Tipping

[chowderface]

I believe in tipping on a basis of "did they do their job, and did they do it well, and were they a cockbag to me while they did it?" If I feel like you were put upon by having to serve me, you don't get a tip unless I objectively did.

I do agree that cutting back wages and FORCING people to live on tips is pretty low; a tip should be a reward for a job well done, not a guarantee. If you're going to do that you might as well just raise the prices on the menu.

Also, tipping a hairdresser? I find that odd. They don't need costly supplies or anything, just a pair of scissors and a comb. perhaps some buzzers or something. Those people (here anyway) are expensive enough already. (20 bucks for removing some hair, it takes 10 minutes! That makes 120 bucks an hour on a busy day! I don't always make that monthly!)

Okay, I'm speaking as a freelance animator here, which is a different industry, but the same principle applies. Suggested wage for a freelance animator, just starting out, is between $20 and $25 dollars an hour. Steep, yeah? I'll tell you a secret: A freelancer isn't working forty hours a week, fifty-one weeks a year. They're working more like sixty or seventy hours a week, maybe forty weeks a year, if they're lucky. That's twelve weeks where no one has any work for them. They need to be making enough money to carry them through the lean time. Same with those hairdressers. Sure, they can make $120 an hour under ideal conditions, but I can guarantee you those ideal conditions are not perpetual, and are far outweighed by slow times where they're making that same $120 in an eight-hour workday.

 

[likalaruku]

My mother is an accountant & always tips the suggested percentage, so long as the waitress/waiter wasn't a total ass.

 

[farscythe]

i tip when i can afford to, but im against mandatory tipping (n hell some places do make you feel like dirt for failing to tip)

and for that reason i shall move to iceland where it is considered rude to tip (and they have hot springs..yay)

[edit]might be wrong on the rude part.. but meh.. hot springs

 

[SillyBear]

I simply don't understand tipping. Why should I tip someone for doing a job I could quite easily do myself. I don't want to sound rude, but how does grabbing my bags off me at a hotel and carrying them a few metres justify me paying them with my hard earned cash?

The same is true for waiters. Unless someone goes above and beyond, I really don't feel comfortable with tipping.

And before anyone gets uppity with me about how waitresses pretty much rely on tips to make money and to feed their children, don't take it up with me - take it up with the system. How about giving them an actual wage to begin with?

 

[Rawne1980]

I live in the UK and people have to earn minimum wage by law.

With that said I very rarely ever tip.

If I go out for a meal and the service is fantastic I may do but in your normal cases not a chance.

All most of them do is bring my food from the kitchen to my table, food i'm already paying for, why the hell would I pay more for them doing their job?

I don't employ them I just expect them to carry my damn food to me.

I don't go to the dentist and give him a couple of quid for checking my teeth. I don't tip my GP when i've been for a medical. I don't tip the mail man when he posts my bills after he's walked round a load of streets. I didn't tip the police when they came round after the big fight on our front street. I didn't get any tips for serving in the army, a job a hell of a lot more difficult than plate carrying.

So after all that, not tipping people who do harder and more rewarding jobs, why would I tip someone who carries my food 5 yards?

Not being an arsehole about it I just don't see the point.

On occasion I go out for a meal and the service is fantastic. The staff are really warm and genuinely friendly and make you feel welcome. It works out as a fantastic evening. Then I tip, and only then.

As for a cafe when I go for a coffee or what have you, not a chance will I tip.

 

[CthulhuMessiah]

I couldn't possible explain this better than that video.

do it like that to get the video to embed.

Thanks, I was wondering how you embed on this site.

 

[Aur0ra145]

I tip where ever I go (barber, resteraunt, stuff like that.) It's just a way of being kind and generous.

 

[Weaver]

I do tip, but it's not my fault the restaurant isn't paying you well enough.

I just see it as a cultural trick that, for some reason, servers don't have to make minimum wage. I think it's bullshit and I don't think that just showing up and doing your job half-assed should necessitate a tip from me.

Working at McDonalds is a hard job too and they're serving you food as well, but you don't feel the need to tip them. Why not?

I also dislike tipping bartenders. Oh wow you poured liquid into a glass from a beer tap.
I mean I had to bloody walk up here to get it and walk back, there's no service involved.

 

[Jonluw]

Reading threads like this is really strange to me.
We don't have a tipping culture in Norway (and boy am I glad we don't).
You're not expected to tip when you go to a restaurant or anything. This makes it really awkward when I visit foreign countries and have no idea how to deal with the whole issue.

When I visited London with my family this summer, we generally tipped equal to 10% of the bill. I had and have no idea whether this is little or a lot, and I felt really uncomfortable whenever the time came to pay the bill at a restaurant.

I really dislike this circular system where tipping waiters is expected, so the employers skimp out on their pay, so now you have to tip the waiters because they're depending on your tip to make a living.
You know what would be nice? A system where the people who work are actually paid a salary they can make a living off of, where the customers wouldn't have to give them change as if they're hobos.
Oh wait, we already have that here.

 

[Nickolai77]

In America i probably would tip, because apparently i hear waiting staff arn't paid minimum wage there.

In the UK waiting staff are paid minimum wage to ferry plates and dishes around. If they make that extra effort i still wouldn't tip them. Not many people tip shop assistants if they go and perform a stock-check for the customer, nor do many people tip a shelf-stacker if you ask him where the frozen food is in a super-market. I don't see how waiting staff should be treated any differently. Going beyond the call of duty for a customer is part of the job requirements for practically any job.

And yes, i've worked as a waiter and bar-runner before, but still i don't agree with tipping waiting staff.

 

[SomethingUnrelated]

Way I see it, you have to do something extra to get extra cash. So especially good service warrants a tip, in my opinion. Just doing your job, doesn't.

Maybe if you stopped giving your money away tipping you would have enough for bills.

Well played.