kdawg
Bubba Ho-Tep
Posts: 659
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Post by kdawg on May 27, 2011 12:13:37 GMT -5
I love being in Britain. My system is: 0% tip. Pretty much all the time. I'd say 99% of occasions. You get a tip if I think you were f***ing awesome. But then, Britain's different. I noticed that same line of thought all over Europe. Tipping was an extreme rarity. I never quite understood why, maybe the servers and waitstaff people make more over there as opposeed to the $2.13 an hour many get here. My policy on tipping has always been simple, I will tip if I can, unless there is an extreme circumstance. I mean, if I go into a place, and I have just enough on me to cover my portion of the bill, I won't tip because I have no money to tip with. However, I'll usually point out, "sorry, broke, just enough to cover the check" and do my best to make it up the next time around. If people "can't afford to tip", don't go out to eat. "Sorry man, I wish I could tip you more/or tip you (period), money's kind of tight right now....". If money is that tight, they probably shouldn't be out to eat in the first place. Or how about not ordering that extra drink (or 2) or dessert so you CAN afford to tip. I am sure there is a delicious McDonald, Subway, Taco Bell etc. close by where tipping isn't necessary and is also cheaper than eating at a restaurant.
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Post by The Booty Disciple on May 27, 2011 12:53:12 GMT -5
Agreed. I've never understood the idea of going out, paying $9 for a burger and $2 for a drink that if you bought at the store and cooked at home would cost probably $4, and then telling a person they can't afford to leave a tip.
If you can afford to pay restaurant prices (which are marked up significantly from the food cost, for a variety of reasons), you should be able to work a gratuity into the budget for the meal.
There was a guy who used to come into our joint, would drink 3 pints of beer and always get our most expensive burger ($9), and then leave a quarter or two on a $17 check. To say that it sucked for our new people is a bit of an understatement, because they ALWAYS got saddled with him.
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Post by Insomniac on May 27, 2011 12:56:21 GMT -5
If you can't afford to tip at least 15% at a restaurant, you shouldn't be going out to eat in the first place.
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Post by FUNK_US/BRODUS on May 27, 2011 13:03:06 GMT -5
I noticed that same line of thought all over Europe. Tipping was an extreme rarity. I never quite understood why, maybe the servers and waitstaff people make more over there as opposeed to the $2.13 an hour many get here. My policy on tipping has always been simple, I will tip if I can, unless there is an extreme circumstance. I mean, if I go into a place, and I have just enough on me to cover my portion of the bill, I won't tip because I have no money to tip with. However, I'll usually point out, "sorry, broke, just enough to cover the check" and do my best to make it up the next time around. If people "can't afford to tip", don't go out to eat. "Sorry man, I wish I could tip you more/or tip you (period), money's kind of tight right now....". If money is that tight, they probably shouldn't be out to eat in the first place. Or how about not ordering that extra drink (or 2) or dessert so you CAN afford to tip. I am sure there is a delicious McDonald, Subway, Taco Bell etc. close by where tipping isn't necessary and is also cheaper than eating at a restaurant. We're paying for our food. The menu price is for the food. We can eat wherever we want. If youre so bent out of shape that people dont tip, Im sure there is a job at a McDonalds, Subway or Taco Bell where you dont need to rely on tips.
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kdawg
Bubba Ho-Tep
Posts: 659
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Post by kdawg on May 27, 2011 16:00:33 GMT -5
If people "can't afford to tip", don't go out to eat. "Sorry man, I wish I could tip you more/or tip you (period), money's kind of tight right now....". If money is that tight, they probably shouldn't be out to eat in the first place. Or how about not ordering that extra drink (or 2) or dessert so you CAN afford to tip. I am sure there is a delicious McDonald, Subway, Taco Bell etc. close by where tipping isn't necessary and is also cheaper than eating at a restaurant. We're paying for our food. The menu price is for the food. We can eat wherever we want. If youre so bent out of shape that people dont tip, Im sure there is a job at a McDonalds, Subway or Taco Bell where you dont need to rely on tips. Thats what really bothers me: people that KNOW they are supposed to tip but are to cheap to do so. You are "well off enough" to go out, act like a baller and get whatever the heck you want (usually multiple drinks from the bar, expensive menu items etc.), have someone wait on you hand and foot and have the gall to not tip? Just remember that if you are dumb enough to keep going to the same place to eat without tipping/or tip awful, people remember faces. Hope you enjoy the awful service in return or enjoy whatever happens to your food.........
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Post by Macho Dude Handy Damage on May 27, 2011 16:19:31 GMT -5
Looking back I usually tip anywhere from 30 to 55 percent. I never noticed a change in service. :/ And I'm really nice to the workers too, even when they mess up I never care and I'll say it's OK. Don't think that goes unappreciated. In my experience it certainly doesn't. When I was in San Fran last year, I would tip a dollar for about every second beer I ordered. (the beers were about $5 or so a piece) At the end of the night at closing time the bartender chick came up to me to personally thank me for being one of the best tippers of the night.
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Post by Shy Guy on May 27, 2011 16:42:16 GMT -5
i always round when i tip. don't usually figure out the percentage but i figure if my meal is $17, $18 bucks, leaving a $20 isn't bad.
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Post by jamofpearls on May 27, 2011 16:47:57 GMT -5
I tip like crazy. Dunno why. Even when I get a lowered tab, I tip extra to balance out what would be free drinks.
Three minutes for a drink is not a long time. Unless you're in some dive bar of a place. The BWW here is just crazy busy all the time. For a bartender to remember that you don't tip is not exactly a good thing for you.
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Feyrhausen
Hank Scorpio
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Post by Feyrhausen on May 27, 2011 16:52:51 GMT -5
I love being in Britain. My system is: 0% tip. Pretty much all the time. I'd say 99% of occasions. You get a tip if I think you were f***ing awesome. But then, Britain's different. I noticed that same line of thought all over Europe. Tipping was an extreme rarity. I never quite understood why, maybe the servers and waitstaff people make more over there as opposeed to the $2.13 an hour many get here. My policy on tipping has always been simple, I will tip if I can, unless there is an extreme circumstance. I mean, if I go into a place, and I have just enough on me to cover my portion of the bill, I won't tip because I have no money to tip with. However, I'll usually point out, "sorry, broke, just enough to cover the check" and do my best to make it up the next time around. I will admit, I hate giving low tips but will do it for a few reasons. For example, a few years ago we were all out to eat and the food came back not just undercooked but to the point that it might be unhealthy to eat it. We pointed it out, and his response was "you ordered it that way". I asked for it to be remade, he said no, then handed us the check. Yeah, when he found out he didn't get a tip, he actually followed us outside to run his mouth. We just left, figuring it was probably his last night working there or something. But here is the problem, the server is being taxed as if you had tipped 15%, even if you do not. So if you eat, get good service, and do not tip the server is losing money. If you cannot afford to tip, eat at home.
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Post by jamofpearls on May 27, 2011 17:01:19 GMT -5
I noticed that same line of thought all over Europe. Tipping was an extreme rarity. I never quite understood why, maybe the servers and waitstaff people make more over there as opposeed to the $2.13 an hour many get here. My policy on tipping has always been simple, I will tip if I can, unless there is an extreme circumstance. I mean, if I go into a place, and I have just enough on me to cover my portion of the bill, I won't tip because I have no money to tip with. However, I'll usually point out, "sorry, broke, just enough to cover the check" and do my best to make it up the next time around. I will admit, I hate giving low tips but will do it for a few reasons. For example, a few years ago we were all out to eat and the food came back not just undercooked but to the point that it might be unhealthy to eat it. We pointed it out, and his response was "you ordered it that way". I asked for it to be remade, he said no, then handed us the check. Yeah, when he found out he didn't get a tip, he actually followed us outside to run his mouth. We just left, figuring it was probably his last night working there or something. But here is the problem, the server is being taxed as if you had tipped 15%, even if you do not. So if you eat, get good service, and do not tip the server is losing money. If you cannot afford to tip, eat at home. That, I was unaware of.
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The Line
Patti Mayonnaise
Real Name: Bumkiss. Stanley Bumkiss.
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Post by The Line on May 27, 2011 17:02:11 GMT -5
I always tip. My mom was a restaurant owner/cook, and I worked for her, even in a state where tipped employees get minimum wage. My mom kept a small staff(3 waitresses and her, plus I'd wash dishes/bus tables at times), so she didn't have any deadweight servers. The work those three women serves and my mother did was comparable to the work of probably 10 people at a chain place(and the food was better and cheaper @ my mom's).
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h
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Post by h on May 27, 2011 17:11:27 GMT -5
Thats what really bothers me: people that KNOW they are supposed to tip but are to cheap to do so. You are "well off enough" to go out, act like a baller and get whatever the heck you want (usually multiple drinks from the bar, expensive menu items etc.), have someone wait on you hand and foot and have the gall to not tip? Just remember that if you are dumb enough to keep going to the same place to eat without tipping/or tip awful, people remember faces. Hope you enjoy the awful service in return or enjoy whatever happens to your food......... This is where I part ways with food service workers. If you're not willing to do your job well, find a different job. It is never acceptable to do a lousy job intentionally because you don't like the customer. If you aren't willing to do the job well, quit. Excellent service is mandatory. Tip rates are up to the customer to decide. And if a server is the type of person who would spit in someone's food under any circumstances, the problem is clearly not the poor tipper. It's the asshole who tries to extort money from customers through intimidation. That person should be fired on the spot and blacklisted from working in any service job in the city.
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Post by FUNK_US/BRODUS on May 27, 2011 17:20:27 GMT -5
We're paying for our food. The menu price is for the food. We can eat wherever we want. If youre so bent out of shape that people dont tip, Im sure there is a job at a McDonalds, Subway or Taco Bell where you dont need to rely on tips. Thats what really bothers me: people that KNOW they are supposed to tip but are to cheap to do so. You are "well off enough" to go out, act like a baller and get whatever the heck you want (usually multiple drinks from the bar, expensive menu items etc.), have someone wait on you hand and foot and have the gall to not tip? Just remember that if you are dumb enough to keep going to the same place to eat without tipping/or tip awful, people remember faces. Hope you enjoy the awful service in return or enjoy whatever happens to your food......... I dont need to tip in England. During a brief stay in America I tipped due to it being the custom. I dont agree wiht it and I think its a crappy setup especially for the waiters. But there are plenty of actual laws that I dislike a lot more that I put up with. Stop acting like Im some kind of high roller that doesnt tip just to prove he doesnt have to. I dont agree with the idea of tipping because my country pays minimum wage to service staff, and I tip in the case of good service.
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Post by "I'm Batman..." on May 27, 2011 17:43:47 GMT -5
i work in the service industry, so i am a pretty good tipper.
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Post by "Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay on May 27, 2011 18:10:52 GMT -5
To the 'if you can't afford to tip, eat at home' crowd - eating out is something fun to do. I can't afford to eat at a restaurant very often, so if I can afford to, it's pretty nice to be able to do it once in a while - again, I'm in Britain so the tipping thing isn't mandatory; but it is entirely plausible that I can afford to eat out, but can only just afford what I want to eat and no more. People can do with their money whatever they want to do with it.
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Post by The Booty Disciple on May 27, 2011 19:13:12 GMT -5
To the 'if you can't afford to tip, eat at home' crowd - eating out is something fun to do. I can't afford to eat at a restaurant very often, so if I can afford to, it's pretty nice to be able to do it once in a while - again, I'm in Britain so the tipping thing isn't mandatory; but it is entirely plausible that I can afford to eat out, but can only just afford what I want to eat and no more. People can do with their money whatever they want to do with it. I was directing that at patrons in the United States. I probably should have made that clear. My reasoning there is that when competition is high, usually margins are pretty thin in the food industry. Eating out, as you stated, is a luxury, and if your server is making a measly $2.13/hour (meaning, they work an hour and can't afford to buy a soda at the next restaurant over), and luxury's are discretionary spending, ideally when you have enough discretion to not spend money when you can't afford it. So, if someone eats out but can't spare another small percentage, then they should probably re-assess their financial responsibilities.
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Post by Kevin Hamilton on May 27, 2011 19:18:14 GMT -5
I always tip, and almost always tip well.
That said, I think the ' if you can't tip X amount, you shouldn't go out to eat' is a lil presumptuous, and a lil much.
That's a bit of a sense of entitlement that's exactly what those that aren't tipping at all are showing.
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Post by The Booty Disciple on May 27, 2011 19:23:05 GMT -5
Given that the cost to the customer for the same meal prepared at home versus the same meal offered in a run of the mill casual dining restaurant is usually well over 300%, making the total financial output 315% seems silly. Say your check was $30 before tip (for the sake of argument, we'll leave taxation out of this). So yeah...assuming a 300% markup, that would have cost you $10 at home. You can afford $30, but you can't afford $34-35? Say what?
That being said, if a server is less than satisfactory, one way to convey that is through a small or non-existent gratuity. Generally, though, conveying the negative aspects of your dining experience to management is far more productive. We can't fix what we don't know about.
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Post by Kevin Hamilton on May 27, 2011 19:42:42 GMT -5
I get that, the math makes perfect sense; but I'd never agree with ' You should stay at home then!'
I usually tip upwards of twenty-twenty five percent, that's just me; but if I'm hangin out with friends, and they want to go to a place and I wasn't expecting to go out, and have enough to pay for a meal but either no more or not much more, it's not as if I'm gonna stay home or some such because I can't tip X amount. Using your example, say I've got thirty bucks on me and that's it because as I said I wasn't expecting to go anywhere that night, then no I'm not gonna be able to throw in the five or more I usually would, and no I'm not gonna feel bad about it.
I'm with you guys eighty-ninety percent of the way; I work with the public too, but I gotta draw the line there
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Post by The Booty Disciple on May 27, 2011 20:34:27 GMT -5
I got ya. Like I said, it's not a hard and fast rule. I'm referring to people who plan going out, and then never tip, regardless of the fact that they're paying x amount more. At that point, it's not an issue of an unforeseen circumstance, but rather, them being a cheap wanker.
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