Do you tip in restaurants?

QuestyC3

Whilst I like that the discretionary service charge takes away the pain of "do I tip or not tip?"...A few months ago I got charged a service charge for a takeaway coffee. I let it go because I didn't want to argue over 12.5% on a £3.50 coffee first thing in the morning. But the NERVE!

SMBG253

I don’t tip. Low wages are an employer/employee issue, not a customer issue. I agree with the original poster, I’ve never worked anywhere where I’ve been tipped. If I worked somewhere that pay me enough to cover my bills, I looked for another job. 

pearl123

I used to tip and then I realised that they were probably earning more than me. I now hardly ever eat out now. It would have to be a truly exceptional meal for me to leave a tip. 
I have been a waitress. 

Grumpy_chap

Bit of a tipping dilemma for me this evening.
Regular type of a place, regular standard of service, regular meal so happy to pay the proper price but would not normally have tipped either.

Got the bill and noted that the food and drinks for the main course were all correct but two coffees had been left off so I mentioned that the two coffees needed to be added back on.  The waiter then looked really rather confused, thanked us for our honesty, flustered a bit before says "coffees on the house" and presenting the card machine with the value already entered excluding the coffees.

I sort of then thought I could not really tip for the compensation against the coffees, so ended with a "win"...

What was the right thing to do?

MobileSaver

Soot2006 said:

I always tip ...The only time I don't leave any tip at all is when the service is poor.

I also like to go the same favourite restaurants so would rather the staff are happy to see me and pay attention.

Same here; we almost always tip if good service but like others I never add it to the credit card bill instead leaving cash separately.

When I lived down south, we were regulars at our favourite Thai restaurant; the food and service were exemplary and I always tipped generously. Whenever we took friends there for the first time they were always impressed that we were greeted by name and at the end of what was always a fantastic meal, the icing on the cake would be the manager coming over and offering us all drinks from the top shelf on the house - the reaction from our friends at being treated like VIPs was priceless.

MobileSaver

Grumpy_chap said:

I sort of then thought I could not really tip for the compensation against the coffees, so ended with a "win"...

That's a tough one! I think in the moment I'd have done the same as you but then felt guilty the next day for not tipping the too nice waiter.

Funnily enough I had a similar-ish experience a couple of days ago... great food and great service but it was a pub restaurant where we'd already paid for the meal and drinks. Normally would have tipped without question because it was way above average but at the particular moment we were leaving there were no staff to be seen and the particular part of Wales we were in had more than its fair share of undesirables so I wasn't comfortable leaving cash on the table.

The next day I felt bad for not tipping and in hindsight I should have waited what would probably only have been a couple of minutes tops for one of the staff to appear. In my defence we did subsequently leave glowing reviews for the establishment and staff but I'm sure they'd have preferred the money instead.

Brie

Not being from the UK originally I was a bit flummoxed to discover tipping wasn't a standard thing.  But also didn't understand the concept in a pub of telling the person serving at the bar to "buy themselves a drink". 

Net result is that decades on I've reached a comfortable solution of giving 10% minimum for good service and more for a marvelous experience.  Normally this is in cash on the table rather than on the card machine.  At our local cafe where we get breakfast once a week and the cost is normally under £15 (for 2 massive fry ups and non stop tea) we normally leave £2-3 because the staff are so lovely and we know they work very hard.

For those who have commented about being on minimum wage or not getting tipped in their jobs for doing well or saving the company money - I don't think it's a direct comparison.  Many of us work full time, have job security and benefits.  The waiting staff and delivery people are often on zero hour contracts or are working split shifts.  I've worked in similar circumstances and wouldn't want to go back to it.  So I pay to show my appreciation of what they are doing.

adindas

It will depend on where I am. In the US I normally tip because I understand that they get low wage and it is the norm that waitress make up their low wage from tips.

But In the UK and generally in the EU, I normally do not tip as I understand they get a decent wage for that sort of job. They have a minimum wage same as many other people such as in the fast-food chain, bin man, the waitress in the shops, the Supermarkets chain, the pubs etc. In some occasion especially in posh / gourmet restaurant they might even get more. Also to avoid to become a norm that pressurise everyone even the person him/herself might get lower wage than the person s/he tips.

The question here is that, if you tip because of the service why do not you tip the school boys/girls, in MacDonald, KFC, Men/Women working in Kebab shop, fish and chips, take away etc. Do not they also serve you ? Keep in mind this boys/girls might get paid less than the one you tip in the restaurant. These boys/girls along with people working in Kebab shop are often on zero hour contracts, working on split shifts, night shift often in worse work condition then the  one working in posh, gourmet restaurant.

Why do not you tip your binman, the waitress in the shops, the Supermarkets chain, bus drivers, etc ?? If not why not ...

Is it because of crowd mentality, getting embarrassed because someone you know might be watching you and mark you as stingy ??

If you give answer to this question people might understand the reason for giving tips.

Probably more provoking question. Did you tip your nurse, dentists, your GP, the police, your teacher, your lecturer, your mentor in the work place ??

MobileSaver

adindas said:

if you tip because of the service why do not you tip the school boys/girls, in MacDonald, KFC, Men/Women working in Kebab shop, fish and chips, take away etc.

There's a big difference (or should be) between fast food and a restaurant meal. The KFC server simply grabs pre-cooked food from a counter and hands it to you. In a restaurant the front of house staff chat to me, often make a recommendation from the menu, the food is cooked especially for me and is brought over to my table and the waiter/waitress will always pop back and ask if they can get me anything else and then happily bring that over too - there's really little comparison between the two types of service.

If it makes you feel better then on the rare occasion when restaurant food/service is little different than fast food then we make a point of not tipping so we don't just do it by rote.

Similarly, we actually do tip our favourite kebab shop guys as they're always smiling and friendly and flirt with my girlfriend etc. - they don't just hand over food but make an effort so that we always leave the shop smiling.

adindas

MobileSaver said:

adindas said:

if you tip because of the service why do not you tip the school boys/girls, in MacDonald, KFC, Men/Women working in Kebab shop, fish and chips, take away etc.

There's a big difference (or should be) between fast food and a restaurant meal. The KFC server simply grabs pre-cooked food from a counter and hands it to you. In a restaurant the front of house staff chat to me, often make a recommendation from the menu, the food is cooked especially for me and is brought over to my table and the waiter/waitress will always pop back and ask if they can get me anything else and then happily bring that over too - there's really little comparison between the two types of service.

If it makes you feel better then on the rare occasion when restaurant food/service is little different than fast food then we make a point of not tipping so we don't just do it by rote.

Similarly, we actually do tip our favourite kebab shop guys as they're always smiling and friendly and flirt with my girlfriend etc. - they don't just hand over food but make an effort so that we always leave the shop smiling.

What about binman emptying your bin every week, the people in drug stores, Pharmacies who help you choosing or showing products, your trainers in the Gym. The bus drivers, the staffs in the bus, train station showing you the directions, delivery boys, there are lot more others.

It is your own money so nothing wrong with it. But the main argument against it that I have heard is that you set up the expectation making people which might be getting lower wage than the people they tips feel uncomfortable for not tipping. Imagine if you were in this position tipping people, witnessing other people getting tipped while noone is tipping you.