Tipping

[Guest]

1 minute ago, Steve_Walsh5 said:

I don't bother tipping, same as most others I'll just say keep the change to the taxi driver or takeaway delivery if it's anything under £2.

 

When I went Vegas and knew we were going to be drinking in the same place we tipped quite a bit. But in return they gave us great service and never let us queue for a beer.

Always the service you get in america, they definitely earn their tips. As i've stated in a previous post. In the UK they expect a tip just for bringing your food out and asking you if you want a drink

[Izzy]

I always leave a tip. It makes me feel good when people appreciate it and say thank you.

 

I've worked plenty of shitty jobs in my life and know how much difference tips can make.

 

And I'm also a soft touch and far too generous for my own good 

[pSinatra]

I'm quite surprised at the lack of tipping in this thread.  I generally tip for most things, particularly if I use the same service on a regular basis.  My hair costs £9, but I always give her a tenner & a couple of quid extra.  I pay for a trade bin but lob the binmen a bottle of whiskey here & there to keep them sweet.  They'll always take any extra waste I've got, which they're not obliged to do so.

 

What I don't agree with are service charges in restaurants.  If you're going to add a service charge to my bill as a matter of course, then it should be added to the prices on the menu.  This goes for tipping in America.  Pay your staff a proper salary & if you have to put your prices up, so be it.

 

It should be someone's choice to tip or not.  If you effectively stand there with your hand out & demandingt a tip - all you're doing is pissing me off.

[foxoffderby]

always tip taxi drivers, food delivery guys and my barber don't know why always have done. Yet if I see a penny on the floor in the street will always pick it up.

[Tuna]

34 minutes ago, Beliall said:

 

Reservoir Dogs - Tipping Scene - YouTube [2:38] (

 

 Came in here with the same thing in mind...even had the url to paste into the message and them bam right at the bottom of page one @Beliall has beaten me to it!

[MPH]

Here in the states i pretty much only tip waiters and waitresses and food delivery peeps

 

They receive a ridiculously small wage on the premise that its the customers obligation to tip. Most people here don't have a problem with that - it keeps the cost of food down and for the most part people tip base of the quality of service they receive which tends to put the onus back the the server to do a good job. for me, if they are a bit rude then i still tip but will tip less., do a great job and are super kind and helpful  then im generous.  The servers do usually have to work a bit more for each customer too - pretty much all non alcoholic drinks in every restaurant you get free refills even tea and coffee so they can be back and forth quite a bit for a tabIe of 6... have a friend who works in a franky & bennys type of restaurant and they average  $150 a night in tips for a 6 hr shift so its really not bad  money. Another person i know  can get $3-$400 for an 8hr shift on a Friday night working in a steak house. All adds up over the month to a very good wage indeed- some people make a career out of it..

[AKCJ]

1 hour ago, Voll Blau said:

Similar attitude from me really. I also never tip on card as you can never be sure whether that money's actually going to the waiters or not.

You can be absolutely positive that it isn't.

[MPH]

1 hour ago, Sharpe's Fox said:

I don't and wouldn't tip. Pay your staff a proper wage.

 

 

Surely you are not naive enough to think the cost wouldn't then be passed onto the customer with higher prices to pay? 

[MPH]

2 minutes ago, AKCJ said:

You can be absolutely positive that it isn't.

 

 

over here its usually put into a shared pool by all staff at the restaurant and split equally if it goes on the card. Cash on the table goes directly to their pocket.

[leicsmac]

2 minutes ago, MPH said:

 

 

Surely you are not naive enough to think the cost wouldn't then be passed onto the customer with higher prices to pay? 

 

....and?

 

In the US restaurant industry the customer has a ridiculous amount of power wrt to making sure serving staff get a living wage. That's all fine as long as the customer is a decent human being - but that's nowhere near always the case.

[MPH]

1 minute ago, leicsmac said:

....and?

 

In the US restaurant industry the customer has a ridiculous amount of power wrt to making sure serving staff get a living wage. That's all fine as long as the customer is a decent human being - but that's nowhere near always the case.

 

 

The point being the customer pays for it either way...

[Footballwipe]

Hate the whole premise of tipping. Then again I'm used to paying the price I see on the menu. Especially now we have a minimum wage. The whole US culture as said seems to be based on an "underpay to have tips supplement" way of working, but when someone is being set a base wage, as millions of people are, then I won't do it.

 

Service charges, well, don't even get me started on those. "You're bringing us a large number of people, a big order and taking, so we'll lump an extra charge on top."

 

If you do a good service then well done, you've literally done your job. Top work, but that's to be expected of me, you or anyone else in employment.

 

I sound so mean spirited but the expectation aspect of some restaurants is really irritating.

[leicsmac]

6 minutes ago, MPH said:

 

 

The point being the customer pays for it either way...

 

Of course. I'm just not necessarily a fan of a customer having the choice to be a **** in that way (rather than just, say, withdrawing their custom from a particular establishment afterwards) when someone's potential livelihood is at stake, but then I guess that is much rather exception than rule.

[MPH]

Just now, leicsmac said:

Of course. I'm just not necessarily a fan of a customer having the choice to be a **** in that way (rather than just, say, withdrawing their custom from a particular establishment afterwards) when someone's potential livelihood is at stake, but then I guess that is much rather exception than rule.

 

 

On average waiter and waitresses make far more over here than in England... Even if they earned 10 pound an hour... here you can get that from one table of 4... each waiter has 8-10 tables they are looking after and will see them turn over at least every hour. Its a much better system and puts more money in the pockets of ordinary people..

[Sharpe's Fox]

24 minutes ago, MPH said:

 

 

Surely you are not naive enough to think the cost wouldn't then be passed onto the customer with higher prices to pay? 

I don't care. If I'm paying for a service and/or a product I'm happy to pay for all of it. I'm not tight.

[Captain...]

1 minute ago, leicsmac said:

Of course. I'm just not necessarily a fan of a customer having the choice to be a **** in that way (rather than just, say, withdrawing their custom from a particular establishment afterwards) when someone's potential livelihood is at stake, but then I guess that is much rather exception than rule.

It is not just about the customer not paying, if the restaurant is struggling or you are stuck working on quiet shifts then it is the wait staff that take the hit not the restaurant. It also means you get screwed over with holiday pay and sick pay.

[MPH]

4 minutes ago, Sharpe's Fox said:

I don't care. If I'm paying for a service and/or a product I'm happy to pay for all of it. I'm not tight.

 

 

But you still are if you're tipping?

[leicsmac]

4 minutes ago, MPH said:

 

 

On average waiter and waitresses make far more over here than in England... Even if they earned 10 pound an hour... here you can get that from one table of 4... each waiter has 8-10 tables they are looking after and will see them turn over at least every hour. Its a much better system and puts more money in the pockets of ordinary people..

 

No doubt...depending on the place serving folks can make bank, that's not in dispute. My issue is with the possibility existing that they won't due to various factors which is important when it is money to put their own food on the table at stake.

 

1 minute ago, Captain... said:

It is not just about the customer not paying, if the restaurant is struggling or you are stuck working on quiet shifts then it is the wait staff that take the hit not the restaurant. It also means you get screwed over with holiday pay and sick pay.

 

This is true, and also a big factor.

[MPH]

5 minutes ago, Captain... said:

It is not just about the customer not paying, if the restaurant is struggling or you are stuck working on quiet shifts then it is the wait staff that take the hit not the restaurant. It also means you get screwed over with holiday pay and sick pay.

 

 

But if its paying less in wages then it will be able to stay open for a lot longer as it has less overheads... ;-)   Plus they rotate shifts usually... so everyone gets a share of the high earning shifts...

[Hollism]

5 minutes ago, Captain... said:

It is not just about the customer not paying, if the restaurant is struggling or you are stuck working on quiet shifts then it is the wait staff that take the hit not the restaurant. It also means you get screwed over with holiday pay and sick pay.

 

I was under the impression that the restaurant had to make up the difference to meet a normal minimum wage if it wasn't covered by tips. So (without googling the exact figures), if the NMW is $10, and the MW for tipped workers is $3, a server could earn $10k in tips, but the employers would still be obliged to pay them $3ph from the business' pocket. However if they earn $2 in tips for an hours work, they would have to pay them an additional $5 on top of the $3 they were already being paid.

 

And from what I can gather the lack of sick pay/ holiday pay/ most workers rights we take for granted is a problem across all sectors in the US. Again, perpetuated by the culture in an American workplace.

 

(There's a significant chance I've got this all wrong so someone please correct me if I have lol)

[Adster]

1 hour ago, pSinatra said:

I'm quite surprised at the lack of tipping in this thread.  I generally tip for most things, particularly if I use the same service on a regular basis.  My hair costs £9, but I always give her a tenner & a couple of quid extra.  I pay for a trade bin but lob the binmen a bottle of whiskey here & there to keep them sweet.  They'll always take any extra waste I've got, which they're not obliged to do so.

 

What I don't agree with are service charges in restaurants.  If you're going to add a service charge to my bill as a matter of course, then it should be added to the prices on the menu.  This goes for tipping in America.  Pay your staff a proper salary & if you have to put your prices up, so be it.

 

It should be someone's choice to tip or not.  If you effectively stand there with your hand out & demandingt a tip - all you're doing is pissing me off.

 

Why?

 

I've worked in a restaurant some time ago and it's nice when people leave a tip, but it's not obligatory and I never got offended etc when someone did not tip.

 

Tipping is a costly thing. A lot of people think a quid or two here or there is nothing but if you go out for a meal, get a taxi, or a haircut once a week it can add up to a lot of money per year.

 

People in the industry are paid to do a job well as standard. People should continue to deliver a good standard whether they're tipped or not.

 

I never tip. I have a house and a wedding to save for. Things cost enough as it is without giving an extra few quid every time I go out for a meal/get a taxi. I]m sure plenty of people are in the same boat which is why people decided not to tip.

 

I can understand why people do though. If you have the money to tip then fair enough.

[Captain...]

1 minute ago, MPH said:

 

 

But if its paying less in wages then it will be able to stay open for a lot longer as it has less overheads... ;-)

Whilst their staff are trying to survive on less than minimum wage because there aren't any customers tipping to top up their wages.

 

As a business they have assets that they can sell or they can attract creditors and investors that can help them when they are struggling businesses are more flexible to changing fortunes than individuals, especially if they are part of a chain.

 

Say a TGI Fridays has opened and it is struggling, the parent company can bail out the struggling restaurant and can take the hit while they sort out the problem. Meanwhile the staff are getting paid less than minimum wage and are not getting tips through no fault of their own.

[Captain...]

1 minute ago, Hollism said:

 

I was under the impression that the restaurant had to make up the difference to meet a normal minimum wage if it wasn't covered by tips. So (without googling the exact figures), if the NMW is $10, and the MW for tipped workers is $3, a server could earn $10k in tips, but the employers would still be obliged to pay them $3ph from the business' pocket. However if they earn $2 in tips for an hours work, they would have to pay them an additional $5 on top of the $3 they were already being paid.

 

And from what I can gather the lack of sick pay/ holiday pay/ most workers rights we take for granted is a problem across all sectors in the US. Again, perpetuated by the culture in an American workplace.

 

(There's a significant chance I've got this all wrong so someone please correct me if I have lol)

If that is true then I take back what I said, that was not how I understood it, but then I am not a waiter in the US.

[StanSP]

depends on service. it shouldn't be something you're obliged to do. No-one should ever be forced to tip someone else. It also depends on the person receiving that service as well. They may not be able to afford to tip and if they choose not to, so what?

 

Personally, and as others have mentioned, I'll tip my hairdresser but that's simply out of convenience, and now habit. It costs £9 so I'll give her a tenner and that's that. 

 

At restaurants, it definitely depends on service and quality of food eaten. Usually will be 10%. I'll always leave cash tip and make sure it goes to the waiter/waitress that has been serving. I never do it on card as it's unlikely to actually reach the person that deserves it. 

[Hollism]

1 minute ago, Captain... said:

If that is true then I take back what I said, that was not how I understood it, but then I am not a waiter in the US.

 

Well your point does still stand. Tipped staff will average more than the minimum wage, and will budget their lifestyle as such. Too many nights when they are earning less than expected and said lifestyle will be affected, and potentially in total jeopardy.