tipping your waiter/waitress

[Lefty]

I won't tip for cute....or big tits or a big bulge.. To Insure Promptness is what
a tip is for. prompt to address your needs, service items.. the .beverage refills,
extra services, a pleasant demeanor. Your server cannot sit the party or hurry
the kitchen, they are there to assist you not be your mommy.

Our tax is 8.5%, my base tip is double that. Minimum svc minimum tip. If we
experience actual rudeness or intentional 'sloppy attention' the oly tip is the
one I give the manager during the meal as we walk out...yes during. The
server doesn't prep or cook so the food is not factored in.

In my favorite place the people actually know me and greet me. (brunch 3-6
times a month. Other meals on occasion) 30%, our bevs are at table when we
arrive, My Tapatio rather than Tabasco is brought out. The place is busy, the
food is 7 out of 10. The staff is a 12. Friends always want to go there when
they visit. My in-laws will drive in for Sunday Brunch (78-80 yrs old 90 min dr)
Locals now go on their own...SERVICE.

Incidentally, always tip cash and at table not included in check. Many of the
restaurants take a part of the tip if it is in the check...SHOCKED me and yes,
that includes white table cloth places.

OOPs, didn't mean to get so mouthy.

 

[Willie Boy]

What a lot of people don't realize is that if you don't tip, the server is PAYING SOMEBODY ELSE to SERVE YOU.

At the place I worked at, our tipout rate was high...5% to the kitchen+bartender combined. What did that mean?

That 5% of ALL SALES were owed to the kitchen/bar staff at the end of the night. So if your table was $200.00 worth of food, and you didn't tip me, that's $10.00 *** OUT OF MY POCKET *** that i had to pay BECAUSE YOU CHOSE TO EAT IN MY SECTION OF THE RESTAURANT.

If you tipped a standard 15% ($30.00 of the $200), then I'd at least pay the kitchen/bar $10.00 and keep 20 bucks for myself.

It's upsetting when I, or someone else in my restaurant, gets a party so large it takes up their whole section for their entire shift, give great service because it's the only party I/they might have,and their bill comes to six hundred dollars, and they leave a two dollar tip. The server earned minimum wage for a couple hours, earned 2 dollars on top of that, and had to *PAY THE KITCHEN* ***$30.00*** out of their pocket. That means they didn't earn a penny going to work...they walked into work, and walked out with LESS money.

THAT is what baffles me.

Again, that is an issue to take up with the employers. Any extra moneys going to the kitchen should be based on value of actual tips, not an amount based on the suggested tip value. The customer should not be expected to cover any portion of an employee's salary. The customer pays the bill for services and the employer pays salaries to his/her employees out of those revenues. Any tips received are in addition to salary.

 

[SilverSurfer]

I always calculate 20% then round up to the nearest dollar. I never leave change on a table.

 

[jamie_01930]

T=to
I=insure
P=proper
S=service


not bad service, not an automatic %,it will vary.

good meal, good service, =20%
good meal, bad service=10% depending on the situations

great meal, great service= 20+% plus a comment on the bill and or a trip to see the manager

personally i take the amount and just rough the tip. i have never used a calculator. i now base the tip on the total b4 the tax is added,but i still rough it up 4.50 becomes $5


a $45 meal = $9.00

 

[blackbeltninja]

If you can't afford to tip at a restaurant, then you can't afford to eat at that restaurant. There is no tipping at McDonald's. Go there.

I hope you get LOTS of food in your lap......very VERY hot food.......

A customer like you is a slap in the face to the SERVER.

These two are in the running for Most Stupid Post EVER on an Internet Forum.

In the first instance, carrying an expensive dish in an expensive restaurant does not require any more effort or experience than carrying one in a mid-priced restaurant or tiny, poky takeaway joint. Why should I pay one waiter in one place a tenner and the other in the other a fiver for carrying my piece of steak? Additionally, drinks tend to be more expensive in the upmarket places - why should two people be tipped different amounts for carting the same brand of beer or bottle of wine to my table?

In the second case, no server is guaranteed anything. People who don't tip are pricks, but waiters who get pissy when they don't get a tip are bigger pricks. I put in a full day's work just as you do; I don't get tips. The tips are bonuses, I'm afraid - if you're banking on them, you have no idea how the world works and are going to find your finances in deep shit very, very quickly.



I tip 10% minimum and usually round it up to the nearest ten. That's it. I've yet to require "exceptional" service, so bad luck to any waiter who honestly thinks that theirs was and deserves more from me. I'm the sort of guy who orders what I want and don't need a whole lot of refills and people fannying about me while I eat, so bring the drinks, then bring the food, then the coffee. I don't make demands on the waiters' time during the meal, so the service needs to be simply adequate, thanks. Get the order right, get the stuff to me as quickly as is reasonable given how busy the place is, and I'm happy.

-d-

 

[Sam Blum]

I must say that I've noticed that customers from English speaking backgrounds tend to be ruder and more churlish at restaurants and fail to treat waiting staff and chefs, cooks, hosts and so on with the respect that they deserve, simply for feeding you. When you are friendly and polite to these people, your pleasure will increase immediately, 99% of the time.

In Australia, it is not the custom to tip at all. That said, I tip here if the food or service was good at all. The amount I tip goes from 10%. Except if the staff are rude or the food dreadful. This happens occasionally. Once a waiter sat me onto a wet chair, and laughed when I jumped up in horror. German velvet pants by Paul Smith soaked! PISSED OFF!

On my recent return to Germany, I was so blown away by the standards that each restaurant reached, that at times I was tipping 30%! Once, the waiters were so delightfully helpful and entertaining, I tipped 50%, and I loved being able to feel that this was an honest thanks given for honest work.

 

[blackbeltninja]

What a lot of people don't realize is that if you don't tip, the server is PAYING SOMEBODY ELSE to SERVE YOU.

THAT is what baffles me.

I'll un-baffle it for you: get a different job.

I waited tables for a year. Then I got another job whose working conditions and pay scale and whatever worked better for me. See? Easy. Unless laws are very different in your part of the world, nobody is forcing you to work there...

And the way I see it, I'm already being fleeced to eat and drink in your establishment. I don't see why in addition to paying through my eyes for food I should have to subsidise pay your salary. We all know that the restaurant charges 400% markup at least on food and even more on booze - if they can't pay everyone out of those exorbitant rates which I'm already paying, tough shit for them.

-d-

 

[SLOPPYSECONDS]

me help um wash da dishes

 

[Triple G]

Hey, the waiters get paid by their employer. I'm not giving them more. If they can't live on that, get a better paying job.

 

[bendted]

15% but if he's cute and hot a bit more and extra bonus points if he is gay.

 

[Lefty]

On behalf of the recently maligned English speaking persons here,

I need to have it noted that on my limited travels I have had a number of

occasions to interface with persons of a Teutonic heritage. My inquiry is as

to their 'manners' and restaurants. Does entering the premises suddenly

imbue them with manners and sophistication? I am both English speaking

and an 'ugly' American who tips quite well and knows the value of please and

thank you.

In my limited world travels I have noticed 2 things. 1. Teutonically engendered

people called also (and often) be loud rude and churlish, not to mention over-

bearing and demanding. 2. I have yet anywhere in my limited world travels

had a Server or anyone else on the wait staff "FEED" me.

Please...JMO and O....just my opinion and observation...Thank You|

 

[zoltanspawn]

What a civilized thread. I've been at JUB a long time and I've seen a few of these tipping threads go balastic.

Yup, I got into it once. Here! Fun stuff.

I'm mature now, though, and don't post in tipping threads.

 

[zingerz]

Oh, thanks everybody for such responce!

i've just finished reading all, and well if you're wondering i tipped her 15%. knowing that she would have to share with the host, bus, and sometimes food runners/table assistants (not at this place). so, i thought to myself the host did her job fine, and the bus i'll just assume will do his/her job. so, although some of you leave, like 1 cent or what not, i didn't and probably could not just knowing i'd be screwing over other people that didn't deserve that. but to the point i've acutally been pondering about it for the past day, and i cannot just tip her based on one of the criterion i've listed because part of being in the service industry is well the lip service. which, she did perform well when she was at the table.

but anyways, i do normally tip i guess 18% before tax or 20% depending on the overall service.

 

[strokes630]

These two are in the running for Most Stupid Post EVER on an Internet Forum.

In the first instance, carrying an expensive dish in an expensive restaurant does not require any more effort or experience than carrying one in a mid-priced restaurant or tiny, poky takeaway joint. Why should I pay one waiter in one place a tenner and the other in the other a fiver for carrying my piece of steak? Additionally, drinks tend to be more expensive in the upmarket places - why should two people be tipped different amounts for carting the same brand of beer or bottle of wine to my table?

Um that is quite a stupid response to what I posted. You obviously did not understand the point I was trying to make. (If you'd like me to explain it to you, I can.) If you can't make an intelligent rebuttal than you have no business calling my post the stupidest.

 

[blackbeltninja]

^I understood your point perfectly.

-d-

 

[Swellegant]

Look at it this way: the tip is the only part of the bill over which you have discretion. In some countries, "service" is a separate item on the bill, in other countries it's absorbed into the cost of the meal; in those cases you have no say over the amount paid for service, you pay the same whether the service was poor or good or great.

Making the cost of service "optional" might make things confusing and illogical; but it gives us the opportunity to be generous, and that's good for the soul... that's why I always tip 20% as a standard rather than the actual standard of 15% - it makes me feel good. Tipping, rather than billed service, also gives us the opportunity to comment on our service by tipping more or less... without tipping, your only comment is to return to the restaurant or not.

In countries where tipping isn't an institutionalized standard, the staff is paid more by the restaurant, and that cost is passed on to the customer in higher prices; if the US got rid of tips and started paying staff a decent hourly wage, you can rest assured that the prices would go up considerably more than twenty percent. So don't think that non-tipping culture saves you money, it just takes away one of your choices in how much you pay.

 

[bobinri]

Waiting tables is by far the hardest job I have ever undertaken.

Try doing it in a casino where people are loosing...a tip is even harder to come by

 

[Sam Blum]

Changed my mind and deleted the post... Not worth it.

 

[Willie Boy]

Willie, there's a learning curve for every waiter. I don't think any waiter can become "really good" without a prerequisite of one or two years of hard, back-breaking, ditch-digging work.

I have always believed it's better to err on the side of compassion.

They should already have the personable attitude, which many don't. The problem is that, over the years, many people have been drawn to the service industry by seeing tips of their successful friends. They come into the job with expectations of big tips just for being there, and when their poor service doesn't earn them what they expect, they get bitchy. Then threads like this appear on various chatrooms and forums. The employers don't pay reasonable wages, but the employees jump at the job, expecting the customer to make up the difference between what they want and what id offered. If this behavior gets worse, more and more of us will get turned off of the custom of tipping altogether. We aren't there to subsidize your wages. We are there to enjoy a meal. If you provide great service we will appreciate and leave a decent tip. If the service leaves a lot to be desired, why should we pay you extra money?

 

[Willie Boy]

They should already have the personable attitude, which many don't. The problem is that, over the years, many people have been drawn to the service industry by seeing tips of their successful friends. They come into the job with expectations of big tips just for being there, and when their poor service doesn't earn them what they expect, they get bitchy. Then threads like this appear on various chatrooms and forums. The employers don't pay reasonable wages, but the employees jump at the job, expecting the customer to make up the difference between what they want and what id offered. If this behavior gets worse, more and more of us will get turned off of the custom of tipping altogether. We aren't there to subsidize your wages. We are there to enjoy a meal. If you provide great service we will appreciate and leave a decent tip. If the service leaves a lot to be desired, why should we pay you extra money?

Willieboy, you seem to be a nice person, but one who might have misplaced priorities on a thing or two.

<thinking>

I'm wondering what's more important to you:

*A stellar, world-class waiter, with a snarky, unsmiling attitude.
*A genuinely warm, friendly waiter, who's rather inexperienced, who makes a mistake or two.

Willie, for my own part, I prefer waiter 2. I will not live or die if he forgets my toast, and won't even remember the freakin' toast a year down the road....but I will remember his kindness, and his sense of warmth, and will probably go back.

My quality of life will not be significantly devastated if the number2 waiter forgets my toast.

That's just me.

Apparently you didn't read or didn't understand my first sentence. The most important part of the job is the "personable attitude", this is what brings about the friendly service. Mistakes are made by all, and can easily be forgiven, if they are acknowledged and promptly corrected with courteous service. But if the server does not have the correct attitude for the job (that of providing friendly service), the rest will quickly fall apart.

So while you try to think about what a personable attitude is (hint, you already described it in your own waiter #2), I will suggest those without the proper disposition take themselves into another line of work. Because if you ain't got it, you wont get it (the tips) from us.