Americans know that you are supposed to tip a waiter at a full-service restaurant 15-20% for good service. There is no obligation to tip at all unless the restaurant makes it mandatory, as they sometimes do for large groups. However, in the US, food servers are often paid below the minimum wages as tips are expected to make up the difference. What about outside the full-service restaurant? How much should you tip at bars or buffets or take out windows? This article at mintlife spells those out for you.
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(Image credit: Dave Dugdale)
Whenever I go through the takeout dance with a host (she retrieves my food, I pay—inevitably with a credit card—and my eyes scan down to that darned gratuity line), I feel anxious. Am I rude if I don’t tip? A sucker if I do? What’s the proper percentage? (Surely not the full 15% to 20%.)
“I’ll leave a couple of dollars, maybe more if it’s a larger order and required more work by the host,” says Heather Chang, a former hostess at a San Diego gourmet pizza restaurant. What constitutes more work? “Things the host would’ve helped put together, like a salad or something that required fancy packaging.” If this turns out to be the case, 10% is plenty.
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(Image credit: Dave Dugdale)
My biggest pet peeve is when people believe that the customer is responsible for a wait staff's pay. That's exactly what the owners of the restaurant want you to think. It's actually a rather impressive business model. It works like this: they get the staff to believe that there's "just no way we can pay you any more than $3 an hour." Then they say the waiter's "pay" comes mostly from tips, so if they get a poor tip, it's the customer's fault - completely disregarding the fact that the customer has already paid too much for a meal that didn't cost nearly as much to make or prepare. Not to mention sparking a whole pseudo-philosophical/ethical debate on why a middle-aged woman working at Denny's should get %20.
If you work as wait staff, you'll most likely find issue with this. However, don't kill the messenger. The current system may be working right now, but only well enough to perpetuate whiny-articles like this to go on uninterrupted. It does no good and people will continue to tip what they want, which is usually plenty.
So the next time you are in a Starbucks and the person handing you your decaf glances at the tip jar, then back at you with a raised eyebrow, give them THIS tip: tell your bosses not to charge $2 for a cup of coffee.
If your business model does not include fair pay for all staff, then you should be ashamed of yourself.
The U.S. has a deplorably poor record on employment law, in Europe we think of you as a third-world country when we hear that wait-staff are expected to hustle for tips in order to make their pay.
Tipping demeans both the tipper and the person tipping.
As for the coffee world. You're not a "barista". You serve coffee. Labelling yourself with a silly word doesn't give the job added value.
As for Matt's question: I used to deliver pizza and I can tell you how it was for me. I did NOT get any of the delivery charge. Every cent of the delivery charge went into the owner's pocket. Of course, many people think as you do, that the driver is getting a built in tip and the pizza restaurant owners rarely bother to educate the customer. I am fairly certain that all of the chains are the same way. Don't cheat the driver because you think he is already getting an automatic tip; he ain't.
I always tip the delivery guys, and living in a place there there are a lot of places where they use bicycles to deliver I tip them well haha.
Baristas I will never be ok with people tipping a baritsa. The way I look at it if you are tipping them you should be tipping your cashier at the department store (you know..the one you have run around for 15 min finding sizes for you, or the shoe salesman that has hussled to bring out 20 pairs of shoes for you), or the tanning salon operator (you know..the one that remembers your name EVERY time, takes care to make sure you have a nice clean towel when you go in, and after has to clean up your sweaty mess? I say thins mostly because in my state basically every one makes min wage (a whopping 8 something an hour) and if they don't I've never heard of any base wage being less than 6 something an hour. I know this is different in other places like the south, so always be aware when you are visiting other states, they all have different ways of doing things!
There's no real tipping culture in the UK, and I've certainly never been anywhere where you'd automatically tip at a bar for drinks - you always pay and wait for your change. Maybe someone might say 'and have one yourself', or 'keep the change', which is then taken out of the payment, but that's really the exception.
I don't understand the assumption that tipping is the norm, but again I suppose that's a cultural thing. But did the person providing the service do something out of the ordinary? Was he/she going beyond their job description when setting down food on your table or driving your taxi? If not, why tip? I would tip (and have done so) for exceptional service, but someone who knocks on the door with a pizza delivery is doing nothing exceptional - I already paid a delivery charge, and the person handing me my food is doing that job.
On the other end of the scale, I once wrote in an 18% tip at Cracker Barrel on the credit card slip. The cashier was amazed and called another worker over to drool over it. They told me no one ever tips that much, and the majority of their customers, being elderly travelers, don't tip at all.
But that was back in the days I actually ate out...
It's purely part of the tradition. We understand that certain situations require leaving a tip, therefore we do it. As a long-time tip-reliant worker, we are often seen as independent contractors for the restaurant owner. Especially in places like bars, with floating servers, the management treats it as "you get paid as hard as you work." It's true. If I hang out in the back and fiddle with my blackberry all night, I deserve what I get. However, if I'm working the floor and making sure my customers' glasses are full, I deserve what I get.
Furthermore, tipping well isn't the only way to get better service on a night out. Simply saying your please's and thank you's will go over great too. As we say, "A jerk that tips well is still a jerk."
What nonsense. Tipping is the last remaining example of the honor-system in American society, and it is the only reason you EVER get decent, personalized service in a restaurant.
A restaurant server has opportunities to screw with your food--your food--that a fast-food employee could only dream of. The hope of a decent tip at the end of the night is what keeps him/her from doing that, and ensures that they try to provide you with the best dining experience possible.
I know, this is not always the case. Sometimes you get terrible service from a server. But taking tipping out of the equation isn't going to make that better; if you put servers on a strict hourly wage, with no incentive to treat customers well, what do you think is going to happen?
Keep in mind that the food prices that you see on the menu assume that you will be tipping the staff. For everyone complaining about having to subsidize the waitstaff's pay, you would be doing it either way. If nobody tipped and it was paid by the owner you would see much higher prices for food.
Personally, it's not tipping I believe in it's over-tipping. Partly to make up for the sad, cheap, bitter people who refuse to do so. Mainly because I respect the people serving me and want to show that to them.
It also helps to get better service, especially at a bar. I can guarantee that my drinks come better and faster than those of a bad tipper. Think about that next time you can't get the bartender's attention for your second round.
Tipping is "the last remaining example of the honor system?" Seriously?! You need a corporate chain of Red Lobsters to teach you about honor?!
You can't possibly tell me that the reason for good service at all is because of tips. What if restaurants had a higher set of standards for becoming a waitress? That would eliminate a hell of a lot of people right off the bat. probably the ones who think they're doing the customer a favor by doing their job.
Incidentally, "messing" with someone's food is now a much bigger deal with the advent of more transmittable diseases. Because the staff is in a kitchen or preparation area, they are considered to be in a "privileged position" when handling the food, meaning that if they were to do something to the food they're looking at jail time. Not to mention what I'd do if I found out.
I rather object to places that charge a compulsory service charge for singles/couples. Just charge more for the damn meal. I was in a terrible Chinese restaurant in Oxford called the Opium Café where the meal was inedible and the staff rude. When I didn't pay the service charge the waitress threatened to call the cops. I told her to feel free and in the end she extremely bitterly let us leave after paying the full price for the meal but no service charge.
Seperate note, it might be interesting to see which situations people would consider 'tippable'. I'm from the UK and I would consider tipping:
waiting staff (restaurant)
taxis (though only in a 'keep the change' way)
bar / coffee staff (only if they've really gone beyond the call of duty)
can't think of any else at the moment, though I may have not considered something.
I'd tip a concierge at a hotel if they've done a good service like carry my bags or pour me a drink when the bar staff are away.
If someone were selling newspapers and just left a pile of them out in public with a sign saying "Please leave money when you take a newspaper," that would be an example of the honor system.
"You can't possibly tell me that the reason for good service at all is because of tips."
Based on that statement, you can't possibly tell me you've ever been a restaurant server.
Second, you're a cretin if you don't tip in America. I can't imagine how insufferable it must be to be around some of you people. It's clear you treat wait staff as adversaries.
I can't say I agree. I'm not saying that these people are worth $100,000.00 a year, but I will say that they do know a specific trade, and are (generally) good at it. It's a little bit more in depth than throwing some grounds in a filter and letting it drip.
Kinda just sounds like you're being a bit demeaning because you don't see the value in it...but some serious coffee drinkers would beg to differ.
Getting paid tips to bring food on a plate seems just completely stupid to me.
If you fail to give the person who serves you the expected tip you are tricking them into serving you for free and cheating them, plain and simple. Why should a person get paid less for serving you than for serving someone with class who actually tips? That isn't fair.
If you don't believe in tipping stick to McDonalds and Kwik Trip.
The idea that we, as Americans, need to change over to the European system is pure nonsense. I've traveled extensively, and I've received the worst service in European restaurants. Why give better service if they get paid the same? Why work harder if you're paid the same wage? In addition, often times in the European model, restaurant goers are charged a per person addition to the bill. It just isn't a percentage.
Tip what you want. You should know that your server isn't making that much money hourly. In the state of Georgia, our base pay covers the taxes owed on our income. Rarely do I receive a pay check that has money on it. Everything I make hourly is taken by the government. All I walk with at the end of the day is my tip money. So tip what you want, but know that we work our asses off to provide a service.
As for hosts/delivery drivers/to go/fast food/etc... ask them how much they make an hour and/or how much people typically tip. Most often, they'll answer honestly.
Quite frankly, I'm not going to bring someone that 5th diet coke if I know it won't affect my wage at the end of the day.
If you don't want to tip for food, eat at a restaurant that you don't need to tip. If you are morally opposed to tipping, as some comments seem to indicate, then don't go there. But to make a statement against the system by not tipping your server is to demean the work they do for you.
In conclusion, know this: Serving isn't easy. It is physically draining, and mentally demanding. Not to mention the people skills required. So if your server does a good job to make your experience a good one, reward them... with a generous tip.
$2 for a cup of coffee is expensive?
In Australia, coffees generally cost between $3.50 and $5 (3.60 - US$5.20)...and they pay the "baristas" at least minimal wage, AND they expect tips, when half of them think the only difference between a latte and a cappuccino is that one has sprinkles.
Australia is expensive!
Well, of course, a EUROPEAN would think of us crummy lousy Americans as 3rd world. Of course you would.
Ask me what I, crummy lousy American, think of wait staff in france, for example, who can't crack a smile, can't keep from making faces at me when I ask for a steak that won't bleed to death in my plate or more than 1 ice cube for the room temp coke that is put in front of me but that I'd like to drink COLD and who make me wait forever for a simple meal and then can't even say thank you and have a nice day when I leave?
Go on, ask me.
On tipping: no way its gonna improve if the tip is mandatory. Im from the Netherlands, and i know we are known to be cheap, we DO tip, but only if you deliver extra service besides slapping it on the table. (remember the drinks, drink on tab for the night, names, good recommendations)
Tips should be given for good service-- exceeding minimum expectations. This attitude/expectation of deserving an extra tip just because you did your job...no. 15% for someone doing the minimum effort and has to be actively flagged down to get a refill on my water? Say hello to a 10% tip instead. I've even worked for tips before (ice cream store), and yes, they were nice when people were generous, but I also never felt like I deserved one for something so easy as serving a single cup of ice cream with no mix-ins.
Also, I could have sworn that 10% used to be norm for tipping before it was 15%-20%. Did I imagine that?
No, they're doing the job they were hired to do and are expected to perform (and to perform well). And what about when they do that job exceedingly poorly? Should I still pay them because gosh darn it, at least they showed up to work, I guess? The tip is a bonus to be earned.
As for fair... well, why should the server get paid less by me because I only ordered a $10 salad while you were ordering a $30 steak? Same amount of effort and service on their part, but radically different tips. It's just a stupid system. (For the record, yes, I DO tip. I don't think I've ever not tipped anyone, and I'll even tip on take-out if I like the place/people. It's still kind of a stupid system that's been overly integrated into service transactions, and I disagree with how it's been elevated to a required obligation regardless of actual performance, at least to some people.)
So this is your "honor system"? There is no honor system in a situation where doing the "honorable" thing is just a preventative measure. What you describe is at best a bribe system, and at worst an extortion system.
IE the same as every other industry...why should restuarants be any different to, say, buying a PC? It would be ludicrous to tip people in my local Tesco's for showing me where the cinnamon bagels are..thats their job.
Likewise, workers in the service industry know they provide a service and will be reprimanded if they dont.
Tipping is basically a good way for people managing food establishments to get out of paying their workers a decent wage and leaving the onus on to the guests who shouldnt have to be responsible for the welfare of the workers there.
True enough, and to be honest, when I'm leaving a tip I don't think of it as a "thank-you" to the server for not poisoning my cheeseburger. I personally think of tipping as a way to generate and spread goodwill, and to let the server know I appreciate the job they do. I also know what a server's actual wages look like, and I'm aware that if no one left voluntary tips, restaurants would have to raise wages, and their food would get more expensive and the service would get worse. Tipping is a collective benefit to society, but rarely a personal one to the tipper (unless the server remembers you next time you're in there).
However: After reading a bunch of the mean-spirited comments in this thread, it seemed that a "what's in it for me" explanation might be a litle more comprehensible to some of the previous posters.
Mitch - a tip is exactly a 'bonus or gift'. I just looked at the wiki page for 'tip' and it defines it as a voluntary extra payment.
When it comes to the US, I will happily concede that it's the custom to pay it, and when I finally get the chance to go back there I fully expect & intend to have to familiarise myself with how tipping works over on that side of the pond. However, that doesn't change the more general principle that tipping should not be considered an automatic - that negates the whole purpose of a tip. It's the employers job to pay their staff - if that means that prices go up, so be it - the staff are better looked after and I can happily expect service to be better, since the staff won't be able to just assume they'll get their tip.