Just for reference, the typical minimum wage in the US is $5.15/hour for non-restaurant jobs. Restaurant minimum wage is indeed less, as is the farm work minimum wage.
Oh, and I forgot to note that in high school I worked in one restaurant job, in a non-tip position where I got about minimum wage. After that, I swore I would do nearly any other kind of job except restaurant work, even if it was a tip-wage job, because I detested it so much. You get worked like a dog, treated like a slave by customers, and expected to be smiling and happy for it. I worked in filthy factories and cramped little cubicles after that, to put myself through college, and was happier at those jobs than I was in a restaurant.
The Great Unwashed, I’m having a hard time understanding the math in your post.
I will not tip, or will tip poorly, if the service level is abysmal. In cases like the OP, though, I will tip handsomely. The server obviously went above and beyond what would be considered great service by most people.
I don’t understand folks who don’t tip, regardless of how good the service was.
I’ve failed to leave a tip about twice my entire life. Both times the service was truly horrible, as in the flagging-down-your-waiter kind.
Had I been the customer in the OP and the service really was great (I judge by number of refills and chitchat), I woulda tipped $20, however MrSnoopy holds the cash so it probably would have been $15. I’m overgenerous, he’s a bit on the cheap side (not too bad), so we balance.
I’ve always wanted to be rich so I could leave outrageous tips. Someday, whether I get rich or not, I want to leave $250 or so a week before Christmas 
How neato would that be?
People who don’t tip, ever, suck. Especially when they have plenty of money to begin with and they’ve received really good service.
I quoted two rates:
One per individual: “I suggested chipping in £25 each”
6 x 25 = 150
150 - 129.5 = 20.5
20.5/129.5 x 100 = 15.8%
And one per couple: “They proposed £45 per couple”
3 x 45 = 135
135 - 129.5 = 5.5
5.5/129.5 x 100 = 4.2%
Clear now?
Did I mention they were twats?
On what do you base this assumption?
I’m an Australian who has worked in hotels, bars and restaurants in Australia, the UK, and Canada, and i currently go to grad school in the United States. In two of those countries–the US and Canada–tipping is standard practice, and in the other two, it is not. And, as both a server and a customer, i have never noticed any appreciable difference in the level of service that one receives from one country to another.
Sure, some places you get great service, some places you get crappy service. But, in my experience, the variation within countries is much greater than the variation between them. I just made a six-week trip home to Australia, and the service i received there was at least as good as the service i receive in American restaurants.
And don’t ask:
As a fellow Aussie, i understand your amazement at the wages system for American waiters–i shared it when i first heard about it. As friedo says, whether or not the tipping system provides you with a good income really depends on the place where you work. When i lived in Canada, i worked in a place that had reasonably cheap food, but high turnover. We worked very hard on busy days, but tips and wages together usually added up to at least the amount i would make doing the same job in Australia.
The place also did tour groups, and the price charged to the group included a tip. Often, i could do a four hour shift (including setting up and cleaning up) serving dinner for a tour group and walk out with over $C60 in tips. And in Canada, the wages are also better–in 1992 i was getting $6.50 an hour. I used to live on my tips, and bank my wages.
Just so you’re clear, i should also point out that, as ferret herder says, $2.13 isn’t minimum wage. However, the minimum wage laws allow employers in certain industries to pay under half of minimum wage, on the assumption that the workers will make up the difference in tips. According to Ehrenreich in Nickel and Dimed, however, a lot of workers don’t realize that the law also states that, if workers’ tips fail to bring them up to minimum wage, the employer must make up the difference. Of course, plenty of employers conveniently “forget” to mention this also.
Finally, a message to all Aussies, Brits, etc:
I know we weren’t raised in a culture of tipping, and i know that we often complain about what a stupid system it is. This, however, is NO EXCUSE for not tipping on a visit to the US (or anywhere else where it’s required). When i worked in Canada, i always dreaded getting a table of Aussies or Brits. They were always friendly and great to talk to, but they often left jack shit in the way of a tip. Don’t stiff your waiter.
I have a question that I’ve always wanted to ask in one of these threads.
If I frequent a restaurant, say once every 2-3 weeks or so, and I’m a consistently good tipper (average 20-25%, more if I’m REALLY impressed), do the staff remember me? Or are they so used to seeing bucketloads of people every day that they can’t pick out one person over another?
Than you for the clarification, The Great Unwashed. I was viewing your suggested payments as the tips themselves, without including the meal costs. My bad.
It sure works for Hubby and me.
We go to a certain resturant at least twice a month and tip very well. All of the servers know us on sight. They automatically bring our favorite drinks to the table without having to take our order for them, and know to bring extra butter for the rolls.
We are treated like royalty.
If I frequent a restaurant, say once every 2-3 weeks or so, and I’m a consistently good tipper (average 20-25%, more if I’m REALLY impressed), do the staff remember me?
Never been a waitress but during my first go-around in college I used to go to a local Chinese restaurant a lot. There was this guy that worked there that always recognized me. I doubt it was because of my stunning beauty, either; it was probably because I usually left $5, and all he had to do was get drinks (it was a buffet place).
Oh, hell yes. The wait staff will remember you if you usually come in on a certain shift (night/day) and are consistently a good tipper. I always had certain favorite customers and regular customers that I remembered for some reason or another.
They will also, of course, remember if you are a consistently bad tipper.
Tip for bad tippers: change restaurants frequently.
Well, I had some regular bad tippers. George, for instance, never left more than fifty cents no matter what he ate. He was also obnoxious and rude to everyone, including other customers. I’m not sure why management never asked him to just leave… he was sort of like part of the scenery.
Another question for wait-people: what’s the ettiquite on getting take-out from a sit-down place? There’s a Japanese place I go to a lot, where they sometimes bring me tea to sip as I wait for my sushi, and I leave them the change from my lunch special which comes to $0.26 (which seems cheap, but I’m taking out, no?) And there are other considerations, like, sometimes I need the quarter for laundry, and sometimes they don’t bring me tea. All in all they generally spend less than a minute on me. A lot of people don’t tip for take-out at all.
So what’s the scoop? Am I risking getting saliva in my sashemi by not tipping for my take-out?
Meh. Our carry out person made eight bucks an hour, but always got cut early and her work was left to us, the servers. So I WANTED a tip because I was only making $2.13 for it, but… the person who was supposed to be doing it didn’t really need the tip on it.
Man, I even tip the pizza guy 4 bucks for a 10 minute ride. My sympathies.
That’s a hard one, cowgirl. I usually always tip for takeout, but then again, I’m a compulsive tipper (call me crazy, I love being remembered in my favorite resturants, and treated like royalty when I return). My mother on the other hand, never tips for take-out in a Chinese restaurant she and my stepdad frequent and the lady that always takes their order seems to love them, regardless (gives my mom a big hug every time she comes in, gave her a box of chocolates when we went in on Christmas).
When I was waiting tables, on the rare occasions I took take out orders, I never expected a tip. I mean, I wasn’t doing anything, really.
So anyways, OP, I feel for you. I would’ve been livid, had that happened to me when I was waiting tables. I had a lot of regulars that I served, customers that I chatted with, and would automatically have their drinks and extra dressing and their individual little things they liked ready for them upon their arrival, who tipped between 10-15%. It kind of sucked a bit, considering I gave them awesome service, but they made up for it in other ways, a few of them brought me Christmas and birthday gifts and the like, and were generally very pleasant to serve. I also don’t think that a lot of customers realize that waltzing into a resturant after close or 5 minutes before close, is generally considered poor form in the resturant world. To not tip in that situation is usually considered even worse than stiffing during the rush.
And duffer, your post genuinely confused me. I’ve never tipped out based on my tips, it’s always been my sales, as it is in any resturant I’ve heard of. It would be nice to tip out based on your tips, and not your sales, but then those you tip out to never know if you’re stiffing them or not. I mean, you could say you only made 10% that night, but you could just be feeling cheap and not disclosing the fact that you really made 20%. That’s always the explanation I recieved from management as to why it was done that way. I tended to agree. It’s not terribly fair to the servers when they don’t have a good night, but not doing it that way would be a lot more unfair to those being tipped out.
I also predict this is going to be a very popular thread, once the cheapskates find their way over.
A while back I was down in the Bahamas and the service people got an automatic 15% added onto the bill. My service was for shit.
RE: the OP, cheap fucking pricks.
I am exhausted from last night (yes still) but I’ll attempt to answer the questions that I remember. If I forget a couple, ask again and I’ll get it done.
The 3.5% is from our sales. We pay out of our tips, but the amount that we pay is based on our sales. Thus, if I sell $100, I pay $3.50. So yes, I did actually pay to serve them. I actually expect about 20% from a table that I have given superior service to. I give a lot of superior service.
I have regulars that come to me because I am very good and I remember all of their orders from week to week. They don’t tip very well, but I don’t take it personally because they are really nice folks. I remember all kinds of people that come into the restraunt. Most waiters do. So if you screw a waiter one time they are going to tell everyone and youmay or may not get good service from that place ever again depending on teh ethics of the waiter you get. I try to give top notch service to every table I get reguardless of their history.
Lynn, I’ll change the sig. I never use it and I had forgotten it was so long 
My restraunt does take taxes based on our reported tips out of the pay check that we get bi-weekly. I always claim what I make, so my checks aren’t much at all. That being said, I do very well on the tips alone. Generally I make about $20 an hour from tips alone. That is counting the hours that I am cleaning up afterwards and checking out and whatnot and the money that I tip out. So I would still rather take my chances with the bad tippers than take a fixed wage that didn’t take into account how hard I work.
If I’m doing to go orders I don’t really expect a tip, but I know that our togo people appreciate them. They don’t need them, as they are paid $10 an hour, but they work hard in the back preparing the food for you and whatnot. Maybe it is done differently in other places, but I think they get a little tip. 10-12% is probably ok for them. I don’t know about Canada. Maybe you should ask…