Do you tip? When and/or for what?

I look at tipping as a mandatory part of going out!!

I don't tip because society says I have to. Alright, I mean I'll tip if somebody really deserves a tip. If they put forth the effort, I'll give them something extra. But I mean, this tipping automatically, it's for the birds. As far as I'm concerned they're just doing their job. Look, I ordered coffee, alright? And we been here a long f^&<ing time and she's only filled my cup three times. When I order coffee I want it filled six times. I mean, these ladies aren't starving to death. They make minimum wage. You know, I used to work minimum wage and when I did I wasn't lucky enough to have a job the society deemed tipworthy.

That being said, though, I think servers need to be paid at least minimum wage so that tipping becomes more about job performance than a necessity for making enough money to live on.

What does minimum wage have to do with making enough money to live on?

There are very different opinions towards tipping in the UK and the USA.
In the USA, it's an expectation- some see as a social obligation.
In the UK, tips are only given for very good service, but are no means an obligation. When I done some waitressing, I would serve food with a smile, be as quick as I could, ensure everything was ok with food, and never get tips. It's a pleasant surprise to get a tip in the UK.

I personally tip for smiling service, who care that your food is ok. After being in the industry, if there's a problem (has to be pretty bad) I tend to say "I'm really sorry but..." and how they react is a big indicator.
Saying that, if I'm overseas and visit America or cultures that tip more socially, then I adhere to that because it's someone else's culture.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.