Do you always tip well?

[Andy B]

When did the standard tip become 18%. and is this everywhere in the US.

Although I do tip I do see an inequality of paying say 20% of the cost of a $75 bottle of wine or a $30 bottle of wine for what is essentiall exactly the same service.

 

[Ron from Michigan]

I leave 15-20% if I get good service. I always fiqure that the service is a really big part of our meals and if the wait staff works really hard to make it a great time for us I will give them a great tip.

 

[BroadwayGirl]

we leave at least 20% unless they are very very bad then we leave 15%

Now this I don't understand. Servers know they are working for tips. They should know that tips are normally paid based on excellence of service. If you tip 15% for "very very bad" service, then you are encouraging the server to continue to provide "very very bad" service. Hitting a bad server in the pocketbook is the best way to encourage them to change their behavior and/or find a position more suited to their talents and temperment.

 

[BroadwayGirl]

Ditto. Dh and I were servers/bartenders in college, so we are good tippers because we know how hard they work for their $!

But if you know how hard a good server works, why would you reward a lousy server with 15%?

 

[WillCAD]

When did the standard tip become 18%. and is this everywhere in the US.

Although I do tip I do see an inequality of paying say 20% of the cost of a $75 bottle of wine or a $30 bottle of wine for what is essentiall exactly the same service.

There isn't really a standard for tipping, but there are accepted norms.

15% was the accepted norm for normal service for a long time, until restaurants started charging a mandatory 18% gratuity for large parties. Because of this, many people upped their own typical tip to 18% for normal service, and some go even higher.

I stick with the old accepted norm of 15% for normal service, and I tip more for exceptional service and less for poor service. I've been known to go as high as 25% for a truly exceptional server, and as low as 2% for really poor service.

A lot of people feel guilty about tipping less when they get poor service. "Oh, the poor server works so hard, even though they didn't do their job at all for my party I'll still give them 15%." I am not shy about tipping less - Having a difficult job is no excuse for doing your job poorly! And if you do your job poorly, I'm not going to pay you as if you did it well.

 

[Robert P]

That was an excellent explanation WillCad!!

We, too, consider the 15% 'norm', but for simplicity sake, we calculate it on the total bill, with sales tax, which put it's right at 16% of the actual food/bev amount.
We do tip up (20%+ range) for better service, and downward (twice I have done just pocket change) for bad service. While that has happened only a few times, I am not against it if the service warrants. While our own 'range' definition for adequate service is quite broad, I would never feel obligated to leave 15% for truly bad service.
Highest tip I can remember leaving at WDW (ever) was close to 35%, but that was for exceptional and absolutley perfect service, and on a special occassion.

As many posters have said, good servers can make excellent money if they provide outstanding service.

On a side note:
When we have drinks at the bar first, we always try to settle our tab there instead of having it transferred to the table with us (when our table is ready). That way, the bar staff gets their tips directly for the service they provided, rather than a lower percent 'tip-out', off of what the table server receives. In our view, it keeps the tip directly associated with the service given, no matter which area we may be in.

 

[Katiebell]

Interesting, because I am in the middle of a very similar discussion on another board

Something I found out today while websurfing: The minimum wage in Florida is $6.67/hour. But for tipped employees, it is $6.67 minus $3.02 (which, as required by Florida’s Constitution, is the 2003 tip credit existing under the Fair Labor Standards Act) so that's $3.65 as of January 1, 2007. I don't know if WDW pays more than minimum wage to their servers. It's true that I don't get tipped for just doing my job -- but I get paid a living wage, certainly a lot more than $3.65 an hour. I can't even begin to imagine what it would be like to try to pay bills on that.

In the US, a fair gratuity is part of the server's basic wage. They automatically must pay taxes on it, whether or not they actually receive a tip. I know that might seem wrong -- we pay so much for a restaurant meal that it seems tips should be optional. But when I plan on a dinner out, I automatically consider 15% to be part of my dining bill -- just for basic decent service, nothing above and beyond. I almost look at it like a bill at for car repair, itemized for parts and labor -- except labor is a lot more expensive at a garage than 15% Service would have to be truly, intentionally dreadful for me to consider leaving less -- and if it was really that bad, I'd probably speak with the restaurant manager.

In other countries, tipping is often not the custom -- but service fees are automatically added on to bills, and/or workers are paid a higher minimum wage. The cost for a restaurant meal is proportionately higher to cover these things. It would be nice if restaurants in the US would just pay servers a fair wage, raising the menu costs 15% if necessary to do so -- and then if customers wished to tip a little extra for good service, they could do so.

 

[ncseric]

I think it's interesting how the tip percentage has inflated over time and how everyone working at a restaurant seems to expect a tip, whether or not they do anything. A few examples:

1) When I order carryout from a restaurant and go pick it up, don't expect me to tip you. You didn't do anything to earn the tip.

2) You need to earn your 15%, which I consider a standard tip. If I make a special request of some sort, I may tip above 15%. If you don't do your job, you may get no tip at all.

3) If you don't like what the restaurant pays you, get a different job. It's not my responsibility to subsidize what your employer chooses not to pay.

At Disney, there have been several places where the server was automatically given an 18% tip and we got crummy service. Since we were on the dining plan, there was no incentive for the server to do any sort of work to earn the tip, which I think accounts for a decline in service. Maybe we just had bad experiences on the last trip, but I do remember better service before you told them you had the dining plan upfront.