Tipping, no longer performance related?

It seems people think tipping a certain percentage is what you always do, no matter the circumstances. It also seems waiters, bus boys/girls, maitre d' feel the same way, where you should always tip. I hate gong to dinner and having someone tell me i should be tipping when the service i received was fing bollocks. Its not that I'm cheap, i gladly tip waiters who provide good service, but most waiters can't even be bothered to smile or do their job. Learned how to tip form my father, when the service was shit he would call the waiter over at the end of the meal and say; Son/Ms do you think you deserve a tip? of course a rhetorical question at that point. When service was outstanding, he'd practically be tipping 100%. I'm fairly more restrained in both spectrum's then my father, but i still follow similar ideals. At a certain point, i feel like they're just opening their hand expecting me to shove 20's  in there because they're a " Waiter".  
 
Also if the food is shit, you shouldn't tip because the Kitchen gets a percentage of the tips as well. So if the food sucks well to bad so sad, but it's the main reason i got off my lazy ass to come to this restaurant. Tipping is suppose to be an incentive for good service, not a feeling of entitlement.
 
Old man Rant Over. God i sound like my father -.- .

get ready for whiny teenagers to be upset at you

I only tip the hot ones

I'd say most waiters are pretty damn good at their job.

I don't think anybody's holding a gun to your head anymore now than they used to. If you don't think they deserve a tip, then don't tip them.

Well, they expect a tip because they get paid a LOT less an hour than people who don't get tips.  For example, when I was working as a bus boy, the waiters I was working with had half of their salary come from tips.  And it's not because they got amazing tips, it's because they got paid less than minimum wage.  Not sure how that worked but I'm guessing the tips worked out to be enough for them to be getting "paid" minimum wage or something.  It sucks DICK to work in the food industry if you didn't know, by the way.  You have just as many whiny ass complain-y customers who aren't satisfied unless everything is perfect with their meal as you do shitty waiters and waitresses that do the bare minimum.
 
Also our kitchen staff and me (the only goddamn bus boy - before I worked there there were two to three depending on how busy it was.  God that job sucked) did not receive any of the tips.

I don't think the tip is supposed to be the restaurant equivalent of a gold star for performance above and beyond the call of duty. If the wait staff does their job well then I tip them. Since most wait staff does their job well, tipping's become kind of a regular thing. I'm sure everyone's got a couple of terrible stories to tell, but honestly, most of the time they deserve it.

good service = good tip 
bad service = low/no tip 
 
Back when I was a teenager if we got bad service we'd still tip, 
But it would all be change and left under an upside down glass of water. 
 
Found a nice vid showing the practice.... 
  

I generally provide a good tip unless the waiter/waitress personally offends me. That has only happened three times to date. I still give a tip, but nowhere near what I usually would give. Having worked in the service industry makes me appreciate the shit the people have to go through every day.

It is the usual 15 percent almost always but if the service is poor then its down to 2%

If the waitress is hot and has a nice rack, I tip her m

If the waitress is hot and has a nice rack, I tip her m

If I get drunk at a bar and have a good time, I usually tip too well...........

unfortunately, people in service jobs get paid like crap, so if you live in america and you don't tip, then shame on you, you miserly p.o.c.

I've never used percentage to decide a tip, but thinking about it, I usually tip close to 50% based on the general cost of meals I eat out. I'm a good tipper to those that deserve it, and I've never encountered a situation where a person was so rude/bad at their job for me to not leave a tip.

I certainly do prefer places like Japan, though, where you don't tip at all.

I usually tip about 15%, but if I've spent the whole meal without getting my water refilled or something, I'll say 'fuck'em'.

I'm a manager at a pizza joint, and I work the register at night after the cashier's gone home. I love it when people tip me for doing absolutely nothing but have their food done on time. Why would you tip the dude at the register who makes full wage and just hands you your pizza? I don't know, but I encourage it.

I only tip the hot ones

Here is how I tip.

@Beaudacious said:

Also if the food is shit, you shouldn't tip because the Kitchen gets a percentage of the tips as well. .

Talk, talk talk. Sure I agree or disagree with you. That's not the point. However when I got to that statement I chuckled a little. The kitchen and the waiters, in no restaurant I've ever been in, have shared their tips. They have nothing to do with each other. What you were saying made sense, up until that statement, which then just made you sound cheap.

If the waiters trying to provide good service, I'll tip. If he/she is just being a complete douche then no. I don't think I've ever not tipped though. 
 
Waiters make most of their money on tips. If something gets effed up in the kitchen or by something else but they are still trying to provide good service and do their job, then they deserve a tip imo. The waiter shouldn't be punished because the chef messed up.

@Beaudacious said:

Also if the food is shit, you shouldn't tip because the Kitchen gets a percentage of the tips as well. .

Talk, talk talk. Sure I agree or disagree with you. That's not the point. However when I got to that statement I chuckled a little. The kitchen and the waiters, in no restaurant I've ever been in, have shared their tips. They have nothing to do with each other. What you were saying made sense, up until that statement, which then just made you sound cheap.

@Kyreo: You ever hear that theory that Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction occur in the same universe? One of the theory's interesting threads involves this discussion, and the fact that Steve Buscemi plays a bit part as a Buddy Holly waiter in that chic 1960's cafe in Pulp Fiction. At the end of the scene, before Travolta and Thurman go up to partake in the dance competition, there is a line about how "Buddy Holly isn't much of a waiter," which presumably leads to a bad tip.

Funny stuff.

@Sir_Ragnarok said:

@Kyreo: You ever hear that theory that Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction occur in the same universe? One of the theory's interesting threads involves this discussion, and the fact that Steve Buscemi plays a bit part as a Buddy Holly waiter in that chic 1960's cafe in Pulp Fiction. At the end of the scene, before Travolta and Thurman go up to partake in the dance competition, there is a line about how "Buddy Holly isn't much of a waiter," which presumably leads to a bad tip.

Funny stuff.

Yeah that doesn't surprise me. Both of those movies seem to come from the same inspiration and the idea that they are both in the same universe, or even in the same town, is not inconceivable.

I am so glad that it's not expected that you tip people in Australia.That'd suck.

@blacklabeldomm said:

I only tip the hot ones

I just tipped $2 on a milkshake just because the girl behind the counter was hot, had a snakebite and was wearing Supra shoes. She then laughed like a hyena at a joke I made and I wondered if I would have got a name or number had I tipped some more.

Even if service is bad, I'll tip, but very little. Rarely do I not tip what so ever, but it happens. I had such bad service the other day, I left her a penny as a tip, which I think is even worse than nothing.

Tipping has become another tax. I will tip if i feel the situation warrants it. But the idea that there is a percentage that is not at all based on quality and service. For example, A few years ago my company got its me and other upper management $250 dollar gift cards to Mortons Steak House. Which is super high end and even a small thing of french fries is 14 dollars.

After we get there we were seated, and it took more then 20 minutes for a waiter to come over just for our drinks, then the waiter took another 20 minutes to bring the drinks and another mind boggling half an hour to come back to take our order. The food, for what we got came out in a timely manner, but that is more of the kitchens doing, not the waiter. All of that and the place wasn't even busy. There were empty tables everywhere.

We eat our meal and again that is the Kitchens doing, not the waiter. When we are done and ready for check the discussion of tip starts to come up. Now my food and drinks totaled about 225 dollars or so. So I pull out 5 dollars and throw it on the table. Almost everyone at the table was appalled. Maybe not appalled, but there was definitely an issue.

They say to me "Keith, we "have" to tip 15 percent on the bill". The complete bill was around $775 dollars. Which at 15 percent is 116 dollar. I could not believe what I was hearing. After discussing everything above and how bad the actual waiters service was I was told once again "We HAVE to pay 15 percent".

I ended up dropping 40 dollars extra on a mean simply because I was being ostracized from the group for what they saw as unacceptable. And that is the culture we now live in. Tipping as a food tax and not a merit based personal transaction.

I don't like the tipping system at all. I'm glad I live in a country where we pay people enough for them to survive without tips. Everything should be included in the price so you can see right away how much it will cost. Same with VAT, I don't get why in NA that is not included. You always have to think about if you have enough for the tip and VAT while here everything is included so the price you see is the price you pay, even if that price is much higher than in NA.

Coming from a society where tipping is quite rare (Australia) I really don't understand tipping in the states. I have never been over to America but American TV shows make me believe that tipping is quite common and often expected in your service industry.
 
Why is this? Does everyone do a great job or are you hospitality workers greatly under paid?
 
I'm quite interested to know.

Tipping is done better in the UK, when I went to Disneyland Florida the top was included in the price

I only tip the hot ones

I'm on of those cynical assholes who always pays with his debit card. I never tip, and I don't give a shit.

Ich never tip.

Well so I'll give my perspective on tipping in the US since it seems tipping is a cultural thing (a) and I have never worked in the service industry (b).  First off- the customary tip in the United States is 15%.  That's for standard (not exceptional) service.  Like it or leave it, it's been that way forever, but if you've been raised in a household where your parents regularly choose not to tip or tip lightly- you might not be aware of this (I was not until college).  And no I didn't figure out from my whiny service industry college friends.  I found out because I started to pay for meals myself and had to work out what to tip.  In general I tip 20% for above average service- though I believe the custom is 20% is more of a tip for exceptional service.  
 
And to @tfsteefs: above me, that's totally true.  Minimum wage is somewhere between $5-8/hour in the US but if a job is tip supplemented the minimum wage is about $2/hour (varies from state to state I believe).  Alot of restaurants do force sharing of tips- but my understanding of that is cash tips aren't shared as much as tips where you write it in on your credit card slip.  I am a 'write it in' kind of tipper- so that's unfortunate for my servers, which tends to be why I'm more lenient in terms of %'s above.  
 
Anyways- so for those of you who have a hard time tipping in the US because you don't think it's customary: it is, and for those of you having a hard time tipping because it's not how your brought up- sorry dude, it's a part of the restaurant economy.  I'd suggest you work that into your expectations for food.  To the cynical assholes- there's always fast food you big shit.

@Bruce said:

@Beaudacious: In New York a lot of restaurants include the tip in the check

Welcome to the rest of the civilised world, where tips just don't exist at all. Is food much cheaper in the US, or do people have more money, to afford tips in addition to their meal?

I'll leave at least something most of the time..the service has to be god-fucking-aweful for me to leave nothing.
 
but yes my "tip" scales with the service quality...I've left $20 tips on $30 meals if the person was good.
 
the only time I "worry" about the % I'm leaving is if I'm short on small bills and check to be sure (if the service was good) that I'm at least leaving a "proper %"

@Beaudacious said:

Also if the food is shit, you shouldn't tip because the Kitchen gets a percentage of the tips as well. .

Talk, talk talk. Sure I agree or disagree with you. That's not the point. However when I got to that statement I chuckled a little. The kitchen and the waiters, in no restaurant I've ever been in, have shared their tips. They have nothing to do with each other. What you were saying made sense, up until that statement, which then just made you sound cheap.

These waiters are making less than minimum wage because they're expected to pad their wages with tips. They are living off these tips. American society has kind of realized this and now it's sort of an unspoken rule that you leave something for the waiter.

I can't believe that waiters are allowed to be paid below minimum wage in NA because of tipping culture. That's MENTAL.

I totally get the whole tipping thing now though, thanks! It's always blown my mind to hear how you have to tip (as a standard) when in the States. Over here in the UK, you can't be paid lower than the minimum wage. That's why it's called a minimum wage. For that reason, waiters/waitresses make enough money to live on without COMPLETELY relying on tips. It's still polite to tip, but absolutely not expected (unless you're in a restaurant, I guess). I've worked in service jobs growing up and the tips, at best, were a nice little bonus at the end of the week - certainly nothing that I'd expect. If I eat/drink somewhere, I'll absolutely tip an attentive, hard-working staff member. Absolutely. But will never, ever, even consider tipping bad service. If someone's giving consistently bad service and ruining the dining experience of the guests, they shouldn't have that job, never mind a tip.

It still seems mental to me that you'd work your tip out by a percentage of what the meal cost. What bearing does that have on the service?! Unless it's like silver service stuff.

I only tip if I feel they did a passing service. Ask us what we want without being condescending, sound like they are trying to rush us, look annoyed if someone needs to think for a second and all those other little things we all do/hate. I'm not expecting a handjob under the table while we wait for our food, thought that would nice, but just having the person treat us like a human being and not as a momentary annoyance isn't asking for too much in my books. I know the job is tough, but it's their job to be friendly and treat people nice and if they can't do that then don't expect to get tips. 
 
So ya, if the waitress was shit but the food was good I will just throw down $.50 or whatever loose change I had in my pocket if it's more then$.50. If she was good then a loonie or if she was great then a toonie and some change.

It's definitely not performance related. I'm a waiter, and I know when I do well, and when I do poorly, and the amount of money left for me seems to be completely removed from that. I've had people go out of their way to tell me I provided excellent service only to find a dollar left for me, while I've also forgotten like 5 things and not been super friendly and got $5. Both examples are on smaller bills of 2 customers. I find it's more that everyone has their tip amount, and everyone always leaves that amount, regardless of circumstances. I'd say the amount on the bill has much more to do with the tip amount than the actual service does. 
 
Personally though, I base my tipping entirely on performance. I also think it's retarded that people feel obligated to tip. Some people get right awkward about it and when they pay me with credit or something they go out of their way to say they left a tip on the table, and I just tell them not to sweat it either way, because they paid their bill and that's where their obligation ends. 
 
EDIT: I absolutely cannot stand when my co-workers bitch about people who leave small tips. It's horseshit. They already paid out the ass for their meal, why should they feel obligated to pay even more to someone who's already getting an hourly wage? Granted, servers almost always make minimum wage, but that's about to be $10/h where I live anyway. 

I never tip except for exceptional service, and because I've worked with the public before I know it's not that hard to give top quality service. If they don't put the effort in, they don't get a tip.

I did once have a taxi driver in New York pull a knife on me for not tipping, and I had a homeless guy yell at me cause I only gave him a dime. I took the dime back.

I can't believe that waiters are allowed to be paid below minimum wage in NA because of tipping culture. That's MENTAL.

Yeah, in Canada you can't pay a server under minimum wage. 
 
EDIT: Which I disagree with, because we make more than enough money from tips, and are only required to pay the kitchen 1% of our sales each day, while they only make like 50 cents an hour more than us and work twice as hard, and have as much to do with a happy customer as we do, if not more. If we got paid less, they could get paid more, and it would be much more fair.