Tipping

[Seventh Pup]

I'm not sure if this is a sign that I've gotten older, cheaper, grumpier and harder to please but I am starting to resent the tipping culture in the US right now. I feel like it is out of control, and not well organized.

For instance there is a shop that sells chocolates near my home. Their chocolate covered blue berries are particularly good. Being that I live in Seattle they of course also sell coffee and so have a tip jar near the register. I went in there and grabbed a few bags of chocolate and went up to the counter, my total was about $15, I handed the cashier a $20. She then asks me "Do you want change?"

I look at her, not believing she is asking for a $5 tip for ringing up chocolates.

She looks back at me expectantly.

I look back at her, completely incredulous.

She looks back at me, sullenly.

"Yes, I would like my change." I reply. She then give it back to me in ones, (I think she was expecting me to drop on of those in the tip jar). I left feeling really angry.

My mom used to wait tables, and growing up in college I had a lot of friends who worked in restaurant industry. I have always tried to tip well, and appreciate the effort my server has to put into the job. But I feel like it's gotten to the point where everyone expects a tip, and not nearly enough people earn it. (Yes I sound like my grandpa. While youre at it get off my lawn).

For instance I took a taxi fairly recently, when the taxi stopped I explained I only had my debit card, and asked if that was okay. He replied that he would rather have cash, (the company he works for accepts credit cards) I reply again that all I have is my debit card and so he sighs and allows me to get in. The rest of the way home I hear about how he hates accepting credit cards and how he needs cash. He's rude and obviously angry at me for giving him my business, and takes the long way home. At the end of the ride when he runs my card he asks "How much should I add for tip?" Seriously? What do you think you have done that has earned a tip? Made me feel uncomfortable? Expect that I don't know my neighborhood well enough to know you added in about half a mile that didn't need to be there? Try to miss lights? I ended up telling him to round to the nearest dollar.

Anyone else feel frustrated or confused by the tip culture of the US?

[Lucky Pierre]

I hate it when it is 'expected'. I will drop change into a counter tip jar if the service was friendly and swift-but do not feel compelled to put anything in there at all. But for industries where tipping is customary the only time I wouldn't tip at least 10% is if they really screwed up and pissed me off and I don't think that has happened more than 5 times ever. But please be sure to ALWAYS tip your Bartenders!!!:)

:cheers:

[Solmyr]

Not living in the US, I am pretty satisfied with the tipping culture in Europe. However, I recall a thread from several months ago which dealt with the subject and most people were rather dissatisfied in the US.

I assume the problem lies in the low salaries (at least from the receivers' point of view) waiters, cab drivers or cashiers get. Hence they view every tip as part of their daily bonus and resent you, should you try to deprive them of any extra dollar.

As for myself, I always tip well in restaurants, taking into consideration the environment. The average place in Europe does not require a 10% tip either. Usually 4-7%, depending on your satisfaction. As for taxi drivers - I only tip them enough to round the cost and sometimes, when they piss me off particularly badly, I watch their counter until it's very close to a round sum, tell them to pull over and pay the exact amount. Ofc, I need to be close to home already to do that ;).

Apart from these 2, I don't tip for any other service on a daily basis. Exceptions may occur, like the hotel's room service on a holiday.

[ztemhead]

just sounds like you had a couple of jerks. *shrugs* it happens.

in my cab I took credit, but the cab company charges 5% off the top for processing it. Also on a busy night it's a pain in the ass to have to wait the three or four minutes it takes to run the card when I could be out snagging other calls. Personally, I am a leaf on the wind, so I accept these things as cost of doing business, especially as credit card fares tend to be much higher value than cash fares, especially up here in North Scottsdale where nobody carries cash. As for taking the long way home, that's unacceptable, doubly so if you gave him a specific route and he took another. Call the company and complain. My old company had no qualms about refunding a customer's money and taking it out of the driver's account.

Though it sounds like you got hosed by your cab driver, just bear this in mind- he's probably working 12 hours a day, seven days a week, both trying to pay his cab lease and put food on the table. He has no health benefits. If he gets in a serious accident, he's fucked. I was driving 350 miles a day in one of the most aggressive driving environments in the country, so the odds were heavily stacked against me as far as accident avoidance. His life expectancy, assuming he's in this job long term, is way less than your average American's. Shit rolls downhill, starting with the company he leases from. The owners treat him badly because they can, and he treats his customers badly because he thinks he has to, but also because he can. But hey, keeping the industry un-unionized and unregulated keeps the rates down, and that's the important thing, right? (not snarking at you, seventh pup, it's just my generic bitch against American culture that always values the consumer over labor; this idea that the customer is always right and low prices are the key to a good society)

[MercenaryChef]

the tipping thread rears it's head again...

sounds like your chocolate cashier was an arse. please do not let this person sour you on tipping, however.

and i will once again post my basic feeling on tipping from the previous thread...

tipping is something near and dear to my heart.

i have spent my entire adult life in restaurants so i see that it is a basis of the income for servers, bussers, bartenders and barristas.

i have basic rules i work within:

if at a taqueria, chinese take out, pho, teriyaki shop, deli or something where i will be picking up my meal and taking it away for consumption i am good for a few bucks. if it is a place i frequent a lot, then the amount increases if you recognize me, welcome me back, treat me like i am an honoured guest.

my cab driver gets no less than a five spot. there is a good chance i am a. drunk b. going to the airport c. getting friendly with my girl in your backseat so i think it is best i compensate you for your tolerance and work.

my bartender gets taken care of well. if i am just walking up and away with a couple drinks then you are in for about a buck per drink. that adds up through the night. if i am sitting at your bar, drinking your scotch or wine which you are knowing about, providing me with entertainment and education then you will recieve a solid 30%+ over my total bill. and when drinking good scotch that works out to be a nice sum.

when i had a local coffee house where they addressed me by my name, took time to know me and poured a fantastic espresso with great beans i was always good for a dollar or two each visit. five or so visits a week for a year, our barrista made a good chunk of money off me. my final trip in before i moved away i had a coffee, said my goodbyes and left her with a $20 and wishes of a good life.

dining. oh, how i love it. when i go out and sit down in a nice restaurant i will tip greatly on things totally out of the service staff's control. if the food is outstanding, they get more money. but, the service has to be great as well. i will ask you many questions about the food and menu. do not lie to me. i will likely know you are bullshitting me, your tip will suffer. show interest in the product, show you love the food and wine you are serving. treat me as someone you want to have back in your dining room. be attentive and provide me with a great time. follow these simple rules and you will be rewarded no less than 20% and often a great deal more.

[Filippa Eilhart]

ztem, you should be a cabbie in Luxembourg, where 1 mile costs 10 euros, and judging by the car makes (a lot of cabbies own theirs), they don't lack clientele. ;)

[ztemhead]

ztem, you should be a cabbie in Luxembourg, where 1 mile costs 10 euros, and judging by the car makes (a lot of cabbies own theirs), they don't lack clientele. ;)

good Christ. Having drivers zapped on coffee and no doz working 14 hours a day, earning in some cases less than minimum wage would never be cause for the state to step in, but if the companies had the unmitigated gall to charge $10 per mile, you can bet they'd be regulated in no time.

[Aemon Stark]

I'm generally a good tipper, though I can't say I care for servers in restaurants who make a face if I ask for change. Not a very common occurrence, admittedly, but *I* will decide how much the tip will be, thanks.

[Meriak]

I don't mind tipping, but I usually tip only when there is an added value to what I'm buying or if I want to make sure there is some kind of loyalty. If I buy a meal, I'm paying for the meal, not the delivery or table service. Around here the usual tip is giving the same than the sale tax amount (15% of the base price).

The exception is the taxi drivers. Here in Montréal they literally make no money outside of tips. With the interest on their loan for the 250k taxi licence, the gas, the car repairs and all the other stuff it isn't rare for them to take home 20 to 40 bucks a day, less than half the minimum wage. So even though I'm technically paying for the ride, I will always tip and add extra tip for help with the luggages and such. I guess its easier for me, who do not use a taxi often, to do this than someone using it twice a day, but until they raise their wage I think its pretty important to support the taxi drivers.

[Liffguard]

The problem with tipping culture in the US (as I see it) is that it defeats the point of what tipping is supposed to be about. As best I can tell, tipping is supposed to dissociate the cost of goods from the cost of service. Since goods should hopefully be standardised the price is the same. I can order the same meal in a restaurant two days on the trot, pay the same amount and expect to receive more or less the same thing on my plate. Service is variable so tipping lets you pay based on that variable quality. Unfortunately, since service workers often earn less than minimum wage tipping has become expected to make up the difference, even when service is terrible.

[S John]

I've been to a few different countries in the Middle East and as a westerner walking around I would sometimes have guys come up to me and physically take my bag from me, carry it 10-20 feet and then stop and ask for a tip. If you refuse to let them take it (which I have done) they will get pissed off at you. I don't actually know what the tipping culture is in those places, all I know is that they know that I'm a Westerner and probably American, and therefore, probably have money to give them. However, this usually happens immediately upon arrival in the country and I'll have little or none of their currency on my person at that time and I rarely carry American cash either.

Its a weird dilemma, because the equivalent of a buck or two doesn't mean nearly as much to me as it might to them. But, on the other hand, I've just been aggressively provided a 'service' that I had no intention of seeking out. While I strive to be a pretty kind individual and generous when possible... I don't want to be taken for a sucker either. Anyway, now I'm like a snake at airports over there, I sneak over to where my bags are and strike quickly and without mercy so that none of the porters have a chance to 'help' me. Seriously, they'll watch your eyes to anticipate which bag is yours and then go grab it for you and start carrying it off. I know that they're just trying to make a living and very likely have it much tougher than I ever did, but man, it gets old after a while.

Since experiencing that a few times the tipping culture in the US feels positively relaxed. :P It'd be like a taxi driver abducting you, driving you four blocks, and then demanding that you tip him for helping you out.

[Brude]

I tend to ignore tip jars at counters unless it's a place I patronize a lot and I start to get to know the workers there. When I was growing up in Baltimore, the whole idea of a tip jar in such a place was considered kind of classless, as I recall. I worked at a Baskin Robins when I was in high school and actually suggested we put one out on the counter and the response I got from everyone - the Manager, friends who worked there, etc. - was, "oh my God, we can't do THAT!" I think I had seen places with tip jars in New York, which I had been to a lot, and thought it was a good idea. But down in Baltimore (at least at that time), it just wasn't done. I think it's pretty common back in Baltimore, now.

[Lucky Pierre]

What pisses me off about tipping-is the automatically added 'service charge'. This is on EVERYTHING in South Florida and it's usually 18%... The few times I asked about it they claimed that there was no way to remove it from the bill... sure-you can go some place else-but they all charge it... Isn't this pretty common in NYC too?

[Onion Knight]

What pisses me off about tipping-is the automatically added 'service charge'. This is on EVERYTHING in South Florida and it's usually 18%... The few times I asked about it they claimed that there was no way to remove it from the bill... sure-you can go some place else-but they all charge it... Isn't this pretty common in NYC too?

Sounds like a good idea. It could spare the embarrassing moments you can get when tipping is voluntarily(in restaurants, with waiters, not fast foods with tipping boxes), like i had this week.

The waitress was very nice and all, but i had no cash so i paid with credit card and left no tip. I left the place with a great shame and swore to myself i would never show my face there again.

[Tormund Ukrainesbane]

I don't tip people (like the chocolate girl) whose job is essentially no different from that of a McDonald's employee. I ordered, you rang it up, and handed it to me at the counter. They do that at the grocery store, movie theater, bookstore and everywhere else. If you want a tip you need to do something to earn it. Putting numbers into a cash register is not that thing.

[Guest Other-in-Law]

The waitress was very nice and all, but i had no cash so i paid with credit card and left no tip. I left the place with a great shame and swore to myself i would never show my face there again.

Was there no option for adding a tip on the credit card slip? I've been tipping that way at restaurants for ages, instead of the hassle of carrying cash. Except at barbershops, where it doesn't feel right to pay with credit (to me). I always try to tip barbers well (I think 25% lately but it changes as prices rise), since they have too much power to make you look stupid. I refuse to recognise tip jars at all.

[Sirius]

I refuse to leave tips most everywhere. However, I've started tipping the guys that work at my local Donair shop, we're basically on a first name basis and they treat me well (one guy gives me what he calls an XL instead of the normal L size). I think the only reason I find that acceptable is that its not really tipping, its like im bribing him for extra food and good service. Now what does that personal justification say about my set of morals :)

[Lord Mord]

I'm fine with the tipping culture. I'm free to tip what I like, or not, or else to eat at the places where the tip is built in -- or not. *shrugs* What's to complain about?

[El-ahrairah]

I'm not speaking from experience, as my parents always take care of such mundane matters, but I am very much against the idea of tipping as an expected act. It's a fine thing to reward exceptional service if it strikes your fancy, but making one's livelihood dependent on the grace of his customers is A Bad Thing.

[Week]

I'm not speaking from experience, as my parents always take care of such mundane matters, but I am very much against the idea of tipping as an expected act. It's a fine thing to reward exceptional service if it strikes your fancy, but making one's livelihood dependent on the grace of his customers is A Bad Thing.

So they (wait staff) should survive on their wages, which are below minimum wage, and be happy about it if you don't deem their service to be exceptional? Good lord, get out into the world and buy a clue.