Tips are not something that should be assumed to be received. Tips are based on service. Iâve been to plenty places that assumed because the tip was added on the bill (due to party size) they didnât really need to worry about the service received. If youâre including the tip onto my bill we shouldnât be waiting for 15 minutes to get your attention. Sorry, not sorry.
Wait. Are tips automatically included if you're with more people? And how does that show up on the bill? And are you still expected to tip more of the service was above average?
For large parties (and the restaurant decides the size but itâs typically 6 or more) an automatic tip is added. This policy is usually posted on the menu.
You see the line item on the check. You do not tip above that if itâs already been added.
I was at a hotel in Ontario a few days ago and the restaurant there had a disclaimer that an automatic tip of 20% will be added to parties of 6 or more.
Went out to dinner with friends and the service was god awful. I asked the server a question about my food and she was rude about it. (The question was was why I only got half a slice of meat for my sandwich). Everyone's drinks tasted like freezer burn and the food didn't all come out at once. 20% gratuity added for a party of 7 and a crap time. Couldn't be more pissed, lol
I haven't worked in a restaurant in a long time, but it is dependent on the restaurant. The last one I worked at would add an automatic 18% if it was a party of six or more (you had to enter the size of the party when starting their order in the computer). The table was generally told about the gratuity prior to ordering, and it was noted in the menu.
The gratuity would show up on the itemized receipt normally after the subtotal. If a customer was paying by card it would show up on tge credit card receipt as well, but there was also a line to write in additional tip.
Like Salsha said, it is usually 6 or more. You will see somewhere on your receipt that says gratuity. And in the US that gratuity added is 20% so that $288 tab would have automatically had that $58 added. OP wouldnt have had to worry about that. And those 6 people dont even have to be on the same check. It could be 3 couples going out that are hanging out together. All of those 3 checks would have had the 20% added.
It's called a gratuity. It's automatically applied and shows up as its own line item. No, you're not expected to tip more on top of that. However, this gratuity will be split between the front and back of the house (if they have a good manager). If you want to particularly thank your server(s) or the bus boy you could put a bit of cash on the table, but it's not expected.
Some people just don't value service that highly though. I get it if it's an incredibly high end restaurant but 90% of the places I go I don't need anything from the wait staff other than them bringing me food or drinks. If I'm ordering a burger and two overpriced beers I'd happily go collect them all from the bar myself rather than have a waiter I need to tip.
The other day 8 of us sat down at a bar type restaurant after a round of golf and all ordered a basic entrees each like wings, burgers, chicken tenders, quesadillas, etc. Everyone got 1-2 beers or seltzers, half of which came in a can or bottle. We were there for around an hour total and the place said they could only do one bill for the whole table and it came out to about $270. A 20% tip on that was $54. I don't know how to value the basic service of carrying that stuff to our table but $54 an hour for one person making 3-4 trips to our table seems like an absurdly high amount to me, especially when they likely had more tables tipping them as well.
The fact that some places fill in the tip automatically is beyond stupid. The customer decides, if and how much they want to tip. How dare restaurants decide for customers how much extra money they can spare at that moment.
I just realized how tired I was because I think I sound so bitchy reading that again. I do tip when I go out. I just donât agree there should be recommended tipping amounts printed on the receipt Iâm signing. I think I should tip whatâs appropriate for the service. Im pushing no tip when I sign on your iPad and I walk up to pick up my smoothie. Pizza delivery Iâm tipping. I donât believe staff should feel entitled to a tip they deemed appropriate. If you choose to work in an industry your hourly wages for tipped staff are different than other industries it isnât fair to use the excuse âI live on my tips.â Sorry, if that sounds bitchy. My sisters been a bartender for years and loves to claim sheâs the best tipper but I think itâs number to throw down $60 between the four tickets at one table and give me crap for not also throwing down a $20 totaling $80. Thatâs out of this world to me. $80? I asked what drugs they were all smoking.
i mean no the food is cheaper because they assume the customer will tip the waitress for the better work. or else the owner is supposed to cover the difference, good luck with that. In CA yeah minimum is the same everywhere and i tip 15% because its another job people do and i dont tip every retail worker. But i know that going in. you should just be like those assholes ive seen who say youre tip is this 10$ and every time you make a mistake, its a dollar less.
Whether you agree with it or not, when you are in another country, you should respect the cultural norms.
You arenât going to change the tipping culture by stiffing your wait staff. You are just screwing over someone who relies on tips to pay their bills.
Imagine if Americans showed up and started just kicking in the doors of bathrooms that require a fee to get in lol. Actually, they might, I'm not sure, I didn't anyway but it was bullshit.
Or, and the servers there sometimes give you real shitty looks for this, I started to only order tap water instead of paying for water.
Exactly, the prices are the way they are because of assumed tips. If the restaurant pays the servers more then prices would go up to compensate. It's probably how it should be done but I agree if you are here you need to realize there is "tax" on the price, if you can afford it then you should sit it out.
Yeah! Iâm the problem for not fucking over workers. You got it right!
Honestly though, I canât even imagine this level of selfishness. I donât understand how you justify it to yourself. But I guess thatâs what makes you an asshole.
I guess everyone is an asshole, then. The boss is selfish for not paying a living wage. The customer is selfish for not wanting to pay an extra amount of cash that isn't labeled anywhere. The server is selfish for making demands from the customer instead of the boss, who should be paying the wage.
Your selfish for thinking anyone should pay undocumented fees but the boss. It's not like there's any one given selfish group in this mess. I don't know why you're lashing out at others, when you, yourself, have selfishness involved too.
The service that they give you is based on the assumption that they will likely be getting a tip.
You are expecting good service when you dine there.
To put it simply, there is an implicit agreement when you go to these places: they give good service, you give a tip.
So it's kind of chickenshit to sit there for two hours and have the server bust their ass for you for two hours, and then not tell them that you won't tip them until after you've been served. Many people here are talking about how it's unfair that servers' wages are so low and that they have to rely on tips. Well, if you're actually against tipping on the grounds that it's not fair to the servers, then you wouldn't also be unfair to the servers by soliciting their service and then not telling them that they're not getting paid until after they served you.
If this is a matter of principle for you, then you'd tell them beforehand that you don't tip, that way they can put a priority on the tables that do tip. People who pay more get a higher priority, people who pay less get a lower priority. It's just...people don't want that. People who tip 0% tend to want the same level of service as people who tip 20%, so they're happy to sit there the entire time and not say anything until after being served.
If you want to change the tipping culture, stop patronizing restaurants that participate in it. Boycott them entirely. If you go out to eat at a restaurant where tipping is expected and don't tip, you're not affecting anybody but the waiter. You're not fighting the good fight, you're just being a cheapskate.
There's not much research needed. If it's a country that has a tipping culture, and the restaurant has wait staff (so most everything besides fast food) then there's going to be an expected tip.
You're helping your server afford rent because that's the system you're in. Practically you tipping or not isn't going to affect the system at all, but it's going to mean your server can afford another meal for their family this week.
Good luck with your tourism business. I don't go to America because I don't wish to engage with a system that won't pay their employees fairly. I haven't missed out I believe.
Iâve lived here for 38 years, in both rural areas and big cities. Never worried about being shot, never seen anyone shoot a gun in a place theyâre not supposed to. Itâs a problem, yes, but the news makes it out to be a much bigger problem than it actually is. I keep hearing people say theyâre afraid theyâre gonna get shot if they come to the US, but you wonât. Unless you go to like the worst part of town and walk into a gang confrontation or whatever.
Bro you realize I live in
a city of over a million people and I regularly thrift shop or visit friends in the âworstâ parts of this city and never feel threatened. Obviously Iâm not walking up to dudes on the corner and starting shit, but you have some skewed idea of what itâs like in most us cities. Nearly all violent crime is not random, itâs involving drugs, or gang disputes or other stuff thatâs personal. And are you really trying to say there no parts of London that you wouldnât feel safe walking completely alone in the middle of the night?
I'm sure if you stay in the touristy areas, the busy areas, etc., you're perfectly safe in Dubai and London. That's the same everywhere. I'm sure there are certain neighborhoods or streets, pretty far out from the tourist places, where it's probably just a good idea to not wander around alone at night. Those are the places we're talking about. You're probably safe even if you do go there, but if you're going to get hurt or robbed or whatever, it's gonna be in those shadier places. That's what we're talking about. Violent crimes happen in Dubai, violent crimes happen in London. They happen in every city, and you just have to be careful. Part of that is knowing "hey, that really dark dirty alley far from anything is probably a place I should just not go down at night".
I've been to London, I never felt unsafe. But I also never went down any dark scary alleys at night way outside the major downtown areas. Those are the streets I'm talking about. You can come to my city and be fine wandering around downtown all night long, I've done it. But don't walk a mile or two east in the middle of the night by yourself to those 2 or 3 streets where all the gang violence happens. But of course, nobody's going to do that anyway. So it's perfectly safe 99.99999% of the time here.
Itâs not possible to boycott all restaurants in the US.
I donât think people are appreciating the size and diversity of the US. We are over 300 million people with very diverse backgrounds and a lot of regional cultural differences as well. There is no way to organize an effective boycott of anything.
Imagine having this little empathy. Regardless of whether or not you think the current system is okay, you're basically saying "fuck you I got mine" by not tipping where it's expected.
The world would be in a lot worse place if everyone just had a "that's your problem" attitude.
It is more nuanced than that. Both the customer and the employee are getting screwed over by the bosses in this situation. The prices are already as high as the restaurant can get away with, to attract everyone regardless of whether they intend to tip or not. It is basically transferring a part of the expense of running a restaurant to the customer, using emotional blackmail. Refusing to participate is the ethical response.
Also, the employee who agrees to such a system, is basically transferring his responsibility of doing something about it to the customer. Because if everyone was tipping the expected amount every single time, it would be the customer and only the customer who is getting screwed over.
Both the employees and the customers have the moral responsibility to refuse to participate in this scheme.
The no participation/moral move would be not going to the restaurant in the first place. By going and not tipping, you're only making a move that benefits yourself and the owner, and the employee gets the short end of the stick. That's not really the moral move, nor is it one that's going to spark change.
Of course you have something to do with it. The pricing is based on the wait staff receiving part of their pay through tips. You skipped your part of the social obligation in the culture you're participating in, and actively hurt the finances of the person who spent their time and effort serving you. AND you got a product at a cheaper price then if the tip was factored into the price. It's an accepted system, like it or not. The pricing is based on the assumption of a service tip.
Just because you pay in two places (tip plus menu price) vs all in the menu price isn't that big a deal practically, but sure seems to be an easy out for assholes to freeload and be sanctimonious about it.
Whether you agree with it or not, when you are in another country, you should respect the cultural norms.
Kissing on the cheeks in France is a cultural norm. Tipping is a capitalist scheme, that screws over both the employees and the customers.
And no, tourists should not participate in this scheme. Why would they agree to get screwed over by the owner of the restaurant to pay a part of the expenses of running his restaurant?
Donât visit capitalist counties then if you donât want to pay what it costs.
I donât agree with how the restaurant industry is run but Iâm also not naive enough to think stiffing your waiter prevents them from getting screwed over. In reality, you are just piling onto their mistreatment and financial distress while thinking you are taking the higher moral ground. You are not. You are just being cheap and trying to justify it and still feel like a good person instead of the jerk you are.
Donât visit capitalist counties then if you donât want to pay what it costs.
Tipping is not a cultural norm in capitalist countries. I've been to most of them, and I'm living in one. It's a capitalist scheme that takes place in the US. In almost every other capitalist country, tipping is an optional way to express your gratitude, if the service was exceptionally good.
naive enough to think stiffing your waiter prevents them from getting screwed over.
I don't. What you still don't understand is that this scheme screws both the employees and the customers. You're basically suggesting, that customers should allow themselves to get screwed over by a boss who wants to transfer some of the expenses of running a business to the customer.
Both the employees and the customers have the moral responsibility to refuse to participate in this scheme.
I don't like the USA's tipping culture but the fact is that they have it. If you go and visit USA then you should respect it and tip in line with what's expected. I studied in the USA for a year and I didn't like having to tip for so many things but the fact was I'd chosen to go to a country where tipping is expected and so the right thing is for me to do it.
Never say that the right thing for you to do is right because the public does it, give a good argument for why its right. If a crime in a country was normalised doesnt means its right to do the crime because you visited that country.
The most of the opinions regarding one should tip because its the culture just show the fact that you want to force others to follow the majority without keeping their own standards
Tipping is basically required in the US because the minimum wage for employees in positions where tips are âcustomaryâ is $2.13/hr, which after taxes on the tips received becomes $0.
If you donât tip, the server has effectively paid for you to eat there since tips are often shared with other members of staff.
The whole system is fucked, but not tipping isnât accomplishing anything
Alright i may be speaking out from a very inexperienced perspective so correct me if you want.
How is a bad decision of some individual who knowingly works there expected to be the responsibility of the general public
You are going to buy a product/service. Anything like that has a fixed price given by the seller, which you are obligated to. If they arent wanting to fix their prices accordingly, why should others be paying more for charity to that worker
If i work on a job with shitty pay, its a contract with my workplace not with the customers to ensure my pay. Yes i would suffer, but its stupid to say that customers should pay whats not shown as the actual price to me.
And i agree the system is rotten and it isnt helping it, but yeah dont present it as the responsibility of other's to continue following a rotten system.
So it's ok to penalize a person with a basic education who can't get any other work or someone who's trying to work their way through their studies?
Yeah the problem is systemic but not tipping isn't going to help, it's only harming the people the system is exploiting. You've made the choice to support employers that exploit their waitstaff by going in the restaurant. Take responsibility for that choice by tipping.
If you want to change the system or have the moral high ground, only go to restaurants that you know are paying a living wage.
Even if you agree with tipping this isnât good logic. Thereâs a lot of places that have stuff that many people donât respect and shouldnât follow. Many places marry off girls as young as 8, should you respect that if you visit a country that does that?
I mean this is such a bad comparison, though. Itâs a very small inconvenience for people to tip. If the tipping system wasnât in place then every restaurant would increase menu prices anyway so either way the consumer pays extra. Comparing that to child brides is fucking insane, man.
But the solution would be increasing menu prices to pay the staff a âlivable wageâ at the end of the day the consumer still pays more.
Edit: imagine a server now making 20 percent tips. Instead the restaurant stops tips and increases menu prices by 20 percent. Now we donât know how much of that the server gets and how much the restaurant is just keeping.
Yes, that's exactly what people want clear, transparent prices. We do not want to be involved in the servers pay scheme. There are Myriad other interactions in life where we are totally uninvolved in how somebody is paid.
Itâs clear and transparent and has been for the entirety of my 60+ year life.
If you go to a restaurant where you are seated, served, and attended to, then tipping the service person is required.
10-20 percent is standard.
If you feel that service was so poor that you shouldnât tip then you should have already been talking to a hostess or manager to rectify the problem.
If service was great, then tip more if you feel inclined.
Itâs part of the cost of going out to eat at real restaurants in the United States.
If you donât like it or canât afford it then eat at self service places or eat at home.
Standard in America. Get pissy at tourists all you want but itâs not something theyâre used to or something theyâre willing to change for a holiday.
But it seems to be ok to be judgmental against American tourists who arenât willing to change their behavior when on holiday in your fine country?
Whatâs sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.
Usually itâs best to read up on customs when traveling to a different culture. Be mindful that youâre not in Kansas anymore and try to follow along with the customs of the people and country you are visiting.
My guy did you really just compare tipping $50 to child marriage? This isn't black and white "it's all okay or none of it is." There's nuance and contest to these situations and customs lmao.
Okay, but knowing that this is how wait staff get paid in the us. And being that people should educate themselves on cultural differences & follow them when they're in a foreign country, you should just tip the wait staff & not be a dick about it. It's really not that hard to understand. Only sit down restaurants where you have a waiter are you expected to tip in the us.
I lived in 2 foreign countries & there were things I didn't agree with. But I followed them.
Iâve not visited the US yet but Iâve come to your conclusion for when I do. I donât like the system at all but thatâs the way the wait staff have to make their money so Iâll be involved and just hope it doesnât change to this system back home
But why does that matter? If I go to another country where it is customary to be quiet every day at noon for five minutes and I spend 12-12:05 screaming because thatâs an asinine rule and I not a jerk?
When youâre visiting another country, you gotta adapt to that countryâs culture and not be rude about it. Regardless of how you feel about tipping culture, you have to acknowledge that not tipping just because you think itâs stupid is a terrible thing to do and makes you a bad person.
Still doesn't mean that you should come here and disrespect service staff like this. When you are in another country you should follow their customs on things like this.
As a Canadian I'll never understand why we've implemented US tipping culture when restaurant workers are paid a government-mandated minimum wage at the least. Pretty sure we're the only commonwealth country that does it - pisses me off to no end.
"When in Rome, do as the Romans" doesn't apply to Europeans I guess.
We're aware that the situation is fucking stupid, but also that wait staff generally depends on tips for their livelihood. When you refuse to tip, you're saying "go fuck yourself" to the wrong person.
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