This thread about black people and tipping got me to wondering. People in that thread routinely tip much higher than what I thought was the norm? Has the 15% rule changed?
How much do you tip for a meal or for drinks at a bar? This is a generic poll and not about race. There is no need to tell us your race/religion/gender/orientation/whatever here. I am mostly interested how much people tip in the US. I am aware that customs are different in other countries.
I tip 15% for acceptable to good service, 20% for outstanding service, 10% for reasonable service but below my standards and very, very rarely stiff the waitstaff for horrible service. One out of twenty waitstaffers at the most will only get 10%. There are two restaurants in town that I go to fairly often and always give exceptional service. They always get 20%. Other than them, maybe one in twenty also get 20%. I have stiffed the waitstaff three or four times in my entire life.
I don’t drink alcohol. On the rare occasions I go to a bar with friends I will order one soft drink and leave a one dollar tip.
I tip usually about 18%-20% for average service, more for exceptional service. At the Chinese buffet place ($6.95 per person) that my husband and I go to often, we usually leave $3 for the girl who refills our drinks.
10% at buffets where I eat quickly and leave, much more if I sit around and occupy a table for very long.
15% for acceptable service, and I don’t need much to consider it acceptable.
20% for good service in an urban area or very good service in a rural area.
25% for really great service.
I think the most I’ve ever tipped was around 40% when some friends and I were the only people in a Thai restaurant around 3 in the afternoon. The waitress hung out and chatted with us between her various chores and told my ex she liked his Sailor Moon shirt.
I think the only time I could ever feel okay about stiffing someone is if they spat on me or insulted me personally or something.
I usually tip around 25% minium of at least 5 bucks. I use to be a waiter back in highschool and I know how much they depend on tips. I’ve never really had a bad experience with waitstaffs so I wouldn’t know exactly how I would tip in the situation where I do recieve bad service.
In general, I’m a 20-percenter, and I round up to the nearest dollar. For barely adequate service, I will tip an exact 15%. For poor service, I complain to the manager, but I do tip the server 15%. On some occasions, when a server has met every one of my (admittedly exacting) standards, I tip 25% - I’m impressed by good service, because it’s not easy work to do well.
We have a dining group of 15 that goes out to a different restaurant every other month, and because of the size of our party, 15% gratuity is almost always added automatically to the bill. However, while we’re not particularly troublesome, we ARE a large party and we all know we’re a big job - a server taking care of our group is most likely not taking many other tables. So we pay that 15% and add $2 - $5 per person.
Minimum tip ever, even for just a cup of coffee at the counter, is a dollar.
Pretty much elfbabe’s formula, except I will stiff the staff if they are incompetent. I will also point this out to management. On the other hand, I will also seek out management to praise waitstaff that go above and beyond, or who might get ripped for things that were the kitchen’s fault.
At a bar or casino - $1 per drink (never, never stiff the cocktail waitress at a casino!!!) And I always try to play a hand or roll for the dealers whenever I am on a streak.
The most I have ever tipped was 100%. My parents anniversary party, and the waitstaff did a magnificent job, then underbilled me. They were students going to teacher-school (I am a teacher) so I doubled their bill, figuring they could use the dough.
My family doesn’t tip very much, I know that, but I think a lot of Canadians are “bad tippers” by American standards. I actually think tipping 20% is a tad much.
I think tipping large amounts is not as prevalent in Canadian culture as it is in America. I think I read it has something to do with the wages here, but I could be wrong.
My standard is 20%, except at buffets where I’ll generally leave 10 or 15%. For exceptional service, 25%. For crappy service, maybe 10%. I’ve never had service so bad that I left no tip at all.
At the Chinese buffet place, $1 per person. We get our own food. They’re not big on refills there. I think $3 for getting the 3 of us drinks is reasonable.
At a sit-down restaurant where they do all the work, it depends on the bill and how good the service was. Plus how much money I’ve got on me. When I’ve just gotten a financial aid refund check or something, I like to share the joy and tip big.
If me and DH went out and the bill was, say, $40, I would want to tip $10 but the best I’d be able to get him to do is $7: unless the service was just absolutely great and then he’d do $10 (even more, sometimes).
One thing that will make a tip go down fast is if I’m at a place and you bring me some bread (before the meal) and don’t bring me any plates. I’m supposed to eat the bread on the table? WTF? (This has happened more than once at Logan’s Steakhouse.)
I also get really pissed off when I see a waiter knocking him/herself out for another table and yet I have to ask for something twice. I’m patient when the place is packed and the poor waiter is dead on his/her feet. When they’re working only 3 tables and I have to flag them down? Not so much.
Yeah, when i worked as a waiter in Vancouver (back in the early 90s) 12% tended to be about average, and 15% was considered pretty good. I think that it might have gone up a bit since then, though.
It also depended where i worked. One restaurant was a fairly high-end place frequented by Vancouver locals, and the tips there were good. Another place was a tourist restaurant, where the customers were often from Europe or Australia or the US. That was a real crap shoot, and tips might be really good at one table, and non-existent at another. I liked working on the pre-paid tours, where tips were factored into the price and we knew in advance what the tip would be for the event.
I should add that, despite the reputation of Brits and Aussies and Germans for being bad tippers, a lot of them were pretty good, suggesting that they had taken the time to find out what tipping was all about. I even had some of them ask me what an appropriate amount was. I’m an Australian myself (we don’t really tip in Australia), and i have absolutely no time for people who don’t bother to learn the tipping customs of the country they are visiting. Interestingly, though, the American tourists were as bad as everyone else–it seems that some Americans believe that once they leave US borders, tipping is no longer required.
10-20%, depending on the service and the size of the check. I have stiffed surly or inattentive servers very occasionally, and I usually write a small note of explanation on the check when I do stiff them.
I tip 30%-50% most occasions. Even if the service is terrible and the waiter is spiteful, they still get 10%. I’m not rich, and I’m not a show off. But I waited on tables for one week once and it was the worst experience of my life. People are awful. The human race is just awful. Some people practically want you to give them a rim job for a couple of bucks. And service industry people have to take a lot of shit from management on top of dealing with customers. Waiters don’t make enough money to have to deal with it. I try ot make their lives a little easier.
I follow pretty much the same formula that LifeOnWry outlined. I tend to go a little lower for delivery food, although I did go down to 10% for the Pizza Hut guy who took 45 minutes to drive the half-mile to our house and give us a by-then lukewarm pizza.
How much do we tip hairdressers? I have one who spends a great deal of time with me when I get my hair highlighted. She does her own shampooing and she lets me blow-dry my own hair so she can cut me a break on the charge for “styling.” I get this done once every three or four months, and it costs an arm and a leg. I’d been tipping around 15% - is that reasonable (it ends up being a nice chunk of change)?
My tipping has gone down over the years, but it’s still somewhere in the 20% range. I used to wait tables, so I know how stressful everything can be.
When I did, I would leave between 30-50%, depending on how much the bill was and how much I could afford. Now money is tighter, or rather there are more bills to pay so I can’t afford my old habits.
