity is “A favor or gift, usually in the form of money, given in return for service”. It is not the waiters (or the other staffs) right to receive it.
We have a local sushi place which I just adore, but about 3 months ago I took my girlfriend there. My sushi would fall to pieces at the slightest provocation, and the portions were smaller than they had ever been before. It also took nearly 40 minutes to get our food with only two other customers in the place. We had been eating regularly there for a few years and I was not pleased. I didn’t tip that day.
Every time we have gone back since I get the impression the staff is trying to shun or punish me, so I just quit going. Don’t respond to a loyal customer not tipping you for terrible service, with terrible service.
One of the very few times I can ever remember leaving no tip is at Fraiche in Culver City (LA). The service was terrible and inattentive, our food took forever, and he was horribly condescending whenever we asked what was going on. (i.e., “We make all our food fresh, so it takes longer.” Oh, I see. And here we thought you guys just microwaved everything.) If that idiot thought he was getting a tip by the end of the meal, he must have been absolutely delusional.
We complained to the manager, who offered absolutely no explanation or even a sincere apology. Then we paid the bill in cash, no tip, and took off. That’s about the level of experience it takes for me to stiff a server. Anything less and I’d at least have left something.
Tips are how you rate your level of service (or how much of an asshole you are, depending on the situation). If I’m in a bar being ignored, I tip poorly if at all. If it’s insanely busy and the girl is working her ass off, I’ll still take care of her.
A separate issue: tips are fine but they should not be taxed as income!
I’ve been to the Linkery and the service was great. I had no qualms because of that, but if it were any other restaurant I’d take offense. Becides, most of the time when service is good I leave 20% so I consider it a 2% discount!
When I have “good” service, I aim for about 18%. If I have crappy service I don’t tip and I explain that to the server. If I have spectacular service (this probably happens once every 10 or 15 times out, I will leave a very large 40%+. I think that this is fair. If I perform well at work, at the end of the year I get a bonus. If I perform really well, I get a big bonus. If I perform poorly, I get no bonus. There is no difference between that and tipping.
On one hand, I get that some kinds of poor service (meals taking a long time, being cold, etc.) is not necessarily the fault of the waiter, but it doesn’t really excuse being treated poorly. If I get cold food, and I say something about it to the waiter, the waiter’s attitude toward the situation (and to me) is an indication of how he or she treats people, and that is one thing that gets factored into the tipping. The cold food isn’t their fault, but how they handle the complaint as a result of cold food could get them a great tip or a little one, or nothing at all.
I was at California Pizza Kitchen once and some nasty punk teens had left a nickel at the table (I was a teen about 8 years ago, I was never that rude!) and the waiter chased after them and yelled at them. I remember thinking, “please please please let us get someone else” but we got the same waiter, and he was still fuming when he came to our table. But instead of just being grumpy (rightfully, I’d say) for a new set of customers and treating them poorly as a result of his bad on-job experience, he put on a smile and treated us extremely professionally. He got a big tip from us, I recall. Another time, a woman was being treated extremely poorly by another table which had twice the amount of people, and they were making demands left and right and complaining about everything. We felt so bad for her because she had to deal with their table that we left her a big tip. It wasn’t a guilty tip – I never feel guilty for not tipping, because it’s never that I forget or I don’t have the money. It’s always intentional if I don’t tip (I rarely don’t though).
@ Phantom_Photon,
Just curious- don’t you think there is a distinction between service and _good_ service? Just because the level of service that was provided didn’t meet your expectations doesn’t necessarily mean that no service was provided.
Having said that, I have once not left a tip due to lack of service. A literal lack of service, i.e. we had to bus our own table to get someplace to sit, then ambush a server at the ‘ticket entry booth’ to place an order and get our check, among other things.
As a server (read: waiter), I can sympathize with the “Always tip 15%-20%. Do you realize how little the waitstaff makes?” vote. Our hourly wages, at least in TX and AZ (the two states I have lived in), cover our income taxes. I honestly can’t remember the last time I got a paycheck that wasn’t zeroed out; we live off our tips.
I can’t say I agree with the “10%, minimum. It shows that you remembered and chose to send a message” vote. When I get a 10% tip, it either means I pissed them off, or they just don’t know how to tip, usually the latter. More often than not, 10% tips come from old people or teenagers, neither of which really have too much of a disposable income, so who am I do be upset about that? I don’t need to take their money.
Now, to the “Terrible service should not be rewarded” vote:
1) Getting “terrible” service doesn’t automatically mean the server sucks or is stupid. Things happen. As far as your food taking a long time, the servers don’t cook, the cooks cook. Now, having said that, if a manager doesn’t come by, ask for one. I personally hammer the manager until he/she goes by the table, because I don’t want to be blamed for that shit. Now, on the other hand, if I screw up I admit it, usually in a pretty entertaining way. The point is, not everything is our fault.
2) We have duties behind the scenes that could keep us from returning right away. More than likely, if you are wondering where we are, we are cleaning or re-stocking. Waiting tables isn’t quite as easy as it seems (although it is pretty easy).
3) I’m just going to come out with it: If I give you terrible service, I chose to. You were rude, annoying, clueless, impatient, or just plain ridiculous, and I don’t want to deal with you. Let’s get this clear: I am more than willing to sacrifice a tip to make a point. If you don’t get the point, it’s not my problem.
The only thing that will really send a message is the “Leave Change. That way they know you didn’t forget” vote. That could quite possibly be the best way to send a message that you didn’t like me/my service. My reaction is usually, “Really?!”
Of course, 30 seconds later I’m over it and on to the next thing.
I’m not saying that one should never tip.
But there are certain times when the service is so appalling that it would be insane to tip.
There has been a total of two times when we did not tip and once we left a penny for their crappy service.
However, I don’t think tipping necessarily = great service. I’ve experienced exquisite services in other countries where tipping is not necessary nor accepted.
If the service is that bad, let the manager know.
I was at a “**illi’s” restaurant one time for my birthday with my wife and the waiter got everything on our order wrong. When I asked for a manager, she came out and yelled at me for complaining. The other customers could not believe what she was doing. I came back the next day and talked to the GM and told how she treated my wife and I and they gave us a token gift card.
There are definitely times not to tip, even in Utah where the servers only earn $2.?? an hour and have to rely on tips for their income. Tips are given because of service and should not be expected.
That said, I am an overly generous tipper, typically 20% – 25%, which even ticks my wife off sometimes.
Bad service = NO TIP…period.
Having extensive food service experience (bus boy, waiter, bartender, cook, manager), the tip is a portion of the bill that one must EARN based on the level of service to the customer.
The idea that a TIP is now an expectation and normal charge incurred by eating in a restaurant is ridiculous, which is probably why customer service is a lost (or quickly disappearing) art or skill set.
Good Service = 15% tip
Superb Service can be => 20%
Average Service = 10%
Crap Service = nothing
I loose no sleep…you picked the food service industry because of the potential for great $$ provided you provide exceptional service. If you don’t make money waiting tables, you need to look in the mirror as well as critically examine the place you work at.
Automatic service charges slapped on the bill are a crock and I, for one, don’t accept them from the start (unless its a strict policy…i.e., for parties larger than 7 people, yada…yada…yada…)
I’ve only ever once had service so bad i didn’t want to tip. It was in an Ihop with two of my friends on New Years, the ball actually dropped during the meal. I’m not going to go into all the problems in depth here but in short: the service sucked. I just didn’t want to leave the waitress a tip but my friend insisted since it was New Years, so we put a penny on a napkin, took out a pen and wrote “Tip” on it with an arrow pointing to the penny.
I ate at a sushi place recently with a group of seven other people. The server was slow and inattentive, but that didn’t bother me so much. Then, after we got done she came out to our table, gave us a piece of paper, pen, and calculator, and asked us to write down our orders, the price listed on the menu, and divvy it up according to who’s paying what. Then, add it all up and “make sure you don’t forget anything, because we usually get jipped on these big tables” (direct quote from the waitress).
I was absolutely appalled. Not only should she have asked from the get-go if we were paying separately, but since when is it my job to add up my own bill? No wonder they get jipped on big tables–they let the customers add up their own bills! Needless to say, we left about $1.50 in tip between the seven of us.
I worked as a server in several different classes of restaurant over the better part of a decade, and I have NO problem with not leaving a tip if service is terrible. If service is just not great, I will adjust the amount of my tip accordingly (of course taking in to account whatever else might appear to be a factor in the service we are receiving outside of laziness/surliness). I actually tend to overtip in most situations, and have been known to tip between 50% and 75% for really exceptional service.
As for adding a “service charge”, that is the fastest possible way to keep me from visiting your establishment. In my experience tips DO make an impact as an indicator of what kind of service your customers feel they are receiving from you. Someone who is a horrible server won’t be able to support themselves at it long, and that is as it should be. Someone who works very hard to provide exceptional service should have the chance to earn accordingly. By levying a “service charge” all businesses are doing is asking yu to pay the wages of their employees, who they are at that point ENCOURAGING to be mediocre. As long as you are good enough to not be worth complaining about, you will keep your job and never have to work to excel. If you have a problem with how little waitstaff are paid by restaurants, do something to change the wage laws, don’t give in to the expectation that the customer should pick up the difference. That does no one any good except the restaurant owners.
/rant
Are you kidding me? Off course it is… I have been to restaurants where I have been treated so badly that I shouldn’t even have to pay my bill! I am in New York so I understand it gets busy sometime. But waiting one hour to receive a menu is just unacceptable. Horrible service gets on my nerves… No tips from my wallet if I am not catered to.
I will usually tip, but complain. If I don’t get some satisfaction, I don’t go back, it’s that simple.
When I was a server, the management staff got to leave me hang once. If they didn’t go to the table when I requested and talk to the angry people because of something that the kitchen did, I was shitty. If I did it then I fully expected to not be compensated. Dur.
Just so you know, I work as a waiter in Canda and over here waiters lose 8% of their sales to the government, which means that if I have a 100$ table, the government takes 8$ from my paycheck.
So if you’re leaving me a 10% tip, that’s 2$ in my pocket, and I’m already getting paid below minimum wage. How’s that fair?
If you have any decency please leave at least 15-20%.
Living in Germany, I learned that the waitstaff doesn’t appreciate tips as they see it as a sign of arrogance. I understand that principle so I’ll only leave euro if they were exceptional, which is usually the case, and I’ll place it in their hands and let them know why I appreciated their service.
seems like a lot of the comments are from people who have not worked in restuarants as servers. servers in pa get paid $2.83 an hour and that is taxed and usually used for benefits. servers have to tip out to people in the resturants, such as, bartenders, bus boys, and hosts. therefore, if you dont tip, the server actually pays to wait on you. a lot of these issues are not the servers fault a lot of time. we cannot always control how fast the food is prepared. the kitchen does what it wants a lot of time. so consider next time you go to a restaurant, was this obviously the servers fault? if it was, that is one thing. but to be tipped poorly or not at all for something that you cannot control is ridiculous.
This probably won’t get read as there are 200 comments before…
But I think you shouldn’t be afraid to leave a cheap tip if the service was bad. Some people say 15% minimum. Some friend who “have been servers” say they know how it is and never leave less than 20 or 25%.
Here’s the thing. If you tip well for BAD service, they aren’t getting punished. If they are consistently bad and can’t make a living because their tips suck, they’ll have to get another job. That’s a GOOD THING. Get the crappy servers OUT.
Same thing goes with the “I have a lot of tables” excuse. Ok, so if you have 6 tables instead of 4, I am going to give you less. Ideally if you CAN handle 6 tables, you’ll make 50% MORE. But if you are overwhelmed and my experience suffers, you need to get paid less. The manager should fix the problem by hiring more people.
tipping isn’t manditory. you don’t tip your mechanic, the gas jockey, the cashier at the local produce store. why are we tipping in the fisrt place? because they went above and beyond the norm. also whats with the 15-20% crap thats more than a religious tithe 10% is acceptable and should be the norm. it seems as of late the percentage keeps climbing up soon the standard is 25%. i refuse so let that happen call me cheap but poor service = no tip really bad service means i walk out. amazing service can go above 20% but thats rare as most waitstaff expect a tip and therefore don’t work for it anymore
@bonzombiekitty
In the case you mentioned, I would say err on the side of caution and talk to the manager and find out what’s going on. At very least, if the waiter is slacking off, the manager can call them on it then.
To be honest, I think that if your service was bad enough that you think it warrants depriving a waiter of their livelihood, you need to be talking to the manager anyway. Managers don’t necessarily know you received bad service unless you tell them, and they’re the ones in a position to change things, not your $3 tips.
I don’t believe in giving tips as entitlement or to appease your “attitude”.
As a restaurant customer I only need 3 things: take my order, serve me the food, and bring me the bill. These should be included in the markup of the menu, like everywhere else in the civilized world — Japan, the far east — and not be as discretionary-but-also-mandatory charges.
Threatening to tamper with my food or “punish” me with primadonna tactics will not get you one cent of tip, and will stop me from patronising your establishment.
Get a clue: there are lots of people in the unemployment line and restaurants go out of business every day.
When customers come into the restaurant, be grateful.
Oh yeah, I don’t give a damn if you curse me. It’s my freedom to spend my money to maximize the value to myself.
When I choose to share my wealth that is called Charity.
@EllaCrocodile: Tipping isn’t charity. It’s etiquette. Your excuse is really lame. Especially when I think about professionals you encounter, and pay : lawyers, dentists, mechanics, etc.
You KNOW you have to tip, and why; not doing so places the blame on YOU. YOU are cheap. The fact that the system is flawed, does not excuse your poor behavior.
In Iceland it is considered rude to Tip. They feel that you are implying that they don’t do a good job unless they get paid extra.
That is what i have been told. Personally this squares with me. I don’t tip unless the service is above average. If the hostess or waiter went out of there way to provide extra service that you don’t normally get then i will leave a tip. And a few times i have gone to the manager and told them that the service sucked and i wanted to leave a negative tip. A few managers have agreed and I assume the employee got dinged for the tip amount. other managers have just apologized and said i still had to pay the base bill.
What really pissed me off once at the outback steak house in stone mountain. The menu said there would be a automatic 15% tip for groups over 6. That was fine but where the bill came we had kept track of what we all ordered so we could all toss the right amount in. The bill had the 15% computed into the base price, then the waiter had written in 15% on the tip line and totaled it for us.
After we paid one of the guys looked into the numbers more and figured out what he had done. when we called the next day the manager said he couldn’t do anything because the receipts had been sent to corporate already. so we ended up paying 30% tip.
Um, they already do this in a lot of countries (the only one I can think of offhand is Trinidad and Tobago). It’s actually the law there to add a service charge to the bill, and it’s actually pretty nice. Then you don’t have to calculate a tip or worry about how much you’re leaving, since it’s always the same for everyone. If the service is bad, then you obviously don’t eat there again.
@GiuliettaSea lion:
Why is there a need to “add a service charge”. PRICE IT INTO THE COST OF THE MEAL.
Why is it being added on at the end? If 20% in additional revenue is what it takes (above the food costs and other facility overhead) to be profitable, then just raise your food prices by 20%. The consumer is paying exactly the same amount for their meal, but they know exactly what the cost is up front. Why tack it onto the back of the transaction?
It’s funny, because this tipping system is really mainly prominent in the US. Normally in Australia and in HK, most medium-high end restaurants already do what Linkery do – add the 10% to whatever you order.
They TELL you that in the menu, a little fine print in the display of waiting queue, and is a generally accepted practice.
There isn’t any pressure to leave a tip at all.
For the cheaper, street food places, there is no expectation of a tip and no included 10% service fee. Although if you really like the service, often you can leave what you want as tips for them from the change. But there’s really no true expectation.
As soon as I am sat, the server already has my 20% tip, but it’s up to them if it stays there.
For the best service in the Multiverse, I’ll tip 35%, along with speaking to/email the manager, owner, etc.
The lowest I will go is 10%ish if they are terrible. Hopefully they will get the point (But I won’t speak to their supervisor), but all my friends are in the industry, so I know they will just think I’m being cheap. Like I care.
There isn’t one time I haven’t left a tip, for the simple reason that if the service is that bad, I leave. Part of going out to eat is the service, if the service is so bad it’s making your time miserable, it’s time to go. In these instances, I will speak to the manager and if the buser was also responsible for bringing out water, bread, etc. I’ll tip him personally.
Tipping is a cultural phenomenon. I live in Japan where tips are unheard of, and service is at least as good as back in the states. The waitstaff get paid a wage like any other job , and I don’t have to calculate 15% or think about how good the service was (almost always excellent) When I go back to the states to see family etc., I find tipping to be a pain in the neck.
I still don’t understand the idea of tipping or why tipping is still around. It seems arcane. An economist would probably say something about self-interest and that the way to maximize service is by attaching a financial incentive. But here’s what I don’t understand. Why do I pay inflated prices for dinner? One would probably answer that my dinner price pays for the food, the cooks, overhead, the atmosphere, and overall experience. But isn’t the “waiting” part of the experience? After paying these inflated prices, I am then required by societal rules to leave a tip. Why should I be responsible for paying the establishment’s employees in addition? Service isn’t always great but I would feel guilty if I left a small tip especially with the treatment “waiting” gets in popular media. “Single moms needed to make rent and raise their kids.” Shouldn’t the restaurant owners be responsible for paying their employees instead of the two dollars an hour they do?
@GeraldineOchu: Then your meal will be more expensive. To include wait staff wages. So until the whole system changes, don’t be a jerk, and tip 15% (for good service).
I tip the server. If the food is bad, I’ll let the server know — but it doesn’t influence their tip.
There is one server I have never tipped. Even when my party is the only table she’s serving she’ll take her time to take the drink order, then wait half an hour to take the food order. The check comes half an hour to forty-five minutes later.
I’ve always complained to the manager and, after the third time I refused to leave her a tip due to poor service, I’ve requested a different server every time since.
Slow service while a place is busy can be excused. Slow service and a poor attitude several times? Not a chance.
I know that most people go out to have a good time and escape from their daily routine. But when was the last time you talked to your server, most of us are using this as a stepping stone to something better. Where I work we have 1 police officer in training, 2 firefighters/paramedics, 3 nurses and several teachers. None of us want to be doing this job forever, so think of it as a deposit on your future. Also I know many of you think that your nice enough people and in normal circumstances I’m sure you are, but when people go out to eat they seem to change. We’re called servers not slaves, we will do everything in our abilities to please you but I’ve come to the realization that some people can’t me pleased. Working in the industry I can tell the difference between a busy worker and someone who neglects their tables. Do they smell of cigarettes? Can you see them helping other guests? Did they ask a manager to come and speak with you if your unhappy, without you having to ask for one? I know in this slow economy people expect more, we talk about it every shift! But think of going out like a dinner party, do you yell at the host because the roast takes to long or the drinks weren’t made the same way you make them at home? If some of these things are to difficult for you to empathize with then save the tip spend $15 on take out $10 for a bottle of wine $2 for a movie and make it a blockbuster night.
Being a Brit, we don’t tend to tip in as many situations as is done here in the US; My stance is that I will tip according to the service I get from the wait staff – if there are issues with the food and I feel the wait staff have tried to help me resolve the issues then I will tip 20%. If the wait staff aren’t great it’s anything from 10-15%. However if there was ever an issue with the wait staff I would have no qualms in not tipping. There! I said it! Damn Brits!
If it’s clearly the waitstaff’s fault – like the time a waitress leaned over the table at me and asked if I had a problem after looking baffled at a wrap that was not exactly wrapped, and I had no idea how I was supposed to eat by hand. (Still kinda wish I’d thought to ask for the manager that time…)
Or if the staff refuses tips, as at Noodles & Co. I wouldn’t mind leaving $1 a person for them to just bring the food and drinks to the table, as I normally do at buffets and the like, but I’m not going to complain when they tell me not to.
Here in Europe we don’t seem to have the big tips you get in America, maybe because we have higher minimum wage (£5.52/hour for 21+ in the UK), and now businesses are not allowed to pay less and expect tips. If it’s been good service overall, we’ll pay around 10%, if it’s been excellent, anywhere up to about 25%. Some places have set service charges so that usually covers the tip in my book.
What people don’t understand is that tips are the servers income. Most restaurants only pay $2-$3 an hour to their servers, so they are relying on tips. Also, you have to understand that there some things that the server can’t control. They put the order in, but it’s the kitchen that cooks the food and puts it out. That is completely out of the servers handsl. There is nothing they can do but put the order in. So slow food does not mean slow service.
If you don’t tip you shouldn’t plan on going back to the same place. A pissed off server tells everyone else who works there about it. They remember it.
It’s not a good idea to anger the people who handle your food.
Almost always I leave a really good tip. There are a lot of things to take into account, such as how busy the place is, how experienced the staff are, what’s going on in the kitchen, etc. I usually leave a good tip. If service is really good, I leave a great tip (I am often told I tip too much at times BUT if the service is great, I don’t mind… I do it because you never know how other people tip the staff… they may be getting shortchanged by people that day. Maybe that extra bit will make their day a bit better.) I will only tip poorly if the service is bad and there is no excuse for it. But even then I usually leave a dollar or two… because you were still served on, and I don’t think that should be free.
As a former busboy, waiter and cook, I’m torn – I don’t like that we have laws in place that basically allow a business to pay a food service employee less than minimum wage (most times *FAR* less) just because they’ll receive tips. However, as a waiter I always made very good money in tips, so I can see the flip side.
Also, I have to agree that 15% is a tip you’ll receive from me for average, 10-5% for poor to horrible, and >20% for good to excellent service. I’ve been known to tip 50% or more if the wait staff was very busy and managed to still be attentive (yes, it is possible). I know they probably had to work longer after their shift to cover restocking, cleaning, etc, because they likely had to choose to put that off during the rush, so I will compensate for that.
In Japan, it’s OFFENSIVE to tip your waiting staff. They don’t think you should pay more than what the cost is, it’s like a slap in the face to give them an extra 300 yen.
And everyone in Japan is EXTREMELY deserving of a 20 percent tip, due to their extreme politeness and good service.
Irony.
@VadinWindies: Only a meal is more expensive in Japan. The cost of meal, includes wages. Not so in USA.
tip them in edamame.
Wow, from the results of the poll you guys are punitive and unkind, cheap people.
I always tip. For poor service I speak with the manager. I know too many people who work in service occupations (and the kind of things they have to deal with from the public) to EVER not tip.
The restaurant manager should take care of my issues and complaints; I shouldn’t be taking that out on a server. That is one crappy job and the pay is awful.
If I am out with someone and they do not tip- I don’t spend time with them again. This holds true no matter how the service was.
If things are messed up or the service is bad, talking to the manager does much more to change that then not tipping. Not tipping reflects badly on ME, instead of “teaching a lesson” it just gives them even more of a bad day to take out on the next customer. Usually I will ask for part of the meal comped to make up for it, if the service is truly abysmal. I’ve never had a manager demur, now that I think about it.
Basically, knowing the numbers, if I do not tip, they paid to serve me- and I really don’t think anyone should have to do that.
As a foreigner, whenever I travel to the USA, I always notice that waiting staff always do the “how is everything?” halfway through all meals, and they always give the indignant look after a tip. I realize the importance of tipping; especially, when waiting staff are not paid very well by the restaurant owners. However, when the service provided is just barely there or just bad, then why tip? I’ve always wondered, for customers who have those platinum credit cards that offer great service and wonderful benefits, how do they get the great service and bonuses when they bring out their credit cards AFTER the meal/purchase/etc? Kind of ridiculous, I think.
By the way, there is NO TIPPING in the country with the world’s BEST service – Japan. That says a lot.
@EstelleEggo: Wow, you’re cheap. When visiting a country you should follow local etiquette. Otherwise is just plain rude.
(Oh yeah, a meal in Japan is more expensive than in USA, cheap-ass!)