I read an article today from Florida paper that was pushing for tipping at take-out restaurants; essentially saying people should tip 10% for take-out, which is what restaurant workers say they expect; whether you are at Starbucks, Chipotle, or the like.

A food writer said there are no "tipping-free zones" anymore.

Having lived in many countries that tip and don't tip, and in some countries where you are expected to "tip" simply for driving down the highway, or by three guys with a bucket of tar taking three months to fill a pothole the size of your ball cap, I'm probably a little bit jaded. It doesn't help that I'm a baby boomer and remember when a cup of coffee was a quarter.

My thinking is that I don't feel obligated to tip for fast-food or take-away. Frankly I think 10% at a restaurant is probably good enough as the cost of food as certainly increased and that 10% along with it. My daughter has shamed me into bumping it up to 12-15% at most good restaurants. In the past if I had customers out and had a great meal, drinks, 1st class service, I've left 25%.

Supposedly now the going tip rate in the U.S. is 15-20%, and probably by the time you read this, people with a vested interest, will be saying we should leave 20-25% for average food, and poor service.

Here's a tip I'll give the hired help; don't squat down by the table like we're old camping buddies, and don't ask me to fill out a survey for you so you can keep your job.

Also don't, as you're showing us to our table, ask us what we would like to drink and whether we want an appetizer. Give us the menu so we can discover what the appetizers are, and few minutes, while you're bring the water.

My thinking is that simply holding your hand or hat out, or setting a jar in front of me isn't necessarily going to get anything put in it. I tip because someone has provided a little extra service.

Last week we went to a nice Italian restaurant. The waiter served the main course, but missed my appetizer, which came out later. It wasn't very good. I didn't say anything, but when he brought the check he told me he didn't charge for the appetizer. I thought that was a class-act, and tipped him accordingly.

No tipping-free zones my arse. Subway, where they're many times rude as hell and show that they don't want to be there, doesn't get an extra penny of mine. There's a burger chain, Willie's, completely run by kids, when you call in an order then go to pick it up and you pay with cash, they invariably ask "do you need all this back?" For taking a phone order and walking 5 steps to get it?

On the flip side, we went to a sit-down restaurant the other night by our house that we are familiar with and were waited on by a new young man - Asian American kid. Possibly the most perfect service I've ever received. My daughter treated us, so I don't know what she tipped. But we will go back and if that kid's there, I'm requesting him and will tip him properly.

No tips for take out.

No set percentages for me, I tip based upon service recieved.


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I tip 10% IFthe service is extra good. If it isn't, but the food is, I'll tip 5 to 10%, BUT I'll GIVE IT TO THE COOK/CHEF. If he wants to share it with the other staff, that's his business

As far as I am concerned, my driving several miles and often waiting in line to get in, is all the tip ordinary food and ordinary service merits.

If they don't want my business, that's fine with me. I can prepare as good or better food at home,for half the price, and am not too lazy or spoiled to do so.

Some folks don't seem to realize any more that the customer doesn't work for THEM. Having a job depends on having a satisfactory product, delivered satisfactorily. And if their boss/owner is too cheap to pay the help enough to live on, then I'd just as soon see the help all quit and the joint go broke. "Entitlement" doesn't exist in the business environment as far as I am concerned.

I live in a country were tipping is not the usual thing to do. I find it embarrassing trying to figure out what to do when I am in the US or Canada and confronted with the expectation of a tip for merely doing the job the person is employed to do.

I know that probably sounds silly to you folk who live there - but dont you think you have created a rod for your own backs as Nations by fostering the notion that someone should expect extra payment for doing their job , over and above their wages ? Obviously the system is so ingrained now that it is never going to go away , but it it isnt one of the better features of foreign visiting for me ...

In big up-scale places the gratuity or tip is frequently required, and is figured in automatically to the bill. In private clubs it's basically required too and you write a percentage and sign off on it.

In small out of the way spots we go to a lot and they know us well, I tip a little more because I want to help them stay in business. A $20 meal gets a $5 or 6 tip. I especially do that if the owner is also the waiter. I might say, "now do the right thing and make sure the waiter gets this"...

In the U.S. tipping at fast food joints is nearly unheard of. Though sometimes when change is offered I decline it, if they have gone out of their way somehow.

Other places are everywhere in between. Sometimes the tip's just a dollar when the service or food is really bad. Other times it depends on the bill. A $10-12 meal gets a $2-3 tip. A $20 meal gets a $3 or $4 tip. And many go by a percentage, or they double the tax which amounts to roughly the same.

Also, part of it is, at some places waiting on tables is a minimum wage job and the tip is to add to that without coming out of the restaurant's pocket. It works for both owner and wait staff and doesn't harm the customer since you'll be paying it no matter how it's done.

Be that as it may, waiting on tables can be a very good income if the right person in the right kind of place. Some of those positions are very choice.

I hope that helps explain it a little if you're not used to U.S. tipping.

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Also, part of it is, at some places waiting on tables is a minimum wage job and the tip is to add to that without coming out of the restaurant's pocket. It works for both owner and wait staff and doesn't harm the customer since you'll be paying it no matter how it's done.

It's worse than that in many states in the US. According to the IRS, the restaurant can figure tips as part of the servers wage and, IN MANY RESTAURANTS, the server is actually paid $2.13/hour plus what they earn in tips. If you want to get a clearer picture or the situation in your state, check this chart out.

I very rarely tip as low as 10% and it is usually 25 to 30% if the service was good. Also, I take into account that the server is usually not responsible for the kitchen getting orders out slowly. Especially if the server comes and apologizes and says that he will bring it as soon as it is ready, I don't really deduct from his tip for other's mistakes or problems.
Obviously, the tip depends on many factors, but a good attitude goes a long ways with me. It's usually not the server's fault, but I try not to go into restaurants where they are required to say something along the lines of, "Hi, I'm Jane and I will be your server today. Our specials etc.....". With rare exceptions, I really don't care to have a discussion with the server. I want him/her to accurately answer any questions, take the orders, and, if it is required, keep the tea glasses filled without my asking.

I also found out there are a lot of cheapskates in here. Personally, if I ate with someone who only tipped 10% when the service was good, I'd either personally add to it or definitely not eat with them again or both.

There's an old and accurate observation that how people treat wait staff reflects more on them than on the staff.

I will not eat in a place that adds an automatic tip. IMO, it is still a subjective amount based on the level of service. Nor am I gonna leave a $5 tip for a $10 meal. I can well remember when a 10% tip was considered tops. Now it's 20% with the assholes flipping burgers wanting $15/hr. If you work in a upper-end restaurant and give good service, you won't have to quibble about 15% versus 16%. The money will come. How do you get a job in a high-end restaurant? By working and giving good service in a not so high-end restaurant.

I actually wrote out a reply right after Kensco posted this thread, but then I deleted it before I posted it because I didn't want to sound like a jerk. The whole tipping thing really pisses me off.

Why do people feel that they should tip a higher percentage in a high-end restaurant than in an inexpensive cafe? The bill in the high end place is going to be higher, therefore the tip will be higher if tipped at the same rate. I think an inexpensive meal(like breakfast in a diner) should warrant a higher percentage tip, assuming the service is good.

But, if no personal service is rendered there should be no tip. Taking an order and handing food across the counter is not personal service. The whole "tip jar" thing really pisses me off. What do they think they are, panhandlers? Tipping in Starbucks? Not gonna happen.

The best was the "Airporter" bus where I used to live in CA. They charged $35 to take you to the airport. There was a sign prominently displayed near the driver that said, "Gratuities gladly accepted". During the trip the driver would mention that, "gratuities are gladly accepted" over the PA system(I guess they were worried that you might miss their sign?). Almost without fail the drivers were surly and obnoxious, yet I would still see people tip them.....

No "tip free zones"?


While in high school I went to work in an autoparts store. It was part of a chain and pay and working conditions were poor. We had a policy that we would install the wiper-blades for free. It never failed, when the first big ran of the season hit everyone and their grandma would come in for wiper-blades and of course they expected us to install them in the rain. So the majority of each shift would be spent in a damp shirt, often with wet feet. Some customers would tip, but most would not. For the first year I politely refused to accept the tips that customers offered(usually a couple of dollars) but after a while I realized that the customers SHOULD be tipping if you go out is the rain to perform a service for them.

If the Starbucks people brave wind and rain to get my coffee to me I would be happy to give them a generous tip.

People who ignore friends who abuse drugs, and help them out when they get in trouble are known in the medical field as "enablers". They are viewed as contributing to drug abuse, as they keep the primary abusers from having to deal with the unpleasant consequences of their bad decisions.

My own view is that people who tip automatically, or in excessive amounts, are enablers of the culture which underpays its' staff. If we didn't tip so freely there would be more pressure on employers to pay decent wages...or face the consequence of having a chronic staff shortage.

I had a recent example that almost stopped me in my tracks. For the first time in forever, when I arrived at DFW I checked our bags for London at the curb. We had parked our car at The Spot, outside the airport property and taken their bus to the airport. My feel was that the bus driver expected a tip although he didn't handle all the bags. I didn't tip.

The one that bugged me was the American Airlines counter-person (man) who checked/tagged our bags at the curb. He didn't carry our bags anywhere. He put a tag on two bags and put them on the conveyor. He was an American Airlines employee according to his badge, not an independent contractor. As we walked away from the counter towards the door to enter the airport he gave us a sarcastic "thank you very much". My wife asked me if he meant what she thought he meant. I told her to just let it ride.

He did less than the ladies inside at the ticket counters providing bag tags and boarding passes. What makes him "special"?

In Venezuela I remember at some restaurants the wait staff would ask that we not put the tip on the credit card if we used it to pay the bill. The restaurant owner automatically dropped that "tip" into his pocket. The waiters only got to split the cash. We worked with them.

I tend to agree with AC and will go a step further. I'm not sure the minimum wage needs to be increased. I have this feeling that people with little ambition are happy to float through life on their backs, putting in very little effort or contribution to society as long as we are willing to give them food stamps, increased minimum wages, bigger tips, and any other "gimmie" that might allow them to not actually try to better themselves.

If someone went to the time and trouble to trash his employer and telling me he wanted his tip in cash, I'd take the time and trouble to ask them "what makes you think you're gonna get a tip?" I have little time nor patience with employees that think the customers are interested in their in house dirty laundry.
To begin with, if the tips are added on the tab, the employer and the IRS can keep track of them; If they're in cash the wait person can lie about the amount.
As far as not tipping the skycap, their salaries are lower than the other airline employees and tips are part of their salaries.

I always overtip. But I'm eyetalian and not a jew..................

In all seriousness there is only one time I did not tip. I know that as a fact, but I can't remember why..........poor service gets a poor tip.

At a sit down restaurant I tip, the better the service, the better the tip. Good wait staff can make even a mediocre meal a pleasant experience, I tip accodingly.

But for fast food? Heck no.

Of course, if someone has gone above and beyond, I will go out of my way to ensure they know their gesture was appreciated.

Tips are given for exemplary service,not as an owed gratuity.I understand that large parties (at least here in Austin) get the 15% put on the tab.I can understand that.When one works a table of 15+ people he is hustling + if he/she does a good job they deserve the gratis.The key word there is "good job".I have no problem giving a large tip to a good waiter (hell,I've been one)but it is not owed. HMMMM,sounds like a certain situation in our country,eh?

We're not the only ones confused. http://www.news.com.au/travel/...frfqfr-1226701085391

Tipping seems to be on everyone's mind. http://www.marketwatch.com/sto...t-tipping-2013-08-19

Here in New Zealand the minimum wage you can pay anyone is $13.75 for people over the age of 16. Ignoring the differances in exchange rates that equals NZ $550 for a 40 hour week.

I have no idea what US waiting staff are paid , but I imagine it isnt that high , or your whole system wouldnt rely on tips for those low-paid folk to survive.

And the figure of 10% quoted in the article Kensco posted for New zealand might appli in the major tourist areas but it certainly doesnt apply out in the provincial places.

I tip, and tip generously, for good service. Tipping for someone to hand me a bag at a take out place, or a cup at Starbucks is ludicrous.

I'd rather have the choice of tipping well for good service than having it added to the bill regardless. My experience in foreign countries that don't tip is that the service is frequently poor.

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Originally posted by muzza:
Here in New Zealand the minimum wage you can pay anyone is $13.75 for people over the age of 16. Ignoring the differances in exchange rates that equals NZ $550 for a 40 hour week.

I have no idea what US waiting staff are paid , but I imagine it isnt that high , or your whole system wouldnt rely on tips for those low-paid folk to survive.

And the figure of 10% quoted in the article Kensco posted for New zealand might appli in the major tourist areas but it certainly doesnt apply out in the provincial places.

Your right in your question about pay rates. As gatorgodo mentioned above, large parts of the restaurant industry are exempt from minimum wage law and tips are the larger part of wait staff's income. Frankly, I like the idea that I don't have have to pay sales tax on what would otherwise be a much more expensive bill and I'm more than happy to reward good service.