43 replies to this topic

[Mike in STL]

I do tip well having been in the industry a long time. Extra if you seem like a genuine person, bartender who will chat you up, server who isn't a robot and simply seems like they like what they do. I'll tip even more if I can see that you are extremely busy, even if that makes your service less than what it could be. I've been there. 

 

If every time my server comes by and they have their hands full, or are stopping at other tables in the area too, I'll go up to 30% if they just get the order right and it comes out hot. It will make up for the guy that tips 10% because the server wasn't on top of their every little tiny unnecessary need, and complains because their food is taking too long despite it being dinner rush on a Saturday night. 

 

Now if the place is slow, I never see you, I have to flag you down because your off chatting with co-workers, then it goes down because there is no excuse. 

 

Bottom line in service, if you can't tip 20% for good service, go get fast food.

 

Delivery I do about 15%, couple bucks more if it is nasty weather like the chart says. Carry out 10% because you're not really like getting me drinks, checking on me, but you do have to box it all up which is more annoying than it sounds, having done it. 

 

I'll give a few bucks to the baggage handlers at the airport now. Only the ones outside seem to take tips. I look at it as a few bucks so I don't have to stand in the long ass line inside because the outside guys hustle and get people on their way. And if you don't tip them, maybe your bags end up in Seattle when you were going to Miami. Maybe your bags get handled with less care than normal. Maybe not though, don't want to find out. 

[Mackus]

Absolutely agree that places I visit regularly get larger tips.  They are also get a ton of insulation against a bad experience. 

 

In general something bad happening during my meal won't impact the tip I give as long as the server makes an attempt to fix it.  If my order gets screwed up, or they forget something, or it takes a long time...if they fix it quickly or offer something to make up for a long wait I'll tip just as much as if nothing ever went wrong.  Fixing a mistake to my satisfaction is often more impressive to me than mistake-free service.

[Nigel Tufnel]

Does anyone follow Mike Tunison (Christmas Ape) on Twitter?  He seems to think that you should give movers huge tips.  In other news, he's a mover.  

[Mike in STL]

Does anyone follow Mike Tunison (Christmas Ape) on Twitter?  He seems to think that you should give movers huge tips.  In other news, he's a mover.  

I would have to agree. I've never had the luxury of hiring a mover. But moving sucks and when would I ask friends to help I basically "tip" them in pizza and beer. 

[BobPhelan]

20% and round up.

[mweb08]

20+ percent.

[RShack]

20% for competent service

 

25% for good service  (it might be more than 25% at an affordable restaurant, but not at a big-bucks restaurants)...

 

I leave less than 20% for bad service, together with a short note on the credit card slip explaining why and what needs fixing...  twice I've had a manager catch me on my way out the door to thank me for bothering to do that ("nobody can fix something if they don't know what's wrong")

 

how much below 20% depends on how bad it was.

[Mackus]

Does anyone not include alcohol and tax in the amount they tip on?

 

I don't know of anyone who does that, but that phrasing exists ("assuming you don't tip on tax or alcohol...") so some people must.

[Mackus]

Does anyone take their dog to a daycare place or use a dog walker?  If so, do you tip them at Christmas time?

 

I've never utilized any services I have felt the need to give out Christmas tips to.  No landscapers, home cleaners, etc.  I keep a couple nice bottles of beer to give to the mail carrier and garbage men if I can catch them around Christmas time.  But I've now got a dog and we take him to dog daycare, is that a thing where you tip a bunch around Christmas time?  How much?

[Mackus]

Does anyone follow Mike Tunison (Christmas Ape) on Twitter?  He seems to think that you should give movers huge tips.  In other news, he's a mover.  

 

If I hired a large moving company (not Mayflower, of course) I would tip the actual workers who come to do the moving.

 

If I hired a guy and his two pals to move me, and they aren't kicking up to some corporate entity, I wouldn't tip them.  They're getting all the money I'm paying already.

[RShack]

Does anyone not include alcohol and tax in the amount they tip on?

 

I don't know of anyone who does that, but that phrasing exists ("assuming you don't tip on tax or alcohol...") so some people must.

 

I don';t tip on the tax.

 

I remember that the rule of thumb used to be that you don't tip on alcohol, but I've never followed that...

[RShack]

If I hired a large moving company (not Mayflower, of course) I would tip the actual workers who come to do the moving.

 

If I hired a guy and his two pals to move me, and they aren't kicking up to some corporate entity, I wouldn't tip them.  They're getting all the money I'm paying already.

 

 

I tipped movers once... when I was moving back from Palo Alto, the outfit that was recommended to me consisted of a bunch of Mexicans doing the work and an Israeli guy running the crew...  those guys busted ass like I'd never seen... full speed all day long, but very very careful in how they went about it... I was exhausted just watching them... the Israeli guy told me when they were about to take "an hour" for lunch... they took 20 minutes... and twice they took "15 minute" breaks... both breaks lasted less than 10 minutes... nobody rushed them, they did that themselves... I'd never seen anything like it... I gave each guy $30... they seems absolutely thrilled...

 

That experience, plus a couple other experiences with Mexican laborers down here, left me very impressed.... they bust tail getting things done, and they did it all the right way... based on those experiences, I'd rather hire Mexicans than anybody else... 

[The Epic]

Random aside question. 

 

Do you ever NOT tip? Like, was there a time at a restaurant where you completely refused to tip? Why?

[NewMarketSean]

Random aside question. 

 

Do you ever NOT tip? Like, was there a time at a restaurant where you completely refused to tip? Why?

Has to be a disaster for that to happen. Usually those are not the fault of the waiter. So if it is something outside of their control, I'll still tip, maybe not as much. Now if the waiter is directly responsible, you're getting a minuscule tip or no tip.

[Mike in STL]

Does anyone not include alcohol and tax in the amount they tip on?

 

I don't know of anyone who does that, but that phrasing exists ("assuming you don't tip on tax or alcohol...") so some people must.

I tip on the full amount. 

[Mike in STL]

Actually you should tip on alcohol and tax. Servers have to give a % of their tips at the end of the shift to the bartenders who make the drinks, the bussers who clean and reset the table, the expo who garnishes and trays up, sometimes runs the food to you. The amount they have to give out is based on total sales which includes alcohol and tax. Typically if they make exactly 20% on every check, they are taking home about 15-17% depending on the establishment's rules. 

[You Play to Win the Game]

Random aside question. 

 

Do you ever NOT tip? Like, was there a time at a restaurant where you completely refused to tip? Why?

Yep. This one bar is just awful... and I mean awful. Sometimes I still have to go because of random events/friends, etc. Recently, it took over an hour for the food to get there (because she kept forgetting to enter in the order)... wasn't getting refills, etc. Straight up couldn't track her down for over 45 minutes looking for the check. Was there for over 3 hours and had like 2 drinks. I left. Not only didn't I tip, but since she refused to give me my check, I assumed it was on the house. Eff it.

 

No they weren't slammed. It wasn't the Super Bowl, World Cup, March Madness, etc. Those events I tend to be a little more understanding of. But not sheer incompetence and laziness.

[McNulty]

Mack, yes to the pet walker Christmas tip. Gift cards work well there

[Mike in STL]

Random aside question. 

 

Do you ever NOT tip? Like, was there a time at a restaurant where you completely refused to tip? Why?

Only once. Years ago at a pizza hut apparently our server just left in the middle of a shift. Got our drinks, took our order. Never saw her again. Pizza didn't come out for about 20 minutes which was odd. When it got to 30 I grabbed a manager as he came by, we needed refills, explained we hadn't seen our server. He brought us refills, said our ticket must have gotten lost, but they started making it right away. He was then looking around for the server. Couldn't find her. We asked for the pizza to go, just wanted to leave. He brought it in a box, said they were taking care of our check for the inconvenience ,and they still have no ida where the server was. So we just left. 

 

The only other time I thought about not tipping at all was a few years back my buddy rented the room at Green Turtle in Owings Mills for a fantasy football draft. It was about 15 of us there on a slow Sunday afternoon. We're all ready to drink beers and eat junk food for 3 hours. Run up quite a hefty bill. We would have done just that, if the server attended to us at all. I think in 3 hours she checked on us 3 times. Our checks were about 1/3 what they could have been. And the rest of the place was a ghost town. No excuse. The only annoying thing we did was have 15 separate checks. But with the amount of time we were going to be there, and some of us having been servers before and being more than patient, it shouldn't have been a problem. The manager even came in at the end and was less than apologetic. He dropped off 15, $10 "turtle bucks" and was like "hope you come back again."

 

As she started bringing the checks and people were paying them, she never got mine. I waited and waited, and everyone else had paid and started leaving. She was starting to clean up the room so I said "did everyone pay?" She said "yep". I chuckled and gave her $10. Since I got probably $25 worth for free. But I probably would not have given much if anything if she brought me a check. 

 

Everyone else left the "turtle bucks" saying they were never coming back. I scooped those up to. Bad food and bad service, but I drank $150 worth of beer over the next few trips there. Used to live a stones throw away from there so it wasn't out of my way. 

[mweb08]

Does anyone not include alcohol and tax in the amount they tip on?

 

I don't know of anyone who does that, but that phrasing exists ("assuming you don't tip on tax or alcohol...") so some people must.

 

I've never heard of the alcohol part, but the tax part seems common and actually makes sense.