Tipping
Posted on April 04, 2006 by Him and tagged tipping
We eat out. A lot. But when there are two Thai restaurants that I can skip to (not like I'd actually do that) from our apartment, and a whole city of an endless supply of restaurants, it is hard to practice self-restraint. A necessary expense when going out to eat is the tip. There's an older, but still interesting, article over at Forbes that claims that a person's personality can be inferred by his tipping behavior.
I am a chronic over-tipper. She has questioned my tip amount more than once, but I am always the one to stand firm. Like many other money behaviors, I learned this when I was younger. I worked at a car wash, drying down newly washed cars, eventually working my way up to detail them. We did get paid minimum wage, but the real money was in tips. Some days we walked away with over $100 in tips - that's a lot of money when you're 17. Of course, we would fight over who worked on the good tippers' cars, and fight over who didn't want to work on the bad tippers' cars. Even worse are the patrons who did not tip. After getting stiffed a bunch of times for hard work, I promised to myself that I'd never be a bad tipper, or even worse, a non-tipper.
Tipping is a very important in the business world as well - we even had a lunch and learn at my job to discuss the finer points of tipping including how to give a tip, how much to give, and who to give it to. Many of us travel on business quite frequently to do things for our client. We were taught that our client is our #1 priority, and if they aren't happy we have to go leaps and bounds to make them happy. That usually involves getting people to do our (their) bidding, using a little cash as a motivator. When tipping on business, I know that I am going to get reimbursed for everything, so I tip often and I tip well. Of course I can't do that when it comes to my personal expenses because I'd be very broke very quickly.
When it comes to personal situations, I do not tip as many people who I would normally tip on business because I don't encounter the same situations. For example, I never speak with hotel concierges on personal trips, but I depend on them on business trips. Some people I know tip everyone, even the oil change guy.
Here's my short list of who I tip, and how much I usually give. I'll even break it down to personal vs. business.
Personal
Food Delivery: $1-$2
Restaurants: 15%-20%
Taxi: $1-$2
Bartender: $1-$2 per order of drinks
Salon: $10 per haircut
Business
Hotel concierge: $5-$20, depending on the level of interaction
Hotel turnover staff: $1-$2/night
Hotel busboy: $1-$2
Maitre d': $5-$10, depending on if they pulled through with a specific request
Sommelier: $5-$10 depending on wine choice
Taxi: $2-$4
Restaurants: 20%
Who do you tip and how much?
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If you consistently tip between 15% and 20%, I wouldn't call you a chronic overtipper. I call out my husband's tips because he often tips 25% for what I consider run-of-the-mill, nothing-special, average service.
It gets hard, though, when you're at your favorite diner where you know the waitresses work hard to serve twice as many tables but your bill comes to only $10 (for two people), so I'll usually let it slide in that case.
Lately, when it's been my decision I've been pretty consistent with 17%.
I habitually tip 20% at restaurants. My father actually tipped someone a penny once when we were at a restaurant together and I will never tip less than 15% no matter how bad the service. I will even tip slightly more than 20% if my toddler has made a huge mess.
jakob | Apr 4, 2006
Good list. As a non-native from a country where tipping is uncommon (wages are high, and most jobs do not rely on tips), I've struggled with figuring out what are appropriate amounts to tip. I'm sure I've undertipped and non-tipped in situations where I had no idea what to do. For instance, when skiing recently, we realized we probably should tip the ski instructors for the kids... Do you know of a longer list than yours of who to tip and how much?
Where I live 15% at a restaurant is considered the standard/minimum tip.
I've only not tipped once. I was at a restaurant with my mother. The waitress brought us our food and then disappeared for an hour. We had finished eating after about 20 minutes. I had to go search out the waitress, without success I might add. I still planned to leave a tip (a small one) but my mother wouldn't let me. My mother worked as a waitress for many years and was appalled at the service, or lack there of, that we received. And it's not like the waitress was busy - there were only 2 other tables occupied at that time.
When you tip a server you *are* tipping for service. Subpar service = subpar tip. Good service = good tip.
Inchoate Random Abstractions | Apr 5, 2006
20% on the food bill, unless it's a buffet. I've never had to work as a waitress, but my mom did when we first emigrated to this country. And the stories she would tell... An extra buck or two might not mean a lot to me, but it's a significant amount to someone who is barely making minimum wage.
Personally, I am a little concerned that a couple who is $150K in debt is eating at a restaurant that has a wine steward (because I can not spell smallyea) AND taking their advice on the wine therefore requiring a tip. I think that if I had to eat at these restaurants (last night I did have a fine dinner at Manresa, # 2 restaurant in SF bay area) I might consider bringing my own bottle and paying a corkage fee...Sorry to come down on you like that,but it does seem extravagent for someone who says they want to get out of debt...
jakob,
I'm not aware of any definitive guide to tipping. A quick google search for tipping returns a lot of hits. The first one is a webpage dedicated to tipping, and even has a good reference on tipping in the US.
Thejester,
Please re-read the entry. As I stated, the expenses that you question were listed under the category of "business" expenses, which I only do when I'm on business and therefore can be reimbursed.
Nick | Apr 4, 2006
10-20% at a restaurant? What your average, and what sort of service merits a 10% versus a 20% tip?
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