General Etiquette > Life...in general
When can tipping be tacky?
Squeaks:
Jais’s post on her BF’s dad and tipping had a post by Twik that brought up a question for me
How tacky is to leave change on the table for a tip?
Lets say the bill is small (lets say $16.00) and the service is good but nothing outstanding a 20% tip would be $3.20 which is what I’d like to leave but my BF says that is tacky – to me if they are getting 20% who cares the format. If you go up to $4.00 you have bumped the tip up to 25% which I am not always comfortable with. A tip is supposed to reflect good service – the higher the tip the better the service. If the service is just ok, I am not sure it is a good idea to lead the wait staff to believe they are fabulous (likewise I stress about tipping to well for really bad service too – they should still get paid I am ok with that, but I don’t want them thinking that there bad service level is acceptable)
I want to be a good tipper, and am happy to tip, and I do want to see the wait staff get paid fairly, I just think tipping is getting out of control and I don’t want to see the standard keep going up, that is why I am hesitant to tip 25% on so so service. I hate that 20% is almost the new standard, yes wait staff should be paid, I’d rather 15% be a good tip, and have the prices originally be slightly higher and the wait staff have a higher base pay. Ideally id like it if I could not tip for bad service but still see the wait staff get paid at least somewhat fairly.
In the above scenario, id likely have left $3.50 which is still slightly higher than 20% but not up to 25% My BF would have either done $3.00 or $4.00 even (likely the 4 he is a nice good guy).
So would wait staff prefer the $3.20 even with tacky change, or the clean $3.00? does the 20 (or 50) cents offend? $3.00 is still a little almost 19%?
Also a lot of people give the advice to have credit card slips end up even totals (i.e $16.27 bill give a $3.73 tip on the slip so you total bill on your card is $20) if that is ok, what would be wrong with coins on the table?
Lisbeth:
I'm not a waitperson, but:
Personally, I'd like to see the custom of tipping get lost.
Since that's not going to happen in my lifetime, these are my thoughts on tipping:
1) Giving a penny or some other token to indicate dissatisfaction with bad service strikes me as tacky. If service is really that bad, I don't tip, but I do notify the management.
2) With regard to the above, I do tip (20% is standard in NYC), but I will give more for really excellent service. If I pay by credit card, I do try to even the total with the tip, but I make sure that the tip is fair to begin with. There is no rule that tips have to be paid in cash.
3) I think it's rude to try to stuff money in someone's pocket. If their hands are full, wait until they're free.
4) I'll agree that tipping shouldn't exceed 25%-more than that would be excessive. If service is only so-so, I limit my tip to the standard amount.
Chonsil:
Well, from my days as a waitress (which was a while ago I grant you) I would not have minded the 20 extra cents in change or thought it tacky in any way. The small change can add up after a while.
What did really get my goat was if someone wanted to leave a $3.20 tip and decided to clean out their change purse and give me the amount all in small coins - like dimes and nickles. I had to carry that around in my apron until the end of my shift! (I am complaining only in the case of they had dollar bills they could use but decided to lay all that coin weight off on me!)
Sophia:
As a waitress, I would rather get the change. In fact, I wouldn't have even minded someone cleaning out the change purse. But, then I mostly worked in a small, but fancy restaurant where I had unfettered access to the cash register. Most people seem to follow the round up or round down philosophy. What I did hate was when I knew they were going to tip $X.40 and they gave me $X.
Bijou:
--- Quote from: Squeaks on February 08, 2007, 08:50:04 AM ---Jais’s post on her BF’s dad and tipping had a post by Twik that brought up a question for me
How tacky is to leave change on the table for a tip?
Lets say the bill is small (lets say $16.00) and the service is good but nothing outstanding a 20% tip would be $3.20 which is what I’d like to leave but my BF says that is tacky – to me if they are getting 20% who cares the format. If you go up to $4.00 you have bumped the tip up to 25% which I am not always comfortable with. A tip is supposed to reflect good service – the higher the tip the better the service. If the service is just ok, I am not sure it is a good idea to lead the wait staff to believe they are fabulous (likewise I stress about tipping to well for really bad service too – they should still get paid I am ok with that, but I don’t want them thinking that there bad service level is acceptable)
I want to be a good tipper, and am happy to tip, and I do want to see the wait staff get paid fairly, I just think tipping is getting out of control and I don’t want to see the standard keep going up, that is why I am hesitant to tip 25% on so so service. I hate that 20% is almost the new standard, yes wait staff should be paid, I’d rather 15% be a good tip, and have the prices originally be slightly higher and the wait staff have a higher base pay. Ideally id like it if I could not tip for bad service but still see the wait staff get paid at least somewhat fairly.
In the above scenario, id likely have left $3.50 which is still slightly higher than 20% but not up to 25% My BF would have either done $3.00 or $4.00 even (likely the 4 he is a nice good guy).
So would wait staff prefer the $3.20 even with tacky change, or the clean $3.00? does the 20 (or 50) cents offend? $3.00 is still a little almost 19%?
Also a lot of people give the advice to have credit card slips end up even totals (i.e $16.27 bill give a $3.73 tip on the slip so you total bill on your card is $20) if that is ok, what would be wrong with coins on the table?
--- End quote ---
What? If he goes to a grocery store and the bill is $25.33 does he give them $26 to keep it all even? His reasoning for even numbers in tips makes no more sense than my grocery store example.
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