50%. 20 bucks on a 40 dollar meal. I rarely go over 20%, but I knew the waitress from High School.
A few Christmasses ago, the wife had gone to dinner after shopping and the toal was $22 (give or take a buck). We gave the waitress two twenties and left without getting the change.
Right after graduating high school, I was out with friends at a pizza place where another friend was waitressing. We ended up giving her about $15 on a $12 order.
A bunch of us were out drinking for a buddies 21st birthday. I don’t rightly recall the exact figures, but I rounded up to the next hundred. Something like $75 on a $225 bill.
About $40 for dinner. But it was a bit of a bribe since I was doing business with the owner and I knew he’d appreciate my making his staff happy. I won’t up making a lot more than $40 in future business.
that should be “wound up…” :smack:
I once tipped each member of a moving crew for doing a great job packing up my entire apartment. I don’t remember the exact amount but it was several hundred dollars.
I once tipped a stripper eighty dollars. But I’ll skip the details.
I gave an infinite percentage tip one time.
I was at a Don Pablo’s restaurant where I used to do lunch every Sunday. Somehow there was a mixup between hostess and server, and I just sat there. Nobody ever came to wait on me.
A guy waiting an adjacent table (who had previously waited on me) said, “I can’t believe no one’s come to wait on you. Can I get you anything?”
I always got an order of rice and beans (which came with complementary tortilla rolls and salsa) with their “bottomless” tortilla soup. Cheap and very filling.
I was kinda ticked about having waited about 10 minutes and no one had even talked to me, so I opted out on the rice and beans, but did tell him I’d like a bowl of the soup.
He brought it to me, and when I had finished he said, “I’m not gonna charge you far that.” I left him $3. 3/0 is infinity!
[very slight hijack]
I once delivered about 20 pizzas to a high school Lacrosse team, the guy who actually ordered it (Mike) happened to work at my pizza shop. His brother was notorious for complaining about lousy tippers. He basically factored a large (very large) tip into the price and then told everyone to chip in accordingly. Apparently someone said something like “Well we should tip the pizza guy well, after all he works with Mike”, Mike did not object.
As Mike was handing me the money, he was clearly holding back an ear to ear grin. He said something alond the lines of “I think you’ll be satisfied with the tip, I didn’t even count it”. On my way back to the store (less than half a mile away) I counted out the order total, then I counted the remaining tip…eighty freakin dollars! For 10 minutes worth of work. I didn’t even have to take the pies from my car to the building, the team came out and got 'em.
I guess this is really about the biggest tip my friend Mike gave, but I love telling that story. When I told him how much the tip was he gave me a high five, and refused a cut “It’s those poor bastards money, not mine. You didn’t think I was going to * pay* for pizza from my place of employment did you?”
That was a good night.
Percentagewise, about 700%.
Though I’ve given the infinte tip at least 4 or 5 times.
I’ve given $100 tips on bar tabs at least a dozen times.
One time (when drunk and still making $5k/week), I gave each of the bartenders $100, then felt bad for the two cocktail waitresses who hadn’t even served me, and gave them each $100 too.
When I met my fiancee, she put a stop to that practice, much to the chagrin of my favorite bartenders.
I still frequently tip 50% though.
I gave a waitress at a nice restaurant I was taking the family out to dinner $650 as a tip. Our bill was $970-somthing.
We have a decently large family…but the service this young woman gave was impecable, and I frequently judge other wait staff on her wonderful service. Cheerful, respectful, smiled, everything ontime, to the T. I even wrote a letter the establishment thanking Her for her wonderful demeanor and service.
The last time I moved, my moving bill was going to be $300. I had 3 guys who moved my stuff on a swelteringly hot day so I gave a $100 tip. Then, I never got billed for the move. Lesson learned: always tip well because it could end up saving you $300! 
Personally, $100 to the moving guys.
A friend of mine was in Vegas a while ago and saw a guy tip $700 to a cocktail waitress. He’d won something like 9 grand between when she left and came back, so he was feeling a little generous.
I gave the NYC cabbie who got me to the airport on time during rush hour a 100% tip. The man deserved it, and I’d have given him more if I could.
The largest tip I have ever (not dollar amount but in relation to the actual bill) given was $50 on a $30 dinner. My best friend and I ate at the same restaurant, same booth, same meal, same waitress, same time every Saturday for about 3 months. We’re both really good tippers anyway but this particular day, we didn’t even have to order. She had the food and table ready for us when we got there. I was happy about that but I also knew it would be our last time there since my friend was moving to North Dakota and it was my way of saying goodbye…
As for other occasions, if the service sucks, I give 15%. The tips go up from there. I’ve never had truly crappy service so I’ve never gone below the 15% but I’m usually around 30%.
Likewise. I’d had problems getting my corporate card – because I was already on the road. Eventually, the company president had to intervene. So at a manager’s meeting in Dallas, he tells the waiter that I’m paying! Very funny. The tip alone was over $1000, I don’t remember how much. I do remember adding $200 to the ‘15% gratuity included for parties 6 or over’.
Unfortunately, he wasn’t so punctilious about approving the expense and reimbursement. 3 weeks later I ended up borrowing $100 from a customer so I didn’t have to spend the night in my rental car. When I called the next morning, to resign, the administrative office was going batshit. The customer had called the office about 10 minutes before me, fortunately after they’d listened to my freaked-out voice mail message from the night before. Never had a problem after that, and it became policy that the senior person present at any function would pick up the check.
$35. I was working at a gas station when someone came in with some car problems. He had a real piece of crap car and asked for some oil and windshield washing fluid. Yup, he switched where he should’ve put them. I was working so I couldn’t help, but I let him use the tools and stuff he needed to drain everything and get it back up. He was there for a while and stopped in to talk for several minutes while taking a break. On his way out he put a $20, a $10 and a $5 on the counter and left. I was moving some boxes and didn’t see it until after he left. Nice guy.
OOOhhhh… Given. I should read the titles a bit closer.
$15. Amazing service and food at a place near albany.
I tipped $500 to the caterer at my wedding. It wasn’t that astounding percent-wise, something like 17%.
I’ve given the infinite percent tip a few times.
One large tip resulted from an error in my math. When I realized my mistake the server was standing there chatting with us and I didn’t feel right taking money out with them watching.
At company lunches, I’ve never had to pay, but the informal policy was that the second highest ranking person there should pay. That way the higest ranking person could approve the expense.
The biggest tip I ever gave, by percentage was was about 300%. The waitress had arranged to have most of my meal removed from my cheque, as I wasn’t happy with it. I didn’t ask her to do that, it was her idea. So I left what the bill would have been without the deduction in payment. It ended up being $18 on a $6 cheque.
The biggest tip I ever left monetarily was actually a standard 15%, but the bill was for a corporate dinner for 28, so the tip was about $500.
The biggest personal tip I ever left was $100 on a $60 dinner bill. I was out on a first date with a guy who was a total jerk, and incredibly offensive and rude to the waitress. Since we were at a restaurant that was one of my regular haunts, and I didn’t want the staff to hate me, I left the $100 tip and a note of apology when I signed the bill. The bill which I paid, because incredibly offensive jerkman was ‘a little short’.