Do you tip in restaurants?

older_and_no_wiser

V1m_Fuego said:

Never tip.  It's a slippery slope I never want to be part of.  If you see how messed up tipping system is in the US, you wouldn't want anything to do with it.
I went to a restaurant in NYC, and we rounded the bill up, and it came to 14.8% tip, as we left, they literally chased after us asking why we didn't leave more.. 

Yes I've had the same (being confronted outside the restaurant) experience in Florida (Sarasota).

NewLeaf1986

It depends where, who I'm with, and which country we are in.

If we have taken mother out to dine, the waiter / waitress automatically gets a tip / larger tip for having had to tolerate her for any period of time.

If we are in a nation where tipping culture is part of the servers essential income (e.g. USA), absolutely.

If the server has been unhelpful / rude / slow / ignorant / dismissive due to a bad attitude, no tip.

If they've been unhelpful / rude / slow / ignorant / dismissive because they've had a bloody awful day and are just feeling down in the dumps despite having tried their hardest, they get a tip, a drink, and a shoulder to cry on. 

squirrelchops2

Thing is, most people are assuming the tip just goes to your server/wait person. However when I worked in and ran pubs/restaurants we would have a pot where all tips were put. Every month they were then divided amongst everyone based on the amount of hours they had done. So everyone from the cleaner, chefs, wait staff the lot had a share......
It is a joint effort - after all the waiting staff might be great but if the place /toilets are dirty this would impact on how I would feel about a place. Similarly would you tip if the waiting staff were great but the food was awful - I wouldnt!

NewLeaf1986

squirrelchops2 said:

Thing is, most people are assuming the tip just goes to your server/wait person. However when I worked in and ran pubs/restaurants we would have a pot where all tips were put. Every month they were then divided amongst everyone based on the amount of hours they had done. So everyone from the cleaner, chefs, wait staff the lot had a share......
It is a joint effort - after all the waiting staff might be great but if the place /toilets are dirty this would impact on how I would feel about a place. Similarly would you tip if the waiting staff were great but the food was awful - I wouldnt!

I have been known to send a tip to the kitchen staff courtesy of the manager before 

izawa

If there is service charge, no need separately.

Jazz92

I will tip 10% if they do a great service. large order or I can see they are really busy and struggling,

but it's standard service not really.

Sandtree

Depends where you are in the world... there are places like the USA where waiting staff salaries are next to nothing and the culture is to tip (and generously compared to the UK) then not following the local norm hits your waiting staff in the pocket. Personally tend to follow the local norm and in many countries it means leavig the tip in cash even if paying by card as not all places will share card based tips with the staff (or in some they get shared equally whereas cash tips go to that personal alone).

In very cheap countries it can be more complex - a light meal here with a beer can be £2.50 and personally feel a bit cheap leaving 25p tip

In the UK "service charge" is becoming the norm in London and so rarely tip above that. Have on one or two occasions asked for the optional service charge to be removed when having terrible experience. If not then 10% rounded up to a round bill value for good service and maybe a bit more for great service. Dont tend to go below 10% for just acceptable service etc.

TELLIT01

I absolutely hate the US system of tipping everybody for everything.  They should be paid a decent wage rather than expecting the customer to cough up 20%, or more, extra.  That said, I did tip well in the USA because I knew the situation.  I was chatting to the barman in a Sports Bar who said a group of Australians had asked if the Aussie Rules final could be shown.  He went out of his was to arrange this, and at the end of the evening there was about a dollar in change left on the table.  He was unimpressed, the Aussies don't have a culture of tipping at all as I understand it.

IvanOpinion

TELLIT01 said:

I absolutely hate the US system of tipping everybody for everything.  They should be paid a decent wage rather than expecting the customer to cough up 20%, or more, extra.  That said, I did tip well in the USA because I knew the situation.  I was chatting to the barman in a Sports Bar who said a group of Australians had asked if the Aussie Rules final could be shown.  He went out of his was to arrange this, and at the end of the evening there was about a dollar in change left on the table.  He was unimpressed, the Aussies don't have a culture of tipping at all as I understand it.

I can't remember if it was this board or another board, but there was an Aussie poster who used to tell us that it was considered demeaning/insulting to be offered a tip in Australia.

I feel no moral obligation to tip in this country ever since minimum wage became guaranteed.

robbiemann

Recently stayed at a famous chefs hotel/restaurant and asked the question about tips. We were told that it was not expectesd as all the service etc was what we had paid, the very large, bill for. We met the chef and I commented that his staff were excellent and his comment was 'as they should be'.