more on tipping?

Question

Why does it matter how much the dinner cost?? Why should i tip more money for a 100 dollar meal than a 10 dollar mean whent he person provides the same servcies. Woulding a 5 dollar tip always be appropriate. Please give me a reasoned answer not because that is what we do inthis country.

Answer 1

I think you will find that service at a higher dollar restaurant will be much better than say at a chain applebees. The servers are typically better educated about the menu, wine suggestions, serving etiquette, etc. For this reason, I believe it is appropriate to give a larger tip for the same service. Now, if the service is terrible- regardless of the price of the meal, you should tip accordingly.

Answer 2

I do think you should tip according to the service that is given, if it is good service you should tip 15-20%, no a $5 tip is not always appropriate, if you are in a classy restaraunt and you can afford $100 for a meal then you would be a cheap skate not to tip appropriately. Think about this, if you can afford a $100 meal, chances are the person serving you can not afford it, otherwise they would be a customer and not a server, so therefore you should tip them appropriately because servers only make like $3 an hour and the rest of their salary is based on tips. If they serve you a high quality meal they should get a high quality tip. Servers in restaraunts that serve expensive meals typically have more training then your basic steak and shake server, its kinda like when you work in a corporation, the office assistant makes alot less than the CEO...more training, more money. Hope this is a better reason for you to tip appropriately.

Answer 3

Servers, whether working in a first-class, fine-dining, 5 star restaurant or your local Chili's or TGIF's make a state mandated minimum wage for tipped employees. This wage is $2.13 per hour with few exceptions. A server must claim all tips received while working so that they may be taxed on this income. The taxes for this income is taken out of the $2.13 hourly rate and servers usually receive a paycheck for $0 or very little money...$20-$30 for a two-week check, as an example. Servers live on their tips, period. If this were not the case then all menu prices would be 15-20% higher so that restaurants could pay their employees a living wage. Tipping was once a customary practice. Many believe that the word tips is an acronym or acrostic for "to insure prompt/proper service".
A typical casual dining restaurant such as a Chili's, a server will have 3-4 tables at a time and provide adequate service cosidering the amount of money being spent. Let's say as an example your bill is an average of $25 for two people; at 15% that's $3.75 per table and let's say 20 tables a night=$75 for the server for the night. In a fine dining restaurant; a server may have a 2 table section and have 8 tables a night. They provide more personal service and are usually part of a team of 3 servers. One handles drinks and appetizers, the head waiter handles entrees, and the back waiter handles desserts. Your tip goes to pay each of these servers for their service. If the bill is $100 for two the tip is $15 x 8 tables=$120 for the night. The head waiter tips a portion of this amount to the other two servers and usually end up making about the same as the server at Chili's. The examples are just illustrations and the numbers may not be completely accurate but you get the idea. Restaurants are bascially a cash business for the service staff. They depend mostly, if not solely, on tips for their income. A server tips the bartender for making their drinks for the night and they tip someone else to clean their tables, and they tip the host to seat their tables. The tip to each of these people is a flat percentage of sales; 1% to each, for example. If you sit at a table and don't tip or tip very little, the server actually loses money because they have to tip these people based on how much you spend whether you tip or not. If you spend $25 and don't tip, the server loses 2.5 -3% by waiting on you. It will cost the server .75 to $1 to wait on you! Remember they only make $2.13? They worked for you for free. Not cool. This is an extremely long answer but you asked...:-) If you get decent service tip 15%, good service tip 18%, great or special service or a favor(s) like getting the cooks to make an item that isn't on the menu tip 20% or even more. It is a courtesy and demonstrates that you understand the business. If you're a regular guest at a restaurant and you tip well; the staff knows and will argue about who gets to wait on you. If you tip like sh.it; the staff knows and they'll argue who will have to wait on you. Either way they argue, but the outcome will determine the type of service you receive. If you receive genuinely bad or inadequate service; talk to the manager and explain the situation. We want you to be happy whether we're waiting on you or managing the restaurant. It's not called the service/hospitality industry for nothin'. :-)

Answer 4

Many people have to live off their tips. Their wages often do not pay enough. On infoplease.com, they state that

"Waiters: 15–20% of your pre-tax check is considered standard. Some restaurants will automatically add a 15% gratuity to your bill, especially for large parties—look for it before tipping. If the 15% is added, you need only tip up to another 5% for superlative service. "

Often higher class restaurants provide more services than lower class ones. Also keep in mind that sometimes the tips are shared amoung all the employees, not just the waiter/ess.

The term Tip means "To Insure Prompt Service" or also can mean " To insure Prompt and Propor Service"

A tip means that you were satisfied with the meal. The better the meal and the better job waiting on you, the higher the tip should be.

Answer 5

I love this question.

The majority of servers make $2.15 an hour (and this basically covers taxes). While tips aren't mandatory, it is customary to go by percentages. Most restaurants take what is called a tip share out of the servers sales to tip the hostess/bartender/bussers, anywhere from 1 to 3% of the servers sales. So 3% of $100 is $3, tipping $5 means you tipped the server only $2. ( I have actually waited on a few tables that it cost me to serve them because of tip share). And I have also been the lunch hostess, making more money just standing at a podium than the servers on the floor busting their butt.

Also want to point out that if you are a crappy tipper, not only is the server losing out on the average tip from you, but could have spent his time serving a table that would have tipped better.

Usually with higher priced tickets, the server does do more work. And it often means more people at the table to take care of.

I once had a manager that pointed out that as servers we actually work for the customer. And as the customer's employee it is natural to take better care of the ones that tip well, it's like taking a job that pays $12 an hour over a job that pays $6 an hour. Servers do remember who are good tippers and who are bad tippers and they warn their fellow server when they see a bad tipper come in.

Answer 6

If you don't want to base it on a straight percentage, that's reasonable, but two things:

-- Having paid $100 for a meal makes it obvious that you could afford a $15 or more tip.

-- It makes sense to tip based on how much work the server actually did...if you had a large party, or ordered a lot of dishes, or ordered a bottle of wine, etc., this would cause a high tab at the end of the night and also a larger debt to the server.

-- Similarly, if you took up the table for a long time, you should tip more than if you scarfed something, ran, and allowed the server another tip opportunity.

Answer 7

because tipping is based on the price of the meal. besides, presumably, a 100 dollar meal will probably consist of more dishes served, i.e. appetizer, entree, wine, bread, coffee, soup, salad, dessert, thus more service is given.

You cannot compare a dinner that costs 140 dollars at Nobu to a 10 dollar dinner from Western Sizzlin'.

stop being so stingy! most servers make BELOW minimum wage and are expected to make at least to minimum wage with their tips. In Texas they only get about 4 bucks an hour and they have to split their tip with the bartender, and busboy usually.

Answer 8

the general idea is that the bill reflects the amount of service that was needed. If your bill is only $10 you probably did not order very much, but if it is $100 then you either ordered alot of stuff, had alot of people at your table, or are eating somewhere upscale and should be able to easily afford another $15.

Answer 9

You have a very good point. The reason is that a resturaunt doesn't pay their employees minimum wage. It is more like $2.30 cents an hour. A great question would be Why cant their employer pay them instead of us?! Or like you said, we should tip what we feel appropriate, regardless of what the meal costs. It makes no sense to me either! Lets Boycott!

Answer 10

you should always do 15% for the tip....

its a polite gesture, saying thank you for the food, the service, the way the resturant looked... If the service was bad, just tip like.. 10%

whatever you feel is right is what you feel like tipping. So it's all your choice