Do you even know who I am or what my name is? Do you know about me? Do you have my resume or have you met me? Do you actually think my personality matches what you see on here? You don't know anything more than what I tell you. I was a bad waiter because I am not outgoing and I bitched too much to my manager about only getting work on slow weekday evenings, so I moved back down. I made more bussing and working utility on the weekends than I did serving on Monday and Wednesday night.

s/customer/manager/g

@JECE: not every job is deserving of a great salary. A burger flipper or a cashier at McDonald's shouldn't be a job you feed a family with.

"I always tip in cash in the hopes the waiter pockets the money."

This is why the IRS came up with guidelines on tipping to collect unreported tips in taxable income.

You can't guard against the simple act of stuffing bills in your pockets.

". I was a bad waiter because I am not outgoing and I bitched too much to my manager"

Exactly who I thought you were.

"And for those of you that say eliminating tips would kill customer service, please shut up."
Maybe not in restaurant service but man, do other customer service-type jobs often need some incentive to help people and generally be nicer to customers here (since their wage is "good" so tips aren't a thing here).

When delivering pizzas I rarely was tipped more than $2 or $3 per delivery, and often not tipped at all. I think my average was $2 per delivery. Minorities and low class neighborhoods usually meant non-existent tips. But some expensive homeowners were also lousy tippers. There didn't seem to be any percentage--just a flat "here is $3." The one that angered me the most was the Baptist church that ordered 40 pizzas and didn't tip me a thing. That was not an easy delivery. I always enjoyed the potheads because they were generous tippers.

Did they give you a rip?

LOL. No.

Though I was often offered a beer by drunk guys watching football.

The rich are incredibly cheap. That is how they became the rich.

Your a moron

Tipping is done for good service. If you did give good service without reward, well, life isn't fair. And btw if you are from U.S. you still may have to pay for the upcoming 10b a year thing with free community colleges.

Is that actually happening next year?

The fake bible money campaign is really in poor taste, considering they usually distribute those to people in dire need of it.

Are church-goers cheaper as a rule because they already "tip" their churches 10% of their earnings?

I like the dropping-it-into-the-church-collection-plate idea one of the commenters on that article had. The circle of life.

I live in the UK so things are a bit different from the US experience - but only a bit...

I would like to live in a world where everyone was paid a fair income but I know that even with our minimum wage here in the UK, the fact that increasing numbers of workers in hospitality / service jobs are on casual "zero hours" contracts means that's not the case as they often can't predict how many hours they'll be employed for next week, and thus how much they'll earn. With that in mind, when I eat out I tend to tip unless the service is poor. For some reason, in the UK it's far less common to tip in bars than in restaurants. I mostly drink in 2 or 3 bars where the bar staff are mostly friends of mine anyway, and I'm generous to them when I can be.

Whoah, tips in the US are taxed? I'm with Mr Pink, that is fucked up.

Anyway, this is so particular to the US. If I'd tip anybody here 25% they'd probably think it was an error.

"only tip 30%"
http://i.imgur.com/DcTBOkc.png

Chaqa: They should be a job that you can feed yourself with.

I can't speak for most church goers, because tipping is (and always has been) a case-by-case basis. I tend to believe that if you can't afford the tip, then don't go sit down at a restaurant. Most people who don't tip well (regardless of religious affiliation) are seniors.

I tip a minimum of 15%, regardless of good or bad service. I understand people have their good days and bad days. I can honestly say that I've not ever had a server treat me like garbage, either.

The only time I ever didn't tip is when I went out to eat with my wife and kids, business was slow, and our server didn't show up for 20 minutes. From there, our drink order was taken, we were given our drinks and we sat there for another 20 minutes before we were able to order. After our order, it took over 30 minutes to get our food. People that came in after us had their food, got up and left even before we began. To make it worse, there was no apology from either management or the server. We have yet to go back to that restaurant.

I never tip. It is kind of demeaning to pay people for their smile. The patrons should take care of paying their staff.

WWJT?

Make their jobs redundant with free fish and wine?

also I concur with bo. The two countries with the best customer service I've ever been in are countries that don't take tips (it even involves the waiter running after you if you left it secretly under the dishes). The worst customer service I had in the country with the most developed tip culture and it would score far below average in my experience. so money doesn't buy friendliness.

X3n0n changing the world, one screwed server at a time.

@ Jamie

I'm not sure what things are like in your part of the UK, but in mine tipping the barman at the local would be considered insulting. The only system I have known is the one in which, after a relationship has been established between patron and barman over a period of months/years the patron will occasionally say 'and one for yourself' when buying a round.

@ Octavious: Pretty much, yes - that's more or less what I mean when I say "I'm generous to them when I can be". I don't leave them cash tips - as you say, in a British pub that would be odd.

@Jeff I also do live a country where tips are insulting (and yes I know the other side to it well, when I was waiting in a café during the morning shift – there was once a huge international conference close by with many Americans having their coffee/breakfast in my store. it resulted in more tip than I earned per hour), so I won't screw anybody.

But if you don't tip the bartender, how do you make sure your drinks are watered down to fuck all?