Do you tip in restaurants?

janthemum

I think it is disgraceful teacers get tipped or parents feel the need to give chocolates. Its their job; they knew the salary when they went in to profession. My kids are 15 , 13 I have and never will give any "present" to teacher for doinbg their paid job.

Jennifer_Jane

TA#6 wrote: »

For the people saying 'I dont tip the postman / dustman' etc....dont you give them a one off tip at Xmas ?

No fear, they earn more than I do! Aren't wages (ie Dustmen) paid by the ever-increasing Council Taxes? What do they (postmen/dustmen etc) do which is above and beyond the call of duty?

Iguana

Only if I think the service is good.

brightonman123

nearlyrich wrote: »

When the bill arrived it had a 10% service charge, we had it removed as they didn't deserve it and we won't be going back or recommending it to anyone else.

In the other hand if we get good service I am more than happy to tip generously.

like he said. whole idea of a restaurant is for someone to do the cooking/washing up etc.. paying a percentage on top of the food prices seems out of order, as i doubt the staff who do the work actually get paid that direct?

have worked iin pizza shop, and delivery drivers sometimes share any large tips- they have to take care of own expenses first (like petrol eetc!)

fionaralston

i tip waiters/waitresses because i have done the job and know the kind of crap they have to take from some customers.

i tip if they are nice and polite enough. if the foods crap or wrong or takes a long time i still tip because its not the waiters fault, i just wouldnt go back again.

you shouldnt tip because you have to, its just a nice thing to do.

roses

I once went to an Indian restaurant where the waiter was really friendly and chatty. We left him a nice tip but he told us to take it back because the owner takes all the tips away and he only gets his basic wage

whitfreak

Just out of interest, when you tip what are you tipping? Are you giving extra money to person who served you directly or for the whole service as a whole? I.e. do you expect tips to be shared out between the staff?

Having worked behind the bar in a beefeater (left in march) I have heard most of the arguements on sharing/not sharing/plate charges (cus the new management were trying to change it), and I was wondering what the customers thought?

As a side note my beefeater didn't do credit card/min wage games, although that method of tipping annoyed some staff as you had to remember to claim it or its "lost" and tax/ni is automatically taken off.

Also yes some chefs have a higher wage than waitresses, at my beefeater only the head chef(s) was on significatly above min wage, and the others lost their "advantage" with the last min wage increase, so all the staff other than those with "management" responibilities were on their respective minimum wages. Yet the waitresses still claimed a wage gap cus the head chefs wages so wouldnt considering sharing tips.... but thats a rant for another time.

adamtango

GazN wrote: »

I get annoyed when a service charge is added to the bill and then the credit card slip also has a space for a tip. I'm sure many people double tip in these cases, not realising.

I worked in a restaurant for a few years, the space for the tip is printed on credit card tips as standard usually, regardless of whether the service charge is already on your bill or not.

If you check your bill before making payment as most people do then you would be aware of any service charge before signing/chipnpin.

before_hollywood

i go for meals in a group of 8-10 and we all tip about 10% each, good service and the food being nice can easily neta waiter/waitress about £10-£15 with us lot (we all chuck in the nearest note to our part of the bill and don't bother about change so if someone owes £16 they often put in £20)

NBLondon2007

I started reading this on the basis of:

I tip 10-12% assuming the service has been competent and friendly, more if I've asked for extra service or the server has tried to go out of their way. I aim to do so in cash because I am rewarding the server not the owner. If I want to reward the chef I will ask to do so personally. If the menu states a service charge, this is factored into the calculation and refused if the service is bad.

But this is a good point

stogiebear wrote: »

Do you want 3 different servers for different parts of the dining experience? Do you care if the food is served by the same person that took your order?

My local branch of Strada is like this. I don't particularly care how many people are involved in the service if they communicate and do the job competently. But it did make me wonder if the tip given at the end got shared amongst the whole team or did some servers get a better deal based on when they came on shift? If the service charge is being shared amongst a whole team - how do I ensure I'm rewarding the right people. I have once refused to pay an optional service charge which was presented automatically on the credit card thingy and then tipped it back in cash to reward a specific server.