When eating out how do you decide to leave a tip or not?

Question

My husband and I are both working professionals who eat out often. My husband leaves a tip even if the service was crappy. I don't leave a tip unless the service was exceptional. My argument is that I work hard every day at my job (which is not in the service industry) and I am NEVER given a tip. Why should they get tips?

Answer 1

When waiting tables thru college I learned that "tips" orginally were paid up front "to insure proper service". I normally always tip something, and go beyond for great service (which is getting harder to come by). It's surprising to see how many people expect it for minimal service. Sometimes I feel like I'm at the drive thru window and they just plop down the food and then ask for money. We don't tip those serving us fast food...so just because the industry has a lower hourly rate, doesn't mean they shouldn't do their job and earn their tips.

Answer 2

I can't believe you are a professionally employed woman and you don't know that servers at restaurants are paid significantly below even the minimum hourly wage.

In Michigan many servers I know are paid around $3.50 an hour and tips are the only way they are able to make any money at all.

Tips are not customarily given just for exceptional service. It is common practice, accepted practice and considerate & polite practice in the United States for you, the diner, to give a tip even if you only received adaquate service.

I am willing to bet that you earn much more than $3.50 an hour. Right?

I was a waitress in high school and college and I always tip 20% unless the service is horrible. If the waiter or waitress is rude or mean or demeaning then I give about 8%. If they forget a straw or forget the right dressing or the bread is cold I STILL give 20%.

Who do you think you are? A Princess maybe? I can guarantee that if you and your husband frequent the same restaurants regularly, the waitstaff already knows that you are cheap and they fight over who is the poor sap who has to wait on you. They hate you. I can assure you.

Also, if you do frequent the same places regularly, don't think you are getting the best meals either....I'm sure someone (because you are known for not tipping) has "accidentally" sneezed in your food, drooled in your drink, picked up a dropped item from the floor and served it to you...

Working for $3.50 sucks and kissing the *a**s**s* of patrons like you gets old fast. Some relief comes from snickering over how you're eating something that someone tampered with. Trust me.

If you go to the same places and haven't left tips, appologize to the staff and explain you didn't know. Start leaving decent sized (20%) tips unless they are downright mean.

If you can afford to eat out all the time, the 20% will pain you less to lose than it does them when they don't get it.

Also, if you go out with girlfriends and everyone throws in for the meal, I bet they can't stand when you come. Nobody likes a cheapskate mooch.

Your husband is 100% correct in leaving tips regularly.

Answer 3

The only time I fail to tip is if the server has a bad attitude. Sometimes the service is slow because the kitchen is behind or the server has too much area to cover at one time. Neither of those things are the servers fault. I would never not leave a tip because of a mistake. Everyone makes them.
The reason that tipping is expected in restaurants is because servers are the lowest paid workers that there are. The minimum wage for servers is much lower than the minimum wage for other jobs. The over-head in the restaurant business is much higher than in other businesses and if there was no tipping, then the employer would have to increase the menu prices by 20 to 40 percent in order to pay them well.

Answer 4

If you preform poorly at your job is it taken from your check? Tips are not just extra money. Most servers do not get a paycheck. It's a $2.13 an hour wage in many states and that vanishes due to taxes. So no check\only tips. There are circumstances beyond your servers control many times. Don't punish them for that. The host, manager, kitchen and other customers can ruin your experience but the server takes the blame. But if they don't even appear to care or show effort that may be reason not to tip. Generally speaking, ALWAYS LEAVE A TIP. If you were really not happy, just tell the server and maybe the manager what was wrong and still leave a decent tip. The gesture should pave the way for a better experience on a following visit.

Answer 5

You really need to inform yourself as to how the service industry works. Minimum wage does not apply to servers, they are paid a wage that most times serves only to cover the taxes on the tips they are paid. When I was working as a server a few years ago it was 2.83 an hour. Now if you figure into that the tip out, 20% to the buser, 10% to the bar and 10% to the host ( On the weekends it was an additional 10% to the kitchen) If a table does not leave a tip the server winds up paying for waiting on the table. Because of the way the service industry is set up in this country it is expected that as a consumer you are informed enough to realize that the gratuity is for the ENTIRE experience not just server. If your experience is a poor one complain to the manager and leave 10%, enough so that it at least covers the tip out and taxes that the server has to pay and report. It is just good manners. If you would rather not then stick to eating in places where tipping is not considered customary.

Answer 6

I used to work for a few restaurants, and sometimes we jut go busy and confused, so we did the best we could, but it still looked crappy to the customer. But from my experience, I look at how busy they are and compare that to how they did. and I base my tip on that.But I will always leave a tip,no matter what, If the service was crappy, I will just leave like25 cents as a tip, that shows them you left something but it was small because of the service. But I know how it feels to not get any tip at all and it sucks. So I would say, leave a tip based on how much work they had and how they did, and if it all came out to crap, leave a crap tip, but still leave something, 2 pennies will get the word across. ;-)

Answer 7

If the service was ANYTHING but crappy, I leave a minimum 15% tip. I agree with you. Bad service does not deserve tips, even if the server is only "having a bad day". I was in the service industry, and a "bad day" was no excuse!

Answer 8

Supposedly people who are in the category to receive tips are paid less than minimum wage, which I guess is the reason you should tip. However, on the flip side its the same reason they should work hard to earn the tip. I try to leave the standard 15% - 20% unless the service was not worthy of that amount.

Answer 9

I tip the same way you do. Though if the service is crappy, I do make a point of explaining to the manager why no tip was left. The waiter's attitude has a lot to do with the kind of tip I leave (were drinks refilled promptly, delays explained, etc)

Granted, waitstaff makes less than minimum wage on the gamble that they will make it up in tips, but no one forced them into taking a job that pays that way.

Answer 10

It is part of their wage. Server minimum wage is only$2.65 an hour. It did not go up in October like regular minimum wage did. You should always tip, if your server was exceptionally rude to you then don't tip. Try to understand what a servers job is. They are often extremely busy even if it does not appear to be. Remember that a tip is to insure perfect service if you go out and don't tip then that server is going to remember you and take that into consideration. Why should they give you special attention for the $2.65 an hour that they are making when there are other customers who do tip. I think that your comment of I work hard every day at my job and am never given a tip is very ignorant and rude. It implies that servers don't work hard, they probably work harder than you do for less money. I waited tables for 5 years through college. It was the hardest work I have ever done. My thoughts are if you can't afford to tip your server or don't think its worth it if they don't jump at the snap of your fingers then get take out or cook at home. You don't deserve to get waited on then.