Should You Always Tip 20% At (U.S.) Restaurants/Bars?

I tip pretty well if the service is what I expected or good. I still leave a little if it was bad, I can only remember refusing to tip twice and that was because the sever was absolutely terrible to me and the people I was with.

I don't mind tipping, but I don't think I should have too in the first place. Even with great service, some people don't tip well and I don't think it's fair to have to depend on other people's generosity to pay your bills. I think it's much better to just pay a server a fair wage. I work in a restaurant and I get a decent wage and I don't necessarily need tips, but they do help out when I get one.

I do also think that if you leave a big mess to clean up you should leave a tip reflecting that. Cleaning up the spilled food and trash you leave takes time away from the other guests and yeah, we're paid to do it but a extra dollar or two shows that our work is appreciated.

I always tip the 20%, I've always been told that some people generally rely on those tips given low wages, stuff like that. But if someone isn't doing so great service wise then I'm not giving them the 20%. They can have something along the lines of 10%.

Honestly, insulting your friends injury should have been cause to complain and get their behind fired. :U

That aside, I'd probably tip 90% of the time, the 10% only when they're being mondo jerks.

Idk about the US but here it's generally 15%. That being said, if you gave me crap service I'm not giving you a full tip.

Irishchai said:

To not tip your server is pretty harsh; you're basically saying that although they helped you for an hour or more they weren't doing good enough to deserve any income at all. Everyone deserves at least a small tip and it isn't right to completely refuse to give one because they're only "doing their job" and shouldn't be tipped for that when!!!! Yes!!! We do need to be tipped!!! I can't afford my rent if I don't get any!!! I can't even afford food! $2 an hour working 10 hours only gets me $20 for that entire day!!

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You might want to bring up the Fair Labor Standards act with your employers if you live in the U.S. which states "If an employee's tips combined with the employer's direct wages of at least $2.13 an hour do not equal the federal minimum hourly wage, the employer must make up the difference."

This is federal law, however many restaurants do not make workers aware of it and abuse it instead

Yea, unless your server was actually rude, even if they do a mediocre job u should tip 15-20%. They probably hate their job so give them a break.

Also I don't think it should be legal to pay your employee $2 + tips, they should at least have something close to minimum wage

Wow, I just had the displeasure of reading such a hateful comment towards servers on here (thank god it was removed). Honestly, people shouldn't assume that all servers are lazy and incompetent when something goes wrong in your dining experience, especially if you are not or have never been a server yourself.. It is very true a lot of the time when a guest blames someone for something during their dining experience, they will always blame the server. Even if it was the chef that messed up and put the wrong sauce, or the expo didn't garnish the dish correctly, or the food runner brought out the wrong food, or the slips just got lost because sometimes they fall off the printer, or maybe the server followed policy to have to converse with you before you ordered. But everything is always the server's fault in the eyes of the guest. We get blamed, our tips get reduced, we're named in a bad review - and yes, a lot of the time (but not always), it was out of our control. And servers are people. They forget things sometimes, especially when they have a busy section of 12 tables, everyone wanting something at the same time. Sometimes, on our way to punch in the order, we will get stopped by multiple tables to get more sauce, more napkins, an extra appy, etc. Then it slips our mind, because seriously, it happens to everyone. If a server ADMITS to it, that is commendable behaviour. Why should that be punished? I have so much to say about this topic, but if you haven't served, and you have this much hatred for those in the service industry, then I doubt it matters.. But please everyone! If you haven't served before, please do not make assumptions!

tumut said:

Also I don't think it should be legal to pay your employee $2 + tips, they should at least have something close to minimum wage

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It isn't actually, but most servers are not aware of the federal law that says you have to be paid minimum wage if your tips do not make above that.

I've been a server before and I know how hard it can be. Arize laid it out pretty clearly.

It's incredibly unfair that employers can pay below minimum wage (I worked for $2.13 and hour), but until then, servers rely on our tips. I always tip 20% (unless money's tight, but even then I tip 15%).
And I don't think there's any reason to not tip unless the server is downright rude. Even if a server does the minimum work for your table, they're balancing orders, keeping track of who gets what, running back and forth cleaning and serving, it's a lot.

Dogemon said:

It isn't actually, but most servers are not aware of the federal law that says you have to be paid minimum wage if your tips do not make above that.

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This is where I was confused earlier. I thought it was against the law to pay someone less than minimum wage.

Bcat said:

This is where I was confused earlier. I thought it was against the law to pay someone less than minimum wage.

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Well this is how it works: If the worker makes tips that exceed the federal minimum of I think 7.24/hr, the restaurant doesn't have to give them more than their 2/hr on top of that. However, if they are under that, the restaurant is now paying a worker under min wage, which is illegal and they have to satisfy the portion of money they would need to reach 7.24 or so an hour. Some states may have rules that also make it where they have to play the state wage instead, but often times the federal minimum is what is used in these situations.

There are some occupations that are excluded from having to meet minimum wage, but servers are not one of them. A business that disregards the Federal Labor Standards Act, or FLSA, can be reported to the BBB and be taken to court.

I don't believe in this whole tipping nonsense. However, I live in America and these waiters need to make a living, and since they depend on their tips, I make sure to tip well. I will still tip for forgetful or slow waiters, etc, but not for rude ones. I can't tolerate rudeness, and will not tip someone who was rude for no reason.

These wages are obscene - I knew the US in particular was terrible in this regard, but the $ I had heard previously were in the $7+ range. Still abysmal in 2017, but $2???? I'm genuinely shocked.

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The minimum wage in Australia is currently $17.70 - and for hospitality workers, tips are extra. By law they CANNOT be counted in the wage given by the employer. This is true for other jobs that might earn tips, too.

There are some very dodgy places out there that do pay "cash in hand" under the table to circumvent the rules. Immigrants, backpackers, and international students are particularly vulnerable to being forced to accept such an arrangement. But we have a fairly robust set of organisations and agency that look out for dealings like that. So that kind of cash-in-hand work is usually - anecdotally, and only in my experience living in a major capital city - extremely lucrative for the workers in order to a) disincentivise them from reporting the employer and b) keep good staff who would otherwise just move to a better job.

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http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2016-05-31/minimum-wage-how-does-australia-compare/7461794

Forgot to share the link - it lists the minimum wages of countries around the world in their local currency as well as converted to $AUD.

Yeah I do 20% but I rarely buy a meal that's more than about $10-$12 so it's not a big deal for me to give the server an extra $2.

i heard about a trick where you put X amount of 1 dollar bills on your table as soon as you sit down. after your server leaves to get your drinks, put some back in your pocket. you'll get great service after that

but seriously, i do 15% as a general rule which i think is fair. i don't eat out very often anyway. 20% if i feel like they're at least trying to go above and beyond. i've never had such bad service that i felt they deserved less than 15% honestly. i can't see myself ever going below 10%, even then they'd have to be totally incompetent. if they're being that rude i'd just talk to a manager. probably get a free meal out of it.

honestly if you're you're too poor or stuck up to pay more than 10% you should just go to McDonald's or something. it's not their fault they're not getting paid enough. you going to a restaurant and undertipping actually makes things worse just don't go instead.

for bartenders i was taught to give a dollar per drink which i thought was crazy but i do it anyway (again, don't go out to bars much either). i felt this was too high because some of the places my friends have dragged me to are so packed. they serve far more than 7 drinks an hour and the people around here love showing off how much money they have so i know they're making far more than minimum wage. i have no doubts they're doing just fine. for that i always thought the whole "bartenders are underpaid" thing was a myth until i realized these are not the type of bars the average American would go to. so i still stand by the 1 buck per drink rule (15-20% at the very least) and encourage people to support their local dive bars.

i think pizza deliverers should be mentioned as well. they're literally risking their lives to bring you food. they're American heroes in my book. to say they don't deserve 20% would be a travesty.

Servers unite!
I have been a server for 7 years.... worked in restaurants for 10
YES, American servers get 2ish dollars an hour, but usually with taxes we see none of that.
I never get paid by my company, its all tips

I work hard to provide great service for all my tables, so I expect 20% because I'm bomb
If I go to restaurants, I always tip 20% out of precedence, but i understand others tipping less for mediocre or outright bad service. I definitely know servers who use a bias when looking at tables before hand and change service, or look down on certain people. I don't act on those, its gonna be a better time for all involved if we can laugh and have fun at the same time. I have tons of feel good and horror stories from serving, but overall I like interacting with people and its a great way to make money (I can make like 15 dollars an hour normally).

toadsworthy said:

Servers unite!
I have been a server for 7 years.... worked in restaurants for 10
YES, American servers get 2ish dollars an hour, but usually with taxes we see none of that.
I never get paid by my company, its all tips

I work hard to provide great service for all my tables, so I expect 20% because I'm bomb
If I go to restaurants, I always tip 20% out of precedence, but i understand others tipping less for mediocre or outright bad service. I definitely know servers who use a bias when looking at tables before hand and change service, or look down on certain people. I don't act on those, its gonna be a better time for all involved if we can laugh and have fun at the same time. I have tons of feel good and horror stories from serving, but overall I like interacting with people and its a great way to make money (I can make like 15 dollars an hour normally).

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I work very hard too, especially to make up for the incompetent servers at my old job. My boss just didn't have standards when it came to hiring and because I was the only server who actually followed rules and worked hard, she took advantage of that. I was always in a bad mood, being bullied behind the scenes, but I didn't let that affect how I treated my tables. But it really did take a toll on me, and guests would always be so rude to me because we had the worst clientele (entitled cheap nurses from the hospital next door, or lots and lots of ill mannered foreigners). It is not easy to serve and be friendly and happy and attentive, all the while having the worst time ever. So it's SO important to understand that servers do work hard, even just to simply smile at you. So I am always kind to them, even when they are super slow or doing badly at their job that day. I think it really takes a server (or someone in customer service) to really appreciate or be understanding with their servers and knowing how much difference a generous tip makes. It honestly should be mandatory for everyone to try it out first before acting as though servers are just dumb idiots who didn't do anything with their lives and don't deserve tip.

I hate bad tippers, and this forum is apparently full of them. lol It's all well and good to say you'd like restaurants to pay their staff better, but in the meantime, the US is a tipping culture, like it or not, and 10% or no tip is just not ok.

20% would be for truly exceptional service only. Average service is a 15% tip.

Piss me off and you get nothing.

"Pissing me off" does not include making mistakes, so long as the server is polite and does their best to fix things quickly. The moment a server is rude, for any reason, they've forfeited any tip.

Being a lesbian, and not living in a major LGBT stronghold city, a whole lot of servers around here end up with nothing from me.