Tipping...

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Tipping - the practice of giving money to someone for service.

Do you or don't you? Why and why not?

In Australia tipping is not an obligation but which countries around the world are you expected to tip? And how much?

Usually, I don't tip because the staff are being paid award wage already, usually more than what I earn. I will tip if I have received exceptional service.

I live in Australia and I don't think I've ever tipped EVER!! It's just not custom here to do so. Though I've noticed most restaurants/cafes usually have a glass jar or bowl on the counter for folks to put coins in.

It's considered the norm in the US to leave tips because that is a substantial part of their income in a lot of restaurants here.
I think the accepted standard is something like 10-20%. I tend to tip based on the quality of service and if it's good I go higher than 20%. If the service sucks then it's going to be well under 10% if anything.

USA, I tip well. 20-30% normally. Servers in USA make like $3 an hour plus tips.

here in canada the servers are paid the lowest possible minimum wage and therefore i do tip. 10 to 20% in the norm in my city.

i always wish i could tip other people who make minimum wage if they give me good service (i.e. fast food cashiers/cooks), but it is generally against corporate policy to allow these individuals to accept tips.

I can't stand under-tipping. I would rather over-tip. Waiters have to make money too, and they have to make most of their money through tips. They say 20% is the new minimum (it used to be 15) and I have to agree.

The US is definitely the big one, many states here have something called "tip credit", where an employer is legally able to pay under the minimum wage (as low as $2.13 an hour) on the assumption that customer tips will make up the difference. To make it even more odious, waiters in particular are usually required to kick back a percentage of their sales, usually around 5%, to the bussers, cooks, hostess, etc regardless of what they were actually tipped. So if you eat a $100 dollar meal and tip less than 5$, you actually just took money from your waiter, he'd have been paid more not to serve you. Now I happen to think tip credit is an illegal subsidy of the restaurant industry, but I also think that failing to tip absent extreme circumstances is tantamount to theft of services, and if customers who make a habit of doing so ocasionally ingest substances not approved for human consumption as a result I'm not going to shed any tears.

I live in the U.S. and for restaurants I tip 20% if the service is great. If the service is just average I tip 15%. If service is bad, well...it will not be much of a tip.

It depends on how good the service is. If they are a good server I tip more than 20% but if they do a bad job then its usually less than 10%

I like to tip about 20%.

I've never tipped because I've never been in a position where I was expected to leave a tip and also had a job at the same time.

I think it would be easier to just add an automatic gratuity in most major restaurants and not have to worry about calculating an extra percentage on top of the total on the bill. I think if a small automatic gratuity (or around 10%-15%) was required by every customer, the restaurants would make enough money to increase the wage of each server and it even itself out to create a fairer system of payment for each employee. For the first few years when I went out to restaurants and paid my own bill, I didn't tip because I didn't understand the process (unless I had like a dollar or less in leftover change and then I would just tip that). Now whenever I go out with my friend, I use his good math skills to figure it out the right percentage for me to pay. I only know of a few restaurants where they print on the receipts what your tip would be if you wanted to pay the customer around a certain percent. For someone like me who has real difficulty determining the right amount of payment, it's VERY helpful.

Now I understand the cons of such a system. To fix the situation, employers in the dining industry would have to be more strict on who they hire to become waiters and waitresses. I get sick of servers acting like the victims of customer stupidity. Yes there's going to be a lot of bad customers out there but if you were really passionate about the job you would be able to handle it. The problem is when restaurants just hire anyone who's anyone to work as servers and instead of people who are really passionate or have the tolerance level for such a high stress underpaid job. In this economy, it's even more critical to have servers who take their work seriously instead of just having someone who's there for the sake of the paycheck. If it's done right, it would restore dignity of being a server in the dining industry instead of it just being a low grade job. Not every customer is interested with the responsibility of having to judge how well the server is. They're just there to eat.

I thought this was a thread about cows:/

i think i usually over tip. mainly because i have no idea what the etiquette is when it comes to tipping and don't want to appear rude. although if the service was particularly terrible, or they themselves had been rude, I would leave nothing. I've always thought of it more in currency than in percentages- maybe that is where i am going wrong

tipping stresses me out. Who all is supposed to be tipped? How do you tip them? I understand the norm is 20% and I understand how its done in a restaurant situation but as I understand it barbers are supposed to be tipped too, right? And cabs? I always worry that I'm not tipping when I'm supposed to be. I always try to tip more than what's expected.

hairdressers i get confused and more likely to overtip out of embarrassment. mainly because it's more of a one-on-one/personal situation than a restaurant i think. and with cabs i usually just hope it comes to an un-round number so I can give them a note and just say 'keep the change' because I have no idea what you're sposed to do in such situations (i don't take cabs much...)

I tip at around 15 to 25 percent. I know what it is like to be at the bottom of the economy.