TIPPING - - SO OUT OF HAND NOW it's absurd!

Tip in ADVANCE ? ? ?

Local pizza - PAY IN ADVANCE - when you order.

But they have a visible CASH tip jar beside the credit card reader.

Pay your money and take you chance.
Just like horse race or lottery ticket.

My dog in this fight is standing on three legs.

Bekeart
 
We used to frequent a chain diner that required all their servers put their tips in a big jar, and at the end of the day all the tips were equally divided between the staff, not just servers. We don't go there anymore.
 
Local pizza - PAY IN ADVANCE - when you order.

But they have a visible CASH tip jar beside the credit card reader.

Pay your money and take you chance.
Just like horse race or lottery ticket.

My dog in this fight is standing on three legs.

Bekeart

Ever since I saw that Seinfeld episode about George and the tip jar, I just ignore them.
 
Rarely go anywhere anymore where tipping is standard. 20% has been my standard for a long time, but lousy/rude service gets nothing.
 
I am usually a generous tipper. When I ordered stuff for a class reunion and told the Owner I needed to leave a tip, He refused saying You picked it up, We just cooked.

I ordered the food for our recent family reunion. It was a pretty good-sized order, and the young lady who rung it up then carried everything out to the car for me. I figured that the cooks and her deserved something for their efforts so I pulled out a bunch of Golden Dollars and asked her to spread them around to the people who put my order together. Maybe it's just from my experience working behind the bar.
 
My lady and I went to a really nice Mexican restaurant in Northern Virginia a couple of weeks ago. (Guapo's, in Fairfax, if anyone's interested.)

I noticed that three separate people were tending to us: our server, an employee who helped the server when our food was delivered, and another employee who bused our table between courses and kept us supplied with water. The food was great, the prices were reasonable, and the service could not have been better.

When the waiter brought the check, I asked if tips are split among the staff. He explained that he is part of a team, including the assistant, the busboy, and the bartender, and that all tips are split four ways. I tipped them about 35% in appreciation of the job they did.

Putting things in a bag and ringing up my purchase at a fast food place does not merit a tip.
 
When I order, and carry my own food from the counter, I use THE nationwide standard for tipping such places: McDonald's, NO TIP!

When during the pandemic there was only one ice cream parlor open for 40 to 50 miles in any direction, and they were drive thru only during that time. They were always swamped, yet as prompt as traffic allowed and courteous, I always tipped about 20 to 25%! It was so easy, you just added it to the charge ticket, they didn't accept any other form of payment! Since then, service has slipped and so has my ability to tip!

Ivan
 
I needed to buy some ceramic tile from Lowes and asked a nice young man where it was. He was very polite and said it's right under here and had to crawl under some big racks and drag it out and load it on a flat dolly. I had no idea it weighed so much, over a thousand pounds! He said he would meet me at the front register as he tried to push the cart and finally got it moving. I paid and he said do you need any help loading, and I said yes please! He loaded my truck and I tried to give him a 20 dollar bill but he said "that's not necessary". I said "to me, it's very necessary" and stuck it in his front pocket. I'm 64 and would have hated loading all that ceramic tile.
 
An old joke in the boating business in South Florida.

What's the difference between a canoe and a Canadian?




A canoe tips.

I'll speak out for my Canadian friends. Probably the major difference is the fact that the Canadian Federal minimum wage is over twice what the US Federal minimum wage, albiet in Canadian dollars but at 16.65C vs 7.25US thats enough for many Canadians to not be into tipping. I have been treated rudely by wait staff all over the world but by and large could not consider Canadians anywhere near the top of the list, I find that here in the states. Some states have abysmally low minimum wages, and my argument has always been that the minimum wage is just that...the minimum, meant to entice one to work harder to move up the ladder. Sadly, in this country there is little if any interest in paying workers much more than the standard minimum. I was amazed to learn that a young friend of mine works as a minor manager for a local fast food outlet and was told the only benefit he truly gets is weekends off and the ability to make up the work schedule for little more than minimum wage...granted I am of the generation that started at minimum wage and moved up a progressive ladder, those days are long gone but we are seeing a resurfacing of stronger labor unions and maybe its time the folks at the top began sharing the wealth...again.
 
Covid killed the restaurant industry and their employees as well.

The whole "system" today is killing the rest of us (I won't be more specific).

If you "work" and have a home and family you need more money. "DESERVE" it as well.

If they want a tip at a self-serve I don't give it. Then I don't go back because I know I will have $#@# in my sammich.

If I have service, now I give double to make up for past problems.

We are all in the same boat here. Not our doing, but OUR problem in any event.

INFLATION calculations are bogus. It's things like this thread that point it out.

Sooooo, my opine is suck it up and don't complain. ORRRRR, stay home.
 
I know that the industry has more prevention measures but I still feel most tips are under reported to the IRS.
We usually tip at least 20% and always in cash, that way the waiter can report it or not report it to the IRS at the end of the year, their choice.

I've been out several places that if you have six or more people in your party, they automatically add 20% tip to your bill, only they don't usually mention it when they leave the bill, so you have to scrutinize the bill prior to payment, or leaving an additional cash tip would be an extra windfall to the waitstaff.

I've also heard that at some places that each tip the waitstaff gets, its mandatory that a certain percentage of each tip is to go to the busy boys and bartenders. If the service is poor and no tip is left as a result, the waitstaff still owes the busy boys and bartender their percentage, karma's a b!tch!

Went out on a half day headboat fishing trip one time, and it was extremely rough seas, 30 minutes into a 4 hour fishing trip and almost everyone was sea sick, terrible day, when the captain announced on the loud speaker to reel in, we were heading back, everyone cheered that this ordeal would finally be over soon. While heading back, the captain announced that the two "mates" on board that baited your hook and removed any fish you caught, worked for tips only, so be generous...or he'd turn the boat back around and we'd go back out! That was funny!
 
The last time I was in the USA was 2015. Besides restaurants and bars, the US seems to be much better at Customer Service then here in Australia. For example, when you walk through a US "Target" Store, there always seems like staff are about to help you. There's always plenty of cash registers open and the staff always seem happy and friendly. Staff at an Australian Target have been severely reduced and all the registers are now self serve apart from one who also doubles up fixing the self serve area when there is an issue.

It's a similar experience when comparing Big Box Hardware stores; US vs Australia. Rarely does anyone of the staff offer to help in the Australian ones. You always need to go and find a staff member if you need assistance. And whenever you cannot locate a product, the staff, when you find one, just tell you what aisle to look down. They never actually take you to the location of the item, find where it's hanging from, and provide any information on the product.

I use to work in a medium sized hardware store ( Australia never had big box stores like they have now) part-time when I was going through high-school and University. This was an owner-operator store. The boss would get annoyed with staff if a Customer walked into the store and later walked out (no purchase) without anyone offering to help them. Another boss liked to make sure everything was dusted, vacuumed, wiped over, cleaned, etc. He would say that there are more and more ladies coming into Hardware stores to purchase goods, and the place had to be more presentable (this is only in the early 1990's).
 
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