What is your policy on tipping wait staff?

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Unlike some folks (no need to point fingers, ya know who you are) I started out life dirt poor and put in my fair share of time in the customer service industry. So I usually tip quite well because I know these people who are busting their butts to prepare and serve me food live off tips. I just use a simple scale to tip.

Rude/terribad = no tip
average = 15-20%
good = 30%
Everything but a happy ending = 50%

Life rule number 1!!!! NEVER screw with people who prepare your food or handle your money. If you think you can get away with being an eletist jerk who is "above the help" I assure you that more than one meal of yours has been prepared with just a little "extra"....FYI "Please" and "thank you" go a LONG way in preventing this, don't be a jerk.


hahah ok after workin in the food industry a while myself hahaha...i have never EVER spit in someones food..no matter how rude they were to me...don't get me wrong ive thought of all the things i could do..but i have never spit or anything in someones food...
 
I tip for everything. At a restaurant, it's usually 20% unless there was something over or under par with the experience. For a buffet, it's $5 for the people taking away the dirty plates. For a hair cut, it's usually $5 (I only get a $12 trim). Dog groomer gets between $5 and $10 per pet depending on how well the cut turned out. I even tip the mechanic $5 whenever I stop in (and get great service once they catch on). A tattoo artist gets around 30% (so much more talent goes into that).

Be generous and great things come your way. That's what I try to remember to live by.
 
hahah ok after workin in the food industry a while myself hahaha...i have never EVER spit in someones food..no matter how rude they were to me...don't get me wrong ive thought of all the things i could do..but i have never spit or anything in someones food...

Well I worked at a high end seafood place and it was not often but I did it and don't regret it one bit. If you didn't like me and stiffed me fine...I pulled enough to do just fine because no matter how bad things were I have always gotten up and strived to do everything I do better, faster and with a bigger smile than the next guy and my tips reflected that. However if some snobby pompus D bag treated me like I was the scum of the earth, I gave my self a reason to keep grinning. I still do it today, if somone is totaly offensive I am not one to "just let it go". The military calls it escalation of force, I call it "you get what you give" or "the golden rule".
 
I have also worked in restaurants (as a line cook though). I generally tip people well. I don't go out very much though, and I don't drink anymore, so the only people I really tip are waiters/waitresses and cab drivers.

Where is this $2 an hour?! Minimum wage in Oregon is $8.50... and we don't have sales tax either. :)
 
I tip to reflect the service. If they have been amazing I leave a hefty tip, I once left a £30 tip on a £60 meal once because the waitress was amazingly good at her job, attentive and very polite. I usually give a £2-£10 tip for a mediocre to good performance and I tip nothing to rude and/or lazy staff and as an added bonus do my best to get them fired.
If I ever win the lottery I will be the guy to do the thousands of pounds tip for an outstanding performance.
I also do not tip if a "service charge" is automatically added, I demand they remove it and I inform them of how much of a tip they lost because of their greed and assumptions.

As is mentioned above I treat how I want to be treated, with respect and manners. Just being polite can go a long way with me because too many people are too rude these days. Manners do not cost you anything.
 
Since wait staff dont need to make minimum wage (because the gov assumes that you will tip) I think its necessary to leave a tip. I usually just do 20% if I have the money.

It would take some pretty lousy service for me not to tip...I have been on their end of the table, and realize that everyone has lousy days. A lot of them need that money to get by.
 
I start at 20% and usually tip that amount. If they are really really good I will go higher. Really good = filling drinks on time, taking stuff away, bringing food while hot but other than that being invisible. I don't want to be interrupted constantly with "do you need anything."

Unless I go somewhere really cheap (like a family diner or something). I don't care fi the bill was $8, I won't tip under $5. This is for real waiters, not pizza places or somethign where they just bring you a pizza and never come back. Those will get a dollar or two.

bad waiters get 10% usually.

Really bad waiters get 1 cent. why one penny? If you put nothing, they will just think you forgot. If you put a little bit, they know you remembered and you think they suck. Gets the message across better. I have only done this like 3x when the service was just absolutely terrible for no reason.
 
I allways tip atleast 20% no matter what but more if i have good service. I am a chef and know waitresses make chump change at 2.38 or a little more. So any one that doesnt tip is a ass. If you are not going to tip then go to burger king.
 
I tip at least 20%. It is common knowledge that waiters make the majority of their income through tips. The same goes for bartenders and hair stylists. It is easy to suggest that these people should pick a different job if they want more money. The fact is that these jobs/services are necessary and result in employing a large percentage of the work-force. I believe tipping less than 15% speaks to the character of the tipper, more than the service of the employee.
 
I have buds that work as waiters.. They tell me that most waiters make 2 something an hour, but with tips, they make well over minimum wage. I used to tip pretty well, 25% regardless of how the service was.. that was before I knew most waiters made 100+ a night, cash. If you aren't happy when people don't tip you, get another job.
 
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