How Well Do You Tip?

mtgianni said:
12-20% depending on the meal and service. For those who always leave a cash tip to help the server not declare taxes, do you not feel that is aiding and abetting a criminal act? I don't like paying taxes but I sure don't cheat on them and despise those who do and those who advertise "helping" people pay less than they owe.
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we never calculated by using credit card info. It was a percentage of total sales regardless of how the customer paid.
 
No or poor service no tip. Decent service 15% average. Good service 20%. Excellent service, which is not the norm these days, 25 -30%.
 
To that one post, I have never in my life used a credit card to pay for a meal and dont think I ever will. My purpose isnt to collect tax`s, never gave it a thought. I just am a old geezer and aint going cosmopolitan. In fact the bible points out that in the last days all business will be conducted with the equivalent discription of credit cards, and I out of stubborness seldom ever use one. In fact the only reason I will use or have a credit card is you about have to have one to reserve a room when you travel.
 
Interesting thread. I give 15% for standard service, 20% or more for outstanding. In my early 20s in NYC, I once left a $0.01 tip on a credit card receipt for a dinner tab for two because the waiter was such an absolute jerk. I didn't want the waiter to think I had forgotten -- I was making a point. Waiter came back and threw my penny on the table. I asked for the manager. Manager apologized to me, saying waiters were union and there was nothing he could do.

I always leave $3 - $5 for hotel maids, placing it on my bed in the mornings. I was suprised to learn that one of my colleagues never did this. And I let bell boys carry my bags even if I don't need the help because I figure they need the tips.

Best tip I recall giving was $100 to a limo driver. When the elderly driver picked me up we got to talking and it turned out that his wife previously worked as a secretary for the company I work for. I remembered her. She had been some big shot's admin 20+ years ago when I was a green pipsqueak, and she had always been kind to me. The fare was prepaid on a corporate credit card, but when I got out of the limo at the airport I slipped him the C note, folded up, and he put it in his pocket without looking, saying "Thanks." Hope he had a pleasant surprise later.

In Japan it is very rare to tip. Not unheard of, but very rare. Service is great anyway.
 
Oh, that's a good reminder. We tip the room maid $5 a day minimum (we go $10/day in places with twice-daily service-put out a five each time).
 
Bob R said:
Anybody can do that. If you really want to make someone's day, talk to the manager and tell them what a great time you had there, that the food was stellar, your service was second to none. I have had people from the kitchen brought out to personally thank them....you should see the way that will square sagging shoulders.

So don't just save the manager for when things go bad, also let them know when things go right.

bob
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Yes, yes, yes
 
We ate out Friday night and I overheard our waitress telling some friends that she averaged $15.00 per hour in wages with her tips. No insurance or other benefits. We still tipped 15%.
 
I never tip less than a buck; everything else is "20/20"-- 20% or $20, which ever is appropriate.
 
In restaurants, 15-20 percent for expected service, more for extra good service and/or an exceptionally pleasant server. Even for a snack like a slice of pie and coffee, I'll leave a 5 buck minimum tip. When the service is poor, I'll watch to see if the server is overworked because of a rush of customers or trying to take up the slack for a missing server. If the server is busting their tail just to keep up, I'll still leave them a normal tip, but if they're goofing off, talking on a cell phone, etc., the tip will be much less. Nothing burns my fanny more than having to wait while a clerk or server is gossiping with their friends on a cell phone. There's only been a very few times I thought service was bad enough to not leave any tip and always because the server was goofing off and not doing their job.
The barber charges 7 bucks for a haircut and I give him 10. It's an old fashioned barbershop with all the typical BS, local gossip, political debate, and friendly banter. My rural mail carrier gets a 50 buck gift certificate to one of her favorite restaurants every year for Christmas. You can set your clock by her deliveries and she goes above and beyond with all the package deliveries I receive, even to the point of tracking me down to sign for packages when I'm not home but somewhere close on her route..she knows all my hangouts. Always brings the larger packages up to the house and never leaves anything out in the weather like the idiots from UPS and FedEx.
 
I normally tip 15% for average service, 20% or more for better than average and even more for spectacular service. Even at self serve/buffet/cafeteria style restaurants I'll leave a couple of dollars if the iced tea is kept topped off. I'm also not shy about not leaving a tip, or just a couple of coins if the service is poor. If the food is bad I ask the waiter/waitress to have the manager come to the table so that I can show them why I don't feel like I should pay for the slop they served and expected me to eat.

I have also been known to ask a server to have the manager come to my table to praise the service I have received.

I tip hotel maids an average of $5 a day. Bell boys and sky caps get $2 per bag and earn a minimum of a $3 tip from me. HINT: When there is a long line at the airport check-in line, get a skycap to bring in your bags. Some of the time they are working with a "Friend" doing passenger check-in and can get you bumped to the front of the check-in line.

Smallest tip I have ever left, other than no tip at all, was a penny. Along with that penny was a note written on the receipt that stated "I wished I had had a pair of tin snips so as to leave an even smaller tip". That idiot waitress followed me out to the parking lot and threatened to "TAKE A **** ON MY LUNCH THE NEXT TIME YOU EAT HERE. I LIKE TO WATCH PEOPLE EAT ****" I told her "You want more of a tip? Stay off the cell phone and DO THE JOB YOU ARE BEING PAID TO DO" She had the stones to answer her cell phone while taking my order and SSHHHH me when I asked her to hang up. Her manager backed her up, saying something along the lines that she is a working single mom and it might have been her kids calling her". She and the manager earned a hand written letter to O'Ch*rley's CEO David W. Head.

The biggest tip I have ever given (and biggest non-business dinner tab I ever picked up) was this past weekend. Dinner and drinks for 31 family members and friends celebrating my dads 80th birthday, private bar with bar tender, private dining room with a wait staff of three and a pianist/singer on the baby grand before, during and after dinner. The amount of the tab and tip were minuscule compared to the amount of joy on my dad's face and the amount of fun everyone had.

Considering the fact that I have to pay AMEX at the end of the month I guess I won't be buying those TWO NIB RM's from Lee anytime soon.

Class III
 
When I was a child, our family travelled frequently and so had to eat out most of the time. We were also on a schedule. One time the service was so bad and so slow my dad left a poem instead of a tip. I clearly remember the beginning of it:

For over an hour we waited at table
For a waitress who was willing and able
To bring us some food
But nary a one could be found in the mood...

Pearls before swine, most likely, but it stuck in my head!

I generally tip 20% because it's easy to calculate, and adjust a bit up or down depending on the service and what was ordered or how much work they had to do. When I had little kids who were somewhat messy, I tipped very well. If we ordered something cheap, I tipped a minimum of $1/person.

Oddly, here in Estonia, tips are practically unheard of. If you want to leave a tip, a few coins are placed near the person or a very discreet coin into a hand. (They don't even directly hand you back change; it goes into a tray. Money passing from hand to hand seems crass to them.) We went to a little casino. The manager was extremely helpful and had worked on Carnival Cruise Lines. She knew how to accept tip, as did the barrista who made the excellent cappuccinos. The following day, there was other staff there. The manager accepted the euro but the bar assistant actually ran away from it and refused to accept it.
 
Maybe one of our friends in Oz can comment on this.

When I was in Australia (Darwin) around 1990 a cab driver almost bit my head off when I tried to tip him. "I don't need your (insert really bad curseword delivered in awesome Aussie accent) tip!" or something to that effect.

I was pretty drunk and may have done something else deserving of a whupping, but it seems to me that tipping was considered insulting, at least from charmingly intoxicated American Air Force officers.
 
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We use our our credit union Visa wherever we can because it kicks back a percentage directly into our credit union savings account each month...actually cheaper than paying cash plus we receive interest on the kickback...and it makes for nice little Christmas fund.
I have often wondered how the tipping system works when using a credit card to pay for meals, and always leave a cash tip on the table, rather than add it to the credit card when paying for the meal. I wonder if the servers recieve the actual total they earned, or get put into one of the equal share pools mentioned earlier. I can see where it would be easy for less than ethical management to short change the servers and add a little to their own profit margin. Anyone have the inside scoop on how this works...or doesn't work?
 
ohiobuckeye said:
We use our our credit union Visa wherever we can because it kicks back a percentage directly into our credit union savings account each month...actually cheaper than paying cash plus we receive interest on the kickback...and it makes for nice little Christmas fund.
I have often wondered how the tipping system works when using a credit card to pay for meals, and always leave a cash tip on the table, rather than add it to the credit card when paying for the meal. I wonder if the servers recieve the actual total they earned, or get put into one of the equal share pools mentioned earlier. I can see where it would be easy for less than ethical management to short change the servers and add a little to their own profit margin. Anyone have the inside scoop on how this works...or doesn't work?
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If you add a tip to the meal price and pay on a credit card, you'll pay added interest. I think it's better to tip in cash.
 
Texas Star said:
If you add a tip to the meal price and pay on a credit card, you'll pay added interest. I think it's better to tip in cash.
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If I was paying interest on unpaid credit card balances I would buy a loaf of bread and some bologna instead of dining out. I have been there and done that... bologna tastes better than credit card interest.
 
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I usually leave around 25% give or take depending on the service. I also have a favorite cook that I give $20 to every so often. I eat where she works at least once a day and she is really really good and even watches my waitress and if I need more drink or whatever she gets it for me.

In any case I never have missed the money I left for tips.
 
Excellent service: 20%
Standard service: 15%
Bad service: 10%

Breakfast at $12 or under: 50% Breakfast servers are the lowest paid, and work very hard for their 4 to 6 bucks. Besides many seem to be single working mom's doing the best they can.
 
Man, I have read these many pages that makes me feel like a cheapskate and everyone of ya look like diamound jim in comparison to me. As I said before, almost always $3s is our standard tip. Thats on a average bill of $18s to $22s. We eat at cheap places like denneys, IHOP or cheap family resturants here. Now I realise not many like me admit to being a cheapskate. Yet as far as eating out go`s, the wife and I eat out AT LEAST once a day. I must live in the cheapest area of the united states compared to all you big tippers. I look around at many tables out of boredom I guess, and seldom do I ever see more than what we leave on the table in compareison! Ya all must not come to utah?
 
From what I see especially working in a lot of small rural towns, 10% is far more common. Still 5 tables with two parties of 4, two couples and one single per hour, 13 people @ $20 per meal = $260. 20% would be $52 a nice wage for an hours work especially if half is under the table, 10% would be $26. Multiplty that by the busy hours of 3 hours dining and they do OK where I eat. Most waitress's and waiters have to take a manegement job to get a loan, then go back to tips when they are in a house because they make more.
Everywhere I have been in Europe tipping is considered rude and "American". Evidently they pay waitstaff what they can live on. I think it would be a far better system here and would pay the cost increase in the price of a meal.
 
feralmerril said:
As I said before, almost always $3s is our standard tip. Thats on a average bill of $18s to $22s. We eat at cheap places like denneys, IHOP or cheap family resturants here. Now I realise not many like me admit to being a cheapskate. Yet as far as eating out go`s, the wife and I eat out AT LEAST once a day. I must live in the cheapest area of the united states compared to all you big tippers.
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It if was only once per day that would be $600/mo + $90 tips.
By your emphasis of "AT LEAST" once per day then I'm guessing it's probably closer to an average of a $1000/mo + $150/mo tips? or more?

Now who is the Diamond Jim? :p

Wife and I go out to dinner about once a week.
 
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Yup. The wife can cook okay, it`s just that I insist on getting out. We both are huge, done our damage years ago. Now we are trying to lose weight and usualy split almost every meal. Get one order, a extra plate, maybe a extra soup or salid and two drinks, once in awhile fall off the wagon and get dessert. I am 300 lbs, 6ft 1" at 70. Wife is 5 ft 11"s and big too. I am on a walking stick, knee went out, getting a operation july 8th on it. Gain sitting still when I spend most my time on the recliner and computer! We usualy split a late breakfast actualy for lunch and really a 3rd person could exist on what we leave! I guess 3 bucks on 20 bucks evens out at the suggested 15% anyway. Like most women my wife has done her gig as a ex waitress and knows the score. She also has been a motel maid before I knew her and makes sure we leave a tip when we travel. I think what bugged me on reading the 8 pages of a few off the scale is that I USED to get around as a batchlor for 50 years and I daresay have probley ate out as much or more than everyone here in my 70 years, and ya cant BS a BSer. I got eyes and see what most people tip, or lack of it in the real world. (I have only been married about a total of about 12 years out of my 70 between 2 marrages, so have lived in resturants). Just for fun, hear is a recent picture of us eager eaters.

blackrock126.jpg
 
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I always a 20% tipper (on the total bill including tax) unless it's bad service.

I read all these threads and didn't see it so this is what my dad told me

You give TIPS .......To Insure Prompt Service
 
feralmerril said:
Now I realise not many like me admit to being a cheapskate.
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I am a HUGE cheapskate. I make laundry soap instead of buying it. I make a lot of stuff here and can and preserve. I am test household for many companies so we can get the free things to use and be paid to do it. (I draw the line at being the lady who jacks up the checkout line with coupons though)

I absolutely refuse to shortshrift giving to others. I will shortchange myself before it gets to that.

I have never regretted giving to others, but have regretted NOT doing so.
 
feralmerril said:
... feel like a cheapskate ... almost always $3s is our standard tip. Thats on a average bill of $18s to $22s. ...
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I think that's fine, Feral. That's not bein' a cheapskate -- that's a standard ~ 15%. And if you're eatin' out once a day you are a good customer, too.

Like the pic of you and your fellow chowhound! And good luck with the knee. I expect I'll be doin' that too in a few years, dadburn it.
 
sigp220.45 said:
Maybe one of our friends in Oz can comment on this.

When I was in Australia (Darwin) around 1990 a cab driver almost bit my head off when I tried to tip him. "I don't need your (insert really bad curseword delivered in awesome Aussie accent) tip!" or something to that effect.

I was pretty drunk and may have done something else deserving of a whupping, but it seems to me that tipping was considered insulting, at least from charmingly intoxicated American Air Force officers.
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I'm curious about that too. I've always heard tipping was considered a insult in Austraila. Is that still true?
 
There is a resturant here in town that has a section on a wall with their favorite customers. We are on it.
 
I leave $5 no matter what it cost.but most our meals are not over $40.$25 - $36 is the norm. I have left 1 cent before that was when I had to get up and get refills at one plce we used to go once in a while but havent been back in years. now when I go to hooters and megan,tara,or joann wait on me I leave $10-13 most times its more than the cost of my food.but they have great legs.
 
Texas Star said:
If you add a tip to the meal price and pay on a credit card, you'll pay added interest. I think it's better to tip in cash.
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I never have and never will pay one red cent of interest or a yearly fee for a credit card. There is no interest when paid in full each month. The credit union kickback directly to my savings account actually makes each charge less than paying cash. I do tip in cash, but only because I think the tip has a better chance of going to the intended server.
 
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