Tipping

[HBF]

I'm happy to tip here if I get good service, but nothing over the top.

 

[Keys]

Depends on how whether you're running a tab or paying as you go, I guess- say if you're sitting around at a bar having a few.

In bars I made sure to tip reasonably well, especially early as it helped get served when it was busier if the barman knew you were a tipper.

I only ran up a tab in one place that ended up with me having to discretely ring them the next day to see if they still had my drivers license and credit card without the missus knowing.

 

[Doss]

The last time I went to the states (2009) it seemed far more common for restaurants to have an automatic gratuity (~15%) than I encountered the first time I went there (2003)

Whatever your beliefs on tipping are, I found the service in the US and Canada to be significanty better than I'm used to over here

Agreed.

It makes sense- given that they are depending on tipping to actually earn anything half decent, they are motivated to please their customers and serve them more attentively.

 

[Gasometer]

I once got peddled around Lucknow India on Christmas Eve for the day and gave the dude a tip for his efforts...being generous I gave him a tip.

I worked out later that it was a weeks worth of riding around Luknow.

He pointed me out on Xmas Day to his colleagues as we boarded out Bus.

A nice Xmas thing to do....but I set up a pretty shit precedent for the next lot of foreigners.

...and no, most Indians don't celebrate Xmas.

 

[SHAKESPEARE]

I found the service in the US quite average. Getting chased by the server whilst I buy my drinks at the bar to save my party paying for my grog. They'd then lose total interest, which I prefer.

I had some insanely knowledgable guys that did serve me, so they got 20%.

Never ever here. If they asked for it, I'd laugh at them

 

[Doss]

I found the service in the US quite average. Getting chased by the server whilst I buy my drinks at the bar to save my party paying for my grog. They'd then lose total interest, which I prefer.

Interesting- where was this particularly the case? My travels in the US amounted to New York, Boston, Philadelphia and not much else- just passed through a couple areas of Connecticut and New Jersey, and of course LAX.

Service in those three cities was invariably very good. Who knows, maybe I just got lucky.

 

[SHAKESPEARE]

New York.

Pubs were the worst. Their food service was not what I expected. Finer dining was what I am used to.

 

[Gasometer]

Interesting- where was this particularly the case? My travels in the US amounted to New York, Boston, Philadelphia and not much else- just passed through a couple areas of Connecticut and New Jersey, and of course LAX.

Service in those three cities was invariably very good. Who knows, maybe I just got lucky.

I've been twice to the USA and cant remember any crap ones BUT I can remember the imbeciles I have dealt with in Australia with their smarmy attitude.

 

[Freofalcon]

The last time I went to the states (2009) it seemed far more common for restaurants to have an automatic gratuity (~15%) than I encountered the first time I went there (2003)

Whatever your beliefs on tipping are, I found the service in the US and Canada to be significanty better than I'm used to over here

Tipping is incentive to provide better service. But as mentioned here previously, we seem to have a higher rate of pay here and tipping isn't ingrained into our consumer psyche.

 

[Handsuper47]

only if she's hot

 

[clogged]

I used to be quite a big tipper, then i started to know a few people in the hospitality industry and spoke to them about tipping.

Basically all the tips would get pooled, and x% would go to the kitchen and then 1-x% divided amongst all the floor employees depending on how many hours they'd worked that week.

If the tip isn't going directly into the pocket of the person you're giving it to, I'm pretty hesitant to tip. Otherwise you're just subsidising what are already fairly decent wages rather than rewarding quality service.

Same happens in a lot of restaurants in the US. And even there they have major disquiet about the whole custom.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/04/d...eed-of-changing.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=0

Also on reading the article I just don't understand the last sentence in this paragraph :


He refers to the cost of a meal in the USA and Australia, pointing out that the USA is far cheaper, but then rabbits on about a Japanese system that I struggle to understand the relevance of , or what point its trying to make

In Japan most restaurants will flat out refuse a tip. Will give you your money back, chasing you out on to the street if they have to.

 

[clogged]

New York.

Pubs were the worst. Their food service was not what I expected. Finer dining was what I am used to.

Last time we were in New York we went in to a divey bar and the waitress told a guy there that because he had not tipped her all night she had spat in his drink. Surely it would be better not to have this kind of friction between servers and customers.

 

[Colin D'Cops]

Parents have done it and we're anything but rich.

Never been given a cent in my life (bar birthday presents and parents for minor stuff), so others should welcome similar treatment from me.

Will give up my time though, happy to help those that need/deserve it. Which can be considered $$$ to some.

 

[Scotland]

If you leave a restaurant at closing time and see your waitress outside as she's leaving, you're unlikely to go up and give her $5 because you enjoyed your meal - which is essentially what you're doing if you tip someone.

If you have a good restaurant experience I reckon it's courteous to compliment the chef or waitress or host or whoever it was that aided your dining experience. An extra couple of dollars is nice, seeing you back a couple of week later and new customers coming in because they heard rave things about the place from you is better. Likewise if a place is complete arse the last thing they want is negative word of mouth.

 

[Doss]

I was briefly a drinks waiter at Crown, five or six years ago. I remember one night, I got a bloke (obviously quite well heeled) on the blackjack tables. He kept ordering Chivas and Coke. He'd give me a $20 note and then reject the change- $12 every time as the drink cost $8. I took him five drinks, and was $60 richer.

Their 'cut' policy was 90% to the waiter/waitress and 10% to the bar. Which is pretty good.

 

[Aussie Joe]

US (of course). When in Australia, if I'm with a group of mates and we have a great feed and top service at a restaurant, we will all tip!

 

[Dont be a lemon]

Whole thing in America seems built on employers just not wanting to pay and declare a decent income.

"It's to keep service good" seems like an after the fact excuse. If the chefs have a bad night does their pay get docked to make up for the waiters' reduced tips?

 

[Quivorir]

If you go to the US you more or less have to. You'll generally receive very ordinary service if you don't.

Wait, I would tip them before I have finished eating and what not?

 

[moses]

Good thread - If we are at a restraunt paying the bill as a group, we usually leave some change as a tip. In a pub, very rairly, Its the pubs job to pay their employees their wage, not mine.

Overseas is obviously different, tipped in europe. Service is Australia is pretty good compared to Europe and pub staff here serve pretty quickly. In night clubs in Europe when i went a few years ago the bar staff didn't really seem to give a stuff about serving quickly.

 

[Doss]

Wait, I would tip them before I have finished eating and what not?

No, as I said, I was more referring to a scenario where you're paying as you go. Generally more likely to happen if you're drinking than eating, I suppose.

 

[TassieEagle]

When you are travelling in the US and eating at the same place only once the service might not suffer, but try going back to that same place again and see what happens if you didn't tip last time. I have been to the US and found the level of service so much better over there than I get here. Yes, the employers are tight arses and don't want to pay a better wage but the service is also better because wait staff know the tips will be better if they are great at their job.

As for here, I will only tip if the service is exceptional to the point where I have been known to get exact change from a cab driver who was being a ****.

 

[Catfish Alley]

I'm not in the US but tip constantly. It's expected.

 

[Gough]

I tip those who I know are on shitty wages/conditions, pizza dudes, cabbies and the like. Good service at a restaurat as someone else said in the thread is always worth a tip too.

 

[Keys]

I tip those who I know are on shitty wages/conditions, pizza dudes, cabbies and the like. Good service at a restaurat as someone else said in the thread is always worth a tip too.

Pretty much this. I will just about always round up the cab fare to the next $5 so that I only get notes back in change. Pizza joint is a 1 minute drive around the corner so I never get it delivered though.

If I eat out and the service was really good I'll give a tip.

In the US, as I mentioned earlier a lot of places had an automatic gratuity on the bill so I paid that and never anymore because I thought it was rude to basically extort a tip like that. I'd tip more than standard in those places that didn't have it and surprise surprise my (limited) experience was the service was better in those places that didn't have an automatic tip.

The only place over there that tipping became a nuisance was in Vegas - everywhere you went it seemed someone was putting their hand out for a tip right down to the guy out front of the casinos that waved up a taxi for you and opened the door. Perfectly capable of doing that myself thanks without having to feel the need to slip you a couple of bucks for waving your hand. (Also had those toilet guys in a couple of places that would help wash your hands after a piss)

 

[radiojake]

I always seem to tip Cab drivers, in the sense that I always tend to round up to the nearest note. $22 ride, I'll give 'em $25 etc etc -

But that is very much the exception and I don't tip anyone else... It might have something to do with the fact the only time I'm in a cab is if I am really drunk or something -


-- There's a particular restaurant here in Melbourne that has a bullshit sign at the cash register which says "You'll be happy to know that a percentage of tonight's (and every night's) tips will go to various charities around the world"

A percentage? What percentage? Various charities? What charities? And why the f*ck are you taking the wait staff's tips to donate to these causes and not the profits that the bosses get?

Not that I'd tip anyway, but that made sure I never would