Its really bullshit. They didnt deliver it. They made it...and got paid to do it. Argh! So sick of the fucking tipping for doing your job shit!

needs moar cowbell
http://img2.timeinc.net/ew/dynamic/i.../cowbell_l.jpg

I tip almost everywhere, except at drive thru's. Especially where I am a regular, it always comes back to ya...

I never eat there but I rarely tip counter staff unless they are extremely engaging (humorous or 'seemingly' sincere), very efficient and attentive to what they are making or if it's a hot chick. Otherwise, no.

I'm able to make my own sandwiches. So.... take that.

Seriously, no. If it was a charity jar then maybe, but if it was a jar marked "TIPS" or something, then no.

I eat at a lot of buffets and it seems now those people want a tip for picking up after you.

You seat yourself. You get your own food and drinks. And there's still someone with a hand out.

Very rarely. The only exception I make is a local deli where I sometimes pick up lunch. They are always very nice and have hooked me up on price or extras sometimes.

I only tip if I get to sit down and somebody takes my order, brings me my food and comes back to ask if I need anything else. Otherwise they are just doing their job, which they're already paid for. A tip is supposed to be a bonus for good work.

Sorry, my post is wordy and not 100% on topic, but after reading a couple of posts in this thread, I got very passionate about it! ;)

I have a lot of experience in the food industry, having held literally every possible position from dishwasher to GM, in just about every kind of establishment from mall hot dog stand to 4 star full service restaurant.

My 2 cents:
Don't feel obligated to tip at subway or Quiznos or Starbucks or any other food place that is not full-service. Tipping is nice, but it's not expected at those type of establishments.

For full-service places, always tip servers and bartenders, even if they give you shitty service.

Why?

1) The tip you leave for the server is usually NOT just for the server. They have to do tip-share with the host, busboys, bartenders, and any other helper staff, like water or bread-boys. Yea, maybe your server sucked, but by not tipping you are punishing everyone else for your crappy server. Instead of one pissed off employee, you now have half the staff hating you.

2) All those peeps above, they are required to claim a set percentage on their gross sales.
So if you spend $100.00 and stiff them, they still have to pay taxes on what you SHOULD have tipped them. This percentage averages from 8-10%. Of course you are going to get shitty service. Why should they give you even the bare minimum when they have to actually pay for your cheap ass to eat there!

Front-of-house staff have excellent memories. If you stiff them, I promise you they will remember you. Even if it's a year and a half since you were last there. Next time you come in, you will get even shittier service. They won't even want to take your table.

Don't believe me? Go ahead, watch them while you are waiting in line. You will see servers going to the host stand and chatting with the hosts. What are they doing? They are looking at the waiting line and sizing you up. Then they are telling the host to seat you in someone else's section cuz they know you don't tip, so they don't want to waste their time on you.

Now hold on, cuz it doesn't stop there. If that server has to take your table, they will contain their anger till they get to the back-of-house. They are gonna go back there and start ranting and bitching about having to take your cheap-ass table. Now the cook staff is gonna get it on it. What you are going to wind up with is the smallest steak they had on hand, the steak they accidently dropped on the floor 4 hours ago and set aside or the least desirable looking portion of whatever you just ordered. And no, they are not going to give a shit if it's over or undercooked.

Karma is a bitch, and she lives in the food industry. You fuck with her, and she will fuck right back.

As far as tipping goes, the thought process of the server waiting on you is not what you think.
Stiffing a server in their eyes doesn't say 'You suck as a server', it says "I'm a cheap fuck and I'm entitled". If you want to tell a server they suck by way of tip, you leave them a flat dollar. Nothing more, nothing less.

If you get the service you expected, then leave them a proper tip. A 'proper' tip is the full tax amount of your guest check times 2.

If you want to get superior service, ie seated before people ahead of you in line, getting your food before those who ordered first, getting better portions of food, having your drinks refilled before your glass is half-empty.... then tip above the expected amount. The better you tip, the better your experience will be every time.

Like it or not, that's just the way it is.

nope I dont think I ever have

I usually do it as a "Please don't spit in my food" tax.

Damn Straight!

I used to tip at Cold Stone when my buddy worked there. It was great making him have to sing, haha.

Excellent post!

However, the full tax amount in BC is 12.5%. I don't tip 25% unless it's a huge party or the service is very exceptional.

if im feelin rich, maybe

Wow! 12.5% is rough! Where I am now it's just 7.25%.
15-20 is the % I would say to shoot for.

You mentioned huge parties and that made me remember something else.
If you have a large party and the restaurant tacks on a mandatory tip, Uncle Sam considers that amount to be part of the bill and servers are not required to claim it, the restaurant is. Uncle Sam considers tips to be obligatory in nature only, so by making tip mandatory it no longer qualifies.
Not helpful for us consumers, but if you are a server and wait on a big party with a forced tip, that tidbit of info could save you some $$! :)

at a fast food joint? never..

Ugh mandatory tips! Can't stand those :(

This is when you can expect the shittiest service. They're getting their tip no matter what.

You're lucky if you get drinks refilled more than once.

I've had waitstaff ask why they weren't tipped ON TOP of the mandatory included amount. Maybe people don't read their bills and just tip on the total, regardless.

Oh, I'm sure that happens all the time.

this post just goes to prove out retarded tipping is.

There should be no RULES for tipping.

I don't think you could say there are 'rules' for tipping. I think a better description would be 'expectations'.

This is a more difficult concept to explain, but I will do my best.

Servers 'expect' to get a tip from you because that is what the majority of the other customers do, not because there is some rule that says you have to.
They 'expect' to get a tip because it is common knowledge that servers make less than the minimum wage. ( Now, this one may not be true of everyone, but you will be hard pressed to find a majority of people who aren't aware of this. )

It's the same logic you as a consumer uses when you go to a restaurant.
You 'expect' to get friendly service.
You 'expect' to not have to ask for a refill before your glass is empty.
You 'expect' to get your food in a timely manner.

Not to bust anyone's bubble, but a servers responsibilities are very simple.
Their job is find out what the customer wants and relay that information to the kitchen.
Anything beyond that will vary from place to place, some restaurants have additional staff to handle drink refills or bring your food to you, some have the server handle that.

The point being is that the door swings both ways. There aren't rules that say the server has to smile or be friendly. There aren't rules to make the server ensure your glass is never empty or your order arrives "on time".

Now before you go and get into a huff and say that isn't true, hear me out!

I'm sure any place you go to the business will have policies that deal with staff-client interactions and the expectations of the staff from the business's perspective.

Here is where we get to the bottom-line, real truth of it. Money. It's all about the money.
I don't know if you are a surfer or a webmaster, but if you are a webmaster, you should fully understand what I am saying:

If you go to a restaurant (or any business for that matter) and your 'expectations' are not met they way you think they should be, you take your money somewhere else. If you get bad service you probably won't go back. If you complain to management, they aren't going to try to make it right because they like you, they going to try to make it right because they want your money. I believe in the adult industry this is known as "member retention".

That said, any policies the business may have in place will really only matter so far as to get your money. I'm sure you've seen the notice just about everywhere that states the business has the right to refuse service to anyone. Believe it or not, this includes customers who do not tip.

Before you say bullshit, I should tell you that I have seen this happen in real life. It was only one time ever, but there were customers who came in regularly and one time they were forcibly removed from restaurant by police after they freaked out because every staff member in the restaurant refused to wait on them. The reason no one wanted to help them? Because they were **high-maintenance and had never once left a tip.

I'm kind of getting off topic but what I am trying to say is that there really are no 'rules' per se, it's just expectations and perceptions. It's all about greasing the machine and the grease in this case is money.

I would make the argument that if you want to have any rules about tipping, then this is the rule you should have:

If you can't leave a tip, then you should stay at home and cook your own food.

Said it before I'll say it again. I think it should be illegal for one industry to pay less base wage than state and federal minimums, on the expectation that the consumer will make up the difference. And that the taxes will all work out perfectly somehow (ona wing and a prayer).

In my world, the only thing that'd change is restaurants would have to pay the same mandated minimum wage as everyone else. Period. Tips would NOT be affected, they would be given freely as they are now. But hold restaurants to a legal base wage. If some restaurants fail because of it, then frankly thats tough bananas. This would also make nonsense like "mandatory tip" obsolete (it's an oxymoron anyway).

Actually, this does exist already. It's known as 'amount-to-meet guarantee', which basically means that the restaurant can pay it's servers less than minimum wage, however if that servers pay plus actual tips do not equal at least minimum wage then the restaurant is required to pay the server the difference to "meet the amount' of the current minimum wage.

The policies of most restaurants is to force it's servers to report a specific % of sales, regardless of whether they actually made that amount in tips or not. This is where people who stiff servers actually screw over the server, because even if you don't tip, the server is going to be forced to say you did tip them and then pay for it out of their own pocket.

I'm glad to hear that. Thats new to me :)

I've worked (in ye olden days) for minimum wage or commission whichever is more. But accepting tips was utterly forbidden. When my sales would slack off because I was helping people fix their damn electronics, I'd get scolded for being too nice and "wasting time" helping customers.

What a world.

With links to free tube sites, I guess ... as a tip :winkwink:

"Tip threads" on GFY always get the views going...

I cook at home and bring my food to work if I am out of my office almost 100% of the time. On the rare occasions I eat out I tip if it is a sit down restaurant or delivery, otherwise no way.