Tipping in the U.S. (living, price, stores)

[ss07]

I worked as a server for about 4 years in chain restaurants in PA.

You have to tip out 3% of your sales automatically. So if all your checks add up
to $1000 you have to tip out $30 regardless of what your tips were like. The 3% goes to the hostesses (2%) and bartenders (1%). You also usually tip out some extra money to the busboys. If people don't tip then you are paying 3% of their check to have them eat there. If you tip 15%, they get 12% of that.

I never received a check that had a lot of money on it. I think the highest amount was about $2, and that was rare. Most of the time, the check was a blank one. You get paid $2.13 an hour but since you get cash every day, that money goes to taxes. The only way you get money on it is if with tips and the $2.13 you get less than $5.15 an hour. That only happens when the restaurant is going through extremely slow months (typically Jan, Feb, March). What you make is basically the cash you have at the end of the night.

Servers usually work 5 shifts a week, 6-9 hours a shift. When it is busy the average hourly rate is a very good rate, usually about $20 an hour, but it's only busy usually during dinner hours and only on certain days, and months. So you may make really good money on weekends, and not much the rest of the time. It balances itself out. I worked in the airport, and during the non busy months, it was so bad, as soon as the servers arrived they would send 2 people home because there was no business. I remember making $15, $20 for the whole night.

Now having said that, if you get really bad service, you shouldn't have to tip a good amount. Every one has a different definition of good service. I once heard someone say they wouldn't leave a good tip if they server didn't make small talk with them. One time, I got literally screamed at for about a minute by a guy because we ran out of a certain beer. When I said I was sorry we were out of that beer, and asked him politely not to yell at me, he sat there the entire time with his arms crossed and pouted throughout the entire meal. His girlfriend was completely embarrassed and was very nice to me.

If the server never checks on you, doesn't refill your drinks, or is rude to you, you should not feel obligated to give a good tip, but to not when everything went fine is just rude and ignorant.

[Jaysie_Marnix]

I tip about equal double to the CA tax, which is 8.25% so that's over 15%.

[TwinMom06]

We usually tip AT LEAST 15%, more like 20% if the service was very good. The only exception is whole-in-the-wall Chinese restaurants where we tip 10%. It is part of the cost of dining out. Otherwise, you might as well pick up the to-go boxes and dish it out at home.

When I lived on the East Coast and would go out with friends from Europe, restaurants and bars always added up with a 15% tip on the bill because they know that Europeans are not used to having to calculate the tip.

[Rats]

Last week I decided to change my tipping rule to AT LEAST $10 for a meal (even if the bill's $20 I'll tip $10), or 15-20%, whichever is higher.

[Jo123]

Servers are employees of the person who owns a restaurant. It is his or her obligation to pay them well to do their job, not the customer's obligation. It is very unfair to the customer having to pay seperately the product (food) and the employee that is part of the business (restaurant).

It is ridicilous to think that in the service industry, customers have to deal with two seperate bills. They should only pay for the "final" product. In the prices (of the menu) everything should be included, all costs. That is only reasonable and fair.

[moose31]

Originally Posted by Rats

Last week I decided to change my tipping rule to AT LEAST $10 for a meal (even if the bill's $20 I'll tip $10), or 15-20%, whichever is higher.

Things getting a little tough for you wait people?

[harhar]

Eh, not a big deal. I just double the tax.

I'd never want to be a waiter and deal with people all day like that.

I throw them a bit more if the service is good and a bit less if it isn't.

[moose31]

Originally Posted by decafdave

Plus, whatever happened to a little old-fashioned human kindness? If the service was good sometimes I leave something extra. Just last night, A man left me 10$ on a 22$ check! Not everyone has to do that of course but generosity like that will come back to benefit him.

That in itself becomes a problem. It isn't a secret that female bartenders are the best at seducing tips from customers.

Gomer comes into the local pub, and Tina, the bartender, is all over him like white on rice. He gets his beer, and Tina bends over so Gomer can enjoy the scenery, and then she hangs on him while Pete and his date at the end of the bar are still waiting to be reognized. Gomer alwyas leaves far more of a tip than his three beers necessitate, but Tina knows by making Gomer feel like Rock, she makes beaucoup bucks. That's a problem in 'regulars' places where non-regulars wonder why no one is helping them.

My tipping has been cut back. A pitcher of beer costs $16...a $2.40 tip is excessive, but $2 works for me. Two $10 martinis is certainly not worth a $3 tip...again $2 works for me. Cheap....no. I have always been an across the board 20% tipper, but the cost of goods in a restaurant/bar has exceeded good sense. The establishment needs to pay its wait people more. If they add that to the cost of the food/drink, so be it, but I find the American system of tipping to be intimidating. People overtip, because they fear someone will think less of them, not because the service was worth the extra.

[harhar]

For me bars are different. Always $1 a drink. Drinks are freaking expensive and one of the reasons why I haven't been to a bar (willingly) in the past 4 years.

[Chowhound]

Originally Posted by Sunnydee

Where I live in the Midwest, the normal tip is 15% of the total bill for average service and more than that for excellent service. If the service is deplorable you can leave little or no tip.

What you must understand is that wait staff in th US are not even paid minimum wage. Their hourly rate is laughable. The bulk of their earnings comes from their tips, so should you decide not to tip that wait person will suffer financially.

I wish we had a flat 10% added to the bill, like you do in the UK, because it would save me a lot of money, but we don't so tipping is necessary.

I tip people but I often wonder why me, as a diner has to make up for the employers lack of pay for their staff.

You know what I mean. It's not the waiters fault, but jeez give a break. I don't expect my customers to hand me a tip for doing my job.

I know that they rely on the tips I'm just questioning the whole system.