To tip or not to tip?

[Wolfie]

Reading an article in the Independent about some high street restaurants nicking 8% of tips paid by credit card to cover "admin costs". Despicable and I would normally aim to tip in cash anyway.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/pizza-express-tipping-protests-how-your-favourite-restaurant-could-be-charging-staff-for-tips-paid-by-card-10438343.html

When do you tip and how much?.

I'm normally a 10% unless something has gone wrong. Sometimes more if service has been particularly good but I'm not afraid of not giving any tip if service has been slow or inefficient.

Other than restaurants, I only really tip for taxis and the delivery lady for my Friday Chinese takeaway.

[Dale The Ram]

Reading an article in the Independent about some high street restaurants nicking 8% of tips paid by credit card to cover "admin costs". Despicable and I would normally aim to tip in cash anyway.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/pizza-express-tipping-protests-how-your-favourite-restaurant-could-be-charging-staff-for-tips-paid-by-card-10438343.html

When do you tip and how much?.

I'm normally a 10% unless something has gone wrong. Sometimes more if service has been particularly good but I'm not afraid of not giving any tip if service has been slow or inefficient.

Other than restaurants, I only really tip for taxis and the delivery lady for my Friday Chinese takeaway.

Tip when they are good at what they do, if a delivery person has a face like thunder then no but if a waiter is polite/happy or apologises for any delay then id tip.

don't know how much I usually tip but it is usually 'keep the change'

[Day]

I don't understand tipping, you're basically giving them extra money for the job they are paid to do. Say you go to a restaurant, tip by card and the business can pocket it, tip the waiter/ess that comes to take payment, they can pocket it and it may not be the same waiter/ess that served you all night, and what about the chef in the back that made the food? 

Same with take away delivery, all that kid does is sit there, jump in the car and bring the food to your door, how come he gets to pocket the tip and not the people cooking the food?

Hairdressers expect tips, shouldn't they give you a decent haircut anyway, isn't that what they are there for? or are you tipping for the conversation that makes a 10 minute trim into an hour ordeal? I'd prefer the silent and quick trim to be honest, I don't need to pay for conversations.....yet.

Taxi drivers the same, without boring on they are doing their job, they actually get to pick their hours so when they work over bank holidays, Xmas, new year so I like to think all the tips through out the year are given when they charge double fares and you're having to wait an hour for one. 

[Dale The Ram]

I don't understand tipping, you're basically giving them extra money for the job they are paid to do. Say you go to a restaurant, tip by card and the business can pocket it, tip the waiter/ess that comes to take payment, they can pocket it and it may not be the same waiter/ess that served you all night, and what about the chef in the back that made the food? 

Same with take away delivery, all that kid does is sit there, jump in the car and bring the food to your door, how come he gets to pocket the tip and not the people cooking the food?

Hairdressers expect tips, shouldn't they give you a decent haircut anyway, isn't that what they are there for? or are you tipping for the conversation that makes a 10 minute trim into an hour ordeal? I'd prefer the silent and quick trim to be honest, I don't need to pay for conversations.....yet.

Taxi drivers the same, without boring on they are doing their job, they actually get to pick their hours so when they work over bank holidays, Xmas, new year so I like to think all the tips through out the year are given when they charge double fares and you're having to wait an hour for one. 

Would you class member donations as tips Daveo?

[Day]

Would you class member donations as tips Daveo?

No as they pay for the forum running costs  

[RicME85]

Im with Daveo. If the pay is so poor it needs supplementing with tips...go get a better job.

Plenty of people out there doing jobs that dont get tips yet provide more service that that 14 year old lass down the local Hungry Horse thats being forced to work by her parents as the school holidays.

[Animal is a Ram]

Miserable barstewards get nothing.

If I feel they've contributed to the overall dining experience positively, then I will tip 'em. People deserve recognition when they do their job well.

[rezner]

No tips from me. I never get a tip for making a good product at work. 

 

Is this all an american thing again. Can we get over this wanting to be american thing. (no offence AR) But what with Halloween , Proms  and now tipping ffs, we're English we queue and talk about weather. 

 

 

[Wolfie]

I don't understand tipping, you're basically giving them extra money for the job they are paid to do. Say you go to a restaurant, tip by card and the business can pocket it, tip the waiter/ess that comes to take payment, they can pocket it and it may not be the same waiter/ess that served you all night, and what about the chef in the back that made the food? 

I would agree but the problem is that service staff pay is effectively artificially low because the employers take the tips into account. Most establishments pool tips between all service staff. The tip is for service, not for the food the chef has made. I know many may differ here but I would still tip if the food wasn't great but the service was. I probably wouldn't go back, though.

Same with take away delivery, all that kid does is sit there, jump in the car and bring the food to your door, how come he gets to pocket the tip and not the people cooking the food?

Because she is a very nice lady & I look forward to my Friday chinese all week.

Hairdressers expect tips, shouldn't they give you a decent haircut anyway, isn't that what they are there for? or are you tipping for the conversation that makes a 10 minute trim into an hour ordeal? I'd prefer the silent and quick trim to be honest, I don't need to pay for conversations.....yet.

Taxi drivers the same, without boring on they are doing their job, they actually get to pick their hours so when they work over bank holidays, Xmas, new year so I like to think all the tips through out the year are given when they charge double fares and you're having to wait an hour for one. 

I cut my own hair and would only tip a taxi driver if he/she came on time and the car was clean and didn't stink of fags or worse.

[SaintRam]

Did some research.

Tipping or to give a T.I.P originated in 17th Century English taverns, apparently.

T.I.P stands for "to insure promptitude" - I don't know when it developed into paying for service after you're finished with the service. Makes a lot of sense if it's essentially a tiny bribe to get better service than everyone else.

I do tip for good service, but not because I feel it's deserved, because it's the norm. I also spend a lot of time around Americans where waiters will chase you down the street if you 'forget' to tip without good reason.

[Wolfie]

I should have added at the beginning that I utterly hate the automatically added service charge on bills.

[SaintRam]

Also worth noting I've been to a few high class restaurants that have a strict no-tipping policy. Because they pay their service staff a lot more, and expect a consistently good job to be done regardless. 

[Wolfie]

No tips from me. I never get a tip for making a good product at work. 

 

Is this all an american thing again. Can we get over this wanting to be american thing. (no offence AR) But what with Halloween , Proms  and now tipping ffs, we're English we queue and talk about weather. 

 

 

Agree on the Halloween and F****ing prom thing but tipping has been around since before there was a USA.

It really is a different scale over there though. My American father in law tips for virtually everything. Every time he buys a drink in a bar, he gives a $1- $2 tip. Waaaay over the top.

[Day]

Also worth noting I've been to a few high class restaurants that have a strict no-tipping policy. Because they pay their service staff a lot more, and expect a consistently good job to be done regardless. 

That will be the restaurants I go to 

[WorksopRam]

I work as a lowly barman/waiter in a hotel. I don't take it as a given but it's surprising how many people don't tip, even when everything seems first rate. 

Thought it was a local thing until I read this thread and realised that there's more tight people around than I suspected. 

[Thierry Ennui]

Im with Daveo. If the pay is so poor it needs supplementing with tips...go get a better job.

Ridiculous attitude.

[Day]

Is it the customers that are probably paying more for drinks as it's a hotel rather than a pub being tight or the owners of the hotel making a shed load of money not paying it's staff enough?

[WorksopRam]

Is it the customers that are probably paying more for drinks as it's a hotel rather than a pub being tight or the owners of the hotel making a shed load of money not paying it's staff enough?

The first one. Definitely the first one. 

[Ashz09]

I've never tipped never will. When I went London for work and the taxi was asking for 5-20% tip I think I was like wtf.

 

 

[Bris Vegas]

Living over this way it's standard to tip, and especially in Mexico as the pay is dire for most service jobs considering.

I always give around 10-15%, and I'm happy to do so. Any tip I give gets thrown into the tip jar which is then handed out accordingly, between waiter/chef/table cleaner whoever.

In England I guess it's a different story with the culture and what not, and I can understand why some may not be inclined to tip if the product is expensive anyway.

But it's different here. I'm paying the equivalent of four pounds for a decent meal, and that extra one pound tip for someone is the same as two bus journeys and a bottle of water - important stuff!