When I started going out to eat on my own, after I had my own job, I learned the basic rules of tipping. It always amazes me how cheap people are, even if they get the best of service. It makes me sad that I live in a country where even the best of work is undervalued and unappreciated.
Ness is currently a server. She works in a fine-dining restaurant and you’d probably be surprised how horrible guests are to servers, and then have the lack of common sense and courtesy to tip poorly. It’s expected of servers to give the best quality service, no matter how the guests act. What most people don’t realize, is that the server’s primary job, is to bring food from point A to point B. It’s not to put up with your bullshit.
I’m going to give you all some examples of what not to do. These are the kind of people that drive me nuts. I’m not a server, and after watching some people, I never want to be one. I wouldn’t have the patience, the balls, or the ability to walk away from assholes like this.
Example One - I had to wait five minutes, I’m not tipping you shit
I went to the Olive Garden in the beginning of the week with Ness’ father and her brother. Her father and I waited an hour for her brother to show up. We arrived at 5:30PM. We decided not to order until her brother came, which ended up being another hour. While we were waiting, we noticed that almost 45 minutes into our visit, a couple arrived and sat in Ness’ section. Ness was busy taking another tables drinks, and these people saw that. Ness went over and greeted the two people after she had taken the other tables drinks. These two people were pissed that they had to wait. It was literally five minutes. How do I know this? I watched them. As I’ve previously mentioned, I observe people.
Ness asked one of the managers for help because of these people’s complaint. They ended up getting a gift card for the next time they came to eat. They ate their food and used the gift card. What was Ness’ tip? The remaining amount of money left on the gift card; a whole 25 cents.
First of all, you waited 5 minutes. Second of all, you didn’t even have to pay for the damn food. Thirdly, your food came out hot. Fourth, you even got free desserts. Now what makes you think you don’t have to tip? Ness, and her manager, went out of their way to make your visit there a great one, and you can’t even leave a tip?
These cheap bastards probably went their expecting to get free food in the first place. What do I think about these people? They are cheap, broke-ass bastards who are probably uneducated, have the personality of a straw wrapper, and don’t have enough sense to budget their money.
And on another note: When out to eat at a restaurant, where other people will inevitably see you, or hear you, eat…do not, and I repeat do not, eat your spaghetti, slurping it into your mouth, and talk all at the same time. Not only does it look disgusting, it sounds disgusting as well.
Example Two - I had to pay extra for jalapeños, I’m not tipping you shit, but I’ll leave you a nice note
Ness and I were at IHOP drinking a ton of coffee. We go in there all the time, so all the servers know us. It also helps that her dad is the General Manager. Another couple came in and sat directly behind Ness. The woman wanted jalapeños on her eggs. Fine. The waitress told her it would be extra for the jalapeños, the woman got all snippy.
Woman: Are you new?
Waitress: No…why?
Woman: Ugh, nevermind.
What does any of that have to do with the fact that your damn jalapeños are going to be extra? It doesn’t matter whether she’s new, or if she’s been around for 8 years, your peppers are going to be extra, since they don’t come on the eggs in the first place.
They finished ordering, got their food, and ate it. Ness and I didn’t hear one complaint about anything else. Their check arrived, they got ready to leave. The woman was paying, she was pissed she had to pay extra for the jalapeños, she decided to leave the waitress a note, instead of a tip, since she paid, get this, an extra 69 cents for her jalapeños. Seriously? 69 cents is going to throw your finances off balance when you just came out to eat at IHOP, probably not knowing what you were going to get in the first place, and then you throw a fit over 69 cents? It’s not even the server’s fault, it’s company policy, and you decide to not leave a tip?
Let me make something very clear. Servers’ starting minimum wage is like $3.75 or something. Why is this so low? Because they make tips. Why do their tips mean shit? Because with the addition of tips, at the end of the night, their hourly wage ($3.75) plus their tips is supposed to equal regular minimum wage. So when people like you who decide to leave a note instead of a tip, or leave a quarter because they are broke, what do you think happens? They can’t afford anything. They can’t buy their books for school, or put gas in their car.
Now what do I think of these people? Well, the lady’s note said something like “Have a Blessed day.” This makes me assume she’s Christian, because that’s what good Christians do, bless people. (I’m being sarcastic here.) Ok, first, you’re a supposed Christian, second, instead of being courteous and polite to your server you stiff her with a note even though she gave you great service. Your reason for doing so? Because you wouldn’t have to see her ever again. Wow. You are stuck up, probably middle-class, and you probably look down on people that work in the food service industry. Well lady, you shouldn’t. Because if it weren’t for them, you’d have to get up off your lazy ass and get your own damn food. Better yet, you should get your own damn food. Don’t go out anymore. Oh, and I’m sure Jesus would be proud.
The Lesson - How to tip
Alright people…I’m sure most of the people that will read this aren’t like the examples above. And just so you know, I have way more examples for you, I just don’t have the time to write them all out for you. I have more examples of bad tippers than of good ones.
So how do you tip? That’s a great question. First, when deciding the tip, remember that the waitress really has no control over how long your food is going take. That’s what the kitchen manager is for, so if you’re waiting a long time, ask for the kitchen manager, don’t bitch out the server. Second, take a look around. Does your server have a lot of tables? Is the whole restaurant busy? If yes, give an extra few minutes for everything. Just because it’s taking longer than normal, doesn’t mean they are giving you crappy service. When a restaurant is that busy, everything takes longer. Third, was your server nice? Good. You can usually tell this by the fact that she talked to your bratty kids, or she gave you an extra lemon in your water, or she smiled at you and looked you in the eye. Once you’ve determined this, you can decide what to tip her.
The Scale
Excellent Service: When you receive excellent service, tip at least 20%. What I usually do is tip 20% plus add on the tip. So, my check is $28 bucks, tax is around $2. 20% of 30 is six dollars ($6) so my tip to the server would be $8. Also keep in mind, basic rules of rounding. For example…if a check is $23, I’d round down to $20. 4 and below, you round down. 5 and above, your round up.
Good Service: Good service is more common than excellent service. You tip 15%. So, my check is $28 bucks, I round up to $30. My tip would be $4.50.
Poor Service: As I mentioned in previously, a lot of factors go into the service that you get. So keep these in mind when figuring out if you had poor service. For poor service, you tip no less than 10%. So if my check is $28 bucks, I’d round that up to $30, and I’d tip her $3.
There’s a reason what I round up or down. First, it makes figuring out your tip easier. Second, it hardly ever involves change. If I had left it at $28 bucks, I would have had to dish out for change. Round it up to a whole amount that ends in zero, or down to a zero. If you round down, I suggest adding in an extra dollar.
Conclusion
Alright, so why should you tip well? If you plan on coming back to that restaurant, the server will remember you. If you tipped poorly, the server will tell other servers. Same happens if you tip well. Also, people think you’re either a snob or an idiot if they see you tip poorly for good to excellent service.
For special situations, like when you wait too long for your food, ask for a manager. If you have to wait more than 30 minutes, than you’ve waited too long. If you ordered a well done steak, don’t expect it in five minutes. It’s just now how it works. If this happens, and you end up getting a discount or a free meal, leave a tip anyway
August 31, 2007
This extends beyond wait staff. My girlfriend tattoos. All too frequently someone will get a $300 tattoo and not tip her a cent. You (at least if you’re a normal person) tip the people bringing you your food 15-20%. Isn’t it common sense that you should tip the person putting something on your body for the rest of your life? If you can’t tip your tattoo artist, you shouldn’t be getting a tattoo period, because you obviously don’t care about the quality or time being put into it.
Also, I think really 15% is out of date. I always tip servers 20-25% unless they’re absolutely terrible, then they get the minimum. As inflation rises but wages don’t, I think tipping percentages should adjust accordingly.
Anyway, I absolutely agree that the way a person tips is a good indication of their character.
August 31, 2007
I don’t have any tattoos (yet).
I plan on getting a couple in the very near future. Anyway, I always tip more than I say I do. I usually just pull out a $10. Even if all I get is coffee. But, I get the endless pot of coffee and have it refilled 10 times…
I have a friend that is a cosmetologist. If someone’s cutting your hair, you should tip them. I have a story about her and one of the girls that works with Ness. It’s a bad story. My friend works in an upscale salon. This girl got her hair permed and colored. My friend told her to not put her hair in a pony tail or to get it wet. She comes into work the next day with her hair in a pony tail. Ness sees this. The girl goes back after work to my friend and says it didn’t work and wants her to fix it. She fixed it for free. Her original bill was like $130. She tipped her $2. And when my friend fixed her hair, she didn’t tip her at all.
Cheap…bastards. Seriously.
August 31, 2007
One thing I love about Costa Rica is the fact that you really don’t tip. At all. (Because tips are included in wages.) When you go to a restaurant, for example, you’ll see two prices for your spaghetti: one is the base price and one is the price including taxes and tips (”i.v.i.”, for any of you planning to visit my country). It’s fantastic because you know exactly how much your meal costs.
This is the the same for basically everything here, though. You don’t tip delivery men, taxi drivers, hair stylists, etc. because that’s not the custom. What I normally do, though, is just round up, so if something costs c4.700 ($9.40), I just pay c5.000 ($10). Aka “keep the change.” That tends to work very well.
The U.S. has always confused me because I never know what to tip for and what not to. You tip the people that deliver you pizza, but not the ones who deliver your kabillion $ computer equipment (FedEx or UPS, I mean). You tip the guy who cuts your hair, but not the one who fills your car up with gas. The lists go on, of course, but I could never keep it straight. I just like it better when prices are a little higher, but always include the tip.
August 31, 2007
Erin: My uncle used to own a gas station, a full service station, and I was the person that pumped the gas. I haven’t found anything anywhere that states your supposed to tip for full service, but I always got $1 or $2 if the person asked to fill up their tank. Not many people can afford that now though. But whenever I go to a full service station, I tip them because I know how difficult it can be when you’re the only one working and you have eight cars at eight pumps. I always tip for food service at restaurants, but not at fast food because technically they aren’t allowed to take tips. But I’ll leave a tip at Starbucks.
Tipping etiquette is stupid. I figure if someone is making minimum wage, you should be able to tip them if they are doing something that you don’t want to do. Like get out of your car to pump gas or fix a burger. Because it would only take my time to make a burger myself, get out of my car to pump gas, or fix my own cup of coffee. And a lot of people treat food service workers like shit anyway. It’s ridiculous really. I mean, so what if they make less than you, you don’t know their situation. How can you judge someone by where they work and what they do? But people do anyway.
September 1, 2007
Such a shame that people tip based on their extremely high demand, rather than the service itself. I dined with some crybabies who were regulars at a restaurant - I went with them to that restaurant - they kept complaining and complaining and complaining. Hey, if you are regulars and you complain all the time, none of the wait staff have an incentive to give you excellent service the every time you roll around because all you do is whine and tip badly!!
I drive a taxi and I am greatful if you just pay the fare itself. The tip is a bonus which I truly appreciate. However, you could not believe how many people pay the fare minus tip and say to me “I’m sorry I don’t have the money tip you. I am poor.” While I don’t remember my previous non-tipping passengers very well, the ones who give me that line are the ones who I remember the best. Next time I pick them up, I will be sure to run reds and take the long way around.
My worst 2 passengers?
1. A customer who kept complaining about my cab company and how they treated him - During his rant, he told me “Don’t worry - I am a good tipper.” And during the ride, all I could say was “I’m sorry our company treated you badly.” As he left the cab, he DID NOT tip! I never did get the chance to ask him why since I was so pissed at that point that he said he would be a good tipper and never did.
2. A restaurant employee with a manager lever job gets in my cab. At the end, she gives me the “Sorry no tip. I am poor” line. I would have loved to ask the lady “Hey, if one of your waitresses got stiffed on tip, what would you think about that customer?”
If you can’t afford to tip, just don’t say so! I don’t get pissed over that. Just don’t rub salt over our wounds by telling us that you are too poor to tip!
September 1, 2007
Jack: I’ve never ridden in a cab before, but I here all kinds of stories about them. My friends use them when they can’t drive home after a night of drinking.
I’ve noticed that a lot of servers go into restaurants and tip poorly and also treat other servers poorly. Ness just had a customer the other day who was saying she sympathized with her because she was a server, and then proceeds to treat Ness like crap and left her a $1 tip when her check was $30. Seriously, if you know what it’s like to be a server then why do you do shit like that?
I’ve never bought that “I’m too poor excuse.” It’s bullshit. If you’re so poor, take a damn bus. It’s cheaper than taking a taxi. People just have no patience. And then people wonder why they get bad service. It’s because you don’t have the decency to be a good customer.
September 4, 2007
Speaking of servers treating servers badly, how about drivers treating drivers badly? On occasion, when other drivers cars break down or whatever, sometimes, we may give them a ride home or where they need to go. I’ve had drivers who don’t even tip me! I will always take care of other cab drivers because you never know karma will strike.
Speaking of “I’m too poor” I’ve had many passengers come in and say “Please take me to point B. I only have $20″ or some other amount of money as they seem to be regular riders who know how much it costs them to get from A to B. These passengers are ALWAYS outgoing talkative passengers. However, I when you announce you only have a certain amount of money, I do NOT engage in coversation with these riders. I’m willing to take you to where you need to go - often its a $21 fare but they only have $20 (I know they always have more, but they just don’t want to pay it). I’m already not happy that you are cheating me out of a dollar or two PLUS tip. While I’m greatful that you are able to cover the fare, you have given me no incentive to provide you with great service. Just try telling a server that you only have enough to cover the meal when you are handed the menu.
September 4, 2007
Jack: It’s sad, but Ness gets the “I only have enough for the meal” thing all the time. This lady came in with her boyfriend and told Ness that she only had $40. When you go to a higher-end restaurant, $40 is the average anyone would pay for a meal there. Of course, the lady wanted an appetizer, a salad, breadsticks, and soup, on top of her meal. They left Ness something like a 37 cent tip.