The Top 40

Giimmee gimmee gimmee! WHO are your people to decide what I should pay, if anything basd on my meal choice? What is your tipping standard for McD drive through?

WHATEVER happened to the idea of a gratuity? You know, something given out of gratitude, not because of socialist PC tyrants whining? And, it was 10% to begin with...

Want more money - get a better job, or work at two jobs Stop the whining. I ain't your sugar daddy - your foolish, unwarranted expectations will not be met.

I'm reminded of the "bartender" who upon delivery of two cans of beer DEMANDED - LOUDLY - "HIS" DAMN TIP! Jerks like that only further encourage non-tipping.

Have a nice day!

I'm not in the habit of paying more than the listed price. People that do are retarded.

I posted this at Matt's site.

"Oh man, this is a hot topic for me. Just for the record, I do tip; social pressure and all that. None the less, I think the concept is wrong.
When you take a job, any job, there’s an implied contract between you and the employer that you will give 100% effort in return for the wages and conditions being offered. Not 90%; 100%. If the wages or conditions are not acceptable to you, don’t take the job. Take your services someplace else. This means your customers should not have to pay you extra to get you to do the job you were hired to do in the first place. Oh, but you say, the service industry is such shitty, low paying work so these people deserve the extra money. Please, cry me a river. There are a lot of shitty, low paying jobs in the country that do not pay tips simply because the employee does not interface with the public. So, what makes service industry employees so special? Nothing. It’s just that the industry, especially the restaurant owners, have been really good at guilt tripping people into ponying up more money so that they can continue to pay their employees shitty wages. Like I said before, if you’re not making enough money where you’re at, regardless of the industry, go someplace else.
When I was growing up the standard tip was 10%, period. There was no 15% tipping that I ever heard of. Then it inched up to 15%. Now you’re saying it’s 20%? Minimum?? Really? So in 20 years it’ll be, what, 30 or 35%? This is nuts. I really hate to turn to the Chinese as social models but on this practice they’re got it right. Tipping is not allowed in China. You’ll see signs in restaurants often times that tell you not to try to tip the service as it’s not allowed. It’s actually illegal.
When I do tip I calculate 10, then 20% in my head and pick a point roughly in between. I ain’t going to 20% though – ain’t gonna happen. This crap has gone far enough."

Here in the People's Socialist Republic of Vermont the Allseeing State adds 10 percent to the bill in the form of a rooms and meals tax. That makes dining out all that much more fun. This even extends to deli counter sandwiches.

The folks in the Big Metro Area complain when the Canadian Touri$t$ don't tip. They are not in the habit of doing so because the wait staff in La Belle Canada are paid a regular wage and do not work for tips.

One thing to keep in mind when considering how much of a tip to leave is that waiters and waitresses are--by law--exempt from minimum wage standards, whereas staff at fast food places are not. So the pimply-faced teenager screwing up your order behind the register at Mickey D's may actually have a higher base pay than the 30-something divorced mom with 2 kids and no marketable skills who's holding down a morning job at IHOP and an evening one at Applebee's, and for whom a better-paying job may not be an option. If I get good service, I'm willing to reward it.

I am a fairly generous tipper, too. Yesterday, in fact, my wife and I ate lunch out. The bill was $18 and some change plus tax. I left $24 cash in the bill wallet and we walked out. Comes to just under 30 pct tip. (The reason it was $24 was I had no fives or tens on me, just four twenties and four ones. I hate to wait for change at a restaurant. If I had had a five, I'd have left it and a twenty and departed.)

(Also, we learned the hard way never to pay for anything with a card when you lose actual, physical possession of the card, which is what always happens in a restaurant. So we never, never, never pay with a card in a restaurant. Cash only. Take my advice not before you learn the hard way, too.)

This is one of those topics where comments fall into two categories. There are the braggers whose comments proclaim their righteousness from the mountain top. Then there are the justifiers whose comments justify their anti-social behavior. I think my comment may fall into both categories.

First, because I'm a Christian I pray before my meal. Since most servers are young and probably have never seen the inside of a church, I always tip well to set an example at 20% (mainly because it is easier for me to calculate 10% and double it in my head). If the service is good, I tip over 25%. If the service is great, I tip over 25% and in cash to the server. As one commenter noted, tips that go through the register get redistributed. While I'm not against the redistribution, I leave it up to my great servers to decide how they want to redistribute.

Another thing about tipping, Dr. Thomas Stanley wrote several books on the behavior of millionaires and he makes it clear that rich people tip well. They tip well not because they have millions, rather they tip well because the psychological impact of charitable giving enables them to become millionaires. Stanley's research showed that money flows toward individuals who don't hoard it.

Incidentally, Stanley also highlights that Americans are the most charitable people on the planet. And, Christians are the most charitable of all Americans.

How many of you tip on a bill total that contains tax and alcohol? What do these adds have to do with the waitbot? If you're going to tip tip just for the meal cost.

Tipping? It depends. Has my meal been sitting there for 15 minutes while the waitstaff chatters amongst themselves about whatever? No tip. No drink refills offered until I ask for the check? No tip. Bad food? That's on the cooking staff, not the waitstaff. I tip, and I mention to the management that there is a problem in the kitchen.

Maybe it's different where you live, but when you eat out you pay for the meal, and the state and local sales taxes, and the hotel and dining tax, and a special alcoholic beverage tax (not much of a factor now, what with MADD driving the impaired driving standards so low that smelling the drink served to the next table might mean you get a ticket) so by the time you tip 15% or 20% you've paid a 50+% premium.

So we don't eat out, not much anymore. I doubt that we're missed.