I understand what you are saying here, most ppl think of it that way. This may be true if you expect to have the same waiter again and they remember you, BUT, if you are at a restaurant you rarely go or not in your own city this doesn't make any sense. You tip at the end, what you give them at the end of the meal had no reflection of the service you received and it will have no bearing with you on the future. Sure, your tip probably ensures that the waiter won't be a complete asshat to the next table but how does that help you?

however, if I'm sitting at a bar, I'll tip on the drink like a buck or two. but, if I have 3 beers, the bartender looks like at me like I"m cheap for not tipping on those.

If I'm having several drinks etc, I'll tip ever couple drinks. But I"m not paying $7.5 for a beer, then added a buck to it for each one.

That's why you open a tab, and pay on the total - you certainly don't owe much more than 10% for people slinging drinks five feet from you.

I'll be honest...I really never got mad when I didn't get tipped well. I received so many ridiculous tips I felt like at worst it evened out.

I wasn't a big chatter, I was friendly enough I was just super efficient, never let a glass get empty, never messed up orders, used common sense, and made sure my order of operations never get out of sync and when things would go awry to keep every guest informed of every situation they needed to know...

I'd get between 20-30% 9 times out of 10. The only people who annoyed me were people who would start asking personal questions like "what's your major" etc...

Hated that shit. I didn't like the customers who wasted my time with "chit chat" but it's part of the job. The only part I didn't like.

I will usually tip decently (a couple of bucks) on the first drink and then I'll tip every 2-3 drinks.

LMAO... I love how the waiters always out themselves in tipping threads.

The truth is that tipping is a seriously flawed business process where the restaurant is essentially passing off part of the responsibility of adequate wage for the waiter, on to the customer. And it's done so as "Optional, but **** YOU SUCK YOUR OWN SHIT IF YOU DON'T". It's very flawed because by design it never works the way it's supposed to, and when it doesn't, it always the waiter that gets ****ed in the ass. But restaurants have gamed it so that instead of the waiter getting mad at the restaurant for making part of their wage "Optional", that anger is passed off on to the customer. Who may or may not give 2 ****s about the whole thing, or could be completely ignorant about how the process is supposed to work.

Very flawed....

yep; that's about what I do.

Does anyone ever tip ON TOP of the gratuity?

Not on purpose, not unless a BJ was part of the service....

As a customer, we appreciate the chit chat. I'm not going to keep a server that just got triple-sat and is already in the weeds... But nothing wrong with a friendly conversation... I made some great connections while I was waiting tables -- some networking that definitely helped jumpstart my career.
You sound like a cocky, arrogant, **** that just chose the profession so you could pull some young hostess ass.

Getting paid above and beyond for service that is above and beyond is a STAPLE in the service industry. Incentive-based pay isn't unique to food service.

I would almost ALWAYS get tip on top of gratuity -- especially around holidays.

I should also mention that when I worked as a waiter, it was fine dining.

Im such a sucker. I tip these people 10-15%. bagging all the food doesn't seem any less hard than refilling my drink.

Definitely. I can chit chat when its slow, but once the herd pours in its really hard to be patient with each conversation when you're trying to make everyone happy. One table won't like all the gab you have with another table and then it starts. They want to gab with you then so on and so on. Pretty soon food is getting cold, drinks aren't refilled and a new table doesn't have their menus yet. Then you have to excuse yourself from all that and you can't help but notice by the small tip they left you they were butthurt by the lack of service you gave "socially" not by how the actual attentiveness to detail was when it gets busy. I do like how some acknowledge that you're busy and are polite to let you do your thing and not take a survey over the last 4 years of your life.

I agree with you man. Depenind on where I worked I made between $16-$30 an hour waiting tables.

That's just WAY too high for the work I did, and I always laughed and laughed when I was done because I couldn't believe I could wait on a table for 30-40 minutes and make $15-$30 off at that table just by being competent.

It's why I fell for the "waiter trap" and waited tables for so many years. I was good at it, it paid the bills, and I got to score with a lot of hot, young co-workers.

It was the life. Until I woke up and was 26 and still waiting tables and still hitting on 19 year olds. I thought...is this going to be cool when I'm 35? Then I ran away.