To Go, Tipping?

[Iggipolka]

Do you leave a tip on ToGo resturant orders? I never know if I'm supposed to do this. I love to get sushi togo, so that I can eat it at my desk at work or at home relaxing at night. I generally give the sushi man a tip, but I don't tip the wait staff. I have also gotten Thai food togo and haven't tipped the wait staff and they always look dissapointed.

So..do you tip when you get take out?

 

[bicker]

Generally, yet, to compensate the servers for packaging, assuming that the servers do the packaging.

 

[Iggipolka]

Hmm..hadn't thought about the packaging of the food. I thought that the cook/chef did that.

 

[anewvance]

Hmm, i've never tipped our Thai resturant when I come in just to pick up food... it's usually one of the owners or someone who I pay and get it from. Who knows who actually packaged it up!

 

[Tigger&Belle]

I don't. We get take-out Chinese, but that's from a place that only does take-out, so it's not a waiter/waitress who is doing the order. The other places are either just take-out like the Chinese, or gotten ready by a cashier, etc, so not a lower paid waiter/waitress.

 

[Mackey Mouse]

I do tip on take out orders especially if they have a tip jar there, not that it would make me feel obligated to do so. I also tip when I get coffee, usually the change. I tip well for good service, usually 20%, as my Mom was a waitress her whole life and I know that waitstaff live on their tips as restaurants do not always pay their staff well.

 

[bicker]

The two places I do To Go from is the sushi restaurant and Appleby's. In those two cases, at least, it is the servers that package things up.

 

[kristen821]

I don't tip when I pick up my food. The cashier is always the one to give me the food. Nobody brings me drinks or comes back to ask me how it was so I have never felt obligated to tip.

 

[Bashful2]

I agree with kristen, although sometimes I feel a little guilty when I don't tip.

 

[LoveWDW]

When I carry out from a restaurant that is mainly a sit down restaurant I do tip a couple dollars if it is a server who brings the food. I figure they don't have to clean up the table or fill the drinks or see how I am doing. But if it is a take out restaurant I don't tip. At Waffle House, the tip is added on if you carry out, it turns out that the tip is less than I would have tipped the server that I watched cooking the food.

 

[ducklite]

It depends. If it's truly a server taking care of it, and it's being rung up under their name, ten percent.

If it's a hostess or cashier, maybe a couple bucks.

Anne

 

[HOGFAN]

Never ,ever

 

[disneychrista]

Where I have done accounting/payroll the "to go" orders were never counted as part of the servers "sales" for allocated tips.

 

[Chattyaholic]

I've been a waitress 9+ years and deal with "to go" orders on almost every shift I work. Most people don't tip, but some do and it's very much appreciated as it is usually the waitress who answers the phone and writes down the order, it's the waitress that gets the drinks and desserts (if any are ordered), it's the waitress that checks the order to make sure it's all there and boxes/bags it up, it's the waitress who puts in the napkins/silverware and condiments, and it's the waitress who brings it out and rings it up when the person picks it up. All of that takes TIME away from our sit-down customers, so when they tip a couple of dollars it is very much appreciated.

Occasionally a customer will say "give this to the cooks" when they tip and I just really don't understand that. The cook doesn't get the tip when you sit down and order, why should they get the tip on a "to go" order? They cook the food the same, and instead of putting it onto a plate they put it into a "to-go" container. No effort in that. The waitress does all of the "extra" work. And the waitress is the one getting paid less than minimum wage.

 

[lovebuzz]

I'm also a server. I get paid $2.13 per hour and I live off of tips. My paycheck is always a big fat zero. So, that being said if you go to a take out only restraunt I would not tip but, if you go to a normal sit down restaurant The server still has to take your order, check and make sure it is right, and put in all of the correct condiments. For that they should be compensated usually 8-10 % of the bill. Yes, we do have to claim tip money based on those sales.

 

[Mackey Mouse]

"I get paid $2.13 per hour and I live off of tips."

I think I said that somewhere above on this thread about my Mom making a small paycheck, almost nothing, and living off her tips.. Probably the reason why I tip at least 20%.

I was just at our local bakery, she packaged up some items for me...I paid dearly for them, but on both sides of the counter, one at the register and one where you order, was a tip jar. I did tip her for packaging up my items... I also live in a resort area, tips are just expected for nearly everything..

What about tipping if someone pumps your gas?????

 

[disneychrista]

Yes, we do have to claim tip money based on those sales.

You may but this is not the case at all places. Like I said above, we did not include that money in our "allocated tips" base at tax time. Just like we did not include our off sale and merchandise amounts.