Do you tip in restaurants?

Gemmzie

I used to never tip, no one tips me in my job and I work with the public

But lately since I've become such a fussy eater (severe allergies) - I often end up feeling like such a pain that I end up tipping if they are especially helpful making some thing that basically isn't even on the menu for me.

harpmj

I don't mind giving a few quid for good service e.g. food arrives promptly and hot, attentive service, screaming kids served before patient adults (it is surprising how often the adults get served first when all they want to do is get the kids settled before their food gets cold) etc but what I do baulk at is whereas 10% of a £30 bill is £3, 10% of a £200 bill (at say Raymond Blanc's Le Manoir Aux Quat Saisons) is £20. The service will not necessarily have been more attentive, but if I were to leave a £3 tip, they might be a little insulted. Why should I pay £17 extra?

Tips should always be paid in cash. At least then the waiting staff have an outside chance of getting a sniff at it.

fruitbat_2

I'll confess I check the bill to see if a service charge has already been added, and if it's 'optional' (bloody cheeky practice) and the service wasn't up to scratch I won't hesitate to take the service charge off, however if we have had good service and it isn't included we'll tip around 10%, and try to leave cash, knowing that the staff are more likely to receive it than the restaurant's owners.

And where do restaurants get off adding '10% for parties of 6 or more' do more people create that much more work?

Interestingly the last time I was in London for a few days, every time we tried to add a tip to the credit card bill (easier when you're on expenses although I'd normally prefer to leave cash) this couldn't be done, cash tips only, but I haven't experienced this elsewhere.

N.B. when I waitressed tips were put in a pot and shared between waiting and kitchen staff at the end of a shift, so even the washer up got a share.

terrimolo

i only ever tip if the service or food is really good, i'm a poor student, i'm sure i need the money more!
i think it isn't really a trend we have in Britain, i know whenever i've visited foreign countries (especially in america, a friend of mine regualrly tips thirty percent in restaurants) its considered more normal.
in israel, waiters and waitresses don't work for a wage, they work only for tips (its illegal, but is accepted as a norm) because it makes them work harder at pleasing the customers. if that were the case here, i would probably tip a lot more.

scotydog775

:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

you say you dont tip because they get the minimum wage anyway

anyone who thinks this has never worked in a good restaurant or bar

i have spent the last 3 years working in top class restaurants and bars and the reason i do over working in the supermarket, because i enjoy it and because of the extra £50 a week in tips

whats wrong with leaving a tip for the people who have waited on you hand and foot for the last few hours.

its people like this that take service for granted that always get bad service because they treat staff like crap from the start!! A professional waiter or bartender can tell what sort of person you are from the momenet they start interacting with you and you attitude will often dictate theirs.

try this next time you go into a restaurant

SMILE and actually be nice to the waiter talk to them you will probably find they are much more willing to do whatever you ask.

the difference between good service and great service is unnoticed to most people only bad service ever goes noted. thats the point if you go to a restaurant and dont have a compliant you have probably had great service. remember the people are there to serve you and help you have a great time in a place you will probably be spending a lot of money anyway.

you dont expect the checkout guy to arrange something that isnt on the menu for you or get you a taxi when you have finished just beep beep beep.

thats why you tip your waiter because they make your night what it is. im not talking about a meal at some crappy national chain where most are 16 year old school kids. im talking about a good restaurant with many professional employees who actually enjoy their job.

i always give great service to all my customers and beleive that what i do is not just a job but a prefession and a career. its just a shame that it does nto get the recognition in this country that it does in others.

anyway i think you should always tip your waiter whatever you think of their wages as long as you get good service from them.

rant over
:beer:

Simon_c_2

If I do tip, I generally take of the drinks, and tip about 10% of what's left. Drinks in pubs and restaurants have a huge markup on them, so I begrudge tipping for squirting some postmix into a glass, or poring me a glass of cheap wine that there is 300% markup on already.

YourLocalGP

I tend to tip around 10% in restaurants if the service is good, but in so many places it isn't even 'satisfactory' by anyone's standards.

The excuse that irritates me the most is that the staff don't get paid very much to start with. So pay them more then! 12.5% service is just a way of confusing people into walking through the door. If it costs more to employ people, reflect this in your prices like every other business, don't add a stealth tax.

lolly-i-pop

I am a student who is a waitress part time. My wages and my tips practically pay my way through uni.
Our tips get split between everyone who works a shift that day / night.

When I go out to eat I tend to tip about 10% if the service and food was good, but less if it wasn't good enough.

When I'm at work I truely beleive that I deserve tips, because I will go all out on customer service. Waiting staff could either do there job (i.e. serve your food and drink), or they could do their job really well, and serve food and drink really fast, be smiley, polite, and basically do whatever you want us to do!

I love being a waitress but sometimes customers are so rude to us that it's unbelievable. If a customer is arsey to me, I will be arsey back, and I fully expect not to recieve a tip off them, but if I had a choice, I wouldnt serve them either.

If you are respectful to waiting staff, they will go all out on your service, because that is what they really enjoy doing and they will want you to leave the restaurant happy.

astralbee

Here's some things to consider:

The argument is that waiting staff rely on tips to make a decent living. But if no-one tipped then restaurant owners would have to pay a decent wage to retain decent staff. By tipping, are we not just perpetuating the low wage?

What about Indian restaurants? I hate to generalise, but have you noticed how lots of Curry Houses have several staff standing idle watching a half empty restaurant? One waiter takes your order, another brings your drinks, and yet another serves your food. How do they afford to run a business like this? Firstly because many are family business and they are paid 'in kind' and not by a wage. Secondly, because they charge so much for sundries. £2.95 for rice? There is traditionally a 50% markup on food in restaurants, but how much does half a cup of rice cost in a supermarket? Pennies. You cannot compare this kind of business to other restaurants, so should you use the same rule for tips everywhere you go?

:rolleyes: If you make the rule to tip when you receive good service but not when you are served poorly, what happens when a restaurant employs both good and bad waiters? The tips are shared out anyway and everyone receives the same.

That said, I have always tipped until now - but this thread has made me rethink and I have realised what a terrible system we are supporting by tipping. We are allowing restaurant owners to pay their staff peanuts and expect us to subsidise their wages while they ply us with overpriced drinks. I say don't tip!!

~D~

gelato_cat

I don't tip but sometimes my bf guilts me into it. I agree with those here who say they don't get tipped for doing their jobs well. I don't think it's up to the customer to make sure that the staff's wages are supplemented to minimum wage level either.

My bf always tips, even if the service is !!!!!!. My ex was even worse, he was Canadian and when we were in Canada I'd get a really hard time for not tipping. What makes it worse is that both guys aren't too good at the old mental arithmetic, so the tip would sometimes amount to 30% :eek:

Current bf took me to a Chinese restaurant which then became our "usual". The bill would come written in Chinese and we'd leave an extra 15%. One day we didn't have much and the bill was £36. I asked for a menu, the guy almost threw it at me, along with a calculator. I totted it up and it turned out the service was included - so all that time we'd been giving them 15% on top of the 10-15% they'd already added. I was fuming, not least because I had never wanted to tip in the first place and was annoyed with myself for never noticing.

Anyway, we paid the bill to the penny, excluding the service charge. We were on the way out when all the staff started yelling to stop us because we hadn't paid enough. There were guys blocking our way and everything. My bf is f3ckin useless in these situations (I'm getting :mad: just remembering this whole episode) and did his usual mummy's boy thing of letting me deal with it. I calmly explained that I wasn't happy with the service and wasn't going to pay the service charge. The guy said he was going to ring the police. I said OK, I wasn't scared. My bf didn't hear this bit but if he had he would have given them the money and run!

So, we're stood there ages and I'm like "so are the police coming then or what? Have you called them?". The guy behind the counter yelled "you go to English restaurant next time!" and told us to get out. I said "so, what, the police aren't coming then?" and he wouldn't have any of it. My bf then decided to start talking to the man (god knows why, the work had already been done) and I walked out.

Never been back since, and I noticed in the paper a few weeks later that they'd been shut down by Environmental Health. I dread to think what I ingested in that place :eek:

Suze