Who determine it is now customary to tip 20% for a waiter? What happened to 15%?

Question

Did a secret association of waiters determine that is what tip should be?? Sounds fishy to me... How did it automatically became a customary tip to be increase by 5%?

Answer 1

Tip whatever you feel like tipping.

Answer 2

I agree with 20% as resturants and tax man decised to be strict and pay less and tax more. However, when the locality raises the tax rate for meals, then I decrease the tip by that much. Many localities now have 8% local food tax for eat in and over 10% tax for take out. This type of rip off cuts waitstaff tip by the same amount. So if you have 8% local "meals" tax, the waiter is down to 12% MAX for excellent service and it goes down quickly from there. If a wait person cops an attitude, I get testy and rude and leave 0% + complain to management. Leave the attitude at home. If you pay 2.5% food tax in the grocery store then city/state/all gov't combined can have 2.5% "meals" tax. That is fair and reasonable which is maximum allowed by law. Anything more is city stealing from wait staff as public will not pay ransom.

Answer 3

I didn't know that had become anything like standard, although I usually tip over 15% as long as service is decent, and sometimes around 20%, especially in inexpensive restaurants where 15% would only be around $2 for two, I'll tip higher there.

Cost of living doesn't mean the percent should rise: when the base amount of the average check goes up, so does the 15% tip (or 17%, or whatever) - that's simple math.

Answer 4

i think it's customary to tip between 15 and 20%. if the service of the waiter was just medicre, you typically just double the tax. that comes out to 16%. but if they did a good job, they get 20%.

Answer 5

higher cost of living. i have been a server for a few years, im in college, this is how i make my living. i live in ohio, and the wage for servers is only $2.13/hr. so 20% is the minimum. if you get a server who does a great job, show them by tipping them great! it really pisses me off how some people can be so cheap! 15% was the thing like 5-10yrs ago. there have been times where ive gone out and recieved amazing service and ive tipped 40-50% before! but the servers deserved every cent because they were amazing. so if you go out, 20% minimum. remember, serving is a tough job, and its cheap people that makes out jobs/lives even harder by giving you great service and you tipping horribly.

*Little restaurant secret you all should know*

servers never forget a bad tip, or the face that gave them the bad tip. so if you frequent a certain restaurant and dont tip well, you better believe every server in there knows who you are. dont expect good service.

its 2006 people!!! 20%! more if they're worth it!

Answer 6

Most servers I know get stiffed all of the time. If you can't afford to tip, you can't afford to eat out. Where I live servers only make $2.15 an hour plus tips. Sometimes servers can't even make minimum wage much less support themselves or a family. So my husband and I try to be generous when we go out. 25% for Excellent service, 20% for very good service, 15% for good to okay service, 5-10% for poor to iffy service and we ask for the manager if we get horrible service.

Answer 7

That's a damned good question! I think those bastards at bitterwaitress.com had something to do with it. I haven't given in to the pressure thouh. If you do well, you get 15% with a decreasing scale thereafter. What really p*sses me off is when they expect a minimum tip. If I order a drink and appetizer, that comes up to about 7 the tip is about a dollar. Even a 20% tip is under a 1.50. They still give me an evil eye look if I leave a dollar and some change. Eff those b*s. Bartenders piss me off too. First, I have to wait for them to notice me, then I have to repeat (shouting) my order two or three times, and pay way too much for the drink that's mostly water anyway. To top it all off, the sh*thead expects a tip too! And woe unto you that does not tip, because the next time you go to the bar to order another drink, that ****** will ignore you for the longest time.

Answer 8

The standard tip is still 15% for a standard restaurant. 20% or more for great service or if there are more than one server like an expensive restaurant when you have a waiter, a busperson, wine steward....

Answer 9

Well for starters, I think everything increases with time. The price of a loaf of bread,a gallon of gas, bill payments, your salary. . .So it would be silly to think that the going rate for wait service would remain the same. As the cost of living icreases, so does what is expected people should give. . . .That combined with the fact that I think people have a whole lot easier time figuring out 20% makes it more common. After all, people tend to be lazy and would probably rather give a few dollars more than wait for change, etc. . . . I think some people still do give 15% and it's not considered BAD, it's just not also good either.

Answer 10

15% percent is still customary if you're a cheap bastard. Most people tip 20% for two reasons:
1) It's considered more generous, and not much more money.
2) It's easier math to do in your head.

Answer 11

I was under the impression that 10% is the minimum, 15% is standard and 20% is sort of *standard* when you get excellent service. I don't think 20% is the overall standard, though. I find that 18% ratuity seems to be what's added to the bill when you have parties of 6-8 or more, though.