Isn't that what I said..."in some European countries?" :confused:

I tend to tip more than 15% because I rarely go to sit-down restaurants and when I do, it's usually for special occasions or large groups. Also, I would really prefer to avoid certain stereotypes about some groups not tipping...:rolleyes:

I know you did, just adding my experience with tipping in Europe. :)

I've travelled most of the continent and it's very confusing. In some countries adding a service charge on top of the bill is mandatory, in some service is included in the price of the food.

Here is what loses this argument. If the meal costs more "nowadays" than 15% is automatically going to be a higher dollar amount. Logic fail.

An interesting thing is happening as well with the advent of Groupon/LivingSocial. I went to a restaurant and used one, and they added an automatic 18% to the bill before the coupon. Apparently, they'd had problems with people using a $30 coupon on a $40 check and then tipping based on the $10 left to pay. The server did give me advanced notice of this policy, and I was perfectly fine with it. Too bad people are jerks and they had to have the policy in the first place.


I loved waitressing, and will probably end up doing it again in NYC to supplement the acting income after I'm done with school.

Exactly, they are getting paid a percentage, not a flat dollar amount. Therefore if food prices go up, guess what your tip goes up.

And I stand by 15% minimum.

Like I said, the people most passionate about this are the ones that work it.

I don't believe in being cheap, but I also don't believe in being bullied to satisfy your personal view of what should and should not be.

LOL. Stereotypes persist regardless of what some people do. You will simply be considered an exception to the "Blacks don't tip" rule.

Ditto!

I've always tipped generously. I usually give 20%, and up to 30% for really good service. I will also tip bartenders up to 30% if I'm a regular and they throw some free drinks/appetizers my way.

I think I'm inclined to tip generously because the places I usually go won't run my meal+drinks above $25. So what's the difference between 15% and 20%? A little more than a dollar? I know from once being a server myself, that an extra dollar can mean everything.. especially when you're a broke college student.

Only once did I not leave a tip, and that's because the server was extremely rude. I went out with two of my friends in Boston for dinner. I asked for a burger, and said that I'd like onion rings instead of fries (a $1 charge according to the menu). My one friend said, "I'll have the same." When the meal came, the server brought us each a burger with fries and an extra order of onion rings on the side. We both stared at the huge plates of food in front of us, and I nicely said to the server, "I'm sorry, but we actually wanted to substitute the onion rings for the fries." She snapped at us and said, "You never told me THAT." We, again, very nicely said that what we wanted was the onion rings instead, but then said she could just box the food we had left over.. No big deal. Then she flipped and said, "No I'll take it back. And by the way, this is coming out of my pay.. I hope you're happy." She ignored us for the rest of the night, and if we wanted anything from her, including the check, we had to yell for her or track her down. What we left for her instead of a tip: a note, which basically said that if she had been nice to us and simply apologized, we would have covered the cost of the extra sides of rings in her tip.

First, as AlphaFrog pointed out, since 15% is a percentage, it's going to increase as the prices go up.

Second, maybe restaurants do sometimes put an automatic gratuity (an oxymoron if ever there was one) at 18%. (But not always -- I've seen restauarants set the automatic gratuity at 15%). That doesn't change the standard.

Which brings me to: Third, I wouldn't say 15% is the "miminum." I would say that, per most sources in this country (like the one Dr. Phil posted), 15% is the standard for average service. There's a difference between a standard and a minimum. That chart actually lists the minimum as 10% (for poor service).

Sidenote: I am a little amused that the chart Dr. Phil posted says it should be 15% of the bill "excluding tax." We have a co-worker who tips on a pre-tax basis and we all deride him for his stinginess. Now I have a moral quandry over whether to admit that he may be "correct" after all.

No joke, there are some bars where we tip ASTRONOMICAL percentages. 50 up to 60% sometimes. For bars where we're regulars, it's worth it to us for the servers to remember us and we often get a number of freebies. If my group of friends is out doing a LONG night of drinking, it's not unusual for us to tip almost the amount on the tab (if we get a lot of free appetizers/drinks/etc. because we have a history with the bartender/servers). Of course, we try to tip as we go so they know they're not going to get stiffed at the end of the night. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that we'd accidentally tipped MORE than the tab because of that method, though.

We always get super excellent service at these places, though, obviously, or we wouldn't be going back. For new places or places where it's not one of our regular haunts, we'll do the typical 15-20%. As an aside, I do NOT like when they add a gratuity to a big group when you're at a bar, since we may open a tab on a card but typically tip with cash as we go. Most of our favorite places don't do that, though.

ETA: You can also tell that we go out with folks who are a little farther in their careers than us. Just reading that back seems "moneybags" to me, but we don't go out that often, and everyone pays their share, so it's not like live-in and I are just partying it up by ourselves. LOL

It would technically exclude tax because that is the price for the actual service. However, I tip based on the final total because that's what my eyes see and my mind wants to do. It has nothing to do with wanting to pay the server more. LOL.

A friend of mine worked at a restaurant that was frequented by celebs. She said Usher is an awful tipper, and supposedly a huge douche IRL. I hate hearing that because I love his music. Eddie Vedder is an amazing tipper - upwards of 50-75% on the bill. He also almost always will engage in friendly conversation with the wait staff. Class act. She also said Johnny Depp is a great tipper (and I think I read that somewhere too).

ETA:
I remembered a few more from the conversation I had with her a while back...

Ben Affleck is a good tipper. She described Ryan Seacrest as a "saint" and super down-to-earth which surprised me. She said he's a great tipper. She said Gwyneth Paltrow is a "hateful person" and will always shortchange the wait staff.

I guess I usually tip "before tax", because I've learned that in most cities, if you double the tax (and round up, if it's a city with low taxes), you get your 15%.

Are there any states that DON'T tax restaurant food? During my fast food sojourn many moons ago, I gave a customer the price and she said "that's not what's on the menu." When I told her there was tax, she looked at me like I had 3 heads.

More stories here:

http://stainedapron.com/celebs.htm

This is the way I've always done it, in California it comes out to a little over 16%. This is what I do for average service, which frankly is what I receive the vast majority of the time...I rarely receive service that I think is terrible, and I rarely receive service that I think is truly exceptional. I tend to add a little more if it's a cheap bill (since others have pointed out, the difference between 15% and 20% can be minimal) and of course if it's exceptional service they will get something like 20%.

The entire reason for it being 15% is because it "scales" with the food price, which increases when things like "cost of living" and "price of commodities" (which directly influence the price of meal) go up.

There is literally no reason to move up the percentage - it already takes into account the things you're worrying about, by its very nature.

Minimum grat is intended to push people away from large groups, which take up disproportionate time compared with smaller tables. You've actually disproven your own point there - the 18% is intended to be punitive, not indicative.