smokey - You are incorrect. Tipping in cash may make it easier for tipped employees to cheat the system, but taxes are to be paid on income, not just income that it's easy for the government to track.

Smokey, No that is not correct.

Well - here the counter staff at Mickey D's - almost all high school kids - get $10 plus per hour - so I don;t see any need to tip them. Nor do I tip at Starbucks unless I ask for something extra difficult - don;t know what they earn but assume it is the same.

This is completely different from the way restaurants work - where I always tip at least 20% - unless the waitstaff is either rude or really incompetent. And then I'll tell them why.

I understand not tipping at McDonalds type places.

But -- if you went into a regular restaurant..a wait person comes over to take your order...then that person gives you your drinks...then brings you your food...takes your dishes away [or a bus person does] and then gives you your dessert...then gives you a check and you pay your check either via that person or at cashier...You LEAVE a tip for that person -- correct??

Then why would you not do the same thing [via the tip jar] for what amounts to the same services just carried out in a slightly different format by more than one person??

Just because you are ordering at a counter...the same amount of effort goes into getting your meal to you in a well prepared, timely manner.

Luckily, my daughter ends up making at least minimum with tips...somedays more, but usually not much more. And quantity of customers served doesn't help if all people are putting in is change from paying. 15% is really reasonable.

And to those of you who don't get tips, it's true...no one tips you for what you do...but then...no one every hired you and said you would get tips to help make up your weekly pay.

Debi

I was at the Clyde's Restaurant at Tysons Corner a few weeks ago and a magician performed for the table for about ten minutes. Should I have tipped him? If yes, how? Pull out a ten spot in front of everyone in the room?

We pay our restaurant bill with a credit card but we pay our tips in cash. Since the cc company takes a percent of every charge we assume that this percent is absorbed by someone and we don’t want it to be absorbed by our server if a certain restaurant has that policy.

I do not tip if I go up to a counter, order my food and take it to my seat or out the door or even if someone brings a tray to my table (though I don’t believe I go to those places). If anyone or anyone’s child is getting shortchanged they should have a talk with the boss or find an employer that treats the employees with more fairness.

We are always friendly and reasonable. I am not happy when I am greeted by a surly/semi surly waitperson but I go out of my way to help them change their attitude at least toward me because a surly waiter can ruin your meal. I prefer to cajole them out of their mood so at least my meal will be enjoyable. It really isn’t even that hard most of the time. ;)

I don't get the tip jars either. I find them really annoying. I go to get a slice of pizza, take-out, and there is a tip jar (for putting the slice in a bag I assume). Now Duncan Donuts too--for a coffee TO GO. Tip also for putting in a bag.
It is out of control. So, when I get my large coffee from DD, it comes to $280 and I put the 20 cents in the cup. Am I really supposed to support them with tips as well?
The worst is in the ladies room. You wash your hands, they hand you the paper towel that you could easily pick up yourself, and it costs you $1. It is insulting after spending $60 per person for dinner.

A counter person making minimum wage should not expect to get tipped the same way that a waitress who has agreed to work for "$2.15 per hour plus tips" does. These counter service and ice-cream-scooping jobs are for high-school and college kids trying to earn some spending money. Too bad parents don't have their high-school kids take a job anymore, they'd rather have them at home on myspace all weekend.

I only tip the bathroom attendant if I use any of the products in the bathroom. I'll sometimes dump the change in the tip jar at D&D if I don't feel like carrying it, but honestly, they get paid an hourly rate that is not meant to be supplemented with tips.

I think the big tip jar on the counter at 7-11 was the final straw for me!

I love the way the employees stuff a few of their own dollar bills into the tip jars....so you feel like a cheapskate if you drop in 50c!

joe- that's an old bartender trick, it's called "seed money"

I live in an unsophisticated but touristy area of northwest Florida. My stepdaughter has been a waitress for several years, both at tourist restaurants, sub shops, and a "yuppie" chain resturant. 15% is customary at most local resturants. More is given only for exceptional service, when you spend a longer time at a table than usual, or ask for a lot from your server. An exception would be at one of the few "fine dining establishments" in our area, where 20% is customary. This is based both on what SD says, as well as my own experiences dining with others. BTW, I am a lawyer, so I often dine with other professionals.
Having said all that, I will express my disdain for tip jars at counters. If I have to stand in line to order, pay for and receive my food, and if I dispose of the paper or styrofoam that it comes in, I will not tip unless I have requested some unusual service, which I can't imagine that I would.

No, I have never been a waitress, but I did teach 8th grade for several years. Rather than complain about teenagers, I put myself through grad school and changed occupations.

My aunt, of beloved memory, waited tables in Topeka from 1926-1969 working for dime tips. She loved her job and was a favorite of local politicians and journalists. I never heard her kvetch about her job.

When she was in her 90s she asked me to sort through savings bonds she had purchased during her working years. It turns out she had invested wisely.

My favorite joke of hers: A guy asks a waitress if she has frogs legs. She replies, "Why, do I walk funny?"

Neo, that tip jar was for the guy OUTSIDE of 7-11. You know the one holding the sign that reads “Will mooch for Beer”? [-o<

If I order food at a counter and then some brings it to me, I don't expect them to come back, refill my drinks, etc.

In my 20s I worked at a few Jazz Clubs and got stiffed a few times by some jerks who ran out after I brought the bill. I had to pay that loss out of my own pocket. After that, I waited at the table.

Joke: Waiter! there's a fly in my soup!!
response: Yes I see and he's doing a back stroke.

Ruth's Chris Is the name of the restaurant. Chris had two steakhouses in N.O. he sold one to Ruth and she named it Ruth's Chris.

The prices in restaurants keep getting higher and higher; why does the percentage tip also increase?

as things get higher so does the cost of living for the server.

Yes, but I think Sylvia's point was since the price is already going up, 15% of the new price is already higher than 15% of the new price -- so the waiter is already getting an increase equal to what everybody else's increase is.

Actually, I wasn't aware that percentages for tips have been going up. I've been leaving 20% in good restaurants for good service for probably 15 or 20 years now. Before that it was 15%. Am I supposed to be leaving 25% now?

Neo- I've heard the tip rate is now actually 18%.

Since I can't do math that well in my head, I always bump it up to 20% or round up to an even amount - even though I don't have much money. My parents, OTOH, who eat out all the time and have lots of money, refuse to believe it has been raised over 15% so they only tip that. Whenever we eat out together and they pay, I always sneak some money on the table after they leave because I know they didn't tip well. It's sad, really.

traveladdict, some people are worse than that, (MIL/FIL) they get to a certain amount for a tip and that's it. The percent doesn't come into play for them after they've decided what is enough. It's scary, I try to hide. ;)

I spent my summers from college waiting tables and bartending at Gullyfield Restaurant in Myrtle Beach and out of about 50 or so of the waitstaff, the IRS audited almost half of us one year. (As an aside, half the town's doctors, dentists, lawyers, and business owners are former co-workers of mine as well as the current Mayor and the ex Mayor)

Employers don't report any money to the IRS, the waitperson reports tips. The rule of thumb is to report 8% of your sales. If you aren't claiming enough, you better have the paperwork to back it up.

After that year, we all started keeping daily records of our tips.

My husband has professional waiters that easily make six figures a year.

We used to eat out with a very "cheap" couple. We'd split the bill. He'd pick it up.
Let's say the bill was $84.80.

"Well, that's about $80. But I don't tip on tax and that's about $5 so we take that off (actually 4.80). So that makes $75. 15% of $75 is about $10. So that makes $85 total. Since we're dividing it by two, that's an odd amount. Let's each leave $42.

In other words, his total including the tip would come out less than the original bill. How he did it I'll never know. But we were always sneaking an extra $20 under a plate.

Neo - poor math skills. Thank goodnes you had the extra $20.

I have never waited, or worked in the food service industry. But, I think the OP has a great list! Years ago my mother gave me a little tip card. It is the size of a credit card, and so fits in my wallet just fine. It lists each dollar amount and what 15% is as well as what 20% is. It is great for when you don't want to think, but want to leave the appropriate amount. I used it this weekend when we were out with several other couples and they all thought it was a great idea. My mom bought it at Papyrus, the paper store in our local mall.

DebitNM -

Are you talking about eating at a counter? Like in a diner? Then of course you tip - just as if you were sitting at a table. The server doesn;t do any less.

But if you pick up a coffee - or a sandwich - at a counter to take with you, then the person is either serving as the cook - not as a wait person - and should be payed as such - or is just handing you a bag and taking the money. And why should they be tipped any more than someone who does the same at Macys.

nytravelr...no, it's not a diner and it's not just picking up something to take out.

You go in, the counterperson -- my DD -- takes your order [they server breakfast, lunch and dinner with entrees around $10 or so] and gives you your drink[which are often lattes or other things that have to be made to order] and if you've ordered dessert, she gives you that too. She rings up your order, you pay and get a little placard that you put on your table. You go sit down, at whatever table is to your liking and put the placard on table. Another person brings your food from the kitchen and places it on the table for you and takes the tray away. When you are done, that person picks up the dirty dishes and trash.

I should add that this is a local restaurant that has several of these places in a variety of locations in the city {Albuquerque}. It also sells magazines and newspapers and people tend to stay for awhile and read or use their PC's. There is one near the university that students frequent.

To me, and not because my DD works there...I always tipped when I went there, because I am being provided a service and in the restaurant business, service [good] is rewarded with a tip, regardless if one person waits on your or 2.

Debi

I have 3 questions (I am not trying to editorialize. I generally tip between 20 & 25% at restaurants):

1. When I eat dinner at a restaurant and order a meal to go (to bring home for my child), am I expected to tip for that meal or just on what I ate in the restaurant.

2. When I order a bottle of wine, am I expected to tip 20% of the price of the bottle?

3. When I get really mediocre (but not rude) service, such as the waiter not bringing refills of water when requested, or not bringing drinks that were ordered, am I still expected to give 20%. How much less of a tip can I give?

A simple rule that I apply when it comes to leaving a tip is to divide the total cost of the bill by 5. This gets to 20% without fuss. We include all drinks/tax/food into this amount. Now if service is bad (and I mean really bad), the tip may go down, but this depends on any number of factors that are situation specific.

The day is coming that there will only be two types of restaurants. Buffets and hi end places. At the buffet there will be no tipping. At the hi end place there will. The buffet will have a cashier and a chef with some cooks. They will hire a person to wipe clean the table when you leave. No tipping and no service.

bobrad, casual dining is one of the largest sectors of restaurants. Think Outback, Red Lobster, Cheesecake Factory, Chilis, etc that are neither buffet nor high end.

Add to that the gazillions of fast food restaurants.

If anything, buffets are on the downswing.

Neo--that is really funny! Sounded like an Abbot and Costello routine.
My biggest dilemna is with regard to tipping when you have an expensive bottle of wine with dinner. I am used to tipping 20% but have heard many times that when a bottle of wine is included with the tab that the tip should be based on a seperate % for the wine and food. Obviously, it is the same amount of work to uncork, decant and serve a $25 btl of wine as it is to do the same with a $100 btl of wine. Some people will tip 20% on the food portion and 10-15% for the wine. Makes sense but I sorta feel "cheap" by picking the bill apart like that. Wonder if anyone else feels the same way.

double ditto, kureiff.

waitressing is terribly hard on the body and stressful. physically exhausting, mentally exhausting, and some days emotionally exhausting. customers can, unfortunately, be abusive in so many ways.

for the person whose college age daughter works at a coffee shop, it's very unusual for those types of employees to not make the minimum federal wage on wages alone. that situation doesn't sound right to me. and if it is indeed the case, she might consider another job, just so it's worth her while.

however, i don't tip "behind the counter" employees like i tip waitresses. trust me. until you're out there rushing from table to table, memorizing several tables' needs and priorities, getting burned with hot heavy trays of food, breaking your back and feet carrying those trays, only to be spilled on and verbally assaulted, you're really not earning a tip. the barista at starbucks isn't busting her ass for my latte.

i tip a good waitress VERY well, i tip a bad waitress not so well, because having been an excellent waitress myself for five long years, i know how hard you have to work to give great service.

-Lynne (who's glad to be done with college years and waitressing, thank god!)

Hi GoTravel,

I frequent the places that you have named. In conversations with managers , they all have the same comments. The constantly escalating prices for supplies that they are hit with and the trying times that they have trying to hold the line on prices and quality. Not even to mention insurance and utilities. Then the whining of the help , "I'm not making enough money." I remenber my Mother saying , "what , do you think that you're at a restaurant ?" Now at a restaurant they say , "what do you think your home !"

"The times they are a changing."

Teaching good manners
by being rude!

Does it work?

No.

I have asked they question about tip reporting to our tax guy, he said that servers must legally report everything they make--not just 8%. I know this seems to be the going thing, but according to this accountant, all income must be reported. Comments?

All income must be reported. However, that doesn't mean that all income is reported.

Employees must report at least 8% of your sales(before tax) or your total credit card tip (if it those are higher)
People who work in the higher end jobs tend to report all of their tips because most all patrons pay by CC add the tip to the CC. In lower end places, where the bill total isn't as high, many of the bills are paid with cash so it is easier for a server to claim less than what was made.