<p>"If somebody gave me a 50% tip, I would feel really awkward. I would feel like that person is looking down on me and feels sorry for me. "</p>
<p>Well, since that’s not what tips are for that would be pretty silly. I don’t tip someone because I think they must need the money.</p>
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<p>This is what mom2collegekids stated: </p>
<p>so on a $25 pizza delivery, you’ll tip $12.50??? Nice that you can afford it, I guess–but that’s insane! </p>
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<p>So because one person says they do that, that’s what everybody does? Have we ascertained that mom2collegekids behavior is the norm? I certainly didn’t get that impression!</p>
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<p>I wouldn’t presume to try to guess at someone’s personal/financial situation based on a 15-second encounter at the front door.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t feel awkward if someone tipped 50% I would think they liked my service, were extremely kind, and could afford to give me that much. I might also think they were once in the service industry.</p>
<p>I put a lot of effort in providing a good experience for diners, even those that I can tell won’t be tipping well (or at all even). I also make a good deal of their food (salad, soup, ice cream) clean up after them, and if we are short a dishwasher (usually) I do those too. I also do things like roll silverware and do about an hour to 1 1/2 hours of work when I am supposed to be scheduled to leave. Being on your feet for 8hrs straight is not the greatest either. My job isn’t the hardest in the world, by any means, but at $4.65/hour, 15% tips are always nice. Could the restaurant industry pay me more and not expect diners to tip? Sure. But thats not the way it is and I don’t think servers should be punished for that.</p>
<p>My dad has always tipped quite a bit when we go out places, and its one thing I do as well. If I can afford to go out, I can afford to give a good tip, is always my train of thought. </p>
<p>I feel like delivery drivers are servers that go to your house.</p>
<p>As for as takeout - it depends on the food/establishment. At another place I was a cashier, getting a tip was nice, but never expected. I got paid enough to not need tips (though it was always nice). However at the place I am at now, I make take out orders a majority of the time (people get desserts) and a tip is always nice because I get taken away from my tables/job as a server and its time-consuming, but not as time-consuming as being a server so I personally don’t expect 15% but a buck or two would be nice.</p>
<p>"Should you tip the valet parking guy bringing the car to you every morning in a hotel that does not have free parking?</p>
<p>Should you tip the hotel housekeeper? (Some hotels have gratitute envelops)
How much should be the tip for the tour guide?.."</p>
<p>I always leave a couple bucks in the hotel room/night (I am typically clean and stay at pretty much the cheapest motels/hotels possible).</p>
<p>I never use valet, but my dad always tips whether valet is free or not.
We’ve never had a tour guide so I have no idea.</p>
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<p>Sincere question on this… what if the delivery person simply looks young? I’m in my mid 20s and I still pass for a young high school student. And the older I get, the slower I seem to be aging. My mom turns 60 soon and she looks in her mid to late 40s so it would seem to be genetic. And although I don’t (thank god), I could very well have a family to support at this age.</p>
<p>Perhaps I’m more sensitive to this because I have been discriminated against based on my apparent age (while my actual age is often ignored or not believed even when I produce ID) and it is your decision who you choose to give a larger tip to, but I’m just curious how you would would make this determination whether the person is a teenager or an adult? You cannot always tell by appearances.</p>
<p>[Note: I’m not faulting your choice at all. I’m just curious how young looks come into play.]</p>
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<p>It could be a violation of store policy to accept a tip and might be grounds for suspension or termination. I worked as a cashier in a grocery store a few years ago and it was a solid policy that we did not accept tips. Unfortunately, this very nice older gentleman did not think this policy should be followed and left a $20 bill at my register. I insisted he take it back, that I could not accept it, but he left with just a smile and I had a very long line of customers (this was around a major holiday).</p>
<p>I did the right thing and turned the money in directly to my supervisor with an explanation ($20 over on my til would have gotten me written up). I do not know what they eventually did with the money as the only thing that mattered at the time was that my job was safe (I was supporting myself completely through my community college years; no grants, loans, or scholarships). I would never tip someone in a similar capacity myself as that was a very traumatic experience to go through worrying if I might lose my job (or lose hours) simply because some nice gentleman was trying to do something nice for a hard-working student.</p>
<p>^ I agree. I easily pass for 16 but am 21. Not a huge difference but people do treat me differently.</p>
<p>There are various cashiers that I would tip, if I could, but it is simply not allowed. At any small mom and pop shop place, where tips are accepted, I always leave at least a dollar, usually two, and more when it is busy.</p>
<p>I figure that the lifetime cost of being a generous tipper over being a chintzy tipper isn’t likely to be that much. So because I find it more pleasant to be a generous tipper, that’s what I do.</p>
<p>I tip because it is built into the wage structure of the employee concerned. Anyone doing the same job equally well should therefore earn the same payment (tip).</p>
<p>I see no reason at all to tip more for someone you assume to middle-aged and supporting a family. Any tip in excess of ‘normal’ for the service is just charity, and I think it demeans the recipient (even more than the whole tipping system itself does). For charity, I have much higher priorities than the pizza delivery guy.</p>
<p>20% but it does depend on what kind of service was delivered to me.</p>
<p>The age of the person makes no difference to me - I tip based on service. Maybe that teen is helping to support an underemployed family. Having read this thread I’ll tip the pizza guy more than I have in the past. :)</p>
<p>Most of us tip based on our biase and experience. My dad was a water boy and a dish washer when he first came to this country. He is very tight with his money, but always a generous tipper at a restaurant(especially when I am paying, he would ask me if I left enough tip). I don’t think there is anything wrong or strange that someone would have more sympathy for a middle aged delivery person. And I definitely don’t think they are showing off when they tip big.</p>
<p>To throw more confusion into the hat, how many of you have traveled to Europe and have a hard time not overtipping? When I visited both of my daughters when they were abroad, they would always tell me, “Really, mom, people don’t tip by American standards here.” Of course, this would usually occur as I would be digging in my hand, trying to come up with the amount I wanted in a foreign currency and I’d just give in and overtip as looking for the money I wanted was holding everybody up.</p>
<p>^Yes, in Europe table service is considered a profession and servers are recompensed equitably. I really do think we should get past the assumption, here in the US, that everyone in food service is some sort of part timer trying to make some extra cash for a flat screen TV and their living is dependent on the whims and frequently arbitrary tipping habits of the general public. In most countries the service is automatically added into the final bill. In Europe I take this into account but always add an additional amount for good service. As a college student I used to wait table during the summers at a restaurant near Disneyland. We used to get a lot of European customers. I always knew when they were having one of their first meals in the US, because I would give great service and would not see a cent. BUT…I can’t tell you how many times these people would return within a day or two with a bit of cash and a sincere apology when they came to the realization that my living depended on their tips.</p>
<p>If I order a pizza to be delivered, I usually give about $5 bucks. When I am eating in a restaurant, I usually tip around 20%. If I have called in my order and picking up, I don’t tip.</p>
<p>I consider those who actually went to some trouble to take my order, bring me drinks and food and check on my dining experience or deliver it to my home to be ones needing a gratuity.</p>
<p>I don’t tip the barristas at Starbucks unless they do something above and beyond. If they have remembered my drink order, or recommended something that I would like based on my previous orders, I will. I don’t tip grocery store checkers, either. They are simply doing their job.</p>
<p>Having worked in restaurants as a food server many a year ago, I remember one of my best tips wasn’t a dollar amount that was huge. It was actually kind of on the low side. With the tip, there was a note from the teenagers I was serving, telling me what a great server I was and how much fun they had while eating there, and apologizing they couldn’t afford more of a tip. That note kept me going when there were obviously well-off patrons who were cheap and very demanding.</p>
<p>My pet peeve is with restaurants that automatically add a large gratuity to the bill and then offer terrible service.</p>
<p>I hate getting terrible service anywhere. But after “growing up” in the restaurant industry and after eating out far too often lo these many years, I have yet to see a correlation between bad service and the practice of automatically adding in the tip. (I just think we tend to remember these incidents more often.) In fact I think most bad service in this country is a result of the tipping system. Very few people continue working in food service due to the arbitrariness of the tipping system and the profession suffers because of it.</p>
<p>Tipping is confusing.</p>
<p>Take a recent trip to Las Vegas. I didn’t tip the pubilc transportation bus driver that drove me & my luggage to the departure airport. But I did tip the shuttle driver that drove me & my luggage from the to the hotel.</p>
<p>I didn’t tip the person that made a sandwich for me at the airport (walk up deli), but I did tip the person who brought me a free drink while gambling.</p>
<p>I didn’t tip the person who took out my trash (that I deposited in the trash receptacle) at the shopping mall, but many people tip the people that take out their trash from their hotel room (the maids). </p>
<p>In other words, there are many situations where two people are doing the exact same job, but one person gets tips and the other does not because of the atmosphere and environment in which they are doing the job.</p>
<p>No, it is not because of the “atmosphere”. While MickeyD pays at least a minimum wage to their burger flippers, waiters at restaurants are being paid $2/hr. Same goes for janitors vs hotel maids, etc.</p>
<p>Because it is so confusing, it is very stressful for many people (am I over/under tipping). That is why we love Club Med when we go on vacation, no tipping allowed, and it’s all inclusive. </p>
<p>I think I would frequent an establishment more if they would ban tipping and pay its staff properly.</p>
<p>I lived in Germany for five years, my German friends drilled into me that you could only round up enough so that the server didn’t have to make change. It was usually only a couple of dollars no matter how fancy the restaurant. It was much less stressful, once you got used to it.</p>