<p>Umm…when did 15% become an inadequate tip? I thought that was about standard, any more than that was especially generous.</p>
<p>^^ I tip 20% because: 1) These folks work hard at a difficult and unpleasant job to make a nice experience for me; 2) They have to share whatever I give them; 3) Their bosses don’t pay them a living wage; and 4) The cost of being generous (the difference between 15% and 20%) is negligible. </p>
<p>I realize that #2 and #3 are not my fault, but neither are they the server’s fault. That’s why I keep reason #4 in mind.</p>
<p>I tip 20% if the services is very good…and I have to say, it usually is. </p>
<p>My kid waits tables, and I hope folks are generous with their tips to him.</p>
<p>Also, around the holidays I tip more. I also tip more when I go to very fancy places OR to places that I frequent often.</p>
<p>We all understand that restaurants do not want to pay fixed wages to their waiters. But it they did, what do the people who advocate tips in its excess to the standard set the expected hourly wages at? Above 10 dollars per hour? At the typical work study wages? At above 15 dollars? How would a waiter hourly wage compare to the bussboys and dishwashers?</p>
<p>If the wages were that hard to earn, why do most people find the profession attractive, and especially more attractive than working in construction or at Walmart?</p>
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<p>Perhaps more flexible hours, and immediate gratification of some wages at the end of their first working shift (if not under a training wage) vs. waiting up to 2 weeks for a first pay check.</p>
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<p>Regarding tipping more at fancy places, I’m the opposite. I tend to leave a higher percentage at diners or places like Sonic drive-in, where the tips are going to be small anyway. I have heard that waiters at the really high-end places can make very good money. Better than their bosses. Yes, it is hard work, but Sally at the diner works pretty hard, too.</p>
<p>BTW, I’m not arguing against tipping. It’s a tough job. And I know they deal with drunks and jerks.</p>
<p>If you left a 15% tip I don’t think you need to go all the way back to the restaurant to leave another $10. By the time they split that up, its $2 per person. Is it worth the hassle for that?</p>
<p>I’d simply be more careful in the future.</p>
<p>OTOH, if you had assumed for some reason the gratuity was included in the bill, but it wasn’t, and so you tipped nearly nothing, THEN I’d go back and apologize with a sizable tip.</p>
<p>I agree with Laf. </p>
<p>Let’s face it. Waiters at pricey restaurants on busy night are probably doing ok. I’m more likely to tip higher % at the local diner, where tabs are low.</p>
<p>It’s ridiculous to tip based on the amount of total bill. If I ordered an entree that was less expensive than yours and drank no alcohol, will I receive much worse service because the waiter knows he won’t receive as much money from me as from you, based on nothing more than the price of our food (which has nothing to do with service)?</p>
<p>You have to royally tick me off for me to leave you less than 20%. I feel bad because I normally order close to the cheapest thing on the menu (comes naturally being a vegetarian) and generally only get water. Many of my friends survive off tips (as does my sister) and it’s generally a pretty thankless and crappy job. Especially around the holidays, I would recommend you go back (yes, I’m a week late, but still haha). I almost always tip 25-30% but I specifically go to restaurants where I know I can afford to tip that much.</p>
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I must admit, I thought the same. We tip 15% and always thought that was good. when did the norm become 20%? Maybe it is a regional thing?</p>
<p>last time we visited my son he took us out for a meal and on the way home he realized he had *really *stiffed the waiter - (he had been called into work unexpectedly at 4 in the morning and was running on fumes - told the guy to keep the change and it suddenly clicked on the way home that the change was a matter of pennies). He turned round and drove straight back to the restaurant and hunted down the waiter and gave him a very generous tip. The waiter was really thrilled he took the time to come back (but this was a lot worse than 16% vs 20%).</p>
<p>I would also go back and tip the waiter who took your order. Here in New Jersey the wait staff only gets $2 and change per hour. It is assumed the tips will add up to minimum wage. Most of the wait staff here in New Jersey are younger people who attend college. I tend to tip far more sice I learned what the horly pay is. For really good service I will tip 25% especially if I frequent the restaurant often and know the waitstaff. </p>
<p>Your server will appreciate you going back and it really is worth putting a smaile on someones face with all the nonsence they put up with.</p>
<p>I also ONLY tip waitstaff in cash to ensure that the waitor gets the tip. Many restaurants deduct fees from the tip if it is put on the charge.</p>
<p>15% used to be the standard. It seems about a decade ago all of the restaurants got together and bumped it up to 18%.</p>
<p>Of course, 18% is fairly difficult for most people to compute in their heads, so it typically gets rounded up to 20% by most people.</p>
<p>With the inflation in food prices when going out to eat, I’d love to see the standard return to 15%. If you had a $20 check (simple lunch for 2 people) a decade ago, you’d probably tip $3. Now, that same meal costs $26 and you are tipping 20% ~ approx $5 to $5.50. That’s a 67% to 83% increase in tip for the waiter for doing the same exact service.</p>
<p>Multiplier effect of inflation.</p>
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<p>It’s an increase of $2.00 to $2.50. Let’s keep it in perspective.</p>
<p>Servers are not immune from inflation. Are you working for the same wages that you were a decade ago?</p>
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<p>On top of the cost of the meal that has gone up.</p>
<p>If a waiter is audited by the IRS he/she can be fined for failing to declare the full amount of tips they collect for on charges. I assume that’s minus funds split with bartenders etc. I imagine waiters are getting fewer cash tips these days and more charge tips. I think that’s a good thing. If the government would slow spending and unreported income would be taxed perhaps then we wouldn’t be headed for economic disaster. I realize many waiters are college students and struggling, however there are a great many professionals who are pulling in large incomes and reporting very little. Of course the whole tax system needs to be overhauled, top to bottom.</p>
<p>I enjoyed the book, “Waiter Rant”. It was very enlightening for me. It’s set in a NYC restaurant and is told from the waiter’s point of view.</p>
<p>Lucky for me the sales tax where I live is 8.5%. Depending on the voters, sometimes it goes to 9.5%. I just double the tax and round up to the nearest dollar. I figure that is pretty good for most service. Bad service may get rounded down. And exceptional service might get a letter in writing to the manager/owner on top of the verbal complement to management. If you catch the waiters name a nice review on yelp is also a nice thing to do!
I tend to keep my policy even if the sales tax goes up! Easy for a lazy math girl. However I must take note of the sales tax when I travel…if it is only 6% (lucky them) my system needs adjusting!</p>
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<p>My perspective is just fine. Waiting tables used to be a very low end, low paying job. It’s still on the low end of the spectrum, but isn’t as low paying as it used to be (depending on the restaurant).</p>
<p>Let’s say in 2000 a waiter made $15,000 over the course of a year in tips on roughly $100,000 of food and drink sales during the course of the year.</p>
<p>Fast forward to 2011, and that same $100,000 worth of food now costs $131,000 (adjusted for 2.5% inflation).</p>
<p>Now using a 18 to 20% tip standard, the waiter will make $23,500 to $26,000 over the course of the year. So those $2 to $2.50 increases per meal really do add up over the course of time. That’s a 6% to 8% increase in wages each year. Have you gotten a 6 to 8% raise each year over the past 11 years?</p>
<p>I actually worked in an industry that saw a significant decline in wages over that same time span.</p>
<p>I’m not complaining about the waiting profession and the 20% tip standard. I’m actually a good tipper when I go out. I just wanted to give some mathematical breakdowns on how the waiting profession has changed in the last decade.</p>
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<p>True, they do add up for the server, enabling him/her to make a decent living (or closer to a decent living – few are getting rich waiting tables). I meant that, from the customer’s perspective, the difference between 15% and 20% really is very small.</p>