How do you tip at restaurants?

Question

Hopefully this does not sound like a rant. I'm actually curious...

I've served tables in St. Louis and LA and both places had people who seemed to think that a 10% tip is okay (because they'll look you in the eye and smile and say thanks as they leave) or that $5 is the universal good tip for any bill under $100, or that $10 is good for any bill over $100.


So to the people who tip this way when service is good, were you raised and taught to tip this way, or was it a decision you came to on your own?

Keep in mind that I'm wondering about people who tip this way for good service. An answer that says "For bad service, I tip that way" doesn't help me. I'm talking about for good service.

Ok, first person, your food has been spit in numerous times if you go to the same place regularly.

Yes, a server doesn't do any more work for a 30 dollar tab than a 10 dollar tab, so why do you choose to tip on the 10 instead of the 30?
With that same logic, you could say "a server doesn't do any LESS work for a 10 dollar tab than a 30 dollar tab, so I'll tip 6 bucks."

The 20% rule is there to keep servers averaging 6 to 7 dollars a table, but more for large parties that take up his whole section that run up 200 dollar bills.

If everyone tipped poorly, you would stop getting good service ANYWHERE, seeing as only 18 year olds with no education would be serving tables instead of college students, etc.

If you tip poorly (like the first answer here) then you are leeching off of good people who keep good servers employed and serving your freeloading table well.

First person,
About the college thing: What I mean is that it takes a high wage to attract competent, clean, hard workers. You would get gas station/ mcdonald's service at a fine dining restaurant if servers made ONE DOLLAR on every person whom they serve.

Most restaurants DO tip cooks, bussers, etc. It comes out of my tips as a server. A certain percentage of my tips go to all of them. It's called "tipping out".

No apologies necessary; that's why I asked the question... to see if people knew how the industry works.

Last answer, Michelle:
I've heard this over and over again, that "If you don't like making bad tips then don't become a server." First of all, we become servers with the expectation that we weill get 20% tips for giving good service. Those are the tips we expect to "live off of", as your stupid saying goes. 20% for good service is the "agreement." When customers don't live up to that agreement, we make LESS money than we should. It's not whining, it's being screwed over. What about ANY job that gets paid off commission, for example.
Would it be fair to not give the person the commission you agreed to? Give him 5% commission on a house sale when the deal was 7%, and if he complains, tell him to "stop whining and if you can't live off your commission then don't be a real estate agent?"
Well he's a real estate agent because the DEAL IS 7%, that's why!
How can you not understand that????
I can tell you're a bad tipper.

PS MIchelle, you and your friends get nothing special service because you probably go to all the restaurants (applebees, chili's, etc.) where people tip poorly and all the good servers leave for fine dining establishment where people are classy enough to tip what they are supposed to. You'd be surprised at the amazing service you get at these places, where servers are appreciated and taken care of instead of stiffed 5 times a night.

Michelle,
Yes, I read what you wrote. You wrote that if you get paid less than you're supposed to, and you don't like it, it means you're whining. For good service, we're supposed to get tipped well. Just like when you work at your job, you're supposed to get paid your wage. If you get paid less, you're whining? That's just ridiculous.
Don't try to justify your bad tipping. You can say you're a 20% tipper, but you're complaining about servers so much that you can't possibly appreciate what they do for you and I can guarantee that you're one of those $5 for any bill tippers.

Stick to McDonald's, please.

PS, Michelle, if people tipped the way you explained, things would be fine. But people DON'T. That's why I asked this question, to see why people tip 10% or less when they get perfectly good service. It happens all the time to servers everywhere. I don't see what point you made that I didn't address.

Answer 1

I think this is a great question as I also work for tips (Pizza Delivery) and I have many friends who are waiters. I think that people need to realize a few things about tipping:

1. It does not matter how overpriced you think the food, drinks or whatever are. The people who serve you did not set the prices nor do they see more money for more expensive items without your tip. My friends who serve in restaurants make less than $3 an hour no matter how many $6 pina colodas you order. I make a $1 a delivery no matter how many toppings you order or even how many pizzas you order.

2. You will not solve your financial problems by withholding tips. Giving low or no tips will not make your car payments any easier to make. In fact if you site financial problems as a reason to not tip, yet you are eating out, no wonder you have financial problems. Go get some hamburger helper or raymen noodles....

3. There may be reasons why you recieved what you thought was bad service that was out of the control of your server. Look to see if the place is packed. If the place is half empty and it takes a while to get refills, look to see if your waiter is attending a lot of tables or is just not doing their job. Maybe something is wrong in the kitchen or maybe the waiter explained what crazy unexpected thing occured while you were there, they probably were not making it up.

4. If you get discounted and or a free meal, that does not mean you should discount your tip. Taking off of the price did not make those trays any lighter.

5. While it is called a gratiuity, there is no way we would be performing this service for someone we did not know for the tiny bit of money the store pays us. Especially if you are the type of person who does not tip in the first place. For every hour you are at a restaurant, a waiter gets paid about $3 under minimum wage for serving you. We do it with the expectation of getting paid by you for doing it. Yes, we accept the fact that we do not get tipped everytime, but that does not mean we do not have the right to complain about it when it happens and also think of how pathetic of a human being you are to not tip. In fact if we work for tips, chances are we were the type of people who thought it to be an abomination to not tip. We were also in for a shock when we found out how ofter people do not tip. All of our thoughts about you are based upon your tipping, we will remember, and we do have access toyour food. Not saying we will do anything to it, but not saying we won't either.

6. It does not hurt to over tip, we will remember that too and our attitude and service next time will be based on that. I tip over 30% to waiters that give me good service and I never regret it. How often do you get to make somebody's day just by giving them an extra $5 (on top of the 15 - 20% you should do). It is really not that much money for somebody who worked for it. Next time you go back, that waiter will fight for the death to serve you and will give you such good service it will annoy you. I believe that what goes around comes around, and you can consider it your good deed for the da.

A tip should be considered in the ammount you can afford to eat out on and I believe you should be ready to hand out 20% if you get good service. (Now where I answer your question:) For me, friendliness from the waiter is what will get me to hand out the big dollars. When they seem like a really cool person that I would want to hang out with if I met them at a friend's house or something, I tip the big tips. I was brought up to tip atleast 15% always by my dad, but through having friends who work for tips, a wife that works for tips, and now I work for tips, and also because I always wanted to be a much nicer person than my dad, you get 20% from me if the service sucked, or you were not too warm of a person. We are not expecting make millions a year for our jobs, but we do have to work with huge fluctuations in our incomes. Most of our money comes from you, not the store that charges you for your meal and chances are since your waiter gets paid everyday, they are pretty good with money and saving so they can turn lousy $2 tips into rent money. If you see your server working hard, do not give up your power to recieve good service by not tipping well.

Answer 2

Being a daughter of a waitress I probably leave a large amount. I only leave %20 if I have my debit card and it gives me no other option. But usually most times I go out the bill adds up to $20 to $30 and I always leave more than $10. My mom even says I am too kind and she's a waitress.But unless you go out everyday (which means you have a ton of money) then it's nice to really tip them a little extra. That's just me though and I'm biased.
Honestly though, I love tipping more. I have noticed that restaurants where I usually go give me extraordinary service. I get a little more extra whipped cream, my deserts are always bigger than normal, I get more peppermints and little chocolates at olive garden, I've seen waiters that aren't even my waiter stop by and say hi.
There is only one place that I did not tip. Mainly because it took them 30 minutes to bring me a drink. And they forgot the chips and salsa and some of my food was cold. I felt awful but it was just awful and I couldn't leave a tip. And it was sad to see a lot of people leave before they're food got there because it was taking way too long. For a Saturday night having only 2 people at the front was just plain stupid.

Answer 3

I tip according to service. It sucks that restaurants don't pay a decent wage, but tips started out by someone that got superior service and wanted to reward the server above and beyond. Since then the food service industry has used it as a way to get out of paying servers a livable wage. You want a good tip you better act like I'm your only customer and you have nothing better to do that'll get you at least 25%. If you just do your job you'll get 10-15%. If you're the worst server I've ever had you'll be lucky to get "Look both ways before you cross the street" or "Don't eat the yellow snow". Servers need to quit whining about tips you knew what you were getting into when you took the job. There is no law that says anybody has to tip you in the first place. It's common courtesy to tip but if you depend on other people's generosity for your income you'll be broke all your life.

Answer 4

This is a stupid discussion. Tips are based entirely on service. 15% for good service, 20% for outstanding, over-the-top service, 10% for adequate and zero for poor service. All are pre-tax and based on the food bill as presented. Alcohol is flat rate - a buck a drink per person, $3-5 for a bottle of wine.

I know the life of a server is tragedy; and my heart, along with the hearts of all the other scumbags who simply want to eat at a restaurant, truly bleeds for you. Most of the time, we get average, nothing-special service. It's amazing how much spark you dredge up when you get average, nothing-special tips.

I know there is a saying - "If you can't afford to tip, you can't afford to eat out". You servers all use it. Patrons have a saying too: "If you can't live off your tips, you probably shouldn't have become a waitress."

I know, life is soooo hard. But stop your God Damn incessant whining, would you? Please??? hhh, do you hear? Good F*cking God....

UPDATE: DL, did you even read what I wrote, or did you just start blathering uncontrollably? The only "agreement" I made was the tipping structure I layed out. What, really, is so fricken hard to understand?

And what is so hard to understand about not whining? You know what I can tell? I can tell why you're a moany b*tchy waiter.

Answer 5

Typically I tip between 15 to 20 % for good service but looking at what you are asking I would say that those people believe that you have more than 1 table and should be making 5 to 10 dollars per table should be enough. So if you have 4 tables and each table seats one party per hour, you would make 40 dollars per hour on your tables.

I know that doesn't help but that may be the way they are thinking.

BTW, I will tip between 0 and 10% for bad service and if my bill is under 10 dollars I generally leave a dollar per person.

Answer 6

Well here is my Tip, take it or leave it.

When dining in any sort of restaurant from my wife and I we normally automatically tip double the tax and here in NY that is 8.25% so technically your getting a 16.5% tip. Not I don't blame the food tasting bad on the server. I do however ask how I ordered something and if they say that it was their mistake and are willing to go the extra distance, to correct the issue that is fine.

Now should you take my drink order, bring drink take food order bring food, come back to clean up plates, not checking on us well that servers tip drops quickly.

I like a server who takes care of his/her table and checks on the person a few times, checks drink, etc..

But like I said the normal is 16.5%

The one thing that bugs me is sometimes when you have the party of 8+ and they add in the 15% gratuity just to cover getting any kind of decent tip, thing is most servers bust their *** on a party of 8+ and if they give me the 15% added in I don't add extra.

I will tip for a hard working server, last time was at a family style restaurant with a 120 bill and tipped another 20 on top of that.

Answer 7

Usually tips was given in a dining place if you feel happy and satifisfied with their services, in this case is the waiter/server. Amounts of tips is depends on the places you dine, whether it's a posh restaurant or hotel. 5%-15% is the ideal tips. As in some countries like Malaysia, they already fix a 10% service charges into the bill and it's up to whether you want to give the extra tips or not. Tips given is actually a way to compliment them or another way to say "Thank You" for their excellent & proffesional services. They feel they are apprecaite and proud to provide their best services if tips were given.

Answer 8

I have never been a server, but I can only imagine the crap that servers have to put up with from people. I have been at restaurants with people who are rude to the servers over minor things, like the bread basket not constantly being refilled. Then tip 20 percent or less. I am always so embarrassed when I go out with these types of people. I like to think that I am a generous tipper, which about 25 to 30 percent. People deserve to be compensated for doing their job well, which why I tip well when people are providing me a service. Plus I never know what states have a tip credit, so I'm not going to screw someone who works on a tip credit. If I get bad service, such as rude servers or not very helpful, I tip 15 percent exactly.

Answer 9

I am a server and I think from working the restaurant business.....you need to tip according to your bill and what you order......At the restaurant I work we have to tip out 3% of our net sales for the shift to the bartender, hosts and hostesses, and the expo (person who puts your food together for servers) I would tip 10-20% but I generally do not leave anything less than $5 of the bill but it just depends on the server and if they do a great job even more it just depends on the situation and what you feel comfortable leaving.

Answer 10

Like most people I tip according to the quality of service I get. Since I dine by my self most of the time I don't follow the 15% rule. I tend to over tip actually. for example, if I am just having $1.25 cup of coffee I will tip another $1.00. My rule of thumb is...if the check is under $10 the tip is $3...$10 to $20 around $5 plus change (coin) over $20 then I use my tip calculator on my cell phone.

Answer 11

Good, Bad or Indifferent my given tip is atleast 15% of whatever the bill.
Great service gets 20% and upwards easily... I mean pleasant, prompt, attentive.
And I always like the waiter who doesn't put the check on the table when I'm mid-meal. That gets the basic 15%.
But I'm respectful of the work you all do and I've heard recently that Boston has the best tippers :Minimum 20%