# Do you tip at Sonic? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 13, 2008, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tip-at-sonic/441239 "2008-03-13T14:23:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tip-at-sonic/441239/21 "2008-03-14T18:26:57Z")
Hmm, I’ve never been to Sonic. So you order at the counter, then they bring you the food? That’s like Tastee Freeze, but it never occurred to me that I should tip them. ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tip-at-sonic/441239/22 "2008-03-14T18:28:34Z")
[QUOTE=control-z] Hmm, I’ve never been to Sonic. So you order at the counter, then they bring you the food? That’s like Tastee Freeze, but it never occurred to me that I should tip them. [/QUOTE] Most order from their car, but you can walk up and order if on foot. Not a drive thru, you park in a parking slot and order from there. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tip-at-sonic/441239/23 "2008-03-14T18:33:09Z")
There’s one Sonic in Scottsdale that uses a different model. They have a drive-thru and a dining room, like most fast food places. There’s phones at each table in the dining room, and when you’re ready to order you just pick up the phone and call it into the kitchen. Waitstaff will bring your food to the table. That’s the only one I’ve seen like that, though, and I suspect a franchisee bought an existing building and inventively remodeled it. ---
**Author:** ![Geobabe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/geobabe/32/3908_2.png) [@Geobabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geobabe)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tip-at-sonic/441239/24 "2008-03-14T20:21:03Z")
I tip a buck or so, usually. I figure somebody’s bringing me my food while I sit on my fat ass, I’ll throw them a little extra (but I don’t tip at a fast food drive thru. Why? I dunno, tipping customs in the US aren’t entirely logical, but that’s just the way it is.). ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2008, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tip-at-sonic/441239/25 "2008-03-14T20:40:33Z")
[QUOTE=SHAKES] If they ever got their shit together I would. Almost always when I go; the lady will bring me my food, I’ll ask for ketchup then she will have to go back into the store get some ketchup then bring it back out to me. Sometimes I have to wait a good five minutes for the stuff. I’ve even tried to preempt this by asking for condiments when I order my food but it never works. They always have to go back. So no, if you don’t have the common sense it takes to keep all those little extras stored in the pocket of that apron you wear than you obviously don’t care about being tipped. [/QUOTE] At the Sonics around here, they actually have someone wandering the parking lot going up to all the cars and asking if you need any ketchup, salt, napkins, etc. They usually get to my car before the food does! ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2008, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tip-at-sonic/441239/26 "2008-03-15T08:51:34Z")
[QUOTE=Bosstone] There’s one Sonic in Scottsdale that uses a different model. They have a drive-thru and a dining room, like most fast food places. There’s phones at each table in the dining room, and when you’re ready to order you just pick up the phone and call it into the kitchen. Waitstaff will bring your food to the table. That’s the only one I’ve seen like that, though, and I suspect a franchisee bought an existing building and inventively remodeled it. [/QUOTE] I’ve seen one somewhere between Dallas, TX and Cimmaron, NM with the same setup. I can’t remember specifically where it is, except that it was on our troop’s way to Philmont. ---
**Author:** ![Collaborator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Collaborator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Collaborator)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2008, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tip-at-sonic/441239/27 "2008-03-15T08:56:21Z")
Sonic is a fast food place with a gimmick. No way in hell would I ever tip there. ---
**Author:** ![FatBaldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2008, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tip-at-sonic/441239/28 "2008-03-15T16:24:42Z")
Don’t get me started. The last time (and I do mean the _last_ time) I went to Sonic, the guy brought out my food. As I recall, they were having a special on root beer floats for 99 cents, and I got 2 of them, so the total with tax was a little over $2. I gave him 3 ones, and he had the nerve to say, “Do you want your change?” DUH! And then, instead of having any extra money on his person to make change with, he had to go back inside to get the change while I waited again for him to come back out. If he hadn’t been so obvious about asking, and if he had been able to make change on the spot, I probably would have tipped him, but not after that. Not to mention that based on their TV ads, I am 100% convinced that eating Sonic food makes you stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Suse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@Suse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suse)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2008, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tip-at-sonic/441239/29 "2008-03-15T16:51:52Z")
When my daughter worked at the local A&W, the carhops were paid less than the front end and kitchen staff, on the assumption that they would make tips. Most people do tip there, so the carhop shifts were coveted positions and the manager usually tried to rotate the shifts among everyone trained in the front end. I don’t get to Sonic often (only one in my entire area and it’s in an out-of-the-way location) but when we do go, I tip as I would at the A&W, usually 20% of the bill. Those kids work hard! ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2008, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tip-at-sonic/441239/30 "2008-03-15T17:10:01Z")
Hmm…I did some googling. Not sure how awesome my Google-fu is this morning, but all I’ve been able to come up with are forum threads and blogs asking this same question. Some of them have people claiming to be Sonic employees, but this _is_ the Internet. But I’ve been able to find 2 claimed employees saying please tip (no mention of wage), 1 claimed owner saying there’s no expectation to tip, and 1 claimed mother of a Sonic worker who gets paid minimum wage and can earn up to 16-17 dollars an hour with tips. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Will\_Repair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a698b9/32.png) [@Will\_Repair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Will_Repair)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2008, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tip-at-sonic/441239/31 "2008-03-15T18:43:07Z")
Yes. I eat at the tables. ---
**Author:** ![Thorium\_Indium\_Potassium](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c2a13f/32.png) [@Thorium\_Indium\_Potassium](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thorium_Indium_Potassium)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2008, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tip-at-sonic/441239/32 "2008-03-15T20:39:23Z")
[QUOTE=whiterabbit] Yes. When people bring me food, I tip them. Usually it’ll be a dollar or two if I’m feeling really generous. This also goes for carry-out food at restaurants; I’ll generally tip a dollar or two then as well. I think I may be several hundred miles from the nearest Sonic. Dang, I miss them. Their tots are addictive! [/QUOTE] Carry-out food, as in A. you park, walk in pick-up your food, and walk out or B. you park in one of those designated spots and they come out to your car? I’ve always wondered if I should tip when I walk in to pick up my food, but I figure that it doesn’t take them that much time/effort to bring my food to the front or bar area so I don’t. Have I been committing a faux pas without even knowing? ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2008, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tip-at-sonic/441239/33 "2008-03-15T23:17:01Z")
[QUOTE=Wee Bairn] Most order from their car, but you can walk up and order if on foot. Not a drive thru, you park in a parking slot and order from there. [/QUOTE] We don’t have Sonics up here either, though we get the ads on cable. So they’re like carhops from the 50s? Do they wear skates? ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2008, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tip-at-sonic/441239/34 "2008-03-15T23:32:39Z")
I’ve only eaten at a Sonics once. Didn’t tip. Didn’t occur to me to. It’s not entirely logical, but I mainly tip two personal service people: waiters & waitresses, and my barber. The former have traditionally been paid less and depend on tips, the latter because, I dunno, they spend a half hour touching me and I rely on them doing a good job with my head. Someone bringing me my food in a bag after I ordered in through a speaker and stuck my card into a machine so I can eat it in my car just doesn’t strike me as the kind of personal service I’d tip. I also don’t like what I all tipping-creep. That is, the increasing tendency for employers to stick a tip jar out presumably so I can pay their employee’s wages instead of the employer. Waiters, bartenders, and barbers? Sure. But let’s face it, in business everyone is more or less providing a service, but I’m not tipping everyone. Gotta draw the line somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Lazlo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lazlo/32/9678_2.png) [@Lazlo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lazlo)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2008, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tip-at-sonic/441239/35 "2008-03-16T02:02:19Z")
Always. In fact, I usually only order a Route 44 diet cherry limeade and tell them to keep the change from a five spot. The reaction I get from the carhops is worth every cent. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2008, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tip-at-sonic/441239/36 "2008-03-16T06:43:39Z")
Always tip at Sonic just as I do at sit-down restaurants. But I never tip counter help. Sorry, but if you’re not getting paid less than minimum wage as wait staff are, you’re not getting tipped like wait staff. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2008, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tip-at-sonic/441239/37 "2008-03-16T06:48:57Z")
Yes, but like a buck. ---
**Author:** ![Jaade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/dfb087/32.png) [@Jaade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaade)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2008, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tip-at-sonic/441239/38 "2008-03-18T08:00:19Z")
I was also told by a Sonic employee that the car hops are paid about $6 an hour, and probably more now, with the federal minimum wage going up. I’ve worked as an actual server before and have worked in a fast-food environment. IMO, it’s no more difficult to work at Sonic than Chick-Fil-A and I don’t tip them. As a waitress, that 20% I’m hoping to make covers about 45 minutes to an hour of making someone’s dining experience enjoyable. I don’t see why anyone would tip a Sonic waitperson the same amount for 2 minutes of their time. That is their employer’s job, not mine. ---
**Author:** ![Amblydoper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@Amblydoper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amblydoper)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2008, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tip-at-sonic/441239/39 "2008-03-18T08:52:38Z")
Do most Sonics not have drive-thrus? Every one here in Denver has a drive-thru in addition to the stalls. I never use the stalls, because I would much rather take the food home then sit and eat in my car. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2008, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tip-at-sonic/441239/40 "2008-03-18T09:19:47Z")
[QUOTE=CoG888] Do most Sonics not have drive-thrus? Every one here in Denver has a drive-thru in addition to the stalls. I never use the stalls, because I would much rather take the food home then sit and eat in my car. [/QUOTE] If I’m gonna do that, I usually find a Whataburger or a McDonalds, to be honest. If I go to a Sonic, it’s for the full-on stall experience. It’s silly, it’s irrational, but hey, it’s fun for me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tip-at-sonic/441239.md?page=1)