I Mean, When I Order Coffee I Want It Filled Six Times

It's a little dated, but Mr. Pink makes a few very good points. I mean, I'm alright with leaving a few extra bucks for solid service, but tipping arbitrarily is bullshit. I rarely stiff a server, but I have on a few occasions where there was no excuse for shitty service. If your server is getting pounded like a cheap Thai hooker and you can see her spinning around in circles, alright, cut her some slack, but sending texts in plain view of my table means you get sweet fuck all.

I never hold myself to a percentage, and if I'm at a bar, I drop reasonably large tips to ensure repeat business. If the place is packed, she's simply not coming back to a table full of cheap fucks.

FOCUS: Discuss the occupation, and the ever-popular subject of tipping. What do you require to consider service to be good? What are your tipping habits? Do you hold yourself to a certain percentage, and if so, why? Etc. etc.

 

Under normal circumstances, 20%. I worked in a restaurant for a little while and I know how hard it is to be standing on your feet for 8 hours serving people food and drinks. If you make sure my meal is enjoyable, you deserve something extra. If the person is just terrible though, it really depends on how bad they were. I think I've only not tipped once and my waitress was fired that night for being a cunt to everyone she dealt with.

At bars, it's normally 20% unless I know the bartender or the bartender has decided to hook me up. In those cases, I'll tip more than 20% and add on whatever the cost of the comped drinks would've been to their tip. In many cases, I'll tip the bartender in cash if I can.

 

I tip restaurant staff 10-20%, but often when out with friends (we're in uni at Belfast) they'll tip nothing. I used to work in one of Belfast's biggest bars and most people would not tip, even on food orders. The only nights I'd make good tips was when other bars had their staff parties at out bar.

However, I still made a lot of money by the end of my shift by going round the bar during the night with a sweeper sweeping up money people had dropped on the floor. Best areas were where customers stand to order drinks, by cigarette machines, and the dance floors.

I've sometimes swept money from under peoples feet, I call it involuntary tipping.

 

I don't go out for my meals often but when I do, I generally try to go somewhere that's a little nicer. On the most part, I'll tip a waiter on the service, if you bring my food and drinks in a timely manner (IE: I'm not waiting twenty minutes for a glass of water) then you'll get your 15% and a little more if the quality of food is decent - this could be as simple as the steak I ordered was done correctly. Past that, it's fluffer, if you make my night enjoyable, I'll make yours enjoyable as well.

We went out on Saturday to Ruth Chris's - which on it's own is considered a good restaurant. The waiter was excellent, he joked with us, made fun of the birthday boys with their neon pink, fruity drinks and made our night really enjoyable. He was also busy as fuck, which made a huge impression on us. Our group, on the thousand dollar bill tipped him (just the waiter, the kitchen got some extra as well) a little over 30%. I cook for myself really fucking well and I have a TV at home; if I'm going out, I want to have an experience that is better than I can provide for myself and I'll make it worth your time.

 

Since I fall somewhat on the picky side when I order food at restaurants, I always tip around 20% unless the service was bad. In general I'm a generous tipper when the situation calls for tipping but I'm not going to tip if I'm receiving a service not generally associated with tipping just because someone threw a tip jar up on the counter. There's a pizza place near where I work that's done this; they've got a tip jar up by the register. The sum total of the service I recieve is a person grabbing the slices of pizza I point at and putting them in a box for me to take with me, yet I'm supposed to tip for that? Sorry, but you're not going to hustle me out of an extra buck or two just because you have a jar on the counter and other people are suckers.

 

Yeah. If you do your job, you get 18-20%. You'd have to fuck up pretty bad to get less, and it'd have to be obvious that your mistakes are due to blatant lack of effort. If it's a large group and you're attentive and fast, you'll get more.

I can't stand people who are light with with tipping for no other reason than their own cheapness. I've seen a guy take a single of the table and replace it with pocket change. It's embarrassing and it reflects poorly on you. If you can't afford to tip well, you can't afford to eat out. Stay the fuck home.

 

I tip 20%+ on all occasions. I'm usually a repeat customer at most bars/restaurants I go to. Even if I get shitty service, I'll put down 20%...but I'll make a note of saying something, either to the manager or to the waiter him/herself. Under-tipping is just a passive-aggressive way of saying your service sucked, but it's not a good way to get better service next time around. Basically, if you get the same shitty waiter, they'll remember that you under-tipped and will just give you the same shitty service. The only way to actually improve the service is to say something.

The only place this doesn't work is in a city like Miami, where they put an obligatory 18% service charge on EVERY tab. I've never had shittier service than I have in Miami. I go probably 2-3 times a year, and always have at least one bad service experience at a nice restaurant.

 

As a server, I'm keenly aware of the service I receive when I'm out. I generally tip 20% unless the service is awful. Then it's 10%.

I only walked without tipping once, when the the little twat was so busy flirting with her busboy I had to ask for my bill 4 fucking times. The last time I asked, she rolled her eyes at me. I restrained the urge to slap her and asked if speaking to her manager would help. She got that bill to me in a hurry then.

 

I hate tipping. Absolutely hate it. My thoughts on it are pretty much in line with Tony Blundetto's in the link. That being said I will always tip 20% and keep my opinions on the issue to myself. Why? Well because it is the accepted social norm. In my ideal world I would also not have to wear pants and could jack off on a plane, but I can't. Being a member of society means abiding by its unwritten rules. Those who decide not to are what is known as assholes.

I currently live in England where tipping is not the norm and I love it. Not because I am tight but because I can now give tips that accurately reflect the level of service without feeling obliged. When dining I will usually give 5-20% depending on the level of service and the venue, bars I will usually round up each order to whatever ensures I don't receive change. I would say this behaviour probably places me in the 25th percentile of tippers here.

My general rule is just to abide by the local custom and don't be a bitch. If you don't want to accept the social custom* than don't go out there. This isn't abolition, your act of social defiance isn't going to change shit.

* Save for anonymous internet messageboards

 

Fuck all you guys who don't tip 20%. I get paid $2.13 an hour.

If I'm bartending or picking up tables, I am giving you some damn good service. So when these cunts are ordering top shelf all night long and then stiff me on a tip, thanks asshole, I have to tip out everyone one else in this establishment. Hope you enjoyed me basically paying to serve you. It was a real treat.
Only complaint I've ever received about my service was to the manager that I wasn't bubbly enough. I had to resist the urge to urinate in everything I brought to them from then on. I don't have a bubbly personality, it's blunt and to the point with a dry sense of humor and I'm not your god damn performing monkey. Fast food? Done. Fast drink with a heavy hand? Done. Barbie perkiness with a glued on smile? Go fuck yourself.

 

Isn't 20% code for happy endings in waiter lingo?

 

I will accept an orgasm as a tip.

 

I like a woman who wants more than just the tip.

 

The female orgasm was a myth perpetuated by feminists in the 1970's. If they existed I would have seen one. I haven't, ipso facto they do not exist.

 

I typically tip 17% rounded up to the whole dollar(basically double the tax). I rarely tip more, but that is because I live in Washington State where minimum wage is $8.55/hr and everyone makes minimum wage. I will, because of said minimum wage, tip less, for bad service, but I never leave nothing, and less is like 10%. I know that other people also get paid out on that tip that I leave. And, especially in Spokane, I will probably eat at that establishment again, and I don't feel like getting shitty service because I was the jackass who left a small/nonexistant tip.

 

I almost always tip 15-20%, and if the service is exceptional, I'll go as high as 30%.

As for telling me that I should tip EVERY time - not a chance in hell. There was only one time where I did not tip anything, and I'd repeat that decision tomorrow. I was at a Chinese restaurant with one other person. There was only two other occupied tables aside from ours, and 3 or 4 waiters standing around bullshitting. After being seated and waiting 20 minutes for someone to acknowledge us, I had to get up and go ask the waiter if we could order. During that time, we were given no menus, no water, and none of those greasy noodles they hand out. After ordering, the waiter left, and I had to retrieve him again to remind him that we needed something to drink. We were given glasses of water with rice in them. We never got our soup, even after reminding the waiter, and after waiting another 20-30 minutes for our food to come out, it was cold.

So fuck no, I wasn't giving that waiter a goddamn dime in tips. The idea that someone should be paid, let alone tipped, for simply showing up is complete bullshit.

 

"Fuck all you guys who don't tip 20%. I get paid $2.13 an hour. "

I think this is the real problem. Employers should not be able to pay anyone at that rate. As far as I'm aware, here in the UK and Ireland, the minimum wage is £5.20-£6/hour. It's not great, but many people live off that wage in jobs where they would never get a tip.

It should be illegal for tips to go to the employer too and that's why I never tip with my plastic card, always in cash.

 

I hate tipping as well, and only do it as it is a social norm. I hate getting a bill, and it not being my actual total because American society has deemed it necessary for me to pay the salary of the person who brought me my food, rather than have the restaurant take care of their employees. This is a major point. We are not tipping. We aren't saying "hey good job, here is a little something extra." We are more or less forced into a compromising position of being forced to tack on an extra 15-20% of the bill. And why is it based off of the bill? Did the guy bringing me a 30 dollar steak do a better job of carrying the plate than a waiter at Denny's bringing me my 5 dollar grand slam? In most cases no.

I would gladly pay more for food if the price reflected the true cost of business for the restaurant ie. the serving staff made an actual dependable wage; and maybe I would give the server an actual tip if they did a good job. What can I say, I like getting a bill and having that be the final amount.

Another issue I have been seeing more of lately is where I don't have an actual server. I have one person bring me my drinks, another take the order, another one brings the food, and then someone else brings the check. Who the fuck deserves the tip you leave? (none of them in my book)