Are Quebecers poor tippers, really?

Since when tipping is mandatory?

I remember when tipping was 5 then 10 then 15 and they are now pushing for 25%, this is crazy. We are subsidizing a whole underground industry. All prices should be posted as is and if it is not enough then increase the list price and don't expect your customers to pay your employees salary.

When did it become an 'expectation' that one would receive a tip for excellent service? I know many people who provide exemplary service in a number of workplaces with never so much as a tip considered appropriate or ever received. If you do not like your basic hourly wage as a server--find another job. The marketplace has determined your hourly wage (tip or no tip). I agree with John--we have created an underground industry of people not paying taxes on their tip money and the rest of us are condoning this practice by following suit. If the marketplace deems that servers should earn more than minimum wage, I would happily pay it. Until then, find a job that will pay you better and expects great service with no tip expectations like the majority of your patrons.

I agree with John and Catherine. Where is it going to end? For many years, 10% was the expected tip now Vermont restaurants are adding 18%.....that is gouging! It isn't our fault that restaurant servers in the U.S. are only paid about $4 per hour. Maybe they need to look at upping the rate of pay for those people.

All North Americans are well aware that "tipping" for good service is customary in the "Service" industry. The accepted parameters are minimum 10%, and for exemplary service 15%. I have heard some people voice their reasons as to why they do not tip, but in my opinion they are not "reasons", they are more like "excuses". These excuses are for the most part quite pathetic, and nothing but rationalization for being cheap and lacking in class. I worked in the service industry over 40 years in various roles, mostly supervisory. Serving staff often went out of their way to avoid having to serve certain groups of customers who were notoriously bad tippers such as Australians (where tipping is NOT customary) and Quebecers, who have a well deserved reputation for being terrible tippers outside of Quebec, as well as very demanding customers. Yes tipping is optional, and poor service should not be rewarded, but if you choose not to tip, the manager on duty should know why. "Get a better job" and "they don't declare their tips" or "we don't tip in our country" are simply put, pathetic excuses for "cheapness". Be honest with yourself - who doesn't know that tipping is customary in the service industry? Perhaps the same people that forget to tip the paperboy, or give a thank-you note to the postman, or send a card to the teacher at Christmas time. As for those that really can't afford to tip in a restaurant, why are you eating in a restaurant if you are so short of money? Back to Quebecers and tipping.....based on signs posted in the windows of some restaurants in Mexico, and Florida, that I have seen with my own eyes, there appears to be some truth to the fact that Quebecers are indeed poor tippers outside of their Province.

As a career restaurant worker.
I TOTALLY AGREE service should be included in the bill. Period and done. 15, 18 or 20% right on the bill. The way the current system is, that is the fastest and easiest solution.

The restaurant industry wont work with low wages, at all. Oh the fast food outlets will...for a while. But service, staff, restaurants has changed a lot in 25 years. A LOT
And Im sorry but really not for the better.
To disprove some of the myths...even though tipping has gone up in percentages, wages are way down. Your dollar does not carry much weight anymore, and the slightly higher wages in the service part of the job does not outweigh having to work, all holidays (yes ALL), suppers, lunches, weekends, late late nights. Many are over worked, harassed, are not given all their wages, not paid vacation times, or over time(hah never ever seen it even once in 25 years).

We could ask the government to help the workers, support us by changing the rules, but no, because the restaurant/food industry is mega bucks business, and like everything, those at the top are staying with status quo.

You can try and change the system by punishing the minimum wage worker in the hopes that in..I dunno, 20 years the employer will add a dollar to the wage more.
the problem with restaurants is now people use them to FEED themselves and not for a nice outing.

Solution from all the service personel to the customer(s):

A) If you cant afford the gratuity; please learn how to cook. It dont need to be 5 stars, but learn how to make a quick toast.

B) Stop with the giving less tip to the waiter because your job sucks. Get another job if you dont make enough.

C) I challenge ANY ONE OF YOU to do the job we do on the floor, and having to deal with crazy demands of obviously unknowledgable people again who know NOTHING about food, or the service industry. from hygene to knowledge of food, alcohol etc. Then and ONLY then would your comment on how much they (the service people) should get as a tip be allowed. Yes ALLOWED

D) Did I tell you all too learn how to cook? Ya good, and stop using restaurants as your personal kitchen,and the over worked kitchen staff as your personal chefs.

E)Leave a crap tip, continue too look like a loser, because too me, anyone commenting about cutting back on tipping is a monumental loser. So you keep skimping on a few dollars here and there if thats what your image is worth.

E.2)Oh and yes...tipping and HOW one goes out is TOTALLY a reflection on success, class and the art of worldliness. Why because in our world right now IMAGE is important.

F) do you really want me to go on? Or have you been humiliated enough? aaah which brings us too humility. I wont comment there, look up the word, and now imagine how I would use it in this forum, and on this subject.

G) wow pathetic people...

If you're going to write such a long comment, at least learn how to do it in proper english!
And being from Quebec, I can tell you Quebecois are some of the best tippers!

@Peter

Referring too me? the lag on this site is not my fault and I didnt know we were in English class.
Smart Azz

I think that generally people are happy to tip IF they feel they have had great service and/or food, but for me it is the expectation that I am EXPECTED to tip that is completely wrong. As a consumer I expect a certain level of service and quality from the companies/service providers I buy from and for that I do not see that there is anything to warrant a tip. If the issue is that the food industry is not paying enough then the staff have a choice of refusing to work until they get better conditions. The business owner then has a choice of raising prices, reducing portions etc or lowering margins and based on the choices made customers will determine if they wish to continue frequenting the place or not. It is simple business 101 and should not be a reason to push the problem onto the poor customers to the extent that they are made to feel uncomfortable about the amount they tip. To single out Quebecers as bad tippers (or people from any province) is just crazy as I am sure they are just as likely to tip well if they feel that something was exceptioonal rather than just satisfactory......Why should anyone provide extra rewards for mediocrity?

Well I simply cannot agree with a 15% or even 20% tipping policy! Here is why; say you buy just a sandwich and soda for 10-15$, then I would leave about 2-3$ (20%) tip. Say I go to a fancy restaurant with my wife and the bill comes to 120$, including a 40$ bottle of wine. I would typically leave about 10% (on total before taxes), sometimes more (if I was very pleased with the service) and sometimes less (if displeased). I am a retired Professional Engineer having worked more than 35 years after completing a graduate degree and even at the top of my career had every trouble making 50$/hour (as a senior associate of a large consulting engineering firm). Even at a zero wage from the employer, a server working a 1.5 hour sitting of only 3 customers (tables), spending 120$ would make 54$ in tips or 36$/hour at 15% tip (plus any employer wages). I consider this excessive given that the average national wage (all industries combined) is about 23$/hour! I am certainly not here to subsidize or compensate my server given his particular financial situation and I leave this up to governments (via student bursaries, loans, unemployment etc. Also I do not see why I would tip somebody 15% or 20% on a 250$ bottle of wine as the service or effort required is not going to be substantially different. I consider this tipping policy an industry/employer fabrication to entice people to join their ranks (case in point: cruise ships) and many times I have suffered from very poor service given the long waits because the kitchen was lagging. Yes this is indirectly the server’s responsibility as he is the restaurants representative/intermediary and will have to suffer his employer’s inadequacies. Lastly and not least in the present economic situation we try to support the restaurant industry by visiting their restaurants (which is not the case any more for many). Yes we enjoy the visit and in return the restaurant owner/server profit (win/win situation), but we will not make up the 20% plus in industry activity decline by paying excessive tips and occasionally even suffering bad overall service because of cutbacks. And that is the way I see it and it is not a matter of ignorance.

Placing a mandatory tip on my bill just because I'm not a local is discrimination and no law exists if I refuse to pay it as I agreed to pay only the prices as advertized.
Electing to place a set % value that is your view is not valid either.

I can agree with large parties that a reasonable tip is expected and that should be published in the menu you give a customer , that way I can choose to leave.
A restaurant exists to make monies and attract customers, telling me I shoudl not come if I'm not prepared to pay your forced percentage only means you will not be in business for long.
As someone stated above , majority of us even us who come from countries that do not tip are prepared to pay a tip for good service, insulting me only lowers what I might give. I will nornally pay somewhere between 10 _ 15 % and if the server and the restaurnent were exceptional I'd go to just on 20 % but no more , and if my bill includes wine I;ll include something but not a full markup on taxes and wines as a bottle regardless of price requires the same service. Yes, people are getting fed up with owners who just think they can push us around with excessive demands, Paying staff a decent salry helps and by us coming out to enjoy meal means you stay in business
Cheers

I agree with Michael. It takes no more effort to serve a $100 bottle of wine than it does a $50 bottle of wine so why should tips be based on the value. And my tips are always based on the subtotal before taxes. Why would I tip the waiters on what the government is taking from me? So now I am starting to rethink my tipping practice and should maybe just pay them minimum wage for the time they invest in serving me regardless of how much I spend. Seriously!! Think about it. During the course of an hour how much time does a waiter actually spend with you if they have 3 or 4 other tables to wait. If minimum wage was $6 and a waiter serves 4 tables per hour, that's $6x4 plus $6 from the employer = $30 per hour. that's $120 for a 4 hour shift. Not bad scratch, is it? Sure some days will be better than others but I think this the way to go. What an epiphany!!

Why are people even complaining about tipping. All of your arguments are in the bias that the waiters/waitresses are making under the table money for doing what they do. This is true, but just because they don't get taxed on something doesn't mean we can't give them a dollar or two.

More importantly if you don't want to tip, Make your own meals at home. Half the reason this country is overweight is due to laziness to make a healthy meal at home. For normal people eating out at a restaurant is something you only do on special occassions, not Monday- Friday. A few dollars tip on once a month events is not something normal people worry about.

My daughter is a waitres in Quebec. She says that the best all time tippers sre Americans and the absolute worst are Ontarians. But what she hates more than poor tippers is rude, arrogant ,demanding customers.

To the person that said we give thank you cards to people we do not tip--perhaps you are on to something here. I intend to carry thank you cards and leave them my bill in the future. Tips are self-serving and should be banned. Do the job you were hired to do--simply put. People are not 'cheap' for not tipping in this day and age rather they are informed and smarter than servers give them credit for. It is time to ban tipping altogether and have everyone pay their fair share of taxes on this underground industry. We ALL work hard for our money not just servers.

We just returned from 7 weeks travelling in Ontario and Quebec and we ate in many restaurants. Invariable, the service is Quebec restaurants is extremely good, so for Quebecers travelling outside their beautiful province, service, in general, must seem second class.

As for us, on this trip, we tipped from 0% to 25%, with 15% being the norm and 20+% a few times. The O% was absolute terrible service that we received in one restaurant in Ottawa. On the other hand, we had some absolutely fantastic service in various Quebec restaurants (while laughingly struggling through some language difficulties!).

I worked as a busboy in Quebec 40 years ago making the minimum wage and never a waiter and waitress gave me a pennie for doing their work. While I worked more than 8 hours a day cleaning, preparing the food and setting the tables, the waiters and waitress came in only at serving time and only polish the knives and forks, leaving afterwards in their fancy cars.

I worked in terrible environments in the past and even cleaned toilets for a living putting myself through university. It was very hard and I had to make many sacrifices in my life, but in the end I made it. I'm now retired living very well and I ABSOLUTELY hate tipping. This was invented by morrons and supported by all of us as an image gratification. There is no law forcing us to pay tips and the people who did 99% of the work for your food do not get tips most of the time. This is simply STUPID. The waiters only pick up you order and deliver your food and most of the time get a better pay check tax free than you.

And don't call me a cheapskate because I only tip 10%, it is my money, I went trough hell to earn it and I know what you do for a living, which is not much.

Yes some Quebecers can be cheap when at a restaurant they tip if the food and service is good but if it is bad they will not tip at all. I was at a restaurant in Summerside P.E.I. and it was the worst meal I ever had I left no tip and paid and walk out. As for restaurants you do have the right to refuse to pay any tip add on the bill.

The whole idea of tipping looks absurd. It should be a voluntary thing. If you feel happy, you can tip whatever amount you like. If you do not want to tip, just pay the bill. Employee should depend on their salaries and not on tips.

YES - Quebecers are poor tippers. Just ask the waiters and waitresses of Prince Edward County,
Ontario where a lot of Quebecers vacation in the summer time. Matter of fact, they have
the same reputation in Hollywood, Florida in the winter time.

Why are you surprised by this?....they feel they are a superior people, and even in marketing...refuse to speak in English...much less want to separte...let them go!!!