Anyway, the way I used to tip was pretty much $2 per person served at the table (sounds cheap, but when I was growing up, spending more than $5 on your restaurant meal was extravagant). I might add or take away a buck or two, but that was my standard. Now, I tend to tip in the 15% range (roughly double the GST), and then I add a buck or two if something stands out. If we didn’t spend much on the meal but the server was good (e.g. brought crayons or remembered all the stuff that is supposed to be included in the kids meal or offered to clean up the toddler’s mess — I always pick up all the food off the floor or whatever, but I appreciate the offer — or did more than just take order, bring drink, bring food) I will make it a minimum of $5, even if the bill comes in under twenty bucks.

As a cubicle monkey, I think I’ll keep my hard-earned wages to myself and dine out less often.

I know, I know, that comment was directed at someone else. But it’s reality that many servers look at their customers that way. Check out tipping.org for a real eye-opener.

I have always had a problem contemplating tipping because it seems so unfair to tip for SERVICE based on the price of the FOOD. It makes absolutely NO sense to me. Let us consider this… “KissMyGrits” Flo, with three children to feed and no hubby, works at “Greasy Spoon Diner” near to her home so she can take the bus (public transportation). You can get the full course meal – soup, salad, entree, two side of veggies(which come in those tiny little bowls), limitless coffee and dessert for $10.99. Flo is neat and clean, polite, addresses me by name and is attentive. Off the top of her head, she knows all twenty pages of the diner menu. she can tell you about the ten specials, the fourteen desserts available and can describe how each food is prepared. Flo comes back and forth to the table more than 8 times, delivering all the individual courses, clearing plates and refilling coffee. I tip her 20% or about $2.50.

“CollegeBoy” Curt works at the shi-shi bistro a block from his dorm. He wears black trousers and white shirt and does not know a Dom Perignon from a Perrier. He reads the four specials off a list in his binder. The appetizers are $10.99 and they charge to refill the coffee. I order a salad, entree and coffee for a total of $35. Curt has come to table exactly four times, he is reasonably pleasant and his clothes are clean. I tip Curt 20% or $7.

So here is my problem… Flo has worked MUCH harder than Curt. She has walked three times more, carried three time more plates. Why should Curt get more money for delivering less, working less, just because the restaurant he works in is upscale? He did not pay for the ambiance. He does not pay the rent. He does not create the menus. He delivers food service. Just like Flo.

One might say, “Well if you want to eat at a diner, great. Pay cheaper prices, but THAT is a red herring in this discussion. The issue is about service and work. One could say, “Well, Flo should go to college so she can work at the shi-shi restaurant.” THAT is simply ridiculous.

I am at the point where I want to give a blanket rate for tipping. Every time you come to my table, I give you “x” amount. Period. No matter where I am, no matter what the price of food is…

Please comment and tell me what you think…and answer why you think tipping based on the price of the food makes any sense.

Bad tippers are generally easy to spot. They’re rude from the start, before I even have a chance to make an impression or screw up for that matter.

What bugs me the most is when a customer considers the tip a commission on a sale. Yes, the tip is often based off of a percentage of the bill, but a server can do just as much work if not more for a table that splits a pizza.

I’ve had groups of people come in and drink water and share a pizza or two, but run my ass off with minor requests. I always oblige and do so pleasantly. But at the end of the meal, since the bill was only $15 or $20, they leave me $3 or $4, when the table across the room ordered a bottle of wine and two steaks and left me $20, and I barely broke a sweat serving them.

I’m not complaining about the hefty tip on the big bill, but I am saying the final amount due should not be the only judge of tip amount. I think Trent has a pretty good system, basing the tip off of performance.

I have left a penny tip two times in the past 5-6 years. Once was for the waitress who said she’d be over to clean up the water spilled at our table and did come over – about 7 minutes AFTER I and the assistant manager took care of it. The waitress told me she had other work to do and her other customers were important, too. I tried to explain the difference between urgent and important, but it went over her head. The assistant manager gave us a gift certificate for a future visit.

The second time was last December when every table near us that was served by a different waitress or waiter was getting food, drink refills, etc. Our twinky of a waitress couldn’t handle that, apparently. Some people got food, some not. I think she was spinning a roulette wheel on whose order to put in. It was NOT the kitchen’s fault. When I went over to ask when the food would be ready, she said she was getting the order together and I needed to learn to be patient. Uh, no, not really! It was a casual sit-down restaurant that normally delivered food about 15 minutes after it was ordered. We had ordered more than 30 minutes ago. The final straw was that after I turned and started back for the table, she ROLLED HER EYES AT ME! I put that in caps because my daughter and her two friends were laughing hysterically when I got back to the table. All three of them know how much I hate that! Yep, a penny tip for insubordination and general rudeness the entire evening.

Also in response to your statement:

“Servers/delivery people have in regards to tipping, we ARE entitled. Companies pay their employees less than minimum wage because they EXPECT their customers to tip.”

See thats exactly the problem. Companies expect the customer to tip. WHY?!?!? If a company cant pay their employee a decent wage and still make a profit then it shouldnt be in business. Companies should never expect their customers to cover the cost of payroll its simply rediculous.

I have travelled to many countries and many of them have customs of tipping a minimal amount and they don’t seem to have any problems. For example, in Spain it is unusual to tip more than 1-3 Euros for a sitdown meal no matter what the bill is. Also you NEVER tip bartenders. Instead they buy you a drink every 2 drinks you buy.

Im also tired of waiters complaining about working hard and not getting paid. I work 40 hours a week in an office with a decent level of pay and my friend who works 26 hours a week waiting at a lowscale restaurant makes a decent amount more than me. I even know of waiters who make 6 figures so don’t tell me you are entitled to it. People at McDonalds serve you food and don’t get much.

In response to a previous commenter about their disgust in the “entitlement” servers/delivery people have in regards to tipping, we ARE entitled. Companies pay their employees less than minimum wage because they EXPECT their customers to tip. If you don’t want to tip, don’t dine in and don’t order delivery. Pick it up and don’t waste the time of someone who earns a living from tips.

Also, Springs1’s comment depicts he/she is the type of rude person that a server will recognize as a non-tipper and not bother wasting energy on when they can give better service to tipping customers.

I, myself, have a few regular customers who have always been rude and have never tipped. I always deliver the pizzas to my other, possibly-tipping, customers first and deliver theirs last. I’m hoping the rude people will get a cold pizza, have a bad experience and not order anymore. On the other hand, the really nice, tipping customers get their food as fast as possible.

I was taught that alcohol should not be included in the total used for calculating a tip. Few people today seem to follow this rule, however, and I worry that doing so then makes me seem really cheap. It can make a huge difference, though, especially when there are a couple of $7 drinks per person… thoughts?

That being said, decent service will always get at least 15% from me. I’ve only run across two situations in which the waiter earned his zero.

I personally DON’T like that. I have switched soft drinks before, so I’d MUCH RATHER be ASKED. To me, it’s NOT “INTRUSIVE” to try to please “ME”, because quite honestly, they aren’t 100% SURE you want another refill. The server is just “ASSUMING” that. I ABSOLUTELY HATE ASSUMPTIONS, especially when they are wrong. When they are wrong, they’ve wasted time for me, because instead of either getting the drink I did want to order or to get the check instead of a refill, they wasted their time getting the drink for NOTHING. If you feel it’s “INTRUSIVE” to have a server “ASK” you than you need to get TAKE-OUT, because the server has a JOB TO DO. They have NO CLUE if you want another refill. There are SOME people out there that DECLINE refills or that maybe would like something else. My husband has even switched from coffee to diet coke. I can’t believe you think servers should possibly WASTE VALUABLE TIME bringing refills that are possibly UNWANTED. I know if I was a server, I’d NEVER just bring something to a table that was NEVER ordered. The customer orders ONE soft drink, NOT the next refill intially when they first order, so when a server just brings another refill without asking, that’s “ORDERING” for me. I HATE when people try to order for me. They have NO RIGHT to do that. I am the customer, I have EVERY RIGHT to order for MYSELF. When a server comes to find out first if I want a refill, to me that’s EXTRA POINTS in the tip for trying to PLEASE ME, instead of assuming, wasting time, and it also shows they aren’t so lazy they can’t come by my table first to find out. I personally don’t care for automatic refills. I find it to be RUDE that a “STRANGER” of all people is doing the ordering for me.

“First of all, no matter what, I tip 10% as a baseline. There could be some challenge in the life of the server that you don’t know about or any number of things going on that you are unaware of.”

What if you knew 100% for sure they overcharged you intentionally to pad the bill let’s say $5? Would you tip them in a situation like that? I wouldn’t, I’d STEAL from them just as they STOLE from me. If it’s unintentional, but no apology, they would get nothing still for not be nice enough to at least say they are sorry. I’m sorry, but I 100% DISAGREE “NO MATTER WHAT” they should deserve a tip. If they steal from me, that’s not only ILLEGAL, but just MORALLY WRONG. NOT EVERY SERVER DESERVES A TIP. I’ve had 7 mistakes from a waitress one time about a year ago and she was even rude enough to kiss her boyfriend while I was telling my order which she got wrong OF COURSE, sorry, but she got STIFFED. TIPS SHOULD BE EARNED AND TIPS SHOULD BE GIVEN TO PEOPLE THAT DO RIGHT BY OTHERS, NOT PEOPLE THAT STEAL! I normally tip 20%-28% for great service, but when the service is horrible, you bet I have no problems with stiffing. I treat others the EXACT WAY they treat me. Treat me with RESPECT and I’ll TREAT YOU BACK WITH THE SAME RESPECT.

“This usually means that the waitress was very unintrusive, silently.”

I 100% agree with not being a chatty server. I do feel customers should be able to just tell your order or whatever request you want instead of having a conversation with them. I don’t feel it’s “GOOD” service to have a server chit-chat instead of getting what you ordered, because honestly, MOST “GOOD” servers don’t have much time to do that, because they are doing their JOB, NOT PLAYING AROUND. I just would rather be asked or me ask for things. My husband and I have been delivered the check when we weren’t ready for it, because the servers “ASSUMED” we were done. Just because we ordered a dessert doesn’t mean I don’t want a mixed drink from the bar after the dessert. I truly HATE when servers “ASSUME” things. I’ve had ordered 2 sides of extra bbq sauce with ribs at Bennigan’s and the waitress delivered my ribs DRY. Instead of asking me if she felt confused when I ordered, NO, she waited until the plate was in her hand to ask me. She “ASSUMED” I wanted the bbq sauce on the side. At Bennigan’s, they somehow cook the bbq sauce on it, so she took my ribs back to the kitchen so the cooks could make it with bbq sauce. Well, anyway, I NEVER said I didn’t want bbq sauce on the ribs. After that situation, it’s RIDICULOUS, but, I am having to tell the server I want bbq sauce on the ribs even though the menu has the description and possibly a picture of it with bbq sauce, because servers are “ASSUMING” things they shouldn’t be. I ordered it just like this “2 extra sides of bbq sauce.” Considering I NEVER said I wanted the ribs dry or the bbq sauce “ON THE SIDE”, it boggled me that my ribs came out dry when she delivered the plate to me. My point is, I HATE ANY TYPE OF ASSUMPTIONS, because 9 out of 10 times, the server is WRONG!