I can wait all day for my food to show up. I don't tip based on he quality of the food, because the wait staff doesn't cook it. As stated in my original post, if the service is good, or the staff is at least trying, they get the tip. If not they don't get anything. My standards for good service aren't increadably high. All you have to do is do your job. If the glass is empty, fill it. If I need napkins, bring them. If you can't, let me know. I don't tip wait staff that disappears, nor do I typically tip someone that has time to sit around while I am not getting proper service. If it makes you all feel any better, I haven't been to a resteraunt since I quit my last  job. There isn't anything available here that I can't cook myself and save money. I don't feel sorry for someone who make less than minimum wage, but puts forth no effort to earn a tip. Maybe I am cheap, and maybe I am an asshole.

Quoted: You know when I worked in NYC, I made anywhere between 50.00 to 80.00 a day in tips when repairing appliances. Out in CA, I am lucky if I bring in a 20.00 in a MONTH! People tip their appliance repair guy? Thats like tippig the plumber or electritian. WTF, over? They make more than I do!

NO. THE COMPANY THAT THEY WORK FOR makes more money than you do. Besides, When they go back and report that "Holy Crap... DrFrige tipped us 80.00 for doing so and so"... the others that work there or even the guy that I tipped will not only come back but respect me and my stuff. And that has happened. The guy that painted my house, installed my windows, hooked up the cable... all leave with fatter wallets.

Im just that way. Pizza guys get here faster... I even ask to be the first stop and I am when they have 4 pizzas to deliver.  YES... I buy my happiness. They remember me.

I don't tip.



I Overtip. If I'm in a particularly good mood, I'll offer a waitress $20 for every dirty joke I've never heard before. That cost me in excess of $200 once in, of all places, Fon-du-lac, WI. It was worth it, actually. I got a bunch of really sick, funny jokes, the waitress got well on the deal, and we went out after her shift. Dirty jokes ain't all she knew!

I once tipped $100 for a $10 burger and beer at the airport. Why? Because I could.

I agree that tips are earned and NOT mandatory.

I tip well for good service and I have ZERO reservations about talking to the manager in regard to stellar or shitty service.

I NEVER tip on a credit or ATM card. I tip in cash.

I've even gone as far as telling the Hooter's girl that's flirting with me, "Relax, hon. You're doing a great  job and I'll tip you well. You don't have to sit here and flirt with me just to get a tip. OK?"

The GF, her daughter and I ate at a local salad specialty place recently and our service was shitty beyond description. There were only about 6 people besides the hired help in this place and the GF asked one of the servers/preppers to fix a particular pasta for her. She asked him politely 3 times. I had also asked that more salad be added to the bar. It wasn't. He was more interested in bullshitting with the off duty employees that were in to pick up their paychecks. Now, it takes a fair amount to rile me up, and this was it.

When we left we OF COURSE didn't leave a tip, and Mr. PayNoAttention even got a little huffy with me when I asked for the store number and his name. We came home and SURPRISE! the chain had a website where you could actually register complaints and the GF did just that.

The next day we received apologies from the area manager as well as the actual store manager and the offer of a free meal for ANY SIZED GROUP. We could have taken them to the cleaners. We didn't.

This past Thursday we went back there, the actual manager was on duty, recognized our name and took care of us. We even reminded him that he didn't have to baby us, just give us normal, attentive service.

The food was good, the service was good, and we tipped generously.

ETA: I have also found that service in college town eateries is shitty. In Flagstaff, where Northern Arizona University is, we've discovered that if we walk into a resturant or even fast food joint and the staff is 50% or over college kids the food will suck and the service even worse. If the staff is Native American the food and service are great to excellent. I have TWICE walked out of resturants that weren't busy when the staff paid NO attention to me whatsoever-until I was walking out.

I only tip at places that serve alcohol.






CHRIS

Just in case it hasn't been said before, for the jackarses who refuse to tip unless they will be eating there again, or those that think servers make what they make and should quit if they don't like it:

As far as I know, it is perfectly legal to pay resturaunt servers LESS THAN MINIMUM WAGE if their expected wage + tips is above the minimum wage threshhold -- that's right, some of them make less than minimum wage and depend on tips to make up the difference...

Quoted: I can wait all day for my food to show up. I don't tip based on he quality of the food, because the wait staff doesn't cook it. As stated in my original post, if the service is good, or the staff is at least trying, they get the tip. If not they don't get anything. My standards for good service aren't increadably high. All you have to do is do your job. If the glass is empty, fill it. If I need napkins, bring them. If you can't, let me know. I don't tip wait staff that disappears, nor do I typically tip someone that has time to sit around while I am not getting proper service. If it makes you all feel any better, I haven't been to a resteraunt since I quit my last  job. There isn't anything available here that I can't cook myself and save money. I don't feel sorry for someone who make less than minimum wage, but puts forth no effort to earn a tip. Maybe I am cheap, and maybe I am an asshole.

It's ok, no one is listening to you anymore.

I also don't usually tip when I am on the road, or at a resteraunt that I know I will never go back to.

OUCH!  Wrong-O, Good service is good service no matter where!

I tip SO much better ever since a mandatory serving class I took for the culinary program.  But I also pay a lot more attention to what the server's doing.

I don't like people who ask you to mention their name to their supervisor so they can get a raise.  I was at a Fry's a couple of months ago and needed an employee to get a box down from a much higher shelf since customers aren't allowed to use the ladders.  After I flagged down an employee, the idiot got up on the ladder and gave me the box and asked if I could mention his name at the front desk when I went to go pay; and I asked if it was for commission or something.  He said no, but it just puts in a good word for his supervisors.  I got extremely annoyed at him trying to mooch for nothing at all and told the motherfucker that I would have glady gotten the goddamn ladder myself since none of you idiots were paying attention, but I would have been reprimanded by the store.  "Don't think for a minute that I'm going to mention your name for doing the bare minimum."  He was less than pleased.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: I do not tip unless the service is good. Really good. I have had a waiteress at TGI Friday's in Carlsbad, CA follow me into the parking lot and ask for a tip(told her to fuck off), and a waiter at the same resteraunt do the same(watched another Marine beat him senseless). I also leave tips when the waiter/waitress is genuinly trying. I don't leave a tip for anyone who tries to force one out of me. I also don't tip when I am on the road, or at a resteraunt that I know I will never go back to.   Boy are you cheap.  Bet you get a lot of additional ingredients in your food. I doubt it, as I don't advertise that I'm not leaving a tip. I go out to eat simply for the service. If the service is no good, I don't go back to the resteraunt. In the few resteraunts that I visit regularly, I tip simply as a matter of insurance against such things, and because in all of them, I really like the people that work there.  I feel no obligation to leave a tip to a shitty waitress at a Denny's in Lubbock Texas, especially since I know I will never be back. If she earns a tip she gets one. If not she can steal something out of the register, or starve for all I care. I don't work for fuckin' UNICEF.

Man oh man, your a classy guy.

Quoted: Quoted: Me and Sniper_Wolfe got into this same argument just the other night when my girlfriend got us all together for a birthday dinner for me. We went to a Chinese buffet, so the waitress didn't serve us but she was refilling 10 glasses and clearing plates for 10 people. He argued that she didn't serve us so she shouldn't get any tip at all, which I felt was ridiculous.... Regardless she got her tip. Way to call call out your buddy in front of us.

That was the first thing I noticed in this post.....


The word Rat-Fucker comes to mind, Sniper_Wolf, with friends like this you should just fly Solo!


I give tax twice...

it is perfectly legal to pay resturaunt servers LESS THAN MINIMUM WAGE

I used to bartend. From what I've seen, servers usually make 1/2 of minimumwage, which I believe is $2.85 an hour. This means that servers normally DO NOT GET A PAYCHECK. By the time taxes are taken out of their paycheck, there is usually little to nothing left of it. Therefore, they are basically working off of straight tips and that's all.

To not leave a tip just because you won't be back to that restaurant ever again is just ignorant. If you don't want to tip, go to Taco Bell or McDonalds. Whenever I got out to eat, my tip starts at 20-25% and goes down from there depending on the service. It has to be REALLY bad for me to get below 10%. I don't think 20% for good hardworking service is too much to ask.

Quoted: Just in case it hasn't been said before, for the jackarses who refuse to tip unless they will be eating there again, or those that think servers make what they make and should quit if they don't like it: As far as I know, it is perfectly legal to pay resturaunt servers LESS THAN MINIMUM WAGE if their expected wage + tips is above the minimum wage threshhold -- that's right, some of them make less than minimum wage and depend on tips to make up the difference...

Also, the waiter is taxed on tips that the IRS assumes they have received by calculating a percentage of a restaurent's total sales.  I've asked several waiters/waitresses and the IRS does automatically tax them whether or not they actually received the money.  This is since this-->www.restaurant.org/legal/tips/legal.cfm

U.S. Supreme Court Rules Against Restaurants in Tip Reporting Case National Restaurant Association Vows to Take Fight to Congress June 18, 2002 -- The U.S. Supreme Court dealt the restaurant industry a blow on June 17 when it ruled that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) can use "aggregate estimates" of allegedly unreported tips to bill restaurant employers for FICA (Social Security and Medicare) payroll taxes on tips the agency says employees received in the past but failed to report. Unless the U.S. Congress intervenes, the high court's ruling gives the IRS the OK to continue the controversial employer-only and employer-first tip audits and assessments the agency has been pursuing since the mid-1990s. In these cases, the agency goes straight to restaurant employers with bills for payroll taxes on previously unreported tips--without first determining that individual employees actually underreported their tips or the amount by which they underreported, and without crediting employer FICA tax payments to those employees' Social Security accounts. The 6-3 decision in Fior d'Italia vs. United States appears to have actually given the IRS more power because it appears to allow the agency to estimate the amount of cash tips given to employees based on tips included on credit-card receipts. National Restaurant Association legal experts say the ruling has grave implications for restaurants as well as any other business that employs tipped workers. IRS tip-tax assessments have the potential to devastate small restaurants, experts say, since the IRS can go as far back as 1988--the first year employers were liable for FICA taxes on all employee tips-to assess back taxes. Restaurateurs, who do not maintain records that could help them refute an IRS assessment (indeed, the law specifically protects employers from onerous monitoring obligations), could literally be put out of business as the result of an IRS action. See more on the Association's reaction to the ruling. Court says "aggregate estimation" is valid In the case of Fior d'Italia, the IRS billed the San Francisco restaurant in 1995 for $23,262 in taxes on tips that the agency says employees failed to report in 1991 and 1992. The restaurant sued over the method the IRS used to come up with the assessment: First, the IRS took a look at the restaurant's charge-card data and calculated that credit-card customers tipped at a rate of 14.49% in 1991 and 14.29% in 1992. Then, assuming the same credit-card tip rate applied to cash sales, the IRS calculated that employees should have reported total tips of $772,100 over the two years rather than the $468,026 they reported. Applying the 7.65% FICA tax rate to the difference--$304,000--the agency stuck Fior d'Italia with the tax bill for $23,262. The IRS based its assessment solely on a review of the restaurant's paperwork, including the IRS Form 8027 (Employer's Annual Information Return of Tip Income and Allocated Tips) that many restaurant employers are required to file with the IRS each February detailing broad tip-reporting data. Fior d'Italia--aided in its U.S. Supreme Court case by a contribution from the National Restaurant Association's Save American Free Enterprise (S.A.F.E.) Fund, won its case in federal district court and a federal appeals court. However, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the earlier rulings, saying that the IRS's aggregate estimation method--basing the assessment on an estimate of all tip income paid to all employees aggregated together--did not fall "outside the bounds of what is reasonable." Justice Steven Breyer, who wrote the majority opinion, was joined by Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist and Justices John Paul Stevens, Sandra Day O'Connor, Anthony M. Kennedy and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. What the ruling means for restaurants "The impact of the ruling is enormous," says Peter Kilgore, senior vice president and general counsel for the National Restaurant Association. "Financially, the IRS can go after the restaurant industry and the industry could be hit with a potential tax assessment back to 1988, when Congress first said restaurants owe taxes on all reported tips." Kilgore noted that even the dissenting opinion in Fior d'Italia indicated that restaurateurs could be held liable for taxes back to 1998, and that a statute of limitations does not apply on an employer's FICA tax liability for taxes on unreported tips. "With restaurant profit margins typically around 3 to 5 percent, this could potentially put a number of restaurants out of business," says Kilgore. "From a labor-relations standpoint, it turns employers into the 'tip police' because the ruling will in effect force employers to police employee tip reporting in order to protect themselves from IRS employer-only assessments," adds Kilgore. The ruling is likely to increase both the number of IRS audits and the pressure restaurateurs feel to get more involved in employee tip reporting through such measures as signing tip-reporting agreements with the IRS. What next? The Association vowed to take the fight over tip reporting to Capitol Hill and began lobbying Congress before the Supreme Court made its ruling on June 17. "Our primary emphasis is to get the tax code changed," says Kilgore. "But that could take a long time and there's no guarantee that any law will pass." Justice David H. Souter wrote the dissenting opinion in the Fior d'Italia case, saying that the court's ruling "saddles employers with a burden unintended by Congress." Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas also dissented. "It seems clear that Congress did not mean to solve [the problem of underreporting tips] by allowing the IRS to use its assessment power to shift the problem to employers," the dissenting justices wrote.

I've googled to see if this was overturned, but I cannot find any links to suggest that it has been.  So if a waiter gives good service, and you fail to tip, they are still taxed on that non-existent tip.

What's the Difference between a Canadian and a canoe?
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Canoes Tip !!!

I give a small tip as insurance in case I want to come back.

I give real tips only to those who earn it through good service.


If you make me sit for 10 minutes with food and an empty drink ... you get 2 cents for a tip and a note telling you why.

Quoted: I do not tip unless the service is good. Really good. I have had a waiteress at TGI Friday's in Carlsbad, CA follow me into the parking lot and ask for a tip(told her to fuck off), and a waiter at the same resteraunt do the same(watched another Marine beat him senseless). I also leave tips when the waiter/waitress is genuinly trying. I don't leave a tip for anyone who tries to force one out of me. I also don't usually tip when I am on the road, or at a resteraunt that I know I will never go back to.

Then please do not show up at my place.

Federal law sets the minimum wage for service industry personnel at $2.13 per hour, unless you are in a contracted union (ie. casino workers).  Some establishments follow this and others have shift pay, but for an 8 hour shift it's $50 at most.

We make our money through tips.  So please do not waste an hour of my time or any other bartender/server's time.

My wife is a bartender and has waitressed. These poeple get shit for wages and depend entirely on tips for the bulk of their income. Having said that, I won't tip just to tip.  They still need to perform.

I usually give the following:

>20% for stellar service
20% for good service.
15% for average service.
<15% for mediocre service
10% for buffets, where there is someone getting drinks, clearing plates, etc.
0% for a complete fuckup and a talk with manager.


I can't remember the last time I stiffed someone prior to this weekend. The wife and I were traveling and stopped at a Cracker Barrel. Our waitress took our drink and food order and disappeared.  Another couple came in about 5 minutes after us and sat at the next table. Their waitress was able to get them coffee, get their food and get them on their way before our meal was served.  All of the other waitresses were buzzing around, ours was MIA most of the time. She got stiffed and the manager was informd.

15% is for technically perfect service. no fuck-ups, but nothing great either. Service that you would expect from any trained server who is good at their job.

Substandard service gets less. Excellent service gets more.

Tips are generally shared with the kitchen staff, so their screwups can effect the ammount of the tip.

Quoted: Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't waiters/waitresses get automatically taxed on their tips?

No.

Quoted: Very often, it is NOT the fault of the waiter / delivery person that your food order is late or wrong.

True. But the servers generally "tip out" with the bartenders, doorman, and kitchen staff at the end of the night. The tip isnt only for the servers, in most establishments it's shared to a certain extent. So kitchen and bartending errors should effect the tip amount.

Quoted: For great service I give 25% and tell the manager. For good service I tip 20%. For regular service I tip 15%. For bad service I get te manager.  I've tipped for bad service in the past because it wasn't the waiter's fault.  The manager had put him on two areas beacuse someone called in sick.  He was trying, but he just couldn't do it.  Other times the waiter was just a fuckup. Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas...

+1

My sister and brother inlaw used waiter/waitress. The ones who never tipped had small children with them or were the ones who asked for every little detail about there meal and acted very nasty. Also the Sunday church crowd would just leave them fake 20 dollar bills sometimes that opened up into a track. Buncha stingy idiots.  

Quoted: Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't waiters/waitresses get automatically taxed on their tips?

They can, depending onthe establishment.  Some restuarants make servers report their tips at the end of the night and they can get taxed on them.  Most places don't though, seeing as how they don't make too much to begin with.

Quoted: Dzl, that burger come with a blowjob?  Sheeeesh!

Nope, it just came with the satisfaction that the non-tipping cheapskate that I was (unfortunately) traveling with was made to feel like the small-minded slug that he really is.

Quoted: Quoted: Just in case it hasn't been said before, for the jackarses who refuse to tip unless they will be eating there again, or those that think servers make what they make and should quit if they don't like it: As far as I know, it is perfectly legal to pay resturaunt servers LESS THAN MINIMUM WAGE if their expected wage + tips is above the minimum wage threshhold -- that's right, some of them make less than minimum wage and depend on tips to make up the difference... Also, the waiter is taxed on tips that the IRS assumes they have received by calculating a percentage of a restaurent's total sales.  I've asked several waiters/waitresses and the IRS does automatically tax them whether or not they actually received the money.  This is since this-->www.restaurant.org/legal/tips/legal.cfm U.S. Supreme Court Rules Against Restaurants in Tip Reporting Case National Restaurant Association Vows to Take Fight to Congress June 18, 2002 -- The U.S. Supreme Court dealt the restaurant industry a blow on June 17 when it ruled that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) can use "aggregate estimates" of allegedly unreported tips to bill restaurant employers for FICA (Social Security and Medicare) payroll taxes on tips the agency says employees received in the past but failed to report. Unless the U.S. Congress intervenes, the high court's ruling gives the IRS the OK to continue the controversial employer-only and employer-first tip audits and assessments the agency has been pursuing since the mid-1990s. In these cases, the agency goes straight to restaurant employers with bills for payroll taxes on previously unreported tips--without first determining that individual employees actually underreported their tips or the amount by which they underreported, and without crediting employer FICA tax payments to those employees' Social Security accounts. The 6-3 decision in Fior d'Italia vs. United States appears to have actually given the IRS more power because it appears to allow the agency to estimate the amount of cash tips given to employees based on tips included on credit-card receipts. National Restaurant Association legal experts say the ruling has grave implications for restaurants as well as any other business that employs tipped workers. IRS tip-tax assessments have the potential to devastate small restaurants, experts say, since the IRS can go as far back as 1988--the first year employers were liable for FICA taxes on all employee tips-to assess back taxes. Restaurateurs, who do not maintain records that could help them refute an IRS assessment (indeed, the law specifically protects employers from onerous monitoring obligations), could literally be put out of business as the result of an IRS action. See more on the Association's reaction to the ruling. Court says "aggregate estimation" is valid In the case of Fior d'Italia, the IRS billed the San Francisco restaurant in 1995 for $23,262 in taxes on tips that the agency says employees failed to report in 1991 and 1992. The restaurant sued over the method the IRS used to come up with the assessment: First, the IRS took a look at the restaurant's charge-card data and calculated that credit-card customers tipped at a rate of 14.49% in 1991 and 14.29% in 1992. Then, assuming the same credit-card tip rate applied to cash sales, the IRS calculated that employees should have reported total tips of $772,100 over the two years rather than the $468,026 they reported. Applying the 7.65% FICA tax rate to the difference--$304,000--the agency stuck Fior d'Italia with the tax bill for $23,262. The IRS based its assessment solely on a review of the restaurant's paperwork, including the IRS Form 8027 (Employer's Annual Information Return of Tip Income and Allocated Tips) that many restaurant employers are required to file with the IRS each February detailing broad tip-reporting data. Fior d'Italia--aided in its U.S. Supreme Court case by a contribution from the National Restaurant Association's Save American Free Enterprise (S.A.F.E.) Fund, won its case in federal district court and a federal appeals court. However, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the earlier rulings, saying that the IRS's aggregate estimation method--basing the assessment on an estimate of all tip income paid to all employees aggregated together--did not fall "outside the bounds of what is reasonable." Justice Steven Breyer, who wrote the majority opinion, was joined by Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist and Justices John Paul Stevens, Sandra Day O'Connor, Anthony M. Kennedy and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. What the ruling means for restaurants "The impact of the ruling is enormous," says Peter Kilgore, senior vice president and general counsel for the National Restaurant Association. "Financially, the IRS can go after the restaurant industry and the industry could be hit with a potential tax assessment back to 1988, when Congress first said restaurants owe taxes on all reported tips." Kilgore noted that even the dissenting opinion in Fior d'Italia indicated that restaurateurs could be held liable for taxes back to 1998, and that a statute of limitations does not apply on an employer's FICA tax liability for taxes on unreported tips. "With restaurant profit margins typically around 3 to 5 percent, this could potentially put a number of restaurants out of business," says Kilgore. "From a labor-relations standpoint, it turns employers into the 'tip police' because the ruling will in effect force employers to police employee tip reporting in order to protect themselves from IRS employer-only assessments," adds Kilgore. The ruling is likely to increase both the number of IRS audits and the pressure restaurateurs feel to get more involved in employee tip reporting through such measures as signing tip-reporting agreements with the IRS. What next? The Association vowed to take the fight over tip reporting to Capitol Hill and began lobbying Congress before the Supreme Court made its ruling on June 17. "Our primary emphasis is to get the tax code changed," says Kilgore. "But that could take a long time and there's no guarantee that any law will pass." Justice David H. Souter wrote the dissenting opinion in the Fior d'Italia case, saying that the court's ruling "saddles employers with a burden unintended by Congress." Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas also dissented. "It seems clear that Congress did not mean to solve [the problem of underreporting tips] by allowing the IRS to use its assessment power to shift the problem to employers," the dissenting justices wrote. I've googled to see if this was overturned, but I cannot find any links to suggest that it has been.  So if a waiter gives good service, and you fail to tip, they are still taxed on that non-existent tip.

That's not what it says. the server still has to file his tax return, and lists the actual amount of tiops received. Thax is what his tax liability is calculated from.  However, if the amount of tipos claimed appears to low, IRS can use the above to go after the employer for the difference.

Quoted: it is perfectly legal to pay resturaunt servers LESS THAN MINIMUM WAGE I used to bartend. From what I've seen, servers usually make 1/2 of minimumwage, which I believe is $2.85 an hour. This means that servers normally DO NOT GET A PAYCHECK. By the time taxes are taken out of their paycheck, there is usually little to nothing left of it. Therefore, they are basically working off of straight tips and that's all. To not leave a tip just because you won't be back to that restaurant ever again is just ignorant. If you don't want to tip, go to Taco Bell or McDonalds. Whenever I got out to eat, my tip starts at 20-25% and goes down from there depending on the service. It has to be REALLY bad for me to get below 10%. I don't think 20% for good hardworking service is too much to ask.

around here the min. wage for wait staff is between 2.85- 3.25 depending on the company.Wait staff lives off their tips cause the paycheck is gone when they get it.

Pizza delivery drivers make min. wage ,I make 5.75 an hour plus tips which most of the tips go into the gas tank pizza places don't provide you gas for your car .If you see help ads in the paper saying you can make up to 12.00 an hour just remember that they are figuring in you hourly wage and the assumtion that you get tips but you don't all the time.

Damn, I had to use notepad to get this reply going. Tipping and restaurants are some of my favorite things to discuss - It allows me to instantly spot worthless, mean folks that I do not want to hang out with. That being said, onto the quotes!

Quoted: ... If I'm in a particularly good mood, I'll offer a waitress $20 for every dirty joke I've never heard before. That cost me in excess of $200 once in, of all places, Fon-du-lac, WI. It was worth it, actually. I got a bunch of really sick, funny jokes, the waitress got well on the deal, and we went out after her shift. Dirty jokes ain't all she knew!

For a long time, I had a thing going on with a waitress or two at a local Friday's. I shouldn't have wimped out. Anyway, more on that later.

Quoted: ... the Sunday church crowd would just leave them fake 20 dollar bills sometimes that opened up into a track. Buncha stingy idiots.

My now ex-roommate, a major born-again Christian type, worked as a busboy at Olive Garden and always reported the after Church people were the stingiest bastards with tips. Not to mention being a pain in the ass.

Funnily enough, I got him banned from Friday's because he acted in much the same way towards the staff and killed the relationship I had with a few of the servers. His poor behavior reflected on me and I got static from some of the staff. Understandable, but highly annoying to me. I knew a manager personally, as we had played Ultrazone (lasertag) together for years, so I told the staff that I was going to consider him banned and had my bud make it official.

I made it probation about 4 months later, and he started up again the next time we stepped inside Friday's. One of my brother was with us that night, and I loudly and publicly, tore him a new asshole about it. I will not accept harrassment of one of my friends by a different friend. (Especially when the person receiving this abuse is a cute blond girl that I'd like to play taps with, using my tongue and her clit, but I digress. )

He stopped after that. Sadly, time has gone on and I have lost contact with all those folks. It now sucks, since all those hookups (free drinks, apps and deserts [and lunch dates! yumm!]) are gone.

I usually tip very well - 20% to 25%. If service is below average - 10% to 15%. I have stiffed servers - ignoring me is a sure way to piss me off and make your tip exactly $0.

TR

Quoted: Quoted: For great service I give 25% and tell the manager. For good service I tip 20%. For regular service I tip 15%. For bad service I get te manager.  I've tipped for bad service in the past because it wasn't the waiter's fault.  The manager had put him on two areas beacuse someone called in sick.  He was trying, but he just couldn't do it.  Other times the waiter was just a fuckup. Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas... +1 My sister and brother inlaw used waiter/waitress. The ones who never tipped had small children with them or were the ones who asked for every little detail about there meal and acted very nasty. Also the Sunday church crowd would just leave them fake 20 dollar bills sometimes that opened up into a track. Buncha stingy idiots.

I used to work at a Lee's Chicken (similar to KFC for those who don't know) and the Sunday after church crowd was unbearable. One sunday a family came in and ordered but asked for waters (there was about 8 of them) instead of sodas, then proceeded to drink lemonade from a separate standalone container from the soda fountain. I was the Shift supervisor at the time and informed the MOD because I have little tolerance for these things and would have blown up at them but he just brushed it off.

Tip tricks

Quoted: Me and Sniper_Wolfe got into this same argument just the other night when my girlfriend got us all together for a birthday dinner for me. We went to a Chinese buffet, so the waitress didn't serve us but she was refilling 10 glasses and clearing plates for 10 people. He argued that she didn't serve us so she shouldn't get any tip at all, which I felt was ridiculous.... Regardless she got her tip.

Are you saying Sniper Wolfe is a cheap bastard???

Quoted: Maybe I am cheap, and maybe I am an asshole.

If you don't tip a place you won't ever go back to, regardless of the service you get, the answer to you statement is BOTH.

Quoted: Quoted: Just in case it hasn't been said before, for the jackarses who refuse to tip unless they will be eating there again, or those that think servers make what they make and should quit if they don't like it: As far as I know, it is perfectly legal to pay resturaunt servers LESS THAN MINIMUM WAGE if their expected wage + tips is above the minimum wage threshhold -- that's right, some of them make less than minimum wage and depend on tips to make up the difference... that is true. Mona did that for awhile before we got married. Good servers can make a usable wage. But lets face it waiting tables isn't exactly a career. If you make the choice to do a job you KNOW might pay well below minimum wage then you should expect to not get rich. Because YOU choose to work for that level of pay it is NOT the customers responsibility to make up for the employer. mike

I was a waitress for 2 years and I NEVER expected for anyone to tip me especially on a sunday morning, only because i was tired from the night before. So towards the middle of my shift, I was more awake i guess you can say, and I would get pretty good tips. But the fact is that not everyone tip's. And some were regular's but we never did anything to their food or had any animosity towards them. They were actually real cool, and NEVER tiped. But it was ok because they were entertaining.  

I did choose the low paying job and it is nice when I did get tipped but if I didn't it was most likely that they didn't think I was that great, but yet again I wasn't get high strung about it.

Quoted: Quoted: Me and Sniper_Wolfe got into this same argument just the other night when my girlfriend got us all together for a birthday dinner for me. We went to a Chinese buffet, so the waitress didn't serve us but she was refilling 10 glasses and clearing plates for 10 people. He argued that she didn't serve us so she shouldn't get any tip at all, which I felt was ridiculous.... Regardless she got her tip. Are you saying Sniper Wolfe is a cheap bastard???

Sniper Wolfe is a CHEAP BASTARD???? WHAT??????... I never would have thought it. He always seemed so nice... Sure glad his "friend" RATTED HIM OUT!!!!  

What I learned from this thread:

1)  Tip on th table, not the credit card receipt - not so much because of fraud, but the IRS can use it against them!!

2)  Some of you all are cheap bastards!  15% is for getting food.  Good service is usually 20-25% - great service and the tip is often as much as the meal.  If it's worth tipping less than 15% - its worth a complaint to the manager.  If you can't afford that, stay home.

I waited tables from three years, from when I got out of the Army until just after 9/11, when I started pulling a lot of active duty time with the National Guard.

When I started working at the restaurant, I was paid $2.13 an hour.  My paychecks for two weeks were in the $75 range AT MOST.  Three years later, now a bartender, server trainer, headwaiter, employee of the month, and having recieved an outstanding (98%) rating from our undercover auditors, do you know how much my hourly wage was?  

$2.13

At my restaurant all servers also paid out 3% of our total sales (usually around 20% of our tips for the night), which was divided among the bartenders, hostesses, busboys, and foodrunners.  This allowed the restaurant to keep all of those additional people on $2.13 as well, saving them a tremendous amount of money.  The young high school busboys and hostesses got the shaft in a big, big way from that policy.  Most of them were poor employees though, of course.

I worked very hard for my money, but if I gave poor service - which I occasionally did - then I had no right to expect a tip.  There were times when I was shafted, and deservedly so.  People should expect good service when eating at a decent restaurant.  I love big tips just as much as any other server, but leaving the restaurant with 12% every night was pretty acceptable to me.

Waiting tables is a career for some, but it should only be a stepping stone for people with a good work ethic, who want to go places in life.  

I have only once left without tipping, and that was for truly bad service.  The guy deserved every penny I didn't give him.

I mostly eat out alone now, immediately after getting off work in the afternoon, before heading home for the night.  I tip $2.50 - $4.00 per meal, which usually cost me no more than $10 - $12 on the bill.


[/patiently waiting for NewARguy to enter the fracas]

Quoted: Quoted: I do not tip unless the service is good. Really good. I have had a waiteress at TGI Friday's in Carlsbad, CA follow me into the parking lot and ask for a tip(told her to fuck off), and a waiter at the same resteraunt do the same(watched another Marine beat him senseless). I also leave tips when the waiter/waitress is genuinly trying. I don't leave a tip for anyone who tries to force one out of me. I also don't usually tip when I am on the road, or at a resteraunt that I know I will never go back to.   Then please do not show up at my place. Federal law sets the minimum wage for service industry personnel at $2.13 per hour, unless you are in a contracted union (ie. casino workers).  Some establishments follow this and others have shift pay, but for an 8 hour shift it's $50 at most. We make our money through tips.  So please do not waste an hour of my time or any other bartender/server's time.

That is a pretty shitty thing to say, there were plenty of other people on here who posted the exact same thing, but worded it differently.

I've been out to eat with Joker581 and its not as bad as some people are making it out to be. He does the same thing my brother-in-law does, but backwards. He starts at zero and the waiter/waitress earns as they go. If he sent the person running around all over the resturant, yeah I would expect him to tip reguardless of the quality of service. He's not a demanding asshole, thank goodness, I don't ever recall him asking for anything. Not even a refill on his drinks unless they come up and ask then he will say either yes or no, but besides that he's not as bad as he sounds. But he is an asshole.

Oh, and here are a few things that piss me off about servers:

Servers who call everyone at their table 'guys'.  As in, when addressing an elderly couple - 'hi guys, what can I get you to drink?'

I always addressed everyone as Sir, Ma'am, or folks ('hey there folks').

Crouching down at the table, or sitting down next to me to take my order.  You don't know me, don't pretend we are buddies so I throw some extra money at you.  I also never did either of these when I was working.

Any kind of excuse about being busy, how hard your day is, how many tables you have, etc.  I didn't come here for the sob stories, I came for food.  

Quoted: Never add the tip to the CC charge. NEVER! a friend of mine did that once and then when he got his CC bill the bill for the meal was almost double as someone decided they didn't get a big enough tip. So even when I pay for a meal with a CC I always bring some cash for the tip.

I always add the tip to the CC charge, and have been doing it that way for years.  Never had a problem.

Quoted: Quoted: Never add the tip to the CC charge. NEVER! a friend of mine did that once and then when he got his CC bill the bill for the meal was almost double as someone decided they didn't get a big enough tip. So even when I pay for a meal with a CC I always bring some cash for the tip. I always add the tip to the CC charge, and have been doing it that way for years.  Never had a problem.

YEAH, BUT NOW BECAUSE YOU SAID IT, YOUR NEXT MEAL AT APPLEBEE'S ON YOU CC BILL WILL BE $1023.86!!  

I just met a beautiful "THAI" waitress at a Thai noodle restaurant recently, she was the friendliest and the service was excellent! she even sat down with me during my entire meal to talk

I left a $2.00 tip for a $8.36 meal

Quoted: The coffee cup must not remain empty.

BINGO+1
If I need to hunt down my server for water or coffee, 10% max.
If I get everything at once so they can seat new folks ASAP, 10% max.
I had a waiter tell my wife he was tooooo busy to make her guacamole at our table.
I felt he could find the time OR have the manager reassign us a new server.
He was in such a Pissy mood after that so I really felt he deserved the sub 5% I left him...

I do not tip unless the service is good. Really good. I have had a waiteress at TGI Friday's in Carlsbad, CA follow me into the parking lot and ask for a tip(told her to fuck off), and a waiter at the same resteraunt do the same(watched another Marine beat him senseless). I also leave tips when the waiter/waitress is genuinly trying. I don't leave a tip for anyone who tries to force one out of me. I also don't usually tip when I am on the road, or at a resteraunt that I know I will never go back to.

Quoted: I can wait all day for my food to show up. I don't tip based on he quality of the food, because the wait staff doesn't cook it. As stated in my original post, if the service is good, or the staff is at least trying, they get the tip. If not they don't get anything. My standards for good service aren't increadably high. All you have to do is do your job. If the glass is empty, fill it. If I need napkins, bring them. If you can't, let me know. I don't tip wait staff that disappears, nor do I typically tip someone that has time to sit around while I am not getting proper service. If it makes you all feel any better, I haven't been to a resteraunt since I quit my last  job. There isn't anything available here that I can't cook myself and save money. I don't feel sorry for someone who make less than minimum wage, but puts forth no effort to earn a tip. Maybe I am cheap, and maybe I am an asshole.

Why do you say "maybe"?

I ALWAYS tip, unless service was EXCEPTIONALLY POOR.  My pet peeve is not refilling my drink when it runs dry, when I'am sucking on ice cubes, it better be filled within five minutes. I would leave a tip anyway, probably not as much if my drink was refilled in a timely matter, but I would still leave a tip. Would that be considered exceptional service? I don't think so, I think that would be basic service.  

Some people don't tip unless there IS exceptional service, WTF, what is that?  Does that mean you want your napkin placed on your lap for you? Does it mean you want the food wiped from your lips? Do you want your belly rubbed after you stuff yourself?

People that expect the moon before they tip, have NEVER worked for tips!

Listen up cheapies, get the moths out of your wallets and tip, dammit!

I always add the tip to the CC charge, and have been doing it that way for years. Never had a problem.

If I was a shitty waiter, thats what I would do.

this has been an informative thread.

i usually tip twice the tax round up to the next higher dollar thats about 17% roughly. i have never worked as a waiter so i dont empathize with the low wage issue.if it was so bad there would be no workers and they would have to raise wages  so its not so bad and im guessing people do make an ok living even if it is on the low end of the scale.

i have tipped in certain places(mostly chains) where the service was awful but  you could see they were understaffed and trying hard to keep up and keep us pleased even though we werent.

i have not tipped twice in my restaurant  going times. one was the waiter that argued with my wife about what she ordered and then ignored us till we paid and refused to leave him a tip and demanded the included tip be removed from the bill. yep 15% tacked on for service.he should have respected my wife and me.

the other was watching 3 people after we came in get their drinks before our waiteress showed up and having it go south from there. late drinks, empty glasses, cold food, 2 courses served at once. this wasnt denny's but ive been better taken care of there. anyway as im paying this waitress comes up basically yelling that we should know she makes her money from tips and we should have some kind of understanding for her. she actually chased us into the parking lot yelling at us.

i cant say ive ever tipped better than 20%, i am paying for food, i am giving something for the service but its not my responsibility to subsidize the restaurant owners labor cost

Quoted: Never add the tip to the CC charge. NEVER! a friend of mine did that once and then when he got his CC bill the bill for the meal was almost double as someone decided they didn't get a big enough tip. So even when I pay for a meal with a CC I always bring some cash for the tip.

I'd rather give my waiter/waitress(is that politically correct these days?) a cash tip....
Some establishments pool the CC tips and in some cases I've heard it's a bitch to collect on the CC tips at the end of your shift... Also I've heard some placed take a % of the CC tips "for the house".
Seeing as most wait staff are youngsters trying to make cash for school or whatever... I'd rather give 'em the cash myself then trust that their boss will hand it over ... Screw "the Man"

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: I also don't tip when I am on the road, or at a resteraunt that I know I will never go back to.   Are you an asshole or just cheap? A bit of both probably. I should add that this rule typically coincides with the good waitress rule I previously posted. I also don't tip at buffet resteraunts, since I don't think it is worth 15% for someone to refill a Coke. Me and Sniper_Wolfe got into this same argument just the other night when my girlfriend got us all together for a birthday dinner for me. We went to a Chinese buffet, so the waitress didn't serve us but she was refilling 10 glasses and clearing plates for 10 people. He argued that she didn't serve us so she shouldn't get any tip at all, which I felt was ridiculous.... Regardless she got her tip.

You left out the important part...

You know, the part where she watched Andy put soy sauce in my Coke without getting me a new one...

Edit to add that she also sucked as far as clearing dishes and refilling drinks.