^ sounds fair
Remember that in restaurants, tips are often shared by the server and the bus staff and the cooks. Yeah, it seems frustrating to hand people an extra 15% for not getting your order wrong and bringing the food from the kitchen to your table without dropping it, but remember that the guys who are in the kitchen, who are washing your table, the floors, the bathrooms, and such are also getting a share of that tip.
The argument about how that should be included in the price, and that the restaurant shouldn’t be strangling their staff financially and then asking them to go shake down the customers for more: that’s a better counterargument to tipping. In most parts of the world, tips are just included on the bill and it’s difficult and/or awkward not to pay them, even when service is bad. That’s a view of what you get if you don’t put tipipng on the restaurant bill as something for the customer to do.
The stranger thing is that if 15% is the standard for wait staff, what about all the other people who are asking for tips. Is 15% right for a taxi driver? A masseuse? A bartender who simply pours a beer and hands it to you. Each of these people are putting in way different amounts of service, yet they each get similar tips?
My dad once said “a tip should be the cost of a drink.” This was in the context of someone like a bellhop who carries your luggage. The idea is that he carried your luggage for you, and you’re treating him to a drink in return. It doesn’t hold for all situations, but I do like having that idea as a kind of benchmark for what tips are about.
I was taking a cab to the airport and here we have flat rate zones to/from the airport, so its the lower of the meter or flat rate. So I hop in the cab and the guy hits the “extra” button and adds like 2-3 bucks for no apparent reason and we’re off. Get to the airport and the fare is like $59 or something. The zone rate is $55. So he looks at me and says “It $59.” Uhh bro, no its not. The zone map on your window says $55. His response, “well give me $55 then”. I should have low balled him. A*& clown.
Edit: I really don’t like the tipping expectation for all sorts of stuff. Like my haircut. My barber used to charge $12 up until a few months ago then they jacked it to $16 with no change in service. So I would often just give the guy $15 and tell him to keep the change. Now I just give him $16.
I’m pretty sure that tipping culture makes people spend more on services, since a $23 bill, which includes tip, shows up on the menu as a $20 bill. It’s the same with sales tax being added on top of the sticker price. Many other countries charge sales tax, but this additional cost is included in sticker prices. I’m sure that retail, restaurant, and other industry groups would have a huge problem with us switching to an explicit cost system.
Double the first digit and write that down.
Are you advocating less than a two percent tip or do you never pick up the tab?
Uh. Doubling a 5X.XX dollar bill would give you a $10 tip. Now that’s 20% if it’s 50.00 flat, but more 17% if it’s 59.99. My bills don’t usually come to $100+. Dinner for twos at okay spots.
Yes, and remember you should also consider whether the server is a head of household, how many children he or she has, and if health issues are being dealt with at the time. Competition and the price of substitutes should not be the determining factor. Markets work better when the consumer decides individually what the cost of good and services “should” be based on their personal perceptions of where the money goes and their ideas of fairness.
Ahh…thanks for the arithmetic lesson. I struggle with that sometimes. Just my poor attempt at illustrating a framing error/assumption.
Cab drivers are the worst. My first time in Vegas, the meter read $40 for a ride from the airport to the strip. I was told later on that it shouldn’t be more than $20.
lol i was about to say…u got screwed.
so whats the consensus for nyc taxis? or do all you BSDs get car service?
For NYC taxis, the rule of thumb used to be that anything under $20 you tip the change plus $1, anything in the $20s you tip $2 plus the change, $30s you tip $3 plus the change, etc.
However, with the new tv/payment system all the taxis now have now installed, I always just hit the automatic 20% tip because it’s quicker.
I tip 20% on after tax bill at restaurants for anything above average service. Even if the service is crap I wont go lower than 15%. Everyone can have a bad day… I give them the benefit of the doubt.
If I am ordering bottled wine I subtract the cost of the bottle from the after tax total and tip 20%. They are already pumping me with a >100% markup on the bottle, so the somelier can kiss it. (Unless they make some way out there recommendation for something amazing at an unbeliveable price that I would have never picked… then I might let the cost of the bottle slide when calculating tip)
As they usually make less (just for the price of food) I tip breakfast servers a lot more. (This is at my local diner, and not at Pershing Square where my omelet and side of sausage is $30). A diner breakfast is typically < $10 (in Jersey at least) and I won’t punish them with $2 just because they got the shit shift. I’ll give a 5. The server usually works twice as much anyway, as I normally mainline coffee.
NYC Cabs: Agree with King Kong. 1, 2, or 3 depending on fare.
Depends on the situation and place, but I usually do 20% for everything just to make it easy. I’m sure I overpay by a few bucks at times, but it probably means more to the service-provider than me anyway. I try to be frugal with most things, but I don’t want to be seen as cheap.
I also like to tip bartenders (especially female bartenders) before I start drinking. If I know I’m going to be there a while with friends and likely spend some money, I’ll slip them a $20 at the start to make sure they keep coming back to us (which is another bonus if they happen to be an attractive female).
Tipping at the start of the drinking is an interesting idea, I’ve never considered that before.
Typically I tip 20% on most every meal, though I agree for cheaper meals (which often times means breakfast) I’ll tip more.
I think probably the lowest I could go even with atrocious service is 10%, otherwise it would stick with me…Unless the server is actively trying to ruin my experience.
edit: One of the most popular restaurants in my college town actually did away with tipping and raised prices on the food and drink. Interestingly enough the place probably does 50/50 bar to restaurant business…I feel like I’d be upset if I was a bartender and not working for tips.
I’m an adovocate for 20% before tax.
Seems like 20% is the new 15%.
For restaurants: 18% pre-tax for normal service; 20-25% for exemplary
For hot chicks on the first night: “Just the tip…”
Where I live, the sales tax is 15%, so I tip 15% as it’s easy to figure out.