Do you tip even if you have bad service?

[Lovely2CU]

Not just bad service in restaurants, any kind of service.

Tipping varies greatly in the US to here, the UK.

 

[Angelhalo]

The service has to be SERIOUSLY horrible for me to not tip at all. I think it has only happened maybe twice in my life. I try to give people the benefit of the doubt because everyone has bad days. They could be understaffed, etc. I usually tip 20%. 15% if things weren't great ie: never got refills, didn't get any extras we asked for, took 800 years to get the bill. 10% if its slower than that, etc. However I also take the time to go out of my way to speak to a manger when things are really good. So often in life people are soooo quick to complain when things are bad but not say anything when things are good. I strongly believe in positive reinforcement and everyone likes to do a great job if they know that its being appreciated.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

I generally tip in about a 12% to 22% range. Any time my tip is outside this range, either high or low, I will talk to a manager and explain that I tipped outside my range and why. I have had a few times when my tip was under 5% but it was clearly what the served earned.

 

[pearlieq]

The service has to be SERIOUSLY horrible for me to not tip at all. I think it has only happened maybe twice in my life.

My thoughts exactly. It's not that I haven't done it--I will and I would do it again if the situation came up, but it's incredibly rare.

I'm much more likely to adjust my tip lower if I feel there are problems with the service. To get all the way down to zero the server would have to do something egregiously wrong.

 

[luvmy3]

Yes, I always tip even if its horrible service. I wouldn't give them the full 20% that I would give good service but I would give them 15% if bad, 10% if absolutely horrible. I realize people have bad days and sometimes it reflects in their job, I figure if they still have a job waiting tables they can't be that bad all the time.

 

[dizluvah]

In a restaurant setting, we always tip. Being a server is tough, I certainly wouldn't want to do it.

If we are unhappy with the service we tip 10%. If we are happy with service we tip between 15% - 20%, higher for excellent service or particularly helpful/friendly servers.

If we are completely dissatisfied we will tip 10% to the server and then speak to management regarding any issues we may have had.

Valet parking - we typically tip $2-5 dollars (we rarely valet park but places like Vegas it is commonplace to valet).

Bell service - typically $1-2 per bag.

Both DH and I get haircuts at the inexpensive walk-in places, no appointments necessary. The haircut only costs about $17-$20 - so we just tip a straight $5 per cut.

Thats all I can think of for places we regularly tip.....

 

[kt_mom]

We always tip unless the server does something really terrible.

For example, DH and I went up to a local chain restaurant a couple weeks to get some appetizers and have a couple beers. We sat in the bar area. The server comes over and takes our order and get our drinks and apps and everything is fine.

Well, the manager walks by with a basket of breadsticks and puts them on our table. My DH speaks up right way to let her know that we didn't order any breaksticks. She smiles and says well there your's now. So DH proceeds to have one or two of them. Then the waitress walks by and sees them on our table. She picks up the basket and says "sorry, these were supposed to go to the table next to you" and walks past us AND PUTS THEM ON THEIR TABLE!!

As soon as she walks away DH leans over to tell the other couple what happened becuase they didn't see her do this. So they are just sitting there looking at the basket and the manager comes by again and we grab her and tell her what happened. She apologizes, takes the basket off their table and puts it back on ours and goes to get them a new basket. (DH went ahead and ate them.)

During all this time my drink has now been empty for about ten minutes. While the manager is gone to get the other customers some more breaksticks I look across the bar and see our waitress cashing out with the bartender and then walking out the side door.

By this time we are just disgusted with everything. When the manager comes back by I stop her yet again to let her know that my drink has been empty for over ten minutes and that I just saw our waitress leave and she never bothered to even let us know anything.

The bartender walks by at that time and kind of says to the manager in passing that he'll buy my next beer and he's passing it across the bar before we can speak up. But DH tells the manager that we don't want another beer just our check. She says "well you've got one now, on the bartender." We didn't touch it. Just paid our bill and left. I was kind of surprised that she didn't comp us something but oh well. We did not tip at all.

 

[Darcy03231]

I'm a former waitress so things have to be really bad for me not to tip at all. In fact, I can only remember one time that I didn't leave anything.

If service is just ok, nothing out of the ordinary, I leave 15-18%. If service is stellar then 18-20%. If service is poor then 5-10%.

We recently went out to eat for DD's birthday. Service was pretty bad, although the food was excellent. Waiter never came for drink or appetizer orders, never refilled our water glasses, spilled stuff on the table and didn't wipe it up, never asked how our dinner was, never offered dessert. Bill came to $100 and I tipped $5.

 

[hentob]

The bartender walks by at that time and kind of says to the manager in passing that he'll buy my next beer and he's passing it across the bar before we can speak up. But DH tells the manager that we don't want another beer just our check. She says "well you've got one now, on the bartender." We didn't touch it. Just paid our bill and left. I was kind of surprised that she didn't comp us something but oh well. We did not tip at all.

They tried to comp you a drink.

 

[paintnolish]

As a current server, things would pretty much have to be astoundingly bad for it to lower the tip. I know excatly how it is to be a server and am very forgiving when it comes to mistakes. Rudeness or being unfriedly is what I dislike more. If you messed up something or forgot it, just admit it and apologize.

 

[ICF]

I've probably always tipped......although If the service sucks, it would be a VERY small one.

 

[kt_mom]

They tried to comp you a drink.

A drink that we didn't ask for or want at that point. I kind of feel like when you have service as terrible as what we had where the waitress NEVER returned to our table except to grab food off of it and put it on the someone elses table that maybe they would have reduced the amount that we owed for the things we had purchased. We made our own discount by not tipping. Who was there to tip anyway, our server was long gone.....

Other than that I've never not left a tip before. DH is actually a big tipper most of the time and tips close to 20% standard and higher for excellent service. Even a poor server will get between 15% and 20% usually.

 

[eliza61]

I voted No. Sorry, I know some people feel that you should always leave some thing but it is seriously against my religion to reward bad service or bad behaviour. Let me say though that if I feel the service was bad enough for me to not leave a tip, I usually let the manager know ahead of time.

I'm sorry being a server is tough but why should I leave my money after you've been rude, no help and down right surly? Happened to me 2 times in a really fancy restaurant, first time the server literally snarled at us to hurry up.

 

[Camicar]

No, I do not tip if service sucks. But I think I've done that less than 5 times in my entire life.

I do not think a tip is something to which someone is entitled. It is, by definition, at the customer's discretion. Which is not to say that a customer ethically should stiff a service person just to be cheap, but rather that a service person in our system does need to earn the extra money by providing good service.

I would certainly not tip 10% for bad service because what that says to a server is that you are a lousy tipper, not that they were a lousy server.

 

[tazdev3225]

I put myself through college as a waitress, so I have first hand knowledge of how difficult a job it is. I was once left a nickle on a $20 order because I couldn't get the customer a refill on his coffee fast enough. I had 8 tables, no busboys and it was extremely busy that day. Someone had called out sick and we were all doing extra tables. It was also a sit-down restaurant but we had to bus our own tables. I gave him his nickle back. I always look around to see the circumstances the waiter/waitress is working under. I then start at 15%, exceptional service goes to 20% +, horrible service goes down to 5-10%. If I am down to the 5% area I ask for the manager. If I am at 20% or higher I also tell the manager about the exceptional service. I rarely go below 15%.

 

[Binnie]

I'll go rogue on this one... I do not tip if the service is really bad. Ultimately, it is a gratuity, and my satisfaction is directly proportionate to the tip I leave.

That said, I've only not tipped a few times in my life...

The time I remember off-hand was when the waiter was so distracted by a table of girls sitting near us that he literally didn't even get our drink order until we'd been sitting down for at least 30 minutes. Then he screwed up the order and was snotty with us when we tried to get his help. The meal which should've taken no longer than an hour took more than 3 because of the waiter's bad performance. He got a Canadian penny for a tip, and frankly, that was more than he deserved.

 

[Handbag Lady]

I don't tip if the service is bad. This happens rarely, but I would never tip if the service was bad enought to get my attention as I normally just tip 20% and be on my way.

 

[jaminmd]

We eat out a lot and I always tip well, better if you're a top notch server. If you're slow but nice, ok, you still get 20%. If you forget things but are nice, ok, 20%. If you are nasty to me, you get nothing.

My aunt was a waitress for 50 years and always taught me that. You can be slow or stupid & I'll still leave you a tip. Nastiness is unacceptable. In my entire life this has happened to me a total of two times & I can remember where & when.

 

[java]

There is only one time I can think of where we didn't tip. And to say it was bad service was an understatement. Not only did it take FOREVER(this was a fridays) We were brought wrong items over and over. We finally ate something that he brought out- it wasn't what we ordered but this was 4 times being sent back. The manager came over and comped our meal but the waiter wasn't only bad he was rude. Never an I'm sorry. More like we were a hassle. So when we left I looked at him and said "I don't want you to think we forgot to tip you. You shouldn't be a waiter" and walked out.

A simple "I am so sorry" would have gone a long way.

 

[aristocatz]

Not just bad service in restaurants, any kind of service.

Tipping varies greatly in the US to here, the UK.

For restaurants, it depends on who gave me the bad service. If the bad service was coming from the kitchen (multiple food screw ups, bad food), I would never take it out on the waiter.

If I had a mediocre waiter, they would still get 20% from me. The only way I would not tip a waiter is if they were down right mean or rude to me. I would not feel comfortable tipping someone as a reward for being mean or rude.

Otherwise, I know that everyone has a bad day. Things happen & it's fine with me-it really takes alot to upset me as a customer. But if the person was mean to me or rude, my tolerance is gone.