Do you tip?

[nudge+]

Inspired by something I read today, so I was just wondering.

Do you tip? If yes, why, whom and how much?

If you don't, why not?

What's the tipping culture in your country, in general?

[Stan]

If the service has been decent, then yes. But pretty much every restaurant these days charges a service charge anyway these days, so always look out for that on the bill. If its there, then I won't tip. If not and the service has been to a good level or the staff have gone above and beyond, then I'll usually leave approx 10%. 

[nudge+]

3 minutes ago, Stan said:

If the service has been decent, then yes. But pretty much every restaurant these days charges a service charge anyway these days, so always look out for that on the bill. If its there, then I won't tip. If not and the service has been to a good level or the staff have gone above and beyond, then I'll usually leave approx 10%. 

As a general rule, do you only tip in restaurants/Cafes/bars? What about delivery people, taxi drivers, hairdressers, etc?

[Viva la FCB+]

Tipping culture in North America in general is getting out of hand. In BC in general the standard has somehow gotten to 15%. These stupid machines of course calculate on top of tax as well. In recent times the default has been pushing 18% in some restaurants now but man im not tipping 18 fucking percent on top of tax for regular god damn service. Prices have gone up substantially as has minimum wage over the years and cost of living is becoming outrageous. Im getting to my whits end with this place tbh. As beautiful as it is I can barely afford housing the way things are shaping up and thats only because I was in the market years ago when it was affordable. 

[Stan]

3 minutes ago, nudge said:

As a general rule, do you only tip in restaurants/Cafes/bars? What about delivery people, taxi drivers, hairdressers, etc?

Generally restaurants. 

I wouldn't really tip taxi drivers. If anything, I've given them £10 when the journey has been £9 something just to round it up, and out of laziness

Never tipped a delivery person - not sure if that's just me or if it's not really a UK thing? 

I have the same hairdresser and have done so for several years. Always given a bit extra around Christmas. 

[nudge+]

4 minutes ago, Viva la FCB said:

Tipping culture in North America in general is getting out of hand. In BC in general the standard has somehow gotten to 15%. These stupid machines of course calculate on top of tax as well. In recent times the default has been pushing 18% in some restaurants now but man im not tipping 18 fucking percent on top of tax for regular god damn service. Prices have gone up substantially as has minimum wage over the years and cost of living is becoming outrageous. Im getting to my whits end with this place tbh. As beautiful as it is I can barely afford housing the way things are shaping up and thats only because I was in the market years ago when it was affordable. 

Wait I'm confused. What machines?

[Viva la FCB+]

4 minutes ago, nudge said:

Wait I'm confused. What machines?

Ah I got a bit lost in the sauce mid ramble...pos (point of sale) machines im talking. 

[Rucksackfranzose]

11 minutes ago, nudge said:

As a general rule, do you only tip in restaurants/Cafes/bars? What about delivery people, taxi drivers, hairdressers, etc?

Tip in pubs/ restaurants as well as delivery people. Don't use taxis and hairdressers are dropping out due to my lack of hair. Usually I'm rounding up to full tenners never less than 10% though, if the bill is 56 Euros in a pub, what's happening quite often I'd round to 70 Euros in other words.

[Spike]

In the USA, yes. In Australia, no. However if it is an impoverished country, I am more inclined to.

[CaaC (John)+]

Yes, depending on the service given, we always tip the taxi drivers no matter what , like Stan, if the fare is say £8 odds, we will round it off to a tenner, when we order our Iceland or Tesco's we will always tip the drivers as they have to hump the bags up a flights of stairs and Christmas time we always give our postie £20 or £10 as he has been with us for years.

I know when I did a milk round many moons ago it was bloody hard work lumping crates of milk up 4 flights of stairs as they had no lifts but the majority of the customers would always gave us a tip when we went around on collection day and it was well appreciated by me and my mate, around 50 customers tipping you was a nice healthy sum.

[Redcanuck]

If I am in the UK generally no.  Certainly not in the pubs, and about 6 months ago in a Working Man's Club I got yelled at by couple patrons for attempting to tip the bartender.

In Canada it's got out of hand , we usually tip 15 to 20% but some places are suggesting 30% and we are seeing at more and more places where we traditionally never tipped asking us to tip.  If you pay by debit card or credit card it comes up on the machine and it starts at 18%. It's also not for good service any more, even bad service gets tipped and they expect.

At one time waitresses here in Canada were getting a lot less than minimum wage so you tipped to bring their wages up,  but they have more than doubled their hourly wage in the last few years and I think we should tip a lot less around 10% now.

The US is different , I just got back from Virgina and we were in a Fredricksburg and the waitress said she made $2.17 an hour .  The same thing happened in Michigan a few years back. That's shocking, that's about a pound 75 hour.  We ended up dipping into our pockets and probably tripling the tip.

 

[CaaC (John)+]

The local cafe we go to has a wee box on the side, normally we put (and others) any loose change in it from the food we buy when we are paying for our food.

[Coma+]

I always tip at restaurants, and as @Viva la FCB says, the expection in Canada and US seems to be 15-18% anymore.  Honestly, as long as the service isn't outrageously bad I'll give a decent tip.  I don't usually calculate it to the percentage but if my bill is $50 I'll tip an additional $10 as an example.  There have only been a handful of times when I've received really bad service.... and my standards are pretty low... so when it happened I went out of my way to leave a shit tip instead of no tip.  I want them to know that it was bad service instead of thinking I've forgotten to tip.  Maybe that's a dick move, but for them to get that treatment from me means that they were way out of line.

[Coma+]

I've tipped the tradesmen historically as well.  Electricians and laborers, etc. that have been pleasant while in my home.  I'll give them an extra $20-$50 depending on what they're doing and how much the service costs.

[Whiskey]

I only tip in cafes/restaurants but I'm thinking of tipping my tattooist as he's done a lot of work for me now and has been exceptional each time. 

I tip if the service is good although if there's a gratuity requested on the card machine I always decline. Begging for tips doesn't sit right with me.

[Viva la FCB+]

3 hours ago, Coma said:

I always tip at restaurants, and as @Viva la FCB says, the expection in Canada and US seems to be 15-18% anymore.  Honestly, as long as the service isn't outrageously bad I'll give a decent tip.  I don't usually calculate it to the percentage but if my bill is $50 I'll tip an additional $10 as an example.  There have only been a handful of times when I've received really bad service.... and my standards are pretty low... so when it happened I went out of my way to leave a shit tip instead of no tip.  I want them to know that it was bad service instead of thinking I've forgotten to tip.  Maybe that's a dick move, but for them to get that treatment from me means that they were way out of line.

Seems to be the default these days, instead of paying decent wages the service industry is subsidized by expected tips. I hate it but I dont take it out on the servers, it isnt their fault this is the way it is here. 

I actually for the first time in a long ass time didnt tip after going out for dinner when the better half and I went to Whistler for a long weekend trip. We went to a smaller chain place thats known for cheaper food; they used to do 5$ meals.. now their 8$ with inflation but you get the idea. Decent meals, but nothing special. For the two of us with a drink each is under 40$ kind of thing with tax. Anyways we had like a 30 min wait to get seated which was fine, we went and had a few drinks while we waited elsewhere.We where warned the food was going to take a bit ahead of time as well by the guy at the front just like waiting for a table, wasn't a big deal we where eating somewhat late and not that hungry anyways. So we saw the waitress maybe 10 mins after getting seated and then she didnt come around for over and hour. I went to the washeroom a couple times and walked passed her chit chatting with another waitress inside so she wasn't worked off her feet. Long story short they fucked up the one order and had a few other minor things but we just ate it and moved on. I dont expect amazing service for tips these days and especially with worker shortages but theres gotta be something. Whistler is generally a pretty big party town and a pretty good night life so naturally she was busy serving the larger tables of drunkards so whatever she doesnt get my 6$ for that one. I did smirk as she walked away and I notice she looked down at the bill before going inside.

[Dan+]

I generally will just tip whatever goes up to £5 over, so if something came to say £37.30 I'd probably just pay £40 etc...

The American tipping culture is fucking wild to me. Absolutely mental.

[Pyfish+]

I only ever tip when somebody has gone above and beyond - never for if they are simply just doing the bare essentials of their job. I don't understand the American tipping phenomenon at all. It should never be on the consumer to ensure that the worker gets a decent wage.

[Coma+]

1 hour ago, Viva la FCB said:

I went to the washeroom a couple times and walked passed her chit chatting with another waitress inside so she wasn't worked off her feet. Long story short they fucked up the one order and had a few other minor things but we just ate it and moved on.

Yeah, if the server is blatantly fucking off then they don't deserve my tip.  If they are running their arse off and they are way behind I'll give them extra.  I also tend to overlook little things if the order isn't quite right.  I get that mistakes happen.

 

1 hour ago, Dan said:

The American tipping culture is fucking wild to me. Absolutely mental.

40 minutes ago, Pyfish said:

I don't understand the American tipping phenomenon at all. It should never be on the consumer to ensure that the worker gets a decent wage.

Not sure how it came to this here but I agree.  These people need to be paid a living wage, but the same could be said for a lot of other professions as well.

[Viva la FCB+]

6 minutes ago, Coma said:

Yeah, if the server is blatantly fucking off then they don't deserve my tip.  If they are running their arse off and they are way behind I'll give them extra.  I also tend to overlook little things if the order isn't quite right.  I get that mistakes happen.

 

Yeah I agree, especially given the wait and clear staff shortages its not a huge deal, im not going to send something back that took 40 mins anyways unless its unedible.

I remember years ago actually a handful of us went out to watch a CL final game at a pub and it was packed. Our poor server had a mental breakdown as it was her first fucking shift. She disappeared for awhile and we found out later when the manager came to refill drinks or something. She did actually come back maybe an hour later and we all tipped a little extra and gave her some nice words. Businesses are dumb man. 

54 minutes ago, Pyfish said:

I only ever tip when somebody has gone above and beyond - never for if they are simply just doing the bare essentials of their job. I don't understand the American tipping phenomenon at all. It should never be on the consumer to ensure that the worker gets a decent wage.

 

1 hour ago, Dan said:

I generally will just tip whatever goes up to £5 over, so if something came to say £37.30 I'd probably just pay £40 etc...

The American tipping culture is fucking wild to me. Absolutely mental.

Its a North American phenomenon and I agree. What all you guy's are saying makes far more sense but idk how any of us change anything really at this point. Alot of people that travel through her complain about it and justifiable so.   

[nudge+]

Yeah, American tipping culture is bonkers to me, too. Workers should be given a livable wage instead of having to rely on patrons' willingness to tip, and it comes across as extremely pushy to even demand a certain percentage. Service charges are ridiculous for exactly the same reason. 

I do tip, as I see it as a small token of appreciation for the service received, and also because customer jobs suck so I feel for them lol. Usually around 10-15% in restaurants/cafes/bars, a dollar or two for delivery people, taxi drivers, etc. I admit that in some cases, this is mostly self-serving, especially when it comes to services I use regularly...

[Dr. Gonzo]

I only tip because I live in America now. Tipping culture here is mental & a result of how businesses treat service workers as disposable items rather than people that are the lifeblood of the business. Back home or in the EU, I only ever really tipped if service was absolutely phenomenal - but not the same sort of percentages that are expected in the US. In Mexico I always tip like I'm in the US though - but in Mexico I've always gotten incredibly good service and everything is so fucking cheap compared to the US that it feels outrageous not to tip like I'm in the US.

[Dr. Gonzo]

17 hours ago, Redcanuck said:

The US is different , I just got back from Virgina and we were in a Fredricksburg and the waitress said she made $2.17 an hour .  The same thing happened in Michigan a few years back. That's shocking, that's about a pound 75 hour.  We ended up dipping into our pockets and probably tripling the tip.

If she wasn't lying to you... then that's shocking and you should honestly report the restaurant to some sort of authority - because that's well under the US federal minimum wage. And a quick google search indicates that in Virginia, for the service industry they can either pay the federal minimum wage ($7.25/hr) or 75% of the Virginia minimum wage, which is $12/hr (so 75% is $9/hr) - whichever is greater (so the fraction of the state minimum wage should be the minimum a waiter/waitress should be getting before accounting for tips).

That's appalling if she's genuinely making $2.17 an hour!

[Dr. Gonzo]

@Coma @Eco @Spike am I violating any sort of unwritten ethical code by not including the amount of tax added to a bill when I calculate the tip I'm adding on in the US?

In my mind, the tax would have to be paid by me regardless of how good/bad the service was... whereas what I'm paying for in tip is strictly based on what I feel is fair to add onto what was charged based on the service I received (which I never tip nothing, but if the service is dogshit I'll leave a shit tip). Seems weird for me to include the value of the tax added onto the transaction when I'm calculating the tip... so I just leave it off.

One of my friends here said I'm a dick for doing that. My reasoning though makes perfect sense (at least, to me ) and I think he's an idiot for including the tax when he calculates tip.

[Devil]

I tip if I get decent service then I will always tip. My barber always gets a decent tip as he does my eyebrows etc... 

Restaurants I tend to keep a track of whether I'm getting served off the one person as I find places where they keep switching are the places that keep the tips. I usually ask the server if they get the tips and you often find they will tell you if they don't.