Do you tip?

[mugencivic4dr]

I was wondering if any of you tip and if so how much?

I tip depending on how my services experiance was. I dont see a reason to leave a 15-20% tip every time i go out to eat and the service was not good.

I do under stand that depending on how busy the resturant is it'll keep the waiter/waitress from attending you more often than if it was a slow day. But if its slow and all you did was bring my drinks and never checked up on me, that person would be lucky to get anything from me.

I dont know where, how, or why this tipping thing became an issue/thing to do, but just because its some how "manditory" doesnt mean that the service has to suck.

[wildBill83]

In Texas where min wage for waiters/waitresses is around $2.50/hr I always tip 20% even if the service sucked. In MN where they earn the real min wage, I tipped based on service.

[mugencivic4dr]

the amount that the waiter/waitress wages shouldnt determine the tip that they deserve due to their service. If you want a good tip, work for it.

[stewie]

Shitty service will usually only get a 5$ tip

If I go to a high end restaurant and had excellent service, tip can go anywhere from 50-100$

[Tippey764]

I tip $5 minimum unless 20% is higher. I feel like anything less than $5 is a joke.

Not tipping someone is a dick move.

[BIGRICH]

I was wondering if any of you tip and if so how much?

I tip depending on how my services experiance was. I dont see a reason to leave a 15-20% tip every time i go out to eat and the service was not good.

I do under stand that depending on how busy the resturant is it'll keep the waiter/waitress from attending you more often than if it was a slow day. But if its slow and all you did was bring my drinks and never checked up on me, that person would be lucky to get anything from me.

I dont know where, how, or why this tipping thing became an issue/thing to do, but just because its some how "manditory" doesnt mean that the service has to suck.

what the hell do you do for a living?!

In Texas where min wage for waiters/waitresses is around $2.50/hr I always tip 20% even if the service sucked. In MN where they earn the real min wage, I tipped based on service.

agreed

I tip $5 minimum unless 20% is higher. I feel like anything less than $5 is a joke.

Not tipping someone is a dick move.

absolutely agreed

[wildBill83]

I tip $5 minimum unless 20% is higher. I feel like anything less than $5 is a joke.

Not tipping someone is a dick move.

I whole heartedly agree with this, I use to wait tables in college. Sometimes you don't mean to give shitty service and sometimes the service you give may not meet the customer's standards but generally you are working your ass off if you are waiting tables. Some customers you can never please.

[mugencivic4dr]

I tip $5 minimum unless 20% is higher. I feel like anything less than $5 is a joke.

Not tipping someone is a dick move.

please explain how me leaving no tip for shitty service is a "dick move"?

what the hell do you do for a living?!

what does my occupation have to do with how i feel about tipping? to answer your question i work in the fraud department for a well known finacial institution. before you start ranting on pay, i make a decent living nothing extraordinary.

[mugencivic4dr]

I whole heartedly agree with this, I use to wait tables in college. Sometimes you don't mean to give shitty service and sometimes the service you give may not meet the customer's standards but generally you are working your ass off if you are waiting tables. Some customers you can never please.

that i do agree with, but i was generally speaking when i started the thread. when you get down to the specifics then thats when "this" and "that" starts to be considered on leaving tips.

[deevergote]

If you go to a restaurant and don't tip, I wouldn't suggest returning to that restaurant. If the service was bad enough to not leave a tip, I don't see why you'd want to anyway.
Servers remember faces. Servers talk to one another. Servers live a strange life. The foodservice industry keeps odd hours, and when you spend a few months in that schedule with the same people, they become like family. Servers are vindictive and jaded, and they have access to your food where you can't see them.

In most areas in the US, servers make about $2.13 an hour. They rely on tips, and they are actually taxed on an expected 8%.

If I get shitty service... I mean SHITTY service... I'll leave 10%. 15% if it was adequate. 20% or higher on average. I do take into consideration how busy the restaurant is, and specifically, how busy my server is (there may only be 8 tables in the restaurant, but if they're shorthanded and my server is handling all of them, they might as well be packed.)
Only once or twice in my life have I stiffed a server, and that was for a combination of reasons... blatantly ignoring me (talking with friends or coworkers in my line of sight), not caring or giving me attitude when my food came out wrong, and not even bothering to apologize for screwing up (forgetting my drinks, etc...)

I've done the job. I know it's hard. I know it sucks. I know that the customer is able to see about 10% of what's going on, and they may not know WHY I'm not constantly there to cater to their every whim.
The customer doesn't know what's happening in the kitchen. The customer doesn't know what's happening at the bar. The customer doesn't know what's happening with other customers. The customer doesn't realize that while you're waiting on them, you're waiting on your other 2-5 tables (or more, if you happen to be shorthanded), you're delivering food and drinks for your coworkers, you're clearing off tables (your own, and those of others), you're bringing food to the bar, you're bringing racks of glasses or ice to the bar, you're correcting mistakes made by the kitchen, you're washing some obscure plate/bowl/utensil/glass needed for an order because the dishwasher is too backed up to do it, you're making your own goddamn salad/desert/appetizer/etc... because the kitchen is too busy or incompetent to handle it, you're in the kitchen waiting for the cooks to correct that overcooked steak that your customer already waited 20 minutes for, you're recovering from a nasty fall thanks to a wet floor, you're answering a ringing phone because the hosts/managers aren't available to handle it, you're helping the hosts seat people because they're shorthanded... or maybe, just maybe, you've been holding a massive shit for 2 hours, and you just can't hold it any longer!



Yes, I tip. In American culture, it is expected. Anyone who says "maybe they should just get another job" should possibly look at the other side of the coin... "maybe you should just stay home and cook!"
Have you ever seen the movie "Waiting"? People think it's just a raunchy comedy. It's not. It's practically a documentary. I shit you not. It was filmed in a Bennigan's. I worked at a Bennigan's at the time. I swear they researched that movie in my restaurant, right down to the opening line of the film (which my friend Scott used to say, MONTHS before the film's release...) "I wanna stick my dick in the mashed potatoes!". No lie.

[deevergote]

I tip $5 minimum unless 20% is higher. I feel like anything less than $5 is a joke.

Not tipping someone is a dick move.

Seeing this from one of the younger members on the forum, with (to my knowledge) no foodservice experience himself... this gives me hope for society.

[H311RA151N]

I was wondering if any of you tip and if so how much?

I tip depending on how my services experiance was. I dont see a reason to leave a 15-20% tip every time i go out to eat and the service was not good.

I do under stand that depending on how busy the resturant is it'll keep the waiter/waitress from attending you more often than if it was a slow day. But if its slow and all you did was bring my drinks and never checked up on me, that person would be lucky to get anything from me.

I dont know where, how, or why this tipping thing became an issue/thing to do, but just because its some how "manditory" doesnt mean that the service has to suck.

Its sounds as if you made this thread due to a recent experience.

They don’t pay servers/waiter/waitresses $2.50 an hour in expectations that people will tip them just so they can give you shitty service.

It’s not the idea of tipping that has failed in your situation, it’s the individual.

I used to work here http://www.chateauonthelake.com/rest...-bar/index.cfm as a server. This is the ultimate place to work around here for a server. I had this job a little over a year until I got in a car accident. Now I can’t physically do that kind of work.

Most people would spend about $130 a meal per person at dinner. I seen my first and only "Black card" working here. When people would pay, my gratuity was as mandatory as paying for the meal. It was 20% minimum or they could choose 30% or even more if they wanted.

Tipping is not an issue if the service is good and the guest (customer) isn’t an ass hole. And over time I ran across my fair share of shitty servers and asshole people.

[mugencivic4dr]

If you go to a restaurant and don't tip, I wouldn't suggest returning to that restaurant. If the service was bad enough to not leave a tip, I don't see why you'd want to anyway.
Servers remember faces. Servers talk to one another. Servers live a strange life. The foodservice industry keeps odd hours, and when you spend a few months in that schedule with the same people, they become like family. Servers are vindictive and jaded, and they have access to your food where you can't see them.

if i get shitty service i wont go back (to that location). and sometimes i give i a second and third shot. I know what they can do to my food when i'm not looking or on the other side of the wall.

If I get shitty service... I mean SHITTY service... I'll leave 10%. 15% if it was adequate. 20% or higher on average. I do take into consideration how busy the restaurant is, and specifically, how busy my server is (there may only be 8 tables in the restaurant, but if they're shorthanded and my server is handling all of them, they might as well be packed.)
Only once or twice in my life have I stiffed a server, and that was for a combination of reasons... blatantly ignoring me (talking with friends or coworkers in my line of sight), not caring or giving me attitude when my food came out wrong, and not even bothering to apologize for screwing up (forgetting my drinks, etc...)

thats the shitty service i was talking about, i dont have a timer going to see how many times the waiter/waitress comes to attend me within a certain time. i take into consideration of the traffic that is going on while i'm waiting or eating.

I've done the job. I know it's hard. I know it sucks. I know that the customer is able to see about 10% of what's going on, and they may not know WHY I'm not constantly there to cater to their every whim.
The customer doesn't know what's happening in the kitchen. The customer doesn't know what's happening at the bar. The customer doesn't know what's happening with other customers. The customer doesn't realize that while you're waiting on them, you're waiting on your other 2-5 tables (or more, if you happen to be shorthanded), you're delivering food and drinks for your coworkers, you're clearing off tables (your own, and those of others), you're bringing food to the bar, you're bringing racks of glasses or ice to the bar, you're correcting mistakes made by the kitchen, you're washing some obscure plate/bowl/utensil/glass needed for an order because the dishwasher is too backed up to do it, you're making your own goddamn salad/desert/appetizer/etc... because the kitchen is too busy or incompetent to handle it, you're in the kitchen waiting for the cooks to correct that overcooked steak that your customer already waited 20 minutes for, you're recovering from a nasty fall thanks to a wet floor, you're answering a ringing phone because the hosts/managers aren't available to handle it, you're helping the hosts seat people because they're shorthanded... or maybe, just maybe, you've been holding a massive shit for 2 hours, and you just can't hold it any longer!

this is all common sense to me, i know that there is more than just picking up food and taking it to the table. i know that the waiter/waitress is not responsible on how the food comes out. this is all understandable and what not but i was referring to the actual service the waiter/waitress provides

[mugencivic4dr]

Its sounds as if you made this thread due to a recent experience.

i actually started this thread to see what peoples responses are and how they felt about the subject.

[deevergote]

In that case, yes.
I mean, if I see my waitress hovering by the bar, chatting up the bartender while I'm waiting for her to walk by and see that I need another drink... I get pissed. If I'm sticking my fork in my very last bite of my overcooked steak and they make their first appearance to ask how things are, I get pissed.
I'll give multiple chances, and there are places that I just won't go again because the service has been consistently bad each time.
I can only recall maybe twice in my life that I have left a legitimately bad tip, though. Or no tip at all.

There's a small restaurant that my friends and family have RAVED about... I went once, and asked about a dinner special. Meal, soup, dessert, for a set price (I think $25). I asked what soup was included, and it was all but the soup of the day. However, the soup of the day sounded amazing, so I asked if I could have that soup with the special, and I'll just pay the difference in price. The waitress (a woman in her early 40s) got all confused, and had to go check with the chef. Eventually, she said yes, that would be no problem. She spent the rest of the meal hovering around my table, chatting with me and my mom about her life, her kids, etc... We tried VERY hard to show her that we were not interested, without being outright rude and saying so. She never got the hint.
Anyway, the meal was decent. Worth the $25 or whatever.
Then I got the check. $25 for the meal, $6 for the soup. I asked her about it, and she said "that's what we talked about... you got the meal, and then paid extra for the soup!"
She got 15%. They lost a customer.