Restaurant tipping: pre-tax or post-tax?

[Anyway]

Any of you in tipping positions have a hard time with racist impulses on the job? I know when I was delivering pizzas, if the door opened and a black guy was standing there a part of my brain just said "...fuck" - not because of pre-conceived notions, but just the repeated shafting over and over.

lol I got it baaaad. The hostesses don't even seat asians, russians, or white trash for me anymore. Not because I should be allowed to even tell them that, but they just know I won't go to them.

[Kametatsu]

I personally start around 20% of final bill, but if the service sucks, I have no qualms of dropping it, as low as 0% if necessary. Granted, I've only had about 1 situation where I didn't leave a tip, and I haven't been back there since. And if the service is phenomenal, I have no problems scaling up the tip as well. Really, it just depends on the service. I don't expect to get treated like a god, I just want some basic dignity and respect, that's all. And I'm more than willing to return that dignity and respect to my server.

I used to work as a dishwasher in a restaurant, when I was there, the waitresses gave me a 10% cut of their tips, so yeah, if they had a bad tip night, I did too in a sense. While I never did have direct interaction with the customers, I still did assist the waitresses in some minor ways, like getting drinks ready and such. And this was hardly a high-end restaurant, this was just a family restaurant (to the point I was the first male who was not a member of the family on staff in just under 40 years of business). So even some of the smaller places have tip-sharing in place.

[Norelco]

Ugh, so last night my wife took me out to a belated birthday dinner to a pretty nice place ($20-30 per dish), at least for the Buffalo area. Dinner was great, blah blah blah, and then I guess this busboy who was helping out the waiter cleared our food off the table after we were finished eating. My wife eats like a bird but got this fantastic pasta dish she was going to let me take to work as leftovers for lunch. The busboy takes it without asking if we wanted it packed up. In EVERY restaurant I've ever been to they ask you if you want a box or whatever to take the leftovers home. He never did this and I guess we could have said something ourselves but the kid was gone in a flash, and we just sat there looking at each other wondering if our food was going to be packaged.

Well, it wasn't. Then our waiter came by, and I politely asked if it was customary for someone to take a barely touched dish and not offer to pack it up. She said the busboy absolutely messed up and asked if we wanted another one prepared or to just take "some" money off of the bill (she didn't specify). They were busy so we opted to get the money back since we probably would have been there another hour. It was a $20 dish, and luckily they only charged us $8, which I thought was fair.

We ended up tipping our waitress 20% on what she would have gotten if she didn't take that additional 12 dollars off because it wasn't her fault the busboy sucked. She came back and said they corrected him to ask from now on. We felt bad for getting him in trouble but at the same time we didn't feel like paying $20 for something my wife had 3 bites of. We clearly intended to take the rest home with us.

Oh well.

[Daydreamer]

I also agree with tipping based on service. I hate it when some waiters have the gall to think that just because they cork a 100$ bottle of wine for you that they are going to get a 20$ tip. Get over yourself.

That being said I almost always tip at least 20% with a 5$ minimum (like I will give a 100% tip sometimes if I somehow only spend 5$). However for wine I'm going to give you a 1-2$ tip for it tops. I don't care how much the bottle costs.

It's different with actual drinks from actual bartenders though. I have a vast amount of respect for a good bartender (just look at my avatar), and a good bartender will get good tips. Around here the bartenders really don't know how to make anything good, but the majority of them are good in the respect that they will listen to you when you tell them how to make a drink, and generally make it will without scoffing at you or having that "oh you think you're better than me" attitude. ANY bartender that will put up with the crap I ask for gets great tips. Anywhere from 30-50% depending on how much I can spare at the time.

Also, I never tip 0%, I find that a dime is better if the service is really crappy. This shows that you didn't forget to leave the tip, you just want to show how much they suck. Once I waited 30 minutes to get the menu's brought to us, another 30 to have our drinks brought to us (which was only water), another 30 for the food (burgers and fries), and another 15 for the sauce that I asked for with the fries when I ordered the food, and we were the only customers in the place! She spent nearly the entire time talking to her friend (another waitress) in the corner instead of doing her job. I think between the 3 of us, we left a 26c tip.

[Septimus]

We felt bad for getting in trouble but at the same time we didn't feel like paying $20 for something my wife had 3 bites of. We clearly intended to take the rest home with us.

Oh well.

Honestly, better you do it and the busboy gets told how to handle things properly than some loud, arrogant jerk who is going to want the guy to be fired.

[Norelco]

Once I waited 30 minutes to get the menu's brought to us, another 30 to have our drinks brought to us (which was only water), another 30 for the food (burgers and fries), and another 15 for the sauce that I asked for with the fries when I ordered the food, and we were the only customers in the place! She spent nearly the entire time talking to her friend (another waitress) in the corner instead of doing her job. I think between the 3 of us, we left a 26c tip.

LOL, I think what would have made the tip even better is if you found some pocket lint to add. Just crumple it up over the change or set it down next to it.

[Norelco]

We felt bad for getting in trouble but at the same time we didn't feel like paying $20 for something my wife had 3 bites of. We clearly intended to take the rest home with us.

Oh well.

Honestly, better you do it and the busboy gets told how to handle things properly than some loud, arrogant jerk who is going to want the guy to be fired.

That's pretty much what our waitress said and thanked me for bringing it up in such a polite manner. I used to deal in customer service so I know what it's like to have an arrogant jerk barreling down on you like a crazy person. I find treating others with respect will yield some pretty nice results.

[Einherjar]

Any of you in tipping positions have a hard time with racist impulses on the job? I know when I was delivering pizzas, if the door opened and a black guy was standing there a part of my brain just said "...fuck" - not because of pre-conceived notions, but just the repeated shafting over and over.

I worked as a delivery driver for a year and worked as a cook and a server in another restaurant that had an 70% Jewish customer base. So I have developed some prejudice towards people and what groups tip and who complains more, but at the very least it comes from having to deal with them for years. I found that peoples jobs and their bullshit opinions of themselves affects tips the most. People that think they're very important tend to not think others are important enough to tip, they just expect everybody to know they need good service because they're oh so important.

[ertyu]

I miss Japan where you don't have to tip but I'm like Daahan, if the waiter/waitress was good I'll tip them well and eyeball it off the bill. If theyre shitty, I'll tip them the cent amount to make my total bill an even dollar amount.

I.e $14.15 total bill, tip = .85 cents

[Khamsin]

I miss Japan where you don't have to tip

Is it not expected either, or merely not required?

[ertyu]

You don't do it there. When my friends and I went there we didn't know and we left a tip for a waitress we had. She ended up running out of the restaurant chasing after us to give us the 1000 yen tip we left and apologized for not catching it earlier. I felt like a fucking douche bag.

[Daydreamer]

You don't do it there. When my friends and I went there we didn't know and we left a tip for a waitress we had. She ended up running out of the restaurant chasing after us to give us the 1000 yen tip we left and apologized for not catching it earlier. I felt like a fucking douche bag.

That's pretty crazy.

I remember when I was in Munich over the Summer I took the family I was staying with out for a round of drinks after the dinner that they paid for. The drinks were reasonably priced and quite tasty so I was going to give a tip there even though it wasn't required.

He told me the bill was achtundzwanzig (28 euro) so I handed him a 50 and replied dreizig (30), which there means I want to pay is if the bill was 30$ and I expect 20$ back.

Turned out I misheard him and he said it was 20.80$, and told me a 9 dollar tip was too much. I very much appreciated that and told him 25, pretty much doubling his tip, and he still didn't want to take it because it was too much but I insisted because he realized I misheard the first time and didn't want to rip me off.

[Norelco]

You don't do it there. When my friends and I went there we didn't know and we left a tip for a waitress we had. She ended up running out of the restaurant chasing after us to give us the 1000 yen tip we left and apologized for not catching it earlier. I felt like a fucking douche bag.

That's pretty crazy.

I remember when I was in Munich over the Summer I took the family I was staying with out for a round of drinks after the dinner that they paid for. The drinks were reasonably priced and quite tasty so I was going to give a tip there even though it wasn't required.

He told me the bill was achtundzwanzig (28 euro) so I handed him a 50 and replied dreizig (30), which there means I want to pay is if the bill was 30$ and I expect 20$ back.

Turned out I misheard him and he said it was 20.80$, and told me a 9 dollar tip was too much. I very much appreciated that and told him 25, pretty much doubling his tip, and he still didn't want to take it because it was too much but I insisted because he realized I misheard the first time and didn't want to rip me off.

Not sure about Germany, but in some cultures pressing that much of a tip on them is insulting, as if they are receiving handouts.

[Daydreamer]

You don't do it there. When my friends and I went there we didn't know and we left a tip for a waitress we had. She ended up running out of the restaurant chasing after us to give us the 1000 yen tip we left and apologized for not catching it earlier. I felt like a fucking douche bag.

That's pretty crazy.

I remember when I was in Munich over the Summer I took the family I was staying with out for a round of drinks after the dinner that they paid for. The drinks were reasonably priced and quite tasty so I was going to give a tip there even though it wasn't required.

He told me the bill was achtundzwanzig (28 euro) so I handed him a 50 and replied dreizig (30), which there means I want to pay is if the bill was 30$ and I expect 20$ back.

Turned out I misheard him and he said it was 20.80$, and told me a 9 dollar tip was too much. I very much appreciated that and told him 25, pretty much doubling his tip, and he still didn't want to take it because it was too much but I insisted because he realized I misheard the first time and didn't want to rip me off.

Not sure about Germany, but in some cultures pressing that much of a tip on them is insulting, as if they are receiving handouts.

Not in Germany. Tip there is included and giving a tip like that generally means you were very pleased with their job. Tips are included in their wage (they have a low minimum, but they get like a commission for everything they sell, so it's kind alike a tip), so you only tip if it's for a job well done. Most people generally just round up to the nearest $ to make the money transaction easier and that's perfectly fine there. I told him though to accept it for being honest with me and that I really appreciated it.

[Saphirea]

In Greece it's like a giant slap in the face to tip, it's like saying you're better than they are or something along those lines, it was a long time since I was there.

[Cheerios]

I pretty much tip $5 regardless, but I hardly ever eat at expensive places. Buffets = no tip!

[sb]

20% or more unless service was severely sub par and it was a situation that was obviously the servers fault. In NYC the majority of wait staff don't get paid at all besides what they make from tips. The one that do get paid by the rest., get paid a salary of 2.50ish and hour.

edit: I just noticed the comment about Greece, and yeah you wouldn't really tip more than the coin change on the return from the bill. It's, as was said, insulting and carries the message that you are better than them. (Unless you're very wealthy, then you can tip/throw money around as you like and it doesn't carry quite the same insult)

[Burginator]

Attn: everyone who doesn't tip

You're a jackass. That is all.


I generally tip 25->30%, nomatter where I go. If you're *really* bad, I'll do 15%, really good...I've tipped as much as 50% (on a $50 bill). Honestly, most waiters/waitresses make so little money, that tips will make up the vast majority of their earnings. You not tipping is like cutting them out of an hour of work, and you're an asshole for doing so.

No, you don't get tipped for doing your little office job -- But you also get payed a hell of a lot more, so what does it hurt to throw an extra few bucks for somebody who is providing YOU a service?

[AzazaelFenrir]

For those who have worked in the business, what did your $/hr end up being after a night of serving?

During a slow night in the slow season, 50-75 a night

During a slow night in the fast season (read: Tourist) 130-160 a night.

Fast night during fast season, 225+


Someone earlier said how they won't tip a bartender anymore because they are getting money from the waitress. Here is how it breaks down (at least did for me.)

As a waiter/waitress 8% of your total bar sales were taken and that was tipped out with no cap. So they are tipping out a fair amount, not just a random arbitrary number. As a bartender you have to worry about your customers as well as the wheel (the drinks for the rest of the restaurant). That is why wait-staff has to tip out.

[Xiona]

only cheap people do flat line tips based on bill. generally its a combonation of how long youre at the restaurant, the service and the amount of servers time you take.

amount of time: i look at the avg time your suposed to be at that type of establishment, if im there a lot longer i give more
service: are they talkative, seem interested in you or even just their job in general
servers time: sure its their job to make sure you have all you need but when you ask for 5 soda refills, 3 condiments and extra napkins all on seperate passes, compensation is definately in order

sure on average most servers just serve the food and have 0 personality but i dont think they should be getting the same flat line as a upbeat person who is actually good at their job lol.

if you dont have the cash to be coughing up for a good tip then you shouldnt be eatting at a restaurant.

i range from 5-15 on my tips alone for spending 2-20 bucks on dinner, unless theyre terrible at their job