I occasionally tip at the drive-through window when the cashier is particularly friendly (or when it looks like they’re having a particularly bad day!)
The reaction of the cashier is invariably surprised and pleased, and although I may visit only once every month or two, they always remember me. It makes me happy to share a little of what I consider to be my unbelievably good fortune to work in a job I really like (with a decent salary, to boot!) with someone who is working just as hard but probably making barely enough to get by in this expensive part of California.
I also remember back to my first job as a drive-through cashier, where I was tipped exactly once in the 1.3 years I worked there. It made my day. But then I wonder, what difference can a few bucks really make? Am I being condescending?
Does anyone else here tip fast food service workers? Or have you been tipped in such a job? Is there any possible world in which such a gesture would be offensive? (I am a woman, and tend to tip women preferentially to mitigate the potential for suspicion of a come-on).
I worked at KFC in high school. About once every two weeks (give or take, of course) one of the gals who worked the register would be very happy about getting a tip. They never shared
I was tipped $5 once by a parent when I worked at McDonald’s, for helping set up for a birthday party. Of course, I was pleased-- this was almost an hour’s pay for 15 minutes of work.
The parent pulled me aside and gave the tip to me in front of my manager, which was the best way to do it, IMO, because it avoided a bunch of problems that might arise with drive-by tipping. It would have been unfortunate for a cow-orker to witnesses the tip and get jealous, or the manager to see me pocket the tip and suspect me of theft.
I tip at Starbuck’s, Planet Smoothie, and that type of place. They have a tip cup out in plain view. I always tip at Sonic. I think these are places that everyone knows to tip though. As for KFC or McDonalds, I wouldn,t have a problem tipping there, I just don’t want to get the employee in trouble…
Our local Taco Bell has a tip cup at the drive thru. I NEVER tip there, because they are the SLOWEST Taco Bell in the country (and that’s saying something!)
I almost always tip at Dunkin Donuts, because at each of the five(!) in walking distance of my house, they know me well enough to see me coming and have my coffee ready, just the way I like it, when I get to the counter. That’s worth an extra dollar per cup, in my opinion.
I tip at restauants because the tips are considered part of the pay structure.
But tipping in general is bad public policy, and will someday be non-PC everywhere as it is in many countries today. People should be paid a reliable wage by their employers and not have to pretend to be beggars at the feet of their betters.
I was at one of those “glorified food stands” in the airport, and ordered a hot dog. I paid with my debit card, and the slip came out with a blank for a tip, so I wrote in a $1.00 tip (roughly 20% of the cost of the dog).
The cashier thanked me politely and profusely, but also informed me that she wouldn’t get the dollar I was tipping. I asked who would get it, and she said, “The company.” I scratched it out.
So I guess that if you are going to tip at a fast food joint (even one with a space for it on the credit card slip!), cash is the way to go.
There’s a coffee shop in the ground floor at work. I never tip there. I never order anything that requires significant effort to prepare like a coffee - I usually get something prepared in another bakery and trucked over. I barely make more per hour than the folks behind the counter, and after tips they make more than I do, so I don’t see the point in tipping someone to pull a danish out of a glass case for me.
I used to tip at Sonic, and still do when the weather’s bad or if it’s late at night. I spoke with one Sonic manager, who said that he didn’t want his carhops getting tips. I really need to ask more managers, because that sounds weird.
No, I don’t tip fast food workers, whether they’re at McDonald’s or the local sub shop. As for Sonic, I’d tip them if it would help them build one closer than 200 odd miles from me.
No, I don’t tip at fast food restaurants. I tip at places that actually come out and serve me but definitely not places where I go to the counter and get the food.
Isn’t anyone else irked by the by the prevalence of begging oops I mean tip cups popping up everywhere. They have one at Jimmy Johns and I honestly can’t think of any reason I would tip there. If I order a sub and have it delivered I tip the delivery guy but when I walk in there is one person taking orders and one person making sandwiches. Seriously what’s the tip for?
I would, but as a former fast food restaurant worker, I know how much trouble you can get into for accepting tips. I got fired from McDonalds for accepting a tip (and it wasn’t even a tip! The gentleman told me to keep the change, it was something like 75 cents, so I put it in the Ronald McDonald house thingie), and a friend of mine has been fired from Wendys for accepting tips. A LOT of fast food restaurants have policies against accepting gratuities. I’m not sure why.
Anyway, if the place has a tip cup (I don’t know why that’s so offensive to so many people; I look at it as a place to put my spare change because damned if I hate carrying pennies around) I’ll usually put my loose change in there, and if the service is particularly good I’ll put another dollar in there. If the service is abysmal I won’t even put my loose change in. I know that a lot of times the tip cup doesn’t even actually go to the employees, though, especially in fast food restaurants. At DQ the tips went to pay for our annual employee dinner so that we didn’t have to pay for it ourselves (that’s how much of a cheap whore our boss was). So I suppose it depends.
I’m still not getting why the tip cup is offensive. All it ever said to me was “Hey, dump off your loose change and benefit minimum-wage slaves.”
Agreed, t-bot. They discourage tipping so you don’t give them more of a product. That’s the best way to get a good sub, with a dollar or so tip. I’ve seen it a billion of times, and it’s almost like paying for extra toppings anyways (in many cases, it’s less than paying at the cashier for extra stuff).
Although if fries cost nothing and someone gave me a dollar and change tip, I can’t see the harm in making sure their french fry box is stuffed. It costs the company very little, especially when you consider that a larger volume of stuff in a restaurant could be written up as scrapped/dropped on the floor/trashed.
This is where someone comes in and points out how putting an extra nugget per tip could cost McDonalds hundreds of thousands. I’d reply that it’s a cheap price for customer retention.
