Ok, so my lady friend works at TGI Fridays and people where she works just don’t get the whole tipping thing. I’ve worked in the service industry so I know that 15% is the minimum for tipping, but she gets 10% and less tips consantly.
Tonight she had a B2K kid in and he was all like, Do you know who I am?.. acting all cool. Well on his $97 tab he left $10.
So I want to know, what are people thinking leaving less than 10%??
I always try and leave at least a 10% tip. I would love to pay more, but I am poor myself! So 10% is my minimum, and if I can, I go up to 15%.
Although, there have been times, when we didn’t have enough money for a 10% tip and had to give less. These things happen. You think you have enough, then you remember you have to get milk on the way home!
But I agree with you, I have a friend who is a barman, and he relies on tips to pay for his rent.
It depends on the service I get. Sometimes when the waiter/waitress is a *****, no tip for them. 
But usually it’s ~15%
This might need to get moved to Ordered, and here are my 2 cents.
If you have enough money to go out to eat or for drinks, you have enough money to leave 15%+. If you really can’t afford the 15% tip than you shouldn’t be eating out.
If a waiter is really crappy I leave 15%. If they are great I leave 20% or sometimes if it’s for drinks I’ve give like 50%. It’s not jsut your waiter who lives off the tips. It’s the barback or bussboy. They kitchen staff, the bartenders. They all get tipped out from your servers tips.
My girl has to tip out like 5% of her gross sales. So if she sells $500 worth of food and people only tip her like 10% she has to tips out 5% to the rest of the staff and after busting her butt only takes home $25 bucks in tips… That’s messed up.
Agrees EthanM, tipping less then 10% is just …cheap and if you never work as a waiter/waitress…you don’t know how ****ty that fells when you only get 10% but you work you butt off.
This whole tipping thing is unknown to me… the first time I really saw it as something serious was when watching the first scene of Reservoir Dogs.
We simply don’t have this in Belgium. It’s already in the price I guess.
So, excuse my stupid question, but is the tip the only salary for a waiter in the US?
Face it… people are cheap!
Even the ones with money… [SIZE=1]greedy bastards![/SIZE]
Alot of places pay servers very low wages, like 3-5$ an hour and the idea is that they make the rest of their money in tips.
Here in 95% of the restaurants you have a line in the cheque called “Service: $x”. And tipping is actually up to you.
i have this awsome book called " how to be a gentleman" and it has some really cool advice on matters like this. it says that 15% is standard, if the service is excellent leave 20%, if its so so leave 10%, but never less then 10, if service is that bad, it says not to leave anything but make sure you speak with the floor manager and explain to them the bad service.
i waited tables for a while a couple years ago when times were tough, and man, i had some real **** tips, but i also had some really amazing ones too…ahhhh, still remember the tuesday lunch i worked and made $70 on like $200…but then there was that time i made like $5 on $120…yeah come to think of it, i dont miss it at all.
ethan, ive never heard of a waiter making that much…$2.15 is like the max man, and thats just enough to pay off your taxes on the money you DO make
It made me think of Reservoir Dogs too 
But…we do tip in Belgium, don’t we? I mean, it’s not an unwritten “15% rule” like that, but sometimes it does get done right?
…right?
:pa:
I couldn’t agree more with you on this one:
This however is a different story:
If a waiter is really crappy I leave 15%.
crappy service ==crappy tip (10%–)
standard service==standard tip (15%)
great service==great tip (15%++)
I never go anywhere where tipping is mandatory… IMO it’s just plain rude to charge for anything else that what you consume. Waiters and the likes get their monthly paychecks. However, I will tip a waiter if the service from that person was exceptionally good. 
Like in the movies where bellboys on hotels just stand and wave their hand after lugging up your suitcases… Man I wanna punch them hard in the face for being so rude… 
but that’s just me… I won’t tip unless it’s well deserved.
I’m with Eilsoe here. I’ll only do it if the food and the service were excellent.
No other industry really does this tipping thing, why is it just restaurants? How come I don’t get an extra 10% of my salary every time I do a job well for my employer? OK, so waitressing etc probably isn’t the greatest job in the world, but then most people’s jobs aren’t. Welcome to the world of work.
I also get annoyed by restaurants that automatically add on a service charge. What’s all that about? I’ve already paid for the food and drink, then they hammer you with that as well. The whole point of a restuarant is to provide a meal, why should I pay extra because they’ve done their job?
agreed, you should tip for good service, and it should not be expected for lacklustre service.
Waiting tables and serving drinks are not the only low paid job, there are many. It is however one with the opportunity to earn more through tips by doing your job well. People shouldn’t hold their hand out for doing what they’re paid for.
you guys sounds like barbarians!!! thats freaking skanky man. Elisoe, waiters DONT get a monthly paycheck! it usually says “non negotiable” because the $2.15 they make an hour pays for the taxes on the tips theyre “supposed” to make. waiters live and die by theyre tips. you pay for service not food. it drives me nuts that opinions like yours exist. i strongly recommend that each of you get a job as a waiter at least to see whats its like.
I have worked as a waiter, I have also worked for the Burger King corporation, no tips there. guess which I preferred.
If you live and die by your tips, then you give people good service and they tip you.
well, for a second i started getting irritated, then i looked on your profile and saw you were born in 1984.
…from which you can tell I’m 20. this is in ordered forum, it’s for sensible debate.
:: Copyright KIRUPA 2024 //--