You Should Tip

[Total LOLige]

I usually say "keep the change" but places like McDonald's are so overpriced that there isn't much change to be had. I don't eat out at restaurants so I have no waiters/waitresses to tip, I do tip takeaway people though sometimes I get a bit scared to say "here mate have this £3" that's why I like it when they're about to give me change I can just say keep it.

 

[VanTesla]

Last time I went out to eat and pay for my own meal (as dinner), was in Berlin.
I had a five Euro pizza. I payed with a twenty Euro note, and let them keep the change as a tip.
Best pizzas I've had in any European country. I'm quite happy to tip just about anyone like that. I just don't go out anymore.
Of course, if they aren't nice, I won't tip them. Like a certain asshole in Amsterdam. Get my damn order wrong, and try to tell me otherwise... No generous tip for you. I don't like aggressive, rude staff.

Reminds me when I was ten years old in the Mexico themed restaurant at Epcot and ask for just a burrito with meat only and the waiter in a snide voice said "we are not taco bell"... What ahole starts getting rude to a ten year old for just asking for a burrito with meat only... My mother snapped at him and we left, but I saw him getting yelled at by the manager when we where leaving hah.

 

[IckleMissMayhem]

Snipped out the stuff that made me shudder - sorry!!

OK, I fully admit I'm off on a tangent here, BUT! it sounds like you and your friend really should get in touch with the US version of the Food Standards Agency & Health & Safety (killjoys!!) Executive to report the safety and hygiene issues in your workplaces. 2 seconds on Google seems to suggest it's the FDA, but I'm not 100%.

OK, on the tipping issue, I tip if (and only if!) the staff have gone above-and-beyond their basic job. That doesn't seem to happen often. Wherever I am in the world.

 

[VanTesla]

Here in the USA (And the UK, I think) we tip people for service.

I'm guessing, people have said this, but I'd like to get onto that bandwagon before it leaves:

We Brits don't tip nearly as much as you Yankees. In this sense, we're together with the rest of Europe in our tipping tendencies. If you provide truly excellent service, then you get a tip. If not, then you don't.

well I don't know how much the average waiter/waitress in England is paid per hour, but over here in America it's around 2-3 US dollars a hour which is nothing to live on without those tips and then even if paid what is considered the minimum of 15% they still tax it... How they are able to get away with paying them so little is all for the whole tipping services/performance and the one problem with it is if you have not many peole com in a few days or bad tippers you get screwed. On the other hand a good waiter/waitress in a nice/high restaurants can make bank with tips and more if paid in cash instead of writting it on your credit card (by pocketing more than the required amount by taxes and yes it's considered illegal, but I tipped them the extra not the gov't...).

 

[lacktheknack]

Why would you piss off people who are handling your food?

THIS, SOOOO MUCH THIS [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0b93zOgkSE]

I gagged.

OT: I'm a generous tipper, unless the service was really bad. That's never really happened to me. I'm already a nice customer, and it kind of astounds me that there's such high concentrations of douchecanoes at every single service outlet except the one I work at.

Also, WHAT KIND OF PLACE DO YOU WORK AT, OP?!

Seriously, your workplace has NO safety standards, and mine has too many!

Leaving the over door open? I can't even APPROACH our ovens unless I have at least three pieces of safety clothing on. I can't even go OUTSIDE without wearing the safety vest. Holy crap on a stick...

 

[AgentLampshade]

Most I've ever tipped is giving the taxi-driver £50 for a £5-or-less journey. Man, my 18th was BRUTAL. So drunk.

 

[Mycroft Holmes]

No one should ever tip anyone.

Corporations and restaurants should pay them a living wage and determine which employees should be rewarded more than others. Tiping as a practice is retarded. Make me pay more for a hamburger if that's what it costs to pay the employees more.

 

[direkiller]

(And the UK, I think) we tip people

Not true, there is the odd occasion where some say "keep the change" but it's not in our culture.

In the UK min wage is about £6.08 an hour, which is $9.77 ... I assume that is more than your min wage, so it doesn't have to be "topped up".

I always thought it was strange that American business owners expect there employees to be payed by the customers directly. We should pay the establishment, then they pay the staff.

Then again I think America sound like the weirdest place when it comes to cash, you're charged for medical stuff, you have to work out VAT yourself, tip people ... how do you afford to buy food!?

In the uk, I can go into a shop, pick up something for 99P and pay 99P. If my meal costs £20, then I pay £20 and leave From what I have heard you pick up something for $1 and pay $1.20 or something. You to a restaurant and your meal is $20, you pay $24 for it then tip the person serving you an extra $4 or something.

I might be wrong about the VAT though.

No your right about VAT
except here it is called sales tax and it is controlled by the state not the federal goverment. So it will vary from place to place.(PA it is 7% while New York I think it is 9%)

The way I see it. It at least gets some dumbasses to do math once in a while.

15% is considered the normal tip as 10% of there food sales is declared is income.
so a $20 meal would be $2.50 tip most likely rounded up by whatever lose change you have in your pocket.

 

[MorganL4]

What people in foreign countries have to realize, is that thanks to "The National Restaurant Association" AKA the McDonald's/Taco Bell lobbying group.... we have laws that take into consideration the ability to get tips into the wage of tip earners ( they literally have a separate minimum wage) Which means tips in the USA have gone from "Hey thanks for the good job" to "Here I know you need this to survive" It is truly a disgusting situation, but it exists.

 

[squid5580]

Why would you piss off people who are handling your food?

Why would you allow them to extort the tip money from you?

A tip should be a thank you for good food/service not paying them for not spitting in your food the next time you come in.

 

[ATRAYA]

NOBODY ever tips me, and I work as a gas attendant at a full serve station. But I was always taught that you are supposed to tip any human service EXCEPT fast food workers (mostly because you only end up tipping the cashier, when it's the guys in the back doing all the sweaty, awful slavery to make your food) and receptionist/secretary type people. That might be why nobody tips you.

I have no idea why you wouldn't tip at a FULL SERVE gas station though... we do fucking EVERYTHING for you, you ungrateful, lazy, demanding, impatient, selfish git!

 

[ATRAYA]

Are you freaking kidding me? You think people should tip you because you work at a place of business that shouldn't exist in the first place? If the profit margins are too low to even keep a minimum level of acceptable standard, the place should be shut down. Either by the owners themselves or by the authorities. Places like that are the reason we need more regulation.

So your solution to his whining is that instead of making a little extra pocket money, he should LOSE HIS INCOME ALTOGETHER? Sounds like a plan to me.

 

[Nikolaz72]

1. You're apparently accepting this. If the place isn't up to standards on health and safety regulations, and you don't even get minimum wage. Then you should report the place.

If it goes down you did the world a favor. People could risk getting sick, employees could risk getting hurt. Actually, if what you mentioned is correct. That already happened.

I live in a country without tipping, high safety/health standards and guaranteed minimum wage. We dont have a problem.

If the US just stuck to their minimum wage and removed tipping there wouldnt be one there either.

 

[Da Orky Man]

Here in the USA (And the UK, I think) we tip people for service.

I'm guessing, people have said this, but I'd like to get onto that bandwagon before it leaves:

We Brits don't tip nearly as much as you Yankees. In this sense, we're together with the rest of Europe in our tipping tendencies. If you provide truly excellent service, then you get a tip. If not, then you don't.

well I don't know how much the average waiter/waitress in England is paid per hour, but over here in America it's around 2-3 US dollars a hour which is nothing to live on without those tips and then even if paid what is considered the minimum of 15% they still tax it... How they are able to get away with paying them so little is all for the whole tipping services/performance and the one problem with it is if you have not many peole com in a few days or bad tippers you get screwed. On the other hand a good waiter/waitress in a nice/high restaurants can make bank with tips and more if paid in cash instead of writting it on your credit card (by pocketing more than the required amount by taxes and yes it's considered illegal, but I tipped them the extra not the gov't...).

Converted into dollars, minimum wage here is $9.70/hour, which is actually adhered to. Any tips you get are extra, rather than your staple.

 

[Ryotknife]

honestly i would prefer to remove tipping and just up the servers wage/menu prices.

 

[w9496]

I know how you feel. I work at a coffee shop, and some people are regular customers who never tip.

I made 6 drinks for a family before, and I didn't get a single penny in tips.

You put a cup in front of spicket and pulled a lever. Why do you think you deserve a tip for doing your job? You didn't cook anything or put any effort whatsoever into product. All you did was service a customer without even leaving the counter. You only deserve your paycheck for doing this.

OP also the next time you boss forces you to serve unsanitary food, it should be your responsibility to be a whistleblower and narc this guy out to health officials.

We do WAY more than pull levers and shit. We're not Starbucks or Caribou coffee or anything. We don't have our drinks bottles or anything like that. We make gourmet(for lack of a better word) coffe by hand when the person orders it, and we have over 150 menu items that can be customized anyway you want.

We do sell regular coffee where we do just pull a lever, and I agree we don't deserve a tip for that, but when someone orders 3 different lattes, a cappucino, and 2 mochas, I think I've earned my goddamn tip.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

Firstly, I'd like to clear up a misconception. The law in the U.S. [http://www.dol.gov/elaws/faq/esa/flsa/002.htm] requires that employers of people who accept tips A) pay them a minimum lower hourly wage and B) make up the difference if their reported tips don't push their average hourly income to or above the minimum wage. This is in addition to any state laws that may require even greater benefits to hourly employees who depend on tips.

As for myself, I'm generous to a fault when it comes to tips- because I spent four years in an occupation (pizza delivery driver) where tips were vital, so I understand how it is to live that way. However, I only give tips to those who are performing an actual service for me (food delivery, haircutting, carrying heavy things out to my car from a store, etc.); I don't tip cashiers or the like because I consider it a part of the exchange of cash for goods.

 

[w9496]

I know how you feel. I work at a coffee shop, and some people are regular customers who never tip.

I made 6 drinks for a family before, and I didn't get a single penny in tips.

You're not a waiter making below minimum wage though. I'm sure you make the minimum if not higher so there is no need for them to tip you. It's your job to make and serve them coffee.

That said, I usually tip if it's allowed at places I frequent. The woman who cuts my hair and local sandwich shop always get a nice tip everytime I go. Good people, good service.

I would bet that I do considerably more work than a waiter. I have to wait on people, operate the drive-through, and make drinks all at the same time. Much tougher than asking people what they want and having other people make it.

 

[Olas]

I'm sorry OP but as a customer I can't see why I should be the one recouping you for the shitty treatment you get from your employer. It sounds like the guys behind the counter have a raw deal and you have my sympathy, but it's just not my fault. You're asking the wrong person to pay you more.
I'm not talking out of my ass either. I work at a technology support desk at my university. I get paid minimum wage and nobody would ever even consider tipping me, nor would I ask for them to. I help people with computer problems. 85% of the people who come to me are pissed off before they even say hello.

If things are really as bad as you claim you're always free to quit. maybe you can find a better job somewhere else. I get that good jobs are hard to find right now, again that's just how the world is and it sucks, but you aren't an indentured servant, you do have some freedom. I dunno, start a union with the other employees, ask the FDA to look into your business.

I WILL tip service that appears to go beyond the line of duty. If it appears that you're working harder to please me than your job requires I'll reward that. I think that's how tipping is supposed to work anyway.