Are You Tipping Correctly?

[Shadow]

While most of us agree that 20 percent (or close to it) is the standard amount to leave on a restaurant check, other tipping-related matters leave us scratching our heads. To settle these debates once and for all, Steve Dublanica, former server and author of the blog Waiter Rant and recent book Keep the Change: A Clueless Tipper's Quest to Become the Guru of the Gratuity, weighs in on some hot-button issues.


More detail at link for the following:


SHOULD YOU TIP ON THE TAX?

WHAT IS THE CORRECT AMOUNT TO TIP ON DRINKS?

DO YOU ALWAYS TIP YOUR BARISTA?

WHEN, IF EVER, IS IT ACCEPTABLE TO LEAVE A BAD TIP?

SHOULD A SERVER BE ABLE TO AUTOMATICALLY INCLUDE GRATUITY IF IT'S NOT A LARGE GROUP?

http://shine.yahoo.com/work-money/tipping-correctly-161000019.html

[Gunny]

While most of us agree that 20 percent (or close to it) is the standard amount to leave on a restaurant check, other tipping-related matters leave us scratching our heads. To settle these debates once and for all, Steve Dublanica, former server and author of the blog Waiter Rant and recent book Keep the Change: A Clueless Tipper's Quest to Become the Guru of the Gratuity, weighs in on some hot-button issues.


More detail at link for the following:


SHOULD YOU TIP ON THE TAX?

WHAT IS THE CORRECT AMOUNT TO TIP ON DRINKS?

DO YOU ALWAYS TIP YOUR BARISTA?

WHEN, IF EVER, IS IT ACCEPTABLE TO LEAVE A BAD TIP?

SHOULD A SERVER BE ABLE TO AUTOMATICALLY INCLUDE GRATUITY IF IT'S NOT A LARGE GROUP?

http://shine.yahoo.com/work-money/tipping-correctly-161000019.html

I usually leave 20% or more. If I get exceptionally lousy service, I'll leave it at the bottom of a glass.

[Shadow]

When we go out to grab a quick lunch or dinner, I usually take into consideration the tip...and then try to go someplace where we won't be expected to leave one (can't afford it all the time). But,If we do go to a nicer family type restaurant...I will leave a pretty good tip. Unless the service is bad...and then only a small one. I don't think I have ever gone somewhere and have not left a tip at all though.

[ConHog]

Usually tip between 20-25% . One rule if my tea glass ever gets empty tip is cut in half. That just drives me crazy if they can't even get around often enough to keep my tea glass full. As for bad service, rarely see it since most of our eating out is in Branson where they are very aware of the need to cater to tourists. It does however get VERY busy in the restaurants sometimes and the wait for food can be long. I don't take that into consideration when tipping b/c it's not always the server's fault though.

[MtnBiker]

I don't take that into consideration when tipping b/c it's not always the server's fault though.

It is not always the kitchen's fault either, servers need to turn the order in on time and correctly as well as deliver the food to the table on time.

[ConHog]

It is not always the kitchen's fault either, servers need to turn the order in on time and correctly as well as deliver the food to the table on time.

Right, and as a customer I have no idea who's fault it is, so I just don't consider it when tipping if the rest of the service is good then fine.

And honestly when eating out in branson, especially during the summer months, a person gets used to waiting. It sometimes get REALLY busy in that town. Most of the restaraunts have even taken to giving customers beepers to let them know when a table is ready. An hour wait for a table is not uncommon and then 20 minutes after ordering to get your meal. They do however do a good job of getting appetizers and drinks to the table quickly, but we don't always order appetizers and or drinks.

[pegwinn]

Twenty percent? What!?! No waaaay.

Having said that, usually we leave about twenty percent because the math is easy. That assumes perfect service. If the food itself is lousy that is a matter for management, not the server.

My oldest daughter was a waitress during her college years and is the final arbiter (when she's visiting) over tipping. When she isn't here then we wing it.

Coffee cup empty = halftip

Everything else is negotiable.

The more people, the bigger the tip percentage. My table of 7-8 adults and 3 grandkids (ages 1-4) will take a lot longer to turn over than a table of 2-4. So, the server is making less per body on top of the less than minimum wage. So we tend to tip larger and be more tolerant. Although, if you let my coffee cup go dry....... bad juju, terrible karma, and upside down mojo.

I have on occasion left zero tip. I also left a note with the manager on the way out explaining in ugly detail why there was no tip. On occasion I have asked the waitress to bring the manager with her so I could thank her in his/her presence.

[ConHog]

Twenty percent? What!?! No waaaay.

Having said that, usually we leave about twenty percent because the math is easy. That assumes perfect service. If the food itself is lousy that is a matter for management, not the server.

My oldest daughter was a waitress during her college years and is the final arbiter (when she's visiting) over tipping. When she isn't here then we wing it.

Coffee cup empty = halftip

Everything else is negotiable.

The more people, the bigger the tip percentage. My table of 7-8 adults and 3 grandkids (ages 1-4) will take a lot longer to turn over than a table of 2-4. So, the server is making less per body on top of the less than minimum wage. So we tend to tip larger and be more tolerant. Although, if you let my coffee cup go dry....... bad juju, terrible karma, and upside down mojo.

I have on occasion left zero tip. I also left a note with the manager on the way out explaining in ugly detail why there was no tip. On occasion I have asked the waitress to bring the manager with her so I could thank her in his/her presence.

A small tip gets the message across better than no tip. No tip, the server just assumes you're a cheap bastard.


I'll tell you another thing that get's your tip lowered with me. If I pay cash and say my tab is $65 and I hand you a $100 bill and you ask if I want my change.

[pegwinn]

A small tip gets the message across better than no tip. No tip, the server just assumes you're a cheap bastard.


I'll tell you another thing that get's your tip lowered with me. If I pay cash and say my tab is $65 and I hand you a $100 bill and you ask if I want my change.

Agreed. But, no tip and a note..... means I am not spending extra to prove a point. You have $100 bills? Wow. I'm not allowed to carry anything bigger than a $20. After all I might detour to the craftsman section of sears.......

[ConHog]

Agreed. But, no tip and a note..... means I am not spending extra to prove a point. You have $100 bills? Wow. I'm not allowed to carry anything bigger than a $20. After all I might detour to the craftsman section of sears.......

My wife and I have an understanding. She doesn't look at the Best Buy receipts, and I pretend she doesn't go into Kolhs once a week. It works out well.

[Shadow]

Agreed. But, no tip and a note..... means I am not spending extra to prove a point. You have $100 bills? Wow. I'm not allowed to carry anything bigger than a $20. After all I might detour to the craftsman section of sears.......


I have been out with a friend who would do that also. Instead of a tip...leave a note saying "this is your tip" and then written on a napkin or piece of paper an explaination of why they were not happy with the service.

I'm not allowed to carry more than a $ 20.00 either...if I carry cash at all, it usually gets confiscated by my kids anyway. Mom...I need lunch money...mom can I borrow $5.00 for Starbucks...Mom...I owe the choir class $ 15.00...mom I have a lunch/library fine can I have $ 2.00. :)

[shattered]

Standard for me is 20% rounded up to the nearest dollar (I don't like change). Superior service is more.. Piss poor service is $1.00. (That is the waitresses service, and has nothing to do with the kitchen - if it's the kitchen, I'll take it up with the manager) If that doesn't give the waitress a clue, then they need a new line of work.

[jimnyc]

Almost always 20%... I have went as high as 25%, at finer restaurants where I was treated like royalty, and have went as low as 10% when the server gave us our food and returns an hour later to collect the check.

[KitchenKitten99]

Just reading some of the posts, and the article, I suggest reading 'Waiter Rant', by Steve Dublanica, which is pretty much the FOH version of "Kitchen Confidential". It is based on his blog page: http://waiterrant.net/ (http://waiterrant.net)

[fj1200]

Almost always 20%... I have went as high as 25%, at finer restaurants where I was treated like royalty, and have went as low as 10% when the server gave us our food and returns an hour later to collect the check.

I think it's their job at a finer restaurant to treat you like royalty and 15-20% of a higher amount is still a higher amount than a lower end establishment. I would rather increase the percent tipped in a Waffle House than a Ruth's Chris. We were in an IHOP on Christmas Day night in Bowling Green, KY, hoping someplace would be open without a huge wait, and the waiter did a good job even though extremely busy and iirc he got $10/33%.

[jimnyc]

I think it's their job at a finer restaurant to treat you like royalty and 15-20% of a higher amount is still a higher amount than a lower end establishment. I would rather increase the percent tipped in a Waffle House than a Ruth's Chris. We were in an IHOP on Christmas Day night in Bowling Green, KY, hoping someplace would be open without a huge wait, and the waiter did a good job even though extremely busy and iirc he got $10/33%.

That's true, generally speaking, the higher your bill on your meal/service the higher the tip is going to be. I guess I never looked at it that way. If I go out, and pig out at a diner, and the bill is $50, the waitress/waiter will get $10. If I go to a Ruths Chris, eat normally, and the bill is $100, the waitress/waiter will get $20. And is the service really that different? Probably not. So I guess those working at the lower end of the scale are kind getting screwed in that respect. Hmmm, better late than never, but I'm liable to keep that in mind going forward...

As to the places getting higher than 20%, I'm not speaking of a place like Ruths Chris, but more like a restaurant where the server will camp out at your table as if they are literally a "servant". These are generally smaller, but very expensive restaurants, where a server will be solely catering to you. I always tipped them higher assuming they were losing out on tips by serving just us. But I assume they are getting paid much higher to begin with, and I tip them better for the extra service. Mostly in the 25% range, and a few times just dropping a "flat" tip.

Now, ever go to a wedding rehearsal or a dinner where there are like 30-50 of you? I've seen servers make like $1k tip for one nights work, because everyone at the table, mostly drunk, chipped in one by one.

[fj1200]

RC and WH were extreme examples so there are obviously huge differences every where in between with multiple circumstances, IHOP on Christmas certainly not the norm.

I remember my wife's old law firm had a budget for going out with new associates and we went to this place in Buckhead, Atlanta where they paired wine with 7 courses and all that; the bill was ~$1000 and they tipped 10%... the restaurant upped the tip to 20% because they thought it a bit low. They lowered it back down when they were informed that, yes, the real tip was supposed to be 10%. :laugh:

[Abbey Marie]

Pet peeve- the server who acts cranky throughout the ordering process and the meal, then tries to be all friendly and smiley when handing me the bill so I'll tip well.

[Mr. P]

Pet peeve- the server who acts cranky throughout the ordering process and the meal, then tries to be all friendly and smiley when handing me the bill so I'll tip well.

My pet peeve is "Good service". That is the basis of my tip not a set % of the bill. I grew up around high end restaurants when service was a must. These days service seems to be a bad word regardless of the cost most of the time.

[cadet]

My tips don't go by any adding system.

if they do a great job, I throw in 5 bucks.

they treat me like absolute crap, I give 2 cents on card. :laugh:

if its a hot chick, I give 10. :cool:

[CSM]

i just stuff dollar bills in their ... oh never mind. Wrong kind of service.

[pegwinn]

i just stuff dollar bills in their ... oh never mind. Wrong kind of service.

Her name was Lola,
She was a showgirl,
But that was 30 years ago.....

When they used to have a show......:boobies:

[ConHog]

I used to tip according to bra size and shape, but my wife informed that wasn't right.

[CSM]

Her name was Lola,
She was a showgirl,
But that was 30 years ago.....

When they used to have a show......:boobies:

heh...yep!

[CSM]

I used to tip according to bra size and shape, but my wife informed that wasn't right.


The good thing about being old is that women no longer consider you a threat so you can ogle all you want and they just don't notice. Heck you can even drool and they think it's just because yer old!

[kowalskil]

I used to tip according to bra size and shape, but my wife informed that wasn't right.

She is a wise women. My wife tips 15%, ignoring such details.

Ludwik Kowalski (see Wikipedia) is also the author of a FREE ON-LINE autobiography, entitled “Diary of a Former Communist: Thoughts, Feelings, Reality.”


http://csam.montclair.edu/~kowalski/life/intro.html


It is a testimony based on a diary kept between 1946 and 2004 (in the USSR, Poland, France and the USA).


.

[jimnyc]

She is a wise women. My wife tips 15%, ignoring such details.

Ludwik Kowalski (see Wikipedia) is also the author of a FREE ON-LINE autobiography, entitled “Diary of a Former Communist: Thoughts, Feelings, Reality.”


http://csam.montclair.edu/~kowalski/life/intro.html (http://csam.montclair.edu/%7Ekowalski/life/intro.html)


It is a testimony based on a diary kept between 1946 and 2004 (in the USSR, Poland, France and the USA).


.

Who gives a shit about your resume in a thread about tipping? You're starting to come off as a spammer when you do little more than hand out links to your own site every time you visit. It's obvious you're a bright man, why not discuss more things with us in depth instead of pointing people elsewhere?

[Mr. P]

She is a wise women. My wife tips 15%, ignoring such details.

Ludwik Kowalski (see Wikipedia) is also the author of a FREE ON-LINE autobiography, entitled “Diary of a Former Communist: Thoughts, Feelings, Reality.”


http://csam.montclair.edu/~kowalski/life/intro.html (http://csam.montclair.edu/%7Ekowalski/life/intro.html)


It is a testimony based on a diary kept between 1946 and 2004 (in the USSR, Poland, France and the USA).


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My tip for ya. Charge $$ for the book! ;)