If indeed Lola was serious about the customs booklet - I’ve been to the USA dozens of times, and never received one.
Cultural differences in tipping are tough, though. Over here we tip about 5 - 15%, though 10% is pretty much normal. The maximum tip most people I know would give would be around 15% as a reward for exceptionally good service. Also, an increasing number of restaurants include a 10% service charge in the bill. I never tip in that circumstance. As for the whole tipping-per-order in US bars - that’s anathema to me, too: I feel like I’m being swindled. Furthermore I never, ever know how much to give taxi drivers (they’re only rarely tipped in Dublin, and always seem surprised when I say ‘keep the change’). In Japan, tipping is almost unheard of; in Nepal I gave a sherpa a $10 tip after 5 days’ work, and he burst into tears.
I repeat, this is not a debate about whether or not you should tip if the service was bad. The pittee specifically said he tips only if he remembers or if he has enough cash left over and in his words “if the service was at least average.”
I’ve been doing this long enough to know that people who are generous tippers are usually nicer people. Who get better service simply b/c of their attitude. Picky people, mean people, snippy people, irritable people…these are all people who are almost always bad tippers. They get the service they deserve.
And nobody mentioned “automatic tipping.” The OP was referring to a cheap guy who thinks that “forgetting” is a good excuse not to tip, and that being a college student excuses this behavior.
And I say that he will get the service he deserves.
Hold on…you change your service based on the attitude of the people you’re serving?
Say I come into your restaurant and act not completely politely. You might even consider me rude. So you tone down your service, give me the “service I deserve.” And then have the audacity to be all indignant when I give you the tip you deserve?
Maybe the “picky people, mean people, snippy people, irritable people” who “get the service they deserve” are bad tippers BECAUSE they get the service you feel they deserve.
Most of time I’m like Steve Martin in My Blue Heaven, “I don’t just tip. I overtip!”
Well, not really and not automactically. I would just say I’m a really good tipper.
Of course I was a bartender (in the USA) for years, so I know how much it means to get a good tip and the ways a service worker repays it. Some perks from good tipping- better service, off the menu food items, free concerts, head of the line, great tables, stiffer drinks, more time taken on my haircuts, minor mechanical problems fixed “on-the-house.” etc. etc. Tipping is a great social lubricant.
In the early days of college most of my friends were like BlackKnight and had no clue as to why a waitress or bartender would frown when she saw them come in. Or why their service/food/drinks sucked. Or why the pretty bartender/barista wouldn’t chat with them. They usually got the point after a while. Nobody wanted to serve or get chummy with a cheapskate. So, they had to learn who, what, when, why and how much to tip.
Yes, there’s a cultural bias towards it, but why should the impecunious be disbarred from prandial delectation entirely because they lack the funds to contribute to something that, at the end of the day, is actually voluntary? Seems a bit unfair.
Put it this way, Garfield. Anyone who’s rude to me when they sit down at my bar will not get my best service; regardless of how much time I have, I never have enough to spare on someone who’s rude or obnoxious.
So yes, your attitude will affect the service you receive. If I have a busy bar, I’m going to take care of the nice people first; the rude and bitchy people will be served if and when I have time. It isn’t about money at that point; it’s about taking care of people who treat me with respect. We had one guy come in all the time who’d always drop $20 or $30 on the bar, but he was so rude and loud and obnoxious and that I finally told him that I would pay him $20 bucks to go somewhere else unless he started shaping up his attitude.
He did. And he tipped me better after I told him that than any of the other bartenders. (A lot of rude/obnoxious people are bullies, and like most bullies, they cower when you call them on it.)
And if he had continued his behavior, I would’ve given him his walking papers. Life’s too short and my bar’s too full to take time out for assholes.
No, it’s not. Tips are considered to be part of the cost. What’s unfair is that the waiter or waitress is now going to have to pay taxes on what you were SUPPOSED to have left in tips.
Hey, I can’t afford a lot of things. Guess what? I don’t buy them. Is that “unfair?”
Funny how someone so generous with words can be saying something so cheap, isn’t it. Get with the program, jjimm. Anyone so “impecunious” that they cannot afford five bucks on a thirty dollar tab doesn’t need to be Partaking In Prandial Delectation at that Particular Establishment.
Surely it is? How’s about all the times the service was lousy and one only left a penny, or nothing at all?
Well, if it’s a voluntary charge added to the actual price of the goods that you could afford without the extra, I’d say don’t pay it.
Audrey, I was using fancy words to have a laugh. Look, I tip, and tip well (for my country) for good service. But I can afford to now. Back when I was a student, I was broke, but occasionally I wanted to go out and eat for entertainment. Take my girlfriend for a curry, or whatever. Yes, that five bucks really, really would have made a lot of difference.
this shows only flaws in your character, not in the character of your customers.
It is NOT your job to assign certain service levels to people based on how much “respect” they show you. It is your job to provide the best service to the people drinking in your bar. In your example YOU were the bully, not the customer.
My state of mind is not for you to assess when I drink in your bar. I will order drinks, I will pay, I will tip. But if I don’t show you enough “respect”, I will recieve sub par service? And then you will serve me worse because you have the problem?
It is completely unprofessional for you to react to customers in such a way.
I worked bar for most of the time I was in college. Both in a Dive of a bar and in a bar in a Golf Club. Regardless of how the customer behaved attitude-wise (once he/she didn’t cross the boundarys of common decency) they would still get the same level of service, and for those who did “show respect” as I put it, would get treated very well. That doesn’t mean I was anyway less professional to those who were rude. It is up to the Server to earn a good tip based on their service, and for you to decide who deserves bad service based on how much “respect” they show you is disgraceful, IMO.
And If I was your boss, you’d be fired if you pulled some stunt like the one you described above. You bullied a customer into tipping you to what YOU feel was showing respect, not what you actually deserved.
You should show respect to ALL customers, and if they don’t respond in kind, that is their problem. that dosent mean you then have the right to be any less professional in your job.
I think that Lola went a little overboard on the subject (A pit thread and six consecutive posts just because the guy doesn’t tip? Jesus, I’m glad he didn’t say he kicked puppies!).
Still, a long time back, I used to be a busboy, and I’m here to tell ya’ that those waitresses, waiters, and bartenders earn those tips serving customers, listening to their stories, and putting up with their snottiness. 20% is the least I tip for average service, and I tend to go higher as the tips go up.
Moreover, like Guin said, when you don’t tip, you’re ripping them off, because they have to pay taxes on the money you didn’t give them.
The one time in my life I didn’t tip was when the service was abysmal, but I agree that if that’s the case, you shouldn’t encourage it by tipping.
In short, if you can’t afford to tip, then don’t eat at those restaurants, because you’re hurting the waitresses. Stick to fast food.
No, that’s reality. When people are jackasses, they get the basic minimum, nothing more.
For the record, I am NOT saying one should tip if the service is bad. Leave a penny then (so they know-not tipping they might assume you didn’t know any better, or forgot.)
However, if the service is decent, you have no excuse. Tough shit.
Hey, I know this is the pit and all, and I realize that when it comes to the tipping topic, a lot of people tend to come into these threads all up-in-arms on either side, but I do have a question, so let’s not try implanting hot pokers up my bum until after it’s been asked. Please?
So… what about the restaurants in which you walk up to the counter, order your food, get your own drink, wait for the food, take the food to your table, refill your drink by your lonesome (or by your SO if she/he likes you well enough) and then walk back up to the front counter to pay. Do you tip? And if so, whom do you tip?
I’m curious, because it seems like I’m doing all of the work, so the the need for a tip doesn’t seem to obvious–to me, that is. At this point the workers are only cooking the food, clearing the table after I leave and taking the money as I pay. Is any of that customarily tippable?
Okay, okay: now how about tipping in the same setup, except someone does bring the food to my table (but she/he doesn’t check up on us after that–he/she just brought the food): is a tip expected?
Yes, there’s a cultural bias towards it, but why should the impecunious be disbarred from prandial delectation entirely because they lack the funds to contribute to something that, at the end of the day, is actually voluntary? Seems a bit unfair.