Another Story About Tipping and The Tip Jar.......

[fourunder]

When Will The Madness End?

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/in...

[Bex_03]

I actually read a newspaper article on this subject just a little while ago. Seems like more and more people are becoming frustrated with this "counter-tipping". I hate feeling that awkward pressure to punch in a tip on the debit machine or leave change in the tip jar. The worst is for things like take-out. I mean, I don't want to tip someone because they handed me my food. If that's the case, just point to the counter where my food is and I'll get it myself! The article I had read talked about how tipping use to be given to people who demonstrated extraordinary service. Now we're tipping because of guilt and pressure? It's getting pretty ridiculous. I've also been asked how much tip I wanted to add to my card. It's extremely awkward...

[saeyedoc]

I went to Denny's today for a $4 order of pancakes, eggs and bacon. I gave a credit card to the cashier, when he asked me if I wanted to leave a tip on it, I said yes. He asked how much, I said "80" and he asks "80 percent?". I had to laugh.

[anndillman]

Not being snarky but maybe he was surprised that you would leave an 80 cent tip instead of $1 (assuming "80" meant 80 cents.

[jfood]

you were going to leave 80-cents? lucky the "80 percent" was all you heard.

[Bex_03]

My math could be totally wrong here but isn't 80 cents a 20% tip? I'd have left 60 cents (15%). Haha.

[saeyedoc]

If I was leaving cash, I'd round up to a dollar, but on a CC, why not leave 20%? Isn't that considered a decent tip? It wasn't the waitress that rang me up by the way.

[jfood]

Leaving 80-cents is closer to a slap in the face than a decent tip. As jfood has stated 10's of times on threads, you cannot spend percentages, you spend dollars and cents. 80-cents is just a bad tip whether on a $1.99 special (at 40%) or $8.00 (10%). You sit at the counter and have a cup of coffee and toast for $1.60, leave $2 and pat yourself on the back for leaving a 25% tip. Gosh jfood hopes not.

[reiflame]

What would you leave for the $1.60 coffee and toast?

[jfood]

$4 in total, but this is pure theory since jfood would never just have coffee and toast. Let's take real example. $1.99 breakfast special with an english instead of toast totals ~2.40-2.45. Jfood leaves a fiver.

[saeyedoc]

I respectfully disagree with your methodology. Anyone who works at a place that has meals for $4 knows full well they aren't going to get much more than 15-20% tip. If you feel good about leaving a 100% tip, have at it. I think a very small % of people are so generous.

[Bex_03]

I have to agree with saeyedoc. I don't know anyone who would leave a 100% tip (or a 150% tip in the case of $1.60 coffee and toast). Not to mention that this all goes back to the idea of how crazy tipping has become. An 80 cent tip should not be considered a "slap in the face" if your meal was $4.

jfood, do you tip that much no matter what the service was like? It's an interesting idea, but I'm having trouble understanding the concept of tipping based on dollars and cents rather than percentages. How do you calculate what you will pay them? Or do you just randomly pick a number? Sorry, I don't mean to attack you with questions, I'm just curious how this works.

[harrie]

I do (usually tip 100% or more on a small tab).

Breakfast and lunch bills are smaller amounts than dinners, and the waitperson is still hustling, ie refilling coffee, grabbing a fresh ketchup, syrup or jelly, whatever. It's like they're penalized financially for working those shifts; but they work just as hard, sometimes harder, than their dinnertime waitpeople counterparts.

By the same token, there are a few sandwich shops where I try to be equally appreciative with the tip jars. G'ahead and laugh at me for it, but at the places where I'm a regular, I'm treated very, very well.

[NellyNel]

Agreed, harrie

I worked breakfast shift at a diner once and man I never worked so hard in me life!
Luckily this was in Brooklyn - which is known for big tippers..
There were a few regulars who would give me a five for a coffee to go!

And most would tip 50-100% or more on low tabs.

[jfood]

There is no algorythm at this tab level other than doing the right tihing and looking himself in the mirror at night. If you feel comfortable leaving <$1, that is your choice, And jfood respectfully disagrees and reiterates that a sub $1 tip is a slap in the face. W/rt your question on service level, all of this assumes a good service level. bad service levels obviously does not get the same level. These server have a less than glamourous jobs and work very hard, and jfood just cannot get himself to leave such a paltry tip just because it is 20% of a number.

[Bex_03]

1) I don't think I've ever encountered a bill so small that my tip would be less than $1 (unless I'm having fast food, where I will leave zero tip. Is that bad? Wait...I don't care) However, if I do ever come across such a situation, I will consider your ideas because they make a lot of sense.

2) "doing the right tihing and looking himself in the mirror at night" I can look at myself in the mirror at night just fine, thank you. I didn't harm a small child.....I've just never given a 100% tip.

3) I think everyone would agree that these people work hard. I don't see anyone suggesting the opposite.

4) I still don't like "counter tipping"

[jfood]

hey B

1) yeah jfood thinks it does as well
2) jfood was responding to your question on how he picks the number, it is sort of a feel versus a math equation
3) it was a point versus a counter-point
4) jfood hates tip jars. the first sign that they are trying to reach incorrectly in jfood's pocket is the mere presence of them.

[c oliver]

You're more generous than I but I would never leave less than $1tip. Anyone serving me anything deserves at least that.

[Sharuf]

Here's my no-brainer system. Under $6 - I leave a buck. Under $12 I leave $2. Beyond that, I start getting into math.

[saeyedoc]

So leaving a $2 tip on a $11.99 bill (<20%) or $1 on a $5.99 check is better than leaving an 80c tip on a $4 check? That makes no sense at all.

It's not like I was sitting there for a long time getting free refills on coffee. I had my platter, one glass of water and was gone in 15 minutes.

When using a credit card, I usually give 20%, more if the service was exceptional. If using cash, I would round up.

Don't even get me started on tip jars.

[comestible]

One other point that might be noted is the totally low-ball "special" where a restaurant manager offers, say, a breakfast worth $8 for $3. In such case, certainly you would tip on the larger amount..

[gloriousfood]

In many cases, it's reminding yourself that you have control of the situation and to not be intimidated. I ignore all tip jars. And if someone has the nerve to ask me
"How much gratuity would you like to be added to your card?" when there had previously been no such policy in effect (as with the one of the women in this piece), I would simply reply, "None, thanks for asking. My continued patronage here should suffice."

[jfood]

"How much gratuity would you like to be added to your card?"

Jfood has never been asked but wow he is not sure how he would react. Now that he knows that one might be coming he can be prepared. Thx.

www.ctbites.com

[comestible]

It's a pet peeve of mine. All these tip jars appearing where there were none before. Bakeries, sandwich shops (for takeout), whatever. Are managers stiffing their employees on wages or something? I basically will tip generously in traditional tipping scenarios (cabs, restaurant counter/table service, bars, haircuts)...the way it was 10 years ago. If there is a good reason to tip in these new scenarios, please inform me.

[reiflame]

You might want to link to the first page of the story, not the 2nd.

[jfood]

just click on the title of the article on the link and it goes to page 1