Is tipping in a regular sit-down restaurant an "option"?

[baldguy]

Poll question: Is tipping in a regular sit-down restaurant an "option"?

based on this:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x4942818

[mediaman007]

1. Sorry, I can't make a choice.

I always tip for service, but I have been known to urinate on my neighbor's rose bush.

What to do, what to do.

[baldguy]

2. Tipping is more important

[alfredo]

32. You know those

Japanese Beetle traps, trap makers use Japanese beetle pheromones to attract them into the trap. You can get refills. It's a little strip. You cut it up in little pieces and spread them on the roses when you do your midnight pee. Actually, that is only if your neighbor is a roaring asshole.

[hlthe2b]

3. I'd love to see a poll like this re: takeout....

but gotta run... If anyone has the time..;)

[ProgressiveProfessor]

4. Yet another foolish poll that is a waste of bandwidth

[Posteritatis]

6. Why do you hate America (and freedom and puppies)? (nt)

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

17. Where's the pool?

[baldguy]

22. (shh! It's the accent!)

[Ichingcarpenter]

5. Cow tipping is an option

restaurant tipping is not an option.

[geckosfeet]

7. Bit of a push poll, but of course you tip unless the food and service is dismal.

[baldguy]

14. So, if the *food* is unpalatable, you punish the *server*?

[geckosfeet]

33. If you complain and ask them to take care of it and they don't - yes.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

18. The servers do not make the food and should not be punished for it

To do so is pure douchebaggery.

[geckosfeet]

34. Since it is bad form for customers to walk into the kitchen and address

the chef/cook/food preparer directly, and the proper means to address inadequate food preparation do so is to ask the wait staff to address the problem, I would say yes, with holding a tip can be justified by poor food.

The wait staff is put in their position by kitchen protocol. I tip them, not the cooks. It is their job to address inadequacies in the food by whatever means possible. Not doing their job relieves me of the obligation of payment and or tipping.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

36. The food just plain sucks at some places, and waitstaff should not be punished for it

If the food is terrible, ask for the manager and have them take care of it. Then, leave the wait staff a nice tip, even if the food gets comped.

[geckosfeet]

38. Those are the places I probably won't go to. What's the point?

[flvegan]

8. Yes, it is an option.

Unless a restaurant adds gratuity to a bill (oftentimes on parties of a certain size) then it is an option. Unless service is abhorrent, and the fault of the server, exercising the option to NOT tip is an option exercised by absolute douchebag assholes.

[petronius]

9. Legally speaking, yes. Morally, socially, ethically? No

I'm speaking of the U.S., of course, but it is a clearly understood fact that there are situations where a tip is required. If you don't want to tip, avoid those situations...

[Double T]

10. Why , yes if you are a fundamentalist, self righteous, GD evangelical christian..........

it is certainly an 'option'. Don't be surprised if hot coffee is poured in your lap, by accident of course.

[Mnemosyne]

26. Ice water, no wounds, n/t

[Warpy]

11. If service is outrageously bad

and the do things like drop things in front of you and try to put them back on the plate, you are certainly entitled not to tip.

Simple surliness is no excuse, though, as waiting tables is damned hard work and is tough on feet, back and shoulders. Good service by somebody having a bad day is still good service and deserves a tip.

[SmileyRose]

12. Tipping is extortion IMHO.

Servers should be paid what they are worth by their employers. They should not be left to the mercy of customers. The system MUST be changed. I have no problem with rewarding exceptional service but when it gets to the point where my garbage man leaves me an envelope at Christmas more or less demanding a tip of at least $50 (or else) then it's time to put the smackdown on tipping.

Publix has it right. Treat employees with respect, pay them a fair wage and put up a sign - we pay our employees what they deserve, no tipping please. At the store by me all the baggers (who will gladly help you to the car with a smile even) have various disabilities. The one man who's been there the whole 20 years they've been in my neck of the woods gets 5 weeks of vacation, full bennies and is paid well enough to live by himself.

[customerserviceguy]

19. Yes, servers should be paid a fair wage

but refusing to tip them is not going to change things. I guess you could attempt to find restaurants that advertise that they pay employees living wages, but I've not seen anybody telling me such. Have you?

[SmileyRose]

24. I don't eat out unless I can afford a 20% or better tip.

I play by the rules, but IMHO the rules should be changed. I've been a server more than once and the system for all but those in very high end restaurants is not in their favor, from what I've seen.

Although, for those who do well on tips, they probably like that those wages are not paycheck wages and only subject to taxes if they are all claimed. :evilgrin:

[customerserviceguy]

25. If you're a regular at a place

you will always be treated like a king if you tip decently. I have a favorite brewery I go to, and the staff treats me like family.

I'm sure the brewer pays them well (without knowing dollar amounts, at least one worker there has confirmed that) but they work hard, between serving customers, they also are part of the brewing process, and have a lot of work to do. One guy and I even trade beers, he homebrews, and I bring him stuff from my Pacific Northwest trips.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

20. We just give our garbage men booze

They're cool with it.

[kwyjibo]

13. Even if the service is terrible, I give a tip, just a really bad one.

I think a tiny useless tip makes more of a statement than no tip at all.

[Th1onein]

15. I used to be a waitress.

If I go to a restaurant just once, the second time I come there, the waiter/waitress just about fawns over me because I tip so well. I don't tip to get the fawning though and, in fact, it's embarrassing, but I tip because I know how much it meant to me to get a big tip when I was a waitress. It makes your day.

I don't expect everyone to do this, but I can afford to tip well, so I do--at a 50 to 100% ratio of the bill. I absolutely love to be able to do this. It makes my day, too.

[customerserviceguy]

16. If you can't afford to tip

you can't afford to eat out. That service worker you stiff has already been stiffed by an employer paying minimum wage, maybe less in a few places that allow it. He/she is depending on you to respond positively to the individual service you are given.

Even if service is abysmal, I still do five percent. I just don't come back. More often than not, I do twenty percent, the vast majority of service workers who I tip fully deserve it.

But I do a lot of my own cooking at home. My lady finds an appropriate way to tip me!

[HillbillyBob]

30. We tip 20-25% if the service is good 15% of not so good 10% if its bad

taking into account how busy they seem to be.
Most places in NC, Fl and Al do not pay minimum wage, they pay 1/2 or 1/3 of of minimum wage claiming that the servers make it up with tips.
I have tended bar and waited tables, tending bar the bar owners pay even less,
your pay IS what you take in in tips.

[rrneck]

21. Always tip unless the service is really, really, bad. nt

[tammywammy]

23. Yes, it's an option

I've gotten horrible service and didn't tip before. But 99% of the time I tip very very well.

[FarCenter]

27. I prefer the European style of adding a 18% service charge automatically

It is part of the cost of the meal.

It also simplifies the credit card transaction.

[crimsonblue]

28. tipping is optional

if the waitress or waiter is being a prick.

[Not Me]

29. One of the most rewarding things I do, is to (on occasion) tip extravagantly

Full disclosure: I have a couple friends and a family member who work in jobs where they rely on tips, so I know the impact it has on their economic wellbeing.

I eat out maybe 3 or 4 times a week, from cheap diners to pretty nice places. At least a couple times a year, there is someone who really impresses me with their service. I have been known to tip 100%.
As I said, it's not generally at expensive places, and it is a few times a year. But it really underscores the effort they put in. And I know that person went home feeling pretty good about him or herself.

[xchrom]

31. peeing on the roses is good for them. nt

[Donald Ian Rankin]

35. Depends on the country.

My understanding is that in the US not tipping is really fairly exceptional. Here in the UK, I think most people tip unless the service has been notably poor, but it's certainly an option. I believe that in China, for example, it is customary not to tip at all, and in Japan it may even cause offence.

[Berry Cool]

37. I always tip when served at a table in a traditional restaurant situation

(unless there's for some reason a "no tipping" policy) and at least try to when eating at a place where I order and pick up from a counter and eat there, and part of the counter staff's job is busing the tables. If I'm not eating on the premises, then I don't put anything in the jar.

And, of course, I tip delivery people bringing food I ordered, or gifts someone else sent me, to my home.

And I have a policy of not eating in a table-service setting unless I know I have a sufficient tip on me, in cash, for whatever I will order. I have heard too many stories about how if you put the tip on a credit or debit card, the server who earned it may never get it, or it may take weeks for them to get it, or it may be evenly split amongst all the servers rather than the one who served you getting it, or the manager may just take it. And for all you know, depending on the situation, your server may have been counting on some extra cash in pocket to go grocery shopping after work that day and pick up some badly needed stuff, and if you don't tip in cash, the server can't go get what is needed. I've lived hand-to-mouth before and I know what it's like to have people just assume you can wait to be reimbursed when you really, really can't, but you're too embarrassed to say so. So I pay tips in cash.

What I have a problem with is places that are 100% pure takeout--all counter service, no sit-down, no tables--that keep a tip jar or can on the counter and expect me to tip. Why should I tip if all I'm doing is ordering from a counter and having it provided to me and taking it away? To me, that's like a dead giveaway that the owner is paying the employees less than a living wage and expects me to make up the difference. Bull. I feel sorry for the employees, but they should refuse to work at a place like that if at all possible. It's not right to try to guilt the customer into ensuring the employees can live on what they earn.

If I'm in that kind of place, and the tip jar or can also has a sign on the side with some rude phrase like "Tipping is NOT a city in China!" that implies that tips are rightfully expected and I'M being evil or rude if I don't tip, I'll turn around and leave and find another place to spend my money. F you if you're going to try to guilt me into tipping just because you're a cheapskate who won't pay your workers decently. For all I know, you grab the tip container and take the money from it yourself and your employees don't see a dime.

[THUNDER HANDS]

39. I'm not big on percentages when I tip

If a bill is $20, I tip $5.

If a bill is $30, I tip $10.

If a bill is $50, I tip either $15 or $20, depending on what bills I have on me.