How much do you tip?

[Native Floridian]

When I eat at a restaurant I always tip the server. That tip will vary from a low of 15% for very poor service to over 100% if the server gave great service and imo went steps beyond. I realize anything over 25% is overly generous, but it is my personal decision on how i spend my money.

Regardless, all servers deserve a tip at some level.

Serving customers in a restaurant is a tough job. A job for which most servers are under appreciated and under paid. I appreciate the effort put forth by good servers and believe they should be rewarded.

Which brings me to a sad discovery. I learned recently that some people leave something other than money for tips. Fake $10 dollar bills that look real on one side but contain a Biblical scripture on the other. Along with a note printed on the bill telling the server that their tip is the lord's salvation.

Regardless of religious belief, the world runs on money. The churches these people belong to know that all to well. As all churches are constantly in search of more money. Perhaps if their collection plates were filled with these fake $10 dollar bills they would get the point that stiffing a server is a very unchristian act!

 

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[G.I.B.]

I tip real money. Based on service, and who get's it.

By that I mean that some tips are pooled. All the tips are split equally by everyone. That means that the crappy snotty person I had, get's to share with the very hard working deserving servers. I don't tip as well there.

When I get great service, I tip accordingly. Particularly if the tip is kept by the individual who earned it.

 

[gerryk]

I have always tipped well. Starting a long time ago, it was not uncommon for me to tip 20-25% if a server went above and beyond.
Recently, a server at a local chain rest was on the radio talking about tips. She said that costs have gone up so much and its hard to make a living and that she expects at least 25% minimum no mater the service. The way she talked, i don't think she was one of those servers I would tip a high percentage. I forgot which restaurant it was or I would never go there again.

 

[Native Floridian]

Servers get stiffed all the time. Some work at restaurants where the restaurant management cuts themselves in on the tips. Something not allowed at high end establishments. All servers have to tip out the entire staff. The table bussers, the hostess and the the bartender all get a cut. In that way 25% quickly becomes 15% and 15% quickly becomes 5%. A server who pulls $250 in tips at mid high end restaurant walks out with $175.

Still, it is the people who believe it's OK to leave zero who are the ones I have no respect for.

 

[packerbacker]

I have ALWAYS tipped high. Right now it's a minimum of 15% but I don't remember ever going 100% although I know I've tipped close to 30-35% I'm not well off but I have done that type of work and I know what they do. My wife also worked as a motel maid many years ago so I also leave a tip for the motel workers. They work hard for their money.

 

[TheCoinKid]

Over the years, my average tip has increased from 15% up to 20%, and then I will usually round up.

Even for great service, I will rarely go much over the 20% level (maybe a couple of bucks here and there). I come in expecting quality service and, I guess, have that expectation built into my baseline tip.

I would not hesitate to leave a zero tip, if the service was outright horrible, but I can't remember the last time I did that (it's been years). Generally, I won't go much below 15% (again, subtracting a buck or two, at most), maybe 10% at the worst.

It seems like poor service usually falls into one of two categories: (1) the wait staff is short that day, which is not the fault of the server or (2) the waiter gets negative feedback from the table and no longer cares to provide a quality service. As they say, it takes two to tango. A smile and polite words go a long way towards getting good service.

TCK

 

[onfire]

Do you tip a delivery person( furniture,?) Pizza man? Hotel receptionist? bell boy? Buffet, where the person just picks up you dirty plate? Person at the car wash?
I have always tipped well a couple of times where I thought I was increasing it by a couple of Dollars I mistakenly gave a C note. on top of the tip. Must quit talking to my wife at that time. Now she asks is it a ten or a hundred

 

[Peyton Manning]

I go 15 to 20%. If I was as rich as NF I would only leave hundys. ( maybe I should say when, my mutual funds are doing well)

 

[TheRingFinder]

When I eat at a restaurant I always tip the server. That tip will vary from a low of 15% for very poor service to over 100% if the server gave great service and imo went steps beyond. I realize anything over 25% is overly generous, but it is my personal decision on how i spend my money.

Regardless, all servers deserve a tip at some level.

Serving customers in a restaurant is a tough job. A job for which most servers are under appreciated and under paid. I appreciate the effort put forth by good servers and believe they should be rewarded.

Which brings me to a sad discovery. I learned recently that some people leave something other than money for tips. Fake $10 dollar bills that look real on one side but contain a Biblical scripture on the other. Along with a note printed on the bill telling the server that their tip is the lord's salvation.

Regardless of religious belief, the world runs on money. The churches these people belong to know that all to well. As all churches are constantly in search of more money. Perhaps if their collection plates were filled with these fake $10 dollar bills they would get the point that stiffing a server is a very unchristian act!

Oh, you are so easy to read - was this your pathetic attempt to jab at Christians, of course it was. Well guess what, Bro - I know many servers and they ALL say athiest are the most pathetic tippers out there and Christians are over generous. Christians have served 100's of millions in the poverty stricken areas. Don't forget it buddy.
BTW - Very sad attempt.

 

[CoilyGirl]

Usually 15 to 20% .

 

[GMD52]

Being on the road a lot, usually at least 20%, unless the service is terrible, than I might only leave 10%











5

 

[war-digs-it]

Oh, you are so easy to read - was this your pathetic attempt to jab at Christians, of course it was. Well guess what, Bro - I know many servers and they ALL say athiest are the most pathetic tippers out there and Christians are over generous. Christians have served 100's of millions in the poverty stricken areas. Don't forget it buddy.
BTW - Very sad attempt.

Rarely do I agree with N.F. on politics, nearly always agree with Ringfinder... I have worked across the country as a bartender and hospitality professional. My last days working in that field were in the Bible belt where those fake bills were passed (with a coy smile). Every Sunday, at least three groups would leave those. I was not pleased and left them with a steak knife slammed violently through their "generosity" into their table...last days working in that field in that region and I thank God!

Christians are great, loving people for the most part. Shoving fake tips "to save your soul" are BULLSCAT!

Non tippers when serviced above and beyond have received the "coin shotgun" as they are walking to their cars also.
You can walk on some but be extremely careful on who you try to step on!

 

[Goose-0]

I'm cheap. I try to tip as close to 15% as I can. I DO NOT TIP WITH THE SALES TAX INCLUDED.

 

[BC1969]

Hell I wish I could afford to eat out..my idea of a gourmet dining-out experience is a arbys roast beef sandwich.

Mike

 

[Goose-0]

I used to go to O'Hare Field near Chicago (not Chicago then and just a military airport) with a buddy for coffee. Coffee was 10 cents and our bill was 20 cents. The restaurant then was about the size of a 3 car garage many, many snows ago. We tipped....by taking a quarter, dropping it in a glass of water we had with the coffee, putting a napkin on top, then turning the glass of water upside down and placing it on the table. We then left. That was a 125% tip....good for us.

 

[RGINN]

Here in the resort tourist destination of the Rocky Mountains I tip 25% when I do go out on the town. I have never had a problem with the servers as most of them in the various restaurants I go to know me or at least think they do. If you should happen to open a new eating place up here and advertise 'Authentic Mexican Food' God forbid if it ain't authentic and the server asks my wife how she likes the food. She ran a restaurant in Guadalajara for 12 years and she tends to be blunt with criticism. In that case, my tip goes up. On the other hand, two places I went to which I can no longer patronize advertised southern style chicken fried steak and southern style fried catfish and neither were even close. After telling the manager he wouldn't know 'southern style' if it come up and bit him on the a**, I slipped the tip to the server on the way out and told her to keep that under her hat.

 

[YumaMarc]

- Non tippers when serviced above and beyond have received the "coin shotgun" as they are walking to their cars also. You can walk on some but be extremely careful on who you try to step on!

Hmmmm.....what's a "coin shotgun"?

I know, I know, years-old post. But this term has me intrigued.

 

[Goose-0]

I'm intrigued also.

 

[Hillbilly Joe]

All I know is that my wife waits tables. She loves it, very educated woman, the problem is that she is already taxed at 8% in MT based on sales, so if they dont tip, then it costs us money. She has come to be able to know, almost onsite, if they are going to tip well or not. She has not treated anyone different, but among the locals, she knows who tips, and who dont. I have come to the point I will ask my server at some point during the service, do you have to share tips? Do you want cash in the pocket? Of course bad service, still will get something, but I dont waste time with the server if it is a kitchen problem. I feel really bad for the ones that have to pool tips, and tip out everyone under the sun, and have to make it on the Fed minimum of like $2.59 (guess, dont recall off top of my head). She has had young ones come in and hide coins under all the plates, or have a table that had a 150 dollar ticket, and a two dollar tip. We get a lot of tourists, and from different countries. Countries not familiar with tipping, are not favorites of many of the wait staff.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

If service is good I tip 25-30%, if poor service 10%-0%






American by birth, Patriot by choice.

I would rather die standing on my two feet defending our Constitution than live a lifetime on my knees......