How much do you tip?

[mrs.b]

It's paying the server who took your order on the phone, logged it into the computer and (possibly) gave it to the cooks, checked your order to make sure it was correct, and maybe bagged it up and brought it out for you.

Tips for take-out weren't normal when I was waitressing, and I remember that no server would answer the phone when it would ring near the kitchen. We would watch it ring or quickly find something busy to do as an excuse not to answer it. You didn't want to waste your time. Often, the manager would enjoin someone to answer the phone or simply answer it him/ herself. Also, new servers were sometimes saddled with the task of doing take-out orders.

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!