Should I feel guilty not tipping? is it mandatory?

Question

After a normal meal at a restaurant that wasn't too bad or to good, am I expected to tip? or is that just when the service was excellent?

Answer 1

While tipping is not "legally" required, it IS madatory, and you should feel guilty for not tipping. Servers/bartenders get 90% of their pay from the customers that they serve. Some people may not like that, but the truth is if it weren't that way, prices would be higher and servers wouldn't feel as if they needed to work as hard as they do. Great service should be given 20%, good service 15-18%. Service you feel is poor should be given about 5%, and speak to a manager. There may have been a circumstance such as a server quitting or getting fired and your server had to double his workload that night. If a server is downright rude to you....no tip, and speak to management, that person has no right waiting on people and being discourteous. But for all the people who will tell you that it's optional and they don't tip...they're actually stealing in a way. They know it's the right thing to do to tip in this country, and by not doing so, they are being cheap. The restaurant and the cooks get their money through the food, but the server is providing you a service, and by not tipping them you are getting that service for free...also known as stealing. So to answer your question...yes, you are expected to tip. It's just the way things work in this country, and those people who realize that and still choose to not tip are not good people. So be a good person. Thanks

Answer 2

Ok, I have been a server at several places and most all restaurants pay their servers $2.13 an hour. This is because servers rely on tips. Unless a server operates illegally and wants to possibly be subject to an investigation, a server has to report a portion of his/her tips. Unless they can prove otherwise, a server must claim that he/she made tips equaling 10% of their total sales. This means that if you sell $500 of food/drinks, a server must claim they brought in $50 in tips. The government then taxes that income and takes it from their $2.13 an hour. I have received many checks that were void on account that it was all used up on taxes. Most checks I received for a forty hour work week were around $20. I worked at three star restaurants. Most of the time I would average $10 - $12 an hour cash. There is NO way I would do the job for less. If I was a woman, I would work an easier serving job and be a cocktail waitress in a bar and make more then this. Even at the restaurants I worked at, the bar tenders were paid the average state minimum wage, not the $2.13 an hour server minimum wage.

Answer 3

We generally don't tip in Australia and I found it very hard to tip when I visited the US when it felt expected of me no matter what. It was such a hassle doing all those calculations in my head, fiddling with small change and worrying all the time whether I was doing it right or not.

And those waiters/waitresses who'd hang around and interrupt me and my companions and keep offering me more coffee so they'd get a bigger tip drove me crazy - how I wanted them to just quietly serve me with a smile and go away. It really made me think twice about going to the US for a holiday again.

Good customer service and basic courtesy should be shown and a fair wage paid no matter what your job is. Everyone should be entitled to a decent minimum wage that they can live on and the businesses should charge enough for their products to pay their staff properly. If their staff can't do their job with an acceptable level of courtesy when they are being paid a fair wage then they should be replaced. But since they don't get paid properly in the US they have to be tipped and I hope that system never catches on in Australia.

Answer 4

First off, tipping has never meant "To Insure Proper Service". That myth started on the internet and is perpetuated by an endless series of cyber morons. It doesn't even make grammatical sense (it should be "ENSURE"). Idiots.

Second, you ARE expected to tip. Consider eating out as having two bills - one (the tangible one) for the food, taxes, and ambiance, and the second (the tip) for the service. In many ways your server is an independent contractor - she makes a base salary, but the majority of her income is derived from tips. She's taxed based on extimated tips. It is completely reasonable that a waitress will average 10% tips on her tables, so that is the minimum she has to report to the government. Anything above that is tax free.

**You can see why waitresses would want to convince people to tip 20%. Above 10% has no taxes**

The tipping standard is 20% for out-and-out, over-the-top really excellent service (MAYBE 1-3% of the time); 15% for great service (~15% of the time); 8-12% for average service (65% of the time or more); and nothing for bad service, inattentiveness, or in any way having an unpleasant experience.

You NEVER tip for a bad experience. It doesn't matter if the reason is the waitresses' fault or not. It is appropriate to take it out of their tip. If the reason for poor service is the kitchen, or the manager, it is the responsibility of the waitress to fix the problem. Not you.

Yours is simply to give the appropriate tip.

Answer 5

I know people who work in the service industry will tell you that you should tip - but I feel that if the service wasn't very good, these people will never learn to do their job properly if they get tipped regardless of how they perform. I feel that if I have to ask for something more than once, the person is not paying attention to me, as that IS what their job is
I will leave less than the customary 15% if the service was below effort level, and if it was really bad, I leave a "Tip of the Day" note on the back of the bill. It usually reads something like this:
"Tip of the Day: Tip = Service"

However, I tip generously if I am served excellently, because nowadays, it's very rare, and I am appreciative of good service."
.

Answer 6

Yes, you should feel guilty. You should consider the tip a part of the cost of the meal. Waiters are deliberately paid low in order to "compensate" for the tips they get, and they are charged taxes on an assumed level of tips whether they get them or not. A standard tip of 15% is for exactly what you describe, normal service (neither bad nor outstanding). Waiters are not responsible for whether you like the food or not, only for bringing it to you in an efficient manner. If you don't like the food, don't go back to that restaurant. If the waiter is extra agreeable or goes beyond the call of duty, tip high. Tipping well is always the classy thing to do, and many a guy has been dumped by his girlfriend for showing his cheapskate ways at tipping time. If you can't afford to tip decently, you can't afford to eat in a restaurant. Use the drive-through.

Answer 7

If the service is excellent or average you should feel guilty. If the service is poor you should not.
It is the custom of the country to tip. If we all tipped according to the service we would all be better off.

Answer 8

No, why could or not that is retarded?? I actually have a chum who pulls in almost $100k a twelve months in suggestion -- sufficient that she has to instruct a bite over to her company conceal the withholding from her pay. Why could she get a bye on earnings tax purely because of the fact that is suggestion? you're being paid to do a activity. The earnings you get carry of from it extremely is taxable, organic and easy. in case you do in comparison to reporting suggestion and paying the taxes on them, get a activity that would not comprise suggestion. IMHO what's retarded is that some people think of that their earnings could get carry of specific scientific care purely because of the fact of they way that they earned it. i'm happy with the attempt against exclusion for defense tension people serving in a conflict zone -- been there, finished that, have been given the medals -- yet all of us else can step up and pay their uncomplicated proportion.

Answer 9

Tipping is proper except when service sucks. The industry uses TIP as an anagram referring to "To Insure Promptness" or TIPS "To Insure Prompt Service". You will be the one that looks bad when you don't tip. Especially so if you frequent a particular establishment.

Answer 10

You should not feel guilty, and it is NOT mandatory to tip.

Tip 20% if the service is good, IF you want to. If its less than good, tip less than 20%. If it is above and beyond the call of duty, tip more than 20%.

BTW, check out snopes and TIP:
http://www.snopes.com/language/acronyms/tip.htm