My friends (not hte cheapskates who caused me to start this thread) and I tip at the end of the tab... it works just fine.

As for splitting the bill all evenly, I am for it as long as people got somewhat comparable items. Or, if you didn't get comparable items but you hang out together every weekend... sometimes someone gets a little more, but the others make up for it next time. It all evens out in the end. I had a few sorority sisters were one of us was constantly "owing" the other $5 or so just because we would take turns treating each other... but by the time we graduated, I am sure that we were even.

Now that I've graduated... treating each other is picking up a $100+ bar tab... I've got to quit doing that!

*bump*

Random tip question:

My husband and I recently went out to dinner with another couple. We had a more expensive appetizer than they, and we had a bottle of wine that we drank most of (one of them had just been sick and therefore didn't want to drink), so when the check came we ended up owing about $50 more than the other couple. The tip also came to around $50, so we decided to split the check across our two credit cards, then put the entire tip on mine.

Would the waiter have understood what we were trying to do? In retrospect, I think it kind of made the other couple look cheap and us look really generous. Would it have been better to just tip $25 on each card and give them $25 cash?

aephi,
I was a server and had to do stuff like that before. I never gave it a second thought as to who was leaving the tip, and who was being "cheap" or whatever. As long as I got the money to cover the cost of the bill, and whatever tip someone left me, I was happy. Except for the one time this guy was a total ass to me, I gave him outstanding service(as I had a tendancy to do anyhow, because I liked making the good $$) and he left me a .01 tip...jacka--. The other people in his group had the bill split up and they even told him he was being a d--k the whole night.

On that note, my BF and I have decided that when we go out with his bros (because some are notoriously cheap, we're talking you buy a sixer for him and he says well I only want three beers so here is the money for three) we are getting seperate bills from now on. Reason being that at one of the guys birthdays recently, we went to a Steakhouse type restaurant with the bro and some of his siblings, and some of the fraternity brothers and their various significant others. My BF and I got stuck throwing down about 120 between the two of us to cover all the cheap bastards that didn't throw down except for themselves...and the guy whose birthday it was--his fiance didn't throw down ANYTHING! So we ended up having to pay for her meal...which I think was SUPER cheesey, I mean, come on! :mad: Some people have no concept of manners or proper etiquette...:rolleyes:

Two people I always like to tip well:

those who fix my food

those who cut my hair

because revenge is a dish best served cold

Whenever me and my boyfriend go out with our friends, his brothers, or my sisters, we get separate checks now. He seems to always be the one to cover for everyone else. When we all went to Margaritaville for my 21st, we had a bill of something like 500 bucks between 20 people. My boyfriend paid 150 of that, because people either completely did not pay for their meal, their drinks, or shorted him. He was expecting maybe 60 bucks to pay for both meals and part of the drinks. Needless to say he was not happy.

I don't think it's tacky to give what you owe instead of splitting a bill evenly. Many times we hit up Friday's or Chili's and someone will get a side of fries while one of the guys gets a steak dinner. Is it fair for the fry guy (who is only ordering that because he can't afford more than that) pays as much as the guy with the steak dinner or the girl who had 4 drinks? I don't think so. Dionsys is right in that the person who is ordering something very small is either doing so because they are not hungry, or can't afford to buy anything else. This may just apply to my school, but Florida Tech is extremely expensive... we have many people leave because they lose their scholarships or they can't handle all the loans and the debt. Some of my friends do nothing but mooch or sit at home and watch movies because they can't afford it. I'm not going to make a friend who is already 1000 bucks into credit card debt split a bill evenly with me if they only ordered a soda or french fries.

My liveliehood rests on gratuity (working two jobs as hotel bellman), so i tip well -

It's not uncommon for me to get free drinks when i go out at the end of a night.

I've also discovered some good ways about tipping - whenever i go out with a group, i'll get the first pitcher (to set the standard of good tipping!). Last week a pitcher came to $16, and although it was expensive i asked for a $1 back on 20. That extra wait in giving me the buck, lingered just a little longer so other ppl would have to tip at least that, to not look cheap.

We really need to standarize rules on tipping etiquette. The hotel industry is the worst, too much variation.

I have come across the opposite problem lately. When I was working in the restaurants we tended to tip over generously. But when we go out we usually get the "hook up" and end up tipping way too much. I don't go out as often anymore. And as I am now a single mom, with a steady paycheck, I find it harder to give the 50-100% tip. My brother & sisters are still in the industry, and now I look like a cheap old fart! I still tip over 20% on what the bill would have been had we been charged for everything (on drinks I usually put in a little more, normally a dollar a drink).
I have started just putting in that amount, and let the rest of the group be responsible for their own overtipping. But it still is a pain, and I feel cheap. :(

I have a friend who is a grad student, but he is a waiter at a restaurant in NYC. He complains that corporate executives give him lousy tips. Those who are students, assistants or unemployed tip him better than the execs. When we and several other friends went for dinner, he makes sure that we are generous with tipping our server despite the service that gets added to the bill.

In a somewhat related story. When I go out to a restaurant, I make it a point to give a little more than the 15% tip. One time, my mom yelled at me for giving a guy a $4 tip for $22 bill. I countered her by asking her "Have you any idea how much a waiter or waitress makes per hour? Try $2.27 (has this changed at all?) an hour, they need those tips to supplement that income." I am more sympathetic to the waiters/waitresses than with my mother when it comes to tipping.


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