Money Moral Dilemma: Should I tip if other diners don't?

MSE_Sarah

This week's MoneySaver who wants advice asks...

I usually tip 10% when out for a meal, but recently I was eating with a group who don't tip at all and felt it would have been silly to leave such a small tip just for my share, so I didn't leave anything. Should I have done it anyway?

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silvercar

Depends whether you are a leader or a follower.

Ideally the group reach common agreement, or you choose your fellow diners better next time.

hazyjo

I'd have left something anyway. Next time I'd take charge of the bill and say "it's £X each after rounding it up for a tip."

Gavin83

I don't see why what the group does matters. If you want to leave a tip leave one, if you don't then don't.

Tips are mostly a ridiculous concept anyway and really have no place in this country.

onwards&upwards

If you’d put your tip on the table it might have embarrassed others into doing the same.

Unless they’d decided to not tip because the service was bad?

onwards&upwards

hazyjo wrote: »

I'd have left something anyway. Next time I'd take charge of the bill and say "it's £X each after rounding it up for a tip."

Dangerous ground, to assume everyone’s ok with splitting equally!

hazyjo

onwards&upwards wrote: »

Dangerous ground, to assume everyone’s ok with splitting equally!

I'm really not one of those who sit there adding up what each person spent, but appreciate not everyone is like that. Thankfully me and my groups of friends always just split. We go out often enough for it to even out.

n18lor

I only tip if I’ve had good service. My brother lives in Canada and if he gets poor service he just leaves 1 cent as a tip, so as the waiter/waitress knows he didn’t forget to leave a tip. Might do that myself some day I’m feeling mean.

onwards&upwards

hazyjo wrote: »

I'm really not one of those who sit there adding up what each person spent, but appreciate not everyone is like that. Thankfully me and my groups of friends always just split. We go out often enough for it to even out.

It depends on the group.

If you’ve got a veggie teetotaller and a steak eating wine drinker, one is always going to come out of it a lot better than the other if you split evenly! Groups of friends don’t always earn similar amounts or have the same financial circumstances either.

If you’re lucky and everyone is genuinely able and happy to split, great! Just never ‘take charge of the bill’ and make that assumption unless you’re 100% sure! Could be really awkward!

REJP

I never tip if there is a service charge. In fact, if service is poor I have been known to subtract the service charge and not leave a tip.
However, if I am with a group who don't tip, and there is no service charge, I would leave my own tip and make sure the group saw me do it. I would hand it personally to my waiter to make sure he or she got it, not the management.

mrpunk50

I'm gradually coming around to the idea that tipping is ridiculous.

My wife works in retail for low wages, and nobody tips her. My sister doesn't make much money dealing with the public in an NHS job, and nobody tips her.

Why should we tip waiting staff, when other minimum wage workers work just as hard?