Is tipping really about rewarding good services? If it is, why is it not some absolute dollar amount but a percentage of the bill? Why should, for example, a waiter who provided good service at a less expensive restaurant earn less in tips than someone who provided poorer service at a more expensive restaurant?
Or is it tipping really about avoiding paying taxes for both the employee and the employer (who has to pay employer’s portion of FICA taxes)?
Yes it is about rewarding service. And no not about avoiding wages. Not in the credit card era.
My brother in law is a doorman at a hotel in Vegas. His base is $13 or $15 an hour but his w2 is like $50k. Granted he makes more so yes there’s some of what you say.
I don’t know why we tip where other countries don’t. Not sure why it started.
But it’s to reward good service Some May avoid taxes but that’s not its purpose.
I often wondered y the fancy steakhouse person gets more than the waitress at Waffle House but that’s how it is and I know up front.
I tip more than 20% when it’s exceptional. Like Flemings. Always top rate service. My iced tea glass is never empty.
Like many things in life - it’s really just a societal norm that I’ve grown up into. It’s no different than religion or other unknowns. You just believe because you were taught this is the right way.
Servers in more expensive restaurants have more experience, fewer table (so fewer tips), so they can do their jobs better. Cheaper restaurants have more tables to turn over, more frequently, so focus is on speed, not great service. Many restaurants hire those with a lack of experience for positions like hostesses, cashiers, bus boys and dishwashers, and they move their way up to serving positions, where there is more $ to make.
I just checked, only 8 states have tipped positions making minimum wage, only 2 are $15+, so I think there isn’t much worry about overtipping servers since the vast majority are getting a lower wage.
At businesses where tipping is expected, there’s almost a universal preference for cash (or cash-like) tips. For young people who don’t keep cash in their pockets, paying tips using Venmo has become expected at many places.
I keep singles - like for the fast casual type. For full service always credit card.
A place in Naples FL bothered me. I actually left $2 on the cc (fast casual) and I hear the guy at the counter tell another customer they don’t get CC tips - the owner uses them to get them to $15 an hour. Total horse poop…and illegal i’m sure.
So I do realize - that not everyone does the right thing. But full serve restaurants - I mean, $100 in cash lasts me two months so i’m not tipping servers in cash and I imagine few are.
My hotel room - $2 a night for a generic one - so they get cash 
Here are the tipping changes we’ve made.
Sit down restaurant- 20% same as always.
Ordering food for takeout - no tip. During Covid we did, but no more.
Counter services - no tip, unless I use cash and then I usually dump the change in the tip jar.
My 19 year old, who works so he can eat out, tips 20%. But for the first time he encountered a waitperson with an attitude about a table of young adults who I guess he thought wouldn’t tip well or he was annoyed because no alcohol was being ordered? It was the first time he tipped less because of bad service and he felt guilty. I told him no one is “owed” 20% or any tip.
Can someone be charged? Would this constitute some sort of simple assault?
From a food safety stance, it certainly is verboten. I wonder if the spitter would be legally culpable.
At least in some places. Unfortunately, it’s a reality. I’m not sure common but it definitely happens - they have videos of it. But a lot happens in the kitchen we don’t see. Chemicals near food. Re-made food maybe just re-used. Stuff falls on the floor and is still used.
That’s the stuff you don’t see. The one i hate is - when thumbs are on my plate or on the inside of my drink glass.
Then there’s the salt shakers - who knows how many kid’s mouths those have been in?
I could see it going down this way:
First time into the restaurant, Mr. Miserly does not enjoy his meal, service, whatever. So he doesn’t tip. The cooks did not know that Mr. Miserly would not tip, so there was no spit.
Mr. Miserly decides to give the place another shot, so he comes in the next night. Someone aware that he did not tip lets the kitchen staff know that he is back. Mr. Miserly’s burger is served with a little extra something in the mayo.
Mr. Miserly notices and raises holy hell, calls the manager over, calls the cops. “There’s a loogie on my burger! They’re trying to give me Covid!”
Would cops respond to that call?
yes they would.
I once stiffed an outback while traveling. I don’t know how i knew. I wrote the tip on my copy but not theirs.i had a feeling i guess. I called the next day and asked. And they said - yes, we noticed you didn’t tip. But they were like accidents happen, thanks for calling. I now check both copies like 10 times b4 i leave…i’m fearful of that happening again.
I asked to pay via cc. They said I couldn’t…had to buy something.
Two weeks later - I drove 90 mins out of my way to eat there. I found the server. Explained the issue. Gave her $20 and apologized and she served me that night and gave me free desert.
Just be a decent human being…that’s the main thing with tipping.
Remember when Uber first started and one of the attractions was that you were not expected to tip?
Remember when 10% was considered a good tip? And slowly during my adulthood, it edged its way up to the point where most of you consider 20% to be required. When did that happen?
I think that many of us wanted to support those who had to work where they were face-to-face with people during the pandemic and also wanted to support those whose service industry was impacted by the pandemic so we tipped big, but now we wonder if this is the new normal and if it is sustainable.
I used to tip the housekeeping staff in hotels, but when there is no service during my stay, I don’t. I really think cleaning the rooms between guests should be covered by my room cost even though I know the maids’ jobs are horrible.
So I do wonder how we advocate for living wages for everyone. And yet, when I listen to economists and investment people, it quickly becomes apparent that our system is built on keeping some people poor and/or unemployed.
I am cutting back on how much I tip when I get takeout, but I still tip something because the servers do have to put some time into boxing up my food.
If a required service charge is added to my bill I will not add an additional tip.
A restaurant near me has added a 3% service charge to every bill. In small print on the menu it says “if you don’t want to pay this fee, please tell your server.” It seems so dishonest and creepy to me. They started it during Covid but never stopped. They also no longer have bargain lunch portions, which I do understand. Costs have gone up. Lunch is now $20 plus there. But this 3% did not go to the server so I now ask for it to be removed and tip as I normally would. I usually do 20% unless service is noticeably terrible (never had that experience in this place). I don’t think our servers here make minimum wage (though unsure if that has changed recently). I really like this restaurant and don’t want it to fold so even though I think this is a dubious practice I have not stopped eating there.
Question - how much do you tip for pizza delivery? A percentage? A dollar amount? If ordering only 1-2 pizzas the percentage is low. But it is not more time or effort for the driver to deliver four or more pizzas. So should they receive the same amount? I am always stumped by this because I don’t wish to be cheap, but also they now charge a $4 delivery fee at most places. which they claim is NOT a tip. So, I am curious how others see this. My S delivered pizza one winter so I feel their pain a bit more than I did before. Places like Dominos have such low sale prices now that a percentage of the bill is pretty paltry. What do you think is fair nowadays?
I don’t do delivery - in part for this reason. I just don’t know. Plus don’t like strangers at the front door.
The fee may be for gas or wear and tear Maybe they pay a mileage fee.
I tip a few bucks typically – call it $2 - $5 depending on the size of the order.
(That’s on pizza delivery orders – I tip more at restaurants, usually around 20-30%.)
Here is Southern California we have many restaurants that add a 3% to 5% service charge that says it’s to pay servers a living wage. Personally I don’t like this. If you need to pay staff more then just raise the price of your food. If a dish was $15 then raise it to $17 or $18, but get rid of the service charge.
I never tip less than $5, sometimes I only tip 10% if it’s a pricier order and coming from .3 miles away (there is zero parking there, I always pay online including tip and ask for it to b left on the porch).
$15 an hour and $13 an hour is not very much. Restaurants should pay more. Is your child living at home and being supported by parents? Maybe the person making $15 an hour is trying to support themselves…
If I can’t afford to tip, I can’t afford to eat out. I don’t care how much they make, I tip based on good service.
My D worked at a place that paid $13.00 an hour. She still tipped and if she couldn’t afford to tip she didn’t eat out. Of course she was lucky, that she lived at home and we paid for most of her expenses. She wasn’t trying to support herself on that salary.
But to each their own I guess.
I went to a local pizzeria this week. It was counter service and I bussed my own table. When I paid, on the screen I was given options of tips - next to 15%, it said, “Good.” “Great!” was next to 20% and “Wow!” was next to 25%. That was really off-putting. I chose 15% but now kind of wish I’d said zero.
I have one for the group. Let’s say you go to a Sonic. For those that might not know Sonic is a Car Hop place. You pull in to a parking spot place your order on an intercom. Then a Car Hop brings you your food. They used to do it on roller skates.
Should you tip them?
Does this change if you order through the app and pick up in a parking spot?