Tipping - what's the norm? (how much, bill, food)

[middle-aged mom]

Most folk do not realize that in most restaurants, the wait staff is expected to pool their tips or at a minimum "tip out" the behind the scenes staff. Some restaurants will charge the wait staff a minimum percentage for tipping out, regardless of the tip left. In other words, if someone did not leave a tip, it could easily cost the waitstaff, out of pocket.

It is what it is.

[ImaloneJill]

Best tippers in the world are people who have waited tables and understand what a bullsh**t job it can be, or people whose family members have been wait staff.
Servers have bad days on their jobs just as everyone else does at theirs. Only, when you have a bad day on your job, you still get paid.
Chronic bad service, however, is another issue as is blatantly non-caring, lazy or rude service.
I seriously try to give the waiter/waitress the benefit of the doubt because I've been there.

[Dis99]

I over tip everybody, and even buy the homeless guy out front dinner, and I am re-payed in good karma ten-fold

[Gabby523]

I think the general rule of thumb is to tip 20% for people have lower pay because they are typically tipped. For instance: Hair Stylists, and their assistants. Hair dressers are typically paid on a commission basis that is only a percentage of what you are paying for whatever service you had done. And their assistant is paid at the lowest minimum wage. And they are doing a service for you. Same as a waitress or bartender they are paid a different minimum wage (lower then the norm.) This is because of the fact that they are going to be receiving tips for providing you with a service. The mail man and garbage man are paid a salary. So, if you would like to be a nice person and and thank them for their services to you through out the year by giving them something extra for for Christmas, I am sure they would be very grateful.
I usually don't tip the person at Starbucks and I think that's because I assume they are getting paid normally. Maybe I shouldn't assume and start.

[outtachicago]

Remember to tip BEFORE tax. I tip 15% for okay service and 20+ for great service.

[Humboldt1]

What kind of haircuts are getting that your stylist has an assistant. I went to BoRics yesterday and gave the lady 20 for a 13 dollar haircut. She looked like she could use it and she did a decent job.

I think waiters and waitresses should be paid minimum wage instead of allowing them to game the system by not paying taxes on their tips. This would lead to higher pay and lower tips.

It is sad when people "expect" 15-20 percent for not even average service.

[ajolotl]

People are more generous than I realized.

At restaurants I always tip pretty much 20%, but never less than say $3 (if the order is very cheap), even if that comes out to 50%. I'll do more if someone moves me, but that's rare. I only do less if someone really offends me. That's rare also.

I give the cab driver between $5-10. I don't tend to think of it as a percentage.

$5-$10 for a haircut, depending on whether I went to a super-cheap or more middle-of-the-road place.

A buck in the tip jar if I'm hanging out at the coffee shop; change otherwise. Seems kind of dumb but who cares. Some people refuse to give anything for counter service. Can't say I blame them. Always tip the bartender, though. $1-2 for a couple of drinks sounds about right.

[ordinaryaveragegirl]

I've worked in the business, and certainly never felt "entitled." I typically earned what I deserved, and worked hard for it.

Standard U.S. restaurant etiquette is 15-20%, pre-tax, pre-discount. Gift cards and the like count as money, so tipping on the original total is generally advised. (e.g. $50 pre-tax total, using a $25 gift card, tip should be roughly $8-10.) I tend to tip a bit higher (25-30%), unless the service is absolutely atrocious; I have only stiffed a server on 2 or 3 occasions, if I've been completely ignored by them - but it has to be a really, really bad experience. Most servers tip out roughly 3-5% of their sales to their bartender, busser, host, etc., so a substandard tip really hurts their income, especially if the service was indeed on par. Also, servers and bartenders are often taxed on what they ring up, not what they make, so that's another important thing to keep in mind.

[prinsessa]

I worked as a waitress for a while and always paid taxes on my tips. It was assumed that we were being tipped 14% so we would be taxed on 14% of our totals sales. Plus we had to give out an extra 2% for the busboy and bartender. So if someone didn't tip we actually lost money since we had to pay tax on 14 plus 2% of that bill. At another restaurant I worked "under the table" but didn't make close to the same amount of money.

[cdapel]

For Restaurants, basic service gets 10%, good service 15% and great service 20% (I usually go 20% myself and don't follow 'doubling the tax' since it varies so much from area to area).

15% is pretty much standard for everything else. If you have a cleaning service, daycare for kids or babysitting, I usually tip 2 weeks pay around the holidays.

I don't tip my mail carrier, newspaper delivery person or the standard tip jars and local places. My feeling here is they are doing their job and it's not like I am getting superior service.

Hope this helps...