To those who live in or who have visited the United States.
Growing up in the 90’s, the “minimum acceptable” tip was 10%, average was 15%, and a good tip was 20%. These days, I just round to the nearest dollar and tip 20%, but I’ve heard these days it’s not unusual to tip up to 40%!
What do you usually do?
20 standard
15 should be standard. Menu prices are raising, why should tip raise roo?
Because all their living expenses also increased
…yes. do you miss the fact that menu prices going up means the tip is going up even at the same percentage?
Sounded like you were saying decrease tip % on account of price %. What you wrote is ambiguous I see. Could also be interpreted as “I tip 15% now and the tip percent should not increase.”
Yes… I tip 15% now and tip percentage shouldn’t increase. That doesn’t mean I tipped 20% in the past
20’s been standard for me for like 20 years
I typically calculate a 20% tip and then round up. For demographic purposes, I’m a millennial in the US.
I have generally tipped at least 20%. But tipped workers in my state just fought to keep their sub-minimum wage, because republicans convinced them that people would stop tipping if they were paid more. Tipped minimum wage was going up to $6, but now it’s only going up to $4.74. I’ve been tipping too much, and will bring it back down to max 15%.
I don’t live in the US but I tip around 20%, sometimes more or less depending. Tbh I’m never sure what tipping etiquette is supposed to be here, but if it’s obvious how much the worker is getting (eg ride shares or food delivery where you can see the delivery fee), I tip them how much I think is reasonable to be paid for that job, which is usually quite a bit more than I’m charged for the service. And ofc not all of the initial charge goes to the worker anyway.
but I’ve heard these days it’s not unusual to tip up to 40%!
That seems pretty unusual to me.
I normally tip 20%.
I’m usually 25 and round up. Probably closer to 30.
Generally keep a baseline 20% unless service is either outstanding or abysmal.
But if your owner decides that they’re gonna nickel-and-dime service fee me on the tab and indicate it poorly, I’m probably not going to come back to the restaurant in question.
Nothing, I live in a country where it’s the employer’s responsibility to pay their staff a livable wage.
In us states with no tipped minimum wage (such as Oregon), we still tip 20%
15 pct is what I do now on average. No tip for takeout.
I did round up a few times. It seems strange to base the tip off a percentage.
I avoid restaurants that require tipping. When I do have to tip, I give way too much if the service was good. IMO, good service is to not try to talk to me too much, and to be responsive to what I need done (refilling drinks, taking additional requests). Bonus tip if I know they’re overworked and handling it well.
15% floor. Throw an additional $10 sometimes. Always direct to the worker because these places steal tips. Also I tip cooks sometimes.
But I avoid going to these restaurants.
brazilian restaurants tipically charge a 10% optional service tax, it’s up to you to give it or not. my problem with it is that we don’t know if it goes to the waiter or the owner cashes it to its pocket.
Typically somewhere between 15-20%. I do a rough mental calculation figuring out 10% by moving the decimal, then either double that or figure out what half of that is and roughly add that amount to the 10% amount, then go with a nice roundish number (to the nearest quarter) in that range. Usually a little higher than my rough estimate for 15% if I’m on that low end just so my rough math doesn’t inadvertently shortchange the server.
I make my calculation based on the total with tax included. I know some people go on the pretax amount.
BONUS: If I’m doing a delivery service like DoorDash, I look up my distance to the restaurant and make sure the tip is always at least equal to the mileage. I used to drive for them and $1/mile was always my minimum. DoorDash at least would typically only kick in $2/delivery, unless there were bonus promos. Since the driver might not be at the restaurant I figure that’s probably enough to get them to the restaurant, then the tip will get them from there to me. Actually, at home my house is several miles from any restaurants, so I usually go $4 above that to make sure the driver doesn’t lose money getting back to civilization. If I’m at a hotel close to restaurants I won’t necessarily do that. If it’s something where I’d like to try to get the best service I’ll go higher; they typically offer the highest pay orders to their top rated drivers first.
Nothing I live in Australia
They’re trying to make it a thing here. I refuse to participate.
I’m paying for a menu that has your decent wage built in already, I’m not gifting free money on top for just… doing your job?
Also wtf servers in places that do tip… you turn my words in to an entry in a tablet (or perhaps a piece of paper), then carry the food that other people created / prepared / transported / cooked all of 30 steps from the kitchen to my table and expect 20% of the bill? Insanity.
20% for excellent service.
It goes down from there. Yes zero tip is acceptable if the service sucked. If I ordered medium rare steak and I get well done steak. I normally won’t deduct that from the tip since that is a hard one for the server to see. But if it’s something they could have seen and didn’t fix, yeah I’m probably reducing the tip.
The tip is for service above and beyond, not a required part of the bill.
If my food sucks and the service was good, I tip them specifically in cash and tell them not to mention it, so it looks like I didn’t tip to the restaurant but it doesn’t screw the wait staff. It also makes the restaurant pay just a tiny bit more in payroll.
Pretty much what I also do
Usually 20-25% unless the service is inexcusably bad (like 1-5% of the time, and even then I’ll tip like 15%). I’ll typically approximate 20% and round up to the nearest dollar, then maybe add a dollar or two. I remember 15% being standard with it being acceptable to go down to 10 or up to 20; 18% was sorta my standard at the time, and I’d only go as low as 15%. I’ve only ever asked to speak to a manager three times that I can remember, and both times were due to what the kitchen sent out to me. I still tipped fully to the server since it wasn’t their fault. I was a chef for years, so I know how stressful it gets back there, but there’s still no excuse for the dishes I’ve sent back. There’s usually an offer to cook something else, but if I’m sending food back it’s because I don’t trust the kitchen to send out food that won’t give me food poisoning.
Tipped minimum wage here (and therefore all tipped wage) is $2.17/hour. I believe that these businesses should be forced to pay proper wages, but stiffing your server doesn’t achieve that. These people are on their feet running around for hours and they usually don’t have enough support or leadership to do their job as well as they’d like to, and then they’re too exhausted and broke to study or work to break into another industry. We’re gonna have a lot of 30-50 year old servers living paycheck to paycheck until their knees and back give out. I’m down with tipping an extra couple bucks so they can get some Dr Scholl’s.
I always tip 20%, more for exceptional service. I’ve worked as a cook for about 15 years, at various places from dive bars to fine dining. At some places the servers and bartenders make insane money, often more than the chef who is usually on salary and not eligible for tips. But at a lot of places, the servers barely make ends meet and live not only check to check, but hand to mouth, week to week depending on the business. I never assume anyone is making bank so I tip well as a professional courtesy and to make up for people who don’t tip.
Increasingly these days, I’ve heard about and worked at places where the tips are split with the back of house crew, up to 40%. That ends up meaning that nearly 50% of our monthly pay is in tips, and that’s a blessing and a curse. Having PTO is basically worthless because missing out on the tips hurts so much.
Here in Seattle, they just raised the minimum wage to just over $20 an hour, and tips and benefits can’t be counted towards that. It’s a step in the right direction, but because capitalism is going to capitalism, it means that’s barely enough to live in the city with a single income source. So I still tip well regardless.
Most places in the country are not that fortunate, so I encourage everyone to tip their servers. If you think you’re going to force owners to pay people more by not tipping, you’re not only wrong, you’re actively making life harder for people who will likely never make as much as you if you work any sort of office job.
The system sucks, and needs to change. Some people can’t afford to tip generously, and that’s fine. But if you don’t tip out of principle, you’re just an asshole.
