What % do you tip when you eat out??

[wthchristi]

The difference between the states is very interesting. I spent 10 years waiting tables, put myself through school and supported my son. My 24 yr old stepdaughter is single, pays for her apt (she does have a roommate), pays for a good chunk of her tuition and books from the university and still has the money to play ALOT! (She is in Canada Bungee jumping today, will be river rafting in Oregon next week and is planning a December trip to France.) She is a serious saver and budgeter, but I see her tax forms. She makes as much as I do as manager. On a slow night she takes home a hundred, on a busy night 200+ (in tips), she works 4-5 nights a weeks, 5-6 hour shifts. She told me she often forget she even has a check and puts it directly into her savings account. We live in Washington so she also makes $8.63? min wage.

Very proud of her.

I believe the service industry is seriously underpaid in some states. The work is hard and 2 something an hour is ridiculous. I always tip at least 15 percent, usually more. For years I missed out on all my sons school activities (I worked 2-10), worked every weekend and most holidays. You do what you have to, in order to pay the bills.

 

[BlackBart]

Quote:
Certainly sounds like a way to get cheap labor.
If I am ever in PA (Pennsylvania?) I will make sure I tip very well.

 

[MeatKing]

I tip 15-20 % depending on the service. I have before not left a tip, but that was only once with a really bad server. I severed for 7 years, so I'm usually not picky. I don't mind if service is slow cause their busy, but if it's slow, cause my server is slow, my tip reflects it.
The one time I didn't leave a tip was in a grungy bar, where we ordered chickens wings, they still had pin feathers on them... So I waved her down and was like, umm these wings, still have their pin feathers... oh well that's they way all chicken wings come... hmm I was a watieress at the time, so I was like oh, cause I thought that's why they go to a proccesser, to be cleaned. She never offered to take the wings back to the kitchen, she charged me for them, she got no tip...

 

[Yay Chicks!]

My standard is 15%. Occasionally I have tipped more.

 

[Boyd]

there are a few restaurants I go out to. Wait staff either love me or hate me. I've been known to tip 15% before we even order and then tell the wait person what I expect. At the end of the meal if they met or exceeded my expectations I tip another 15-20 percent. On occasion if somebody is truly going out of their way to be the bomb, and they are there when I need them and not interrupting (as the only times I go out it is usually business) and know to refill an empty water glass without asking, same for coffee bread stick etc.. well I go much higher. Then again a waiter like that is a once a year find.. That's why I rarely go out, and only go to places where the they are ready to make some money

also... attitude is everything. If I ask how your day is and you say great but your eyes and body language are lying, I'll probably call you out on it and buy you a drink. Everybody has a rough day

 

[woodmort]

I give a minimum of 15%--both my girls worked their way through college waiting on tables and I know how much the depend on tips--especially since the IRS estimates based on receipts. If the service is bad, I'll complain to management--often the problem lies with the kitchen, not the wait-staff. On the other hand, if I'm planning on returning or at those restaurants were we eat often, I'll go 20%, this helps the staff to remember me and assures good service on my return. My wife and I go to the same restaurant, same time, every week and get the same waitress, there I tip $10 even though the bill is usually around $40 because the staff is great and they do special things for us. (I've sold a couple of waitresses eggs.)

I've found you get what you pay for.

 

[mamawolf544]

I'm in Texas and they pay way below min. wage. I always tip atleast 20%, sometimes more at the Holidays and such.

But since we have moved to the sticks I have watched over the years a family or a group run a person ragged, we need more butter, more onions, you get the picture and then they will leave $1 a person at the table and kids dont count.

It embarrasses me.

I feel the same way and it might not be popular, if you cant afford to tip, go to a fast food place or cook it yourself

And we have lots of places that for a party of 6 or more, you can not split the orders and 15% is added to your bill. But it states that clearly on the menu. I myself like that rule.

And I have waited tables long ago and always did quite well, and I managed a neighborhood bar for years and for the most part had excellent customers. But I always knew your name, your drink of choice, how is the family and so on. It is a people job that requires people skills and some people aren't cut out for it.

 

[mamagardener]

Ialways tip 20 percent of the bill. If service is poor due to the waitstaff and not the management then I only tip 15%. If really good service I tip 25% or more. Some people on here say they don't feel right tipping what they should be tipping. To that I say if you don't want to tip servers then get takeout. These people deserve their fair wage.

 

[Show Me Chick]

In Missouri they can pay under minimum wage to a waitress but if the waitress doesn't make enough tips to equal minimum wage for the amount of hours they worked for the day then the employer has to cover the difference. It's odd to me that many waitress complain so much about tips when the cooks in the back are normally only making minimum wage. I have been a waitress and cook and let me tell you being a cook is much harder. I never complained wither I was tipped or not because why should a waitress make more than a cook, gas station attendant, grocery store clerk, etc... I don't think they should.

 

[True Grit]

Always at least 20%. I can't remember the last time I had service so poor it rated less than 20%. For all a waiter/waitress has to put up with from the general public it's little enough.