Tipping

[Taterman]

At a restaurant type where you order at the counter but they bring the food to the table, do you guys tip the same as a full service restaurant? Or do you even tip at all?

 

[eveled]

Disposable plates/utensils, or ceramic and silverware? Do you leave the stuff on the table? Or clear your own table?

 

[Taterman]

Disposable plates/utensils, or ceramic and silverware? Do you leave the stuff on the table? Or clear your own table?

Ceramic with regular silverware. I guess you don't need to clear your own table but I have been doing that in spite of the owners son telling me it's not necessary.

 

[Rei40c]

At a restaurant type where you order at the counter but they bring the food to the table, do you guys tip the same as a full service restaurant? Or do you even tip at all?

I remember just months ago people looking at me like I was crazy for leaving a couple of bucks behind at the Omelette Shop as I left. It's a place like you described. Two of them said " oh you don't have to do that". My logic was someone has to come behind me and clean up my mess.

Do I did as much in that situation compared to restaurants where I'm waited on? no. But I always leave a couple of bucks behind.

 

[rugerguy211]

why are my responses not showing up?

 

[rugerguy211]

except for that last one...weird...

 

[Dave P.]

why are my responses not showing up?

Did you tip the moderator?
Dave

 

[The Preacher]

My son was a waiter for a year or so between college and getting a full time teaching job. I know all the horror stories..., some you wouldn't believe.... as long as the service is at least "good", I give them 20%. They're try'n to make a live'n too.... JMHO

The Preacher

 

[sfhogman]

The Preacher has it right.
Waiting tables is hard work. I tip at least 15% and usually more.

Jeff

 

[eveled]

If real plates, and they clear tables, I leave a tip. Not as big as in a restaurant were the waiter brings drink refills.

 

[pruger45]

If the service is good I tip accordingly!

 

[Colonialgirl]

I tipped when I had a free dinner for veteran's day at the Golden Corral; they bring plates and your drink and you go pick up your own food; They Also take away the used plates and make sure your drink is FULL.
Well worth the tip in my opinion.

 

[Pat-inCO]

Waiting tables is hard work.
I tip at least 15% and usually more.

Until you get one like I had.
Sit down, wait person takes order, delivers food and drink type.
I tipped 20% and the waitress got huffy. She wanted 25%.
I've not been back in there since (two years now).

YES, they are trying to make a living. But YES the prices keep going
up (thus the tip for a fixed percentage) and my income DOESN'T.

I think 10% for lousy service, 15% for reasonable and 20% for good service.
But a huffy server gets zero, because I do not go back.

 

[bogus bill]

My wife and I at regular type cafes, (not expensive restaurants) generally leave a $5 bill.

 

[Jeepnik]

Never waited tables. But I make a very good living. Tipping 20% doesn't hurt my bottom line, but might just make a difference for the wait staff. Other's may not be able to tip as well, but if figure if I can, and the service is adequate I might help make up for those that either not as well of or just plain cheap.

 

[6GUNSONLY]

Never waited tables. But I make a very good living. Tipping 20% doesn't hurt my bottom line, but might just make a difference for the wait staff. Other's may not be able to tip as well, but if figure if I can, and the service is adequate I might help make up for those that either not as well of or just plain cheap.

This. I tend to tip on the generous side if the service is at least reasonably good. A stingy tip vs a generous tip is not going to buy me any Rugers. Especially the kind I like.

 

[JFB]

how about for take out where you call in and pick it up?

I usually add a dollar for under $10 meal

I even gave a Christmas tip to the cashiers at Western Sizzler

Just realize I haven't tip Pizza Hut, nor the fast food type chicken & barbeque place

 

[Rei40c]

how about for take out where you call in and pick it up?

I usually add a dollar for under $10 meal

I even gave a Christmas tip to the cashiers at Western Sizzler

Just realize I haven't tip Pizza Hut, nor the fast food type chicken & barbeque place

If you ever go to denny's in the middle of the night for take out tip the waitress who brings your bag to you and watch their face light up. A while back I became a regular between 2-4am at my local Denny's. Not only is there hardly anyone in there at that hour, the crowd they do get at that time tends to be a little rough and don't tip well if at all.

I once watched a 20 something couple come in. It appeared after a night of partying. They ordered off the $2 menu and stayed there over 45 minutes in the booth. All the while running the waitress back and forth constantly, and once sending a plate back because the eggs where too cold. I overheard that as it was just them and I in there at the time. I hear change hit the table and look over to see they where putting on their coats and leaving. I was finished eating and going to pay the bill. I had to walk by their table after they left. I counted at most .25 cents in nickels lying on the table for the waitress that had slaved over them nearly an hour. Kinda burned me up. I went back and dropped a couple of extra bucks on my table.

I don't think I could do that kind of work for very long. My temper would get the better of me.

 

[exavid]

I tip more nowadays after having a few years driving charter buses where the driver gets slightly over minimum wage and lives or dies on the tips. Restaurants and cafeterias I tip 20% or rounded up slightly more. Mickey D's, or Burger King, Taco Bell, I usually don't tip.

 

[gtxmonte]

If someone comes to my table for anything, at any restaurant, they get a tip. Generally I am a solid 20% tipper. Have left 50%, have left more.......have also left a hundred dollar bill. They work hard, put up with crap and do it for peanuts. I especially try and watch for the ones I think are waiting tables AND going to school. Now if you are a career waitress, obviously hate your job because you ARE a career waitress who never strived for more and show me that attitude........it will be reflected in your tip

 

[Ka6otm]

One of my first real jobs was as a busboy, and I remember the manager telling me that if I wasn't almost running and didn't have around 50 pounds in the bucket I was carrying I wasn't doing my job.

It can be hard work. I tip according to service, not food quality, as that's how it should be.

 

[Rancher Will]

I have noticed the past few months that some McDonalds give you a number card that you can place on your table or booth. If you do not take the card your meal will be handed to you on a tray at the counter as normal. It is your option.

Even the McDonalds that do this do not do to every customer or do it every day, or do it at every meal time, or do it when they are even slightly busy,. etc. It seems to be haphazard on a whim with no rule.

 

[Pat-inCO]

I tip according to service, not food quality, as that's how it should be.

I'll disagree.
The wait person is the final quality control on the food served.

If they deliver a plate of "stuff" that the dog out the back door would
not even look at, WHO is at fault? The person delivering it.

Conversely, if it looks good, but tastes terrible, it's not the wait person.

 

[vito]

For the type restaurant you describe, I normally leave a few dollars, like 2 or 3, for my wife and I regardless of the size of the bill. Bringing food to the table that I ordered at a counter, and especially if I am expected t dispose of my trash when leaving, is not the same as true waiter/waitress service. In a regular restaurant, I usually tip 20-25% depending on the service, assuming it was at least acceptable. For poor service I tip far lower and have even on rare occasions left nothing as the service was truly unacceptable. As to tipping for take-out orders, I must admit I have never even heard of anyone doing that.

 

[BearBio]

Depends on my interaction with the staff. I've been known to "stiff" the waiter and walk over to the bus boy with a tip because the waiter was a jerk (We made good money but had a gift certificate from the owner=waiter must have thought we were dead beats 'cuz of the certificate. We tipped the busboy $20).

I sometimes leave a tip, if there is a tip jar, if they make my food (such as Tacos del Mar and bring it==not if they just take my food order=like Arby's).

 

[jimbo1096]

My rule is simple. fast food, no tip. If you have a server but not a real waiter and leave your plates and mess to clean up, usually 10% or a couple bucks. If a waiter, then 20% with good service and good food. It's a sliding scale and the less they do for me, the less they get in return.

 

[contender]

I was raised in a restaurant,,, that my Dad built in 1950. My Mom was the main cook,,, although we did have a hired cook for several years,,, and we hired a LOT of waitresses over the years. My brother, sister & I all had to grow up working there. We did most of the jobs from washing dishes,, peeling taters, stocking, waiting tables, working our Dairy Bar, etc.
We hired good waitresses, and some bad ones. We hired older teens from an orphanage school during the summer months & provided them with apartments to live in while here.

I was raised to believe a "tip" was just that,, a tip for good service. NOT an expected form of pay. My Dad paid a fair wage,, and tips were extra money for a good job. They were not required to split tips etc. If you didn't work hard or were not good at your job,,, it reflected in your tips & we let them go. Plus,, we could easily spot a good waitress or not.

Modern day tipping has become a "mandatory" type of thing socially. And laws are in place to allow a business to pay a lesser hourly wage,,, saying that tips make up for the rest. Of course,,, if the tips do not total up to a wage level,, then the owner has to make up the difference.

I am in the minority here,,, as I feel this is totally WRONG.

I fully feel a fair wage should be paid, and that tipping should be voluntary & ONLY given for service above & beyond what you should expect out of an establishment. A diner where the meals are $10 or so,, you will likely get the type of waiter or waitress that is not a very motivated or fails to give a level of expected service. And in the same fashion,, a truly good place where meals cost a bit more & attract a different clientele will have better workers who will make a better wage AND often receive better tips. As with ANY job,, you will have exceptions to all of this,, and can get excellent service at a hole in the wall dive & get crappy service at an upscale, reservation only restaurant.
But tipping should be exactly that,,, a tip for excellent service by that person.

I have sent generous tips to chefs in kitchens,,, for the wonderful dishes I was served. I have given healthy tips to hard working waiters & waitresses AFTER I find out if they have to share tips or not. I have also spoken with many managers & owners about their staff,, both good AND bad. I have often failed to leave a tip after I spoke with a manager about poor service.

But I think the tipping thing has gotten out of hand. Too many places force the employees to pool the tips to where everybody gets an equal share,,, no matter how good or bad they are. It's easier on the manager or owner in their book keeping. Add in the fact that many service workers seem to expect a tip nowadays,, especially at holidays etc when they may often fail to provide an exemplary service OF WHICH THEY ARE BEING PAID TO DO,,, is wrong in my book.
As such,,, many people fail to have a work ethic. If they get hired,,, do a poor job,,, yet fail to do anything to get themselves fired,,, they still get good money when tips are split,,, etc.
Some jobs used to be "work for tips only" and those types of people who were successful actually worked HARD. Those who didn't moved on to where their laziness got them a guaranteed paycheck.

Another peeve of mine is the "mandatory" tip amount put on a check where there is a group of 8 or more at one table. A waiter is normally assigned a "section" or a number of tables to work. Usually 4-6 in a busy place,, or more in a slower paced restaurant. A table of 8 is 2 tables of 4 put together,, in the same section. The work load has not changed. A party of 8-12 is no more than 3 tables of 4 together. And if a waiter or waitress can not handle them,, then they are not doing their job. BUT they claim it is harder. Sorry,,, been there, done it,, and they are wrong. As long as it's in the same section & space assigned to that one person,,, then they SHOULD be able to handle it. Now,, really large parties may require more than one server to make sure the food & drinks etc are all served at the same time. That is where the restaurant can assign a second staff member to assist.

The mandatory amount also increases according to the cost on the check. When they put the "mandatory" tip on the check,,, in many states,, you are NOT required to pay that amount. I have often left less than that amount when the service was less than it should be & once even had a manager & waiter chase me out in the street afterwards. (This was after I'd requested an audience with the mgr who failed to honor my request.) I politely told him the service was crappy, WITH the waiter standing there, and told him that NC law did NOT require me to pay the tip he demanded. He said he'd call the police. I politely told him to do so,,, that I'd HAPPILY wait on them,, then sue his arse personally for the way HE treated me personally & that he needed to look up the LAW. He looked a little stunned & then just walked off. I found the owner & sent them a letter outlining what had happened,, and listed all the folks in our party who were equally un-impressed with the service. I was contacted & we were all refunded our dinner expenses.

A tip should be EXACTLY that,, a tip for service above & beyond what is expected. And at the same time,,, an honest wage should be paid like almost all other jobs out there. A tip should not be mandatory or demanded.

 

[Taterman]

Thanks for the great answers guys.

 

[WAYNO]

I tip anywhere I receive service.

But, walking to a cash register, placing the order, pushing a tray and picking up a plate or bag at the other end? More often than not there's now a tip jar at the cash register.

Or (as in a local place I often frequent)... ordering from a cash register, sitting down, then the fry cook brings the food to where you're sitting, and in the meantime I'm getting my own drinks, my own condiments, my own napkins and silverware? There is a bus person who fills coffee cups. That's the only wait service provided at this place. But the gals receive full tips. I never order their coffee, so I never receive any service at all, other than the gal sometimes comes order to ask if everything is good. What percentage of tip should she really receive?

And at the buffets...100% is self serve. The servers do bus the dishes when we are done with a course. So I tip them for that.

I don't mind tipping, I expect to tip, and I am a good tipper. But some of the places I just don't think should be tipped. But i tip anyway, as I don't want them to remember that I was the guy that stiffed them on the tip last time. I also don't like the servers throwing their tips into one jar to be shared. If I have a really good server, I will tip way over the chart. I don't want her to share her tip with another server that I might know is a terrible server.

Most states now have self-serve gasoline. In Oregon, the law says an employee must pump your gas. (I will fight to keep this law, but that is another topic.) Should a gas-pumper expect to be tipped? In the really old days, many of us pumped gas as an early job. In those days, I checked the tires, pumped them if necessary, washed all the windows, and checked the fluids under the hood. I could count on one hand the number of times I was tipped for this rather extensive service. It was just expected, and the auto care/auto service industry is not one that expects to be tipped. I tip them anyway, and often they decline the tip, until they figure it's in their best interest to put the money in their pocket and say no more.

So, in this country we're expected, even required, to tip for some services, regardless of the service received, but for other services, tips are not expected. Weird standard.


WAYNO.

 

[Taterman]

I tip anywhere I receive service.

So, in this country we're expected, even required, to tip for some services, regardless of the service received, but for other services, tips are not expected. Weird standard.


WAYNO.

Very true sir.