Is more than 18% gratuity expected? Im confused...

[newmommy13]

Wow! I have never tipped 10%! The only way I would tip less than 20% is very blatant rudeness by the server. Even if my order gets messed up or we wait a little longer for refills...meh. I'm not going to turn into a pumpkin over 5 minutes. That person is just trying to pay their bills same as us and I know I make mistakes from time to time. :P

[qsefthuko]

Originally Posted by northknoxmomma This is us too. I also think ppl who tip 15"% or less for fair to good service have probably never worked as a server. And, personally speaking, waiting on a table with kids is much more work than adults (and kid meals are a lot cheaper, so if you have a table of four kids, that is more work for less money, generally speaking, servers do not love waiting on kids), and a lot of the time the adults will tip less... Or definitely not more. And most times the server is having to tip share with the bartender and host.

We always tip extra (up to 50%)when we have small kids with us knowing it will usually mean more work. We also take a couple of minutes picking up to decrease the amount of work left for the waitress. I tell our kids just because it is their job to do clean up is no reason to make their job harder to do.

Originally Posted by momtojande Same here. The difference between a stingy tip and a good tip is just a couple bucks. Say we spend $35, I could tip $5.25 at 15%, or $7 at 20% -- why not tip 20%? I'm already out $40.25, why not just be decent to her at make it $42? If someone's really gone above and beyond - talked us through some picky options, helped us clean up a spilled drink or something -- I'll throw a couple more on. I even had a table once where they were acting apologetic and saying they were on a budget, and tipped really badly (around 5%). Really? Your budget is so tight you can't spare an extra dollar or 2 to make it a decent tip, but not too tight to take your family of 5 to a sit-down restaurant? Do you think the server is just there donating her time to wait on you?

If we do not have the money to tip well we do not have the money to eat out. Since our youngest was born this means we generally do not eat out at sit down restaurants.

When we do not have little ones we do generally tip the 10-15-20% scale but if the difference between 15-20% is small we may make it 20% just because.

We do not base tips on the food just the service. Unless as I mentioned earlier the waitress was obnoxious when it was brought to her attention the food was growing it's own little farm.

We have had to wait 2 hours to be seated then waited an hour or more to finally receive our dinner. The waiter forgot to turn in our order. He admitted this with profuse apologies. Then the kitchen lost our order. After that an oven went down in the kitchen slowing down orders. We eventually received our $300+ meals free(we were a party of 7) The waiter I am sure was not expecting much of a tip by this point. He still tried hard to make up for his initial mistake and that of the kitchen staff. I don't remember what we tipped exactly as this happened more than 10 years ago. I do remember giving at least $100 tip possibly $150. My husband and I discussed it and felt that his service was excellent (minus our forgotten order) despite his very likely feeling he wasn't going to get much of a tip so decided to tip generously.

[misskira]

I live in a state where servers make at least minimum wage. I think it's crazy that we have to tip 20% on top of the meal. I realize servers work hard. Um. So do I at my job. So does dh at his job. I don't understand the idea that servers work so hard therefore we need to throw our money at them. Yes they work with the crazy public... So do lots of us in other jobs. I think the price should be the price and businesses should pay a fair wage. Same for haircuts.

I didn't realize it was expected to add more when gratuity was already calculated. I would have done the same as you.

[Mom2Connor]

I do not expect perfection at a restaurant. We are either really polite people to servers or we are just really lucky, and we eat lunch out at least once a week and dinner out probably every couple months give or take. We don't eat at fancy places, unless you consider Outback fancy LOL

I tip 20%, and round up so sometimes it's more like 21 or 22%. If they are polite to our toddler, who is pretty good but he's 2, and if they keep my drink full I am pretty happy. We don't blame servers for cooking issues, but we aren't picky enough that we really ever send back food or anythign like that. It always comes out hot and cooked properly. Sometimes DH's steak gets a little more done than he'd like but he's easy to please and I wouldn't fault the server for that anyway.

I don't like an empty drink. We don't ever get "rude" servers. If it's busy, we try to understand they might not be there to refill drinks the second we take the last sip.

If they smile at my kid and say hi to him when he says hi, I am a pretty happy customer. The last lunch out we had was at our regular lunch place (Logans Roadhouse). We've been to a couple locations, none were good except this one which is always excellent. Lately we've started ordering DS's lunch with our drink order and they get it out to him ASAP so he can eat real food instead of just rolls and crackers while we wait for our meals. If they take the order happily and bring his food out quickly, they get an extra tip for good service.

In regards to the cost of a tip. I, too, am in the camp that we don't go out if we can't afford to tip. And if we have $20 and want to eat lunch out, we go somewhere that doesn't do tips like McAlisters or Qdoba or the like. There was a woman on the news a couple weeks ago who ordered a pizza and didn't tip for delivery, so the delivery guy pee'd on her door. Unfortunately for him, there were cameras.

However, during the interview with the chick, she just said that times were tough "you know" and she couldn't afford to pay him for delivery/tip. Sorry but I laughed my butt off and I am sorry the man lost his job and may have been facing criminal charges, but I didn't feel even a little bad for her getting her door pee'd on. You don't order delivery pizza if you can't afford to tip - period. We never order delivery pizza (DH goes and picks it up) because we don't want to pay the delivery charge and tip.

[KaleidoscopeEyes]

i would think that if they were already making $8.80 an hour they wouldnt need to be tipped on top of that. in the field i work in (taking care of people with disabilities) most workers get minimum wage and they dont get tips. some agencies dont even pay as much as McD's

[bumminbeachbabe]

As a former server I try to tip fairly. I do expect decent service though. In Oregon a server is automatically taxed 8% of a bill.

I loved big groups. If you work hard you are usually tipped well because they understand what went into their service. I worked at Marie Callender's. Big groups usually meant meals and then pie and coffee. We did have a general rule about large groups paying an automatic gratuity. If there was a complaint (I usually reminded them before taking orders) I would make sure that management knew so they could remove it. In the times that happened I never had them tip less than what the automatic gratuity would have been.

[addicteddad]

Originally Posted by misskira I live in a state where servers make at least minimum wage. I think it's crazy that we have to tip 20% on top of the meal. I realize servers work hard. Um. So do I at my job. So does dh at his job. I don't understand the idea that servers work so hard therefore we need to throw our money at them. Yes they work with the crazy public... So do lots of us in other jobs. I think the price should be the price and businesses should pay a fair wage. Same for haircuts. I didn't realize it was expected to add more when gratuity was already calculated. I would have done the same as you.

To the bolded, I can agree with that. I also think people would be shocked at either how much things would cost and/or how poor service would be at some places given that restaurants in general, save for higher end places, are not known for paying well.

[KaleidoscopeEyes]

how is this for a tip lol

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/1...n_2051354.html

[addicteddad]

Originally Posted by KaleidoscopeEyes how is this for a tip lol http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/1...n_2051354.html

Trashy person.

[Psychomom]

Originally Posted by northknoxmomma I also think ppl who tip 15"% or less for fair to good service have probably never worked as a server.

Does not apply to me...I worked and supported myself as a server for 5 or 6 years...tough work! And I don't hesitate to leave $0 tip for poor service.

That being said, I am not some hard *** who expects perfection. A lot of things are out of a server's control and I certainly don't hold blame. But keeping me informed when things go wrong will go a long way. Avoiding my table because you forgot to put my order in...not so much. In the past year, I have left at least a 20% tip probably 90% of the time. I can recall exactly 2 instances in the past year when I've left $0 and we eat out a lot.