Originally Posted by Sully (Post 9364868)

I tip well, but have noticed more lately (maybe I'm just getting crotchety) some ridiculous establishments hinting at tips.
The worst;
The new self-serve yogurt places.
Let me get this straight. I get a cup, fill it myself with delicious yogurt, then I spoon the perfect mix of assorted ingredients over said yogurt, followed by me weighing my flawless concoction, so that you may push a button in a register, so I can pay. And you want a tip? Seriously?

Originally Posted by scho63 (Post 9364713)

I feel tipping has gotten so out of hand.

I normally do 20% but one of the things that bothers me is if I order an expensive meal and have expensive drinks with a bill of $80 just for me and some shithead orders 5 glasses of water, condiments, the special, sends his meal back once and his bill is $25 with the server doing 5x's more work, he gets away with a $4-5 tip and mine is $16.

I also eat at the bar 99% of the time but still tip 20%

I HATE all these tip jars at everyplace you buy something

Originally Posted by Peyton's Princess (Post 9364866)

Nah.

I'd take it off as manager if they had a good reason to complain. If the service was truly bad and the server was at fault, the auto grat is off.

However, our menus CLEARLY stated that parties of 8 or more would receive an 18% gratuity and we stuck to that and I'd stick up for my employees 10 times out of 10.

You don't go to work, have your section hoarded by a group for 3 hours, and not get tipped. That's not right when you make $2.13 an hour.

And you know what...and my managers used to use me as an example when servers would complain about their auto grat being removed...I was the go to guy for big groups (I loved working them, I was good at them) and I never once had any person (no matter what race, religion, social standing) ask for a manager to remove the auto-gratuity. They would ask ALL OF THE TIME about what it was and I'd say "oh that's the gratuity that is added for groups of 8 or more" and you could tell some of them were annoyed but no one ever complained because people aren't liars...

they weren't going to throw me under the bus after they just received IMPECCABLE service because I know who the bad tippers are and who the complainers are so that's when I give them the best service they could ever get because that's THE ONLY WAY to keep them quiet...

and they'd test me in any way you'd ever know how...they'd get their meals and "not like it", so I'd get them something else and they "wouldn't like it" and I'd never budge, just non-stop apologies and kindness until they finally gave up because they knew I wouldn't break.

It was the easiest job in the world. I just don't let those kinds of people get to me, ever. When people gave me a hard time I'd use the "at least I'm me and they are them" logic 10 times out of 10. I'd rather be their bitch for 1 hour then have to go home to whatever it is they went home to that made them so miserable.

Originally Posted by Swanman (Post 9364894)

The rule is you don't necessarily tip on booze, just the food section.

Originally Posted by Rain Man (Post 9364888)

I had a realization last year that since I don't drink I don't tip as much. So if I'm in a sports bar or pub-type restaurant and I order the ribs, salad, and soda, I'm a lower-dollar tipper than the guy at the next table who ordered the ribs, salad, and two beers, even if we tip the same percentage. But I'm probably just as much work.

So I'll ask the people with restaurant experience. Do I get sneered at if I'm the 10 percent that doesn't order alcohol? Am I perceived to be a "cheap tipper" even though I tip the same amount?

I'd honestly never thought about this, but it really started bothering me. I've even started upgrading my tips if I'm in a place where most people are drinking alcohol.

Originally Posted by Swanman (Post 9364894)

The rule is you don't necessarily tip on booze, just the food section.

Originally Posted by Bump (Post 9364896)

I understand what you are saying though. But if policy is to add gratuity for 8 ppl or more. You can't pick and choose which groups to add grat to. That makes you look bad too, because say a party came in one time and didn't get grat'd and then they came back and did with the same number of people, they are gonna be like wtf?

Originally Posted by Bump (Post 9364903)

lol, yes you should tip on booze.

Originally Posted by Bump (Post 9364896)

I understand what you are saying though. But if policy is to add gratuity for 8 ppl or more. You can't pick and choose which groups to add grat to. That makes you look bad too, because say a party came in one time and didn't get grat'd and then they came back and did with the same number of people, they are gonna be like wtf?

Originally Posted by Peyton's Princess (Post 9364905)

nah water drinkers don't bother me one bit...and I also don't think of water drinkers as cheap, either

but if you watch a football game for 3 hours and I refill your drink 5-10 times...you should probably tip on bill + an hourly rate in all honesty...

I'll sit at BW3 for a Chiefs game and drink water and if my bill is $15 I'll usually leave $10 if I'm there for the whole game since I took an entire table out of someone's section...and even then they probably still aren't making what they deserve.

We'd go to our bar, drink $15 $1 beers and eat once...have a $25 bill and our hot waitress would wait on us the whole time (5+ hours on football Sunday) and we'd all give her a $20 tip to make it worth her while. They LOVED us there. Of course, it's a townie bar and we were the only football regulars for their Sunday ticket...and lets just say by 6 PM things got a little out of control.

But yeah, you should tip on time seated as well...which some people don't get.