You're a cheap bastard if you don't add 20% to any service provided by a human
 

http://finance.sympatico.msn.ca/savi...mentid=5265655

According to this article, 20% is the new 15%.

I think the whole tipping culture has gotten way out of hand.

The fucking kids at Wendy's have a tip jar at the drive thru window now. People expect me to tip for a cup of coffee and every other damn thing I buy.

Wait staff, bartenders, and skycaps, sure they deserve tips, they live on them, but most of these other people can kiss my ass.

People at the drive thru can kiss my ass. They ain't gettin a tip.

http://blogs.suntimes.com/scanners/pinkrd.jpg
I don't believe in it.

Contact Wendy's, McDonalds, TGF and all the other restaurants who skimp on paying their staff and tell em there is a thing called a wage bill and it starts at $7 something. Alternatively, don't eat in these places.

Always thought it is absurb to load an elephant on to a plate and give customers and intro to obesity and then have the balls to expect customers to tip staff because they don't pay them a living wage.

Can't say for all countries, but most have an option of tipping and sometimes added to the bill - but it's not an automatic 20-30%, more like 10%. But... the difference is they pay their staff and the tip is optional for decent service - and got no problems with a tip - but is not a replacement for the friggin wage bill and letting cheapo restaurant chains off the hook.

Priceless. :1orglaugh:1orglaugh

I was in an Applebee's with some friends recently, it was me, my wife and my son, and another couple and their two kids. We took up two tables and each family got a separate check.

The waitress (or manager) decided we were a "large party" despite the fact that we were getting separate bills, and they added a 20% gratuity to both of our checks.
The worst part was the service absolutely sucked. Our waitress was MIA 90% of the time we were there.

My mother was a waitress, and I understand that large parties are the worst because everyone thinks that everyone else is going to get the tip and alot of times the waitress gets crap, so they add the tip automatically.
But if they're going to do that, make it the standard 15%....don't force me to overtip just because a bunch of us decided to eat in your establishment.

Also, I think that when you're in a big party the wait staff don't give a fuck about you because you're forced to tip them so you get really shitty service.

Funny :winkwink: So a "large party" now qualifies for an extra fee??? Damn.. they should be giving a discount for a large party!

Applebees is classic - they pay their staff peanuts and the true cost of food, servers et al is not that published on menu. The sales pitch is load the plates with excessive food to show "value" - then skip paying the staff and letting customers pay their wage bill.

where I live (Denmark) I never tip, only if the service is REAL good, or the girl that served me is HOT :) and thats just the way it is over all of Denmark

Applebees (US) is pretty good despite they never heard of a wage bill and the volume of food is more than in the EU (tho really an overkill) and even if you do tip higher, it's still less than EU restaurant prices. Kinda like em cos they get a stock of my fav booze and keep it aside - unusual for a "chain restaurant".

You have some really shit hot fish restaurants in Denmark - love em!! *lol*

20% added to the bill without your consent? is that even fuckin' legal?

I tip waitresses and waiters. 'Drive thru' wankers are NOT that.

Nope, there was a case on the news when a restaurant owner called the cops on a family who refused to pay that tip, the restaurant lost because it's the customers decision.

Tipped employee" means an employee who customarily and regularly receives more than $30 a month in tips.

Tip offset.

Tip offset is the amount of money by which an employer, in meeting the legal minimum wage standard, may reduce a tipped employee's wage in consideration of the receipt of tips. The Small Business Job Protection Act of 1996 requires a fixed dollar tip offset. A minimum cash amount of $2.13 per hour should be paid to tipped employees. If tips actually received are not sufficient, when added to $2.13, to total the minimum wage of $4.75 (as of October 1, 1996) or $5.15 (as of September 1, 1997), the employer must also pay the additional difference to the tipped employee.

Starbucks, Wendy's and the other tip jars that pop up all over the place can bite me. Their base wage is triple that of any US server.

I tip well, if the service is worth it. Most of the time, in places we eat and drink regular, it's good because they know we tip well. When it's not I tip accordingly. Places that add it as part of the bill can. :321GFY

Add it as part of the price and pay the staff a decent wage. :321GFY

What does piss me off is the training most staff get. My first job was trainee chef in a London hotel, the waiters and waitresses were always looking around the room to see if anyone needed them. Today you have to send up a distress flare to get service. In these cases they can get an earful if the % is added.

If there is table service, I tip well, because they aren't guaranteed shit. There's a small Mexican restaurant within walking distance of my house, I went there last week with a friend, my bill was $11.00 and change, I leave him $15.00. Service was good. Since I do that somewhat regularly, they take good care of me and remember me. As far as fast food workers, I have never seen that. At a local bagel shop, there is one on the counter........if I ask them to slice them for me I'll throw at least a dollar in there. Other than that I couldn't understand doing it.

i made awesome money when i was a waiter/bartender

Tipping at the drive through? That has never crossed my mind.

:1orglaugh :1orglaugh

Beat me to it :thumbsup

Try the Westin Diplomat during Internext.

I'm quite sure that it is CLEARLY stated on the menu at the very bottom.

The problem is that most people are illiterate :helpme

If it is NOT clearly stated on the menu or on the door, then you obviously do NOT have to pay :2 cents:

loving great food and nice hotels, tipping isn't something that i take lightly. its awkward and uncomfortable and you almost always feel that you're not sure whats appropriate and always reluctant and uncertain when you know they barely made an effort.

i tip for service. period. end of story. great service.... great tip. poor service... no tip. i don't feel i owe someone money just because they managed to simply show up to work. i'm not their employer. my contract with the restaurant, hotel etc is that i come in, sit down, choose from the menu and pay for it. anything beyond that was not part of the deal and is something done out of kindness and appreciation for someone who made the experience better.

i definately don't appreciate someone who feels that i owe them money by default, regardless of whether or not they provided great service or not.

Next time you get your car washed and detailed.. toss the mexican doing it an extra $5.

So next time I pay a contract hitter $15k to do a job I have to throw in an extra $3k as a tip? :Oh crap

Well only if he's good enough to receive the fatality bonus :1orglaugh

me too :1orglaugh

Mandatory tipping is utter bullshit. Tipping is for service that is beyond what is expected. You don't get a tip for doing your fucking job.

Agreed. Tips shouldn't be mandatory or included in a wage/price. That's fucking things up, for all the reasons posted in this thread.

I do tip well for good service and a good attitude.:pimp

A lot of the places I go to add the tip if you get more than one check.

What do you expect from someone making $3 an hour? Lets hope you dont dine at the same place more than once :thumbsup :1orglaugh

That's fine, like I said I understand the wait staff does get stiffed alot with big parties.

HOWEVER that doesn't mean we should be forced to OVERTIP at 20%. That's the part that pissed me off.

i wonder if any waiters really report the tips they get yearly lol

a waiter can probably do 10 tables an hour, even if everyone leaves only a buck, that's $13/hr, which isn't that bad for a job requiring basically no skill...

They're required to report 8% of their sales as tip income.

As for skycaps and bellhops and taxi drivers etc, I have no idea, but I would say 99% of them grossly underreport their tips.

I hate the suggestions on tips, but I really hate the places that just TAKE the tip by including it into the price.

If I get a really bad waiter / bad service, I am NOT tipping as much as I would with someone who had my next drink ready as I finished the current one.

another article on tipping
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com...seTipJars.aspx

same here.

nice reference - 20% is a lot - if you can afford to give it away like this go ahead - you're a nice guy