Tips and gratuity... what's your opinion of the practice

[InfidelSerf]

*slips flame retardant suit on*  
Ok I'm curious to know what your opinions of tipping are.

My personal opinion is that I HATE compulsory tipping.  
I think the price on a menu should include the cost of service to deliver the food to my table and fill my drink.
I think tipping should be for exemplary service only. Service that goes above and beyond the normal food delivery and drink care.

I don't really have a problem with auto gratuity on large parties, but you shouldn't feel compelled to tip ontop of that gratuity unless you recieved extra special service.

I don't want to hear about the fact that waiters make less than the minimum wage.  If we didn't have compulsory tipping then that would probably change.  Or at the very least it would be more of an incentive for servers to give exceptional service.
Noone is putting guns to their head to take jobs that pay a low wage in exchange for tips.  Many sales position are commision only. I don't see a difference.

Now don't get me wrong I always tip, generally 15%+ depending on my satisfaction with their service.  
I've even given a $50 tip on an $80 meal once.

I would just like to know if I'm the only one that hates the idea that I have to give a tip no matter what.
Your thoughts?

[Zundfolge]

Who's making you give a tip no matter what?

If you feel guilty for not tipping a bad waiter that's your problem, I have no problem leaving a small tip if the quality of service sucks.


I never leave no tip, but there have been times I've left a penny on the table (if you leave no tip than the waiter doesn't know if you forgot or not).


Seems to me you're complaining about something  you have 100% control over.

[Justin]

Nice Guy Eddie: C'mon, throw in a buck!
Mr. Pink: Uh-uh, I don't tip.
Nice Guy Eddie: You don't tip?
Mr. Pink: Nah, I don't believe in it.
Nice Guy Eddie: You don't believe in tipping?
Mr. Blue: You know what these chicks make? They make *bleep*.
Mr. Pink: Don't give me that. She don't make enough money then she can quit.

[Sindawe]

I too dislike compulsory tipping.  Places that have it don't get my business.  I do generally tip however, since I know what the majority of waitstaff earn.  Acceptable servcie (attentive, not late in checking back on the meal, etc) gets 10% of the tab.  If its REALLY bad service, I'l leave a quarter with a note to buy a paper to find different job since they obviously suck at food service.  Good serive starts at 15% and works up if its great.  Home delivery gets a standard 25% since they are taking the trouble to go out in the hot/cold/rain/snow/night to delivery hot food to my door.  The locals now know this and things I order are usually delivered in under 25 min, unless its something that just takes a long time to prepare.

I normally tip in cash, since that allows the wait staff the option of reporting it or not as the mood strikes them.

[TarpleyG]

Who's making you give a tip no matter what?

I forget where I read it but I did hear about an instance where a patron refused to leave a tip and got in some hot water over it...not sure if it was one of those mandatory tip joints or not.

EVERY place around the beach here puts a tip on your bill, 15-18%, whether you like it or not.  The reason, I am told, is primarily because of the French Canadians (go ahead Canucks and get pissy, I don't care--just passing on what I heard) and other European patrons don't tip or tip very little.  If I end up in a place like that and get crappy service, I either make a big stink and ask for the manager or work out a way to pay cash, less tip.  Let them press charges if they like.

I agree, tipping should be done only when you feel COMPELLED to do so, not because you are forced to do so.

Greg

[cfabe]

I don't mind tipping for good service. The biggest factors in determining my tip are if my drink has ever be allowed to be empty for more than a minute or two, the attitude of the waiter/waitress, and if there were any errors or forgotten items. I typically pay for the meal on credit, and leave a tip cash. For very poor service I will write a note on the reciept regarding why I left no tip. For very good service I usually leave 25%.

[InfidelSerf]

Who's making you give a tip no matter what?

I'm not saying I am being "forced" to tip.. however I've worked in the industry.
If you ever want to go back and get spit free food. You'll tip no matter the quality of service. (now granted REALLY bad service gets no tip or the copper note of dissatisfaction)
But as a whole if you don't tip at a place you regular... you take the chance of eating something you don't want.
The movie Waiting isn't far off at all.

Seems to me you're complaining about something  you have 100% control over.

While I do technically have 100% control over it.  As mentioned above.  You just try getting good food at a place by saying"I'm sorry I don't believe in tipping"

Which leads me to a concept I came up with while discussing this with Zundfolge.

How about a resturante with two prices on a menu.. one for plain jane service for slightly more, and one with variable service rate for slightly less.
As well as a variable for the quality of food. If you felt it was as expected you pay the menu price.. if you get an excellent meal then you give a tip to the cook.  (which will provide an incentive to the cook staff to produce higher quality food)
Or you have two dining areas one with set prices (slightly higher than the variable dinning hall) and basic service. The other with slightly lower prices but an expectation to tip both the service and cook staff.   Pay those waiters the current rate + tips, while paying the other waiting staff minimum wage(or whatever the local market dictates) with no expectation of tips.
 

Basically I'd like to see basic service built into the price of a meal with the option of giving a tip if they go above and beyond normal service.  If they give crappy service the owner will eventually can the person for poor service to his customer.  

Because there are some places and some times you just want to run in eat and leave.. you don't want to be pampered or fawned over. You just want to eat and get the heck out.  Other times you want to linger and be pampered.

[zahc]

As a pizza delivery driver, all I'm going to say is, it's REALLY not good business to make a habit out of stiffing your driver...trust me.

I personally like the tipping custom, it's refreshingly capitalistic. On the rare occasion I order pizza I tip $10, which decreases a dollar every 5 minutes after I order. The note on the boxes says as much. It's amazing just how fast they can make and deliver a pizza.

[Guest]

i tip, don't really care much for complusory BS though

my scale, is as follows

breakfast or lunch, usually 10 bucks or less,  i tip $3  (better or worse depending on service)
Meal 20 or less,  most times $4-5
nicer dinner,  $30-40 minimum of 5, usually a bit more if service is above average

best i've ever done was a 50 buck tip on a 130 dollar meal (for 2, expensive frenchy cuisine)  service was excelent.
 
tips also fluctuate depending how attractive the waitress is.  cute barmaids love me

[280plus]

I don't like compuslory gratuities. It allows the wait staff to provide substandard service because they know their going to get that 18% either way. Nothing I hate worse than being forced to pay 18% for lousy service. But I can understand somewhat. There ARE some cheap SOBs out there. I worked in the industry myself and like most who have I overtip a good waiter / waitress and undertip or do not tip a bad one. If I do not tip I tell the manager on the way out that when the waitress complains about how I stiffed her to make sure she knows I did so because her service sucked. Then, in the knowledge of what can happen to your food on future visits, I never go there again.

[Declaration Day]

I agree that having gratuity included on the bill is wrong.  Kinda defeats the meaning of "gratuity", doesn't it?

As for voluntary tipping, I'll tip atleast 20% at a restaurant, unless the service is terrible. I won't decrease the tip if my food was cooked wrong, because it's not right to blame the server for the cook's mistake.  If we aren't being "checked on" often enough, I consider the circumstances.  If it's because the restaurant is understaffed and the server is slammed, I will likely recognize that and still leave a good (if not better) tip.  If it is apparent that the server is screwing around, then I will leave much less.

Pizza deliverers get $5-$10.  It gets my food here faster, and it shows appreciation for a person who is using their own car to rush food to my front door.

If I am short on cash and can't afford to tip, I'll get carry out or just cook at home.

[garyk/nm]

I'm all over the target. I generally fall in to the 10-20% range, but have done the penny thing. On the other end of the spectrum, I once tipped $20 for a $15 meal. Hey, it was 2 days before Christmas, I was out of town and the waitress was major-league cute and very efficient.  Boy, did that one get a smile!

[esheato]

I dislike tipping and if I have to it's usually 10% unless it's exceptional service.

Now before I get shat on, I delivered pizzas, so I know how it goes. While tips were great, I didn't count on them to get by.

I work hard for my money and I hate the fact that I just have to give it away after I already paid for my meal. Call me cheap if you wish...

Ed

[Moondoggie]

I'm with most of the crowd.  I've waited tables a couple of times in my life, and delivered pizza...neither are eazy jobs.  "Hustle is heaven if you've got it, Hustle is he)) if you don't."

Mandatory tipping is a non-starter...unless they think they can throw me down, take possession of my wallet and extract the cash.  Call the cops?  Knock yourself out, but I'm not waiting around.

Normal for me is 20%.  Service bad enough to warrant no tip gets me a one-on-one with the mgt/owner as I'm leaving.  I've been known to stop the process before the order is taken and leave, letting the mgt know why on my way out the door.  Likewise, if the food is bad, I'm not at all bashful about letting them know.

Above and beyond service gets bigger tips.  I gave a guy $50 on a $75 meal once.  All you had to do was think about wanting something and this guy showed up with it.  He was a virtuoso at his trade.  We stumbled into this place in Williamsburg, VA.  In the lobby were dozens of framed photos of folks you'd immediately recognize..the photos were taken there in the lobby with the owner.  I'm talking about Ronald Reagan, George Bush, Newt Gingrich, Robert Byrd, John Warner & Liz Taylor, etc, etc.  That meal was a memorable experience.

If the waitress is a mega babe, plus does a good job, it most definately influences the amount of the tip.

[brimic]

10% for marginally acceptable service- sometimes a waitress is swamped due to no fault of her own.
15% for average service
20%+ for good service.

Biggest tip I ever gave was almost 200%. I was at an airshow 10 miles from home on a Sunday. My wife had accidentally locked the keys in the car. It was 90 degrees out and I found out about our problem at around 4:25 PM. Calling around, I found out that the local cab services only worked until 4:30PM and there wasn't any other form of public transportation available. The cab service told me they were closing but said they would check around and see if any of their drivers could swing by. I got called back 10 minutes later saying a driver would pick me up within the next 20 minutes. The fare cost $7, I gave the lady a $20 and told her to keep it. Had I been by myself, I would have walked home, but at the time, I had my 1YO son and wife along.


I don't mind tipping. I used to work as a pizza delivery driver while in college and found that even one good tip a day could make my entire day.

[Brad Johnson]

The three tenets of keeping your bar bill down...

1) Tip big
2) Drink draught
3) Keep your tab at the bar

Bars inventory bottles, so they have to account for every one. It's hard to inventory an enclosed keg other than a close "guestimate" of the remaining amount. Also, waiters are charged for every drink the turn in to the bartender, so you can be darn sure each and every drink will appear on your tab. The bartender, on the other hand, only has to make sure his bulk bar stock inventory comes out close. He can also "accidently" not ring up a drink, and it's a whole lot easier for that accident to happen if he doesn't have to account for a missing bottle.

(of course, this only works if you are a regular OR you pay by the drink...)

A really good waiter hates compulsory tipping because they know that all they will make is 15%. A really good waiter also looks forward to big groups that want seperate checks because they can max out their "good service" bonus.

I'v been there and done that. I have no problem being a low-maintenance customer and a big tipper. I will even go so far as to let the waiter know that they are free to take care of other people first. Guess what, my food usually arrives faster and my glass stays more full than the jerk one table over who is frothing at the mouth about his toast being buttered on the wrong side.

My father, on the other hand, is a waiter's worst nightmare. He blows right past "demanding" and jumps feet-first into "demeaning". To him, a waiter is no more than a rent-a-slave. I have yet to convince him to lay off or suffer the repercussions of contaminated and/or altered food. He just plain doesn't get the fact that you don't piss off someone who is handling your food and out of sight. Tip? forget it. He is a token tipper - it's $1 no matter what the tab. He always gripes about how poor the service is, but he brings it on himself by being such an asshat. And I fail to understand why he has such animosity towards waiters. Most of the time he is a first-class gentleman, but get him in a restaurant and he turns into a first-class jerk.

Brad

[Declaration Day]

My father, on the other hand, is a waiter's worst nightmare.  Most of the time he is a first-class gentleman, but get him in a restaurant and he turns into a first-class jerk.

I bet you don't accompany him to restaurants much.

One of my best friends rounds his bill up to the next dollar and leaves the change as his tip.  He's not a jerk, he's just cheap.  So I end up compensating for his $0.37 tip.  He sees me do it and still doesn't offer to throw in.  Fortunately that's the only negative thing I have to say about him; he's otherwise one of the best people I've ever met.

[Art Eatman]

"Tip":  "To Insure Promptness".  That's where the word came from.

Way Back When, it wa customary to tip 10% for what might be called "adequate" or "standard" service.  If there were extra demands on the waiter, more service effort, 15% or even 20%.

[280plus]

Well, there's one new thing I learned today...

I like that, I may use it.

[CatsDieNow]

I got into it with a waiter last month over tipping last month.

Some waiters will take your $4.53 lunch bill and leave you two quarters as change - this is good.  I typically leave these waiters a dollar plus the coins.  This guy took my $4.37 bill and left me two quarters - not cool.  I merely assumed that he prefered a 13 cent tip.

He accosts me on the way out, and accuses me of stiffing him - totally uncool.  I asked for his manager and explained why.  He was getting a good yelling at, and I got a free desert to go (cause I ain't going back).

[Werewolf]

There was a time when tipping was appropriate. That time has run its course. What counts for good service today would get a server fired back in the 50's. I'm sick of the attitude of servers that I must pay them to do what is expected of them.

To all the waiters, waitresses and other folks out there that think it is my duty to pay part of their wage I say *expletive deleted*ck YOU! Get a real job.

[Winston Smith]

The only time I've left absolutely no tip is when the waitress refused to quiet and still these small children sitting next to me that were not only screaming, but climbing over tables and such. Hellions.

I usually tip big and come back if the food and service is good. I am regular at a few places, and always tip handsomely. Somehow my meals always seem to have larger portions and come faster...

[Declaration Day]

There was a time when tipping was appropriate. That time has run its course. What counts for good service today would get a server fired back in the 50's. I'm sick of the attitude of servers that I must pay them to do what is expected of them.

If you think that a server is not doing a good job, then by all means, don't tip.  But realize that if tipping were abolished, the employer would have to pay higher wages, and you'd be paying that difference in the price of your meal, regardless of the level of service.

I think the practice of tipping gives the customer an advantage.  It allows us to manipulate the server's wages according to his/her service.  In how many businesses do you get to do that?  Very few.

To all the waiters, waitresses and other folks out there that think it is my duty to pay part of their wage I say *expletive deleted*ck YOU! Get a real job.

The problem with this statement, other than it being quite rude, is that many people don't qualify for a "real job".  

Sure, there are older people who have to work lowly jobs because they never did anything with their life.  Most of them are young people though, who have yet to go to school, or are paying their way through school, and have no other choice.  The other low end jobs out there are usually just as crappy.  In either case, it's not a reason to be hostile towards them.

[Brad Johnson]

To all the waiters, waitresses and other folks out there that think it is my duty to pay part of their wage I say *expletive deleted*ck YOU! Get a real job.

Then don't eat out, asshat. Keep your snobbish butt at home and cook for yourself. Then you won't have to worry about it now, will you.

Brad

[Guest]

what do you guys tip a decent bartender??   by the drink, or when closing the tab?