Why do we tip for service?

[Torched]

Originally posted by: Stefan
This isn't a discussion about how much to tip.

We tip waitresses, bartenders and food delivery people money. If some service man comes to do an install or check / repairing something, we often offer food/drinks

Why do we tip only certain professions and not everyone? Why not tip the firefighter who just saved your house or your spouse?

I'm curious to know where the standard came from?

If they took away tipping the cost of food would be alot higher. Tipping usually pays for the salaries of waiters/bus boys/dishwashers/etc. Most of the jobs mentioned get paid below minimum wage because of the amount of tip they recieve.

This system was most likely made by a smart entrepenuer who wanted to pay his employees on a performance basis i.e. you don't serve the table well you won't make a good paycheck this week. I think the overall idea has been around much longer. Probably since the days of the feudal system. Wher a rich mans workers were tipped for carrying out small tasks.

 

[vital]

tipping is only a practice in the United States

 

[chcarnage]

Originally posted by: vital
tipping is only a practice in the United States

No

 

[S Freud]

I believe in tipping if they do a good job, its sort of a thank you for a good job, i generally don't tip the delivery guy as much as I would someone who waited on me my whole meal. I have even heard of people tipping their landlord when they take care of things, makes them remember you and remember what they got for a good job last time.

 

[blurredvision]

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: miri

Originally posted by: Stefan
This isn't a discussion about how much to tip.

We tip waitresses, bartenders and food delivery people money. If some service man comes to do an install or check / repairing something, we often offer food/drinks

Why do we tip only certain professions and not everyone? Why not tip the firefighter who just saved your house or your spouse?

I'm curious to know where the standard came from?

Because of cheap restaurants that dont want to pay their servers and bussers more than $2.13 a hour and make them rely on tips. I doubt your repair man makes $2.13 a hour.

Utter nonsense.

I have explained why the tipping system remains for wait staff.

Compare the service in a no-tip service oriented field compared to the service in a tip oriented field and you'll find, on average, the service when tipping is MUCH better.

Who treats you better? Your local best buy employee, or waiter? Your local McDonalds employee, or the waiter at your fav full service restaurant?

With no tips, the server merely seeks to increase sales and impress their boss. With tipping as their main source of income, the server now does everything they can to please YOU, because YOU are responsible for their income.

As for "too cheap..." Ban tipping and the extra cost of their pay will merely be rolled into the cost of your meal, PLUS matching taxes. Ban tipping and meals will cost MORE for LESS service.

Well Amused, if no one else will quote you for truth, I will. Amused hit the nail on the head here. If this isn't why it started, it's why tipping is still customary today. I personally hate tipping because it feels like extra money that I shouldn't have to pay, but I understand it needs to be done.

 

[Ready]

I think people over tip nowadays. It use to be 10% standard. Now the more widely accepted number seems to be 15%. In large parties or takeouts, some places add an additional graduity charge of 17% which to me is basically tip. To say that standard tip should be 17% is fvcking rediculous. During a office group lunch a group of 20 spent an hour at a decent restaurant and we spent about $300 total. That means the waitress who carried food for 20 people during that one hour time spam made $45/hour which is more money than what any of us made who sat at that table.
Even 15% is waaaay too fvcking much for a job that doesn't require a high school education. In a typical family restaurant, a family will probably spend around $80 for a meal. Dinner for a date will probably run at least $50, and at 15% tip that would be $7.50. I typical waitress or waiter serves at least 4 tables/hour which puts their untraceable tax earning to like $30/hour. Why has the tip rate grown over the years? Personally I think its because men always try to act generous by tipping at the upper level during a date.

 

[davidjaii]

as a part time waiter, tipping is 50% of my income. Sometimes people don't tip because of slow service, bad food (which has nothing to do with the server) , cost of entire meal was more than expected (also not our fault). If you have a tight budget, its understandable, but i just hate when people don't tip and drive off in their lexus.

 

[eflat]

Originally posted by: Stefan
This isn't a discussion about how much to tip.

We tip waitresses, bartenders and food delivery people money. If some service man comes to do an install or check / repairing something, we often offer food/drinks

Why do we tip only certain professions and not everyone? Why not tip the firefighter who just saved your house or your spouse?

I'm curious to know where the standard came from?

Because we are dumb

 

[davidjaii]

Originally posted by: Ready
I think people over tip nowadays. It use to be 10% standard. Now the more widely accepted number seems to be 15%. In large parties or takeouts, some places add an additional graduity charge of 17% which to me is basically tip. To say that standard tip should be 17% is fvcking rediculous. During a office group lunch a group of 20 spent an hour at a decent restaurant and we spent about $300 total. That means the waitress who carried food for 20 people during that one hour time spam made $45/hour which is more money than what any of us made who sat at that table.
Even 15% is waaaay too fvcking much for a job that doesn't require a high school education. In a typical family restaurant, a family will probably spend around $80 for a meal. Dinner for a date will probably run at least $50, and at 15% tip that would be $7.50. I typical waitress or waiter serves at least 4 tables/hour which puts their untraceable tax earning to like $30/hour. Why has the tip rate grown over the years? Personally I think its because men always try to act generous by tipping at the upper level during a date.

Your saying it like every customer tips 10%-15% regularly, I would say 60% of customers tip less than 10%.

edit: well, thats where i work at, maybe people do tip regularly at fine dining restaurants

 

[Mik3y]

tipping sux. i dont care how they bring me my food or what service they give me. i just want to eat and go. done.

 

[davidjaii]

Originally posted by: Mik3y
tipping sux. i dont care how they bring me my food or what service they give me. i just want to eat and go. done.

thats why we love it when you buy for takeout.

 

[Aquaman]

I double the tax for the tip (14% total, 7% tax). Be glad your not going out to eat in Sweden........ they have 25% VAT (Value Added Tax) on all restaurant meals :Q

Cheers,
Aquaman

 

[nageov3t]

I tip because the restaurants I go to, I tend to go to frequently.

large tips = wait staff knows me = more likely to make concessions for me and whoever I'm with like seating us before customers who came in before us or giving us better tables. I find that they're also a lot more likely to make damn sure that my food is prepared as requested

 

[MagicConch]

Originally posted by: davidjaii
as a part time waiter, tipping is 50% of my income. Sometimes people don't tip because of slow service, bad food (which has nothing to do with the server) , cost of entire meal was more than expected (also not our fault). If you have a tight budget, its understandable, but i just hate when people don't tip and drive off in their lexus.

your frustration makes sens. on the flip side though, when the food is really good, good value, etc they reward you instead of the cook, owner, etc. some places they do tip-sharing to even some of this out I've heard.

 

[mattocs]

Do I have to leave a tip at a buffet?

 

[Ready]

Originally posted by: davidjaii

Originally posted by: Ready
I think people over tip nowadays. It use to be 10% standard. Now the more widely accepted number seems to be 15%. In large parties or takeouts, some places add an additional graduity charge of 17% which to me is basically tip. To say that standard tip should be 17% is fvcking rediculous. During a office group lunch a group of 20 spent an hour at a decent restaurant and we spent about $300 total. That means the waitress who carried food for 20 people during that one hour time spam made $45/hour which is more money than what any of us made who sat at that table.
Even 15% is waaaay too fvcking much for a job that doesn't require a high school education. In a typical family restaurant, a family will probably spend around $80 for a meal. Dinner for a date will probably run at least $50, and at 15% tip that would be $7.50. I typical waitress or waiter serves at least 4 tables/hour which puts their untraceable tax earning to like $30/hour. Why has the tip rate grown over the years? Personally I think its because men always try to act generous by tipping at the upper level during a date.

Your saying it like every customer tips 10%-15% regularly, I would say 60% of customers tip less than 10%.

edit: well, thats where i work at, maybe people do tip regularly at fine dining restaurants

I dunno, here in S. california I rarely see people tip under 10%. When a group of engineers go eat from work, and we are stingy people, we usually use 15% if they don't auto tack in the gratuity.

 

[davidjaii]

well its not everyday we get a group of engineers for lunch or dinner. Usually its an average couple or family that don't make over 60k a year

 

[Sunner]

I'm with Mr Pink, though maybe not quite as harsh.
If the waiter/ess puts forth the effort, as in acting nice and not taking too much time to see that my glass is empty or near empty, I'll tip.
Sometimes you get asshat waters that make you think you ran over their dog at some point, those dicks can forget about their damn tip.

 

[shud]

It's a way for the business to pass on cost to the customer. That's why I hate tipping and usually don't give more than $1 or $2 unless it was ridiculous service and I was groped.

 

[mobobuff]

Because the quality of the service depends primarily on the motivation of the provider to give good service. The tipping system helps to avoid very crappy service.

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: shud
It's a way for the business to pass on cost to the customer. That's why I hate tipping and usually don't give more than $1 or $2 unless it was ridiculous service and I was groped.

The cost would be passed on to you REGARDLESS. In fact, with tipping, you make out cheaper because if the restaurant had to pay a full wage, they would have to match taxes on it.

Tipping is CHEAPER for you, AND provides better service.

I suggest you reconsider your stance and stop basically stiffing the wait staff.

 

[tami]

Originally posted by: ScottSwingleComputers
Waiting for Nik to show up

what's nik gonna say? take it to "forum issues?" :roll:

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: Sunner
I'm with Mr Pink, though maybe not quite as harsh.
If the waiter/ess puts forth the effort, as in acting nice and not taking too much time to see that my glass is empty or near empty, I'll tip.
Sometimes you get asshat waters that make you think you ran over their dog at some point, those dicks can forget about their damn tip.

That's not Mr Pink's stance. He opposed tipping for nearly all service, even if acceptable.

Your stance is actually the correct one. Tip goood for outstanding service, average for acceptable service, and low to none for poor service.

That's the incentive for waiters to provide good service and personalize your experience.

 

[shud]

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: shud
It's a way for the business to pass on cost to the customer. That's why I hate tipping and usually don't give more than $1 or $2 unless it was ridiculous service and I was groped.

The cost would be passed on to you REGARDLESS. In fact, with tipping, you make out cheaper because if the restaurant had to pay a full wage, they would have to match taxes on it.

Tipping is CHEAPER for you, AND provides better service.

I suggest you reconsider your stance and stop basically stiffing the wait staff.

You suggest? Are you going to spank me if I don't tip the pizza guy or the dude at Ruby Tuesday $5?

 

[mobobuff]

Yep. I always tip and the amount is heavily weighted by the quality of the service. I think the least I've ever tipped for a ~$25 meal was 50 cents, and the most $20. Average is usually 20-30%.