Tipping

[fluff]

I wouldn't even have paid the bill.

I don't think people complain and stand up for themselves enough.

John will tell you, I regularly have people thrown out of the movie theatre for talking.
If I wanted to hear "you" talk through a movie, I'd wait until it came out on dvd, rent it, bring it round your house and watch it in your frickin' living room.

[cali]

The other day I tipped the pizza delivery girl 5 bucks. The pizza was $9. Our driveway is in the middle of being graded and is a 1/4 mile mud pit. I felt bad for her

For the first time ever my husband refused to tip our waitress at a resteraunt. She was aweful though. It still blew me away as usually we tip well.

We went to a pizza place at the beach once and they added the tip into the bill as there are 5 of us and they always do that for parties of 5 or more.

We never went back. Do not assume your service/food was good enough for a 18% tip. That is OUR call.

I also agree with fluff and I think that the wait staff should just get paid meore.

Tipping is a rediculous practice.

[greenie]

I almost always tip 20%. If the service isn't very good I tip about 15%. I feel too guilty if I don't. I wish I could be more like you, fluff. As far as my philosophy goes, I thought waiters and waitresses made less than minimum wage so their tips cover the rest of their pay. I know what it's like to not have a lot of money, and since I'm doing well in life now, I don't mind sharing my wealth.

I don't tip coffee people though. I find that to be a little silly because they are making more than minimum wage and really not doing as huge of a service as waiters and waitresses do.

[John]

I think tipping is ridiculous, but I am an admitted over-tipper. My wife hates it. Which I don't understand, because she worked at a restaurant for 11 years, and made crappy tips (it was a Dutch restaurant in a Dutch town, so those tightwads think leaving 3 pennies on the table is a decent tip).

I normally tip at least 20%, up to whatever...And I tip everyone. I've recently even gotten in the practice of leaving a card with $20 in the mailbox for the mail lady at Christmas, to thank her for the dozens of magazines she has to deliver to our mailbox every week.

[cali]

I forgot the "who" part of the question...

I tip:

food delivery people/wait staff
postal workers in December, not like John, but hey
I tipped the guys that delivered our furniture
The hair dresser (but I rarely go)
Hmmmm I have never stayed at a fancy hotel where they have bell hops I guess I might tip them??

I guess that's it

[AnnaRHR]

Originally posted by Shayla
I was a server during college, and a dancer during grad school. The people who work these jobs make their livelihood off of tips; they "depend on the kindness of strangers."

Hmmm...What kind of dancer?

And I generally tip 15-20 percent, although that could go up or down depending on how good the service is...

Originally posted by fluff
John will tell you, I regularly have people thrown out of the movie theatre for talking.
If I wanted to hear "you" talk through a movie, I'd wait until it came out on dvd, rent it, bring it round your house and watch it in your frickin' living room.

[AnnaRHR]

Originally posted by evalaruefan
I always leave a decent-good tip unless the service is really bad.

Only once have I never left a tip and I'm sure the waitress knew why without me telling her. My friend is Brazilian and invited us to go to a Brazilian restaurant. You had 2 choices on the menu, a buffet (which was 35$) or a plate (for 20$). My husband and I took the 20$ plate (we have a house to pay etc...) and the others took the buffet. Anyways...the waitress got mad that she was unable to convince us to take the buffet. She knew we didn't speak portugese (but my friend does) and she was insulting my husband and I in portugese calling us cheap and other names like that. We got our meal 15 minutes after everyone else was served and never got refills of water etc... not to mention, we didn't like the food. So we paid the bill and walked out!

You should have had your friend talk to them in Portuguese as you were leaving and see if their faces got red. That would be funny! I don't think I've ever eaten at a place that expensive...I guess I'm just cheap.

[Miss Filangi]

I'm also a former waitress so as a rule, I usually tip 15-20% if the services is good - more if it's excellent.

With that being said, I'm really tough on lazy servers and bad service. The worst thing you can do is make your customer go thirsty while you screw around doing whatever. If my order is screwed up, or anyone in my party, I will complain. A good server is someone that will catch a mistake before it's brought out to you, if they can. So I have high standards and rightfully so. I'm a good customer, and on my best behaviour until someone gives me a reason not to be. Like Fluff and John pointed out, you are already paying for a certain quality and that should be maintained. If someone goes over and above that standard, I will tip very well.

It's a hard job though, but that's what you signed up for. I spent 10 years waitressing and I started at the age of 14.

[cali]

I want to go out to dinner and a movie with Fluff, John and Miss F

[hazyshadeof]

Originally posted by fluff
I paid for my meal, the staff will get paid for cooking it and serving me.

My problem with this fluff, is that MOST (not all) servers are paid less than minimum wage. When I was a server at a five star restaurant in Birmingham, Alabama - I started out at $2.13 an hour. If people didn't tip us, well it's obvious that survival was not possible.

I agree - tipping is a ridiculous practice, but you're not going to find restaurants hiring waitstaff at $10 an hour and eliminating tipping because the overhead would be outrageous - that's how restaurants survive, cheap labor for servers.

I had fun when I was a waiter, but I wouldn't do it again if someone paid me $30 an hour. It's hard, thankless work that goes unappreciated for the most part.