How much should I tips? (live, restaurants, bars)

[rich renter]

so the % tip keeps going up, how long before it gets to being 50%? How about these restraunts actually pay there staff more instead of continually putting up the % tip. Also I dont understand why someone would tip if the service was poor.

[Fauxhawk1]

A few points:

1) Servers where I'm from make $2.13 an hour plus tips - and I know my state isn't the only one to have waitress wages set so abnormally low.

2) Servers have to tip out the bus staff, food runner/expo staff, in some restaraunt even the bartender (all of whom will make below minimum wage).

3) Assuming this is even a mediocre restaraunt, a server will have to claim his/her tips for the evening before they can clock out for the night (and before a manager will go over their receipts/credit card slips/etc.). Tip money is anything but tax-free.

4) If the service is poor, it should be taken up with the management before you leave so the problem is addressed. And don't blame the server for something that clearly wasn't their fault and don't ask other employees, like the bus staff or host/hostesses, to do something that is not within their job description.

Working in a restaraunt is hard work at most places and very few people CHOOSE to do it. Keep that in mind when you are being a particularly difficult customer. Also keep in mind employees you pissed off have total access to the food you are about to eat and can tamper with it and you will never know it.

[Johnny Davis]

I tend to tip at least 20%. I leave a business card with my tip, so anything less than 20% is bad business for me.

[AONE]

I tend to fall in the 15-20 normally favoring the 20% range.

[annerk]

I leave 20% for good service. If the service is terrific, I leave 25%. I tip on the entire check including and tax, and if we BYOB we always add in a tip on the retail (not restaurant) value of the wine.

[Parrotrosie]

My Dad is a bartender....I have always tipped at the 20% plus mark

Unless of course the service really really is terrible!! Then 15-18% begrudingly - and that is usually very rare.

[mrFlaBound]

I like to tip 20% , unless the service just flat out doesn't deserve it..i've never heard of only 10% for lunch..its still a meal that they are serving, and to be honest, usually 20% isn't as tough to swallow since it may be cheaper as well

[kyle19125]

20% is the new standard and for excellent service 25% should probably be the norm since 18%-20% is now average for most good servers.

[annerk]

Originally Posted by LeafsFan85

20% Wow! i guess i haven't been eating out much lately
I remember a long long time ago working in 4 season hotel the wait staff don't really care much about the actual hourly wages, they only care about the tips, some night they bring home $400-$600 a night Tax free.
BTW: the hardest working guy/girl in the restaurant is not the wait staff, it's the busboy, they also get paid very little and no direct tips from the customer.

Tips are not tax free. In fact now anything tips paid for by credit card is reported to the IRS (ie taxable) and around 10% of all checks paid with cash are automatically reported, whether a tip was left or not.

So those who stiff the server or are cheap-o's actually cost the server money. The server will still be taxed as if they were tipped. It's become such a serious problem with wait staff in certain Orlando areas due to foreign tourists who either don't tip as part of their culture or are just cheap because they know they'll never be back that many establishments are putting tips onto checks automatically, and a guest would have to speak to a manager to have it removed.

By the way, I'm from "up north" and have never heard 10% for lunch and 15% for dinner. Well, not since the 1960's anyhow.

[beckycat]

10%, I don't remember that being the case anywhere The standard that I'm aware of is 15%. I always tip at least 20% and even more if the service is better.

You have to remember, these people get paid pennies per hour. They rely and live on tips. I was a waitress when I was younger and trust me tips are important.