Poll of the Day > what is the standard for tipping nowadays

(+) Yeah! (+)

15% or is it higher?

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The more hipster the place or the more above-average the service, the higher above 15% you go.
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Depends on the quality of service.

Propends on the service of quality.

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8%

Depends where you live and the restaurant.

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I think tipping needs to be changed, and it's way past time for the change.

First it should be a fed law that everyone gets paid at least min wage, tips or no tips. It is like that here in Washington already.

After that tipping should be limited, or not expected, to go over $1 per person being served.

The current system at least in Wa is skewed waaaay in the favor of those who are being tipped.

Non-tip jobs can not compete with the income of even the worst tip jobs here.

Over 50% of jobs in my area make $15 or less an hour......yet if you work a tip job you get $12 base (min wage) and usually at least $20 more per hour at tips (and WAY more than that in many cases).

Heck even people working at subway or other places with just a tip jar (like my friends back at NY vinnies), generally make $10+ an hour in tips.

Meanwhile skilled jobs that require CPR training Education etc, are paying $14 and hour in the same area.

How is that fair?

So yeah, all jobs should pay min wage, and tips should be drastically reduced, to about $1 per person per meal, which would still usually get a waiter at least another $12-15 an hour depending on the number of people per table that they serve.
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magemaximus posted...

15% or is it higher?

I generally tip 30-35%.
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What wolfy described is basically how I tip, plus a little more. I look around me, judge the service and amount of people, and then judge the tip on that, not just the bill.
I've been to too many varying places where a percentage just doesn't work out fairly. I rarely get that much better treatment when the price of the meal goes up, so why should the tip go up?
I generally aim for $5-$10 tip and that amounts to about 15%+ for most of my meals.

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Push above their center of mass.

I always tip 20%. If the service was above average, I tip more. Unless you've worked in the service industry or know how much they earn per hour (I have a friend who only earns $2.30/hr before tips), than none of us have the right to judge. I even tip when the service is long, because we don't know what may be happening behind the scenes that is out of the servers control. People are to quick to demand the most from servers, but most of us couldn't hack in the industry.

I have a friend who only earns $2.30/hr before tips

And if a few friends and I tip $10 after sitting there for an hour, that's $12.30 per hour. Not bad for a low skilled job. Not to mention we aren't the only customers that waiter is serving so it's probably much more than $12.30 per hour.
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pedro45 posted...

What wolfy described is basically how I tip, plus a little more. I look around me, judge the service and amount of people, and then judge the tip on that, not just the bill.
I've been to too many varying places where a percentage just doesn't work out fairly. I rarely get that much better treatment when the price of the meal goes up, so why should the tip go up?
I generally aim for $5-$10 tip and that amounts to about 15%+ for most of my meals.

Servers have to tip out based on their bill total, so yes, tipping based on the bill is very important

Tip outs must still be paid when servers don't get tipped, or earn less in tips than what they would have to contribute.

In a restaurant with a five per cent tip-out policy, a server still has to tip out $5 on every $100 tab.

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Doctor Foxx posted...

pedro45 posted...

What wolfy described is basically how I tip, plus a little more. I look around me, judge the service and amount of people, and then judge the tip on that, not just the bill.
I've been to too many varying places where a percentage just doesn't work out fairly. I rarely get that much better treatment when the price of the meal goes up, so why should the tip go up?
I generally aim for $5-$10 tip and that amounts to about 15%+ for most of my meals.

Servers have to tip out based on their bill total, so yes, tipping based on the bill is very important

Tip outs must still be paid when servers don't get tipped, or earn less in tips than what they would have to contribute.

In a restaurant with a five per cent tip-out policy, a server still has to tip out $5 on every $100 tab.

Tip outs should be done away with as well, the whole system is wacked. Honestly I'm fine with no tipping at all, and just paying everyone a decent wage, although considering the skill level needed that would mean just minimum wage pretty much (as generally that is what similar skill level jobs, customer service jobs etc pay).

A fair/decent living wage is a whole nother topic.

But you have a huge range in how lucrative tipping jobs are based on a variety of factors.

Many places don't tip out/share tips at all, so the server gets the full tip, and in WA that is on top of the "not noticable" min wage, that everyone else has to live on.

One friend works at a place that the waiters keep the full tip, he works 6 hour shifts usually 3-4 days a week, and comes home with $200+ every day he works (and complains about the ones that are only $200 for that matter).

Another works at a place where they do tip out at least, but....it's freaking expensive (Bud Bay Caffe) and the average table is well over $100, it's also on the water and full all the time, so each server has at least 6 tables with an average of over 2 people per table.

That place, even the greaters (which literally stand at the door and great people and check for reservations) get paid very well, just from the tip outs. Then again almost everyone working there could be a model, so shrug.

I'm all about everyone getting paid a decent amount, but when it's actually coming out of the pockets of people who make significantly less then the waiters, it doesn't make sense. We are basically paying 20% (some people pay more than that) more for our food when we eat out then we have to, and eating out is already expensive.

The solution should not be for people without large salaries to not eat out, it should be to make the ratio fairly even between how much the average person eating out makes, and how much the servers make, and they should do that directly through salary, not through tips.

Tips should be voluntary (as in you don't feel obliged to give one) and only if you really liked the service/server etc, not something that is expected and in many places.....the only way waiters get paid.
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