Tipping?

[Cvargo]

Alright so I don't think we have a thread for this, and I wanted to get the conversation going.

In a post from yesterday I mentioned a request to top at a self serve frozen yogurt place. This baffled me. So let's talk about tipping.

Personally I think ever since we went to those electronic tablet payment processing devices the question of posing a tip pops up a LOT more, and I get the feeling most people just hit the button to tip instead of asking themselves if they should.

So what do you tip for? What won't you tip for?

Personally I think it would be better if we just increased wages on food and got rid of tipping all together but that is just me. In college working small restaurant jobs etc I lived on tips, so I do understand how important that aspect of your wage is when you are making $3 an hour. Also worked at a pub that pooled the tips... I hated that as I felt it rewarded the bad servers. Anyways glad I am not longer in that profession.


So what say you?

 

[Dave in KY]

I'm not big on Chinese food bit when we go and it's a buffet I leave a couple bucks since they refill the water glass but I get my own food. Just getting this rolling. Basically if service is provided and tip commensurate to service level meaning how much service that establishment provides. Not commenting on percentage to quality.

 

[Dave in KY]

Another scenario. Mexican restaurant. When dining in I tip. When getting take out a slash thru the tip spot on the ticket when using Credit Card.

 

[MntnMan62]

This is a good topic. I also worked in restaurants in my younger days. My first job was as a busboy in a diner at the age of 15 and I then moved on to bussing and waiting tables in nicer restaurants where you were expected to carry a tray on your shoulder and over your head. And I did it for about 10 years in total. It helped to put money in my pocket throughout my high school and college years and helped supplement my income once I graduated from college but wasn't making much. I have a couple thoughts on tipping.

First, back when I was working in restaurants, from about 1977 through 1987, the standard tip was 15%. If you happened to get more than that it was a good tip. Somehow the standard tip has gone up to 20%. That said, I use 18% as the standard tip in restaurants and will adjust up or down depending upon how good the service is that I receive. Now, as for when to tip, restaurants where you are being waited on, that's a no brainer. I will tip less if the restaurant happens to be buffet style. As for the scenario you mention where things are highly automated and where the person behind the counter isn't doing anything other than weighing the contents of your container and taking your money, I don't see how a tip makes sense. However, if I was having trouble figuring out what to do or the person had to assist me in some way, then I think a small tip would be appropriate. Another scenario where I am asked to tip is in a coffee shop. I buy whole beans from my local coffee shop and they fill the container that I bring with me. There I will sometimes ask about the different beans they have available and will tip 15%. Also, if I'm getting a cup of coffee, they pour it, so I'll tip. Yet another scenario I hear about people wondering how much to tip is delivery people when you order food. Tipping is appropriate here. But my approach is to tip at about 10% of the bill until I reach about $4. I don't think the size of the bag of food justifies much more than that. So I'm generally tipping between $2 and $4 for delivery. One last scenario is valet parking. I try and tip both coming into the garage and when leaving. I'll tip anywhere between $2 and $3 each time. Or if I tip all at once I'll tip between $3 and $5.

Just my two cents on tipping. Lots of different perspectives on the subject so I'm also interested to hear what others have to say.

 

[MntnMan62]

Another scenario. Mexican restaurant. When dining in I tip. When getting take out a slash thru the tip spot on the ticket when using Credit Card.

Interesting. I'll tip when I do take out, especially if I happen to frequent the place often. They people are packing up my food in containers and it's always helpful when you arrive at your destination with the food and it's all still in the containers instead of leaking out all over the place. Also, if I frequent the place often and it's food, I want the people who come in contact with my food to be mindful that if they screw that up, they will lose something. Most places get to know their regulars, even take out regulars.

 

[Dave in KY]

Interesting. I'll tip when I do take out, especially if I happen to frequent the place often. They people are packing up my food in containers and it's always helpful when you arrive at your destination with the food and it's all still in the containers instead of leaking out all over the place. Also, if I frequent the place often and it's food, I want the people who come in contact with my food to be mindful that if they screw that up, they will lose something. Most places get to know their regulars, even take out regulars.

Interesting, I don't do takeout often but assumed proper packing and non leaking is something I could expect normally

 

[CBLindsay]

Interesting. I'll tip when I do take out, especially if I happen to frequent the place often. They people are packing up my food in containers and it's always helpful when you arrive at your destination with the food and it's all still in the containers instead of leaking out all over the place. Also, if I frequent the place often and it's food, I want the people who come in contact with my food to be mindful that if they screw that up, they will lose something. Most places get to know their regulars, even take out regulars.

I don’t do a lot of take out but this makes sense. As it turns out thought, I was going to comment on this topic specifically in regards to my being asked if I wanted to add a tip at check out on my lunch take out from the little cafe next to my office the last couple times I’ve gone. I don’t eat there often and when I do it’s usually with a sit down with a client. It struck me odd both that I was being asked if they wanted me to have hem add a tip while they entered the total into the machine and that one was or might be appropriate or expected. ...so I asked how the tip is distributed. In this case the tip goes to the kitchen staff because they package it, the person handing it to me and ringing me up only bags it. So naturally I added a couple bucks to the $12 Santa Fe salad because the cooks do a great job making it and it is as good as a take out item as it is on a plate.

On a side note. Paying full price for takeout that includes items normally refilled when dining in (drinks mostly but could also include chips or whatever) and getting a little container of that refillable item has always bothered me. If nothing else the drink should be discounted or something just to make me feel better. ...in comes Applebee’s (or maybe it was red Robbin) in Arizona, my son and friends drove through for root beer floats (their famous “endless “ ones) and the lady asked them how many refills they wanted. Startled, they looked at each other for input and decided 4 refills each would do. When they got their order it contained an ice chest like holder complete with 4 refills each. As they drove away my son couldn’t help wonder how they do the endless fries on take out.

 

[NurseDave]

Oh man tipping!! This whole topic gets me stirred up!

Ok, I get that our society has developed that sit-down restaurants we need to tip. I don't like it. I'd rather they just add 15%, 20% whatever to the prices and leave it be. I should not be responsible for this person's wages. What other industry do we get to dock someone's pay because the didn't give us great service? DMV? UPS driver tosses your package in a puddle? Dental hygienist slips and pokes you with the pointy thing? Sales person is rude for 20min while you try on 15 different dresses? Heck no. Why in a restaurant? Just pay them what they should make and evaluate their performance like any other job.

So that rolls into who should be tipped. I think it's awfully nice when people run through a list of other service industry people that they tip or do nice things for. But in terms of who SHOULD be tipped, I would refer to my paragraph above. Why some and not others? Someone delivers a couch to your home and spends 10min carrying it inside. We have to do the mental exercise of figuring out if you're supposed to tip them. How much? What is too much? What would be insulting low? But you order that couch for a large business, there's no tip there. The guy bringing your custom couch to the warehouse doesn't get a tip. Yes, you can argue that the last driver is interfacing with the customer. The person that helped us at Comcast was exceedingly nice and helpful. And he spent at least 30min with us. You don't tip those guys. But they have a tip cup at all the coffee shops where all they do is take your order and some spends 30-60 seconds making you coffee. This whole thing is ridiculous.

 

[Cvargo]

Never thought about tipping when I drop the car off at valet. I always do it on pick up.

Ever since having kids I have noticed when taking the whole family to a restaurant we get two kinds of waiters. Those that stay attentive even though we have kids. And those that treat up like the plague and we hardly ever see them. The attentive usually gets about 22%. The inattentive usually gets 12%-15%.

 

[NurseDave]

Interesting. I'll tip when I do take out, especially if I happen to frequent the place often. They people are packing up my food in containers and it's always helpful when you arrive at your destination with the food and it's all still in the containers instead of leaking out all over the place. Also, if I frequent the place often and it's food, I want the people who come in contact with my food to be mindful that if they screw that up, they will lose something. Most places get to know their regulars, even take out regulars.

No way I say. Do you tip the bagger at the grocery store so they don't squish your eggs. Or the person that at Costco that boxes up your items and makes sure your shirts aren't under the ribs? Why when it comes to cooked food a tip is in question but not with the same type of actions elsewhere?

 

[NurseDave]

Now, I will also add since I'm ranting about tipping a lot. That at service restaurants we tip 20% or more. That last fancy place we ate, the gratuity was included in the pre-paid meal, but we also left a nice tip on top because we enjoyed their service so much.

 

[NurseDave]

Interesting, I don't do takeout often but assumed proper packing and non leaking is something I could expect normally

This, basic job functions are what we all get paid for.

 

[GearNoir]

Having also been in the service industry for a while, where tips made a huge difference, I try to look for reasons to tip. Usually my baseline is if I’m being genuinely engaged as a person, then I look at the role the person is filling in my service and if they are proving adequate (or failing / or exceeding).

 

[Cvargo]

I should not be responsible for this person's wages.

 

[NurseDave]

On a side note. Paying full price for takeout that includes items normally refilled when dining in (drinks mostly but could also include chips or whatever) and getting a little container of that refillable item has always bothered me. If nothing else the drink should be discounted or something just to make me feel better.

I agree. Plus they save the cost of you taking up a table, using a server's time, washing your dishes...

 

[MntnMan62]

Interesting, I don't do takeout often but assumed proper packing and non leaking is something I could expect normally

The way I see it, packing up the food in take out containers is probably more work than if you were going to eat in.

 

[NurseDave]

BTW, I also worked in a fast food place and a pizza place. We didn't have tip jars out or receive tips. But that was before the generation of entitlement.

 

[HMan]

One of the things I like about living in Finland is tips don't really exist, people just get paid a fair wage. Of course the down side is service can be spotty, though it's been improving. The way I vote on service, is just not to go back to places with bad service are frequent very loyally those with great service.

On the take out thing, there are a number of restaurants here that do discount for take away.

 

[MntnMan62]

Oh man tipping!! This whole topic gets me stirred up!

Ok, I get that our society has developed that sit-down restaurants we need to tip. I don't like it. I'd rather they just add 15%, 20% whatever to the prices and leave it be. I should not be responsible for this person's wages. What other industry do we get to dock someone's pay because the didn't give us great service? DMV? UPS driver tosses your package in a puddle? Dental hygienist slips and pokes you with the pointy thing? Sales person is rude for 20min while you try on 15 different dresses? Heck no. Why in a restaurant? Just pay them what they should make and evaluate their performance like any other job.

So that rolls into who should be tipped. I think it's awfully nice when people run through a list of other service industry people that they tip or do nice things for. But in terms of who SHOULD be tipped, I would refer to my paragraph above. Why some and not others? Someone delivers a couch to your home and spends 10min carrying it inside. We have to do the mental exercise of figuring out if you're supposed to tip them. How much? What is too much? What would be insulting low? But you order that couch for a large business, there's no tip there. The guy bringing your custom couch to the warehouse doesn't get a tip. Yes, you can argue that the last driver is interfacing with the customer. The person that helped us at Comcast was exceedingly nice and helpful. And he spent at least 30min with us. You don't tip those guys. But they have a tip cup at all the coffee shops where all they do is take your order and some spends 30-60 seconds making you coffee. This whole thing is ridiculous.

The UPS driver is paid a pretty good salary and gets good benefits. And there really isn't a way to tip them unless you have it all ready the next time they do a delivery and you happen to be home as well. Dental hygienist? Paid quite well. Sales people in a store? Salary plus commission. No need to tip. The commission is the tip. Why a restaurant? Because it's food. And they are paid next to nothing. I know. My paycheck was often about $15 or $20. We live on the tips. The delivery guys who bring the couch to your home? I tip them when they are done provided they don't damage anything. Usually about $20 per delivery person. I don't tip the Comcast or cable guys because cable is a complete rip off to begin with. I give the sanitation and recycling guys a gift at Christmas, usually a six pack of beer. We usually tip the mail person at Christmas as well. Our babysitter always got a nice gift at Christmas time too. I don't think the whole tipping thing is ridiculous. It's an approach that allows you the consumer to decide what the person serving you deserves. If the restaurant just jacks up the prices to cover tipping, you lose control over whether the person deserves the tip or not. I don't find the small amount of effort it takes to determine how much to tip to be all that time consuming or taxing on the brain. And living in this country, it's how things are done. It's ingrained. It's automatic. It's life......here.

 

[GearNoir]

The UPS driver is paid a pretty good salary and gets good benefits. And there really isn't a way to tip them unless you have it all ready the next time they do a delivery and you happen to be home as well. Dental hygienist? Paid quite well. Sales people in a store? Salary plus commission. No need to tip. The commission is the tip. Why a restaurant? Because it's food. And they are paid next to nothing. I know. My paycheck was often about $15 or $20. We live on the tips. The delivery guys who bring the couch to your home? I tip them when they are done provided they don't damage anything. Usually about $20 per delivery person. I don't tip the Comcast or cable guys because cable is a complete rip off to begin with. I give the sanitation and recycling guys a gift at Christmas, usually a six pack of beer. We usually tip the mail person at Christmas as well. Our babysitter always got a nice gift at Christmas time too. I don't think the whole tipping thing is ridiculous. It's an approach that allows you the consumer to decide what the person serving you deserves. If the restaurant just jacks up the prices to cover tipping, you lose control over whether the person deserves the tip or not. I don't find the small amount of effort it takes to determine how much to tip to be all that time consuming or taxing on the brain. And living in this country, it's how things are done. It's ingrained. It's automatic. It's life......here.

That decides it...I’m moving to go be @MntnMan62 ’s neighbor!