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How does tipping work in your country? Is tipping generally accepted, scorned, or implied?

I enjoy leaving tips at the barbers, and when I go out to a restaurant and the service is good.

I don't enjoy tipping cashiers, or tipping after paying a service charge for pizza delivery.

In the U.S. it is generally accepted that you tip at a restaurant, as well as several other places; for some it is implied, even 'required'.


Mr. pink in the left corner... weighing in at 150 pounds!

I've never tipped anyone, nor been asked to tip. Then again, the restaurants I've gone to have never asked for it and I don't order pizza or anything like that.

I never tip. In the UK it's generally not done (at least where I was from) and now I live in Shanghai it's pretty much the same.

Well I live in the U.S. and it's pretty much customary to tip. In fact, it's less of a courtesy and it's more of a requirement.

In fact, in groups of larger than 8 in most restaurants a gratuity tip or something to that nature is automatically added to your bill.

I don't leave a tip, I give the entire thing to the waitress.

I think for groups larger than 6 people it should be automatic. I've worked restaurants where a table would be seated with 12 people, the waitress would be overly nice to them, the table racks up a $300 bill and don't leave the waitress even a single penny.

Sorry, if you can afford a $300 dinner you can afford at least a $20 tip.

That is one of my favorite scenes from Reservoir Dogs & I've always seen a certian "logic" in Mr. Pinks argument,however being an American I find myself throwing money at almost every person in the "service industry",and honestly don't even really think about it much,it's like programed into my DNA or something.
The sad thing is,I don't really think about how much I tip,for example,my girlfriend and I went to dinner the other night (nothing fancy,just O'Charlies),our bill was $46.00,I handed the waitress $60.00 and told her to keep the change...my girl said I over tipped...but hell,I tip $5.00 at buffets,and I'm getting my own food.
I do wonder if there is just something about Americans that causes us to just throw money at people with out thinking about if they deserve it or not.

Could be.

I mean hell, we are FORCED to give bums on welfare a part of our paycheck every 2 weeks so might as well give those that earn their pay a little "extra" (not to mention in most states tipped wage is generally less than minimum wage).

I tip $2 on orders under $20 at diners, and 15% on orders larger. On deliveries, I tip $2 on orders before 10pm, or $3 on orders after 10pm (I figure it sucks more to bring food later)

I ordered food once during a blizzard, gave the guy a $5.00 tip on a $15 order, because it was horrible weather.

I tip $5.

On every order that requires a tip.

Lukus83 wrote:I never tip. In the UK it's generally not done (at least where I was from) and now I live in Shanghai it's pretty much the same.

In the U.S. waiters/waitresses make their living on tips. Is this not the case in the UK/Shanghai?

T_VanderZwaag wrote:

Lukus83 wrote:I never tip. In the UK it's generally not done (at least where I was from) and now I live in Shanghai it's pretty much the same.

In the U.S. waiters/waitresses make their living on tips. Is this not the case in the UK/Shanghai?

Nope. From what I understand, Waiting staff outside of the US don't get paid under minimum wage because their wage is supposed to be supplemented with tips(that they then have to report for taxes anyway).

I'll tip if the service is good and the staff are friendly on more than one occasion. Usually I go back to a place if it's good more than once, so that I'm a regular at the local cafe, only then I give tips on a regular basis.

I don't really tip for pizza unless the guy's real good, or the pizza got the real quick.

Fateweaver's first post:
Holy crap! We agree on something! I too think that large parties call for tips! Wow! A new era of peace and understanding for the OT forum! Maybe Shuma will even agree...

Second post:
Awwww.

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Anyway, I generally tip where its customary. At sandwich joints you might as well toss your change into the tip jar. For actual meals and delivery, cheap employers make tipping necessary.

Don't push your luck.

Getting Shuma to agree with me on anything would be cause for celebration.

Cause for celebration? Or a sign of intoxication?

I spent some time working in restaurants and bars when I was a student and hardly ever got tipped. It was something to be surprised about. Most of the tippers I received were from Americans on vacation.

Fateweaver wrote:I don't leave a tip, I give the entire thing to the waitress.

I think for groups larger than 6 people it should be automatic. I've worked restaurants where a table would be seated with 12 people, the waitress would be overly nice to them, the table racks up a $300 bill and don't leave the waitress even a single penny.

Sorry, if you can afford a $300 dinner you can afford at least a $20 tip.

a $300 bill should be at LEAST a $45 tip.

I was brought up to tip. Always. People working in food service get paid gak, they work for tips. If they do a stellar job, 15-20%, if they suck, 10%.

Karon wrote:I tip $5.

On every order that requires a tip.

Unless its over $35, so do I.

We generally only tip at restaurants, or sometimes taxis. We actually pay people the minimum wage.

Me and my friends always tip if the service was nice, or if we are regulars. Else, if the waiter/waitress looks at you as if she's about to eat your face cause you called for another beer, feth her tipping.

I never tip on taxis cause they charge you over anyway, so that would be double-tipping

We've had a case once when one the guys liked the waitress and asked the waitress for a date, and she said "well, for that you need to make an extra tip" and he said "Well, i guess that pretty much says everything about you", and took his tip back. I lol'd

I don't tip. I worked front of house for years, I've paid my dues.

I like to tip, one time I went to a cold-stone creamery and the lady flipped the ice cream into the air and caught it in a cup, that's an instant +$5.00 for a tip in my book.

Personally, I work in retail and don't expect to be tipped. In fact I hate it when people are all too willing to throw money at me instead of telling my manager that I did a great job.

I really only tip if I go out to eat with the wife - we have much less of a tipping culture over here than our friends over the pond. Having said that, when we have been on holiday abroad in Europe we have tipped as well.

I like tipping because the social fabric's so posting rules ! that any gesture of kindness feels like a small act of rebellion. I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, but it always feels as if the cash tip itself is secondary to the appreciation you show to the waiter/waitress who served you. Perhaps those sentiments are a bit hippy, but wtf.

I'm a 'keep the change' tipper. If I order a curry to be delivered and it costs £18, I'll just give the bloke a 20 and shut the door in his face. If he got there quickly.
I think more extravagant tipping should be reserved for people who go 'above and beyond' for you. No-one deserves a tip for simply doing their job adequately.

Albatross wrote:I'm a 'keep the change' tipper. If I order a curry to be delivered and it costs £18, I'll just give the bloke a 20 and shut the door in his face. If he got there quickly.
I think more extravagant tipping should be reserved for people who go 'above and beyond' for you.

Yeah, this is what we do as well.

If I'm out at a bar/pub I'll quite often buy one of the bar staff a drink, often I know them anyway and it's also a great way to ensure swifter servcie for the rest of the night.

A lot of restaurants over here will specify if the bill includes a "service charge" or not, and there's often a standard tariff added to parties over X size.

Bcak when I was about 16 and working as a till jockey in ( this dates it ) "Gateway Supermarket" ( for the princely sum of £2.29 an hour IIRC) one xmas one guy tipped me £20 which was pretty sweet.

The hangover the next day less so.

@IG_Urban: Why would you tip if the service is horrible?

My first kitchen job was in a hotel being paid £3.50 an hour. I used to bust my balls getting the food out as quickly as possible, whilst the waitresses (on £3.50 per hour as well) would do their level best to feth up table numbers and leave ice cream melting by the hatch. I found out after a couple of weeks that each one made on average £25 in tips every night. The chefs got bought a single beer at the end of every saturday's shift.

feth waitresses.

J.Black wrote:My first kitchen job was in a hotel being paid £3.50 an hour. I used to bust my balls getting the food out as quickly as possible, whilst the waitresses (on £3.50 per hour as well) would do their level best to feth up table numbers and leave ice cream melting by the hatch. I found out after a couple of weeks that each one made on average £25 in tips every night. The chefs got bought a single beer at the end of every saturday's shift.

feth waitresses.

To me that kind of exposes the idiocy of tipping - if you tip the waitress, why not the chef? Why not the guy who delivered the food to the restaurant, why not the farmer that grew it? Why not just tip everyone for everything and have done with it. I am much more like the Steve Buscemi character in Reservoir Dogs when they are discussing tipping; I am of the opinion that waiters/waitresses get paid a wage and it isn't really my job as a paying customer to supplement that wage. In reality, I end up tipping purely to save the arguments with the wife

I tip every so often when I get really good service. Usually just a couple of pounds on a £30 bill. If they are really, really good, I may give them more, but generally only 10-15%.

Most of the time I don't tip, and I've actually asked to have the "automatic 10% (or whatever) service charge" removed from the bill a couple of times when it has been added.

I also don't really get the "tip more if you are in a big group" thing, since I would have thought that it was pretty easy to cater for them - just call out the dish and put it in front of the appropriate mouth.

At the place i used to run in Manchester, i made sure my chefs were paid more than the waitresses/bar staff and that all tips went into one pot to be divvied up at the end of the night: Waitress 50% bar staff 30% kitchen 20%.

It caused a few problems at first until everyone realized that if they worked as an actual team they all got a big weekly bonus in tips. Plus if someone is slacking off but still taking tip money at the end of the week you can be damn sure someone would say something to them