I don’t do stuff that needs tipping very often and I’m young, so I’m asking the Dope here. I tend to hand over the cash amount of the combined total with the tip at places like my hair salon and restaurants where you get up to pay at the register, but usually they’ll give me change even for weird amounts I pay like $26.50, like they don’t expect the tip to be with the bill like that. How do you handle it?
Mostly, I pay by credit card and write the tip in.
If I am paying everything in cash, I will say something like “that’s good”. Or let’s say the bill is $24 and I am going to tip $4 but only have 10s and 20s, I will give $30 and say “give me two back”.
All tips are cash, unless I have no cash.
For restaurants, I leave tips on the table, separate from the bill, whether or not the bill is collected at the table or at a register.
I don’t like asking for less change and letting them keep the difference; I’d rather pay the bill, get my change, and then make my tip.
In other words, tips are always an “extra.”
I tip generously for good service, and especially generously for people working in cheap places, where a standard percentage of the bill may be very little.
At restaurants, I leave the tip behind on the table when I leave.
Straight into the G-string.
If you are tipping for pizza or some type of food delivery and the ammount you want to give the delivery person is less than the size of bills you have ie $12.00 for pizza, $3.00 for tip and you have a 20 dollar bill, just tell the delivery dude what change you want back. Hand him the 20 and say,“just gimme 5 back.”
You can do the same when you are in a restaurant and pay at a cash register. If you are in a diner or some place that allows you to leave your money with the bill and you have the correct change (bill plus tip), leave the money under the bill, but before you walk away be sure to make eye contact with your wait-person. Look them in the eye, look down at the bill/money, and then look them in the eye again. If they react to you with a nod, wave, wink or some obvious way, you can safely walk out leaving the money with the bill.
If you are in a venue and are unsure just ask your wait-person how to leave a tip. They are very happy to explain to you how to give them money!
Curse you Sam I think I threw my jaw out laughing.
But what if they’re still playing? I put it right in the guitar case.
Salons that I’ve been to have all had signs saying that they can’t/don’t take tips via credit card, so if I’m paying by card I make sure to bring a specific amount/denominations of cash for a tip. Otherwise if I pay with cash, I handle the payment first, then hand over the cash tip (usually folded in quarters and kind of with my fingers covering most of it, so it doesn’t look like I’m waving money around or like I think this is an awesome tip that I’m showing off) and say something like, “and for you” if my stylist is doing the checkout, or “this is for ____” if someone else is. Some have little envelopes near the checkout for you to slip a tip into, they’re usually preprinted with a statement to this effect.
I hate tipping bartenders. Apparently the going rate is $1/drink, and many seem to get attitude when they don’t get it. I’m sorry, you don’t deserve that for flipping the cap off my beer.
A bit of a hijack, but a long time ago my father said something about the restaurant or waitor/waitress losing money on the table if they dont get at least a 15% tip… anyone know anything about this?
I’ve never heard that called a guitar case before. A squeezebox maybe.
They can’t assume a tip - someone would go nuts on them for their presumption.
I usually hand over cash and say: “Thanks, no change.”
Not at least 15%, no. I “break even” at about the 6-7% tip range. At the end of the night I have to “tip out” people like hosts, bussers, bartenders, and food runners. The hosts, bussers, and bartenders tips are taken out of my tips automatically by the computer system. It takes 5% of my sales (2.5% to bartenders to split, 2.5% for hosts and bussers to split.) If there is a food runner (usually just Fri. or Sat. nights,) I tip them out in cash. They get $8 or $9, which is about 1 or 1.5% of my sales.
So right there is 6-6.5%, and I also have to pay taxes, so there you go.
A fact a lot of non-restaurant people don’t know is that most servers don’t get a paycheck. Even if they only average 15% in tips, after benefits, taxes, and SS are taken out, that usually leaves, at best, a couple of bucks a week, though usually it’s nothing. This also causes most servers to owe taxes in April, since the benefits are taken out of the measly pay first and what’s left usually isn’t enough to cover the taxes.
First, I firmly grasp the object I am attempting to tip. If the object is long enough, I attempt to grasp it in such a way that my hand is on one end of the fulcrum, though this is not always possible. Then, I lean back, pushing into the floor with my feet. At the same time, I tense my arm, pulling backwards with it. If all goes well, the object’s center of mass will shift, causing it to react to gravitational forces in such a way that it falls on its side.
What if it’s a cow? How to you adjust to different stances?
That’s good to know. Lately we’ve been taking our ten-month-old with us when we go out to eat. Not to fancy restaurants, of course, just the local diner and such. He sits in a high chair. He’s well behaved but will generally make a mess out of food. Dropping a lot of it on the floor, for example. So I’ve been leaving large tips to compensate if the service is good – about 20%. I’m hoping the waiter shares it with the busboy, who has the job of cleaning up the mess, I presume.
A large tip is not 20%, a good tip is 15-20%. You need more service than most, with the food dropping, so 25% would be more appropriate. I tip 15% for the bare minimum, but usually 20-25%. 30% plus if you recommend me a dish and I like it and my drink’s never empty.
But this will likely devolve into an ugly thread in no time at all.
My main concern was not the precise amount of the tip, but whether it would be shared with the busboy.
I used to give a standard flat tip of $5 anytime I ordered out (and I’m single so it’s never very much), on the premise that they’d realize I was a good, consistent tipper and get my stuff to me first or second–average out-ordering tips of the people I’ve talked to in my area are about 3 bucks even for a large order. Unfortunately, after getting plenty of barely-warm food, it seems they don’t give a damn about me. So I tip $3-3.50 per delivery order (depending on speed of arrival).
For restaurants, I always leave tip on the credit card because I never carry cash (honestly, never, I just don’t feel safe carrying cash these days–maybe it’s unjustified paranoia since I’ve never been robbed). My general rule is 15%. If the service was good, I’ll round up to the next even 25 cents to a dollar (depending on the swank level), and I never tip under $3.
I’ve never stiffed a waiter and never would, I’ll always leave something. If the service is totally nonexistent I’ll break my $3 rule and just leave a buck and some change. But only once in my life have I had THAT bad of service. Mostly the $3 minimum rule serves me well. Since the majority of my tippable meals are just for me, and generally under $20, it turns out that I generally tip well over 15%.