Just when and how much should you tip?

tipping at a place you frequent regularly will pay off. I am in a business that I recieve tips and really do appreciate the extra income. without gratuities it would not be worth my while being in business, with a huge overhead and expenses. I think it is pretty well known that people who recieve tips usually tip generously. I will go out of my way to accomodate a regular client who tips well and is in need of a service, even going in on a day off to see them. For myself, I can go into a favorite restaurant on a busy night and they will "find" me a table because of my usual generosity. I find most people on salaries know that we in the service industries couldnt survive without tips and do reward for great service, with some exceptions. Most people realize people in service industries are either not unionised or if they are, recieve very low wages.
that being said, I have no problem tipping nothing for bad service, you have to judge it on a case by case basis...........

This topic would go viral on Cruise Boards in Britian and Australia as to tipping recommndations on cruise ships for service crew.
It is based on two main areas as why they should tip and be charged prior to a service plus being told what to tip. (average tip recommended is $10-12 per person per day of cruise)
The second comment is they paid for the trip and the staff signed on so why should they supplement crew salaries.

The average person will follow the recommndatiosn as the staff are trained to provide good service and they recognize as ;Greg; said that service industry has lowest salaries.

The British cruiseboards members will say they will tip only for exceptional service not what you are paid to doand they will set the rate.
They blame the North American culture which to some degree is true as the average person can feel ike they are aan endless bank in everywhere you move an expectation exists.
I gather in the States some folks expect 20 % as the minimum regardless if you received good service.
Personally I 'm somewhere between 10-15% depending as I'm retired where I am and the service. Travelling at a really class establishment and exceptional service than we will go the 20% plus mark.
Cheers

Tipping to me is a sticky subject, full service restaurants depending on the service and food I tip 10% based on the food portion of the bill, if I add a bottle of wine I do not add that cost into the tip. I will however tip more for exceptional service and for that I will make sure I give the tip to the server and specifically thank them for going beyond. Rude or absentee servers who by the way expect a good tip will get maybe 5% and can count themselves lucky for that as I have walked away giving nothing and not feeling guilty about it. Atleast they have a job.

I agree with the recommended guidelines, and didn't know about the need to specify the housekeeping tip (my partner's mother, now very accomplished in her field, originally came to Canada and worked in housekeeping and this is a very difficult, tiring, and unappreciated task...so I always, always tip them well).

But what I hate (!) is the tip jar at the coffee shop, the grocery store cashier (???). I mean, what gives? There is a bit of social pressure to confirm, to look generous, to appear grateful? Really, really don't like this. And also I am similarly unhappy with the debit/credit machines that, for some of these small establishments (my sandwich shop take-out only, the coffee shops nearby) all force you to enter an amount for tip before confirming your purchase price and approval.

So a restuarant server gets 15% but the pizza delivery person who had to use their own vehicle/gas etc gets a max of $5? NOT.

I agree on liquor and especially wine. There is at least a 300% mark up on wines. I rarely order liquor at a restaurant, unless a special occassion. I base my tips solely on the food cost and based on the service relating to that. Average food and service is 10%, good service is 15% and 20% plus for excellent.

I also hate restaurants who advise a minimum 18% for 6 or 8 plus people being served in your group. Why? I again advise to bring me a bill with no established tip on it. I will decide. Not been refused yet and if I am I will leave. If not advised until bill arrive I will refuse the bill and then only pay 10%. You should be advised prior to ordering or even being seated and not just buried somewhere in the fine print in the menue.

I have always thought why we offer tips.Should these industries not pay more to their employees in the first place.Yes they rely on us to subsidize their salary,but they should all form unions and push their pay scale up.They accept minimum wage, well speak up and get a proper wage

Tipping is an unrecogonized form of discrimination. I work your basc corner store,minimum wage. I provide fast friendly service at the till, I fetch the smokes you ask for I take your lotto tickets and punch through ticket machine,I am on my feet all day, I have to take all kinds of abuse from the variety of human beings that populate the earth that come through the store.

Why No Tips for Me? What makes a watier so much more important than I , that his minimum wage job,also gets al wage subsidy all shift long. I dont get any why is he so speciall andf I am not?

TIPS FOR EVERYONE IN THE SERVICE INDUSTRY OR TIPS FOR NO ONE IN THE SERVICE INDUSTRY.ANY OTHER STANCE IS A DISCRIMINATORY ONE.

quote : "Pizza: 10-15% of the bill or as much as $5, depending on the size of the order and difficulty of delivery"

It is not my job to relate to how the Pizza establishment elected to provide delivery to me of a pizza so do not blame me if you use your own car and pay for your gas.
I tip you as a courtsey in getting my pizza to me still hot and through traffic , so I pay $15, certainly not about to hand over $5 as atip, might as well pick it up myself.

As to Human, you do make a valid point but your job is deemed more stable then the restaurant server and most fo the time I am picking up my items to take to the till.

Overall I agree we should just pay decent salaries and throw the tip jar in the garbage,
Even when I go to Starbuck a jar now exists, not my fault I'm not allowed to pour my own coffee and lets face it someone has to take my money.

I give great tips to great service, and none to terrible service.

For instance, I had a cab driver throw my money back at me that I owed for the ride because I didn't give him a tip. Why? Because he was yelling into his cell phone the entire time, ran a red light and tried to *uck me around by going two blocks further from where I told him to turn in. "Oh I sorry man I sorry, I didn't hear you" was his excuse, with the cell phone still glued to his ear. That kind of service gets NOTHING.

I ride in a taxi about once in 2 years. On my latest trip, I noticed that the meter had a 3.95 service charge on it before the car started moving. THis was not an isolated incident. Isn't a service charge a tip? I subtracted that amount from the final bill and tipped on that sum

I do not use a percentage formula, but have an amount per course and for drinks. I think that the serving staff works as hard regardless of the menu price. I pay $1 per person per peripheral course(appy, salad, desert, etc) and $2 per person for the main course. I also pay $1 per person for beverage service. I find this system to be much more equitable than a percentage of a menu price.

I've been a server for 35 years. I think the tipping system is stupid. The percent thing is unfair to the customer as it is only an subsidy for the establishment. I'm lucky to get half of the tip that is left. It is split between bus people, bartenders and kitchen, which I have no problem with. What I do have a problem with is 1/3 going to the house. We have no say in this. I give good service in hope of a tip, which is not guaranteed, and working in a hotel with transit people, most people feel they don't have to tip much because they wont be back and they got the good service. If you work in a restaurant that charges you 1 or 2% of your sales and you don't get a tip, then it will cost the server money to serve that table! If you make a mistake on a bill, and it happens to everyone, then the server has to pay the difference. In no other industry am I aware of the serving person, ie starbucks, drycleaners or front desk staff having to pay out of there pocket if a mistake is made. As much as I dislike the tipping system, I count on it for my living. It's a hard and thankless job and if it wasn't for the tips, I wouldn't be in it.

I have a hard time when gratuities are taken for granted either by waitresses, cab drivers, or establishments with these little tip jars. When I treated a friend to a light lunch one day at a chain establishment, our bill had come to something like $26. I placed two 20s with the bill and the waitress inquired "Will you need change back?" (Excuse me?!!) A similar thing happened to me with a cab driver one evening...the fare as we reached my home totalled $22 and I wanted to make that $25 but again only had 20's. When I passed the driver two 20s and told him I only needed $15 back, he informed me he carried absolutely no change...then proceeded to circle the neighbourhood convenience stores and gas stations in the hope of getting change. Of course no one was willing to give him change if he wasn't purchasing anything. After about 20 minutes of this, he finally found a donut shop that would give him the change...I was convinced the true purpose of the "tour" was to get me to surrender the $15, but I resisted that line of thought entirely. In the end, when he obtained the change and counted it back to me, his final remark was "You were really very patient, my other passengers are usually screaming after several minutes". This told me that cabbie had pulled that stunt more than once.

This is such an interesting topic and I am thrilled I found it. Here's my dilema. My hairdresser was employed with a Major Hair Salon which I frequent regularly and had my hair cut. Before my retirement the company employees for which I worked were granted a 30% discount at this particular salon, which was in the same building. My haircut cost $15 tax in and I always paid with a $20 bill and allowed the stylist keep the change. So $5 for a simple cut, as I washed my hair before going and didn't need a blow dry or any salon products or hair styling. I am really good at doing this myself. Now , my hairdresser moved over to a private salon and rents her chair. She makes her own prices as do the other stylists. Last month when I went she charged me $23 dollars and I still gave her a 5$ tip. Tomorrow I need my hair cut and I'm debating whetherI should mention this to her and give her the change to lower my price or just move on to another stylist whom charges only $15 tax in for a complete wash,cut,blow dry and style. Any responses from you all would be appreciated.

I tip 15% on a restaurant bill before tax. Why tip on the taxed amount? Service has to be pretty poor to get less than this. We tip delivery people about $4-$5 - because really, what a horrible thankless job.

I tip 10% after taxes...which works out to more or less 15%... I think Canada should just legislate a pay scale for wait staff...I have bills to pay as well... and the places where the tip is added... the service is usually crap !

I am a peson who eats out a lot. Most times i tip in around the 15% -20% mark for good service. My question is when i get terrible service, why is the the waiter/ waitress still excepting a tip? Recently (& this has happened before ) my girlfriend & i were having a romantic night out. We were appalled at the rudeness & the lack of attention we recieved. We waited over 20 min before someone came over to take our drink order! Anyway thing s went downhill from there. At the end when the bill came i commented that there was going to be no tip for the service we recieved. The waiter/waitress actually got angry! No one should expect tips. Tips are for good or exceptional service only.

Or how about when the server says 'do you want change from that' when you pay the bill. The assumption being I'm tipping you? When that happens, regardless of good service, there goes my tip (I was a server for 10 years and worked damn hard to provide the best service possible, over and above what was expected for the establishments I worked in).

MY basic rule is --No water---no tip.

For Cloudy: Your dilemma with your hairdresser is understandable. You have stated you are retired now, so your income is reduced from what it had been when you enjoyed the 30% discount. As your hairdresser is renting her chair now, she may have no choice but to increase her prices to absorb that expense. You cannot expect that the discount offered by her previous employer would be available to you now. Unless she is an especially talented hairdresser, you may well want to visit the other salon you referred to. However, when you see your stylist for your final visit, simply let her know that it is only your altered financial situation which makes it necessary for you to go elsewhere.

At the restaurant I work at we have to tip out 5% of sales to kitchen and front of house staff. So while I agree that tipping should be based on the service you recieve, it should be noted that when you tip 5% or less, it's likely that your server gets nothing. So, for example, if you order a $40 bottle of wine, but don't tip on that wine. It cost your server $2 to bring it to your table. I have served for quite some time and I'm pretty good at it. That being said, sometimes mistakes happen. I've had tables where I didn't see them get sat and they end up waiting - but with an explanation and a smile it's pretty easy to turn the situation around. For larger problems, I pull in my manager and comp food or drinks. There is always something the server can do to make the situation better. At the end of the day, I think it would be a good idea to just raise server wages and get rid of tipping. If that were the case though, menu costs would go up and you'd be paying out anyways - but regardless of good or bad service. I'm very thankful for tips - I couldn't afford university if I didn't get them

I think tips are a great thing, however, i don't think we need to be told what to tip. (or given expectations) TIPS are and should always be something extra and not expected.

It does't mean the service wasn't good, it might just mean that the money wasn't in the budget that day. My biggest pet peeve is that the house gets some of that money. It is disappointing as the tip wasn't meant for the greedy business owner, but the underpaid staff.

Strange. In Halifax, even 'feeding the meter' is illegal. Once your time runs out, you HAVE to move your car. You can't just pop in more change for a longer time...

Watch the film documentary called "Thrive" Just google it. We are being manipulated by the stock market and the goverments. I tried to get my money I invested out of the bank when the stock market was high but they maniplulated me in to keeping it in and as I had borrowed some money to invest in my RRSP and now the investment is down and paying the loan off with higher interest. I think the whole think is nothing but a legal ponzi scheme. Also lets make it more difficuilt for people to buy their own home and dictate how much disposible income they are aloud to have. You, know you better keep going to Walmart and buy all the junk so the poor can keep the economy going for the rich. Sorry, but let me choose if I want to by steak or hamburger, just a figure of speech. More and more controls are being put on people and they do not even know it. I think it is important for people to have a home to go to after work and at least you are getting something of your own. I looked at what people have to pay for rent here in Calgary and if was terrible what you get for 1500.00 per month and of course no pets alond. Well pets need homes too. The greed in this world is terrible. Also while I am on my rant, as long as those politicians get their big pensions and then tell everyone else they are not aloud a pension. I can see why people put their money under their bed.

Cloudy; Time to move on. The cut is worth what you are willing o pay and clearly you don't feel it is worth what your hairdresser is charging, not to mention you can always stay with the salon in your building and not have to travel, saving more . . . .

I think you overtip your stylist - 33% is a lot.

In a restaurant I tip 15% of the amount before any taxes - I tip less if the service sucks - I've yet to experience service that justifies tipping more and I've eaten in some pretty expensive restaurants all around the world.

I never use the services of a bellhop and taxi drivers get $2 . . . . I never let them handle my luggage and even $2 is too much.

Pizza/chinese/whatever delivery? I don't use 'em - local delivery restaurants offer 10% off for pickup. Why tip a driver when I can save the tip and get the discount - and hot food (because it goes from their oven to my kitchen directly) too boot?

Hotel staff? Nothing.