Tipping at lunch

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

So a restaurant lures you in with an advertised special and you end up spending more than you thought you would? Get outta here.

 

Interesting point on the lunch/dinner perspective. Lunch at these places seems to be more laid back. (I'm talking about sit-down places, not fast food, which can be crazy.)

[Hawk 34 0]

As long as we are on tipping, what about other services?

 

Like for instance, I actually went to one of those cheapo hair-cut places (I get 4 cuts per year) just the other day and I felt the lady was good convo and plesant (of course, she had pictures of her kids on her little stand area), and the haircut came out pretty good (although, you can't screw up a hair-cut that easily). I paid the the bill and I wondered..

 

"Should i throw in an extra couple bills her way? is this allowed?", by the time I had reached down in my pocket to retrive the extra change...she had already turned around and walked away.

 

What about the car-washers? When you go to one of those fancy little auto-spas, I usually throw them a couple bills. What about Valet parkers? They drive my car around a lot and park it. Why should I pay him $ because he did that?

[Black Lushus 0]

before I started just shaving my own head, I would tip my barbers...for about 6 years, one of my good friends who's a stylist did it for free, but I tossed him so cash each time anyway.

[Damaramu 0]

There's a mexican restaraunt close by my house that I always eat at. It's really really good food but always shitty service. So I know I won't have to tip if I go eat there b/c I will have terrible service.

[CanadianChris 0]

I don't tip at Buffets, even though they are bringing me my drink and cleaning off plates and such...usually...I think OCB is the only buffet I've been to that doesn't bring you your drink...joints like Valentinos, China Buffet, Golden Coral get no tip from me.

I tip at buffets. The wait staff isn't any better off than at a regular restaurant as far as wages.

 

I've read it's customary to tip $1-2 per person. I'm usually at the lower end of the scale.

[Renegade 0]

Most places I go use service charge, so tipping is pointless.

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

Whenever I got to the barbershop, I tip.

[Black Lushus 0]

I don't tip at Buffets, even though they are bringing me my drink and cleaning off plates and such...usually...I think OCB is the only buffet I've been to that doesn't bring you your drink...joints like Valentinos, China Buffet, Golden Coral get no tip from me.

I tip at buffets. The wait staff isn't any better off than at a regular restaurant as far as wages.

 

I've read it's customary to tip $1-2 per person. I'm usually at the lower end of the scale.

 

it just always seems, in my experiences anyway, that there's more than one person doing things for you at buffets.

[CanadianChris 0]

Whenever I go to the barbershop, I tip.

[Kaertos 0]

When I waited tables for a living, I hated working lunch, mostly because everyone that came in was looking for the cheapest way out and tipped badly after running you all over the place for the most inane crap.

 

But that was nothing compared to the infamous Ground Round Penny-a-Pound night where anyone under 12 payed what they weighed, which normally amounted to about $.50 per kid. Some of the hillrats in our area would load up the station wagon with the entire neighborhood, get them all P-a-P meals, then get a side salad and water for their meal. Total bill was usually something like $10 for a table of two adults and ten kids. Ten messy kids because the adults never kept them in their seats or made them not throw their food around. So for an hour of work I was tipped maybe a buck and spent the next thirty minutes just trying to get their table clean for the next group of brats to come through the door.

 

One of the reasons I don't wait tables anymore.

[Prophet of Mike Zagurski 0]

Whenever I got to the barbershop, I tip.

 

I know my barber, so I have to tip.

[Guest NYankees]

When I waited tables for a living, I hated working lunch, mostly because everyone that came in was looking for the cheapest way out and tipped badly after running you all over the place for the most inane crap.

 

But that was nothing compared to the infamous Ground Round Penny-a-Pound night where anyone under 12 payed what they weighed, which normally amounted to about $.50 per kid. Some of the hillrats in our area would load up the station wagon with the entire neighborhood, get them all P-a-P meals, then get a side salad and water for their meal. Total bill was usually something like $10 for a table of two adults and ten kids. Ten messy kids because the adults never kept them in their seats or made them not throw their food around. So for an hour of work I was tipped maybe a buck and spent the next thirty minutes just trying to get their table clean for the next group of brats to come through the door.

 

One of the reasons I don't wait tables anymore.

 

 

It's funny that at the more upscale of a restaurant you work at, the more money you make and the less work you have to do.

[2GOLD 0]

My Dad will usually leave a dollar per person eating. That's it. Most of the time, it comes out to about right too.

 

Two people, 10 dollars total for the meal, about two bucks. Ain't gonna kill you to each drop another dollar. If they suck, don't tip them but they better suck alot to stiff them a damn dollar.

[Guest NYankees]

I used to be a waiter. Day shift sucked compared to the night shift. I was a waiter at a steak restaurant and most people during the day were in a rush and only ordered from the lunchtime specials. Nobody wanted to work the day shift because what you made all day you could make in one hour working the night shift. For the people who are too cheap to tip, all I can say is don't go out to restaurants and just go to Mcdonalds.

[AboveAverage484 0]

 

"Uh-uh, I don't tip."

 

This wasn't referenced until the seventh post? Crazy...

 

I used to tip 1 dollar for every refill. They'd get a dollar just for serving, plus another for every refill after that. In other words, they'd get rewarded for keeping up with my drinks. I have been to some places before and have gotten my drink and didn't receive a refill until I left. Deserving of a one dollar tip.

[Gert T 0]

I'm just mad that Middletown, Ohio has gotten this much play in this thread......

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

Be nice to Middletown; economic development sure hasn't been kind to the region.

[Hawk 34 0]

Be nice to Middletown; economic development sure hasn't been kind to the region.

 

I got family in Middletown and I attend a night class in the Middletown branch of Miami University. Yeah, Middletown isn't the nice city I hear it was 10-15 years ago. Bunch of closed down stores and even the mall there is barely functional.

 

It's not quite at dump city levels because they have a decent section of town smothered with the americanized resturants like Golden Corral, Olive Garden, Applebee's and some stores and such but it's hardly a quality town. If it ever was.

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

Yeah, all the development is by I-75. I remember when the better half and I moved there, she went out first. I never saw the region, so when I got off I-75, I was like "not bad."

 

Then I started getting closer to "downtown." Man were my palms sweating.

 

Although the area was shitty, we were in a nice townhouse complex. I forget its name, but it was along Clark Street.

 

And their mall wasn't too bad. Wasn't great but I've seen worse. Parkway Center Mall in Shittsburgh and the long-dead Greengate Mall in Westmoreland County are/were leagues worse than Middletown's mall.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Here's another question -- do you just leave tip money on the table? For me, I always include it on the credit card, and if I have to give cash, unless there are no customers in the immediate area, I give it to the waiter/waitress. The reason for this is one time I busted someone not employed with the restaurant taking my tip money off the table. That was a fun moment.

 

Cash. Money left on the credit card needs to be reported on their taxes at the end of the year. Paper money is off the books.

[nl5xsk1 0]

Here's another question -- do you just leave tip money on the table? For me, I always include it on the credit card, and if I have to give cash, unless there are no customers in the immediate area, I give it to the waiter/waitress. The reason for this is one time I busted someone not employed with the restaurant taking my tip money off the table. That was a fun moment.

 

Cash. Money left on the credit card needs to be reported on their taxes at the end of the year. Paper money is off the books.

I'm with al, but only if the service is good. If the service is good, I want to give them the opportunity to report the minimal amount for a tip and then pocket the difference. If the service sucks, I tip on the card, which means that they have to report the full amount of the tip.

[Nightfall 0]

There's a mexican restaraunt close by my house that I always eat at. It's really really good food but always shitty service. So I know I won't have to tip if I go eat there b/c I will have terrible service.

 

Wow, they probably fuck with your food a LOT. I can honestly say that if I was a waiter, and there was a person that always came in, and never tipped, I would fuck with their stuff. As a card dealer, someone who lives off of tips, I can honestly say that no matter how bad the service, I always leave a good tip. The person could be having a really really bad day, but can't even afford to take a day off. When I'm having a really shitty day at work, and someone is extra nice and tips me, I feel quite a bit better. So I try to do the same for others. Hell, I tipped a gas station cashier $5 for cashing in like 15 lotto scratchers I had not too long ago.

[Special K 0]

Anyone who has ever worked for tips, tips.

 

I worked at a car wash. I made minimum, which is more than most servers make, and minimum in WA state is pretty damn good, as long as you don't have to pay rent. It was a tremendously fun job, no sarcasm. I observed this:

 

People in pieces of shit cars usually tipped a couple quarters. They'd probably worked for tips.

 

People in middle-range cars tipped well. They had a buck or two, and had been there.

 

People in Lexuses, Hummers, and Escalades? Usually didn't tip a fucking thing, entitled assholes. Sometimes you'd get a really happy guy who pitched in something outrageous like $10

 

It was next to the biggest strip club in Seattle. The strippers? Tipped like maniacs.

 

Aside:

 

Protip from Doug/Gamepro: If your paint job is so fucking nice that an automated wash leaves little tiny swirly marks in your previous, precious wax job, GET IT HAND WASHED YOU WORTHLESS PIECE OF SHIT. EVERY SINGLE automated car wash does that. We're not whipping your car with fucking barb wire. If your car can't take getting viciously touched by soft, silky fabric washers, maybe your car has a problem.

 

That felt good.

 

/Aside:

 

Anyway, fucking tip at lunch. 50c, a buck, nothing major. A buck usually works out to about 20%, look how nice you are! Fast food meals cost about 5 bucks nowadays, anyway. Would you rather wolf down 3 chicken tenders from the golden arches dining club in your car, or sit down and have a good burger or a salad or something?

 

Fuck, I can walk into an actual good restaurant at lunchtime, and have a cup of french onion soup and a side ceasar for 6 bucks EASY. And them shits are delicious. That is worth a buck.

 

Or I can have some cactus tacos. MMmmm. But I digress.

 

If you're a cheap bastard, go all the way, there's nothing wrong with that. Buy, like, 3 snackers from KFC. It's a meal, it tastes pretty good, no tip.

[k thx 0]

In the UK we don't do the tipping thing. That's what their wages are for. Me coming here gets you paid at the end of the week, damn fucking straight you give me first class service. If you tip someone in the UK, unless you're a blatant tourist, you'll get a few funny looks.

 

If I travel abroad, I always tip genorously to make up for it though. It's part of the experience.