Tipping in the States

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Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2008 6:31 pm

^^^ at a regular ol' bar I leave $1 a drink, or sometimes two (depending on how many have been drunk!)

I remember I took a girl out in college - our first real official date. We went to this place in Union Station in D.C. Fairly nice place - nothing too swanky. Date went great, and when it came time to leave a tip I had only a $20 left. Not wanting to waste more time (our waiter was hard to find) I decided just to leave the bill and around 10% or so, and I'd make it up to the guy next time. Besides, the service hadn't been all that great. Not RUDE. But not great.

We're halfway across union station - already left the restaurant - and the waiter comes running after us to ask why we had left him so little money.

We were both shocked (she was furious at him) and I pulled out my wallet giving him some more cash. Since then I've realized the things I'd of liked to have said to him, but I hope he got the message that he was just getting money because it seemed like that's what you should do when accosted by a begging homeless person - which is how he was acting. "This is just money so you will go away."

Luckily the girl thought it was sweet and the waiter was a $(!~&*. We never went back.

Baiting Guru Joined: 03 Mar 2006 Posts: 7103 Location: Yes

That's called a "buy back" and it's a bit of dying art, especially with more corporate-minded bar/restaurant owners. You'll still see it practiced at more "old school" bars, where you have established bartenders (it pays in the long run for these men/women to be good to their repeat customers), and if you're really loyal, you'll find some good nights where you'll get sloshed for only $20...

*** BANNED *** Joined: 30 Dec 2007 Posts: 164

Quote:

buy back

I like the idea pity its dying out

Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2008 6:42 pm

JMRazor wrote:

My wife, during college, worked a seaside restaurant. She would come home with her pockets stuffed with cash -- granted she worked 6 days a week, from 4pm to 2am, but still, good money to be made.

Are you sure she was a waitress? Laughing

Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2008 7:01 pm

bearkat419 wrote:

What's really bad in the States is that the IRS figures what they think the waitstaff *should* have made in tips, and expects their share of taxes from it Evil or Very Mad

That's because waitstaff are notorious for not claiming their earnings on their taxes. I'm not saying that I agree or disagree with that, but there is the reasoning.

Baiting Guru Joined: 03 May 2007 Posts: 18313

I see my tip as a evaluation of the service and tip accordingly. I'll way over tip for excellent service and leave pennies or nothing for very poor service. How else will they learn? Laughing

One thing that throws a wrench in the works is the restaurants here that do tip pooling. The tips are all pooled and the waitstaff share them. That's not fair for the better waitstaff. Hopefully they exert some peer pressure on the slow/poor waitstaff.

Also to be noted: I have two young children. . . if they've made a mess or we've required extra service because of them, I make the tip even higher.

Now, how about tipping the hair stylists? I have been going to the same woman for years and tip her TONS. She's near my head with scissors and has the opportunity to make me look ridiculous!

*** BANNED *** Joined: 30 Dec 2007 Posts: 164

We were in a restaurant in Fredericksburg where they handed you a mini bucket of peanuts ,
we were horrified to see kids and parents dropping the shells on the floor, we looked around to see where we could put our peanut shells, on not finding anywhere we decided not to eat any more nuts. Imagine our surprise when we saw the waiting staff going around with dust pans and brushes, this was obviously the house custom.

Oh I wish now we had followed the local custom

Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2008 8:16 pm

I tip my hair (what little I have left) stylist well. She often gets 50%. She is super hot and I think that does a good job.

*** BANNED *** Joined: 30 Dec 2007 Posts: 164

My Barber gets a search fee

Baiting Guru Joined: 03 Mar 2006 Posts: 7103 Location: Yes

jojobean wrote:

JMRazor wrote:

My wife, during college, worked a seaside restaurant. She would come home with her pockets stuffed with cash -- granted she worked 6 days a week, from 4pm to 2am, but still, good money to be made.

Are you sure she was a waitress? Laughing

D'oh!!

Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2008 8:33 pm

When I saw the subject line, I thought this thread was about cows. Embarassed

Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2008 8:35 pm

That would have been tipping in the SOUTHERN states.

*** BANNED *** Joined: 30 Dec 2007 Posts: 164

Quote:

That would have been tipping in the SOUTHERN states.

What do mean by that Wink

*** BANNED *** Joined: 30 Dec 2007 Posts: 164

Quote:

Cow tipping is an activity allegedly performed by sneaking up on an upright, sleeping cow and pushing it over for fun

is that it
there is me thinking it was shagging said cow

Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2008 9:14 pm

When I lived in the North of the UK, in pubs or bars we'd round up the price of a drink, so for �2:30, you might give �3 and say keep the change. This was 17 years ago mind you.

In recent years, having moved South, I was getting funny looks from barmen when I did this. Some of them would actually ask what I was on about.
I asked one of my regular barmen in London about this, turns out in the South you don't bother to tip at all, but when you've had a couple in the same bar it's customary to offer the barman a drink. Wiki appears to confirm this....
And this is in 2 cities only 200 miles apart. Confused

Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2008 9:57 pm

kubis wrote:

What do mean by that Wink

How can someone with Cletus as an avatar not know about cow tipping?

Not quite a Newb Joined: 15 Jan 2008 Posts: 25

Atleast here in the good ol' Michigan, waiters must still earn their tip.

Eitherway, even with getting a 40 dollar meal we still leave 3 bucks. Razz

Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 5:59 am

I worked night shift (7 pm to 4 am) as a delivery girl for a sub shop about two years ago. Now, this was in a college town - where else would a sub shop be open that late anyway? - and I made a grand total of $2.25 an hour, plus a dime for every gallon of gas I used. I made it a point to get to the house in less than 20 minutes in hopes it would get me a good tip, but it never seemed to actually matter. Most people I met just rounded it up to the next dollar and called it good. After about six months I had to quit because I wasn't actually making any money! I was spending more in gas than I was earning. Since that experience, I've made a point of giving big tips, unless the service was just absolutely terrible. I'd say my average tip is somewhere around 30 percent for meals, 40 percent at the bar since the tab is usually a lot smaller. I have a friend, on the other hand, who thinks I'm crazy; he says 5% is a perfectly fine tip. Another friend just rounds all her bills up to the nearest $10 no matter. It's all pretty subjective.

Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 6:55 am

OxygenDeprived wrote:

If you want to see how the restaurant business really is in the US, just rent the move Waiting... Wink

Some parts of that movie was very funny.

I've spent many years working in restaurants. It was one of my jobs during high school. After school I worked nights as a line cook. Mostly good times and I met some fun people in the restaurant business. Glad I got out of it though.

While I'll usually leave 20% here in the states I have no problem leaving 5% if the service is crap. On the times I've been called on it I've had no problems explaining why I felt their service was crap. Of course knowing when the problem is with the kitchen or the waiter is an important part.

While I think the wait staff should get a higher wage I do think our system is better. The service we get in Eastern Europe is usually pretty poor by comparison.