How much do YOU tip?

[chobie]

As both my DH and I put in many years as wait-trons I can assure you that the only times we served incorrectly prepared food was because we were more afraid of the psycho cooks who we had would have to see at every shift than the customer who we would only have to see once in our lifetime.

I worked with some really mean and scary cooks over the years and found that management usually took their side because as a general rule its easier to replace waitstaff than cooks. Also I think sometimes the managers were afraid of some of them as well. At one place I worked at, when the Chef walked out in a snit, the owners changed the locks within an hour and put a sign on the door telling him not to come back, he would get his last paycheck in the mail.

The least amount I will leave usually is 10 percent, unless we the server had the "your not good enough to wait on attitude". Also DH and I are rather adept at deciphering if the bad service was more of a result of bad management (ie understaffing etc) or an incompetent server.

 

[Madi100]

I usually leave 15-20%. I leave more for better. I do not feel that I owe a server a tip at all. They should give me the same service regardless of what I'm going to leave for a tip. I know that because of tips, they may try harder. When I go out to eat it's because I want a break from being at home. When I go out and the server can't be found, they are impolite, or do a poor job I find that I end up being more stressed than if I would have stayed at home and made the meal myself. So, I'm not going to tip. In fact, I start believing that I don't even want to pay for my food.

When mistakes are bad people either get really good tips or no tips. We went to Bennigans one night. The server dropped a plate of food as they were bringing it out. Another guy came out and talked to the customer. He was great with them. Had them laughing. Mistakes happen. It's all in how they handle it. When a server makes a mistake and they handle it well, we usually give them an excellent tip. If they handle it porrly we give them nothing.

 

[remyandhollandsmommy]

Ya know this reminds me of an episode of 'Third Rock from the Sun' where Dick and Mary went out to dinner and he set this huge pile of money on the table and told the waitress, "Depending on the service this money could be yours." Then every time she did something good he's put a dollar in the tip pile, but when she screwed up he'd shake his head at her go "tut-tut" and take money away. Poor Mary was mortified and he ended up getting thrown out of the resturant. LOL! Anyone else see that episode?!

Oh yeah BTW I tip pretty good if I get good service. I tip lousy for bad service though.

 

[C.Ann]

From 0% on up.. Strictly depends on the level of service - and more importantly, the attitude of the server.. I do not feel obligated to leave any tip whatsoever for extremely poor service that is within the control of the server..

 

[jrydberg]

I agree about not feeling obligated to leave a tip, C.Ann. On one occasion in my life, I've left no tip whatsover. The guy totally deserved it. Despite the atrocious service, I was going to leave a modest tip until he hung over my shoulder trying to look at how much of a tip I was going to give. I gave him a clear view as I wrote in $0.00

 

[Chattyaholic]

Well, I'm a waitress myself so I do know how hard we work for our tips, which is REALLY our actual PAYCHECK. I tip at least 15%, 20% or more if the service was really great, and I will go down to 10% if it was bad. If it was horrible and there was no REASON for it (like if the restaurant is not busy, but I can see the server in the back chatting it up with her boyfriend) I'll leave a couple of pennies.

I've been a waitress over 8 years and usually the tips are good/great. I work in a family-oriented place that has a buffet plus a regular menu with dinners, sandwiches, etc.). We tend to get a lot of repeat customers and MOST of them are great tippers. We learn to anticipate what they're going to order and they seem to really like that. It's the FEW that NEVER tip that I just don't understand. How a person can go to a restaurant week after week, month after month, and NEVER leave their server a tip is beyond me. I've often wondered if they realize they are NOT getting the same service we give to others, simply because we know we're not going to get PAID for our service from them. I do NOT waste my time on someone who I KNOW is not going to tip. I will greet them politely, take their order, bring it out as soon as it's ready, refill their drink once and ask if their food is all right, then that's it. I don't bother with them again. I prefer to spend my time on those who I KNOW are going to leave a tip, and those who are "potential" tippers (new customers, or ones I don't recognize). What is even worse, is knowing I get to pay TAXES on the non-tipper's meal! Argh!!! But thankfully those people are NOT the norm!! And we have learned not to take our tag (we have name tags we put on our tables) to someone's table that we know won't tip, that way we get the next table too so it's not quite so bad.

 

[Toby'sFriend]

I'm pretty lazy. I take 10% of the bill - which is easy to figure then round that up to something that I can easily double in my head. Like -- if the bill is $74.36 I'll say 10% = 7.43... round up to $8 and double that is $16. So the wait staff always makes a little over 20% off of me. If the baby is with me and has made a mess, I'll triple it. If my oldest son has requested his usual numerous drink refills and special requests, I'll also throw in extra. At buffets, it really depends on how much cash we have on us. I'll always leave at least a couple dollars per person for whomever picks up dirty plates and cleans our table.

You would have to be a pretty bad server for me to give less these days. I'm just not that into giving constant criticism and job performance appraisals. Those extra few dollars don't make that much of a difference in our overall budget, and I was a waitress once. I remember the joy of a huge tip.

 

[meandtheguys2]

TF, we also are lazy, and do the same!

Chatty, do you judge whether someone is going to tip by previous visits or by appearances? I like tipping, but have been blown off when going into rest. by myself, or with my kids. Seems like I only get decent service when DRS or with DH.

 

[Lyn-CA]

DH and I would usually tip 15%, 18%-30% at the "nicer" restaurants.

It was always a tough call when we would get the servers "with attitude" at some of the 'finer' restaurants in San Francisco, back in the day when tourism was still hot and before the high tech bubble burst.

The worst experience we had was at a high end bar and grill. We got the head server who was so condescending, he told us we ordered our lamb chops wrong-it should be rare just like HE likes it. He was just plain rude. We never saw him again after he took our order. We had to flag down other servers for more drinks, the bill, etc. At the end, we left him a 10% tip.

As we were walking out toward the door, the head server had the audacity to follow us out, telling us we didn't tip him enough, so DH turned around and told him, there's a good reason why we didn't. He held open the door for us and we stepped out. As he was closing the door, he cussed us out!!! The nerve. We were so dumbfounded, we looked at each other and asked if we both heard him and we did. We had a long talk with the manager and got our dinner comped and got a free dinner certificate. We told the manager, thanks but no thanks, we won't ever be back. And we never did go back. I can't remember the name of the place now since that restaurant has long been closed down.

 

[Feralpeg]

Nutsy's post about not tipping in Australia reminded me of a conversation I overheard recently at Rose & Crown at Epcot. Every so often, we would hear a bell ring. Finally, a gentleman at a table near us asked his server why the bell was rung. She told him that they ring it when they get a tip. She told him that it is considered a social no-no to tip in England. The servers there make a good wage and tipping isn't necessary. I had no idea.

 

[Papa Deuce]

If the baby is with me and has made a mess, I'll triple it.

Well, we don't triple it, but for sure, we leave bigger tips when our kids have left a mess. I figure in the last year we must have tipped an extra $250 to cover the mess!

 

[Beanie]

We base it on 20% and if the service is exceptional, we tip well. If the service is bad, usually the tip becomes 10%-15%.

Disney is a different story though and we usually tip very well there. We have certain waiters/waitresses who we request and we always tip them extremely well. We ask for them because they are very good at what they do and some of them are very good friends now!

 

[Snoopymom]

At the time we were in Ireland, Northern Ireland had different money than the rest of the country, so we knew we wouldn't be back and left our waitress all that we had left. It wasn't worth the time to us to try and find somewhere to exchange it and it was Sunday. There were four of us. She chased us down in the parking lot to give it back. When we explained that it wasn't a mistake, she thanked us with tears in her eyes. It may have been more money than we realized, LOL!

 

[danacara]

20%-25% ... food service is brutally hard work ... the tip is my unspoken thanks for the fact that I've never had to work it