Poll: Should you always tip for "direct services" ?

[Betancore]

I've never tipped for a haircut or anything like that. Honestly, in Australia, the only time I leave a tip is in restaurants. I've always assumed that most people get paid hourly wages anyway, no matter how much work they do. I think in that scenario though, I would only leave a tip if I was satisfied with the service.

 

[kitsunefather]

Your poll leaves out:

"Yes, even when I'm unsatisfied"

Which is where I am closest to, most often. I'll leave 1 or 2 dollars if the service is meh (if its terrible I'll leave nothing, but that level of bad is rare). I tend to increase from 10% to 20% based on how good the service is versus how much money I have at the time.

But its also important to remember that, in some US states at least, wage laws allow an employee to make less than minimum wage if they are expected to receive a tip. In Arizona you can be paid as little as $2.50 an hour if your employer expects that you will receive tips, so I tended to tip more leniently and better when I lived there. In Washington state, everyone gets at least minimum wage and a lot of food service jobs pay better to encourage people to apply, so I tip more based on quality of service (though my wife will add to the tip if she thinks the waitress was cute).

 

[Mr.Pandah]

Blah, I hate this topic so much. Not because I'm some jaded waiter, but because I'm actually a grunt worker at a automotive repair shop. When I fix someone's tire or do an oil change for them, a dollar tip would be nice. Most of the time I don't get that and I don't make great money so its really tough for me. When I go to a restaurant, someone who simply gets me my food and sometimes even screws that up deserves a tip from me? I don't see how that works.

What if I screwed up your oil change? Or I decided that your tire wasn't going to be properly fixed? I don't know, it just seems...a little silly.

I tip my barber by the way. I tip my buddies at the shop if they help me out. I tip waiters and waitresses. Sometimes you hit a point though where you just can't hand out anymore money to be "nice".

Completely agreed, man - in the same situation here. I'm sorry, but when I'm stuck swapping the motor in a Magnum (which book calls for 15+ hrs) with the customer demanding they need their car back the next morning, and I manage to crank it out in 8hrs . . . and I can't even get a simple "thank you?"

Exactly. Ex-fucking-actly. I absolutely love those people. "I need this, this, this, and this done all within [insert insane time frame here]. Do it." And its done within the time frame and they hop in their car and drive off without so much as a thank you. I've been perfectly happy with a freakin' thank you but some people can't even say that. They just get in the car and drive off. That burns me up. I'm not ASKING for a tip, but common courtesy can help keep me going in the day.

 

[SantoUno]

Your poll leaves out:

"Yes, even when I'm unsatisfied"

I didn't put that in the first place because I felt it was a no brainer that you shouldn't have to tip if you were not satisfied or dissatisfied, but for you I included it.

 

[Infinatex]

Giving tips here is like saying, hey bro, I want to be your friend, how about you do me a favour. The size of the favour is usually proportionate to the size of the tip. It's essentially like bribing them to bend the rules or whatever.

\

Yeah this is exactly how I feel about it too. It's amazing what you can get when you tip big!

 

[Thamous]

If it's a job that pays below minimum wage because tips are included in their pay, then yes I will tip if the employee has done a good job. But if you are being paid minimum wage or above then no, I don't tip.

How would you know if they receive minimum wage or not?

As a matter of fact why would you suspect some restaurant workers don't receive minimum wage? That would be against the law if that occurred.

No, various occupations that employ tipping, such as a waiter, are often not payed minimum wage because it has become customary to tip them for their services. It is expected the tips will make up for the money no provided by the regular pay.

 

[General_Potatoes]

In Australia, our economy relies on wages, not tips, which makes this entire situation easier: Only ever tip at restaurants, and then, only if you can afford it and the service was deserving.

I live in NZ, so pretty much this =) It does make things a lot easier.

What he and she said.

 

[Deathkingo]

The entire idea of tipping driving me coo-coo bananas. Who decided what jobs get tips? Why don't ALL jobs get tips? I, for one, do not understand why I should pay someone for doing their job. Rubbish. Rubbish!

/ragequit

 

[Tasachan]

Only if I'm satisfied.
I nearly died when I was planning my wedding and found out that, on top of the outrageous prices, it is expected that we tip a good 15%. Seriously? I tipped the people that did a good job (seamstress, cake baker, hairdresser, limo, DJ) but the people that owned the location and did the catering were terrible. They tried to overcharge me by almost $1000 (and considering we were 20, had two kids, and were paying for it almost entirely on our own that was a LOT) so I didn't tip them at all.

When you consider the cake was $800 +$80 tip, and I could have made it myself if I wasn't so busy for maybe $30, that is a complete ripoff.


Another tip rant: I worked at a restaurant with some waitresses that thought they were entitled to a tip no matter what. One girl was so incredibly rude, she never checked to see how people were doing, and she bitched if she got less than $10 (on a bill of $40). I'm sorry, but I don't even think she deserved $5 most of the time.



Anyway, if I get a haircut and I like it, I tip. If my kids are difficult and they do a reasonably good job, I tip. But if they nick my kid's ear (its happened), or the hair is completely crooked.... no tip. And for restaurants I always tip, and I try to be generous, because I know how crappy of a job it can be sometimes.

 

[unoleian]

While I do always WANT to leave tip for fancy restaurants, I don't think that they should get a tip every time, and I sure as hell won't ever leave a tip larger than $10, no matter how good the food or service is, as some restaurants I have gone to suggest we should do. As a matter of fact, isn't the expensiveness of fancy restaurants due to the "quality" meals and service? Aren't we already paying extraordnarily more for that? Why should we empty our wallets even more by dropping 10% or more extra as tip?

You damn well better tip a food server, be they a restaurant server or a delivery driver. Regardless of the quality of the food, tipped positions get paid exactly-or-almost minimum wage. (ed- or less-- a lot of places have a special category for "tipped wages" that sets their hourly rate at less-than minimum wage, sometimes less-than half!!!) They don't make more money just because the cook drizzles your steak with moldy cheese and charged you a premium for the favor. ALWAYS tip your server, unless they just completely ignored you. You don't always need to leave a large tip, but unless you pretty much served yourself, you better leave at least a $2+ for a single meal, or a $5+ for a 3+ person table.

If you're in a situation where you're facing a large-party or large-bill gratuity, keep in mind the work and effort that goes into keeping on top of everyone's drinks, carting out dozens of pounds of appetizers and food, and carting out several pounds of uneaten food and germy, saliva-ridden biohazardous waste-on-plates when you're done with your meal. Consider that over the course of a 12+-person table, that usually sticks around 2-3 hours, expecting every whim to be met, the server probably made a measly $18. You better give a nice gratuity.

And delivery drivers, they get it worse than anyone. During my stint doing that thankless job it wasn't uncommon to drive a fucking pizza 5 miles across town just for some fat-ass lazy drunk to give me $.75 for bringing piping-hot food to his front fucking door. Thanks, ass.

Sorry if I sound bitter. Food service sucks, and once you've been there, it's very hard to ignore the amount of work that goes into doing it well, and how little appreciation you get for the act.

 

[smithy_2045]

I don't tip.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

People tend not to give me bad service. They can see the coming storm.

 

[Coldie]

It's not the customer's responsibility to pay the service provider's wages. That's already a part of the bill and exceeding the sum of the bill may be misconstrued as considered a bribe. Common courtesy like a smile or a 'thank you' is okay, but money? No, that's what the employer does, not the client.

 

[BonsaiK]

I'm with Mr. Pink on this one:


If employers are allowed to pay their staff only a pathetic $2.50 an hour, because they're expected to receive tips, then that sucks, therefore I'm not going to play ball because if I do that's like giving tacit approval to such a shitty situation. No way. That law needs to change. I'm so glad I live in Australia where rationality prevails.

 

[DazBurger]

I don't tip... At least not while being here in Denmark.
We don't have a tradition of tipping, and many places have rules against people even accepting tips.
[Edit: No need for tips, our absolute minimum wage is $19.2 per hour... And no one here would accept that...]

 

[SwagLordYoloson]

Who tips these days? thats so 1800s

 

[Jelly ^.^]

>Living in Australia where the minimum wage is actually enough to survive on

NOPE unless they do something amazing.