Do you tip? When and/or for what?

MinnieInMaine

Provided there was good service and a friendly attitude, I tip about 20% to waitresses, food delivery people and my hairdresser. There have been 2 situations in my adult life (about 22 years) where I've left little/no tip due to horrendous service.

I'm on the fence about whether the whole tipping thing is a good system or not. One one hand, I like being able to show my appreciation for good service but on the other hand, I sort of wish they'd just raise the prices a bit and do away with the whole thing.

TheRoadDog

"I don't tip because society says I have to. All right, if someone deserves a tip, if they really put forth an effort, I'll give them something a little something extra. But this tipping automatically, it's for the birds. As far as I'm concerned, they're just doing their job. "

cardbucfan

I'm usually 20% at sit down restaurants but if it's horrible service I will leave much less. I also absolutely hate it when I ask for the check, get it, have it ready to be paid and the server vanishes. That tip drops quickly. For delivery it depends on if the restaurant charges for it. Our favorite Chinese place adds a tip based on the total dollar amount but I add about 10-15% to the pizza. For pickup orders (like Outback) I do 10% and I give my hairdresser $5 every time. Taxis get between $3-5. I don't tip at Starbucks or other counter places that put out a tip jar. Just no.

I wish they would get rid of the tipping thing in general but I know that at some of these restaurants, the servers make WAY more with tips than they ever would either a fixed wage.

1shauna1

Yes, I tip for good service. I tip for my hair, but it takes 3 hours at least to do (highlights and cut). I also tip spa people and my dog groomer!

emczech5

I LOATHE Sonic but on the rare occasion I go on someone else's insistence, I'll always round up to the nearest dollar for my carhop if I have cash and I'm paying. Maybe more if it's icy/snowy. Otherwise, nada.

I feel like I have to chime in here because I worked at sonic while I was in high school. When I started I was paid $5.15/hour. After 4 years there I was the highest paid employee besides the General manager and I only made $6.00. I believe minimum wage in my area was $7.15. We were paid by a company that assumed we got tips, when maybe 1/2 of the people that parked when they came tipped and more often then not it was just a round it up to the next dollar, keep the change kind of a tip. I was lucky to get $15-$20 in tips on a friday or saturday and I always wore roller skates.Maybe I could get $30 on a really good day The worst part about that is that I didn't get to carhop for every shift. You work the drive thru window, no tips. You work the kitchen no tip. Now that being said, does a carhop at sonic deserve the kind of tip that a waitress at a sit down restaurant deserves? Probably not. There is no way I did as a carhop at sonic as a waitress does, but it would be nice for people to know that a carhop at sonic has horrible wages too. Maybe not as crappy as a waitress, but still not minimum wage.

That is definitely interesting to me. In my area (southern MO) the local Sonics do pay minimum wage rather than a server wage (my friend's college-aged daughter has worked there since she turned 16 and is now an assistant manager). But it must vary. I have heard that they get FAR fewer tips now that Sonic has the easy-to-use credit/debit card readers attached to the menu area. Makes sense to me. Lots of people do not use cash.

Similar topic...but I had a job interview at Starbucks several years ago when I was in career transition. I was thinking of going to grad school and thought it could be an option for me. They paid minimum wage but really talked up the tips aspect saying, "With tips you'll get at least $3-4 per hour more which brings it up to a decent wage". I didn't count on that, honestly. Most of my friends and family don't leave anything in the jar at places like that. They swipe their card or phone and that's the end of it.

Interesting, I was in CO and I worked there before they had card readers. It would speculate that probably changed policy right there. People quit tipping, so the employees weren't making enough so they had to bump up the wages to make up for it. Anyway, I'm glad your friends daughter makes more than I did when I worked there.

cwolfman13

Restaurants are the only place I'm usually in or around that would require tipping. I'm not fancy schmancy enough to worry about having to tip a doorman or valet or anything like that.

I typically tip 20% if the service is up to par...if it's not, it's less...but I also make that judgement based on what I see going on in a restaurant. I've had some pretty subpar service at times that really wasn't the wait staff's fault...it was the restaurant being severely understaffed and individual waiters having far more tables to serve than they could really handle and still provide a high level of service. I've seen this happen when a restaurant unexpectedly gets hit with a rush they weren't expecting as well as just being short staffed due to illnesses, etc.

Conversely, I've also had just terrible service because the water/waitress just sucked period. I will usually tip something, but it's usually so small as to be borderline insulting...and I do so purposely.

I shave my own head, so I don't have to worry about the barber and I never put anything in the tip jar at retail type of places...I've seen tip jars popping up all over the place and all that person is doing is ringing you up like they're supposed to.

k8blujay2

I LOATHE Sonic but on the rare occasion I go on someone else's insistence, I'll always round up to the nearest dollar for my carhop if I have cash and I'm paying. Maybe more if it's icy/snowy. Otherwise, nada.

I feel like I have to chime in here because I worked at sonic while I was in high school. When I started I was paid $5.15/hour. After 4 years there I was the highest paid employee besides the General manager and I only made $6.00. I believe minimum wage in my area was $7.15. We were paid by a company that assumed we got tips, when maybe 1/2 of the people that parked when they came tipped and more often then not it was just a round it up to the next dollar, keep the change kind of a tip. I was lucky to get $15-$20 in tips on a friday or saturday and I always wore roller skates.Maybe I could get $30 on a really good day The worst part about that is that I didn't get to carhop for every shift. You work the drive thru window, no tips. You work the kitchen no tip. Now that being said, does a carhop at sonic deserve the kind of tip that a waitress at a sit down restaurant deserves? Probably not. There is no way I did as a carhop at sonic as a waitress does, but it would be nice for people to know that a carhop at sonic has horrible wages too. Maybe not as crappy as a waitress, but still not minimum wage.

Having worked in Fast Food (more like a fast food diner type of place)... I was super surprised that many Sonic's pay less than minimum wage.... I rarely tip, not because I don't want to... but because I use my card and there is no way for me to tip... When I use cash I will tip though...


As far as the OP... I tip 15% at the bare minimum (usually more though)... and I tip based on what I see... it is VERY rare that I don't tip at all and it has to be absolutely atrocious service... like this one place we went to in MA where the waitress effectively ignored us (in a nearly empty restaurant) with her back turned to us chatting it up with the her co-workers at the hostess podium... It was so bad, we had the busboy go get our check and the manager and we tipped him instead. But on the flip side, there was a waiter at our local chili's we frequented that knew he was going to get slammed and anticipated our needs and didn't leave us wanting... we tipped him 50%.

I usually tip our pizza guys pretty good too... we get our pizza fairly quickly and I advocate for better tips to my husband (who usually pays and is stingier than I am)... so if I see a server busting their *kitten* (even when it's not so busy) when my husband isn't paying attention, I will tell him "nope, he/she is doing (insert tasks here).

k8blujay2

I LOATHE Sonic but on the rare occasion I go on someone else's insistence, I'll always round up to the nearest dollar for my carhop if I have cash and I'm paying. Maybe more if it's icy/snowy. Otherwise, nada.

I feel like I have to chime in here because I worked at sonic while I was in high school. When I started I was paid $5.15/hour. After 4 years there I was the highest paid employee besides the General manager and I only made $6.00. I believe minimum wage in my area was $7.15. We were paid by a company that assumed we got tips, when maybe 1/2 of the people that parked when they came tipped and more often then not it was just a round it up to the next dollar, keep the change kind of a tip. I was lucky to get $15-$20 in tips on a friday or saturday and I always wore roller skates.Maybe I could get $30 on a really good day The worst part about that is that I didn't get to carhop for every shift. You work the drive thru window, no tips. You work the kitchen no tip. Now that being said, does a carhop at sonic deserve the kind of tip that a waitress at a sit down restaurant deserves? Probably not. There is no way I did as a carhop at sonic as a waitress does, but it would be nice for people to know that a carhop at sonic has horrible wages too. Maybe not as crappy as a waitress, but still not minimum wage.

That is definitely interesting to me. In my area (southern MO) the local Sonics do pay minimum wage rather than a server wage (my friend's college-aged daughter has worked there since she turned 16 and is now an assistant manager). But it must vary. I have heard that they get FAR fewer tips now that Sonic has the easy-to-use credit/debit card readers attached to the menu area. Makes sense to me. Lots of people do not use cash.

Similar topic...but I had a job interview at Starbucks several years ago when I was in career transition. I was thinking of going to grad school and thought it could be an option for me. They paid minimum wage but really talked up the tips aspect saying, "With tips you'll get at least $3-4 per hour more which brings it up to a decent wage". I didn't count on that, honestly. Most of my friends and family don't leave anything in the jar at places like that. They swipe their card or phone and that's the end of it.

Interesting, I was in CO and I worked there before they had card readers. It would speculate that probably changed policy right there. People quit tipping, so the employees weren't making enough so they had to bump up the wages to make up for it. Anyway, I'm glad your friends daughter makes more than I did when I worked there.

Even with card readers some still pay less than minimum wage... I did not know that until a few months ago.

randomtai

I LOATHE Sonic but on the rare occasion I go on someone else's insistence, I'll always round up to the nearest dollar for my carhop if I have cash and I'm paying. Maybe more if it's icy/snowy. Otherwise, nada.

I feel like I have to chime in here because I worked at sonic while I was in high school. When I started I was paid $5.15/hour. After 4 years there I was the highest paid employee besides the General manager and I only made $6.00. I believe minimum wage in my area was $7.15. We were paid by a company that assumed we got tips, when maybe 1/2 of the people that parked when they came tipped and more often then not it was just a round it up to the next dollar, keep the change kind of a tip. I was lucky to get $15-$20 in tips on a friday or saturday and I always wore roller skates.Maybe I could get $30 on a really good day The worst part about that is that I didn't get to carhop for every shift. You work the drive thru window, no tips. You work the kitchen no tip. Now that being said, does a carhop at sonic deserve the kind of tip that a waitress at a sit down restaurant deserves? Probably not. There is no way I did as a carhop at sonic as a waitress does, but it would be nice for people to know that a carhop at sonic has horrible wages too. Maybe not as crappy as a waitress, but still not minimum wage.

That is definitely interesting to me. In my area (southern MO) the local Sonics do pay minimum wage rather than a server wage (my friend's college-aged daughter has worked there since she turned 16 and is now an assistant manager). But it must vary. I have heard that they get FAR fewer tips now that Sonic has the easy-to-use credit/debit card readers attached to the menu area. Makes sense to me. Lots of people do not use cash.

Similar topic...but I had a job interview at Starbucks several years ago when I was in career transition. I was thinking of going to grad school and thought it could be an option for me. They paid minimum wage but really talked up the tips aspect saying, "With tips you'll get at least $3-4 per hour more which brings it up to a decent wage". I didn't count on that, honestly. Most of my friends and family don't leave anything in the jar at places like that. They swipe their card or phone and that's the end of it.

Interesting, I was in CO and I worked there before they had card readers. It would speculate that probably changed policy right there. People quit tipping, so the employees weren't making enough so they had to bump up the wages to make up for it. Anyway, I'm glad your friends daughter makes more than I did when I worked there.

Even with card readers some still pay less than minimum wage... I did not know that until a few months ago.

That's sad because the credit card receipt doesn't even have a line where you can add a tip. A lot of people do not carry cash now a days.

k8blujay2

I LOATHE Sonic but on the rare occasion I go on someone else's insistence, I'll always round up to the nearest dollar for my carhop if I have cash and I'm paying. Maybe more if it's icy/snowy. Otherwise, nada.

I feel like I have to chime in here because I worked at sonic while I was in high school. When I started I was paid $5.15/hour. After 4 years there I was the highest paid employee besides the General manager and I only made $6.00. I believe minimum wage in my area was $7.15. We were paid by a company that assumed we got tips, when maybe 1/2 of the people that parked when they came tipped and more often then not it was just a round it up to the next dollar, keep the change kind of a tip. I was lucky to get $15-$20 in tips on a friday or saturday and I always wore roller skates.Maybe I could get $30 on a really good day The worst part about that is that I didn't get to carhop for every shift. You work the drive thru window, no tips. You work the kitchen no tip. Now that being said, does a carhop at sonic deserve the kind of tip that a waitress at a sit down restaurant deserves? Probably not. There is no way I did as a carhop at sonic as a waitress does, but it would be nice for people to know that a carhop at sonic has horrible wages too. Maybe not as crappy as a waitress, but still not minimum wage.

That is definitely interesting to me. In my area (southern MO) the local Sonics do pay minimum wage rather than a server wage (my friend's college-aged daughter has worked there since she turned 16 and is now an assistant manager). But it must vary. I have heard that they get FAR fewer tips now that Sonic has the easy-to-use credit/debit card readers attached to the menu area. Makes sense to me. Lots of people do not use cash.

Similar topic...but I had a job interview at Starbucks several years ago when I was in career transition. I was thinking of going to grad school and thought it could be an option for me. They paid minimum wage but really talked up the tips aspect saying, "With tips you'll get at least $3-4 per hour more which brings it up to a decent wage". I didn't count on that, honestly. Most of my friends and family don't leave anything in the jar at places like that. They swipe their card or phone and that's the end of it.

Interesting, I was in CO and I worked there before they had card readers. It would speculate that probably changed policy right there. People quit tipping, so the employees weren't making enough so they had to bump up the wages to make up for it. Anyway, I'm glad your friends daughter makes more than I did when I worked there.

Even with card readers some still pay less than minimum wage... I did not know that until a few months ago.

That's sad because the credit card receipt doesn't even have a line where you can add a tip. A lot of people do not carry cash now a days.

You don't get the typical credit card receipt, where you sign for it. I can't remember the last time I have had to sign a sonic reciept... it's been a long time.

peleroja

I tip everyone pretty lavishly as a matter of course. I bartended for a long time and I have a lot of empathy for tipped workers. Unless a server is doing something that is clearly deliberate bad service (like ignoring my table in favour of talking to friends in a not-busy restaurant), I'm pretty forgiving (especially if I can tell he or she is busy and trying hard.) I am probably the worst (best?) with delivery guys in the winter though. Anyone who brings hot food through snow and wind and ice directly to my door probably deserves the extra, though. Taxi drivers too. If you put up with my drunk friends screeching and woo-ing for twenty minutes on the way to/from the bar, you earned that extra tip and then some.

zorbaru

as someone from australia, i find tipping a weird thing to do. i guess here the minimum wage must be a lot higher than over there, and you cant pay someone under minimum wage.

however, i also know that food and services are a lot dearer here than they are over there to compensate. as an example, at a cafe you would easily pay $15 - $20 for a plate of pasta or a schnitzel, $25 for a steak. if you were to go to a "fine dining" restaurant you would pay $40 - $50 for a main, plus extra for side serving of veg or salad.

The servers also don't expect to be tipped as they are doing their job. However, if the server was to do something for me that was outside their normal duties, then yes i would flick them a bit extra.

that being said, I wouldnt be against a tipping tip system if they reduced the cost of the products accordingly. If a person is relying on tips to earn extra money, then chances are they are going to be a lot more friendly, accomodating and helpful than someone that will be paid regardless.