[Raistlin]

20%?!?!?! Tax times two bitches!

I agree 20% seems high as a default, base rate ... but stating tax*2 as some hard and fast rule doesn't work so well considering different States have different sales tax. Hell some have none at all :p

[reggieandTFE]

I generally tip 20-30% depending on the quality of service. I even tipped a guy $10 on a $56 check even though I went and complained about the service and staffing at the restaurant after the meal.

[TheNiX]

The nickel shows that you thought about it and just didn't forget to leave a tip or don't tip at all. If you leave without leaving that nickel or penny, then the waiter may not get the message that they provided bad service.

I left a penny once and it felt liberating. The guy was a complete dick, told my friend who asked for an extra plate so he could share wings that he didn't need one and when I asked for a refill he had the nerve to say "Please?"

[Casp0r]

I'm pretty sure we're missing the real issue here.

Black people can't do maths. Isn't it obvious? I mean they're no way there can be a general consensus among black people to not tip waitresses. Being 'black' isn't like being in part of a club, where you get special treatment, access to special funds and opportunities. Being from Africa does not mean you are automatically allowed to use your own exclusive words and language. One does not automatically assume just because someones skin is a dark shade, that does not imply their morals are off, they are just as hard working, law abiding as the rest of us.

So it's obvious isn't it. The mathematical skills of figuring out a certain fraction of a number must be completely absent from them.

Simple isn't it.

[mac]

I prefer it this way, "You can't tip, don't fucking eat out."

I left a penny once and it felt liberating. The guy was a complete dick, told my friend who asked for an extra plate so he could share wings that he didn't need one and when I asked for a refill he had the nerve to say "Please?"

A life time waiter I worked with would write in a 10% tip and below that pen in, "Your service deserves less but I don't have the heart to stiff you."

[Jerk]

20%?

Fuck that shit, I rather stay home.

[Imm0rt4l]

I'm only tipping 20% for great service, even then it's pushing it.

[Guevara]

The standard should be 15% on the after tax total.

[The M.O.B]

I tip like 5%, but I never go to those sit down places very often anyways.

If I order $20 of pizza, i'll tip him like $3.

I'm not cheap, just poor. :/

[Ceres]

The standard is whatever the restaurant automatically adds to large groups. Which is usually between 15 and 20%.

[tuna on toast]

I left a penny once and it felt liberating.

I hope you checked to make sure it wasn't one of those rare pennies worth a million dollars.

[The Faceless Master]

I left a penny once and it felt liberating. The guy was a complete dick, told my friend who asked for an extra plate so he could share wings that he didn't need one and when I asked for a refill he had the nerve to say "Please?"

you asked for a refill and didn't say please?

[RyanFYD]

Personally, I never understand tipping. Of course I am from the UK, which probably makes a difference. Working a job where I provide a service to the public, but receive no tips, it tends to go the same way whenever I go to a restaurant. The only time in recent memory I can remember giving a tip in a restaurant was when we went for a teppenyaki grill night out in an Edinburgh restaurant. The guy working the grill was so fucking entertaining that he made the night approximately ten times better than it had any right to be. He deserved a tip, a big one. People cooking food and waitresses serving food with whatever cheery disposition they have? Why should they be tipped for doing what is in their job description. "Oh my service was great, it was prompt, the food was great, I had a nice time!" Well congratulations, you have just eaten at a restaurant which is ran by employees doing their job, which they are paid for... as every restaurant should be.

You do realize these servers make under minimum wage, sometimes as low as 2.33 an hour. Can you live off that? They depend on tips to survive.

[Jarmel]

I try to tip between 15 and 20% and I'm black so fuck this link. What annoys the shit out of me is I feel bad if I ever tip below 15% even if the service is poor.

[Seda]

I sit down at the restaurant expecting to tip 15%. The figure varies from there as the service indicates.

[Vic]

"servers complain black people do not tip" I stared at that for a couple seconds wondering how black people could tip computer servers. Such a geek.

LOL

[Zoe]

Yeah, waiters have been pushing the % higher and higher whenever they can. Now it's "15% minimum, 20% normal, 25% great". Soon enough they'll push for "25% normal"

This is my favorite so far:

Original check:


Credit card receipt:

The standard should be 15% on the after tax total.

Why should I tip off of money the restaurant isn't receiving?

[Aquavelvaman]

20% is the standard amount but no one is supposed to say that. You're supposed to say 10% so that you feel like a generous high roller when you pay the obligatory 20%.

[Red_Man]

Came to see Louis posted, well done sir.

[Zefah]

You do realize these servers make under minimum wage, sometimes as low as 2.33 an hour. Can you live off that? They depend on tips to survive.

Then that shit should be illegal. The person making that wage should do their best to find a more stable job.

[The Faceless Master]

The standard is whatever the restaurant automatically adds to large groups. Which is usually between 15 and 20%.

the standard isn't set by restaurants! if it were, then why not just make it 0% and raise the prices and pay. that would solve everything!

[Axion22]

We will start at 20%, but points come off as we go.

[Chiave]

Whelp, I'm sticking with takeout. I really just want food, fuck the bullshit.

[TheNiX]

you asked for a refill and didn't say please?

Yup. Stop the presses! Canadians aren't polite 100% of the time.

[Himself]

I'm a 20% tipper.

Back when I was a server, whenever black, asian or jewish people walked in, the servers would scramble to not be around to take the table, or it would be handed off to a new server, because of expectation of a terrible tip.

I've received good and bad tips from all types of people.

[BigBlackGamer]

20% is the standard tip? how about you just tell me when the food is done and I go in the back and get it my damn self.

[Zoe]

You do realize these servers make under minimum wage, sometimes as low as 2.33 an hour. Can you live off that? They depend on tips to survive.

If their tips don't bring their wage up to the minimum wage, the restaurant is supposed to pay the rest.

[Seda]

I also use the tip to round the total to the nearest dollar. OCD and easy on the checkbook :/

[Ezalc]

Man I have never been around when a tipping thread starts. Somebody should start a circumcision one after this.

[criesofthepast]

Restauraunt I used to waiter at was mandatory 20% tip added to the bill. 99% of people tip on top of that another 15%. Insane, I know. But it was good for me. This was at a medium-high class restaurant. Most higher scale resauraunts will have the gratuity already included on the bill.

Who needs a university degree when you can waiter at a high class restauraunt and take home $60,000 a year easily. (more if your a hot chick)

[Sho_Nuff82]

Ironically, I feel compelled to always tip 20%, even in the face of terrible service, just to buck this stereotype.

[Archer]

They're lucky to get 15%.

[Raistlin]

I prefer it this way, "You can't tip, don't fucking eat out."

I prefer it this way, "If it is required so the workers can actually make a living, then it should just be mandatory".

The system is dumb. Many other cultures actually have normal wages and tips are for what they were originally meant for ... not the fucked up way they morphed in the US over time.

[2San]

You do realize these servers make under minimum wage, sometimes as low as 2.33 an hour. Can you live off that? They depend on tips to survive.

So USA has a minimum wage, but employers can legally pay less? How the hell does that work?

[BannedEpisode]

Hm.

I work as a waiter part time in a bad part of Minneapolis. I get tips just as often from black people as I do from whites.

The biggest non tippers are old people. They never tip more than a dollar. I mean yeah I'm thankful but they are usually the ones who order huge meals and make my day difficult.

[Zoe]

So USA has a minimum wage, but employers can legally pay less? How the hell does that work?

It doesn't. The employer has to pay the rest if tips don't cover it.

[Big Baybee]

I always tip when I dine out, but never feel right doing it. Its their job. I rarely tip pizza delivery folks, though. Only because I'm already being charged a delivery fee. Blame the corporation, not me.

[Escape Goat]

I tipped my doctor 20% for my circumcision.

[Kimosabae]

Okay, I just read the quote in the OP and I'll say that's skeptical reasoning.

Responses exploded on the second page for some reason. Being black and in the industry also, I think my interpretation is far more reasonable.

[Zibrahim]

20%?

The fuck out of here, waiters.

[Keru_Shiri]

20% is the standard tip? how about you just tell me when the food is done and I go in the back and get it my damn self.

Isn't that pretty much fast food? :P (Well, I guess they still bring it up to the counter.)

[Spokker]

You do realize these servers make under minimum wage, sometimes as low as 2.33 an hour. Can you live off that? They depend on tips to survive.

This is a myth.

http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs15.htm

If nobody tipped, they would be paid more than $2.33 per hour by their employer. They won't have to live off of $2.33 per hour. Menu prices in general would probably go up if people stopped tipping, though.

[Cubsfan23]

Best part about living in the UK? We don't tip regular service.

yeah, except a certain percentage is already built in.

[2San]

It doesn't. The employer has to pay the rest if tips don't cover it.

Then what RyanFYD said doesn't make any sense no? Still a hilariously backward ass system btw.

[Angry Grimace]

The standard tip is 20 now?

I thought it was 15% standard and 20% if they are any good, and usually somewhere in between for whatever ends up over 15% and results in a round number.

[pseudocaesar]

Fuck that. I dont have to feel guilty about not tipping here, because waiters are paid decent wages. But if I ever went to the US I wouldnt tip anyway (Unless its a nice restaurant). My dad was telling me how when he went to the US, you cant do anything with out someone asking for a tip. He went to his hotel and some guy moved his bag like 5 metres to the counter and actually held his hand out for a tip. What a wanker.

Restaurants mark up like 60% on their meals, im sure they can use some of that to pay their serving staff proper wages.

[cametall]

There's a Facebook group for waiters/servers to bitch and moan about getting less than 20%.

Reading it makes me want to set a tree on fire.

[Copernicus]

25%?

Tipping on Tax?

Me giving a shit about your poor job negotiation abilities?

What in the world.

[Jtwo]

This thread is making me realize I just plain don't eat out. Weird.

[Zoe]

Then what that guy said doesn't make any sense no?

That's just what they want you to believe.

If you look at it as a performance indicator though, if one waiter is consistently pulling in less than minimum wage while everybody else is raking in the tips, the restaurant has little incentive to keep them around.