How to Tip

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cycloneworld

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Some real sense of entitlement in this article:

http://www.thrillist.com/eat/nation/how-to-tip-guide-to-tipping

These 2 especially got me:

"We hate when people give us quarters. If someone's gonna put 50 cents at the bar, I smirk and won't even take it. Don't waste my time with change. if you're gonna make an effort, give me a dollar."

The 30 seconds it takes to open a beer or pour a draft and you won't even waste your time with 50 cents? It HAS to be a dollar?

And this one too:

If a hot meal arrives cold: 15%
"Some places reheat the food if it has been sitting for a while, but honestly I do my best to keep my car heat on full blast during cold days in order to ensure that the food stays warm. If it arrives cold, it seems unlikely that it was the driver's fault."
 

no2cyclones

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Nothing annoys me more than self-righteous people telling me how much I should tip them. If they do a good job, they'll get a good tip. If they do a ****** job, they'll get a ****** tip. End of discussion.
 

HFCS

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Aug 13, 2010
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That's a little out of line in some spots, but a good 10 to 20 percent of customers shouldn't be eating out at restaurants in this country the way they tip. There's a definite connection between the worst customers and worst tippers too, just all around miserable people.

As much as I detest bad tippers, if a tipped professional is outright mean they should always get 0%. Why would anyone pay someone to be mean to them in any circumstance? As long as they're trying 15% even if things aren't perfect, 20% for doing any sort of good job. Beyond that it's up to the person, but staff shouldn't expect it. If you're a waiter/bartender mad with 20% you should try to get a job at a more expensive place instead of griping.
 

Clark

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Jun 24, 2009
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Tip a bartender $1 a beer? Generally when we go out we'll take turns buying each round and I've yet to meet a bartender who put in so much work to open 7-10 beers that they deserve a $7-$10 tip.
 

Mr Janny

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I'm a consistent 20% tipper, (for good service) but that article was outrageous. A tip is a reward for service. I don't care if it's not your fault if the food is cold or you're an hour late, your company still provided poor service, ergo you're not getting a big tip, if you're getting one at all. It should never be taken for granted, and there sure as hell is no baseline tip regardless of service rendered.
 

Mr Janny

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Tip a bartender $1 a beer? Generally when we go out we'll take turns buying each round and I've yet to meet a bartender who put in so much work to open 7-10 beers that they deserve a $7-$10 tip.

I was just at a bar in Kansas City, where the liquor shelf was like 20 feet high, and the bartenders had to climb a ladder to get up to some of the more exotic liquors. Of course, the group of guys I was with made a point to order stuff from the higher shelves, but that was mainly because the bartender was cute, and watching her climb the ladder was just wonderful. We did tip her a lot, though.
 

Clonefan94

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HAHA, if you want to be a regular the staff likes, 50% tip? Are they high? I will admit, if you are a mixed drink drinker, tipping a decent amount should happen. Or if I'm at a place like El Bait Shop where they are constantly giving me tastes to see what to order next. But if i do my usual, come into a bar and order the beer I see on tap and you pour it for me, honestly, imo, that's worth about 25 cents. Because that's the work you put into it. $1 tip for pouring a beer every time? That's the equivalent of what? $120/hr?

I really think tipping should be based on flat rates, not %. I've been to a lot of diners for Breakfast where I spent about $8 for a good breakfast that was served fast and hot and my coffee was always full. That person probably did more, but at least the same amount of work as places where I have spent $200 on a dinner for my wife and I. I think in both cases, $15 would have been plenty of a decent tip for the work done. Although by %, I should have given one $1.60 and another $40. That's where this **** gets screwed up.
 

Cyclonestate78

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In some regards... I don't even care if the service is slightly below average as long as the person is pleasant and it looks like they are making an effort to take care of us. I always try to remember that these people have one of the most thankless jobs ever. It's the terrible customers that either tip like crap or abuse their servers that ruin things for the rest of us.

I couldn't even imagine showing up at work and being paid a pathetically low hourly wage and then depending on my boss to tip me for a job well done on everything I do during the day. We all know how often bosses specifically recognize their employees for a job well done... Think about it.
 

erikbj

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Aug 31, 2006
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HAHA, if you want to be a regular the staff likes, 50% tip? Are they high? I will admit, if you are a mixed drink drinker, tipping a decent amount should happen. Or if I'm at a place like El Bait Shop where they are constantly giving me tastes to see what to order next. But if i do my usual, come into a bar and order the beer I see on tap and you pour it for me, honestly, imo, that's worth about 25 cents. Because that's the work you put into it. $1 tip for pouring a beer every time? That's the equivalent of what? $120/hr?

I really think tipping should be based on flat rates, not %. I've been to a lot of diners for Breakfast where I spent about $8 for a good breakfast that was served fast and hot and my coffee was always full. That person probably did more, but at least the same amount of work as places where I have spent $200 on a dinner for my wife and I. I think in both cases, $15 would have been plenty of a decent tip for the work done. Although by %, I should have given one $1.60 and another $40. That's where this **** gets screwed up.

I have always had an issue with this at nice restaurants. Although typically the staff at those places are a lot better than you get at a typical middle of the road place. However if I order a $200 bottle of wine, did they really do $30-40 worth of work to open it and pour into my glass??? Versus if I ordered a $50, they did the same work - but "only" get an extra $7-10?


I have been some diners and had a great experience, but the bill is $7-10 - i always leave at least a $5 tip, sometimes $10 if they make my breakfast experience pleasant (also if they entertain my baby while i am trying to eat, that gets extra).
 

cyclonespiker33

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As a bartender and past server I'll disagree with some of those things. $1 a drink is the most I expect, not the standard. I have no problem with someone that orders a drink for $2.50 or $3.25 and just gives me the change as a tip. Also, although I will always tip 20% for normal service, I would never expect it from anyone, but be happy when I got it. I remember the really bad tippers and that effects future service.
 

Judoka

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I'm no Mr. Pink. I tip in places where it is traditional to tip, and I don't stiff people for things out of their control.

But...

Tipping has gotten out of hand. If everyone actually followed the "tipping rules" then servers/hotel maids/etc would be making $50 an hour or more, and bartenders would be making hundreds of bucks an hour on a busy night. Plus if I actually followed all the suggestions for who to tip, and how much, I'd have no money left to actually buy things.

Also, why does the tipping percentage that is expected keep going up? I keep hearing 20% now. It's a percentage of the bill, it naturally adjusts with inflation! It shouldn't increase with time.
 

SpokaneCY

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20% standard for me mostly because the math is easy. 30% or more for the exceptional experience. Just over 10% for the other.
 

GrindingAway

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I was just at a bar in Kansas City, where the liquor shelf was like 20 feet high, and the bartenders had to climb a ladder to get up to some of the more exotic liquors. Of course, the group of guys I was with made a point to order stuff from the higher shelves, but that was mainly because the bartender was cute, and watching her climb the ladder was just wonderful. We did tip her a lot, though.

"Nice beaver"

"Thanks I just had it stuffed"
 

LindenCy

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Summary: these bartenders are greedy, the baristas are grateful, and delivery is somewhere in between.

I believe strongly in tipping people properly, but it sounds like these articles all basically say "tip well because we're getting screwed by others." Good service deserves a good tip, acceptable service deserves a standard tip, and bad service, well, you know.
 

cycloneworld

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I also enjoyed this one:

If you order multiple drinks at happy hour: 20% on the drink's original price
"You're supposed to tip on the drink's normal price. Say a drink is normally $10 and you get it for $5, you still tip $2 for 20% even though it's discounted. It's cheaper for you, but the bartender isn't getting paid more hourly. They're still working for the same, right? People should still tip like it's the normal price. No one says, 'Can I have the menu with the real prices? I need to make sure I need to tip right.' No one even thinks about it. I just tip really well on happy hour, usually around 50%."

So its supposed to work this way but not the other way? If I go to a nice restaurant and spend $200, I'm supposed to tip $40. If I go to Chili's and spend $30, I'm supposed to tip $6. Does the nicer waiter really provide 6.67 times more service than the Chili's waiter? I agree they do more work but not over 6 times. But we tip that way. And if I have happy hour prices, its my job to make up for the food discount that YOUR restaurant or bar is offering? No way.
 

HFCS

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I'm no Mr. Pink. I tip in places where it is traditional to tip, and I don't stiff people for things out of their control.

But...

Tipping has gotten out of hand. If everyone actually followed the "tipping rules" then servers/hotel maids/etc would be making $50 an hour or more, and bartenders would be making hundreds of bucks an hour on a busy night. Plus if I actually followed all the suggestions for who to tip, and how much, I'd have no money left to actually buy things.

Also, why does the tipping percentage that is expected keep going up? I keep hearing 20% now. It's a percentage of the bill, it naturally adjusts with inflation! It shouldn't increase with time.

When I was a waiter at a nice downtown chicago restaurant I tipped out 8% of my sales to bussers and bar. If people had only tipped me 10% I'd have been below minimum wage. Because I averaged around 20% I took home 12% tips and made a good but not great wage while getting started in my 'real' career. In general bartenders make more than servers although obviously servers at five star restaurants are making a good living, not just anyone can do that well.
 

LindenCy

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I think the other problem I have with articles like this is they strike a lot of standard-good tippers the wrong way, and some of the responses in this thread echo that. If there are people who always tip 15%, I would assume most servers would not want to tick them off, because that is where the majority of the tips are coming from. The douchebags who never tip or tip low aren't going to be persuaded by an article like this anyway, and the great tippers already tip great and will continue.

I would rather see the European model where the tip is included and if you want to give a little over that for great service then you can. This would push out the "cheapskates" and allow people to still express gratitude. I doubt restaurant owners would like it though.
 

ruxCYtable

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I consider myself a good tipper, partly because I worked in restaurants growing up. But there is a lot of objectionable entitlement going on in that article.
 

HFCS

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I think the other problem I have with articles like this is they strike a lot of standard-good tippers the wrong way, and some of the responses in this thread echo that. If there are people who always tip 15%, I would assume most servers would not want to tick them off, because that is where the majority of the tips are coming from. The douchebags who never tip or tip low aren't going to be persuaded by an article like this anyway, and the great tippers already tip great and will continue.

I would rather see the European model where the tip is included and if you want to give a little over that for great service then you can. This would push out the "cheapskates" and allow people to still express gratitude. I doubt restaurant owners would like it though.

Even large corporate restaurants love hiring illegals. I'm not sure why this one industry gets to pay employees almost exclusively off the books or below minimum wage. I've played in many soccer leagues with mostly Latino restaurant employees (lots of them corporate). At any sign of police they all take off like lightning. These guys are my friends but anyone serious about illegal immigration should be going after restaurant corporations instead of idiocy like defending a fence. Our food at restaurants is mostly made by illegals and the business owners know about it.