Tipping! LOL (reduce, price, calculate, paying)

[Lacerta]

Originally Posted by brocco

yea and its usually the people ordering the cheapest items who also make you work the hardest. think 4 refills of the free bread baskets, extra sauces/trips for everything, and constant complaints to try to get things taken off their menu . all for three dollars if you're lucky. the well-mannered table who knows to tip 15-20% is also not as likely to be a pain in the ass. the easiest tables are going to tip the most- they know they are picking up for others' slack. life isn't fair lol

^This

Other things are the same way though. Think about a real estate agent. You pay a 3% commission (or thereabout) to your agent regardless of the price of the house you buy. Yet the buyers of the cheapest houses are nearly always the most work. The people buying the most expensive houses are usually the least work. And some people you work with never buy anything (the equivalent of not leaving a tip). If life were fair and it were based on the amount of work the transaction took, more expensive sales would pay a smaller commission, maybe 1%, and the cheaper sales would pay more like a 10% commission. But it doesn't work that way.

It probably would be more equitable to have a complicated mathematical formula where the tip is based on the number of trips to the table by the waiter, the number of people at the table, the length of time you stay in the restaurant, the length of time you wait for food or for a refill, etc. But who wants to figure all that out every time they go to the restaurant? A percentage is easier to figure.

[annerk]

Originally Posted by strawberrykiki

I would imagine people ordering 600 dollar bottles of champagnes would be celebrities, pro athletes, politicians, etc. basically people who it wouldn't break their budget to tip 120 bucks. It isn't really about what someone deserves - I can see not tipping if someone doesn't do their job well, but the price of going out to eat includes tipping. If you can't tip 20% then stay home and serve yourself. If they do their job then they deserve to be paid the 20% tip. That's just how it is, it doesn't matter if it didn't take more effort for them to bring you surf and turf then it did a side salad.

Bottom line, a good sommelier or server with proper training in wine service will save you more than what the 20% tip is by steering you in the right direction with their knowledge.

Recently I went to dinner with some friends, and long story short a waiter ended up ruining $500 worth of wine that had been brought along as a BYOB due to faulty service. A sommelier would not have handled the wine the way the server handled it, and would have been worth a $100 tip to not ruin a hard to come by bottle of wine.

[City Guy997S]

New Years Eve 2012- Got invited to a neighbors house but food looked like it was going to be pizza/appetizers. We were hungry so we decided to eat first and stopped at a local sushi/hibachi place. We have been patrons at a couple of the owner's restaurants and are on a first name basis with most of the staff from busboys to management. We have had 3 memorable events here ($1,000+ nights) in recent years, even our friends are familiar with the place. Also note those $1000 nights probably should have cost me $1500 or better from what was consumed vs. what we paid for.

If I eat hibachi, chef gets a $20 tip, waiters get 25-30%......But then again my kids have flipped eggs on the table, cooked behind the grill at times. Chef knows what everyone likes, the meat selected is always top notch (I never get a fatty piece of anything) and it is always cooked to perfection without ever asking how we like it since we go there often.

So NYE 2012, we decide to eat there (lots of tables, should be no problem).....oops forgot lots of people go there for NYE. Walked in, heard the people in front of us get told 45mins-1hr. We are party of two (easy to squeeze in at a hibachi table that seats 8-10) and hibachi is usually mixed in with other people anyway.

We are not in the building 3 minutes, hostess just turned, smiled and said......Your table is ready right here despite a packed house with 30+ people waiting! We were eating in 15 mintues and gone from start to finish in 45 tops. We actually passed the couple that we were behind in line on the way out the door (we were leaving, they were just getting seated).

Now if I spent a few extra bucks over the course of the year it was clearly worth it that night. Would that have happened to the 10% tipper......never. If I am going out to dinner, I am overpaying for everything from a beer to dessert so why cheat the working guy/girl for $5-7 bucks (10% vs. 20%). After all I can get a 6 pack at Walmart for almost what a single beer costs at a bar and can get a whole cake/pie at a grocery store for what a slice costs at a restaurant.......but isn't that true with everything in life (mechanic, landscaping, house cleaning, etc)

[English Dave]

Here is something that puzzles me with tipping. The first time I visited America, the expected tip was 15%. These days, according to this thread, the expected amount is about 20%.

If, with inflation, meals go up in price, the tip also goes up. So why the increase in the expected percentage?

What next...... 25%? 30%? Tip same as the meal cost? Just askin........

[NJBest]

Originally Posted by English Dave

Here is something that puzzles me with tipping. The first time I visited America, the expected tip was 15%. These days, according to this thread, the expected amount is about 20%.

If, with inflation, meals go up in price, the tip also goes up. So why the increase in the expected percentage?

What next...... 25%? 30%? Tip same as the meal cost? Just askin........

Don't listen to the percentages in this thread. It's all in their heads.

[packer43064]

Originally Posted by English Dave

Here is something that puzzles me with tipping. The first time I visited America, the expected tip was 15%. These days, according to this thread, the expected amount is about 20%.

If, with inflation, meals go up in price, the tip also goes up. So why the increase in the expected percentage?

What next...... 25%? 30%? Tip same as the meal cost? Just askin........

We just throw in $5 to $6 bucks, but we don't go anywhere fancy. Say 40 bucks tops. Screw the 20% or something. We don't ask for anything special. All they do is order and fill the drinks once, the don't need a lot of money for that.

[Gatornation]

I tip 20% and I value the service at about 5% unless I am eating at a high end restaurant.

[goldengrain]

Originally Posted by English Dave

Here is something that puzzles me with tipping. The first time I visited America, the expected tip was 15%. These days, according to this thread, the expected amount is about 20%.

If, with inflation, meals go up in price, the tip also goes up. So why the increase in the expected percentage?

What next...... 25%? 30%? Tip same as the meal cost? Just askin........

Good question.
How does the general increase in the tipping percentage get determined? Who starts the rumor that that is the amount to tip?
Maybe most of us get salary increases on top of cost of living increases and the wait staff gets nothing extra from the establishment that they work for?

Do the food editors in papers and magazines just get together and determine that this is a good thing?

Who knows the answer to this?

[Gatornation]

Being served at a restaurant is way over valued if you ask me. I think you will see more places go away from it to lower the customers overall cost. Unless it is a fancy restaurant that value added is not great.

[Tober138]

Originally Posted by strawberrykiki

I would imagine people ordering 600 dollar bottles of champagnes would be celebrities, pro athletes, politicians, etc. basically people who it wouldn't break their budget to tip 120 bucksthe price of going out to eat includes tipping. If you can't tip 20% then stay home and serve yourself. If they do their job then they deserve to be paid the 20% tip. That's just how it is, it doesn't matter if it didn't take more effort for them to bring you surf and turf then it did a side salad.

I totally agree that tipping is part of the price of eating out - can't afford it, don't do it. I always tip well and fully expect my tip at, say, Capital Grille, will be a lot higher than at a Fridays.

But, sorry, at some point, there are some limitations involved that are not all that unreasonable when it comes to drinks. For me, 20% on a bottle of wine stops at $100 for the bottle. $50 bottle will equate to $10 when adding the tip. $100 bottle = $20. But a $150 bottle still equates to $20 included in the tip. At the end of the day, the server is retrieving and pouring that bottle of wine, no matter how much the actual cost / markup.

Same with a cocktail at the bar - If I order an $6-$8 Jameson's on the rocks, I'll typically toss down a $2 tip. If its more expensive whiskey ($15-$20), it will likely still be $2. Grab bottle of shelf, fill glass with ice, pour whiskey into glass. A 30-second service and then the bartender moves on. The price of what went into the glass is moot.