Tipping in Restaurants

Just for information for anyone who is travelling to Germany. You don't leave a tip on the table here. You always round up and include it when you pay. Rounding up usually works out to 5-10% - e.g. if your bill is €27, and you want to tip, you can tell them to give you change for €30. If you are paying by card, ask first. They may not be able to add the tip to the bill and then you just press some coins or a €5 note directly into the waiter's hand.

Asking for separate bills is very common and the waiter will got up each person's bill willingly. He or she will do well out of this, as each person will then add €2-3 to their bill instead of one person adding, say €10, for a table of 6.

Oh dear that's disappointing annsixty. It's convenient when you can choose the level of tip (or no tip) however, a smile and thanks from waiting staff is not asking a lot. Maybe she didn't take in what you had paid her/didn't look at the card machine? Maybe she'd had a hard day? I don't know. She's lost a customer though. Could you do a review in Tripadvisor?

I know this thread is a few days old but should like to comment on my night out last evening.
I took my GD and her friend who is going through a very hard time out for an impromptu meal.
It was a pub they had eaten at before but new to me.
It was a nice location and decent menu.
We each had a main course and a glass of wine, to be honest I had two !!
When I asked for the bill and card machine the waitress brought it with the amount on the machine and then 3 boxes stating to touch the screen for your gratuity either 10: 12.5 or 15%.
I was quite shocked and gave 10%. Not a thanks or a smile or any acknowledgment from the waitress and when we left, no goodbye or hope to see you again as we almost always get at other places.
I personally shall not go again.

Good places offer a much better hourly rate. They have to in order to recruit and retain good reliable staff these days.

we never leave less than 15% both my kids did stints in hospitality when they left school and the back to back shifts were no joke .The so called" living wage" is anything but,its minimum wage rebranded by the tories .

No

It seems to me that most people tip around 10% on the whole bill now. Some years ago it was the thing to only pay the tip on the food, and not on the drinks. Anyone else remember this?

How rude, I would have reminded her tipping is discretionary and she certainly doesn’t deserve it after that behaviour.

We had a coffee and cake in a cafe recently and wanted to leave a tip and asked how best to do it. The waitress then produced a tin (with a slot in it) that was hidden away under the counter. She told us that they are not allowed to leave it out as it looks like begging!

Kamiso

Dickens

Daisymae

That's definitely odd behaviour in the UK. I generally tip 10 per cent and nothing if the service is poor. I know that a lot of people don't tip, can't be the first time it's happened. My brother was in the States years ago and gave the waiter a dollar. The waiter gave it back and said that you obviously need it more than me! Of course they rely heavily on tips there but generally give 5* service.

I think it's quite demeaning that someone has to metaphorically hold their hand out for money from another person; whose generosity will depend on how they view that individual's behaviour and attitude - or might even depend on their whim at the time. Master-and-servant... and the 'servant' has to be gracious and show gratitude - possibly sometimes to those whose behaviour is not very pleasant.

I think it's archaic, undignified and rather soul-destroying.

Someone who waits on tables is doing a bloody job and should be paid a proper wage for it.

And yes, I know it will increase the cost of the meal - but 'competition' - one of the backbones of Capitalism, should have a mitigating effect... if you charge too much, customers will go elsewhere.

Just because your job is customer-facing, doesn't alter the fact that it's still a job. You are giving your time and labour, and that should have a value that doesn't depend on the whimsy or caprice of the person you are dealing with.

I don’t think anyone suggested a master and servant relationship! That’s perhaps your mindset. Manners and polite behaviour cost nothing and aggression and rudeness could eventually cause the business to go under as word spreads locally.

I don’t think anyone suggested a master and servant relationship!

No, they didn't.

However I was alluding to the unequal nature of the transaction between the individual who waits on another, and then hovers around waiting for a tip... nothing to do with any "mind-set".

I think tipping is anachronistic. People should be paid a wage for doing a job, and not have to rely on the charitable - or otherwise - nature of the people they are waiting on.

It's just an opinion.

How horrible for that couple! In solidarity, I wouldn't have tipped her at all, and let her know why.

Dickens

Daisymae

That's definitely odd behaviour in the UK. I generally tip 10 per cent and nothing if the service is poor. I know that a lot of people don't tip, can't be the first time it's happened. My brother was in the States years ago and gave the waiter a dollar. The waiter gave it back and said that you obviously need it more than me! Of course they rely heavily on tips there but generally give 5* service.

I think it's quite demeaning that someone has to metaphorically hold their hand out for money from another person; whose generosity will depend on how they view that individual's behaviour and attitude - or might even depend on their whim at the time. Master-and-servant... and the 'servant' has to be gracious and show gratitude - possibly sometimes to those whose behaviour is not very pleasant.

I think it's archaic, undignified and rather soul-destroying.

Someone who waits on tables is doing a bloody job and should be paid a proper wage for it.

And yes, I know it will increase the cost of the meal - but 'competition' - one of the backbones of Capitalism, should have a mitigating effect... if you charge too much, customers will go elsewhere.

Just because your job is customer-facing, doesn't alter the fact that it's still a job. You are giving your time and labour, and that should have a value that doesn't depend on the whimsy or caprice of the person you are dealing with.

I don’t think anyone suggested a master and servant relationship! That’s perhaps your mindset. Manners and polite behaviour cost nothing and aggression and rudeness could eventually cause the business to go under as word spreads locally.

In France, I ask if service is included on the bill (service compris?) In restaurants, it normally is, so unless the service or the meal has been exceptional, I don't give anything extra. But in bars, the service is usually not included so I might leave 50 cents if it's just me who's had a coffee or whatever.

Unless service has been very slow and unresponsive, the food dreadful or, more especially, rude and unfriendly, we always leave a 10%, or sometimes more, tip. I don't expect waiting staff to be act in an obsequious manner but I do expect normal courtesy.

Leaving a tip is what we prefer to do but I don't think it should be an expectation on the part of the server. I think it was incredibly rude and unbusinesslike to confront a customer for not leaving a tip. I think I might have complained to the manager

We tip in restaurants, usually 12.5% (although Mr C has to be stopped from tipping 15-20%. Yes, I know it is excessive but he's a sucker for an efficient yet friendly young waitress Not too friendly though!).

However, I am puzzled about the etiquette of tipping in a pub.

We have eaten in pubs where one orders from a menu at the bar, then waits at a table and the food is brought over. One generally pays when ordering.

Are we supposed to add a tip into the bill when ordering?

Leave money on the table when we leave?

Or, perhaps, not at all, as there hasn't actually been any service except food being brought to the table.

What do you all do?

Why is it people working in restaurants etc look for tips. Do the same people tip a shop assistant, the bus driver, indeed anyone working in any other commercial industry. Really annoys me all this tipping. They are doing a job and get paid for doing it. Why should customers supplement their income. The waitress needs sacking for being so rude.

She might have been American it's almost compulsory there to tip.

We usually tip, I don't mind it being shared with other members of the team TBH as the waitress can not do her job without someone preparing the food, but I must admit it I seen that happening in a pub I would feel like not leaving her tip myself very rude behaviour by a member of staff. Not sure why Gagajo doesn't think it is the UK. Obviously everyone in the UK is extremely polite🙄

Gosh, that was terribly rude of the waitress. I would have been mortified on behalf of the diners her rudeness was aimed at. On principle I would have left without leaving a tip.

My brother lives in America, for another week. He told me all 50 states are allowed their own rate of minimum wage.

High being 15 and lowest 7.25 - the expensive coastal states are higher than the south and central areas, I believe.

Thus California and NY are higher than Kansas or Louisiana.

I agree silverlining48. It's especially annoying on cruise ships so we no longer go on ships that don't pay staff properly and expect passengers to pay for the cruise and pay extra for the crew. Several cruise lines have realised that the American form of tipping is not acceptable to UK and other passengers.

Gundy then it’s time they paid their staff a decent wage so we didn’t have to subsidise them with shockingly high tips.
Out of interest is there a minimum wage in the US?
That would be a Start.

I don't eat out very often but have become increasingly confused by the whole "service charge/tipping" thing. If a charge is added to the bill, how do you know it goes to the staff on top of their pay and is not just used by management bump up wages to the legal minimum? Tips left on the table used to go to your individual waiter as a reward for good service. Now they seem to be "pooled" and divided up amongst all staff (front of house and kitchen) - possibly more fair but the concept of individual service is lost. I would prefer to see staff paid a fair wage and customers charged a fair price with no tipping involved. I've never been on a cruise but am amazed at how much passengers are expected to tip crew members. And why is a collection for the coach driver and tour guide now pretty much mandatory? Are all these folk not just doing their job? But back to the OP - no-one should EVER be made to feel ashamed for not leaving a tip - provided they've paid their bill, of course.

That was totally CLASSLESS and rude of that waitress! Maybe she was having a bad PMS day…

I have picked up that dining out in England has a different standard than here in the US. Your waitstaff are paid a living wage and tipping by clientele is optional (?)

Here, for the most part, restaurant owners do not pay a living wage and employees depend on tipping by patrons. If you work for a higher end restaurant you go home with your pockets lined. But it’s hard work.
Wherever you go, even a casual breakfast, lunch - tipping is a customary thing.

I would have reported her.
USA Gundy

Jackiest

It is a job. The staff should be paid a reasonable wage like any other profession and not have to rely on the generosity of others. It is a bit like having to beg for your wages.

I agree (and with Dickens upthread). Non-tippers have been called tight fisted before now, and I don't see it as like that at all. I do tip waiters, but would prefer to see them get decent pay.