Tipping
 

I was having a conversation with a co-worker that used to work as a waitress. She said it is rude not to tip. I commented that I only feel inclined to tip, if the service was above exceptional. I thought that was the point of a tip, to give for exceedingly great service. Otherwise, they are just doing their job as agreed by the restaurant. I compared it to my job. If I come in and do just well enough, I don't expect a bonus so why should a waiter/waitress? Thoughts.

-Alex

Becuase their income is based of tips. I always leave something. Usually around 15% on the norm. For great service I will do 25-35%. Point being i always leave one. THey only make 2:15 an hr and depend on that money. Eithe way they are serving you. LOl I bet you dont even tip at Sonic?

I don't. I always go through the drive through though :D.

-Alex

Damn you got me! :favorites37::favorites37:

sonic depends if it's a pretty girl ;) lol I usually try and tip something but there are days where I have no cash or anything :/

I never tip at Sonic because 1) I hardly go there, and 2) most of the people that serve me at Sonic act as if they don't want a tip.

I never tip at Sonic. Then again, I never have cash plus it feels weird since its fast food.

I always tip at a restaurant. If they do their job then I usually give close to 20%, will do more if it's a bartender or someone that was really good. I don't really mind since their income is based off that unless they're just a huge asshole or something.

But not tipping at all unless they do EXCEPTIONAL? That's pretty cheap bro.

ROFL, it's not a matter of money. I just look at it as doing a job, versus doing a great job. Like I said, I get paid to do a job. I get compensated differently if I come in and do just enough to not get fired versus going above and beyond. Seems logical to me.

-Alex

If I get great service, I tip very well. For bad service I don't tip.

I don't tip at Sonic because I don't eat there. There is nothing for me to eat there anyways even if I did. Everything there is fried, filled with meat or heavily processed. The food at Sonic is repulsive. Whatever oil that they use gives off a weird smell and I can't stand it.

my wife used to be a waitress so its a sore subject for her when we talk about it. i dont like to tip but do it mostly because its customary. i'll tip 15% unless i have no complaints, then its 20%. its an industry that people go into knowing what they will be making an hour so its not like its a surprise. if they dont like it, go somewhere else to work. no other industry that i can think of "requires" their customer to help pay a salary.

ive tipped 10% or less on poor service because that's exactly what it should be based on...the type of service provided.

i go through the drive through at sonic just so i dont have to tip because its ridiculous to tip for someone to bring you a bag of food...once. if they were coming back again and again like in a restaurant, id give a real tip. otherwise, its drive through time.

I agree with Alex. Well maybe they should get a better job that pays more than $2. I think all waiters/waitresses think they are entitled to and think they deserve a tip everytime. I grew up in CA, and over there they get paid 8+ an hour so it's a not a big thing to tip over there. Then when I moved to TX it was this big deal about tipping.

This man knows the truth.

-Alex

Cheap motherfuckers in here

I don't think anyone goes into waiting on tables thinking yeah let's go earn $2 bucks an hour. I think those people tend to think that the service they provide they can maximize their earning potential by giving excellent service rather than a flat fee per hour to where bad waiters earn as much as the good ones.

No, most kids nowadays I feel go into waiting staff positions thinking they can do very minimal, subpar to okay service, and they still expect to see a tip, a nice one, at the end of the meal, because it's customary to tip well. It's the entitlement issue again. They think they deserve a tip no matter how bad they are.

but all my money goes to the stang

I tip very well unless I get ignored at the place... no refills, ask if food is ok or made properly, bring the food out ( i fucken hate when a runner brings my food and takes off) etc. I usually never go under 10 bit I tip my fav waiters at Ruths Chris and Abuelos almost 40 to 90 percent cause they bring me free drinks and shit without me even asking. I used to deliver pizzas in the day and we made min wage... it was like 8/hr or someshit in Cali. if i busted ass, risked a few tickets and got you your shit 10 min early, and got no tip, well, lets just say next time it was usually 20 minutes late. And I was the manager at night so I wouldnt comp your meal if it was cold, Id tell you to tip your gd driver next time you want your pizza on time. Lmfao.

The ones that always tipped got their pizzas about 5 minutes out of the oven...:)

So basically, you justified treating customers like crap because, you didn't get money that you are not entitled to.

-Alex

Yep, so go fuck yourself you cheap asshole. Hahahaha

Nah, I'm good lol.

-Alex

Holy crap. You guys sound like the script for the opening scene in 'Reservoir Dogs'.
It's really simple - here in America if you are seated at a restaurant, a person takes your order and serves you the food, leave a tip if you are so inclined. If not, pay for the food and walk out.
In parts of Europe they don't know anything about tipping, but we do it here. It has nothing to do with salary or job choice. It is a societal custom.

... besides DT, I didnt treat customers like crap, they just werent treated exceptionally. you yourself dont tip unless you get exceptional service. I didnt provide exceptional service when i knew I wasnt getting tipped... it goes both ways... these customers were 2 to 3 times a week, you remember the addresses where you got burned very quickly...

I didn't take any offense to what you stated. The way the idea of tipping is presented is that you have to do it or you're an asshole. Perhaps it is because I do not and have not worked in that field but, I don't think I am incorrect under the understanding that work is paid accordingly, whether it be terrible, subpar, average or above average. If I were a waiter, I'd do my damndest eact time to make sure I got a tip but, maybe that is easier said than done on every attempt.

Part of the reason I don't go to a lot of dine in restaurants. I don't want that being held against me if some waiter did average service and got pissed off that I didn't tip. Same thing applies to strip clubs. I just don't go. And dancers are more inclined to perform better since they have to pay to go work. So if they are terrible performers, they actually lose money. If that applied to waiters/waitresses I would bet that FAR better service and tips would be experienced.


Either way, a tip is just that, it's not entitled, just like my bonuses are not entitled to me, I just work hard to try to get them.

-Alex

Some people just don't tip period. No matter if you were the best waiter/waitress they've ever had serve them, they won't tip.

Lol at the entitled tips, you arent going to get chased out of a place with a broom if you dont tip, just probably dont want to go to said place often. . Lol I usually always tip something, as you said though its based off how good of service i got. I usually start at 14 percent and go up, unless they are rude or just flat out suck it, then i have to go to 10 or less. Ive left no tip less tban 10 times in my life.

Thursday it snowed and my pizza got to my house in 1.75 hrs and was a tad cold. I still tipped the poor kid 2 bucks for having to drive around in the snow. It was more of a pitty tip. If he got it there sooner it woulda been closer to 10 bucks...

The difference is the pay waiters receive from the restaurant basically all goes to taxes. So they only make what they make in tips. If they were to get paid a normal wage the price of your meals would jump way up. So when you don't tip the waiter makes NOTHING for serving you. At minimum you should tip 15% at sit down restaurants as that is the normal. I have had many friends work as waiters and know how hard it can be that is why I always tip around 20%, unless my service is far exceeding my expectations than I'll do 25-30.

That's an eye opener, I wasn't aware of that. That sucks.

This may seem weird but, I especially like tipping the new people. I think it helps set the pace for them to try hard. Even if they make some mistakes, I am inclined to tip them so that way they learn that effort makes a huge difference as it is already stressful enough I am sure.

-Alex

Do you not tip delivery drives who bring you pizza? They live off of tips- like waitresses do. I went to one house once that was at least $300k and I got a tip of LESS than $1...

Waiters/waitresses make less than minimum wage and need those tips to survive. The ONLY time I've ever not left a tip was when I had a waiter that was overly rude, inconsiderate and whose service was worse than horrible- to the point of arguing with us about what we said we wanted. And that time- I wrote a note on the receipt so the manager would know why I left a $0 tip on a $150 meal (6 people).

This!

I waited tables and bartended for 4 years at chili's a about 5 years ago. I made 2.13/hr and it all went to taxes. I could work 40 or more hours and always has a 0.00 paycheck.

I can't believe how many people don't know to tip. You were comparing it to your job, think about doing your job as your customers and place of business expects you to and you make nothing? It happens way too often.

There's no way i could go back to it. I don't know how i held my tongue before when i was younger.

If you go to the same place regularly, you better believe those servers remember you. Even if you just tip fair. If you tip great they'll remember and you'll get better service every time. No / poor tip they remember and you'll get served appropriately.


I will say working there was the time of my life! The friends were awesome everybody knows everybody at all the bars and restaurants and the women are awesome.

Watch the movie "waiting". It is exactly like that minus doing shit to people's food. The games in the back, the parties the everything is spot on.

And for those who say they all think they "deserve" it and just do enough to get by and should "get better jobs" obviously have never been in the service industry. I think everybody needs that type of job at least once in their life to teach them the value of hard work, earning something and understanding who people really are.

I am a minister and I took a side job a few years back for some extra money. We didn't really "need" it, but it was nice. One revelation I had that changed how I thought for good was this:

1) When it's Sunday or I'm making a visit to the hospital, etc as "the minister" I get treated with respect and kindness.
2) When I was "just" a delivery guy- I got treated like absolute crap, as if I was "lower" than other people.

That's just not right and everybody should re-think how they treat people.

Good post.

Working at a Casino I can tell you ive noticed about tippers and race. I hate to be that guy but its just how things are in the casino. Not implying anywhere else.

Oh I always tip delivery drivers on the very rare occasion that I order food for delivery. I only order delivery when the weather is unbareable outside. Gas prices are too high not to tip drivers and if they will make the trip from their restaurant to my place in terrible weather, they get nice tips. I'm not that big of an asshole lol.

-Alex

In the food business there is an expression "I've got a blacktop."

I agree. As a society, everyone is very jaded these days. My brother getting sick has really changed my life in so many ways this past year. It's changed my perspective on my own health, how I spend my time and how I treat people in general. I do my best to treat everyone with kindness and compassion, especially those who aren't kind to me. It seems to me they are the ones who need some kindness the most. I have a lot of regrets of how I've interacted with some people and wish I could change it but I can't. All I can do is do my best from here forward in life.

The smallest acts of kindness can make someone's day. Over the weekend I went and bought some wood from this roadside place here in Wylie. The kid loading wood couldn't be but 17/18 years old. It was freezing out and he was loading all these cars/trucks by himself and he didn't have any gloves on. I asked him where his gloves were and he said he just started working there and didn't have the money yet but he would in two weeks when he got paid. I helped him finish loading the wood into my truck and then I drove down to Home Depot to buy him some gloves. I pulled back in and he asked if there was something wrong and I handed him the gloves. He said couldn't pay me for them, I said no need, just do something nice for someone else when you can. It really made his day I could see. He said thanks and I left. Hopefully he passes it along to someone else.

Great story, Steve. Way to pay it forward. Too many people have a "you owe me" attittude these days.

My rule of thumb.
If a service is involved whether that be a delivery or waiter/waitress serving my table i always tip. I've been in the service industry and its not great, but remember a good tip can make someones day and ruin someones night. However if shitty service is involved then they had it coming.
Money comes and goes, but kindness and impressions last forever.

I saw drive-thru mentioned earlier as an alternative to not tipping for service.
FYI
Im that guy where i go through a drive thru i pay for the persons behind me food.
Helps me kick fast food and gives a good feeling knowing i made someones day from just the littlest things.

Walk a mile in that server's shoes before you decide on the tip. If you have never been there, do not be so hasty to judge. If you ever talk to me in person, ask me about my first big tip as a bus boy and why.

If the service is good, I start at about double the sales tax on the receipt. If the restaurant is a place I frequent or has great service, I will tip 20+ percent. If my water glass stays full the majority of the time, the restaurant probably has great service as I drink anywhere from 4-8 glasses of water with my meal. If the service is crap I will tip 10 or less percent. The only places I don't generally tip at are at buffets or places that literally call your name for an order. I really don't understand why those types of establishments have a tip line on their receipts if one basically has to serve themselves. If service is crap the worst thing anyone could do is a tip a penny. Waiters/Waitresses expect people to be cheapskates or forget to tip, but a penny is the least amount one can tip and is the best way to say "Your service sucked!"

Asia is another place that is also not accustomed to tipping. I visited China last summer and was surprised to learn that tipping is not required anywhere. My girlfriend, who is from China, told me that if tips are left on tables by foreigners that waiters/waitresses will literally chase the person down and tell them that they left their belongings on the table. I also had another friend, from China, tell me that tipping can also be taken offensively and that waiters/waitresses may take the gesture as if the person paying for the meal wants something in return (which could be taken in a variety of different contexts). So if any of you happen to wait tables and wonder why some asian people do not tip well or they do not tip at all, this is probably why.

My brother is stationed in Japan and they do the same there.

I hear that a lot. Well other countries don't tip at all. Which is true, but they make an hourly wage, which our servers do not. (i realize you're not saying this, just heard it before)