In restaurants, how much do you tip? Why? Do you agree with tipping?

Question

Please give details of whereabouts in the world you are, and why you choose to tip that amount.

Answer 1

What to tip is always an interesting discussion!

I have worked as a waitress in nice restaurants as well as a few pubs so I am speaking as a customer and from my own personal experience.

To make a long story short.

We all work hard for our money. Tipping is NOT to be expected it is supposed to be a gesture to say thank you for a job well done.

Waitressing is not easy, you are on your feet, you deal with pushy customers, the food does not always come out in a timely manner or it may not be to the diner's liking and who do you think gets the blame?

BUT...one knows this before deciding to work in customer service, so this is not an excuse for lousy service.

When I was a waitress, I greeted my customers with a friendly sincere smile, filled their water up promptly, I anticipated their needs before they had to ask which means keeping your eyes open at all times. I was helpful, prompt and polite. If you do your job properly you generally reap the rewards.

If I liked my server's attitude and service, (friendly, helpful, courteous, prompt etc... I tip 15% to 20 %.

If the server was less then polite, seemed like they had better places to be, took forever to serve me, etc they get tipped considerably less or nothing at all.

Personal Pet Peeve:

A waiter/waitress that does not do their job properly but starts being VERY friendly a few minutes before they bring the bill. Basically being nice because tip time is coming,

As for my location:

Montreal is home but I spend a lot of time in Los Angeles for work. I have done a lot of traveling and I can honestly say that L.A has some of the worst service I have ever experienced! Very rude and a sense of entitlement do not make for good customer service.

Montreal has fantastic waiters/waitresses. My water is always filled without asking, I get asked if I am enjoying my meal and if there is anything I need to make my meal more enjoyable. The Art of Service is seriously becoming a thing of the past but then again so are manners!

Answer 2

WOW!, I don't even know where to begin. I am a professional server. Ive been working in fine dining for about 10 years now. I could, and maybe should write a book on this subject. I'm not upset about these comments however consider this. I am required to educate myself on fine wine, beer as well as fine food, customer service, and the many steps of good service. Some servers make more money than others. I make about 70,000 a year. I know servers that make 20,000 and I know servers that make 150. Why do we deserve this? It is a sales job; just like real estate sales for example. Sales people make good money, its a fact. That is if you a good sales person of course. Some sales jobs only require a stellar personality and a good product. Why don't you all complain about these commissions as well?!?! If you don't want to pay for service than go to Panera Bread or Chipolte. I assure you that if our country did away with tipping waitstaff (which they wont) the price of all the food items would go up dramatically. You will have to pay for it either way. And yes, you could go to the grocery and buy whatever you want for a lot cheaper. Would you have a trained culinary professional cooking it for you. Would you have someone bring the food and drink to you, set your table and offer a full menu of choices? Not to mention you are also paying for the atmosphere. The places you eat are not all making big bucks. This is a really hard business!!! The national statistic is as follows: 98% of restaurants fail in the first year of operation and of that 2% that make it past a year 95% fail in the first 5 years. I love my job. I deserve the money that I make. I have a college degree and still I wouldn't do anything else. This job requires a lot of skill and it does deserve respect from all of you.

Answer 3

In New Hampshire

For sit down restaurant servers I usually tip 15-20%. For other places with their tip jars on the counter, I may toss is some spare change if the servers are high school or college students For other services I don't tip, except the paper boy, who I tip 20%.

For sit down restaurants the wait staff earn their income via tipping. Their regular wages are typically 1/2 or less than minimum wage. This is supported by law. So yes, I agree with tipping wait staff.

Answer 4

I live in England. Normally, about 10% - that seems fair. However, it does vary; if they brought me the wrong food or the service they provided was of poor quality, it will be lower. On the other end of the scale, if it was excellent it could go up to about 15-20%.

I agree with tipping as a reward for good service provided. However, I do object very strongly when restaurants assume I want to tip them (I don't pay it. I've got into arguments over it.)

Answer 5

I live in California, and I tip 15-20%, depending on service, and I'll tip more for service above and beyond the call of duty. When in doubt, I prefer to round the tip upward and err on the side of generosity. I choose to be generous because when I was young, I worked in the food service industry, and I know it's hard work and often thankless. I like to tip generously because I am grateful that my circumstances allow me to be generous. Things used to be a lot harder and I've never forgotten that.

Answer 6

I'm in Georgia, but really anywhere in the U.S., you should not tip less than 15%. The standard is really more like 20%. Restaurants pay servers very low, below minimum wage. They expect the income to be supplemented by tips, and that is taken into consideration in the food prices. If, for example, there was no tipping, restaurants would have to pay more and the food would be much more expensive. It would also probably reduce the number of servers a restaurant would be willing to pay, so with less employees, your service would not be as good. When you pay the bill, you are only paying for the food, not the service, you need to do that serparately.

I waitressed through school, and I made $2.52 an hour, plus tips. At one job, in NY, I made $2.11 per hour. No one can live on that. You have to tip. Consider it part of the price of the meal. If you are too cheap to tip, please eat at home.

Answer 7

I am in the SE US and I tip 15-20% by doubling the first number of the total. So a 40.00 check gets an 8.00 tip.

My husband and many friends have worked tipped jobs and I know how important it is to people's overall incomes.

Answer 8

Indiana - at least 15%(unless they were terrible or rude or something), if they were really good, then more. Yes, servers don't make very much by the hour at all, the rely on tips, and serving in a restaurant can be hard because some people are very finicky about their food and the server usually takes the brunt of it all, even though they aren't even the ones who cooked it, so if they do a good job, i give them extra. I don't tip for call-in/ pick-up becuase no one served it to me, they just cooked it, I helped myself.

Answer 9

I'm in Atlanta, GA USA

I tip servers 15% if they don't do a good job...As much as I want if they were excellent. I am a server myself and we do not make minimum wage...about half of that..they use a tip credit adjustment for income tax information. Servers live off their tips and believe me, if you have a bad day or night you and your kids will just be hungry because those tips are all we're have.. I have never understood servers who get attitude with customers because it is our customers who gives us our paychecks...not the company we work for. And, one more thing...servers get tired and get sore feet and legs....remember that when one may be a step behind or a bit slow..they work very hard and are on their feet for long hours...help them out,,,tip well!!

Answer 10

Two of us just ate at Applebee's this week. The total bill was only $23 and we tipped $5. That was more than 20% but the service was excellent. Had it been less than perfect the tip would have been $3.00.