DJGMaster1

No, I tip because it's customary, and part of the service staff's expected compensation. And also, I understand that there are consequences toward acting in a manner that is detrimental to the service staff, due to no fault of their own. I have no problem short-tipping deservedly poor service. And I also DO sufficiently tip decent or better service.

That being said, the well known enforcement mechanism I described above IS out there, and one ought to be cognizant of it.

planemechanic

How sad.

closetasfan

I hate tipping, not that I don't want to pay, its just too complicated.

A LOOOOONG time ago, got delivery from a restaurant while working late at work, tipped maybe $5 for $50 dollar meal (multiple orders), was told it was too little. One time at a bar, my boss didn't really want to tip 20% on super overpriced beers, I think left less than 10%, got a few questions from the waiter. Felt weird. I tipped someone $1 for a $3 shoe shine, got dirty looks. In Mexico, I gave what I thought was customary 15% tip, then got treated as if I was god until I left. In NY, they try to tack on 20% on taxi rides now. I just wish it was simpler. too complicated. I'd pay more, if I didn't have to think about the tip, like in Japan.

NEWEXP1

How coe no one questions why the wage structure is so low ? What we have to understand that the business has palmed the responsibility of a decent wage on us thru a guilt trip !

Look at the cruise industry...they pay very low, transfer the wages on to us ( $ 10 PP , pe night) "you may adjust UP or down! This way the PP cruise chrages are lowered by a minimum of $ 280 for a cabin on a seven day cruise.

Contrast this with a couple of premium cruise lines where gratuity is included in the price.

BTW I cannot see any good waitstaff at a premium restaurant accepting the below minimum wage !

Jesperss

According to one of your previous posts you have "an MBA from a top 20 private school" yet can't do basic math even a 4th grader can do?

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/18558869-post7.html

hedur

Did you purposefully misunderstand what the poster wrote or was it an accident?

If you read the entire post it's clear s/he wasn't talking about the math being too difficult. Read it again.

WhiteGimmieBear

After working several years in the restaurant business, I couldn't help but chime in.

This story is obviously from a server's perspective:
Needing a summer job, I decided to look into a server position as it is indeed a very adrenaline pulsing activity, plus you meet some really good people who tip nicely for good behavior. However, some patrons can be very miserly.

The restaurant that I worked in was a sushi restaurant that usually attracts families and business people due to the location. (Scottsdale-known for spas and cowboys). I had the opportunity to take care of a family and respectfully led them to their booth. It was a slow day so they were definitely NOT neglected. After serving them, (warm smiles and speedy service, the whole shabang!) I handed them the bill and picked up whatever plates I could off their table.

Here's the peculiar thing, when I came back to retrieve their credit card, I noticed the family of 3 were busy dipping their napkins into their water glass and using them to meticulously clean their counter. A double take from me was definitely out of the question when I'm the server. After I handed them their credit card and their receipt, we said our thank yous and good-byes.

A pen strike through the tip line was all I got and it bewildered me. Did them cleaning their own tables justify not tipping the server? Being fully aware that the customer chooses to tip at all is up to them, I didn't pursue it.

Although, from my perspective, lower-than-minimum-paid wage was for the cleaning and maintenance of the restaurant, psshhh, easy! The hard part is making up for that difference by being a decent server, in hopes that your customer sees that and would reward accordingly.
If I lived in a world where compliments are a currency, it would work but here, I can't buy my next meal with your "thank you!"

You get those days though and in retrospect, it was a bit amusing!

BadgerBoi

I'm sure he can, but of course that has nothing to do with what he said. Did you quote the wrong post perhaps?

LTBoston

Seriously?

It's clear you've never had to compete at the low end of the wage scale.

Tipping is part of the cost of dining out. If restaurant had no tipping and simply paid servers what they'd make with tips, it would be factored into the cost of the meal and you'd end up spending the same amount of money anyway. And complaining about the high cost of dining out.

At least this way you have an out. If you don't want to tip, just don't.

g-didi

I tip according to the service I have received - 15-20%. Good service gets a good tip. I have never been chased or yelled at by a waiter for no tip before like others have described. Maybe I am just oblivious to the pressure from people seeking tips.

Christopher

Well, it can be complicated – witness the large number of threads and posts about it on boards such as this one (how much? when? when not? what if?); it's not the maths of it that is difficult.

Tipping is an idiotic practice, imho. However, that said, I do generally tip when in the US and other places with a "tipping culture", albeit through gritted teeth (although I don't think that the people I am tipping are aware of that; at least, I hope not).

It would of course be more sensible if people doing jobs such as waiting in a restaurant were paid a living wage and didn't have to rely on the largesse of the customers in some relic of mediaeval serf preferment (or alternatively rely on customers' fear of the "consequences" if they don't tip) – and it would make the pricing structure of restaurants much more transparent too – but it is hardly the fault of the individual waiters that they are in this position.

However, given that the situation exists, it becomes even more of a parody if pressure is put on the customer to tip, or to tip a certain amount, regardless of the level of service. That removes the whole point of it. On the customer's side, there's no point either in tipping on the quality of the food, which is generally outside the waiter's control. (Although why a waiter is deserving of a tip when a cook isn't...)

celle

I come from a country where tipping is not part of our culture - people are paid a decent minimum wage and are not dependent on tips to make a living. However, we believe in "when in Rome . . . " so we do tip in a country where that is expected. But we hate to hear the all-too-common chant of: "Don't forget to tip!"

Last year (in one day) we had 2 noteworthy experiences.

We arrived into Toronto airport in a driving rainstorm. Our plane was the last to land before the airport was closed.

To get from the airport to our downtown hotel, we got into the taxi at the head of the queue. The interior of the taxi was messy and it looked as if the driver slept in it.

While on the motorway, still in torrential rain, the driver fell asleep at the wheel and we veered into the next lane. My DH woke up the driver and told him he was not safe to drive, and to pull over, but there was nowhere to stop. My DH was vigilant, watched the driver the rest of the way, and had to tap him on the shoulder several more times, as his eyelids started to droop again.

When we arrived at our hotel, the driver loudly demanded a tip. My DH told him, "No tip. You were a danger to us, to yourself and to other drivers. Get off the road and get some sleep."

At the hotel, the concierge immediately asked us how he could help. We told him we intended to check in, but first wanted to know what we could do to get that taxi driver off the road, before he killed someone.

The concierge heard our story, helped us to report the driver, and then waited as we checked in, and took us and our bags to our room. Because he had been so helpful, we gave him an extra-large tip. (We reward good service.)

Fifteen minutes later, the concierge was back at our door. He told us that he had reported our story to his Manager and that he and the Manager were so perturbed that our frightening taxi ride was our first introduction to Toronto that they were giving us a voucher for a free meal (including wine) in the hotel's fancy restaurant.

So, two opposite tipping experiences in the space of a couple of hours!

Trumpkin

I too come from a country (New Zealand) where staff are paid a reasonable wage and it is not normal to tip for normal service, although you can do so if you get great service. I've never heard of anyone being encountering aggressive tip requests.

One things that does confuse me when reading posts in this topic is how when people receive really bad service they still give a tip, just at a lower percentage. Why do they do this? How bad must the service be for someone to not tip for the service?

fdem

The argument is that these poor waiters are paid a pitance, perhaps the onus should be on the restaurants to pay a decent salary, also nothing worse than trying to rip off tourists by adding service and then leaving 'tip' blank. Cannot understand a country as rich as the US being the most grovelling for handouts, I always do tip 15% in restaurants, and tip bellboys and chambermaids as required but draw the line at paying what can be almost 30 - 40% of the bill, particularly when service in US in most cases is so bad.

SeamasterLux

That's indeed a very interesting topic for me as someone living in Europe.

You might consider that service is already included in the meal price but well we do leave tips when we consider we received a good service, at least I do.

But I would never ever leave a 20% tip at a high end restaurant. If I'm paying EUR 500 for 2 at a 3-star Michelin restaurant, I'll probably leave 50€ if the service was outstanding, 20€ if the service was ok, nothing if it was really poor.

I always feel quite weird while in the U.S. and seeing this "mandatory 20%" and I tend to belong to the category described earlier in the post as "waiters have to earn the tip". So definitely no, if the service was not good or just average, there's no way I'd leave a 20% tip.

When I had lunch at Le Bernardin, we received quite poor service at the beginning but it got better during the meal and even very good at the end, I left 50 USD on a 300 USD meal and I felt it was sufficient.

I wonder how Europeans feel about the tipping in the US in general (or in any other country that applies a similar rule)