Proper tip amount at restaurants?

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What is a proper tip amount at restaurants?

  • 10%

  • 12.5%

  • 15%

  • 17.5%

  • 20%


Results are only viewable after voting.

Stuxnet

Diamond Member
Jun 16, 2005
8,392
1
0
Seriously, another one of these threads?

I think it's funny that, after posting the above, you posted twice more actually contributing to the thread.

On the Car Talk podcast the question came up on whether you tip the guy who pumps gas. LOL, Americans are so crazy.

Wait, you guys tip for a barman to turn around, pick up a bottle, put it on the table and open it? What part of that deserves a tip?


All these people crying about "another tipping thread." Don't click on it, you knobs.
 

erikistired

Diamond Member
Sep 27, 2000
9,739
0
0
It's not an entitlement, it's just customary that you pay a portion of your server's wage as an enticement for them to provide good service. Tipping is NOT an "if you feel like it" option. People who are adversed to tipping shouldn't put themselves in situations where they're expected to tip.

it's an entitlement. the enjoyment of your meal should not be held hostage according to how much of a ransom you're willing to pay for someone to do their job.
 

Stuxnet

Diamond Member
Jun 16, 2005
8,392
1
0
it's an entitlement. the enjoyment of your meal should not be held hostage according to how much of a ransom you're willing to pay for someone to do their job.

Like I said, you're expected to subsidize your server's pay. The federal government even accounts for this in its minimum wage laws.

When you walk in to a nice sit-down restaurant, you know full well you're expected to tip 15%, give or take. If that rubs you the wrong way, don't go in.
 
Nov 29, 2006
15,692
4,204
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Depends on the service. For normal service 15%. Great outstanding service 18-20%. Crappy service..well depends how crappy it was. 0-15% :p
 

FDF12389

Diamond Member
Sep 8, 2005
5,234
7
76
Like I said, you're expected to subsidize your server's pay. The federal government even accounts for this in its minimum wage laws.

When you walk in to a nice sit-down restaurant, you know full well you're expected to tip 15%, give or take. If that rubs you the wrong way, don't go in.

This.

It's really not complicated, I would rather pay less for my meal, and control the percentage of the tip. otherwise going to a nice steakhouse might turn out like a trip to the dmv.
 

Stuxnet

Diamond Member
Jun 16, 2005
8,392
1
0
This.

It's really not complicated, I would rather pay less for my meal, and control the percentage of the tip. otherwise going to a nice steakhouse might turn out like a trip to the dmv.

Which is what a lot of these penny stranglers don't get: if you take tips out of the equation, the prices are just going to go up. Now that 15% - 20% is built right into your bill and you just lost your voice.

Brilliant!
 

tokie

Golden Member
Jun 1, 2006
1,491
0
0
Ban on creating these weekly threads. Do we really need to discuss tipping 52 times a year?
 

Stuxnet

Diamond Member
Jun 16, 2005
8,392
1
0
Ban on creating these weekly threads. Do we really need to discuss tipping 52 times a year?

Ban on the idiots who fill up half the thread crying about it. You guys act like your whole week is ruined because you've seen the topic before. Grow up.
 

Muse

Lifer
Jul 11, 2001
38,363
8,675
136
I have always heard 15%. If I feel the situation warrants more, I'll do more, but I'm not a soft touch.
 

Phokus

Lifer
Nov 20, 1999
22,994
779
126
Your cheap. You know us servers make 4.3x an hour. We rely on tips. I usually receive 25-30% tips. I tip 30%. You prolly send your food back 4 times, god only knows what you've consumed. :X

JS80 is a typical spoiled conservative who looks down on the 'lower classes'... he also takes joy in helping his managers lay people off in his company and brags about it.
 
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Wyndru

Diamond Member
Apr 9, 2009
7,318
4
76
I normally give 20% after tax. My wife and I worked in restaurants when we were younger and know how shitty it is to get bad tips all day long.

Even if the waiter/waitress sucks, they still get at least 15%, I never tip less unless it's a buffet or someplace where they don't really serve you.
 

dullard

Elite Member
May 21, 2001
25,476
3,976
126
$2 per person, unless it is an expensive restaurant. If it is an expensive restaurant, up the amount per person as necessary.

I see no reason that the waiter should earn less if I order a fried chicken instead of a grilled chicken meal. I see no reason the waitress should earn less if I want water instead of a coke. Percentages are stupid and cruel.

And that is $2 per person regardless of what that person wanted. Just a glass of water? $2. An appetizer, meal, and coffee? $2. That generally works out to a 20%-25% tip for me as most restaurants I eat at are about $8-$10 per person.
 

xanis

Lifer
Sep 11, 2005
17,571
8
0
JS80 is a typical spoiled conservative who looks down on the 'lower classes'... he also takes joy in helping his managers lay people off in his company and brags about it.

And Heller is a lying, idiotic troll. There's more than one in every group.
 

Trey22

Diamond Member
Oct 31, 2003
5,540
0
76
I always leave a tip... if the service was so bad that the server didn't deserve a tip, I still leave one, but not without talking to the manager and getting something in compensation.

Last nite out we tipped 25% as the server was top notch.
 

BurnItDwn

Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
26,164
1,637
126
Usually 15-20%, but, sometimes less or sometimes more depending upon service.

Also, by default, places that are cheap with decent service that I hit for lunch I usually tip a bit higher. (if a meal costs me $6-$7 but the service is good, I'll at least leave 2 bucks.)
 

JS80

Lifer
Oct 24, 2005
26,271
7
81
Your cheap. You know us servers make 4.3x an hour. We rely on tips. I usually receive 25-30% tips. I tip 30%. You prolly send your food back 4 times, god only knows what you've consumed. :X

$4/hour sounds appropriate for writing down words that come out of my mouth and having an illegal bring out the food.

Regardless, I live in CA where waiters get paid minimum wage ($8/hour) plus tip% on inflated food prices.

I never send back food, am always courteous, and tip higher at the restaurants I frequent regularly.
 

KeithTalent

Elite Member | Administrator | No Lifer
Administrator
Nov 30, 2005
50,231
117
116
20% or more if they are really good (went out for brunch on the weekend and the girl was excellent, so I tipped just over 25%) and it has gone to zero maybe twice in my dining career where they were absolutely horrendous, but it usually takes an apocaypse of awful to get zero from me.

KT
 

JS80

Lifer
Oct 24, 2005
26,271
7
81
JS80 is a typical spoiled conservative who looks down on the 'lower classes'... he also takes joy in helping his managers lay people off in his company and brags about it.

Yup so spoiled coming to this country with no possessions and wooden chopsticks in my mouth.

Nice to take my previous statement out of context. I enjoy cutting heads of worthless overpaid middle management that do nothing but forward emails and sit on conference call, which most of the populists would approve of.