Do you tip?

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Comments

  • Interesting topicimage Having worked in a large hotel and seen what goes on behind closed doors as such I won't tip now. Service charge is ridiculous and in my case certainly wasn't seen in my wages. Any tips were pooled and shared out on a hour many hours you worked basis and as someone else said the shirkers got as much as the grafters.
  • Stevie  GStevie G ✭✭✭✭

    I just don't get how americans, arguably one of the least tolerant, selfish nations in the world, allow a system where tips are seen as "must do". Talk of 10% tips, if the service has been bad is a joke...It's down to the employer, not simple punters to subsidise them!

    Just keep thinking of the bit in one of the Home Alone's where the porter sticks his hand out asking for a tip, and the kid gives him some chewing gum instead. I'd probably be like that, or give some smart alec bit of advice (tip).

    I'd probably have to make full use of my running to get out of trouble though image

  • Depends who you look at it Stevie (BTW, most Americans I've ever met have been kind, polite, tolerant folks).  They know it's an unskilled job that wont pay much, yet it is the kind of job that people on their uppers do.  Pay them rubbish wages, as that what the skill level dictates, and you get crap service.  Just look at the standard of service in shops and restaurants here.  Allow people to earn a living wage by having the employee effectively buy into the business, and you get better service.  That's the theory anyway.  From my limited experience of restaurants over there though, it seems to work.
  • Tips are earnt, not deserved. My ethos.
  • I hate tipping. I don't see why I should boost someone's income just for doing the job they're supposed to be doing at the best of their ability anyway. I've paid for service. That's why I went out for dinner and didn't stay at home and cook for myself.
  • Stevie  GStevie G ✭✭✭✭
    I'm with you two...if the employer is comfortable with the wage they're paying the worker...and the worker has accepted the job, then why is it down to the punter to right all wrongs!
  • Turn it around then, would be happy for all items on the menu to be 10%-20% more expensive yet know that the staff are being paid a better wage without the need to tip?
  • MadameOMadameO ✭✭✭

    Yes, I'd be happy with that - especially as it'd save the social awkwardness associated with tipping image

  • WilkieWilkie ✭✭✭
    SuperCaz wrote (see)
    Last time we were in USA we tipped the hotel staff. We then found out when we paid the bill at the end of our stay that tips were added on to your bill so you were not expected to tip any of their staff at all. We were not happy when we discovered that we had tipped twice!


    That would have so pissed me off! 

    I was irritated enough with the little envelope left in the room for the tip to go in. By the end of that trip we'd no money left, so they didn't get a tip anyway.

    I don't go on cruises, but I understand you're "expected" to allow a certain amount for tips for the crew?  Stuff that.

    I used to tip my hairdresser, when he worked in a salon, but now that he works for himself, I don't.  Never knew whether this was 'right' or not though!

  • WilkieWilkie ✭✭✭
    Badly Drawn Bloke wrote (see)
    Turn it around then, would be happy for all items on the menu to be 10%-20% more expensive yet know that the staff are being paid a better wage without the need to tip?
    It boils down to the same amount paid in the end, so yes, that would be OK with me.

    Many restaurants do add a service charge, and it must say so on the menu, so you know up front that the total bill is going to include it.  They probably still pay their staff minimum wage though!
  • E mmyE mmy ✭✭✭

    We had a discussion on this whilst we were in Sweden at the weekend - what do you do? We came to the rule that if we had exceptional service - then round up and add something on but not otherwise. In Europe, most people are paid above minimum wage for the service they provide. A friend of mine is a chef and she wanted to tip the equilivent of £10 for basic service (the waitress kept hovering to take our plates away from us....)

    Having worked in a place where everything was "divided up fairly amongst all of the staff" and not receiving anything - i'll only tip if i know it goes to the person directly and never on a credit card.

    If I'm away on business, it's "exceptional" if we can tip.... and we need to provide reasoning behind it.

  • That's the trouble isn't it Wilkie - you just don't know if you can trust the restaurant to pay their workers a decent wage.

    I know that Harvester do pass tips on and that the staff, yet Prezzo, which is a bit more expensive than Harvester, don't.  Garfunkals (a chain I vowed years ago to never eat in again) generally employ illegals, pay them next to nothing and then charge them huge amounts for uniforms etc so I doubt that any tips there would be given to staff; and their food is shite and the service appalling.

  • WilkieWilkie ✭✭✭

    BDB, perhaps you need to start frequenting a better class of establishment!

    My Squeeze's son used to wash up in a pub/restaurant.  He got a share of the tips, and usually came home with about £30 of tips per session.

    I wouldn't eat in a Harverster/Garfunkels  - I'd rather cook at home than pay for their food.  If I'm paying for someone to cook for me, I want it to be of a higher standard than I could produce at home.

  • Lol Wilkie - not eaten in Garfunkels for many years, or a Harvester come to that.  Hardly ever eat out at all these days, being skint and all that.  My point though is that you can't really tell by price.  I would have thought that Harvester, for example, being a cheaper chain, would treat their staff poorly and pay them peanuts.  It would appear that they don't having spoken with a few of the waitresses.  Yet Prezzo, which is a bit of a posher chain, don't.
  • WilkieWilkie ✭✭✭

    I rarely eat out either, BDB.

    It really pisses me off if you get crappy food and poor service, so I rarely risk it.

    And I really enjoy cooking image

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