Tippng
 

I have just got back from an holiday in Sri lanka, while I enjoyed the holiday very much the one thing that I can't stand is Tipping every Tom Dick and Harry for the slightest thing, not that I am tight and don,t like parting with my money,you just don,t know how sincere people are. Here in Oz you pay a surcharge when you go to a restuarant so you don't have to tip, and the service staff don't expect it, so if a waiter is very helpfull, you know he is just being helpfull there's no other motive.I remember being in Seattle once and before we had managed the get off the airport shuttle bus some guy had put our bags on a trolley (which we could have quite easily have carried )took them 20 yards, and wanted a tip for that,I left him and my wife argueing she ended up giving him a tip but I don't think he put it where she told him to.

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not on topic i know...

but


i hope the mods cant lip read or that avatar wont last long :D ;)

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Don't you tip anyone in England then? :confused:

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back on topic ...........I totally agree with expat , tipping here in the US is completly out of control , waitrons in the San Francisco area think nothing of following patrons out into steet and berating them for leaving less than 20% , and make a point of informing customers with non american accents what they expect .
Bl**dy tip jars are appearing everywhere , every fastfood/coffee takeaway has a tip jar on the counter, and bar-tenders expect a buck for every drink poured .
I'm not sure who to blame , the business owners who allow the staff to behave this way , or the Govt which allows them to pay below market wages and expect tips to make up the wage , the owners whinge that if they had to pay a living/decent wage they would have to raise prices which would drive them out of business,
In some States ,employers in service/food industries are allowed to pay less than minimum wage and tips are expected to bring it up to that level, and waiters have to pay income tax on tips based on the gross reciepts of the business.

I'm not sure if this is a problem all over or just in urban/metro areas

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Don't think you need to be able to lip-read to make that out. :D

On tipping - as a rule, I don't. Very occasionally I will, in a restaurant, if the service has been outstandingly good and there isn't already a service charge (which I consider a damned cheek anyway). Otherwise why pay more to someone who is getting paid to do their job in the first place?

I hate the American culture of tipping everything that moves, or even doesn't move, and I know someone who was pursued into the street, in New York, by the counter-jockey when he left a burger bar without leaving a tip. In a Burger Bar? What service? The guy had just handed him a carton with a burger in it, over the counter. He'd have had to chase me several blocks before he got a cent out of me. :mad:

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I tip here and know a few others that do too so its not that unusual here.

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I generally tend to tip as I did that job and know just how much it means to the person receiving. Having said that its only if I feel they deserve it. In Croatia where we have just come back from the wages are so low in comparison( a graduate earns ~£400/month, bar staff etc significantly less) that a quid out of my pocket makes a big difference to the person. If you frequent a place often it also tends to get you that extra bit of attention the next time.

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Just good to know I'm not abnormal then. :)

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I hate the whole culture of tipping.

We sort of expect that some workers rely on tips to top up their relatively low salaries, such as waiting staff, the girl that washes your hair, and barworkers. Happily the minimum wage in this country goes someway to alleviate this guilt/blackmail tipping.

If service is good I tip, if it isn't they can whistle.
(If they whistle really well, like a nightingale, they might still earn a tip.)

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We go to our local Spanish bar most evenings around five or six o'clock. A beer is a euro and our bill normally comes to seven euros (he always has one more than me).

A tip of a euro, sixty pence or so, seems reasonable to us and now and again we get a couple of free beers.

Come Christmas Eve, the staff treat the regulars and we all have free beer and tapas.

What comes around goes around.

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I have worked in the hospitality area most of my working life and no matter where i have worked we have never demanded tips or made people feel they have to tip . and although it has always been minimum wage im a big believer in that if you give a good service and are polite you will be tipped .
In the last place i worked which were one of the local con clubs over here on a fri or sat night i could make just as much in tips as i would get in wages for that one night just by being given 20p tip of folk and then having to split between 5 of us .
so yes it is nice that people tip but certainly not important , in my view it is just a way of people saying thankyou for a good service .

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I rarely tip because I rarely go to the sort of places were I expect to tip. If i went brewers fayre I got up ordered the meal myself got up paid for it got my frinks etc so never did tip, now they keep pestering to bring drinks to the table and want me to pay at the table I feel like they expect something. Problems is unless theres somewhere the girl can take a card she wont get much because i pay for almost everything on plastic.

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I agree to a certain extent MH, but do you do this deliberatly or is it the sort of place where you have to get up and order your own?
I certainly would not agree with tipping if I had to go to the bar and order then had to go back and pay . My idea of having to tip is purely based on table service ,ie sitting down at table , waitress taking order , same waitress dealing with you throughout your meal then waitress bringing bill , if service was good then yes tip by all means . even if you always pay by plastic it is always worth carrying a bit of loose change to tip for a good service I usually tip about £2 for a good meal

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I'm on about the brewers fayre pubs like the yeddon way one. not sure about accy, I know theres one towards rammy, the cobblers is a similar sort of thing too. you go to the table look at the menu get up, order your food and pay or open tab in my case, they bring the meal out. you go to the bar get drinks, and pay or put on tab, get up and order sweet and pay or put on tab.

BUT they've changed it now, and im not used to it, ONce you've ordered your meal and sat back down, everything else is ordered and paid for at the table. ( apart from at the scummy ones like tamworth brewers fayre) I feel very uncomfortable leaving without giving a tip, but i'm not going to start, I was happy with the old arrangment. our average bill at brewers fayre is about 12 quid for the two of us for two meals and two capucinos so thats £1.20

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yep know the sort you mean MH we have got one in st annes and i would never tip there because the work is done by yourself all the waitresses are doin is carrying your food to the table by which time you,ve already paid for meal . hey but if your ever over this way try the Outside Inn nr B&Q total quality now they are worth tipping and its only a pub meal like brewers fayre but they know how to wait on and really good quality

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only other place i've been is the two for one where the meet was that i didnt go to. They were very good even made us capucino when they dont sell them .

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I agree of sorts, but why do we accept that some relatively low paid jobs should be tipped and not others?

When was the last time someone tipped a shelf stacker or the person that flipped your burger in MacDonalds?

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I went to one place on holiday the waiter smiled showed us to the table,asked us where we were from, all that sort of stuff, we had our meal, on leaving my wife noticed that there was a surcharge, on our bill she inquired if this was right, it was, so she paid the exact amount, as we walked towards the door I saw the waiter and said goodbye and the guy snubbed me, I was hurt by this then the driver said they still expect a tip, my wife made me feel better by saying if he was just turning the charm on for a tip, he didn't deserve it,
When we lived in England my Wife worked at a restuarant in Billington which was then call the Foxfields at the end of the night the tips where divided up
the head chef getting half and the people grafting round the tables got a small amount so when you leave a tip on the table you might not be giving it necessarily to person whos waited on you all night.

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There has been a lot of "tipping creep" here in the US, where there are suddenly tip jar at all sorts of counter service places. The old rule of thumb used to be that you did not need to tip for counter service. In fact, some chains used to prohibit tipping for counter service. No longer. If I am doing take-away food, I certainly do not expect to tip.

Also, it used to be that a good tip was 15%. Now the wait staff expect 20%. It was explained to me by the comment "we haven't had a raise in years." Of course, every time the owner ups the charges, the wait staff get more tips, so they've had "raises" right along. Of course, if the service is poor, I give them less. If the service is rude, I make sure that the manager know why no tip has been left. I'd hate to leave them under the impression that it might be an oversight.

Whether through tips or higher charges on the menu, the wait staff should be paid. Frankly, I prefer the "service compris" one finds in Europe, with no tip required! But, when travelling, one should tip in accordance with local customs - provided, of course, that the service was decent.

BTW, the fellow who put the bags on the cart without first asking "may I help you" was way out of line. If you have baggage you can manage on your own, you have every right to do so!

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I think that we have started to go way over the top on tipping within Europe and it will get to the stage where everyone wants a tip (as in the USA). I will tip in restaurants if I have had good service, if the service has been poor then there's no tip. If there is already a service charge added to the bill then no tip, if the service is poor then I refuse to pay the service charge (it is everyone's right to do so for terrible service). I won't tip at takeaways or anywhere that's self service.

The funny thing was that when we were in NZ people didn't expect tips. NZ waiters and waitresses tend to be temporary staff who are perhaps students, have other jobs or, are over there on temporary work permits whilst trying to see the world. In other words...... they are not renowned for silver service, speed, charm and delightful personalities. Most NZ guidebooks will confirm this. In a couple of restaurants we received excellent service. Not only was it prompt and efficient but the waitresses took time to advise us on what to see whilst we were travelling and were genuinely helpful. We left tips at those restaurants and the staff were surprised..... It's just not expected over there.

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I think its irrelevant on how much or how little ones wage is Garrinda ,but more the quality of service given . I would never tip in places like MacDonalds purely because there is no effort required in shouting over a counter to the ones at the back for a ready boxed burger and over cooked fries . I do think however that at xmas time etc places like asda should have tip jars for their staff mainly because they are usually very helpful and in my experience nothing is to much trouble so why not?

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I think traditionally it was important how much someones wage was. We have tipped some service workers like the girl who washes your hair, bar staff, cab drivers or waiters etc. but not others, why?

When was the last time we tipped the boy/girl who works in the newsagents?

I think everyone should be paid a fair wage for a fair days work, and we should do away with tipping except in exceptional circumstances.

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have always tended to tip for good service here and abroad,if its crap i usually tell em,and give em sod all. don't really give a thought to good wage/poor wage to me its about GOOD SERVICE.

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I always tip at the hairdressers as for the young uns that deliever papers they seem to get their tip at xmas time but come to think of it we never seem to tip the guys who mot our motors or people like that . never really given it much thought to be honest G

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I think if some places allow tipping, they must not be paying there staff well,I agree with Lettie about N.Z .
If I had the choice of a restaurant with a service charge or one with over freindly waiters, I would sooner pay the charge.
Also a good thing here in Oz are BYO (bring your own) this is for restaurants that don"t have a Liquor license so you can take your own bottle of wine along are even a six pack of beer, some of the posh restuarants say BYO wine only, and charge you a corkage fee sometimes more than what youve paid for the wine itself, but I stay away from them.

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I did the free papers for years over 15 I must have been 10 when I started. 950 papers a week to 950 homes and got about 5 tips in total. 15*50*950=712 500 papers in sun rain hail, snow, ice and bitter cold blue hands weather that you just don't get anymore, and 5 thank yous for it. :(
maybe thats why i don't tip, and dont agree with it unless someone does something worth tipping.
I can't see this country getting like that, we're too tight, and quite rightly so

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I dont really think we are tight MH and i think the majority of people do tip . What i can see is our next generation losing sight of tipping because of plastic and not thinking to carry loose change , I personally like to tip , its my way of showing my appreciation of a job well done in the hope it will continue

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I was actually working illegally you note. Your not supposed to do paperrounds until you're 13-14 and then with a medical. I was always a rebel, a good quiet shy kid but a rebel on the sly.

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haha you still are i think MH ..
still even though you were underage thimk its a bit mean that folk didnt tip you your age obviously didnt stop them gettin their papers

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Do prostitutes accept tips?

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I do hope your not thinking of finding out rindy LMAO

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Didn,t you ask ?

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ok , know I am dragging up an old topic , but just came across this item
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/mai...0/cntips20.xml
it seems the minimum wage law does not apply to employees in the service industry

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yes and will put them in various orophisis's for teh right money ;)