Restaurant Tipping

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mish

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Oct 4, 2004
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Do you pay a percentage of the bill for the tip to the waitstaff, or are you paying a percentage based on the meal/check total?
 
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We tip based on the service.
If it's good we give more if it's poor we give less.
We don't use the precentage system at all. We just kind of pick an amount that we think they deserve.
 
Tax or no tax?

mish said:
Do you pay a percentage of the bill for the tip to the waitstaff, or are you paying a percentage based on the meal/check total?

Do you mean computing the tip % based on the price on the menu v. the total w/ tax? I've asked folks that question and rec'd various answers. I usually tip for the total bill, including tax, but I suppose that isn't necessary and to exclude the tax would be fine.

If the service is adequate I leave @ least 15% at lunch and @ least 20% at dinner. I will leave more if someone has made my meal spendifilous! :)Servers work hard!
 
I tip for service, normally a little over 20%. I take innto account that they tip out the food runners, bus people and bartenders...I will start picking away from there if service is lacking.
 
Usually leave about 20%, don't calculate it to the penny, and often more.

25% is not uncommon.

Tend to leave more when we go to inexpensive places, particularly if the service is good, because those folk are working just as hard as those at many of the more expensive places.

For really bad service am always confused. If I just leave 10%, the waiter may just think we are cheap amd not that we are displeased.

Hate to stiff someone though. Think I have only done that once in many years of dining out. And for me to do that, I have to be fuming.
 
in panama, i have found that american travelers tip well, panamanians tip decent, and europeans rarely tip and when they do its cheaply. here, the norm is 10% and 15% for excellent... it is what panamanian citizens stick to, but americans tend to keep their 15%-20% norm when they travel here.
 
pdswife said:
We tip based on the service.
If it's good we give more if it's poor we give less.
We don't use the precentage system at all. We just kind of pick an amount that we think they deserve.

So you would leave the same amount whether the tab totaled $25 or $200?
 
mish said:
Do you pay a percentage of the bill for the tip to the waitstaff, or are you paying a percentage based on the meal/check total?

Mish, could you clarify? I'm not sure I understand the difference you've set up here.
 
suzyQ3 said:
Mish, could you clarify? I'm not sure I understand the difference you've set up here.
Neither do I. Both those options sound the same to me.

I tip 20% on the total bill (including tax). I am not a fan of the tipping system we have here though. If someone orders a salad and soup that will be pretty inexpensive. The tip therefore will be small. Then if someone else orders a steak that will be much more expensive and so the tip would be expected to be larger. Now it would seem to me that it would take more work to bring the soup and salad to the table as it is two items instead of the steak which is just one. Why should the tip be based on the cost of the food it you are tipping for good service? It just does not make much sense to me. That is the system that we have though so I don't have much choice, but to follow it.
 
Why should the tip be based on the cost of the food it you are tipping for good service? It just does not make much sense to me.

I'd never thought of it that way. There must be some rationale that we're missing here., and I'd love to hear it. Maybe pdswife has the right idea after all.
 
Can I ask...has anyone never tipped because service was so poor? Or do you still feel obliged to leave something?
 
Restaurant Tipping is usually based on the service I receive from the waistress or waiter. I usually leave 15% or 20% before taxes are added on.
 
suzyQ3 said:
So you would leave the same amount whether the tab totaled $25 or $200?


:)

I don't think the tip should be based on the cost of the food.
Is it harder to bring a 30 dollar steak to my table than
a 5 dollar hamburger? I tip more for good service... less for bad. The service for a 200 dollar meal had better be a heck of a lot better than what we get for $25.
 
Lynan said:
Can I ask...has anyone never tipped because service was so poor? Or do you still feel obliged to leave something?

yep, I've left with out tipping before.
I know that makes me a horrid person but... I'm not going
to pay extra for bad service.
 
Tips are subsidizing the servers' wages. Servers are "paid" $2.15/hour. The rest of their wages are tips.
We are pretty much in AuntDot's camp. We will tip more (%) at a less expensive restaurant. But in her parameters usually.
I think saying "we decide what it is worth" is just not fair if less than 15%. When going out to eat we all know the customs in the US--the tip is not included and between 15 and 20% is considered to be the norm. If you go to a restaurant knowing you can't meet that criterion then I think choosing another would be more fair.
Servers do have to share their tips and they do work hard.

If service is bad, we tip 15% and write a note on the bill that the service was bad.
All of our kids have been servers and up to managers, including right now. When they are with us we let them do the tip. Those are lucky servers, IF they are good. If not, they get 15%.
If service is really bad AND is the fault of the server (VERY important--they don't control the kitchen) I will tell them in some way.
With regard to taxes, if the bill is in the hundreds, I will take a look at the tax.

Leaving without tipping absolutely requires (TO ME) having told the management of the situation.
I would be interested to know what type of restaurant and if you were completely ignored, the service was slow--whose fault was it really.
 
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Gretchen said:
We will tip more (%) at a less expensive restaurant.
Can you explain this? Why would you tip differently depending on how expensive the restaurant is?
 
I entered into a debate on tipping elsewhere a few years ago and got shot down pretty quickly! :rolleyes: So Im prepared!!!!:)

I guess I find it abhorrent that employers in the hospitality trade, as I am, do not pay their staff enough, are probably ( no, MUST be) collecting huge profits, and in some cases charging horrendous prices for their food, they then expect the patrons to put clothes on staff members backs. Would it not be great to see a sign in a restaurant stating that tips are not required unless you choose, as we pay our staff a good wage? Id bet that business would do a roaring trade.
Would be interesting to see who/when/why this trend began. And also, why it is mainly the food trade it involves. Hmmmm.

This situation is never going to change, I realise that, its just that I have problems getting my head around it. Having to add 15 to 20% more onto a food bill here in NZ would kill the trade.
Totally.

Lyn

Edited to add: I have just read the link above which has given me a bit of info on the history of tipping. Great link for this discussion!
 
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What REALLY annoys me is when a 15- 20% tip is automatically added to the check and the waiter/waitress doesn't bother to mention it, especially when they notice I am adding it to the bill...you have no idea how angry that makes me.
 
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