The amount I leave depends on the service. If the service was ok but not great, I leave 15% rounded up to the nearest dollar. If the service was great I give at least 20%. But now if the service was great and our table caused some kind of grief for whatever reason (kids were demanding a lot or we kept asking for something) then I usually go a little above 20%. When the waiter or waitress is great and anticipates our needs, they also get the little more the 20%. I always round up after doing the percentage too. If 20% of the bill is $6.05, I give $7.
Tipping 15% at a restaurant is the norm for me. If the service is completely terrible, I leave little to none tip. If it is amazing, I overtip.. too much, lol. At one point, at a small Italian restaurant, I tipped over $70 because the service was the best I've ever seen. Tipping at food related place that's not necessarily a restaurant is something I don't do though. I don't think they really deserve a tip. They don't serve it or work hard to cook it, why why would they deserve something?
Don't feel bad about it being too much, it is okay to tip generously when they are good. They go through a lot to work hard and are often paid low wages. I have a friend who would either tip the waitress the amount of the bill (yup 100%) or if he didn't like the service he would throw her very little.
It depends on the service but we usually give a really good tip if the service is good. I am not fond of the tip being added into the bill. I think it is something that should be left up to the consumer to decide. I do understand that some folks are cheap and others will leave nothing unless they add it in, but I think it is just wrong to automatically add it.
I agree. I used to wait tables, and with my $2.13 an hour, I could hardly afford gas for work all week, even with a 40 hour a week paycheck. I definitely was depending on the tips that I made. I would work 12 hour shifts and only come out with $120. This was because people would not tip, at all. I finally asked one person why they felt it necessary to tip, and they said "I thought if you worked in a place with alcohol, you made minimum wage." Well, unfortunately, that's not the case. I'm wondering if that's why all of the people didn't tip... other waitstaff complained of the same thing. TIP, PEOPLE!
I always tip 15% of the bill. My daughter who is a manager in a sports restaurant will tip 20% of the bill. I think 15% is sufficient. I use to waitress when I was a young girl and I know the waitresses rely on their tips to live on. They work hard and I think they do deserve the tip. A lot of European countries do not tip, but their staff are paid different wages than they are in the states. I love when a waitress will pay extra attention to your needs. The water, or keeping the bread basket filled. Most will. I always take good care of my waitresses.
I tip on The service basis only. Bad services warrants only 5%. So so will get you 10% and service good, great or superior can get you anywhere from 20-35%. I always leave a tip, regardless how good or bad, the server may have been having a bad night. In the state I live in a lot of the restaurants have started adding 18% to the bill regardless to the the party size. My sister and I went out for dinner and were shocked when we discovered this addition to our bill. The service was a little better than good, so we were ok with the 18%. But suppose we would have had bad, I would never tip that much for bad and my decission had been taken away. The tip you leave is really a rating system for job performance. If everyone gets the same, I see a decline in really superior service. I'm not a fan of the tip jar. Many local fast food type restaurants in my area has them. When I have to stand in line to order my food and then carry to a seat I had to seek out for myself. Why am I tipping? Tipping is for service given, not for taking my money to pay for the food.
I think that when eating out so long as the service was good then you should most definitely tip, as a mark of both respect and courtesy. I have come across some arrogant people who simply go by the philosophy that they are getting a wage and you shouldn't have to pay them any more than necessary but in many cases the waiter/waitress actually earns more in tips than they do in wages, so you are actually cutting into their earnings by refusing to tip. I do, however, agree with people who decide not to tip if the service is terrible, but it would really have to be quite bad in order to do so, thoughts?
I usually do tip when it's deserved. If the service is good and the food is good, then my tip is good.
I will tip at restaurants all the time. I realize its their job, and they won't receive the amount they need to make unless they get tipped the right amount as well. Unless the service was oh so horridly bad, I wouldn't hold onto a 15% tip. Everyone should stop being so stingy and think about their needs and wants as well - these servers will not make much without those tips!
We always tip...unless the service was really really bad. For just okay service, we leave a 10% tip and for great service sometimes up to 30%. It depends on the total of the bill and mainly, the service. But I do believe in tipping, for sure, it can be a thankless job.
I leave a tip. Although a service charge is added to the bill, I still make it a point to leave a tip. Sometimes I feel it's demeaning but I know that's just my imagination.
Having been a waitress in the past I try to always tip, there have only been a couple instances where I didn't tip at all. I know that the majority of the time it is the kitchen that is truly the reason for slow service; that being said, if the waitress doesn't at least keep me informed it does affect the tip. I start at 15% and add from there depending on quality of service, speed of service and friendliness. I also deduct for rudeness, quality of service and whether s/he keeps me informed but almost never going below 10%...I know here in the US wait staff does not make minimum wage and the hourly salary they make does not change just because they don't make enough in tips to average it out.
Hopefully they are better than that and do not put anything in your food. But at the same time, I'd rather eat at home more than to go out to eat all the time due to so much of what the waiter/waitress will do to your food. So I try not to go to the same places all the time but I do tip no matter what, if they do something to you, it will always come back to them in some way shape or form and they will remember, why someone treated them that way.
10% of the bill is an adequate amount to pay. If the service was bad then your tip should reflect that, not to tip them more for a bad service. They would think they where doing something right and continue to be crap. lol!!
I would like to offer you a hypothetical suggestion: go work for tips for a week or two. I used to work for tips, and because of my experiences with that, I always over-tip. Granted, I am generous by nature, but after walking in another person's shoes for a while, I can appreciate the value of working to earn a good tip. Contrary to popular belief, earning wages on tips is not easy. People think that the server (valet, waitress, pizza delivery person) is earning a wage whether they get tips or not. In reality, they rely very heavily on tips. In my case, it wasn't easy just to "go get another job." I imagine it's the same for other people as well.
I always tip if the service and food is good. If either one is bad, well then I will still tip because of the good half of the coin. If both are bad. Then no tip. I also don't hold the cook or waiter/waitress responsible for me trying new things. For example. If I decide to try a new item from the menu, or an item I've never tried before. And it tastes icky. I don't hold the establishment responsible for that. So it doesn't affect the tip. I tend to tip my pizza guy more during the holidays, and when they deliver in the snow.
I ALWAYS tip at restaurants, unless the service has been really bad but then I wouldn't have stayed long enough anyway. I used to work in a restaurant when I was 16 and I know how hard they work and how little gratitude they got in return.
Don't you just love those stories though about waiters or waitresses in restaurants that like somebody one day, leaves them a $30,000 tip or something? I remember hearing that happened to a lady once. She got a five or 6 figure tip from a mystery person. And she said now, she could afford to go to college and stuff. Pretty cool.
I love hearing about them. I really wish more people just tipped as they should, though. If everybody gave a decent tip in the first place, then so many servers wouldn't have to struggle anyway.
