Just because someone earns a lower wage does not make them more morally bankrupt than someone earning a higher wage. If anything, those in lower paid jobs may be more fearful for their job security than, say, a doctor, and would do nothing to jeopardize their livelihood.

In thousands of hours serving / bar tending, I never once tampered with food or drink, despite earning quite a bit below current minimum wages. I also never saw anyone tamper with food deliberately because of customer attitude (poor handling not directed at a specific customer is another matter) much as we may have joked about wanting to do so (there was many a time I mentally pondered emptying the contents of the beer drip trays and squeezing out the bar cloths into a glass, but neither I nor anyone else I worked with, ever did. Well we did, but only as 'stag do hazing' for one of our managers!!! But he was fully aware!!!)

Besides which, you give far too much credit to an individual in a bar / restaurant. The servers will only remember outstandingly bad behaviour, leaving a low tip is pretty run of the mill, and chances are you are just another face, likely to be forgotten, especially if it is weeks / months between visits. Certainly only shocking stories are worthy of being shared among co-workers.

I am profoundly offended by your characterization of the tip envelope as "begging." Whether you feel a tip is warranted or not, the housekeepers are WORKING for whatever pay they get.

They are not "beggars."

Yes they are working.

Leaving an envelope stating it's for you to tip Maria for all her hard work in cleaning your room is begging for a tip.

Just like any other employee is begging when they stand there with their hand out.

Working and begging are not mutually exclusive things.

Not that I would wear it, but it would be interesting to print up some shirts saying "Be smart--don't antagonize your customers. Without us, you would be job hunting." Then give them to a few people to wear in just to see the reaction.

I would never consider returning to any restaurant, bar or establishment where the staff walked around like that.

Why is that people always justify leaving LESS of a tip?

It's not like anyone ever says "you know, the waiter does more work in filling up my Coke than a bottle of wine, maybe I should tip him more than 60 cents. Maybe I'll tip $12 like I do the bottle of wine".

Or what about tipping based on water service?

And by your reasoning one ordering a house salad for an entree should tip the same as one who orders a steak for an entree. They both require the same amount of work.

The idea of tipping based on "how much work the server is doing" would never work in a restaurant. At a bar it works.

----- FLAME WAR in TravelBuzz !!!!!! -----
 

My goodness. I wandered over here from my lounge chair in the 'Luxury Hotels' section and ended up here. It's gonna take me hours to wipe the spittle and froth off of my keyboard and monitor ....

Yup bringing a salad and a steak do require the same effort, you are right, the tip should be the same on both.

I pay for the food - the price is on the menu. I am not permitted to go and fetch that food from the kitchen, nor does the kitchen see any of any tip. Thus, logically, if I cannot get it myself, the bringing of the food to the table must be a part of it, and thus is not optional (as a tip is). Ditto drinks.

So if the bringing of the food and drink is not optional, the optional tip cannot be for the bringing of food and drink.

So if we are not rewarding effort for the mandatory part (the food and drinks) surely we must be rewarding 'above and beyond' service. The smile, good attitude, attentive, prompt service, etc. As those things are not tied to the cost of the food or drink why arbitrarily link the two together? I've had better, quicker, more professional service at an IHOP, so why shouldn't I reward that more, in dollar terms, than mediocre service with mediocre food at a high end restaurant. How can you tell me poor service + high prices should = more than great service + low prices?

At a bar I understand your rational even less (and I bartended for several years). I pour a pint of beer, correctly, per the beer brand standard. I put it in front of the customer. In no way shape or form could I do any less work, nor do I need to do more (the customer cannot pour it himself, he doesn't need Parmesan cheese or ketchup, I don't check back to see if it is cooked to his liking etc). In a slow bar, I should be checking back as he gets to the bottom to see if he would like anything else, etc. In a busy bar I should be professional and serve customers in turn, working methodically to ensure no one waits 'too' long. I worked hundred of nights where the bar was 5 deep, we treated customers fairly. We did not serve only the customers who 'bribed' us with tips. The customers respected our system, waited without fuss as we did the best we could pulling multiple pints or opening multiple bottles at once, calculating totals in our heads, etc. to reduce waits. My job was the same, to be fair to all customers and give the best experience possible, which meant smiling, making chit chat, keeping a friendly atmosphere, regardless of tips / bribery, and it worked darn well.

Surely one has someone to do that for you... Oh Jeeves!!! ;)

It would seem that either people are tipping for services that should not require it, or the person doing the service is expecting a reward for doing a service that is not really required.

I don't mean this disrespectfully towards wait staff or hotel porters, but the whole tipping idea to me seems like giving a dog a treat for doing something good. If you tell the dog to sit and he does it, you give him a treat. But if he just expects a treat for coming up to you and sitting down, then you don't reward him for that and you just give him a pat on the head and say "good boy".

If you ask a waiter or a porter to get something for you or to go out of their way to help you, that service deserves to be recognised properly, especially if done promptly and efficiently. Just coming up and asking "is everything ok" or some other meaningless gesture is not worthy of a reward, it is only worthy of a thank you. I did not ask you to come over and perform a task for me, so why should you be rewarded for just doing your job?

You can't just tip someone because it is what normally happens. The person has to earn their money, just like everyone else. Bringing my plate of food is implied when I order. No extra effort is required to do that, so it should not be rewarded. Getting me a special sauce or other condiment is a service, as it is extra to the meal itself. That should be rewarded.

And the idea of a percentage of the bill deciding the tip amount is ludicrous. As people have said already, opening a bottle requires no more effort or skill in a fancy restaurant as opposed to an ordinary one. It's the same task.

It should be dependent upon what you as a consumer think the service is worth to you. Having someone say "Oh, you didn't give me enough" when the amount of a tip is my choice, well that just seems like they should carry a list of how much each of their services cost so I know in advance.

If I tip $5, I tip $5. I don't care what they think they deserve because of all the "tasks" they believe they have done. Some of the tasks are perfunctory and some are completely unnecessary for me to have had a good dining experience.

If they want to be a bully and demand a certain amount of what is in fact a gratuity (as in I don't have to give you any if I don't want to), then they need to pull their head in really.

It is my Money, and I will Tip what I want to !!!!!

At a restaurant in Marathon, FL, we had an ok meal, but then the dessert was delivered 'to-go' without our requesting (because they wanted to go home, at 9pm), they followed up by adding about 18% on the hand-written bill without asking, when I queried this I was told 'I guess that's the gratuity'.

I couldn't be bothered to argue, but delivered a 1* tripadvisor review that same night....

From reading the other reviews, it seems they had done this to a British tourist before.

Yesterday, in Venice, Italy, we ate in a place so infested with foreign tourists, that they decided our €120.50 bill was to be rounded up to €130, and was delivered as such. This on top of the usual (for Italy) per person cover charge.

Another 1* tripadvisor review.

Taking a charter boat from St. Maarten to Anguilla (flew into SXM, transport by sea to Anguilla). They took our bags and loaded them onto the boat. A guy comes running up to me, "You have to tip the porter for taking your bags. I'm the porter, you have to tip me!" "No, I don't. I don't tip anyone who demands money from me." "No, you have to tip the porter!" "No, I don't and I'm not going to." He went all the way back down the pier, took the bags off the boat and brought them back to me. That was fine by me...he did twice the work for nothing!

This is one reason (especially in Las Vegas) when I carry lots of small bills, and I travel light so I don't put anything in the trunk of a taxi.

In NYC, where the sales tax rate is 8.875% (for restaurants), so to save doing "higher mathematics":D in computing a tip. many people just double the tax on the bill (=17.75%).

I was connecting in a large airport, think it was MSP. I took one of those little vans, whatever they are called, to move from one place to another.

The driver asked me to sit in front with him, and said would be pleased to tell me aout the airport and its history. I boringly listened. Included with the airport history, came he fact that his free service was really useful and people could pay whatever they thought was fair... He was pretty arrogant, though I cant blame him if his employer underpays.

I gave him five dollars, and suggested to find another job, because his reliance on tips was annoying to passengers and humliaimg for him. He agreed.

The tip system is simply absurd. Either employees should strike against it, or we consumers should strike against it by mot tipping. Both unlikely. Fortunately this is not in every country.