Must I give a gratuity when I pick up a food order at a take out restaurant?

Question

I never am sure, especially when I have to go inside to collect my food. Such as is often the case at Outback or Black Angus restaraunts.

Answer 1

Yes. The person giving you your food is usually the person that has taken your order, filled your order and made sure that you had every part of your order. They are also usually making a lower wage that is dependent on tips.

Answer 2

It depends. I have experience working as a bartender at Red Lobster. Part of my job processing take out orders. Like most servers, I was paid less than minimum wage, because it is expected that bartenders will earn part of thier wage through tips.

If I get to the restaurant and see that a host or hostess handled your take out order, I do not normally tip that person.

If I get to the resturaunt and see that the bartender handled my take out order, I will tip that person.

This is why. That bartender really makes his or her money by taking care of the people who are at the bar. When that bartender has to stop to process a takeout order, that takes them away from thier bartending duties. That bartender will have to leave the bar, go to the kitchen, make sure that the order was prepared correctly and includes all of the extras like butter and sour cream, tater sauce, salad dressing, plasticware , and then bag it all up. This process can get quite hectic when the resturaunt is busy. When the bartender gets back to the bar, there are people waiting for another drink and a few new people waiting on thier first drink.

Answer 3

Mac H. wrote: "Heck no they get paid by the hour."

Yeah, so do waiters...like $3.00.

I will tip if the restaurant has a special Take-Out section,like Outback and Chili's and employees that work exclusively in the take-out section. However, I will usually only tip them 10% as opposed to 20% for normal sit-down dine-in waitstaff service.

I will tip more if I feel the take-out person has done an exceptional job and has been extra friendly. I will tip less or not at all in places that don't have dedicated take-out areas or workers or if they do a poor job.

Also, most people don't tip these take-out workers so when you do give them a 10% tip, they really are grateful and always say thank you and that makes both you and them feel good.

Alot of people answered that you shouldn't tip these people b/c they are not doing anything and you are serving yourself. That is completely untrue. I mean after you phone in your order do you show up and go into the kitchen and cook your meal and then package it up and walk out? Someone has to do that. The take-out workers are solely responsible for waiting in the kitchen for the take out food to be ready and then packaging it up for you and bringing it to you in the take-out area. it's not as much as what a normal dine-in waitor does, but it is still something that they have to do solely b/c you ardered something! Hence, the 10% tip.

ribuckeye wrote: "if you feel that you got service that was worth tipping for, than do so. if not, than don't tip. people today have gotton so spoiled that they feel it is an obligation on your part to tip them."

What a jerk this ribuckeye is. So, only tip if you get great service. Waiters depend on your tips...it is part of their pay. It is an OBLIGATION to tip in our society for dine-in service!! The only time it is ok not to tip is when the waitor is INTENTIONALLY rude or mean or bad. However, if you just happen to get "bad service" you still have to tip! Maybe tip only 10% instead of your usual 15% or 20%, but you still have to tip something unless the waitor was intentionally bad!

I was a waitor for many years and I can remember the one time I get stiffed. We were short-staffed and I had 10 tables at once. Of course my service wasn't the best that night, but i was working my *** off! I was running back and forth and sweating and trying my best. The guy who stiffed me had to go to the bar to get a refill of his drink. When I got to his table i apologized profusely and explained how busy I was and how sorry I was. I comped his drinks, I still got stiffed.

So, unless the waiter is intentionally bad, you have to tip. Just because you had bad service is no excuse to not tip anything

Answer 4

Well said, Orzoff!! I always tip when I pick up take-out - the waiters usually work that station on a rotation basis, and most hate it because they know they're going to get far less in tips than if they're working a regular station.

Answer 5

If you're a tight ***, then no. But, I always do because they remember faces. The next time you order take out, you just might be eating something that wasn't on the menu..if you know what I mean.

Answer 6

You can tip if you want to but I never do. I don't tip when I go through drive-through places either. When I go into a restaurant, sit down, take my time eating and have the waitor/waitress wait on me several times while I'm dining, then I leave a tip. I look at it that pick-up and drive-thru places are doing work but they aren't actually spending much time waiting on you so I don't tip them. If we were expected to tip them, then we would be forced into having to tip our mailmain, FedEx delivery person, newspaper delivery, etc., etc.

Answer 7

I say that you do not have to offer a tip when you get takeout.
The cooks are the ones that actually offered the service in this case and they do not get part of the tip as they are paid more than the waiters and waitresses.

Answer 8

No, but it's nice and customary to leave a bit of a tip.

Answer 9

no, these people (just like every where else) put out these tip jars. Why should we start tipping these people for taking your order and getting it from the kitchen... Micky D's does the same thing and we don't tip them...

Answer 10

Absolutely not. Tips are for service. Do you tip at McDonalds? If all you do is pickup the food and leave, no tip is necessary.