Tips and Tipping

In the United States at restaurants I always tip.  If I have a meeting and only a cup of coffee or two I may tip five dollars if I am at the restaurant for an hour.  The waitress is losing money because I'm occuping a table. I am particuliary annoyed when several people eat with me, I leave a generous tip, and then the others take money out because they think the tip is too much. I see nothing wrong with a twenty percent tip in a small restaurant or coffee shop if the service is really nice. One thing that bothers me is the practice of "tip pooling".  The waitress doen't get the full value of the tip. In that case I try to give the waitress a special gift during the holidays, such as theatre tickets, that can only be used by her. Many of these girls don't even make the minimum wage.

I'm interested in tipping input/

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20%

 (2) 

I never tip more than fifteen percent.

80%

 (8) 

I tip twenty percent.

10 Members voted

[leeisgettingclean]

"guys and girls" : ) I was a server for a long time during college. The wage for a server at a nice restaurant is 2.13$ and has been that for a while. I ALWAYS TIP VERY GOOD. I will leave 20$ if all was good and i enjoyed my trip to the restaurant, This may sound like a lot to some but beleive me, I served for a few years and 20$ is NOT an uncommon tip. The cost of living has gone up, tips have to. The days of 1$ or 2$ tips is gone

[teko]

These people make a living by serving us. If you cannot afford a tip then order something cheaper. The tip should be factored into the bill upon ordering. I always tip 5 dollars, no matter if I order something that costs 3. These folks work hard for their money, put up with the public all day long, on thier feet constantly. Put yourself in their shoes. It is not easy and lots of times they have to pay out the host and the person who clears the tables as well as other staff. If someone does not tip, lots of times the server still has to pay out that tip out of their pocket because the tips split lots of times depends on total sales. So next time you eat out, have a little empathy.

[Crochetya]

When eating at a resturant we tip whatever the gratuity is. We also give cash money to the waiter. When hubby says not to give or scimp, I voice my opinion immediately. He worked as a youngster, but the money he made was his, and his parents provided for him. I in turn had to work for school clothes,shoes, and supplies.  I waited tables years ago, and before that I washed dishes in a resturant from 9:00AM to 11:00PM for $6.00 a day.I was in the 5th grade. That wasn't even a good deal back in the day. Oh and I also agree that tipping pool is outrageous. Something else can be done about that.

[megochick101]

I tip based on the waiter/waitress. If the waiter was a complete ***** to me(yes i have had that happen) i'll tip less(no less than 15%), if they went out of their way to be nice and accommodating i tip more(20-25%). I have only not tipped a waiter once. yes i know that sounds mean, but this guy who was serving us was a complete a$$. he never brought us a refill on our drinks even though i asked him twice for a refill. He then got our orders wrong, not once, not twice but THREE times. Then to top it all off he insulted my friend. She's a tiny bit chubby(like me) and when she ordered a desert(that me and her were going to share) he told her "i think you've had enough fatty things lady, you don't need to add more"... yes that's a direct quote of what he said. We were shocked. and then he brought our check and had filled in how much he THOUGHT he should get as a tip. I wasn't having it, if he hadn't completely insulted my friend, i would have given him a tip but that was just completely over the line. He got nothing. I asked him for the manager, and found out they did do the tipping pool there(i hate that!), so i wrote strict instructions on the check that my tip was for everyone but the waiter. that was just unforgivable for a waiter to do something like that. I've been a waiter myself and i feel for the guy as it's not the best job in the world, but you do NOT insult your customers. that's a huge NO.

[swampcritter]

In California servers are required to be paid minimum wage, regardless of tips. Where Swampy lives that comes to $9+ per hour.

The other point is that servers don't have to pay taxes on their tips (well, legally they do, but taxes are never collected from tips in the way they are from regular wages).

For these reasons, Swampy varies his tip rate depending on where he is eating. It is, however, rarely below 15%. Because, quite frankly, most problems with food being late or wrong is the fault of the kitchen not the server.

Bar tips are on a different scale than a food tip.

[Lonelymom]

Ok I don't know that I completely understand the tip pool so please explain....

I didn't vote which because I always tip well the least I have ever tipped was 5 and that was for the losyest service and I didn't spend but 5 at the restuarant. Places like buffets but the wattress still brings you your drink and refills things like that.

Anyway I do believe in tipping well because in Texas the waiters/wattresses only make 2 something an hour.

[gokuangel]

I just tip as much as i can but i do also base it on how nice the person is! If they are complete A$$ who never comes bk to the table to chk on me or sends some1  else over to do their job i wont leave them anything!! That's just rude and i hate people who do that!! But as long as they are nice and friendly i will leave them as much as i possibly afford!

[leeisgettingclean]

min wage just went to 7.50 an hour, i am not sure about the 9 $ hour thing.....servers DO have to pay tax on tips...I worked at redlobster and made 2.13 hour worked 45 hours a week so that should have been a 90$ check every week and i got NO cheack at all...really a 0$ check....SO YEAH WE DO PAY TAXES-and server pay in the 3 states i have lived in has been 2.13 an hour every since i started working

[FurballsMom]

And, since I really can't afford such tips, I don't go to such restaurants.  I've worked the restaurant industry at one time in my life, so I know how lousy the wages are.  It's not realistic for me to have to pay such a huge tip with my extremely limited budget.

[ParamedFlorena]

If I'm satisfied I tip up to a round amount but most goes by card these days so I suppose the waitress won't get to see any money unless I pay cash..

[leeisgettingclean]

no theres a place on your card reciept that says
Tip________
Total________
so if you put a tip and add to total the server gets it at end of night when she//he cashes out

[ziggysgrl0724]

The next time you're out eating at a restaurant, look at your server. Do you think they are really happy to be doing that job? The answer is NOPE. but its what we do and we do it for the money, so please help us out. Its a tougher job than you think and you should pay them accordingly!

There are SO many people out there flooding the restaurants w/o any knowledge of how to tip. Here is a short guide for the general public to follow. Feel free to print out and store in your wallet and/or purse.

1. CHILDREN "THE LITTLE DEVILS":
If you have children, DO NOT let them, open and dump anything on the table (ie; salt, sugar, etc). IF YOU DO, you must leave an extra $5 for the server to clean up YOUR CHILD'S mess & to restock the now unusable wasted items. We are neither their babysitter nor their parent. The least you can do is pay us for the extra work. Also make sure you control your kids and don't let them scream or run around the restaurant. It's very distracting not to mention dangerous if they get ran over by a server with hot food in their hands.

2. "THE CAMPERS":
If you feel the necessity to stay for longer than 15 minutes after you pay, its an extra $3 every 30 minutes. We make our money from the tables. If you are in one and we can't seat it, we don't make money.

3. COMPLIMENTS:
Telling a server they are the best server they've ever had is not a tip. If we are good, let us know by leaving us more money. We cant pay our bills on compliments. Its not that we don't appreciate the praise, its just that if you say that and then leave 10% it's an insult.

4. THE SALVATION PAMPHLETS:
Prayer cards and any other religious pamphlet is NOT a tip. It is insulting that you assume we are w/o religion and must save us. Again, like ..3, we cant pay bills w/prayer cards. We'd go to church on Sundays if it wasn't mandatory to work on Sundays because EVERYONE who goes to church follows it by eating out. Also don't try to preach to us while we are working. We don't go to your work and put you down so don't do it to us.

5. TIPPING:
It is not 1960. Cost of living has gone up dramatically since then. 18% is the MINIMUM amount of what you should be tipping your servers. Remember, that steak is $12.99 not $22.99 because restaurants aren't required to pay minimum wage in most states! ($2.13 in Texas!) We are taxed on 10 percent of your meal automatically anyway, not to mention we have to tip out a percentage of our sales - your bill - to the hosts, bartenders, and bussers. So if you dont leave a tip, WE END UP PAYING FOR YOUR MEAL!! So move that decimal one spot left and multiply by 2 and your server will never be disappointed. ($25 = $2.50 x 2 = $5)

6. THE COMPLAINERS:
If you get a discount because of your food was prepared wrong or something, do not take it out of our tip. We didn't cook it. The cooks get paid hourly regardless if the food *****. However, we only make what you give us. And don't ever leave a percentage on the total after the discount or comp -- always tip on what the total would have been.

7. THE LATE ONES:
If you come into the restaurant 10 mins before closing or any time near closing hurry up and order your food and get out. Closed means closed, not social hour. It is so rude to sit there and take your sweet *** time. We can't leave until you leave because we have to do sidework and clean the table you are sitting at. We don't want to stand there waiting for you for an extra hour just because you don't want to go home. We recommend 24 hour establishments such as Dennys if you wish to sit into the wee hours of the night.

8. THE TABLE HOGERS:
If you only come in for coffee or a dessert, to do paper work, or to have a meeting, don't sit there taking up our booths for hours. We are not Starbucks or a hotel restaurant. If you want to sit for hours, go there or else you better leave a good tip for us and camping fee included.


9. THE GREET:
When we come up to the table to greet you and we ask how you are doing please let us know. We honestly want to know how you are doing. If you are in a bad mood we want to know that from the beginning. A confused stare or complete silence does not suffice as a reply to "How are you doing?". Also don't interrupt our greeting and say "I want coffee", "can we get some bread, or "what are the soups?" its rude.

10. THOSE DAMN CELL PHONES:
Don't ever talk on your cell phone in a restaurant. This is probably the rudest thing to do. If you must be on your cell, at least keep your voice down in respect for other customers. If you are on your cell phone when we walk up to greet your table we will walk away until you get off your phone. Just show some respect and give us your attention for a couple of minutes.

11. TAKE-AWAY OR TOGOS:
Always remember to tip the take-out order servers! They work just as hard as a server, and hardly ever get tips for it! WE DESERVE TO BE TIPPED TOO!

12. YOUR OUR ONLY TABLE:
Your not! We have at least four to five table sections. Thats at least four other people that are making us run around as well. Remember if your server is taking awhile it is because we have other tables that need stuff also. Dont think that we dont care about you.

[ziggysgrl0724]

that was something I copied and pasted, but having been a server myself....I must say that I completely agree with it(and yes i have kids of my own)