As a waitress I have a few things to explain to my generation on the art of tipping. A few rules on what is ok and what isn't.
1) Well start with the most basic, incase you are from another country or just never learned. 15-20% of your bill before discounts and taxes is standard to tip in the United States. (20% should be standard for good service)
2) Remember, your server is human. If they make a mistake (mess up your order, spill your drink), don't take it out of the tip. The only time to take out tip from them is if they are rude or ignore you after they make that mistake and don't fix it right away.
3) If you are buddies with a server or a manager and get a lot of free food, even if you don't see it on your bill, tip your server over 20%. It's rude to accept free gifts without showing some sort of gratitude.
4) 10% is not a good tip. Neither is 14%.
5) Back to the before discounts. Usually the original price and the discounted price will be shown on the tab. Your server gets taxed and tipshares on the original price. Don't be cheap and tip off the discounted price. (It's the same concept as the free food). This also applies to gift certificates.
6) It is embarrassing to have your friends come into your restaurant and leave crappy tips. Everybody will hate you.
7) If your server is busy, and somebody else fills your drink or brings your food, don't dock it from the tip. It's called teamwork. We, as a whole, are there to serve you.
8) Servers remember good tippers (and the bad ones).
9) It is ok to leave more $$ on top of an auto-grat. Look at the percentage (some are 15% some are 17%) and decide if your service was good enough for more (remember 20% for good service).
10) Don't take kitchen errors out of tips.
*Other restaurant etiquette*
1) DO NOT try to order alcohol under age of for under age people. I don't care if you are the parents, the server could get $10,000 in fines on top of the restaurant losing its liquor license and having to pay more fines.
2) Don't get pissed when we won't serve you.
3) Don't argue with us about liquor laws. It's out of our hands.
4) Don't complain about something and then not let us fix it (wrong order, won't let us make you something new, pay for it and leave pissed when we could have helped you). That's stupid. We make mistakes. we can fix them.
5) Don't change your order after the server has rung it in.
6) Don't expect us to take everything you don't like off your tab.
7) If we brought you something you didn't order, send it right back. We have to charge you if you eat it.
8) Don't get mad when your well done steaks take a long time to cook. They take a long time to be WELL DONE.
9) Always remember, we are there to serve you within reason. Don't be afraid to ask for something (even if they aren't your server).
10) We aren't fcuking with your food. Don't accuse us of it.
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"1) Well start with the most basic, incase you are from another country or just never learned. 15-20% of your bill before discounts and taxes is standard to tip in the United States. (20% should be standard for good service)"
"5) Back to the before discounts. Usually the original price and the discounted price will be shown on the tab. Your server gets taxed and tipshares on the original price. Don't be cheap and tip off the discounted price."
NO, I base my tip AFTER taxes, because servers do have to claim their tips on their taxes.
Absolutely, NO about tipped before discounts. A coupon for x amount of dollars off is just a LOWERED price set by the *OWNER*. So, I don't agree if let's say I have a $4.00 off coupon for 2 dinner entrees that I should tip on the amount before the discount because it didn't take ANY MORE work to bring me that food, it just happens to COST LESS. So, let's say my husband and I order the same entree which is worth $16.99 each on the menu, but with the coupon, each entree is $14.99. So the server will STILL GET a tip for bringing us the food, taking our order, and ringing it up. I tip AFTER a discount such as that. If the food is free like a free appetizer coupon, then I would tip as if I wouldn't have it for free because the server DOES do MORE WORK to take my order, bring me the entree, and ring up the entree. There is NO MORE WORK involved as far as what the customer requests. It's NOT the customer's fault that a coupon has to be shown to the manager before ringing it up. That has NOTHING to do with the customer's service. That is a policy that the MANAGER or OWNER set up. So I feel that with a coupon such as x amount of dollars off an entree as long as it's NOT FREE, tip on the DISCOUNTED amount. The server didn't do ANYMORE or ANY LESS work for that entree as far as the customer's requests goes. As far as the server having to get the manager to see the coupon, this has NOTHING to do with the customer's service, NOTHING! If managers were smart, they'd let the servers take off the discount WITHOUT having to go get the manager. This wastes time for EVERYONE in the restaurant. I tip on "MY" service, NOT for things I can't control. Those customers that have discounts may not be there to begin with WITHOUT the discounts. So why don't you think about that? The more customers, the MORE TIPS you can make.
ONLY if the item ends up being free would the server be doing MORE WORK. That is the TRUTH. If an item is for FREE completely, then I feel the tip should be based on the amount BEFORE the discount, because the server DID SERVE me the free item, but to just have a couple of dollars off an entrée doesn’t mean they are bringing me the item for free, because they are going to get SOMETHING from it.
Think about the HOW MUCH WORK DID THE SERVER DO FOR THEIR TIP? The prices are lowered by the OWNER, so just because you think we owe you more because the original price was only $2 more, doesn’t mean you did ANY MORE WORK for the money and you didn’t do less work either. Just because the food is more expensive, doesn’t mean you did the SAME AMOUNT OF WORK. For instance: I order a pasta entrée that is $10.99 “AS IS” from the menu. I order a cheeseburger($6.99) medium well with lettuce and extra onions only. 2 sides of mayo, 1 side of mustard and 1 side of ranch. Now, honestly, which one was MORE WORK to give me? THE CHEESEBURGER WAS MORE WORK AND IT WAS *LESS* expensive. Shouldn’t a server deserve MORE MONEY for doing MORE WORK INSTEAD OF LESS WORK? WHY do you think that the *PRICE* should be the COMPLETE thing that decides the tip? It takes MORE TIME to put the cheeseburger order into the computer as well as more things to bring to the table. Also, 90% of the time, my condiments are forgotten about, so the server has an EXTRA TRIP to get them to me, which is MORE WORK.
"(It's the same concept as the free food)."
NO, it's NOT. Free food means not paying for anything, so the server would literally get if you got everything free nothing, because 0 times 0 = $0. NOT the same at all. At least the server gets SOMETHING for taking my order, ringing up the item, and bringing it to me if it's NOT free. HONESTLY, WHAT THE HELL DOES THE PRICE HAVE TO DO WITH THE TYPE OF SERVICE YOU RECEIVE? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!
"This also applies to gift certificates."
Gift certificates are just another WAY OF PAYMENT. Like instead of me paying with check for my phone bill, I pay with a money order, SAME DIFFERENCE. My point is, it's NOT the same as coupons or discounts at ALL. It's just like paying with a credit card. It's a METHOD of payment. It's NOT a DISCOUNT!
"2) Remember, your server is human. If they make a mistake (mess up your order, spill your drink), don't take it out of the tip. The only time to take out tip from them is if they are rude or ignore you after they make that mistake and don't fix it right away."
This one REALLY, REALLY, PISSES ME OFF! If they mess up my order, they SHOULD VERY WELL GET PENALIZED SO I DON'T HAVE TO GO THROUGH THAT CRAP AGAIN! YOU LEARN MORE FROM YOUR MISTAKES WHEN YOU ARE PUNISHED. Think about when kids are little and they get punished. They learn from their mistakes MOST of the time. Sure, there are adults even that go to jail again and again and just NEVER learn, but MOST people DO LEARN from their mistakes. If I pay you 20% for printing the ticket wrong and I receive my wrong entree, you may do it again next time I have you or to someone else, which I DON'T want that to happen. TIPS stands for TO INSURE PROPER SERVICE. PROPER SERVICE IS NOT MAKING MISTAKES! PROPER SERVICE IS MAKING SURE YOU HAVE THE CORRECT ORDER AND NOT FORGETTING THINGS. I am NOT going to pay someone 20% for printing the ticket wrong or forgetting to ring up my food like my husband and I had just a couple of months ago. The waiter ADMITTED he forgot to put our appetizer order in, which we waited a half an hour for. He handled it in a very caring way, but I still only gave him 16%. He messed up, he should LITERALLY PAY FOR THAT! I am NOT going to pay someone well to mess up my meal. You've got to be kidding me if you think that people are going to do that. Also, it only takes a minute to verify the check is correct and we've had serveral overcharges over the years due to STUPID and LAZY servers that didn't double check the check BEFORE handing it to me. It may be done on purpose so they can void it in the register and pocket the money. I have no idea if it was done on purpose, but even if those times were truly a mistake, they should LEARN TO DOUBLE CHECK THE CHECK instead of just HANDING the customer something. It's NOT the CUSTOMER'S responsibility to BABY-SIT the wait staff on mistakes by having to REMIND them of things or catch their mistakes.
") If you are buddies with a server or a manager and get a lot of free food, even if you don't see it on your bill, tip your server over 20%. It's rude to accept free gifts without showing some sort of gratitude."
It all depends on the SERVICE. WHO CARES if I get a free meal, but have HORRIBLE SERVICE? I'll give 25% if it's DESERVED or 20% or 0% or 10%, whatever is DESERVED! I go by the SERVICE, NOT if I get a freebie which is given by the MANAGER, NOT by the wait staff.
"7) If we brought you something you didn't order, send it right back. We have to charge you if you eat it."
NO, if you brought me something I didn't order, YOU should pay for it IDIOT, because YOU'RE THE IDIOT that brought it to me. If I NEVER ordered it, HOW CAN YOU SAY I SHOULD PAY FOR SOMETHING I NEVER ORDERED? It should be out of YOUR POCKET for MESSING UP, NOT MINE! If I eat it, that's YOUR PROBLEM, NOT MINE FOR BEING TOO LAZY TO VERIFY WHAT THE HELL YOU WERE GIVING ME! I wouldn't pay for something I didn't order. The police would say I wouldn't have to, because I NEVER ORDERED IT. Something that is brought to the table is considered FREE, like bread and chips with salsa. If it's NOT FREE, DON'T BRING IT TO THE TABLE UNLESS IT IS ORDERED!
If you did charge me for something I didn't order just because I ate it, you'd get ZERO TIP FOR SURE, BITCH!
"4) Don't complain about something and then not let us fix it (wrong order, won't let us make you something new, pay for it and leave pissed when we could have helped you). That's stupid. We make mistakes. we can fix them."
Actually it's NOT STUPID, because waiting for the item to be fixed is aggrevating and sometimes it's just NOT WORTH SENDING IT BACK. One time I waited 40 minutes for a sandwich at Chili's because they kept messing up my sandwich, because I sent it back. My husband was finished WAY, WAY, WAY, BEFORE I was. It's just no fun to eat alone when you send something back.
"5) Don't change your order after the server has rung it in."
I'll AGREE 100% to this one. I think it's rather rude to have someone change their order after you have left the table.
"6) Don't expect us to take everything you don't like off your tab."
NO ONE should ever expect something for free, period! I'll agree to this one too.
Your blog seems to be a bit on the SELFISH side like wanting people to tip for servers making mistakes and wanting people to base their tip on the higher price without a coupon. LOOK AT YOURSELF, YOU EXPECT EXTRA MONEY JUST LIKE THE CUSTOMERS THAT EXPECT THINGS OFF THEIR BILL. YOU ARE JUST LIKE THEY ARE. You want the most money you can have, so do they. Price literally has NOTHING to do with the type of service I receive and just because an entree is worth $2, doesn't mean you should get a tip based on the original price. Blame the OWNER for the lowered prices. When the prices are higher due to inflation, we end up having a higher bill to tip more on, so WHY NOT treat the discounted bill EXACTLY THE SAME WAY TO BE FAIR? You want us to consider tipping on the raised prices like for example: Ribs at a Chili's location used to be $13.99, NOW it is $14.49. NOW we ALL TIP based on $14.49, so WHY is that ANY FUCKING DIFFERENT WHEN I HAVE A COUPON FOR $2 OFF THE MEAL? IT'S THE SAME EXACT THING! BE FAIR and NOT SELFISH! When prices are higher, we tip higher, so we should tip lower when prices are lowered, PERIOD! THAT IS THE FAIR WAY OF DOING THINGS, OTHERWISE HOW THE HELL IS IT FAIR TO THE CUSTOMER IF WE DO IT YOUR WAY? THEN WE DON'T HAVE A CHANCE TO GET IT OUR WAY SOMETIMES, IF WE ALWAYS BASE THE TIP ON THE PRICE ON THE MENU. What a SELFISH BLOG you have.
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