# Eating Out With A Bad Tipper **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 2, 2013, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-out-with-a-bad-tipper/672905 "2013-11-02T03:24:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-out-with-a-bad-tipper/672905/81 "2013-11-05T14:40:10Z")
> [@handsomeharry](#): > > You aren’t required to right all of the world’s ills. I think this is the worst comment in the entire thread, to be frank. If everyone thought like this, then none of the world’s ills would ever be corrected. If an ill has happened in front of me, and I can do something about it, then gosh darn it, it behooves me to fix it. All the major world religions say so in one form or another, and even better, secular humanism also says so. I live in a society and I happen to like it, and I will continue to do what I can to fix the world’s ills, a little bit at a time. You see, I’m quite confident this is all we get. Go back and leave the tip, OP. Good on you. ---
**Author:** ![mascaroni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@mascaroni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mascaroni)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-out-with-a-bad-tipper/672905/82 "2013-11-05T14:43:05Z")
> [@Stringbean](#): > > … You should be aware, however, that foreigners have a reputation in America as terrible tippers. Probably because they don’t understand that tipping is integral to a waiter making a living. True. It’s a bit of a social minefield for non-US people. For instance, in the UK, 10% is considered the standard tip for eating out in a restaurant. In pubs/bars tipping is non-existent apart from the occasional “Have one for yourself” at your local. It’s more ignorance than stinginess. ---
**Author:** ![Macca26](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/13edae/32.png) [@Macca26](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Macca26)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-out-with-a-bad-tipper/672905/83 "2013-11-05T14:54:14Z")
> [@Doggo](#): > > Something I’m finding hard to understand. > The US news tells me that the US is in financial meltdown, and people have no money to spend, while on here, so many are talking about tipping 10. To me, either most people are still making plenty of money, or the value of the US has fallen to very low levels. > > If where I live, I had to tip the equivalent of $10 for a meal, I wouldn’t be eating out at all, ever. You see, food prices in American restaurants are low for the same reason we have tips. Those in other countries pay more up front and don’t tip after. We pay less up front and do tip after. You think it’s crazy to add on $10, well you’re the one sitting there paying $55 for the meal without a tip and we’re the ones sitting here paying $45 for the meal and $10 for the tip. Comes out about the same. When you know you have to tip and therefore calculate the cost of the tip into your eating out budget, you don’t end up in situations where you’re shocked at how much tip you have to pay. That $10 isn’t a separate $10 for us. It’s part of the meal cost and we knew it’d be there going in. Think of it this way, in America you pay the restaurant for the food, then you pay the server for their service. Most everywhere else, you pay the restaurant for the food AND the service. That’s the real difference. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-out-with-a-bad-tipper/672905/84 "2013-11-05T15:06:26Z")
My general advice is this: if you’re not good at eating out, you’d better have a good tip. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-out-with-a-bad-tipper/672905/85 "2013-11-05T15:12:35Z")
I have a friend who is like this and the first experience was quite a shock. It’s probably happened several times before that, as we take turns paying when we go out to lunch, but this was the first that I knew about it. We all went to a local steakhouse after our children’s school performance. She and her husband were on a new diet\*, and just getting used to eating out while being careful. As a result, they sent food back no less than three times - not because there was anything “wrong” with it, but because they hadn’t expected there to be butter o the broccoli, or some such thing. I myself had to send my steak back because it was too rare for me; and of course we had three little ones at the table, which always results in extra trouble and mess. Kids meals are also the same amount of work for the wait staff, at a far lower price, so I always try to account for that when tipping. So we passed the check around, and it was obvious which was mine as it was the only one in cash. She questioned me loudly about the generosity of my tip, and even tried to force me to take some money back. I told her as gently as I could that I alone had sent the waitress back to the kitchen twice, and I felt she had earned an extra bonus. She was _ **visibly shaken** _ by the inability to convince me to tip less. Since then, I have quietly tucked a $10 bill under my plate any time it’s her turn to pay for lunch. \*Hugely successful diet, they are really doing great! I don’t question that, just her unwillingness to compensate the server accordingly. ---
**Author:** ![Orwell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/dfb087/32.png) [@Orwell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orwell)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-out-with-a-bad-tipper/672905/86 "2013-11-05T15:27:34Z")
> [@Win\_Place\_Show](#): > > talk about a thread “hitting home”… my Dad is approaching 70, and his base-line tip is 12% - and that’s for good service. I’ve never seen it happen, but I assume he’d bump that up to maybe 15% if the waitress gave him a blowjob right there in the booth while I calmly walked away and pretended to take a phone call. > > I’ve done the “walk to the restroom and find the waitress in the expo area and hand her a $20” bit. > I’ve shaken hands with him in the parking lot, watched him get in his car and drive away, and trek’d back into the restaurant to find the server and give him/her whatever it takes to make it to 20%-plus. So, your opinion that a proper tip is “20%-plus” or “$20” is based on what? How and when did satisfactory service equate to a tip of 18 or 20 percent of the bill? Or 15 percent, for that matter. Who has determined the steady escalation of a “customary” tip from 10 to 12 to 15 to 18 to 20 percent? Servers and former servers would be my guess. The biggest tippers I know are those who either work or formerly worked as servers. OK, I get that. But I factor much more than the bill amount into the size of tips I leave. How much service did I actually get? Was the server attentive and helpful? Did I have to wait for drink refills or napkin requests? How can anyone seriously argue that a tip at a $40 a head restaurant should be four times as much as a $10 a head bill at a modest restaurant? Did the former waiter do four times as much work as the latter? ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-out-with-a-bad-tipper/672905/87 "2013-11-05T15:30:10Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > The US as a whole is in financial meltdown… No it isn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Gukumatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/74df32/32.png) [@Gukumatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gukumatz)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-out-with-a-bad-tipper/672905/88 "2013-11-05T17:46:11Z")
**Mod Note:** The OP specifically asked that this not turn into yet another thread on the ethics of tipping. It’s likely he/she has received all the useful answers that this thread is going to garner, so I’m closing this on request. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-out-with-a-bad-tipper/672905.md?page=4)