Tip Your Servers

I, too, have been s waitress in the past. It amazes me what people do. I normally give a 20% tip if I get decent service. I have given as much as 50% for exceptional service. And I have left nothing for lousy service. I worked with a girl who received a nickle tip. She chased him out of the place, threw it at him & yelled that he needed it worse than she did!!! One place I worked we had 6 couples (12 people) that would come in right at closing time (once I had finished cleaning). They would order 6 meals & share them with water to drink. When they finished, there was food everywhere. Pigs would have been neater!!! Their bill usually ran $60-$75.00. They NEVER left anything larger than $1.00. I begged the owner to ask them not to come back. He told me it was my job to serve them. After several visits & he realized they ALWAYS shared a meal & got water, he got to where he'd run lock the door when he saw them coming. My Dad is 85. No matter what his bill is, he leaves $1.00 The tab is $5.00 he leaves $1.00...his tab is $100.00 He leaves $1.00. Both my brother & I have tried to explain the tipping system to him, but he just refuses to get it. I don't think that was my Dad eating at your wife's place. If he was, I apologize!!!

It is bad when they have to depend on tips for a living because the pay is at such a low scale. I find that very rude of those to just tell her to keep the small change. We don't go out to eat very often but we do tip well for the service we get. If it is horrible service we let the manager know and we tip but not as much, but that don't happen too often. I think around 20% is the going tip. There are a lot of places who add the tip on the bill to make sure the waitress/waiter gets their fair tip.

My husband and I always tip 20% if we get good service. If the service stinks, we don't tip much at all, but we still tip because we know that waitresses rely on their tips as income. If they aren't good, we will generally tip $5 or less. Maybe like 10%. My husband and boys deliver pizzas and they rely on tips also. There are times that someone may tip them 11cents and other times nothing. But then there are the good tippers that tip over $2 for the pizza.

For me, it really depends most of the time on the service Gramps. I often tip 10-15% and the highest I tipped was around 30% (for a real exceptional service). I really had a few bad experiences with waiters especially on mid-range restaurants where I never get what I requested or the waiter just came to get the order, serve the food (and just leaves the food without properly placing them on the table), and just come back for the check. There was even an instance when we decided not to eat in a certain restaurant because of the poor service. Came in, took 20 minutes before somebody approached us to take our orders (we called them and they keep on telling us to wait). The manager is of no help as he hid inside when we tried to call him. It was just sad. The food was great though so we just ate at another branch moving forward. But again, I really wouldn't hesitate to shell our more for tips if I am satisfied with the services.

i used to work housekeeping at casinis in vegas. I always was expecting tips for cleaning peoples rooms. There is a lot of people that don't tip. I tip when i go out. I usualy tip 15 procent, that's because i'm pretty poor myself. I never not leave a tip evev if it's only a dollar. Maybe 72 dollars is all they had.

It really depends on the waiter/waitress. We give them what we think they deserve. We usually tip about 15% almost all the time, but if we go somewhere and don't think they should get that much, we leave less.

Thanks for telling this from the other end of the table but see not many people have oney to spare. Like us, we go out for dinner very rarely and that also when we have some savings to spend. Even avoid celebrating special ocasions in a restaurent. Infact now if I think of it, I can not even remember when we last went out to eat. We leave tip usually according to the money we are left with sometimes you do give a big order and then you are left with a very small amount to leave as a tip. So for me its case of having or not having the money. But nice to know the other side of the coin too.

Well I do not go out for Meals anymore but when I did yes I used to leave about 20% or more because as far as I am concerned they deserve it, I did work as Waitress when I was 16 and I certainly know how hard it is, I used to work for my Auntie when she used to have Weddings, Birthdays or any special Function going on at her Hotel

What what an insult!! I usually double the tax because I donut like to sit there figuring out the 15 percent or what ever is the going rate for tips. I would have at least gave her 5 bucks.

I am proud to say that I am an excellent tipper!! I have worked for tips and know what it is like to work hard, do a good job and get the shaft. I always give a 20% tip for good service. If a wait person gives poor service, it will be lower, like 10% but I will not give nothing. If it is poor, I will also leave a note as to why it was a lower tip, in hope that they will learn from it. That is why many places require that the gratuities are included with parties of 6, or 8 or higher. The only problem with that is, that if the person gives poor service. I did, once, complain the the manager that the service was very bad, yet we had to pay an 18% tip for poor service. He actually gave us money off of the bill. I told them that I would be even more happy, after I thanked him, if he makes sure this wait person learns how to be a proper server.

Hi Gandpa Bob! It is good to hear that your wife is a waitress and that she serve well so she is been paid more tips. And you living is also mostly on the tips got by your wife. I am not agood tipper. I rarely go to the restaurant and if at all I go i keep the change mostly Rs.5 to Rs.10 not more than that. Happy posting and have a nice day.

Hey Gramps, The sole judge of "great service" is the customer, not the waitress. If waitress thinks "great service" was given and the tip does not reflect it, then it is highly possible that the customer didn't experience "great service." "The next day" the tip was better, Humm. Maybe the waitress learned something, in which case there must have been a change in service and was so reflected in the improved tip. In answer to your question: I am a customer that tips according to service. There should never be any "standard" for tipping regardless of the service given. I do not tip a standard regardless of service. I always tip according to the service provided. If the service is poor, then eighty-eight cents may be appropriate, if the service is outstanding I may tip beyond twenty percent. Wait people need to understand that they are not the judges of "good service" NEVER. IT IS THE CUSTOMER!

i have been a waitress too and i get reasonable tips from the customers. But there are times that they never left any tips at all. but i don't get mad at them. i never rely on the tips. if they will give, well, thatnk you, if they don't ohhh thats not fair- just kidding lol

I've worked in customer service for many years so I know how people rely on tips. I used to do reception work at a fancy schmancy spa. This one customer, she was a regular. Let's call her Annie. She came in every four weeks and dropped at least $400 for just her facial. If she bought products, that's another $400ish. So she was CLEARLY rich. But she never tipped unless the esthetician came out and stood there (under the cover of saying bye to her) while Annie settled her bill. And even then, it was like.. A twenty. That's only 5%. Some people are so cheap.

i know what you mean I was a waitress also an I use to take care of coffee drinkers is what we called them an we would take care of them they got free refills on coffe an sit in the booths forever an thier bill would come up to 89 cents they would threw a dollar at u an say keep the change like they gave u 11 cents wow after you took care of them for some times hours refilling thier cup then cleaning up after them an of course half of them would make nasty remarks ohan by the way while i was pouring coffe for one of these guys I pour it on his lap by mistake when he pinched me in the chest area you got the point any way my boss took me aside an told me I could make more tips if i unbutton a few buttons on my shirt nice huh got a new job that day an never looked back but i do tip good when I go out because i know those wait people work hard an don't get the respect they deserve tell your wife my hats off to her

That is just rude but it goes to show you some people are just that stuck up. If I were your wife I'd tell my boss and then refuse service as that wasn't right. You've wasted atleast 20 minutes on someone who who didn't leave but 88 cents! I leave tips, I've been a waitress and also a banquet server, I know how hard it is sometimes and how bad people can treat you sometimes.

I believe a waitress should make 20% of the sale without ever needing to be tipped. The cook doesn't need a tip to do his job. The owner doesn't need a tip to get his money. Unfortunately, the waitress' salary is insufficient without the tip and somehow this is acceptable to our culture. Now, that's just me. I believe a tip should be given when the waitstaff does a good job. 20% is a good number, I think. So, if they did a good job, they should get about 20% tip. If they did a poor job, then you give them less. But you don't just short them for no good reason. Now, some people say, "It's not the waitress' fault." Say, for example, the food is slow in getting to the table. And, this might be so, but the waitress is responsible for bugging the cooks to get that food to me and / or responsible for coming to check on me and apologizing for the slow service. If she can be seen to have done something, then I'm fine with that. I might not come back to the restaurant but I know the waitress did what she could. If I am unhappy with how my food was prepared, it is not the waitress' fault. However, she's responsible for bringing it back to the kitchen and ensuring it is prepared correctly without any extra spit applied. If she picks up a tray and can tell the food is cold, she should not serve it. I would prefer that restaurants change their policy. I would like the restaurant to state a flat-price for the fare and then let the customer check a box to indicate the perceived quality of service from the waitstaff. The waitstaff, then, would be compensated proportionately. There would be no motivation for the customer to be a skinflint and rate the waitstaff low to safe a bit of money. On the contrary, they would be motivated to rate the waitstaff highly. See, if they are going to come back to this restaurant and unfairly rate the waitstaff as a 1 or a 2 on a 10pt scale, then the waitstaff will eventually come to place a 1 or a 2 on a 10pt scale importance on serving that customer. They will help those regulars first whom they know rank them highly. So the skinflint still has a self-serving motivation to rate the waitstaff highly. Having written down a checkmark praising the waitstaff (even if only on paper) he has reinforced in his own mind that the service was of good quality and might then be more likely to have a positive opinion of the restaurant (and return.) Well, at least that seems to make sense to me.

We try to tip good, I consider myself to be a good tipper. My sister was a waitress at one time and she was telling us about tipping, I don't think she got very much an hour so tips were a big part of her salary, so we try to tip at least 20%.

I Saw something like that happen when I was out to eat. A group had I think the girl said 52$ meal and they didn't leave her anything for a tip! She happened to be my waitress, so I left her extra and I went to the manager to tell him that I enjoyed the service and she was one of the best waitresses I had in a while. I'm not sure what happened, but I hope that helped the manager to see that she was a good worker.

Wow, that was rude. I cannot even imagine tipping someone $.82 on a bill that high. I give a dollar even if I only order coffee. It is amazing the attitude some people have about tipping. If they knew that the wait staff is usually only paid a couple of bucks an hour and that the tips are the MAIN source of their paycheck, maybe they would be a little more giving. I have also heard some incredibly stupid excuses for low tippers, the worst one of all came from a family of a Doctor who is very well off financially. They told me they NEVER tip more than 10% because they only tithe 10% to the church, why would they pay their server more than 10%. I thought that was ridiculous and told them that the tithe is 10% of their income and that their meal was not even close to their income. Sometimes people (especially people with a lot of money) can surprise you. Sorry to hear about her getting stiffed out of the tip by some obviously rude people. Have a great day, DD