What are your thoughts on tipping?

[just play]

I know other countries have different ideas on tipping, but here in the USA tipping is huge.

I was reading an article on yahoo the other day about a pizza delivery guy who delivered 85 pizzas totalling almost $1,500, and the people gave him a $10 tip. Now in a restaurant no one would dare leave that small of a tip on that kind of bill. I don't think he deserved the 15-20% tip, but $10? How many trips did he have to make to bring 85 pizzas to the door of the house.

I like reading the replies from people after reading the story, and most of the replies discusted me. Someone starting talking about counter tip jars for various places. The replies were...get a real job...I'm not gonna tip you for doing nothing...who cares if you make minimum wage it's not my problem...go to college...etc...

No one was talking about waitresses really, mostly just other places, like I said counter tip jars, or people at the restaurant who put together your meal for takeout. So after reading for about an hour I saw replies from people working in this places, saying what they have to do, what they get paid, and some even said putting your food together for takeout is much more time consuming than just delivering plates to a table.

Then some people chimmed in and said to those people who don't tip that they were in college, but had to have a job to pay for college and bills, some said they had masters degrees but in this economy had to take a minimum wage (or less) job.

So after this long winded post (I just wanted to add as much information as possible) what do you think about tipping...

1. waitresses
2. counter people who put together your food for takeout
3. coffee shops
4. deli workers who take your order, make your food and cash you out
5. delivery people

[chayton]

I usually tip everyone. I tip restaurant servers and cabdrivers and delivery people and if I get my hair done. Even if someone is not really good I still tip them something, and if they're really good I tip more. I have a feeling that most people who don't tip are people who have never had that type of job. I had this one acquaintance in AZ who grew up with her parents paying her way through one school after another, she never worked any 'service' jobs and she was adamant that she wouldn't tip unless she got exemplary service. I even caught her pocketing a tip I had left when we went to lunch together once!

I mean especially since when I was living in Phoenix going to school I decided to take a part time job as a waitress, at the interview the owner of the restaurant said something like, "Our normal wage is two but since you have experience we can start you at two-fifteen" and I was thinking, "...he can't mean $2 an hour...? It's not 1950!" But that's exactly what they meant - AZ being a 'right to work' state, at some restaurants you're expected to make minimum wage WITH your tips.

Of course I didn't take the job, and after that I tipped even more.

[chuzzleaddict]

Hello, in the UK where I am IMO tipping is quite a lot less 'popular' than it is in the US, a lot of people here are quite scornful of it like 'they're just doing their job, why should I give them extra?' type attitude. That said, it is also well known that in quite a few industries, you are expected to help the employee 'make up' their low salary with the help of tips,and it can be quite lucrative, in say the top end hotels, taxis, that kind of thing.

The places I tip are - pizza delivery, grocery delivery, hairdresser and the waiter for table service at a restaurant. I do not tip at take-out or buffet type of deal, coffee shops etc, nor any other delivery drivers unless it would be like a HUGE delivery coming in to the house with perhaps an install, like a washing machine.

But among people I know, I am in the minority, most do not like to tip at all and question why I do it. I have spent a lot of time in the States and think some of it rubbed off on me there!

[Casinomeister]

In Germany, tipping is kept to a minimum for a number of reasons. Most restaurants are family owned or small private businesses. When you sit at a table, in most cases that table is yours for the night. There is no handing you the bill before you are finished (like in the States), you have to ask for it when you want to leave. At that point the server will ask whether you want it separate or together, and they will either add it up on a small pad of paper, or ring it up at the cash register. When they hand it to you, you pay right then and there in cash (Credit cards are rarely used), and you round up to the nearest 1 or 2 Euros.

For a night out (pizza and four beers) that would be about 18 Euros - round up to 19.50 or 20. And the servers are appreciative about it since they don't rely on tips. Many of the servers are either part-owners of the restaurants, or they are paid well enough not to worry about a tip.

If you tip too big, they will think there is something wrong with you. If you do it around friends, your friends will think you are a braggart trying to be a show-off. You never leave a tip on the table unless you've used a credit card (rarely there is a "tip" section on most CC receipts). The waitress takes the payment - you place a Euro or two on the table and leave.

A lot of places invoke the honor system. When paying the bill, they ask you what you've eaten/drunk and add up the price. Some use your Bierdeckel (coaster), marking it with a pen each time you order a beer. When the party is over, you hand over the Bierdeckel and they add up the beers, and you find yourself a cab.

Cab drivers usually get the same sort of tip. You round up to the next Euro or two. Same at the hairdresser - you usually tip a Euro for an 18 Euro haircut. Pizza delivery - a Euro, maybe two.

This is one of the reasons I hate traveling in the States, tipping has become ludicrous. When it's mandatory, it's not a tip - it's extortion. If the servers and cab drivers feel they need more money, then the owners should adjust the prices accordingly. If the service is good, then tip. If it's not good or mediocre, then no tip. And if there is no tip, the server should just be happy about it anyway since the paycheck they are receiving should be good enough anyway.

And the service here in Germany is as good as anywhere else - sometimes better. So it's not like that 15% - 20% tip is getting you anything special. It's bullshit for all I'm concerned.

[Borgie]

I am also in the UK

I always tip taxi drivers, hairdressers - both the hair cutter and the hair washer if they are two different people, although more to the hair cutter and almost always waiters/waitresses unless I have had an awful experience. I will also tip someone delivering take away food.

I do not tip grocery delivery or online orders that are delivered.

[just play]

Chayton, I would agree 100% with you about the people who don't tip never had to work those type of jobs. I have worked them all, lol. I especially hated at some restaurants the waitresses would pool their tips, so if you wanted you could be a bad waitress and still get good tips.

I also tip everywhere, and tip nicely. When I used to drink my friends and I would frequent this bar, I would always tip the girl good on my drink order, so the next time I went up to the bar (there could be 20 people waiting around the bar) she would come to me first. I also notice in our local restaurants we get treated better, get more food, etc...I think the people really appreciate it and in turn show us how much they appreciate it.



Chuzzle, I knew some countries had different ideas on tipping but didn't know exactly which countries. We always tip takeout, but never tip washing machine deliveries. I didn't know people did that.

[just play]

This is one of the reasons I hate traveling in the States, tipping has become ludicrous. When it's mandatory, it's not a tip - it's extortion. If the servers and cab drivers feel they need more money, then the owners should adjust the prices accordingly. If the service is good, then tip. If it's not good or mediocre, then no tip. And if there is no tip, the server should just be happy about it anyway since the paycheck they are receiving should be good enough anyway.

And the service here in Germany is as good as anywhere else - sometimes better. So it's not like that 15% - 20% tip is getting you anything special. It's bullshit for all I'm concerned.

I look at this different. If the owners of certain places were to increase their workers pay, most of these small businesses would go out of business. These restaurants are not required to pay minimum wage, like other places such as 7-11 or something similar.

You don't believe if a party of 15 people come into a restaurant a mandatory tip should be included? I have no idea what waitresses make these days but it's REALLY LOW. They do not make minimum wage, tips is what makes their pay, not their paycheck. The paychecks are ridiculously low, it's laughable.

When we frequent our local restaurants we DO get better service because they know us. And to tell you the truth, when I waitressed and knew people that came in and didn't tip well, I will admit I didn't service them as good as others.


edit....

And if there is no tip, the server should just be happy about it anyway since the paycheck they are receiving should be good enough anyway.

This is strange to hear from you, living in the USA for as long as you did, you should know how little waitresses are paid. Their paychecks are nothing! Our current minimum wage just got raised or is being raised to $9 an hour I believe, waitresses make I would guess (I have no idea) $3-4 an hour...so their paychecks ARE NOT good enough anyway.

[dionysus]

We (meaning the bf and I)tend to tip espec. where the employee gets hourly minimum, so, waiter/waitresses, pizza/beer delivery, bartenders and cabbies. Standard is usually 20%, more if good service, less if bad. HERE, certain services get LESS than the standard minimum wage and RELY on tips, mostly restaurant and bar workers.

[chuzzleaddict]

My friends like to regularly remind me of the time when in the USA and renting a house in Florida,I got so flustered/paranoid about the tipping rules that I saw fit to tip our pizza delivery person $25 for a $12 pizza She walked pretty fast down the path hoping I wouldn't change my mind lol

[dionysus]

A nice thing we have here (a few of the ON cities I've lived in), is I can tip the beer delivery guy my empties; saves me carting them back, and he's ok with it, because it's still money to him.