schwarm

You can leave a tip or not (I always tip; I just don't return), but the important thing is never to complain before getting your food.

Ted S

That really is the golden rule.

I've complained before the tip and had meals comped or reduced in price but with very few exceptions I always leave some sort of tip, perhaps not 25% but something. If the service is absolutely terrible and not just "poor" I'm not tipping no matter how bad it makes me look in the eyes of someone I'll likely never see again. But I agree, the easiest reaction is to leave something small and just not return at a later point.

opus17

In the last 30 or so years, I've never received service so bad that I left no tip. Excluding fast food, takeout and overseas (outside USA) restaurants, I think the lowest tip I've ever left was 13% or 14%.

Jaimito Cartero

When visiting foreign countries, I am quite aware if the bill includes service or not. Believe me, I'm a huge proponent of not over-tipping. However, say I have a breakfast special, no tip is included, and the bill is $1.50. Am I going to leave 15 cents? Probably not. I'll leave .25-.50 depending on the service and congeniality of the server.

I recently had a discussion with someone in Ecuador, at a restaurant/internet cafe that caters to gringos. I had eaten a salad, and had a drink there. Service had been added into the price of the item, and then tax on top of that. However, on the bill, it listed "Service=$0.0", implying that no 10% service had been added.

I questioned the waiter, and he stated that no service had been added. I then gave him an incredulous snort, and asked the question again. He sheepishly smiled, and said, "Yes, it was included". This is why it's good to be able to do basic math and see that $3.60 + 10% = $3.96. I was told later on, that I was called cheap, because I didn't tip. However, since the service was in the bill, it's nothing more than trying to double dip and taking advantage of less savvy travelers. It's not so much the amount of money, but the fact of trying to put one over on me, that is annoying.

Fredd

For any interested reader of this thread who hasn't been over to TravelBuzz! lately, SkiAdcock has started an excellent tipping thread here.

The last few entries in that thread tie in with this one.

Cheers,
Fredd

seanthepilot

As a waiter for 20+ years, I'd have felt just fine not leaving a tip in this situation.

bankingconsultant

Couldn't agree more. Having worked in the foodservice industry for a time, I noticed those servers who found that a table had left no tip almost always attributed it to "they forgot" rather than "I was bad and deserved nothing." Whether it was a defense mechanism to make themselves feel better, I don't know...but I know since then, if I've had below par service, I'd rather leave a token amount as in the example above and send the clear message rather than leave nothing and have the server wonder if I just forgot.

tlhanger

I can tell if they are really jammed or just non attentive. If the service is bad and just non attentive-no tip!

Italy98

If the manager and two other servers ignored your table then I would also provide that tidbit to the GM.

As for a tip I follow the Old Italian method of leaving a coin and if I had one-half a gettone I would have left that. Just because the server has taken the order, brought the food to the table and left the check does not mean that his or her responsibilities for that table have stopped.

Personally, I dislike restaurants where there is not shared responsibility for all the tables. Anyone who has eaten at Houstons, Bandera or Palm Beach Grill (http://www.hillstone.com/) knows what I mean. The server still has overall responsible but everyone works to keep the customer happy. Empty dish - someone takes it away. Partially filled drink glass, someone refills the drink.

Italy98

If no tip is left on the table how will the server know if the customer didn't add the tip to the check when paying the cashier (assuming the server didn't pick up the bill with the payment)? By leaving something on the table the server should know that the service they provided was poor and needs improvement.

bigjoc

Leaving a tiny tip does not just get the message across that you received pad service, but is actually insulting. I have never left a penny tip for bad service. There have been plenty of instances where I have received bad service, but I would only reserve a penny tip for a waiter that was outright rude and offensive. For me, it would be a reflection not only on the service (as in, it was really busy and they didn't take care of me), but on their character (as in, this person was a total a-hole and I will never come here again because of him specifically). A colleague of mine once left a penny tip to "prove a point" and the waitress caught him leaving the door and threw the penny at his back. She also yelled out some obscenities, or course. Anyway, I have never felt personally offended enough to leave a penny tip. I have adjusted downward a few times if I was unhappy with the service, but never below 10%.

MichaelCharlie

In a previous life when I was making a living as a waitress, the worst insult was to be left a pen or some other non-monetary trinket. Pens don't pay bills, and in a classier place like I worked, I would never hand a customer an advertiser pen to sign a charge. It was always much worse to be left a small amount for a tip than no tip - especially for a party > 1. In that case, it could be assumed that one customer thought the other was providing the tip, and vice versa, and neither did. But, a tip substantially less than standard was pretty much an indication that the customer thought about what amount to leave.

I do leave less than a standard amount when service is abysmal, and especially if I can tell it's because of the server and not the kitchen.

I really do wish that tipping wasn't so necessary in the US, and that wait staff could make a real living wage without tips.

Ted S

That's the whole root of the problem, or at least a big piece of it. If tipping was not the basis of people's living we wouldn't have a problem not tipping for bad service. Instead we tip because we feel obligated too and while we may leave less, we're still technically leaving something out of appreciation for a job well done. When you think about it, the whole system is screwy and the meaning of a tip is all but gone.

TMOliver

My tips tend to be in relation to the quality of the service, scaled to the expectations from the type or nature of the service. I do hesitate to base a waitperson's tip on the quality or presentation of the product by the chef, and usually leave a note for the manger when there's a major discrepancy between service and quality. I believe that if one intends to leave no or minimal tip, one is obligated to tell the server (or if really bad, to leave a note for management, not in the hands of the server).

I resent tip vases, glasses and buckets, the commercial equivalent of street beggars.

I do tip shuttle van drivers (and even the bus sort if they help to offload pax and bags), but since the airlines have started charging for curbside checkin, have minimized additional contributions. In my eyes, tipping desk clerks is an eveil and perncious custom founded in Vegas, the Neon Gomorrah of tipping, while the doorman who whistles up your cab is often being gratified by contributions from cabbies.

These days, it's de rigeur to tip barbers, a custom which comes strangely to me in old age, having grown up using barbers who were my "friends" and one didn't tip friends. At restaurants in the barrio, the parking lot watchman deserves a tip, just as if we were in a Bordertown, which many US barrios have come to resemble.

lancelotsdu

In countries where a 10% to 20% 'service charge' is added to the bill, I will ask the management to remove it if the service is bad. That is the only way that owners/management of the establishment 'gets it' that service is important !