Many forms are not read at all. They feed it into a computer which looks for keywords.
I’ve never been a server, so that part of the poll doesn’t apply. The rest is flawed in that my tipping habits are variable in the extreme. Sometimes it’s 10%, sometimes it’s 100%. Totally depends on the situation.
The general rule is:
Precisely.
For tipping, it really, really depends on service. My default these days is 20%, rounded up to the nearest dollar.
For mediocre service, or service with minor but understandable errors? Still 15% rounded up.
For less minor errors or poor service, generally 10%.
I can’t remember the last time I didn’t tip - normally if things are getting that bad (like the time we waited over 30 minutes in a near-empty place to get our water and still hadn’t had our order taken) I’ll just leave prior to ordering.
BUT there are exceptions, or rather, tactics that make me never come back regarding “tipping” manipulation. Like the place which is an order at counter and self service, but included a mandatory 10% upcharge on the ticket as a “gratuity”? No, not coming back - especially as I have zero confidence most/any of that is going to staff!
I don’t remember ever having a conversation about tipping so I left that blank. I tip 20%. The pandemic didn’t really change the amount but I tipped more people than I used to. For instance I normally wouldn’t tip when I picked up take out. I’ve never been a server so that was left blank.
I’ve been a server, but it was so long ago that it’s really inapplicable, and one place was an assisted living home where nobody had any money and they’d tip you in little handmade gifts because that was all they could do. (IIRC we did get full minimum wage.) I left that one blank.
I said I’d tip 20% but if it’s a really small tab I might give more. And if it were really horrible service I might give less; but it would have to be really horrible and I’d have to be sure it was the server’s fault – a lot of things people blame on the server are actually due to something going on (or not going on) in the kitchen.
And covid has changed my habits in that, while I ate out only rarely before covid, I eat out even less than that now; so there’s no tip because there’s no tab and no service.
I used to tip 15% (rounded up to the nearest dollar). Now I tip 20% (rounded up to the nearest dollar). I object strenuously to the custom, but that’s not the server’s fault.
Nor have I ever understood how a poor tip will motivate better service, especially when customers are so variable in what their norm is. Isn’t it easier just to have a quiet word with the manager about poor or excellent service, but tip everyone the same?
I tip 20%, rounded.
Sometimes if there is a Busser who really hustles with water refills and stuff i slip them a small cash tip also.
I worked as a cook, never waitstaff, but there was a jar and sometimes guys put change or a buck in it. My “waitress” worked for tips only- but she was also my partner. I drew a small salary + the jar (maybe $20 on a good month) and she earned about twice what I did. However, our customers were mainly male and she flirted a lot. She enjoyed doing it. We also got free food, of course. The profits were pretty small, but those were to go to the retired couple that had us run the place for a year after they retired- they had a year left on a sweetheart lease. She often got a dollar on a $3 sale as tip.
I can’t remember watching an inauguration so I’m not going to start now. I have no interest in politician speeches or spectacle.
I’ve been inside the NJ governor’s mansion and the Tower of London. I’ve been outside of most of the other buildings mentioned but not inside.
I get kind of tired of polls that have no answer I can use. I do not discuss tipping with my friends, ever. I was never a paid server. Etc. Can’t we have “None of the above” more often?
Years ago in the late 1960s/early 1970s (can’t recall the exact date) my cousin married a West Virginia state senator. I believe at some point we had a private tour of the Governor’s Mansion. Governor Arch Moore was the name I recall.
I was young at the time and don’t remember much.
Some years we visited my cousin and her senator husband in a glorious house in Charleston that had a huge wine cellar. We were young teenagers and decided to nick a bottle for ourselves.
Even more years later my cousin’s husband was involved in a notorious West Virginia corruption scandal and was disbarred.
They divorced and he remarried, went to some island and died.
I literally toured the Palace of Westminster (including both House chambers) three weeks ago. And very much enjoyed it.
Tipping here is done by rounding up to the nearest 5 or 10 francs, approximately 1-2 francs, sometimes 5-10 francs. Never by percentage. Service staff appreciate tips, but are not dependent on them.
I visited the White House in the early 80s with my parents, which was fairly low key.
Seems that I am so far the only one who has visited Reichstag. Before our last visit to Berlin I found out about the dome and snagged tickets. Pretty cool.
I had a private tour of the West Wing during the last days of the Clinton administration. We had a friend that worked there. It was very cool. I have great photo of my daughter at the podium in the press briefing room.
I’ve been in the Washington Supreme Court (even argued three cases there), and the Washington Governor’s mansion. I’ve been in the Governor’s motorcade once too. My ex worked for two governors, and we attended a few parties at the mansion. I’ve been in the US Supreme Court as an observer a couple of times. I worked one summer for the Senate, and was in the Senate Chamber many times.
I don’t like to lump the SDMB in with “the news or on social media”
so i chose other.
Today, January 18, my niece is getting married. All my attention this weekend is going to the wedding and related activities. Zero to the inauguration.
If the news is on & there’s a story about it, I’ll watch but otherwise I don’t care. It’s a pomp ceremony & I’m not big on them.
To me, actively avoiding it is refusing to watch the news or changing the channel if it comes on. I won’t go that far.
Realistically I won’t see anything about it.
I’m mostly avoiding the inauguration but I’ll probably take a fast look at the news, and also here, afterwards just in case something unexpected happened.
I can’t remember for sure whether I’ve ever been inside the US Capitol or a state one. If I have, it doesn’t seem to have made much of an impression on me.
My father smoked cigars mostly. I have a vague memory of him smoking cigarettes when I was very young, but mostly I remember him smoking cigars.
I’m told that my mother smoked cigarettes but gave them up while she was pregnant with me. After I was born she never resumed smoking.
Agreed.