Do you tip?

W

waterlily

Cathlete
I don't tip. I think it is a ridiculous thing to do. Why do people feel compelled to give away hard earned money? People who garner tips are working persons like myself. Why should I tip them for carrying food on a tray or for carrying my luggage? They are on the job. It is in their job description. Do you get a tip for doing your job from every single client or customer. No, I don't think so. Where did this tipping culture come from?x(
 
If you are a waiter/waitress, in most cases, your salary is squat. You make very little money outside of tips. If you don't get tipped, you pretty much don't get paid. I'm not saying it's right or wrong, but that's how it is so those folks depend on us (the customer) for thier living. This ofcourse, assumes that they have done thier job satisfactorily and actually DESERVE the tip. I tip, and find nothing wrong with it so long as the person has done thier job to my satisfaction. :)
 
Where it comes from and why we do it, I don't know. But I do know that the people who provide services that generally receive tips depend on them to survive. Waiters, for instance, get lower than minnimum wage (there's a special wage given to them) because they are expected to earn tips (okay, it's been 16 years since I was a waitress, but I think I am remembering this right). When I was a waitress, minimum wage was $3.35 an hour and we earned $2.08 per hour.

When it comes to people who provide beauty services, I'm not sure why the custom is to tip, but I do because I figure these people also assume this money will be part of their income and need it to meet their financial needs. I feel that to not tip them is a slap in the face to them.

I do not tip in places that put the tip jar at the cash register and all the person does is helps you at the counter. . . . unless the person does something out of the ordinary for me or is especially nice.

I don't really travel abroad, but isn't this more of an American custom?
 
I always tip. As stated by previous posters, people who work in areas where tipping has become the norm generally earn a very low salary. Waiters, bartenders, etc. do not even earn minimum wage. Hair stylists, nail techs, etc. get paid a percentage of what their client is charged so their actual 'salaries' can be extremely low also being that most don't get paid for being at work unles they are actually servicing a client.

I also tip at the counter at restaurants, but I can see how not everyone would do this. The way I see it this person takes your order and then get your food and takes care of the check. That sounds pretty close to a waiter to me. :)
 
DH and I always tip in restaurants; my brothers worked as waiters when they were in their teens, and I always wanted to treat other servers the way I WISH Steve and Dave had been treated back in the day. 20% - 25% of the bill, depending on the service. I also tip the little wizard who does my nails each visit and then the cost of a full new set of nails at Christmas, and DH tips his barber. At the coffee shops I do put whatever change I get from my order in the tip cup. Usually not luggage carriers at the airport, but yes for luggage carriers at a hotel; not sure why I make that distinction.

A-Jock
 
Ridiculous to tip wait staff? Are you serious? It's a hard job, and as others have pointed out, those folks make less than minimum wage. They *survive* on tips, and unfortunately, they get stiffed regularly by people who don't appreciate how grueling it is. Wait or bus tables for a day and you might get it.

Tipping is not a culture - it's a standard in the service industry worldwide.
 
If you don't tip as a practice it's only fair that you make your server/hairsylist/luggage handler/valet aware of this beforehand. I'm not saying you will not get good service, but at least you are upfront about your policy. It's very insulting to a serviceperson not to get a tip, and it leaves them wondering why. For me, I was a waitress/bartender in college. My paychecks were about $40 for two weeks pay, less that $2.00/hour. I absolutely survived on tips.

Sally
 
In FL, servers and batenders make $2.13 an hour BEFORE taxes. Where I worked, most people wouldn't even bother picking up their paycheck, because after reporting tips and having the taxes taken out, it was littearlly < $1. Thats why it's so important to tip, your tip IS their income. They don't work for a paycheck like you. I have no idea how this system came to be, but it isn't fair to protest it by stiffing your server. They're just trying to feed themselves and their famlies.
 
If you don't tip wait staff, I can only hope you never eat at the same place twice.;)

As others have mentioned, those kinds of jobs make less than minimum wage because it's assumed that their income will be bolstered by tips. As Elaine said, I sometimes OVERtip, especially in a restaurant I like that I know I'll be going back to.
 
*"Ridiculous to tip wait staff? Are you serious? It's a hard job, and as others have pointed out, those folks make less than minimum wage. They *survive* on tips, and unfortunately, they get stiffed regularly by people who don't appreciate how grueling it is. Wait or bus tables for a day and you might get it.

Tipping is not a culture - it's a standard in the service industry worldwide."*


WELL SAID Seeking Guns.



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Waterlily.Are you serious? Boy am I glad not alot of people are as cheap as you. I have been a server in a restaurant for over twenty years. I do so because it allows me to make money at night and take care of my family during the day. I also get to arrange my schedule around my families activites,track meets,football games ect.I make $2.63 cents an hour plus tips. my paycheck is always zero because of taxes and then I must pay taxes on my sales. In other words if you don't tip me and your check is fifty dollars i am taxed ASSUMING you Have tipped me 18%.I always owe taxes. It used to be a cash business,no longer.As far as servers just "carring your food on a tray" our job entails so much more that I won't bore with the details,may I just say that I try to take care of everyone to the best of my ability and I try very hard not to stereotype people and give them all the same service whether I think they will tip two dollars or twenty.Lastly , THANK YOU to all the people who do tip generously you have no idea how appreciated it truly is.
 
I totally agree that you shouldn't eat at that resturant twice! I was a waitress at one time and I made almost nothing. Tips are what you live on. Think about it. How would you feel if you were stiffed?
LD
 
I am not in the food service industry and apologize if this will be considered hijacking the thread but I have a question. Let me preface this by saying that I NEVER stiff a service person. I always tip them even if I find the service to be unsatisfactory. I just usually tip less. Anyway, what do the folks in the field think should be done in a case where the customer is unhappy with the service provided? Should they tip less, not tip at all, tip a minimum regardless and raise it from there if they are happy with the service? I'm just curious because even if I get BAD service I feel like a jerk if I don't leave SOMETHING!

Thanks for the insight!:)
 
I was a waitress for 6 years and my tips were all the income I had. When you don't tip, you leave the server wondering what they did wrong. Most servers work their tails off to do the best job they can so they do receive a decent tip. Seeking Guns, you are right. It IS a grueling job. After a busy night my back, legs and feet would be killing me. Not to mention having server nightmares sometimes where you couldn't get the customers what they wanted no matter how hard you tried. I also overtip now because I know how hard their jobs are.
 
Having been a waitress at one time...I ALWAYS tip!!! WaterLily- to let you know, as a waitress, I only made $2.25/hr in 1992!!!! Yes, you saw correctly, $2.25!!! The rest of my wages were made up in tips. As a college student, I NEEDED those tips. Like Wendy, I tip based on the service. Bad service, bad tip, you get the picture.

Most of these people make less than minimum wage and the employers get by with it because they are supposedly making up the difference with tips. Personally, I think it's rude not to tip (have been there, before!!!)
 
As I stated in my previous post, I always tip. However, this discussion has really got me thinking. Tipping was established as a way of ensuring good service. In fact, someone once told me that TIP stands for To Insure Promptness. Nowadays, servers, etc. seem to EXPECT tips and I seem to get less than even 'good' service about 50% of the time. Are we, as a society, enabling this bad service by tipping people who really don't deserve it? While I understand and agree that the jobs that are usually tipped make less than minimum wage and are very hard jobs. Tips are supposed to be FOR something not just something that we automatically do. And, if you think about it, it is usually the person who doesn't tip that is looked at as the bad guy even if the waiter, etc. was horrible. I know I probably haven't explained that the way I wanted...just some thoughts.:)
 
I agree totally with Shelley about overtipping. My DH and I go out to eat every Saturday night. At some of our favorite places, the staff knows us and even seats us in our favorite servers' area. One day when we were treaded really badly, we walked out before we even got a water. We went back about three weeks later and found out that we caused quite the commotion for walking out. The manager insisted on paying our bill. We left the server a $10.00 tip. We are always treated well at that particular restaurant by everyone...including the bartenders. To me, I would rather overtip. I will even tip if the service is not so good, it just wouldn't be my standard 20%. If the service were extremely good the servers would get more than 20%. I feel that if I couldn't afford to tip the servers generously...I wouldn't go out.

ETA - The day we were treated so badly was a day when none of our favorite servers were working.
 
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