How much do you tip?

[Prloko]

I'm on the "don't cheat the wait staff!" train up until tipping for carry-out came up. It's something that mystifies me, also. The majority of the work in maintaining a table is the errands back and forth when the first person needs a drink, then on the return trip, the second does now, then on the second trip back the third person realized they wanted additional something else...and so on. Or chatting up the children at a table when the parents are too busy in their own conversations to care their kids are annoying other guests. None of that is required for a carry-out order. When I waited tables, the front of house manager or owner took phone orders and handled checking and bagging the orders; they wanted the wait staff covering their tables, not reading a menu to someone.

As for valet...hubby and I dropped a $20 tip on valets this weekend. :willynilly: It was at a hotel, so pulling bag (we only had one - my massive "I'm not vacationing, I'm moving" bag) from the car, opening the door every time we entered or left during the weekend, and returning the car to us in the time it took us to check out (in the same condition and contents it was given), and loaded our bag back into the car. They were essentially multi-function doormen/bellhop/valets; I wondered if we under-tipped until I read this discussion!

Tipping has gone from a reward for above-and-beyond service, to a bribe to prevent vehicle damage/theft/ spit in your food. I once went with a group to Hardrock Cafe. I ordered the ridiculously priced burger. When the burger came, the french fries were obviously sitting under a heat lamp for hours and were disgusting. I called the server over and asked for fries that were fresh as the ones I received were obviously subpar. After the server took my plate away, my supervisor asks "why don't you just eat them? She'll probably spit in the new ones". When I replied, why the hell should I eat disgusting old food just to not bother my server? Why should she want to spit on my food for just giving me what I ordered? Does she order crappy food when she goes out?

[sanantone]

I'm with the people who prefer the European approach to tipping. I also have a fear of servers spitting in my food.

[taylor]

Tipping has been around so long yet it's still so bizarre to me. You may think I'm a lousy tipper based on my previous comments but I'm actually a pretty good tipper to servers at restaurants. I'd prefer restaurant owners to man up and pay their servers more and not lay the burden on customer's tips to affect their employee's livelihood. There's no consensus when it comes to tipping.

[OE800_85]

The strange thing is that, internationally, tipping is almost non-existent. It's almost always included as some sort of service charge, or the staff are simply given salaries that already meet their needs. The only other exception was the Philippines, and I think it's because I was going to mainly American type venues...

Edit: I'm also in China, and I have to say service here is HORRIBLE. They are playing on their phones 90% of the time and absolutely useless. Maybe tipping would work here.

[taylor]

The strange thing is that, internationally, tipping is almost non-existent. It's almost always included as some sort of service charge, or the staff are simply given salaries that already meet their needs. The only other exception was the Philippines, and I think it's because I was going to mainly American type venues...

Edit: I'm also in China, and I have to say service here is HORRIBLE. They are playing on their phones 90% of the time and absolutely useless. Maybe tipping would work here.

I didn't notice the service to be any different from the United States. But then again I only eat at 4/5 star hotels which do take tips because they've been spoiled by Americans. Outside of the hotels I only eat at nice restaurants or fast food chains, I just don't want to risk getting food poisoning. China still needs to get up to speed with their health codes. Also they need to start putting ice in everything. All their beverages are lukewarm.

[sanantone]

I try to tip with cash, but I have to admit that sometimes I have to tip with my debit card because I neither have nor do I hardly ever need to have cash on me. But, you should tip with cash when you can because there could be miscalculations when the restaurant owner/manager pays out credit card tips, some owners steal tips, and some owners make their servers pay for the credit card transaction fee out of their tips. It's amazing that owners would do these things when they're only paying their servers a couple of bucks an hour, but there are a lot of greedy people out there. It's just another example of how the American tipping culture is really just about employers being cheapskates.
Why you shouldn't tip restaurant servers on your credit card - USATODAY.com

[OE800_85]

I didn't notice the service to be any different from the United States. But then again I only eat at 4/5 star hotels which do take tips because they've been spoiled by Americans. Outside of the hotels I only eat at nice restaurants or fast food chains, I just don't want to risk getting food poisoning. China still needs to get up to speed with their health codes. Also they need to start putting ice in everything. All their beverages are lukewarm.

Well...a few things. You pay a "service charge" of 15% in those hotels, that money doesn't go to the staff, I'm afraid. They still get zero in tips. However, those places are quite different, people will kill for those jobs and so you get good service.

Chinese people aren't used to cold drinks, it's just the way they are. Things are better in Shanghai, but still not great. However, you should be careful (even in really nice hotels) with ice because they often use tap water and that's a great way to give yourself a week-long date with your toilet.

The health codes, sadly, won't get better.

[taylor]

Well...a few things. You pay a "service charge" of 15% in those hotels, that money doesn't go to the staff, I'm afraid. They still get zero in tips. However, those places are quite different, people will kill for those jobs and so you get good service.

Chinese people aren't used to cold drinks, it's just the way they are. Things are better in Shanghai, but still not great. However, you should be careful (even in really nice hotels) with ice because they often use tap water and that's a great way to give yourself a week-long date with your toilet.

The health codes, sadly, won't get better.

You may be right. The bill includes a charge that I thought was a gratuity. And yes I requested less ice in Shanghai than other cities. I just don't like Chinese food in general, everything has a funny aftertaste. It's funny how if you try to order orange chicken or General Tso's chicken out in China, you'll get a confused look from your server. But the second you order pigeon (barf) the server's like, "Right away sir!" I spend a lot of time just nibbling on rice at these nice Chinese restaurants and then go back to my hotel room and order a room service cheeseburger. Also I make my daily trips to LAWSON and stock up on American candy bars, pastries, and bottled water.

[taylor]

Also as far as health codes are concerned Shanghai is the best out of the cities I visit by far. It's probably because there are a lot of tourists and westerners and it's the largest metropolitan city in China. Most of the areas I visit are 2 to 3 hours by car away from Shanghai, rural and industrial areas where there are a lot of factories. I remember at a restaurant at a rest area I saw a server cleaning a wet spot on the floor with a rag and then use that same rag to wipe the tables. I was horrified but everybody else seemed impervious to it. This is one of the reasons I don't stay at a hotel in these areas because I don't want to get food poisoning. I'd rather lose 4 to 6 hours of my day on the road and stay in Shanghai even if it costs more money, peace of mind. But I have to admit I love going overseas and not tipping but it takes a while to get used to not tipping because we're so trained to tip here all the time in the States.

[nleamons]

I was taught to give no less than 10%. However in today's economy, it should be at least 15%. Although if you make $20/hr, I think that tip should be 20%.