Do you tip in restaurants?

NBLondon

Grumpy_chap said:

We had a "tipping" dilemma at the weekend.  After our meal - excellent food - appalling service - the bill arrived with 12.5% gratuity already added to the total.  Unfortunately, the desire not to make a scene won out and the gratuity was paid.  Quite annoying really.  It's one thing to pay when the experience was superb but quite another when the experience was "wanting"

Wonder how much they make out of people not wanting to make a scene?  I would have asked for it to be removed in order to make the point that the service wasn't as expected.  I have in the past, asked for an auto tip to be removed to make the point and then tipped in cash because the problems were in the kitchen and not under the server's control.

iMerc

If the service is exceptional then absolutely! The same goes for the quality of the food vs. the price. Also it depends on what my bank balance is looking like at the time! 

Barneytheduck

My wife likes to I dont really

Any

Grumpy_chap said:

We had a "tipping" dilemma at the weekend.  After our meal - excellent food - appalling service - the bill arrived with 12.5% gratuity already added to the total.  Unfortunately, the desire not to make a scene won out and the gratuity was paid.  Quite annoying really.  It's one thing to pay when the experience was superb but quite another when the experience was "wanting"

We had very similar. We went to a place, place with set tasting menu set wine list etc.. Celebration. White wine served warm 🙄, red wine spilled over us. "sorry" mumbled in quiet voice and left. Waitress generally out of her depth, not exactly pleasant. Then they brought a bill with £42 added for service charge (4 of us) . We told them to take it off.
Have been to this restaurant several times previously for celebrations, but the service is increasingly lacking and the automatic service charge is really !!!!!! me off now. Not going back now and told my other half for wedding anniversary lets definitely choose somewhere else.
Didn't mind the service charge when they delivered something special, but now I feel robbed when thet add it.
Hate service charges full stop, but for good place willing to pay it.
I do pay a tip but out of obligation really, as I also believe that paying set % is ridiculous for someone doing their job. I would always leave coins or round up for a bill say of £27.80 to £30 for example like they do in Europe, but I am already paying almost (and sometimes over) 10 quid for a glass of wine in Manchester, do you truly want a quid for pouring it?? Mind, blown

p_anotherguy

benten69 said:

Wasn't sure if this was the right place to put this, so admin, please move if needed.

Do you guys (and girls) tip when you go for a meal out? Personally I hate the idea, and it's even worse when you've got the waiter standing next to you as you select "No" on the card machine.

However, I always say that I don't get tips for doing anything extra and providing good levels of service in my job, so why should I pay others extra for a basic service their employers should be paying them for. In my previous role I saved the company £20,000 a day in penalties by delivering the project on time (a week early in fact), but I didn't get anything extra for it, because quite simply, it was my job.

Hence, I don't agree with tipping. They are doing a job & getting their hourly rate, so why do I need to subsidize it? Tesco don't tell me to pay extra if I go to a till vs going to the self checkout.

However, if there is a large group of us and say the bill comes out to £18 each, we'll all chuck in £20 and let the waiter / waitress keep the change. That's the only scenario it works in for me, as it saves everyone the hassle of finding change, waiting to get their change, etc.

What are peoples thoughts?

To be honest, I'm also against tipping. Why should I give you money for basically just doing your job?
So, I completely agree with you. However, it is considered rude not to tip, so I still do it.

Grumpy_chap

Well, we just checked out of a hotel and the final bill included two different categories of 'tip'.

Every bar / restaurant tab had an 'optional' service charge.  We at least expected this as the slips we signed as we went along showed the service charges.  Had we wished to challenge these, then I guess the time would have been when signing the slips.

Then, there was a 'discretionary' service charge applied for each night of accommodation which was, apparently, to go to housekeeping and such like.

This was a totally new one on me.  I remain confused as to what the difference is between 'optional' and 'discretionary'.

Seofiia

Yeah, usually you do. In most restaurants it’s normal to leave a tip, often around 15–20% of the bill if the service was good. Some places might already include a service charge, so it’s worth checking the receipt first.

MobileSaver

Like most here I've noticed more and more places are automatically adding an 'optional' tip when they present you with the bill but I came across something even more infuriating earlier this week.

We dined in a busy pub restaurant that had those QR codes on the table; you scan the code, order your food and pay upfront at the table, all without any interaction with the staff...

...Incredibly the system suggested I pay an optional tip before the food had even been cooked let alone any of the waiting staff had provided any kind of service!

This is a new one on me and needless to say the pre-emptive tip suggestion was declined and on principle no tip was left at the end of the meal.