Hey, a buck is 20% on 5 bucks. You do get waited on for 5 bucks when you eat Mexican or Chinese. You’re not cheap unless you don’t go up accordingly; 2 for 10, 4 for 20, etc.
I mean, I like to leave a little more than a buck just for kindness sake, I mean, usually a $5 meal is at a family owned restaurant where they bring the poor kids in from Mexico to work all damned day for mostly what you choose to leave them. But on $5, it is 20%.
I think it’s okay to do 10% for a buffet, however, if the waiter only brings your drinks. But I don’t think you should really ever tip less than a dollar.
You never mentioned a $5 meal. Your phrasing twice implied that you always leave a dollar tip, no matter the amount of the check (and you also described yourself as “cheap,” contributing to the impression). If you will go back and reread my entire response, you will see that I also granted that $1 is OK if the bill is $5 (but I also expressed doubt that you would be getting full wait service at that price; if you are, more power to ya). As someone else pointed out, if the bill goes up, the tip should go up accordingly, assuming the service is the same.
Nothing wrong with wanting to eat on the cheap. I still budget myself like a college student, even now that I have a semi-stable job. But if you go out to eat, tipping 15% is tolerable, and 20% is normal and nice. Even if you get a free meal (coupon, gift certificate, comped by the manager, etc.), it is customary to leave a 20% tip for whatever the full, normal value of that meal would have been. At a buffet where all they do is refill your drink and bus the dirty plates, you can get away with 10%. I personally never get pizza or other food delivered, but don’t forget to tip those guys too, especially if the weather is bad.
I get a ten or fifteen percent discount in quite a few restaurants around here, because I donated money to a local public radio station. For the most part, they’re not cheap restaurants, but they’re cheaper, with the discount.
I’m thinking, for voluntary simplicity’s sake, of course, that you eat at home 95% of the time. Save up a few bucks and go out to a nice place once in a while. The experience is well worth the wait. Of course, the nicer the food, the more the tip.
Agreed. I buy groceries and cook for myself most of the time, and maybe go out once or twice a week at most. I would much rather treat myself to a great Fuddrucker’s burger once every month than eat McDonald’s several times a week (for much more money in the long run), and I’d rather go out for barbecue or Greek food occasionally than Taco Bell or bland chain pizza as a regular event. I also have a problem with ordering most pasta dishes at restaurants (especially the overpriced Olive Garden) when pasta is the easiest thing to make at home, and quite cheap when you do it yourself. It all comes down to budgeting and setting priorities.
There is always food being sent back that is too burnt, too spicy, too this, too that. Since they usually can’t send the plate to another table, they just throw it away. If you get to know the staff, you might be able to nab a few meals.
A previous poster said waitresses only make $2.35 an hour. How the hell can you do that? I know the US minimum wage is more than that, and don’t you have to be paid at least minimum wage? I mean, I haven’t looked it up, but Canada’s minimum wage is like $6.75, Americans can’t have less than $4.00 for minimum wage.
Minimum wage for gratuity intensive positions is set by the state, and is typically 1/2 of minimum wage for non-gratuity-intensive positions. It is expected that their tips will bring them well above the minimum wage. Servers are required to declare their tips weekly for two reasons: 1) so that appropriate tax deductions can be made based upon actual income; and 2) to ensure that their tips brought them above the minimum wage. If a combination of wage and tips does not average to minimum wage for the hours that they worked, it is the responsibility of the employer to pay the server a higher rate for that pay period in order to bring them to minimum wage.
Waitrons (and I think maybe some other types of service workers – hotel maids?) have a different minimum wage from the usual one (which is currently $5.15). They are expected to make up the difference in tips and in fact must report their income and pay income tax based on 8% tips whether they get them or not. That’s why it stinks to stiff your server.
(I am willing to be corrected on any of these numbers, but they’re in the ballpark.)
I don’t know about other colleges, but the one I attend “publishes” 5 free coupon books over the course of the year. They’re in piles around campus, in the dorm lobbies, etc. They’re not all for food, but most are and (in my experience) I haven’t had to present a student ID or anything, so I’m guessing anyone could use them if you got them from the campus.