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

[raincitygirl.livejournal.com]

Why is it better to tip in cash than add to the credit or debit bill?

[lunaris1013.livejournal.com]

As I understand it, wait staff prefer it since a) they don't have to wait to get their tips at the end of the night and b) they can under-declare generous amounts.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

It isn't. The server gets their tips in cash that same day, whether they get it from you or they get it from the manager when their shift is over.

The only reason I know of that waitstaffers prefer cash to charge is that charge leaves a paper trail for the IRS to find if they audit, whereas they can declare as little on tips as they like because it's all cash transaction. As much as waiting tables sucks, I'm not going to tip in cash just so that someone can defraud the government.

I tip in cash if I'm paying in cash, and I tip on a card if I'm paying on a card. The only time that changes is if I'm out with a group--we tend to pool our cash for a tip.

[movies-michelle.livejournal.com]

I know there's a couple of places in my neighborhood where the owners/managers don't necessarily pass on all the tips, if they aren't given to the server in cash. Which is not legal, but does happen, so if we go to those particular places, we tip the waitstaff directly in cash.

Also, depending on how the set-up is, a lot of places pool tips, rather than the actual tip going to the people who you mean to tip.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

Yes, but if the restaurant pools tips, then that's how they do business, and it has nothing to do with how you pay the tip, unless (again) you want to help someone defy their employer.

I have nothing against cash tipping at all; I do it all the time. But the only "benefit" it seems to have over card tips is that it makes it easier for the waitstaff to (if they want to) cheat either their employer or the IRS.

[movies-michelle.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm talking about two different things: tip pooling and the management keeping part of the tips. In my first example, the owner/manager is known for not giving all the tips to the waitstaff that are owed to them. And that's not an unheard of practice.

[amadyce.livejournal.com]

Not always true. At the restaurant where I work people get a tip check each week, so any tip they make on credit cards they have to wait for.