Tipping waiters in the US tonight

In the US though, overall, service is good.

Sometimes too good for my taste.

So there's good and bad in the system.

 

I do think service is better in the US than in most places. Anywhere else you really are not expected to tip. That I think has a lot to do with it, no matter how they treat you, they pretty much make the same amount of money.

 

I think what's missing from all this is a simple fact.

Dining out is theater. From the moment one is being greeted at the maitre d' stand, through to your "guide" for the culinary event ahead, to the presentation, the warming glow inside your belly and between you and your dinner companion, to the graceful goodnight, you are paying to be elevated in a way you cannot be by staying home. Tipping is part of that artificial construct. You are indicating your pleasure at the performance. Just as you do by paying the bill, telling your friends, and coming back.

We chefs know this. We know our food is nothing without the assistance of its good stewards in the dining room.

 

At the same time, good food is expensive.

So either there should be tipping and then food should be cheaper, given the final added cost of 20% tipping, or keep the food expensive but no tipping should be expected and practically mandatory.

Either 1 or the other.

Th UK is actually even worse.

Little tipping but high prices, with enormous markups on wine, much greater than in other countries.

And it's a place where food doesn't cost very much for a start.

At least London and around...

 

I dont think a waiter can be too friendly if you want to have a good dining experience. Especially on a date.

 

Having worked as a tipped employee in my youth, to this day I have nothing but respect for those who are. 20% is my base! If service is completely shitty, I will leave a much smaller tip. Still a tip, but enough to indicate that I was not happy with the service, not that I am a cheap bastard.

I've gone as high as 30%, and will go 15% on mediocre service.

What really bothers me are these places that have a mandatory gratuity on parties of 6 or more. It is usually 15%, which is sad, because it locks the wait staff into something much lower than they might otherwise deserve, and it offers no recourse for the patron that gets really shitty service.

However, again having worked as a tipped employee, I can attest to the fact that large parties tend to tip low or not at all, more often than not, because they were either too drunk, or spent too much.

That said, what I do when I am with a large party is ask specifically for a separate check. This way, I am free to pay what I want for a tip. I asked for this at a steak house (some famous place by Six Flags) down in Texas and while the waiter put me on a separate check, he still added the auto-gratuity of 15% to my bill. That cost him 15% as I was going to give him 30%.

There is another reason I lean towards the separate check when dining with large parties. I've been stiffed WAY TOO many times. Amazing how many people flee on the bill, or refuse to tip. Lot's of MR. PINK's out there. Bastards.

Anyway, these guys make their living off their tips, not the paltry wait staff minimum wage. The harder they work, the more they get paid. It's truly one of the last performance based forms of employment on the planet. Imagine if athletes only got paid when they did a good job.

Anyway, I always tip and tip well. 20%, that's my norm.

 

Coming from Europe myself, I understand why European people find it "strange" to tip when they come to the US. In Europe people just don't tip, unlike in the US where you must tip, it's almost the culture.

But I have to admit this only profits the restaurant owners, they pay 2-3 dollars to employees and expect that customers take care of the rest. That's just how it works in the US but it's still lame.

 

I remember being in Amsterdam and tipping at first, then I realized no one else did. After a while I stopped and saw all the new Americans tip and then stop tipping once they have been there for a couple of days.

 

$2-3 an hour isn't that bad. Only if you saw how much they make on tip. I worked in a family restaurant this summer and there were nights when waiters made about $200 (fridays and saturdays)
I know how hard it came be sometimes for waiters so I always try to tip generously.
You either pay 15% of the entire bill or double tax.

 

I was making $300/night as a bus boy and food runner in 86'. Try that on for todays dollars. Nicest thing was, it was ALL CASH!!! Nothing lame or disgusting about that.

 

if i dont plan on coming back, i will just tip them as much as i tip workers at mcdonalds - nothing.

if they are lucky i give them a tip - "go back to school cause you cant count on living off tips for the rest of your life"

barber i tip cause i keep coming back and dont want him screwing up

 

I agree, I bussed as well.

 

Wait i thought waiters dont get payed. They just get payed from tips?? Not sure..

- Prilep

 

When I waited on tables in the 80's minimum wage for "tipped" employee's was $2.18/hr. That money paid what little taxed wage actually showed up as reported. The minimum wage, wage.. was $3.35 by comparison back then.

So yes, waiters DO get paid, on top of tips. I have no idea what the minimum wage is today for wait staff.

 

My husband likes to tip $1 per person, no matter what type of place we're eating at.

My ex got me started on something that I feel more comfortable with, especially since I know how little wait staff get paid. I pay 20% if the service was decent. If it was bad, then it's 15% (or thereabouts, I tend to round amounts) I lived in Branson for awhile, and it got to the point where the servers at my favorite restaurant would greet myself and my ex when we walked through the door, and ask if we wanted our usual.

~D

 

So if there are two people, eathing out and you have a $400 bill, he will tip $1 based on each person eating? ie., $2? Is that what you are saying?

Treat people right and they will do most anything for you.

 

Awwww, that's really nice. Good for you! Leaves me feeling all warm and fuzzy all over. Why not just dine and dash? I'm sure you can cut out before paying the bill, and screw the owner, too. Or, girl scouts - you know how stupid they can be - hand them a fake bill and grab the cookies....or....

 

I went to a steakhouse the other night. The bill was about $600. Tip: $120.

I've got to think that the waiters there do about $600+ a night easy.

 

Yes and no. You have good nights and bad nights. It was never consistent when I did it. It was like making money online. You take the good with the bad. One night you might do $600 and then do like $50 a night the rest of the week.

 

I hate how in Costa Rica they never split checks, if there are like 8 people dining together, the last 3 sitting normally wind up paying 60 percent of the check.