Tips tips!

[tzikeh]

The tip poll--and only a week late!

This is a U.S.-centric poll. Tipping in the U.S. is very different from tipping in Europe; the results would be hopelessly skewed if it were a poll that included all nations. (I don't know if Canada's tipping etiquette is just like the U.S.; if it is, feel free to join in!)

If you find it interesting, please point friends in this direction.



[Poll #1439233]

Comments

[kerri]

The etiquette may be the same in some ways, but I wouldn't regard tipping as 'necessary' as it is in the US. I don't think there's a single province that allows waiters/waitresses to be tipped less than minimum wage because they're expected to make it up in tips, a practice I understand is common in the US?

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

waiters/waitresses are commonly paid less than minimum wage because tips are 100% expected and are therefore considered part of their income, yes.

[isagel.livejournal.com]

As a person born, raised and living in a country where you barely tip at all (I routinely leave a tip in restaurants where you get served at the table, and I may tell a cab driver to keep the change), I'm obviously not participating in the poll, but I will keep an eye on it, because I find US tipping customs hugely intimidating, and fully expect to get it wrong and be hated on when I eventually take a trip across the pond.

[ellen-fremedon.livejournal.com]

*I* find US tipping customs hugely intimidating, and I've lived here all my life.

[misachan.livejournal.com]

Between reading Nickel and Dimed and my future sister-in-law having worked in the hotel industry I always tip hotel cleaners. Talk about people who don't make enough money for what they're required to put up with. And I can't imagine not tipping food delivery people; if we have enough for the pizza but not the tip we just don't order. It's just not done.

I over-tip cab drivers, but that's mostly because getting out of a cab is not when I want to be figuring out percentages.:)

[katrimae.livejournal.com]

My dad, rest his soul, was probably one of the worst tippers in the world and I think I may be overcompensating in an attempt to improve the family karma but I tend to start at 20% and go up from there if the service was really good or if I'm eating with people like my sister who can be, to put it tactfully, slightly persnickity.

[amilyn.livejournal.com]

Yeah...I kind of feel like I'm making up for people who are, in my view, stingy about tipping. And I'm usually with a talkative group...and/or a group with masses of food allergies/aversions, so...I figure it's well-earned.

Cute furries in your icon!

[lunaris1013.livejournal.com]

99% of the tipping I do is for food (delivery and table service) and haircuts. Table service is 15% for adequate service, 20% for good service. The pizza guy gets $2 ($3 or $4 if the weather is nasty) and my stylist gets $5 for each $13.00 haircut.

The best tippers I've known are people that have worked service jobs (also the people that will tip cash instead of adding it to the plastic) and some of the worst are those that have lived a privileged life, regardless of their current income.

[jackiekjono.livejournal.com]

"and some of the worst are those that have lived a privileged life, regardless of their current income."

Tell me about it. Those people don't want to pay for anything. (Billing clerk for a childcare program.)

[lynnmonster.livejournal.com]

The only services you listed that I did not indicate that I tip for are services that I have never used. (If I HAD a maid, you can rest assured that I would tip him/her.)

[lynnmonster.livejournal.com]

Oh, and while I don't feel a brief stint at McCrory's Snack Bar in high school qualified me to answer affirmatively that I've worked in the service industry, I married my bartender, so my awareness is high. *g*

[mecurtin.livejournal.com]

The base tip I currently give is 15%. When our children were young we tipped 20% *at least*, because small children eat less but make more trouble for the waitrons.

[lydiabell.livejournal.com]

Yes, we tip more when we take N out. She's very good, and we try to cause as little havoc as possible, but things happen.

[settiai]

I'll admit, after spending the last five years working as a waitress, I've started tipping a lot more when I actually go somewhere. After you get your first few paychecks where you're only paid $2.20 an hour without tips, it tends to make you rethink just how much you want to leave.

[quatre_k.livejournal.com]

I also always tip Casino workers, Dealers,Floor Attendants,Cage Cashiers, Bingo Runners {I work in a casino}

[amilyn.livejournal.com]

I didn't check several boxes due to not using those services (like housemaid, doorman, etc.).

I'm adamant about tipping well in restaurants since servers don't get paid EVEN minimum wage. I think the U.S. should follow Europe's example and pay servers a living wage (with the concommitant increase in prices) and have tipping be for excellence. In lieu of that...well...I'll be tipping.

[movies-michelle.livejournal.com]

I always tip a base of 15% to waitstaff. If the service was particularly cheerful--or they seem particularly harried by people at other tables--I'll go to 20% or up. I think a server would have to be outright insulting for me to tip under 15%. The only time I can think of that I didn't give a tip involved the absolute worst table service in the history of ever, and I still felt slightly bad about it.

I figure that it's not a job I've ever had, it's not a job I've ever wanted, it sucks, and they get paid jack. I don't want to be the person that ruins their day.

My dad is pretty bad about tipping, mostly because I think he just doesn't think about it. He always leaves something, but up until a couple of years ago, it was always $3. Didn't matter what the bill was, didn't matter how the service was: $3, without fail. I finally went to throw down more money once because he was leaving his usual $3 on a $40+ check. He didn't seem to know anything about the 15-20% or even doubling the tax. I felt bad because I really embarrassed him, but he also seems to be tipping more now.

And, you know, he's not cheap! Not really! I tried to buy them breakfast one Father's Day, and they both hit the roof. So I think it's got to be a generational/regional thing or something.

[shayheyred.livejournal.com]

I often overtip, and always am aware of tipping, because I have had so many friends who earned a living being waiters and bartenders while trying to become actors. I do not feel it is necessary to tip someone who has been overly rude or unhelpful, and the group of people who most often fit into the "not tipped or undertipped" category for me are taxi drivrs. I have withheld a tip more than once, or made it very small, and have been cursed soundly on occasion. Once my friend and I were followed out of a restaurant by a waitress who we'd tipped at just under 15% for getting the order wrong, being rude when we told her (nicely), talking to her friends while our corrected order sat in the pickup window and never bringing us our drinks. We should have stiffed her, but I do acknowledge that no one makes a living from a waitress' salary.

[ginamak.livejournal.com]

I did say that I would undertip for poor service, but to me that generally means 15% instead of 20%. Only once have I left less than 15%, and that was when we were completely abandoned by our waiter and, after waiting 45 minutes for the check, had to find a manager to get it.

My sister's been told that you can always spot a girl from New Orleans, because they always overtip. I suspect that's because we're not good at math thanks to our crappy school system, and 20% is easier to figure out. XD

[deaver.livejournal.com]

As I live in a relatively small city (21,000 people, roughly) a lot of the services you would tip for in bigger cities don't exist here like: other than pizza we have no delivery, we have no cab service, no doormen, etc.. Of the things I do tip for (restuarant service, hair stylist, massage therapist, etc..) I tip based on a couple of things;

For resturants, I generally give a minimum $2.00 tip - even if 15% would only be a dollar and some change. Above $2.00 I tip around 15% - 18% depending on service quality. I rarely go above 18% - it's just not expected around here, when the average tipper leaves 10%. If the service or food is horrible I tip, but usually leave a not nice note and I tell EVERYONE about the poor quality - in a small city word of mouth is the most powerful tool ever.

For hair stylist, I usually just give a flat $15 tip, regardless of the service, as hair cuts around here don't really cost much. (I get a cut and color for less than $80.) It's pretty much the same with massage therapist - I generally leave a flat $15 as it's easier than calculating the tip.

It's interesting the vareties in etiquette.

[kerri]

They didn't have a cab service for a city of 21 000 people?? Really??

[lydiabell.livejournal.com]

OK, what the hell *is* the standard, expected tip for food delivery?

My spouse used to be a pizza delivery driver 15-20 years ago, and he tipped (and thought it was reasonable when he got tipped this way) by rounding the cost of the pizza up to the nearest dollar and then adding another dollar.

In later years, we increased this to two extra dollars, and then when gas prices went up we increased it more, but the online service we use to order food suggests 15-20% (which they calculate *after* adding tax, delivery charge, and service charge) and ... I dunno. Is that really standard now?

[cereta.livejournal.com]

I give about 10% on delivery.

[quatre_k.livejournal.com]

I tip Ten for my hair {since my cut is only twenty I figure thats ok} 25% for food at least a dollar for every drink if they are mixed unless I'm only getting one then I tip like 3 dollars. Fifty cents for every beer unless it's a cocktail waitress then I tip a dollar for every beer. A dollar per coffee at the coffee house. I also always tip Casino workers, Dealers,Floor Attendants,Cage Cashiers, Bingo Runners and that depends on the amount of money won

[carbonel]

I would tip a newspaper deliverer at the holidays if I had one, but I don't tip the mail carrier. I don't view them as the same category.

[cereta.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure they're not supposed to accept tips anyway - not cash, at least.

[carbonel]

Oh, and the time I get told off for undertipping wasn't all that public, I guess. I live fairly close to the airport, and the taxi driver who took me home complained that my (otherwise perfectly reasonable, IMO) tip didn't make up for the fact that he'd had to wait three hours at the airport before he got me as a fare.

Since then, I don't generally tip taxi drivers all that much more when I'm going home from the airport, but I do apologize that it's it a short run. There's something wrong with the airport taxi system, I think.

[pocketmouse]

I checked for the services I use. If I used a lot of those other services, I'd probably tip for them too. The only ones that surprise me as being on there are hotel cleaning staff and mail carriers. The first is one of those ones that I never thought about, but after reflection makes sense, and the second I only heard about last year, and I've heard varying impressions to the legality of it. Someone said that they're not allowed to accept monetary tips. o_0

Oh, and I used to tip taxi drivers in order to round up, and I sometimes still do, but I live in DC, and while we were on the 'zone' system, a ride home could cost $40. Now that we're on meters, it costs $16. I think you can see why I didn't tip on the zone system.

[reginagiraffe]

Is Baltimore a major or minor metropolis?

I only checked the services I've actually used. There are some services I've never used but if I did use them, I would tip.

ETA: I'm also especially likely to leave a good tip if I know I'm going to be back there frequently.

[cereta.livejournal.com]

Couple of additions:
For good service, I frequently leave a note on my receipt rather than actually talk to the manager.

Also, I overtip for decent service in two situations: when I'm out by myself for Mom's night out and hang out an extra 20 minutes reading, and when I'm out with the small person and she shares my food or makes a mess. Well, okay, that second one is sometimes influenced by whether the server is nice to her ;). I don't expect people to gush, but I once had a server ignore her entirely when she was saying, "Hi!" I still tipped decently, but didn't add my usual OMG CHILD extra.

[sanj.livejournal.com]

I'm a terrible waitress -- I overtip for even decent service in restaurants - but if the waitress is both rude and incompetent, I short their tip. But I have been guilty of not tipping hotel maid service, simply because I am often too dumb in the morning to remember.

Some of these I've never used, but I guess I would tip if I did...?

[hubbit.livejournal.com]

I didn't mark ticky boxes that did not apply (for example, I rarely ever stay in hotels), but in general I leave a 20% tip at restaurants and tend to give $5 tips to my barber, the pizza delivery guy, and so on.

I have worked in delis and restaurants, though for wages/salary with no dependence on tips for my income. Two of my sisters-in-law have worked as tip-dependent waitstaff, as does a brother-in-law still. I am well aware of how tips are not just appreciated, but essential to waitstaff being able to do mundane things like paying rent, buying groceries, etc.

The postings on this blog are uncategorized, which makes searching impossible, but I would recommend Waiter Rant if you're interested in the perspective of a former New York waiter regarding tipping and other food and beverage service issues.

[brak666.livejournal.com]

Not on your list: Bathroom attendant. I hate it when I'm at a restraunt and I don't know there's a bathroom attendant because I don't usually take my wallet into the bathroom with me so I end up having to go back and give the guy a couple bucks.

[darthhellokitty.livejournal.com]

I put "major metropolis" - not sure if Seattle qualifies or not though!

I am famous in my husband's family for overtipping, due to some problems with basic math the first time we ate together. XD I do like to be generous when I can.

I tipped a groomer $5 on a $10 nail trimming, just because I knew Calvin was a huge pain in the ass...

[jackiekjono.livejournal.com]

I've definately been generous on dog groomer visits. My guy nips and we once brought in a dog we were rescuing who was very well behaved but, severely matted and stinky and she looked like a littel princess when she was done.

These days, I just do the grooming myself. It's cheaper, I don't have the liability if he actually halls of and bites someone, and if he loses patience with me I can always finish later on.