What % do you tip when you eat out??

[Chicken_Hubster]

Its just interesting reading these and seeing that there are a handful of people whose criteria for tipping aren't even about the service. And by interesting I mean annoying.

 

[nonseq]

I worked in food service for years. I've waited tables, hostessed, bussed, tended bar, prep and line cooked.

I tip well, especially when I am out with my kids.

And I always tip delivery people and I even leave a tip when I pick up takeout. Someone had to put my takeout order together and that someone was probably waitstaff.

 

[nonseq]

Quote:
I used to work in Central PA. Sometimes folk from back in the holler would come in to eat. I always knew that if Mrs. had a mullet and Mr. didn't have any front teeth, they would be running my ass like crazy and leave me no tip.

 

[Highlander]

There is a big cultural difference here. It is against the law for any business here to pay less than minimum wage, so all our waiting staff, pizza delivery, hairstylists etc all get min wage or more. Any tips are a bonus on top of that. Sometimes I feel that it reflects on the service as the staff are not so driven to be super-nice as they are getting paid at the end of the day no matter what.

What I don't understand is I am hearing a lot of you saying you will tip 10-15% for crummy service. Why on earth would you reward bad service?

 

[Liana]

DH and I start at 20% on the pre-tax amount and adjust up or down for quality of service. If our server is truly horrible (not just inexperienced, but bad or nasty) they will get pocket change, but we regularly end up giving 25% or more for excellent service. We try to be careful not to penalize our server for things that aren't their fault. We have also been known to let the manager or owner know about exceptional service.

 

[mom'sfolly]

In the US, the minimum wage for waitstaff is much less than for other jobs. The implication is that waitstaff makes most of their income as tips. If I understand it correctly, the IRS assumes a tip rate of about 8% of sales, though it might be higher now. So waiters are actually taxed for more than their minimum wage.

I generally tip 15-20% of the bill, and if anything is comped, I tip on what the bill should have been. I tip more for exceptional service, and when the kids were younger and messier, I tipped extra for a nasty table clean-up. I often will tip cash when I'm paying with a credit card, especially for better service, because then there is no record of actual tip amount. I've also been known to tip extra when I see under-tipping.

I've never waited tables, and I'm female. Generally, women are better tippers than men. Men will give a precise percentage.

 

[SallyF]

Quote:
Same here. We also try to cheer up a bad or nasty server (not that we've ever had many of those). Sometimes a listening ear and a little sympathy can turn bad service into good. It's a tough job, and there's not always time for human interaction. We've found that we get better service when we see our server as a human being.

 

[SallyF]

Quote:
Funny, further South it's the men with mullets and women with no teeth! (just joking, I'm a Southerner by the grace of God, as Lewis Grizzard used to say)

 

[Sweet Violet]

golly I'm shocked! I always leave 30% for good service and I have a bunch of times left 50% for terrific service. Come on people!!

 

[EweSheep]

Ok folks this is my train of thought when I was reading thru this. I never worked in a resturant so forgive me if I don't understand the ins and outs of waitressing.

If each table tips 10 to 20 percent, either one person pays it or two couples pays it, that is generous. Now, if the waitress is responsible for five to eight tables, think of how many tips she will give in a given hour, if everyone sits and eats in an hour's time. That is pretty good including her hourly wages. Not bad but not the best, mind you. Around here, it is either at the three dollar an hour PLUS tips or minimum wage of $8.00 WITHOUT tips. I don't know if every resturant would give the waitresses a choice in how she wants to be paid.

We normally give them anywhere from ten to twenty percent. With Illinois, the recession is hovering over 12 percent, the waitresses do their best in the trying times and understands that the patrons do not tip as big as they used to, so in order to make up for it, they would serve more tables even it would run her ragged at the busiest times.

The WORST tipper is my FIL!!!! I was sooooooooooo appalled at that gesture in EVERY resturaunt we went to including Pizza Hut. OMG! The looks of the waitresses every time he comes in, they are like oh no, no tipper here and they didn't give him the service like anyone else. That I can understand that! With my husband and me, we tip our portion and our FIL said that they do not need tips. Why, we asked. "They can work for the wages they are getting hourly and they are not getting anything else from me. If they want more pay, they should not work as a waitress/waiter!" Oh for Heaven's stakes! So everytime we get a chance to eat out, I would personally hand the waitress our generous tips and next time they saw us with our FIL, they bent over backwards in giving us good or excellent service and gave FIL and his wife crappy service.