Tips

[GoingNova]

When you go out to a restaurant, what percentage of tip do you USUALLY, that is to say barring bad service, do you leave?

[SISTER_KATE]

15% as I am fully aware how hard the job is for the waiters and waitresses. Furthermore we all have our off days, who knows what your server is dealing with outside of work.

[Damm]

15%, which is really easy to do in Ontario, because you just add the two taxes together and that's how much you tip! Out here on the rock, I just estimate...so sometimes it's less and sometimes it's more.

[Rascal]

i tip 15% and round up to the nearest dollar to make the addition nice and easy. i always err on the side of more money to the server.

[abcgi]

I don't believe a third of people leave more than 20% tip!

[ANGLOIRISH]

I don't know why a third would. After all the server isn't a dinner guest. If you are leaving more than a 20% tip you might as well have the waiter or waitress pull up a chair and dine with you - it would be less costly to be sure!

[ajdean]

On this I selected the 10%, but on second thought only the servers that don't do anything special usually get this. I am one that loves to see great customer service, since it is rare when I find a server that does give great customer service I try to give more to them.

[gilean23]

Average service is around 15%. Good service is 20ish%, and if you really wow me (only happened about twice that I can think of) up to 30% if I can afford it.

[Lil Bit]

I don't go by percentage, I go by whats fair to them. I have left a tip of one cent before to a really horrible waiter, I left the bus boy who actually waited on me a $5. There was only me dining, but I figure hey if someone is going to pull a job that's not even theirs because the waiter is to damn lazy then they deserve it. I made sure the waiter was there when I gave the busboy his tip and told him thankyou very much. I left my penny right on the middle of the table.

[icpfreaker05]

I was always taught 15% so I guess I would just go with that.

[SISTER_KATE]

15% IS MY MAX SO FAR

[Lil Bit]

The biggest tip I ever left for any one restaurant visit was $175.00 The whole total was about $400 when we added up all the tickets. Everyone ordered on their own bill so we weren't charged gratuity. It was fun and the waitress said she felt like she was part of the party more than the server. She had fun and thought $175 was fair as did I, she did great! She ended up our favorite waitress. We used to go there so much that apparenlt we helped pay her way through college, lol.

[Lil'Jeffery34]

I tip 20% because my sister was a waitress and she came home pissed off because of bad customers so I feel for them.

[Lil Bit]

I used to wait too. I have no sympathy for a bad waiter, I have seen a lot working under pretty harsh conditions that still will keep their customers happy. I am not a meanie oranything, but you get those ones who take 15 minutes to ask you what you want to drink and then by the time you get your food your lunch hour is over and all you ordered was a sandwich and fries. They get the penny tip.

[spunkey monkey]

i tip based on the server if the service is decent and all i will give 15-20% if the server is really good then i usually tip more but if the server is really bad i will usually leave less, i once left nothing at all. i know some people think its rude but i really dont care what they think

[Moderate One]

I voted for 15% but overall I believe I do tip around 17 ~ 20%.
Typically I double the tax (8.65%) so they tend to get around 17%.
If the bill is very small, like $5, I will always leave a dollar tip. I seldomly go out to expensive places, so the bill usually ends up being fairly reasonable for going out to eat. I tend to think that the price of going out includes leaving a good tip. I feel it doesn't hut the pocket that much for having people come and serve you. Plus it beats cooking for four and have to feed two kids all the time, when I go out as a family. Plus the thought that majority of waiters, waitresses, bus boys tend to receive very low salary rates. Tips are expected to offset the low standard salaries they receive. Obviously if its a higher end, or more trendy place, then they would receive a more decent salary.

[MrsD]

I voted for 5%, but I don't know why I did that - if the bill is under $20.00 I leave between $3 - $5, If the bill is higher and the service was really great, then I leave more. MrD and I went to dinner at a really great restaurant recently, where the bill came to about $70.00. We left $15.00 tip.

[Moose]

I generally leave 20% assuming the service was of good quality. 15% if not. Now, if the service is really good, then I'll go over 20%. I know these people are working primarily for tips. Very often the difference between an average tip and a good tip can be a dollar or two, and I'd rather be known as a good tipper, so I'll leave extra.

[pink_beliefs]

Am I the only person that won't tip AT ALL if the service isn't good? Normally I'm a 15%'er but if they do horrid I'm not tipping at all. I judge them based on how my customer service is. If I can serve customers even on ****ty days, they should as well. Just IMHO.

[MrsD]

No, pink - if the service is bad, I leave no tip. I was actually followed out of a restaurant once by a ****ty waitress after she realized I left no tip. She demanded to know why, had a death grip on the arm and screamed in my face. What a scene. My answer to her was, "You're just as bad a waitress as you seem to be a person. No tip."

[pink_beliefs]

wow... that takes guts mrsd!! If they are terribly bad its always good to talk to a manger, otherwise, how to the people know what the waiter/waitress needs to work on? Giving comments, good or bad, is always helpful to the establishment... unless people go a little overboard.

[Lil Bit]

The reason I will leave a penny is so that they know I didn't forget to tip, but that the service was just that bad.

[chica_dulce_04]

well i don't tip based on a percentage. I used to be a waitress and my customers tipped me very well. I think usually the smallest tip was $15.00. I've gotten a $100 tip many times. I too base it on customer service. Since I was a waitress, I know how long everything should take. If they don't take care of me in the amount of time I think it should take, they get less or if they're horrible, they get a penny. The penny face down is the biggest insult you can give a waitress/waiter.

[buckwheat37]

I don't eat at expensive places, and I enjoy eating alone, giving a 20% tip is easy to justify. I eat a $10 meal I leave a $2 tip, even if the service is bad, if the waitress is at least kind I return the favor, because I know that is one job I would be fired from on day 1, and everyone has a bad day. I am a creature of habit as well, when I was working in my old job last year I spent my break everyday at Friendly's down the road, they had my drink ready for me when I walked in, and knew I didn't need a menu, and they brought me what I asked for wheather it was on the menu anymore or not, they earned the tip I gave them, If I could have I would have given them a 100% tip.

[SISTER_KATE]

I eat at an uncle's establishment once when I was visiting the city where he lives. The waitress didn't know we were part of the "family" and she was extremely slow. I didn't complain of the service. I did however want to complain about our lunch. My Mother (Uncle's sister) refused to allow me to voice my disdain for the product. Even though we didn't have to pay for the meal, we did.
End of story? NOT!

When I returned home from our visit, I penned a letter to the Company and complained pointing out that if people say nothing when they were disillusioned or dissatisfied with the service, the establishment would go belly up. I did not say that I was a relative when I posted to Customer Service. I did however give the store my Mother's address. Two weeks later my mother received a money order for the price of our meals! She wasn't happy but I was pleased as punch!

[missy-v]

I don't go by percent, if it's me alone i tip $1, if the service was really good $2, but in a group we all pitch in $1 or $2. If the service was lousy no tip at all, no penny no nothing, that should be the biggest tip of all.