Question ? - Restaurant

Good as in not phoned in, but nothing special?  15%, or about 11 bones.

If the server knocked it out of the park, $15.

15-20%, likely $12-$15, if the food lined up really well too

drop A 20. its normal

Servers deserve $100 an hour at least.

Racket deserves 1 day where everything goes his way. 

>drop A 20

I agree

I'd leave a hundred dollar bill and look them in the eye when I thanked them for the good service.

$15 if there are no dings

$12 otherwise, unless something beyond a major ding

.

For good service I'd probably leave a round $90, an $18 tip.

$14

I'm curious if any in the $11-$15 group have ever worked a job where the majority of their pay came from tips?

Dude, $11-15 is still a 15-20% tip. No need to shame anyone for that.

14 or 20 if they were fabulous and food was great. 
 

I will admit that the quality of my meal also effects my tip, I never leave less than 15% though 

I'm not trying to shame anyone, Brian, it was a simple question. I have found that folks who have worked for tips tend to be more generous tippers. I know Mr Gutt is in the restaurant business, i know that i have worked for tips, just curious about others. But if you're feeling some sort of shame from reading my question, perhaps you should be a more generous tipper in the future. 

I've worked in food-service and I said I'd leave $18, which is 25%. Still, a 15% tip is very standard and fair.

I understand, Brain. Past food service employee (you) would leave %25. Holds true with my experience.  This is the root of the question. 

I understand that I tend to tip more than most, but again, I worked for tips.

 shitty service gets 20%

Good service 20%+

During lockdown I was leaving up to 50% tips on takeout, and also giving cash specifying to give it to the kitchen staff. That industry was hit hard.

I always leave 20% unless the service was sub-standard.

I worked as a cab driver for about 5 years back in the 70s.

20% rounded up to the nearest dollar is my standard tip for restaurant servers.

My former father-in-law (RIP) was a a cheap SOB who thought that tipping was optional.   We one time had a graduation dinner and the bill must have been $400+.   He picked up the tab, but didn't leave a tip.   The server came up and asked if there was anything wrong and everyone else at the table was completely mortified and started whipping out the $50 dollar bills.   The servers ended up getting a very nice tip that night after all.   

To answer the question: i would have left a $23.00 tip to get it toa nice round $95.00

Generally for mke 20 - 25% minimum -

when i take my crews out to dinner and ( many ) cocktails...i usually pick up the tab and ask the peeps to pony up the tip...we are generally a loud and rowdy ( BUT FUN ) group. on a good night those servers will get anywhere from 25 - 50 per pax ( we all get a Per Diem when we travel ) and can easily pull a 40 - 50% tip from us....

Treat your servers well, they are someones significant other, partner, provider and they arent your slave, they are your server

$14 and I never worked for tips but my wife had to serve Texans on vacation -  nothing worse than that. They would send back the blue chip nachos because they thought they were burnt

I understand, Brain. Past food service employee (you) would leave %25. Holds true with my experience.  This is the root of the question.<<<

As a vendor at ball games for 12 years (Wrigley & Comisky for 8 and then Coors Field for 4), the bulk of the money I made was on commission with tips being more of a significant adjunct ... something along the lines of 5:1.  So maybe I wasn't in a position such as most waitstaff at restaurants or bars, but did get a first hand look at people's behavior and was able to internalize it within the context of relentlessly lugging two cases of beer up an endless stair machine in the midst of 40k people for 3-4 hours.

I've seen plenty of big tippers and plenty of no tippers, with most in between.  The conclusion I arrived at from my experience is that if everyone at least ante'd up a little bit, my situation would be far better off.  So, I have no qualms tipping "just" 20% by default.  If everyone did this all the time, I suspect those who rely primarily upon tips would be far better off in reality.  So, I suffer no guilt. 

Having said that, I generally do tip more - even excessively sometimes - closer to home.  Likewise, I've often heard it said from those who work around the area that locals do tip more.  I don't do it because it's a "rule", but mostly because I see just how demanding, and sometimes rude, uber wealthy visitors to a resort can be to those in the service sector.     

A number of establishments in our area are paying servers (and all staff) livable wages, along with full benefits packages. There is no tipping,  everyone makes out way better, and there's little staff turnover. One of the breweries that does this has a "donation jar," which patrons can throw into instead of tips. A local non-profit will get all the receipts from that jar for a 2-week period. That jar pulls in over $300,000 a year.

If I plan on being at the same bar for awhile I'll tip $20 on my first beer

$10 on my second

$5 on my third and a dollar every beer thereafter

never been 86'd

I always tip cash when I can if I pay with a card

That's solid strategy joy

ditto to tipping in cash if possible.

I've worked for tips, and have always thought of 20% as the standard for good service.  Messing up the order, poor beverage service, or excessive helicoptering are all points off.  If something's wrong with the food, you can always send it back, or if the chefs are that helpless, stop patronizing the establishment, but that shouldn't impact the waiter's rating. 

I tip well, I dump $72.00 on a meal I would lease $20 min, probably leave a C note and call it a night.

My Brother on the other hand :

No Tip

Free Mint

Never say Thank You

Never thought I'd tell this story on a blog site, but here goes;

When the next generation started to graduate from High School, my generous mom (RIP) offered each family a graduation gift, basically a trip of their choice. My sis's family chose Disney World, my bro's family chose Cancun Mexico.  Being that I didn't have a family, I got to chose which trip I wanted to go on, so chose Cancun (I'd been to Disney world when it first opened).

Cancun had been hit hard several months earlier by Hurricane Wilma;
<<On the Mexican mainland, a station in Cancún recorded 10–minute sustained winds of 160 km/h (100 mph), with gusts to 212 km/h (132 mph) before the anemometer failed; gusts were estimated at 230 km/h (140 mph).[1][4] The gust in Cancún was the strongest ever recorded in Mexico.[35]>>

When we got there, we stayed at a condo, the neighboring hotel was reduced to some rebar coming out of the ground, the first two floors of condos (where we were originally scheduled to stay), were still not inhabitable (though they had done a shit ton of work on them, were getting close).  

We ate at the neighboring restaurant that was just inland, and didn't get as damaged due to better protection from the oceans surge / winds.  It was a fantastic meal, with the entire place fully taking care of us (as it, and most things in the area, were empty, as most places hadn't opened yet, or were permanently closed / destroyed).   We went dutch, my brother the Dr, tipped 15%, I threw down a $20 (I think my meal w/ drinks was around $15), which pissed my brother off ( a strict 15% tipper).

3 nights later, we went back near closing (was a travel / sightseeing day), we were the only ones in there.  I was talking to the workers (I was working as a cook at Squirrels Tavern at the time), and they actually printed out the tips they'd received that entire day, and how it got distributed to everyone (they had a system down pact, so the chefs to dishwashers, hostess to wait staff, all got some, the cooks slightly higher, dishwashers slightly lower, but I thought it was fair, and well thought out system.  My brother tipped 15% again that night, and I threw down another $20 for me, then another $20 for them (BTW, my take home was about $650 a month back then, plus whatever tips I got)

We got into an even bigger fight.  He's very liberal, but is a cheapskate (typical, the wealthiest family member and all).  I had already explained my personal story, about how I really did need tips to survive, and our biz was doing great, not borderline closing like the few places still open in this stretch.  I went over the tips reality w/ the matradee and my brother (waste of time), my bro was so stubborn, so I ripped him for being cheap ass who obviously had no clue what these great workers had been thru (and the food / service was exceptional, like out of this world exceptional!!!).  Some had become homeless, and were all crammed into small homes farther inland, and many other tales of economic woe, personal loss, etc.  So mom thru down a big bill, as did my niece....  my brother didn't budge.  It's been a sore spot w/ me ever since, he's ok w/ sending a check somewhere to a theoretical cause,, but refused to support people in his direct presence.  This pattern has repeated itself over the years, with toooooo many examples to give.  It gets worse from there, but that's enough to share for now...

Kudo's to those who can afford to, and chose to, take care of everyone under the sun, especially those that break their backs to make our own lives more enjoyable!!!

What was left of the neighboring Hotel;

Rebuilding the first 2 floors of the condos;

The restaurant was in this mini mall, designed to be heavily fortified incase of an extreme hurricane. (Part of our condo on left, mini mall on right, w/ Laguna Nipchupte in background)

I tip well.

Put yourself in their shoes and tip as big as you can. 

And consider yourself fortunate and blessed to even consider a $72 meal in the first place.

Lots of blessed individuals in the zone. (Sounds better than privileged)

^empathy. This goes back to my question. It's a little easier to empathize when you've been in a similar circumstance. In my experience, the floor is 20% with such folks 

Among some here in Jersey/new york tipping is akin to a competitive sport.  

On the flip side, in some places (ahem, Utah) the on-going competition is to make a huge mess with a super-sized family, ordering waters, and leaving no tip.

Question Mark

I tip 15% at a minimum, but usually more like 20-25%. If the service is really awful, I'll tell the server what I think, but still leave the minimum.

 I tip 25 to 30, everytime. If you've worked low paying jobs while trying to raise a family, you can empathize easily.

Btw, anyone with enough money to go to a place where strangers prepare your food, cater to your whims and listen to you whine / complain, all for minimum wage, should absolutely have the right to spit/ cough/ blow their nose on your food if you're even the slightest bit rude.

Syntax

I tip at curbside pickup and the drive-thru. 

@PLF

$72 for lunch! Musta been a great burger,

Is Mike from these parts?

Just read a REALLY great book called "Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents" (Wilkerson)

There was one anecdotal account of the author's experience as a woman of color's negative interaction with a particular individual who was on waitstaff and apparently rendered the author and her party as "second fiddle" to other tables in the restaurant due to their "caste status".  I suspect this goes on all the time; FAR more than most of us on this board who might be in the "dominant caste" (i.e. "white") might ever experience!

Just brought this up since it's interesting to hear how some are hard-core 20% floor no matter what.  I know there have been caveats for point deductions (including myself), but are such comments originating from a relatively privileged position in the context of a caste system that exists in the US to this very day?

>are such comments originating from a relatively privileged position in the context of a caste system that exists in the US to this very day<

Perhaps. Regarding my experience those who have, or still do, earn a majority of their income from tips, it cuts across socioeconomic class.

 Want to see some big tippers? Go to an after hours club with a bunch of restaurant folk, who just got off work. 

How much on a $3 cup of coffee?  Me, at least $1.  My son who works at a coffee shop says most people don’t tip.

Like, ordering a cup of coffee at the counter? hmmm. maybe. prolly not.

if there are multiple components to this coffee based beverage, or ends in some kind of -ino, ordered at the counter, or in the drive thru, a tip is usually appropriate

in a sit down / table service place, I wouldn't even order a glass of water without leaving at least three bucks.

When I drove a cab, the best tippers were waitresses & bartenders.

I give a minimum of 15% regardless and more if the service was good. I was a waiter for a few years and know exactly how hard the job is.

Anyone that's rude to a member of the service industry without valid reason is a complete POS in my opinion.

Mice when purchasing coffee at a local coffee shop are you like Mr. Pink from Reservoir Dogs?

Very generous tipper, apparently even by the zone's standards. See my earlier post.

Mr. Pink received seated table service, and drank three cups of coffee

Is my coffee tipping strategy broken? I'm willing to listen.

Just playing Mice.  Got the impression that unless you were ordering a fancy coffee you may not tip.  Generally speaking I tip if someone serves me something, either at a counter or sit down.  I was just asking because like I said, my son works at a local coffee shop and he says that a lot of people do not tip.  

How much do you all tip at pot shops?  

I only go there to get certain prepacked edibles and am in an out in a jiffy with no fussing around.  Usually leave $1 in the jar.

All good, i chuckled. Actually after a little more thought in those kind of situations, I generally always pay with cash, and tip whatever the change is.

Forty cents, a buck ten, whatever. ...Occasionally there's just no change, and that's just the way the cards fell.

I'm just saying a standing transaction over a paper cup and some black coffee shouldn't come with too many expectations attached (in either direction.)

>>>>>How much on a $3 cup of coffee?  Me, at least $1. 

There's certainly no call for ever leaving a tip less than a buck. That's just rude.

>>>>>How much do you all tip at pot shops?    Usually leave $1 in the jar.

Me too.