Here's a Babycenter post about whether or not one should be tipping 10%, since that's what people tithe and if it's good enough for God, it should be good enough for wait staff...

As a former waitress, I must say this attitude pisses me off, since most restaurants typically don't really pay their servers... Thankfully, it looks like most of the ladies seem to agree with me.

http://community.babycenter.com/post/a24978969/tithing_and_tipping_question



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/04/2010 06:38PM by knotheadusc.

And 10% is the botom end of the tip scale.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/04/2010 06:42PM by Stray Mutt.

I totally agree, Stray Mutt.

wage for "tipped employees". When I was a waitress it was $2.06/hr (I kid you not).
And on top of that, the withholding tax on what you are ASSUMED to have made in tips is taken out of your paycheck.
My 2-week paycheck was usually about $16.00.
Wait staff quite literally live off their tips.

I made $2.13 an hour and usually got a $0 paycheck because the money due from the restaurant went to taxes. So yeah, that's what I meant when I said restaurants don't really pay their wait staff.

For that reason, I never undertip or stiff wait staff.

in the bank so I could pay my bills.

yeah 10% is for ...not so good service..... my last tip was $13 on a $27 tab....i used to work in the trade...:)
thats just a way to reconcile being cheap!!!

That would explain why Mormons are so god-awful at tipping.

If you can't afford to tip 20 %, you have no business going out for dinner.

No, it's 15%. The industry has pushed 20% because they fight raising minimum wage for their employees.

You have to earn 20%. One restaurant added 20% automatically, and the service was terrible. I left 10%.

What is the proper rate for tipping?

Suppose I'm eating by myself at a small town restaurant and the waitress takes my order, brings my food, comes by when I've got my mouth full to see if I want something else and then brings the bill.

Which comes to 8 dollars. Is 2 bucks a big enough tip? I don't eat out very often so I don't really know.

15% is a standard tip. 10% would be for bad service, and 20% for particularly good service.

Never stiff a waiter/waitress unless they are absolutely surly or rude. I've only done that a few times in my life and I probably should have complained to the mgt about them.

Charlie...you are real good...that is a 25% tip... :)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/05/2010 10:00AM by bignevermo.

On smaller bills, it's harder to be exact. On an $8 bill, $1 is only 13% but $2 is 20%, so you'd have to pull out coins to get exact 20% of $1.60, or $1.20 for 15%.

In that case, just leave $2.

I read this in some religious comic strip- Some kid asks his dad "How come the waitress gets 15% and god only gets 10%?"

Boils my blood everytime and makes me sooo happy I'm outta the restaurant industry right now.

Just an FYI, thanks to Dubya, if you stiff your server or tip less than 10%, you basically are forcing them to pay to serve your table. Servers are taxed 10% regardless of how much they make in sales, and don't get me started on tipping out the bartender and bussers.

End Rant.

It usually averaged out OK, but it depends on where you work and what kind of customers you get!

That cartoonist should be kicked in the privates.

A server gets tipped 15 to 20 percent for the PRICE OF A MEAL.

Tithing is 10% of income.

Again, kick in the privates.

Because "God" wants 10% of every penny you earn, including your taxes and tihing. The waitress only wants a couple of bucks for good service.

As for tithing, it's supposed to be 10% of your "increase", not your taxes, not your debts, not your food, not repairing your car.

A full tithe is closer to 1-2% of your income, not 10% of your gross revenues.

My mother says she remembers when standard tipping was 10%

But I have to say this, waitressing not seem like a good job for anyone.

It can be fun if you like working with people and like a fast-paced environment. You can even make good money in some places. I had a lot of fun as a waitress -- I have a lot of stories from those times! But I would never want to work as a waitress NOW.

God Mormons are so cheap. If you can't tip 20% stay the hell home.

Personally, I think restaurants ought to have to pay their staff. Tips are good, but restaurant owners depend on good wait staff to sell their product. The food may be wonderful, but if the service really sucks, people aren't likely to want to come back. And people who eat in a restaurant usually have no say in whose section they sit in, so it's not like they have a choice in which server to "hire" so they get the best service.

One of the things I loved about living in Europe was that waiting tables is a respectable job and people make a living wage. In most European countries, tipping is a nice thing to do, but not expected. The wait staff still gets paid even if the customer doesn't "round up" the bill. In most restaurants in America, wait staff depend on their tips.

I know making restaurants pay their staff would drive up the cost of eating out, but I honestly don't think restaurant owners should get a pass on paying their staff at least minimum wage.

...is that for the vast majority of servers, it's just something they do on the way to something better, or they're just glad to have a job. So it's hard get them organized/unionized so they can effect change in the industry.

Oh, I know... and I know that a lot of servers would prefer to just get tips because they think they make more money that way. But I tell you what... there was such a nice difference in Europe, where there was no pressure to get people in and out of the restaurant so the tables could get turned.

One thing that really turns me off of American chain restaurants is that there's such an emphasis to get people in and out. Outback Steakhouse is particularly bad about this, it seems. They have the whole dining experience down to a science. I went there months ago and reviewed my experience on Epinions. An Outback waitress commented that they were trained to focus on getting people in and out as quickly as possible. That's kind of how I was trained, too, except I worked in a fine dining restaurant.

It was such a pleasure to eat out in Germany, where my husband and I could digest our food in peace. And we usually didn't take more than 15 or 20 minutes longer than we would have in an American restaurant, where servers are asking you if there's anything else or if everything's okay five minutes.

Anyway, I doubt things will change in my lifetime, which is why I'm hoping to move back to Europe sometime in the next few years!



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/05/2010 11:23AM by knotheadusc.

That reminds me of a study I read about. Servers who were overly friendly and helpful, who were always checking on you, actually made lower tips than those who were cooly professional. Give customers the information they need, get their order right, handle the kitchen's mistakes efficiently, be watchful so they can get your attention if they need it, but don't hover, don't interrupt, let them enjoy their meal.

Paid $20 an hour = government takes taxes on whole $20

Paid $4.15 an hour minimum wage (I know it's more now, but that is what it was last time I was in the industry) and make $16.00 an hour in tips. Report $5.00 an hour in tips = $11.00 an hour tax free.

This wasn't me, but I know most persons (about 90%+, this was a food delivery service) under reported their actual tips.

And tipped employees often make far less than minimum wage.
But I agree with you that some people like working for tips; sometimes you can make good money (for a young person).

Thorsten Veblen, commenting on the Gilded Age (iirc), said that the purpose of European aristocrats going to Monte Carlo and losing $20,000 at baccarat was to show that they could lose $20,000 and not flinch. Acting like you had money to burn was the height of cool.

Similarly, in the Victorian Age, there was still a well defined servant class, and tipping was a way for the tipper to prove they were above the servant class, and by inference, that the tipee was a servant.

To this day, we tip professions that were part the servant class in the mid 1800s. We do not typically tip people with jobs that came along since then, or that were "professions" back then - gas station attendant, snow plow driver, your doctor, lawyer, checkout clerk at the grocery, postal delivery person, airline pilot, or flight attendant (though that is very much like a restaurant server job).

We tip the servants to prove that we are not part of the servant class, and there is a certain noblesse oblige to help our lessers.

Frankly, my car mechanics have been a lot more important to my life, and I don't tip them. It's a racket, powered by guilt and peer pressure, and encouraged by American restaurants, because they can get away with not paying their employees. Europe, and most of the rest of the world, didn't have this racket, though they are starting to pick it up from Americans, via the same guilt and peer pressure, not to mention restaurateur greed.

Fortunately, restaurant employees and maybe hairdressers are the only major remnants of the Victorian servant class that we routinely tip. Oh, and strippers. And Cabbies! :) For everyone else, their employer is responsible for paying them, as it should be.

Yeah, I tip. But it is a racket, and a remnant of a social class system we should be embarrassed to support.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/05/2010 11:43AM by Brother Of Jerry.

people it is appropriate, or even expected, to tip.
Airport shuttle drivers, anyone who handles your bags for you, hotel maids in some places, etc.
People who travel a lot for business always carry plenty of $1 bills for tips.

five cents. I figured that was a worse insult than not tipping at all. The service she gave was appalling.

She brought my meal and then vanished. Before too long I realized I didn't have any silverware. I had to get up and go to the cash register and ring the little bell to get her attention. She then acted like it was the biggest bother to go get me some silverware.

I never ate there again and the restaurant has been closed for years. I don't mind leaving a proper tip but only if the service is good. The food wasn't that great either.

Tipping != tithing

My fiance is a generous tipper, IMO. 10-15% for bad service, 20% for good service, and 25% for great service.