tipping

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Never noticed it being any more socially stunted than ilx.

The Louvin Spoonful (WmC), Thursday, 14 April 2011 20:23 (thirteen years ago) link

I've had an account there 4 years so maybe I'm just bitter, I do remember how many of the people who post in the hand analysis forums seem way more interested in pointing out peoples flaws rather than actually trying to help them

Hey, now that you mention it

frogbs, Thursday, 14 April 2011 20:33 (thirteen years ago) link

apparently Phil Ivey took all his winnings from one of the lesser WSOP tournaments (Stud or Hi-Lo or something) and tipped it to the dealers.

boots get knocked from here to czechoslovakier (milo z), Thursday, 14 April 2011 21:07 (thirteen years ago) link

So I will be paying a visit to the land of tipping next week. So remind this poor soldier, what do you tip in bars? In the distant past I remember it being something like one dollar a round, but I bet this has changed.

Also, is 15% the minimum tip in restaurants now?

The New Dirty Vicar, Thursday, 28 April 2011 10:29 (thirteen years ago) link

Yes. 20% for very good service.

Drinks: a dollar a drink for the first round, unless you're buying like six drinks - then you could get away with tipping like three dollars. A dollar or two per round after that.

40% chill and 100% negative (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 28 April 2011 10:34 (thirteen years ago) link

cheers.

was it always 15% minimum in restaurants?

The New Dirty Vicar, Thursday, 28 April 2011 11:10 (thirteen years ago) link

it's mostly been 15% in my lifetime -- most servers take that to mean they were only ok though.

Neanderthal, Thursday, 28 April 2011 11:12 (thirteen years ago) link

10% for lunch, which my parents have adhered to rigorously

br8080 (dayo), Thursday, 28 April 2011 11:13 (thirteen years ago) link

i think the only times I've ever left 10% is where I've been left to nurse one beverage the entire meal (when it wasn't busy) or a server acted like a complete dick. which tbf was pretty rare.

Neanderthal, Thursday, 28 April 2011 11:15 (thirteen years ago) link

I do hate though how at Golden Corral how you can't add the tip to your credit card. Twice I wound up there and forgot I needed cash to tip and wound up either having to stiff the waiter or leave a ridiculous assortment of coins.

Neanderthal, Thursday, 28 April 2011 11:16 (thirteen years ago) link

At the danger of reactivating the great ILX Tipping debate, why do you leave any tip if the server acted like a complete dick?

The New Dirty Vicar, Thursday, 28 April 2011 11:58 (thirteen years ago) link

Because tips are often pooled, with dishwashers and other staff getting tipouts from the tips collected by the waitstaff (and these tipouts often explicitly make up part of their wages, which otherwise would be below minimum wage)

40% chill and 100% negative (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 28 April 2011 12:02 (thirteen years ago) link

i.e. by stiffing the waitron you stiff other innocent parties

40% chill and 100% negative (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 28 April 2011 12:02 (thirteen years ago) link

About tipping calculators...all of you seem to detest them. I use them so that I don't put down too small of a tip.

Christine Green Leafy Dragon Indigo, Thursday, 28 April 2011 12:03 (thirteen years ago) link

10%, double it, adjust down if required = easy

40% chill and 100% negative (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 28 April 2011 12:05 (thirteen years ago) link

wish the government would reform restaurant laws already

br8080 (dayo), Thursday, 28 April 2011 12:25 (thirteen years ago) link

It's 18% here, and I have dyscalcula. (I do add a random quarter or two.) Maybe I could start doing 20%, at least so I won't be seen with a tip calculator.

Christine Green Leafy Dragon Indigo, Thursday, 28 April 2011 12:28 (thirteen years ago) link

I am slightly disappointed that Tracer Hand has offered a perfectly reasonable explanation for why we should still tip bad waiters.

The New Dirty Vicar, Thursday, 28 April 2011 13:20 (thirteen years ago) link

I dunno if it's perfectly reasonable, it's a terrible system that sucks mightily, but you have to do it.

a fucking stove just fell on my foot. (Colonel Poo), Thursday, 28 April 2011 13:26 (thirteen years ago) link

christine!! the difference between 18% and 20% on a bill of $50 is one dollar! no need for calculator, just round down to the nearest even amount.

40% chill and 100% negative (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 28 April 2011 13:51 (thirteen years ago) link

I'm married to a man who complains about $12 chinese buffet bills, so I'll probably never have a $50 restaurant bill in my entire life. But I will try out your method.

Christine Green Leafy Dragon Indigo, Thursday, 28 April 2011 14:31 (thirteen years ago) link

My sister in England claims that not only are you not encouraged to tip there, but that some servers will take it as an insult. True/false?

Reportedly one reason Grant Achatz's new restaurant Next introduced a novel method of reservation by ticket is that it allows a more equitable (and legal) distribution of (mandatory) service charge among all the staff, front and back of the house, which tax law currently prohibits (I think).

Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 28 April 2011 14:34 (thirteen years ago) link

haha false afaik, i tip at pretty much every meal

just sayin, Thursday, 28 April 2011 14:36 (thirteen years ago) link

(altho i've only been in england for abt 4 years so maybe i've been doing it wrong + offending ppl)

just sayin, Thursday, 28 April 2011 14:36 (thirteen years ago) link

My sister in England claims that not only are you not encouraged to tip there, but that some servers will take it as an insult. True/false?

Maybe it makes them feel like servants?

Christine Green Leafy Dragon Indigo, Thursday, 28 April 2011 14:40 (thirteen years ago) link

What do you guys think is customary for buffets? I usually do just like, a buck (if it's $7.95 or whatever), since all the server really does is give you your drink and take plates away. Or do you tip the same?

frogbs, Thursday, 28 April 2011 14:51 (thirteen years ago) link

tip a few dollars, also depends on the ethnicity of the buffet

br8080 (dayo), Thursday, 28 April 2011 14:59 (thirteen years ago) link

Buffet tip should be at least two bucks a person, more if the server was somehow distinctly great, and if it's some sort of upscale, pricey buffet thing then adjust those numbers because it's insulting to tip $2 on a $30 check no matter what. Although I have no idea what kind of buffet that would be! (Up front: I wait tables for a living. And it's in a hotel, so to be fair, there are opportunities to be good that go beyond keeping on top of drink refills and handling the check(s) quickly etc - - people ask for directions and recommendations in town and so on.)

My opinion here is also shaped by working in a place that only does buffet for breakfast on the weekends, which are hectic, long, break-free shifts in comparison to table service periods, just because the volume of customers goes way up without there necessarily being more servers on the floor. So the server may actually be doing way more work in general to keep the general dining experience afloat. Yeah, less interaction with you individually, and none of the above is your idea, but the fact that you were able to get a clean table quickly, your drinks regularly refilled without you having to ask, the dirty plates out from under your elbows fast, your checks split up and cashed out promptly.... all of that is down to the staff generally staying on top of everything.

Anyway, what I'm getting at is that, if it's just a buck a head, they are doing a lot more sweating and running around in order to keep you fed, and getting tipped less on it.

This is also where that "you're tipping the support team as well" thing comes into play. We don't do that at my place but lord, I wish we had at least one busser/food-runner on buffet shifts. We had that at a place I used to work at and things went a lot smoother, I didn't mind tipping those guys out in the slightest.

Doctor Casino, Thursday, 28 April 2011 15:06 (thirteen years ago) link

I tip the same.

Christine Green Leafy Dragon Indigo, Thursday, 28 April 2011 15:07 (thirteen years ago) link

for the record I don't think I've ever gotten a waitress who was able to refill the drinks "on time"...usually you have to wait 5-10 minutes. but I'm just talking about one place in particular; i guess maybe it shouldn't be any different? I dunno...I've had this debate before, in the end the whole culture of tipping is kinda ridiculous

frogbs, Thursday, 28 April 2011 15:14 (thirteen years ago) link

10%, double it, adjust down if required = easy

― 40% chill and 100% negative (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 28 April 2011 12:05 (4 hours ago) Bookmark

^^^ been doin this for years

BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Thursday, 28 April 2011 16:10 (thirteen years ago) link

for the record I don't think I've ever gotten a waitress who was able to refill the drinks "on time"...usually you have to wait 5-10 minutes.

Well, that's lousy! But I take pride in being a big refill-anticipator. You find satisfaction in the small things in this line of work I guess.

Doctor Casino, Thursday, 28 April 2011 16:25 (thirteen years ago) link

tip a few dollars, also depends on the ethnicity of the buffet

????

The New Dirty Vicar, Thursday, 28 April 2011 16:33 (thirteen years ago) link

re. the ethnicity thing.

The New Dirty Vicar, Thursday, 28 April 2011 16:33 (thirteen years ago) link

I have recently been chided by my girlfriend, an ex-barista, for not routinely tipping at coffee shops. I mean, sometimes I throw a buck in the tip jar, but I haven't -- until now -- been routinely doing a dollar-a-drink like I do at bars. GF notes that making a cappuccino or espresso is more work than pulling a pint, and barista wages are no more than bartender wages, so tips should be commensurate. This makes sense to me and now I feel guilty.

something of an astrological coup (tipsy mothra), Thursday, 28 April 2011 16:40 (thirteen years ago) link

(and I just read the barista tipping guide up above, which I'm sure my girlfriend would endorse)

something of an astrological coup (tipsy mothra), Thursday, 28 April 2011 16:43 (thirteen years ago) link

I don't feel guilty! They're not waitstaff, and I don't tip the guy who makes my sandwich at the deli.

Back up the lesbian canoe (Laurel), Thursday, 28 April 2011 16:43 (thirteen years ago) link

Yeah, I mean ... where the line exactly is between "server" and "service employee" is hard to say. But I get the analogy to bartenders. Especially if you're actually drinking the coffee at the coffeeshop. Getting it to go might be more like getting food to go (when I usually don't tip, except maybe a buck or so).

But anyway. More to the point for me is my girlfriend will think I'm a Bad Person if I don't tip in coffee shops, so that's worth avoiding.

something of an astrological coup (tipsy mothra), Thursday, 28 April 2011 16:48 (thirteen years ago) link

A buck! A buck is what I would tip for a cocktail, you say it like that's the LEAST you would put in. This is a fucked up world in which coffee servers need to be tipped. Not to say that frothing milk and making lattes and stuff isn't work, but...how is the CUSTOMER supposed to know that their employer isn't paying them minimum wage??

Back up the lesbian canoe (Laurel), Thursday, 28 April 2011 16:49 (thirteen years ago) link

I meant I tip a buck or so for pick-up food, not coffee. (Though there's probably a whole etiquette discussion there, too.)

And I think baristas really are supposed to make minimum wage. Whether they do or not might vary, I don't know. Otoh, minimum wage isn't much.

something of an astrological coup (tipsy mothra), Thursday, 28 April 2011 16:58 (thirteen years ago) link

i tip baristas, the cute ones at least

40% chill and 100% negative (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 28 April 2011 17:00 (thirteen years ago) link

whenever I tip a barista, they always say "why are you pushing me"

Dreaded Burrito Gang (DJP), Thursday, 28 April 2011 17:00 (thirteen years ago) link

No, but wait a second: the mandate to tip servers/waitstaff is because there's a pre-existing labor model in place in which they are paid WELL under min wage under the assumption that tips will make up the difference (and potentially more). We don't tip them JUST BECAUSE they don't make "a lot" of money. There's a specific tacit agreement.

Making min wage is, god knows, not a comfortable place to be in any way, but it's not up to the customers to make it up to the servers?

Back up the lesbian canoe (Laurel), Thursday, 28 April 2011 17:01 (thirteen years ago) link

it's not. that's why you don't have to tip baristas.

call all destroyer, Thursday, 28 April 2011 17:04 (thirteen years ago) link

...Which is what I'm saying. Tipsy has personal reasons to keep his gf sweet and happy by being not-an-asshole in her eyes, so he tips. I'm kind of reacting to the suggestion that we should all be doing it. Because I'm reactionary like that, at least on days ending in -y and on which I'm really really bored.

Back up the lesbian canoe (Laurel), Thursday, 28 April 2011 17:06 (thirteen years ago) link

I tip for a complicated coffee drink and/or food that requires prep but not for drip coffee and a muffin on a plate.

I wouldn't argue that's the right way to do it, mind you. It's just the way I roll. There's a sandwich shop in my building and I sometimes stop for a drip coffee ($1.77) and I never put he change in the change jar, because it's like the arbitrary line I've drawn, and the cashier hates me.

phantoms from a world gone by speak again the immortal tale: (Jenny), Thursday, 28 April 2011 17:11 (thirteen years ago) link

yeah i mean i usually do it if it's convenient (i.e. i pay with a card and there's a signable receipt with a tip space) but i don't really feel bad if i don't do it.

call all destroyer, Thursday, 28 April 2011 17:12 (thirteen years ago) link

the beginning of this thread was funny

buzza, Thursday, 28 April 2011 17:21 (thirteen years ago) link

A buck! A buck is what I would tip for a cocktail, you say it like that's the LEAST you would put in. This is a fucked up world in which coffee servers need to be tipped.

you do see how there's more work in a latte than a beer though, right?

BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Thursday, 28 April 2011 17:23 (thirteen years ago) link

whenever I tip a barista, they always say "why are you pushing me"

― Dreaded Burrito Gang (DJP), Thursday, April 28, 2011 5:00 PM (23 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i hope this post doesn't get lost

frogbs, Thursday, 28 April 2011 17:32 (thirteen years ago) link


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