People Who Refuse to Tip at Restaurants are Embarrassing!

by White Dove 69 Replies latest jw friends

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  EmergedAsMe

  As I have said I was not brought up in tipping culture but...

  For you Brits...I am confused. I have experienced "forced tipping" in the UK just last year! I was shocked as I had no idea that went on over there. First incident was not fine dinning, just a Mexican restaurant. The meal was much pricer than I like paying for average mexican food the service average to sub-par... And then the bill came out with an additional 10% - 15% (can't remember exactly) added on to the bill as a service charge. My English friend explained it was just a tip and pretty standard. I paid it following the "when in rome" thing, but it left a bad taste especially when combined with the two x 4 pound bottles of water (just call me sucker!!). It kind of reminded me of an infomercial ... get this for just X, bla bla this can be yours for X – repeated over and over and then right at the end in small writing and a super quick voice over "plus shippping and handling".

  I have chatted to quite a few English people after this and I was told that Brits tip just as much as the Americans. And tipping is expected for hairdressers and other things besides wait staff. So I am seriously confused!! I have only had a limited time in the UK, so I can only draw on my own experience and what other English people have told me. The original incident and the following meals out that had service added in (which everyone in the group paid it without blinking an eye and they were local) paint a different picture to what the Brits on this thread are saying. Could it be different areas? I was in London, but the English people I talked to about tipping were from all over. So what is your take on this Brits?
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  Quillsky

  Bottom line, it's about the way a service provider makes your experience into an experience, rather than merely serving food, washing hair, and so on.

  I hear what people are saying about how the cost of something should be the cost, period. However, you're not going to single-handedly change the world, or an eating-out culture, or an economy, or a society, so get with it when you're in Rome. Unless you want to be, or appear to be, culturally oblivious.

  How difficult is it to add (discretionary) service onto the cost of a meal in your head, before you order or before you pay??
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  Doubtfully Yours

  Many in my Hispanic fellow community need help desperately in this regard; they're horrible non-tippers (for the most part). It's caused largely due to the culture in many of our countries of origin where tipping just doesn't exist.

  I know that in our Spanish congregations there's usually a big article on tipping whenever assembly time rolls around, in order to educate us all in the importance of tipping. I make up for it by leaving 20% tip in most cases, also by educating my fellow hispanics whenever I get a chance about tipping practices here in the USA.

  DY
• 

  zombie dub

  And then the bill came out with an additional 10% - 15% (can't remember exactly) added on to the bill as a service charge.

  Some places try this on, its very rare though. I went to an italian place that did it once. They aren't allowed to enforce this tho, if the service was bad you can just tell them to calculate it without the service charge or just pay for it minus the service charge and leave. The reason everyone you were with just paid it is because we don't like to argue or cause any kind of fuss here. Even if we are being ripped of we will go along with it and then moan a lot to our friends/family afterwards about it.

  I have chatted to quite a few English people after this and I was told that Brits tip just as much as the Americans. And tipping is expected for hairdressers and other things besides wait staff. So I am seriously confused!!

  Not sure who told you this but I would challenge this, it seriously isn't the norm at all. I have never heard of anyone tipping a hairdresser!

  How difficult is it to add (discretionary) service onto the cost of a meal in your head, before you order or before you pay??

  Fair enough. If I ever went to the states I would do this. Still seems weird to me (and most of the non USA world) though!
• 

  undercover

  If I order food and it comes to $10, but in order for the staff to make a living I really need to pay $12 then... how about this - charge $12 in the first place??!

  The cruise industry has experimented with tipping "charges" included in the price of the cruise.

  Anyone who has taken a cruise knows that at the end of the trip, you end up putting cash in envelopes and handing them out to cabin stewards, waiters, the maitre d', and anyone else that served you during the trip. Depending on the length of the trip, it can be over a hundred bucks per person.

  To try to alleviate that hit at the end of the trip, some cruise lines added 15% or so to the trip charge. Instead of guests tipping the servers, etc, the company paid them the extra percentage based on how many passengers were on that trip.

  Sounds good. We pay up front and don't have to worry about it. The staff gets their tips.

  Too bad it didn't work so well. Becaues the staff knew they were getting their tips anyway, they started to not give that extra effort in order to impress the guests so they'd be remembered on tip day.

  I've cruised both ways and the 'tip included' system service was not as good as service on other cruises where I had to tip at the end.

  The same thing would happen in our current serving system at restaurants. Give servers a set pay for their service duties and you'll have poorer service across the board in time. They don't need our tips so they don't have to go that extra mile to ensure that we're pleased.

  It may suck... but it's just the way it is. Most of us realize that if we go out to eat tipping is just part of the cost of that experience.
• 

  keyser soze

  people who refuse to tip? wow really they refuse to tip? or are they opt not to tip? embarrasing? wow just because they choose not to tip you feel embarrased?

  I'm assuming the thread is directed towards Americans, and people that live where tipping is customary and expected. The rightness of such a system is beside the point. The fact of the matter is, that it is the system we have in place. Right or not, the waitstaff depends on tips to make a living, and patrons understand this fact before going into a restaurant to eat.

  Viewed in that context, do you understand why not tipping would be considered cheap and embarassing, in places where it is customary to do so?
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  Quirky1

  I am a good tipper BUT if the service or food sucks, then no, I don't tip. They'll catch on sooner or later..
• 

  nelly136

  EAM if its stated on the menu that theres a service charge then i think you're obliged to pay it as you are deemed aware of it when you order,

  if they've just stuck it on the bill (trying their luck) then youre not obliged to pay it.

  london is a tourist spot so maybe theyre more likely to do that to hit up the tourists especially as a lot of tourists expect that as standard?

  tipping can vary in the uk, its not totally alien for people to round the total up to a note and say 'keep the change' if you've given a good service.

  when i was working as a barmaid i would let customers buy me bottled alchopops and put them in a corner to take home later, at £3 a pop i could sometimes earn the pub as much or more than they actually paid me for a shift. (not the easiest feat in some of the pubs i worked in cos some of those ol gits squeaked when they walked)

  my boss asked me why i got more drinks bought than her other staff..... i told her when her other staff were ready to pour the next pint as customers hit the last inch or two of their drinks, remember what they were drinking and their rounds,were able to remember the preferred glass shapes with widgets or no widgets,serve in both bars without forgetting the back bar, wipe the bar regularly so their elbows werent sitting in a puddle or sticky patch or leave them sitting behind a pile of used glasses, and still manage to listen to every sob story and engage the customers with a smile instead of a grunt then maybe theyd get bought more too.

  so no, we are not obliged to tip here as a rule but if you give or get a good service then it really ups the odds that someone will tip. even the tight bast'ds
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  Doubtfully Yours

  If the food or service is really bad, I'll then tip 10%, but not without making the observation to the manager or person in charge. I've gone as fas as putting it in writing, with the name of the waiter if that's the problem or the date and time of my visit in case the cook is the problem. To my surprise I've gotten replies with apologies and coupons to return.

  People that wait tables live on tips, so I'll tip even when the service is less than expected.

  DY
• 

  White Dove

  That's my point. It IS the custom of my area to tip and tip well. Those who don't really do look bad to everyone.

  My relative said that she "refuses to tip. They are paid to do a job and that is it."

  Sounds bitter and tight fisted in a place that it is the custom to tip.

  I don't feel like tipping is a bribe. I feel only that it is my thanks to the servers. If tipping is how they want to be thanked, besides verbally, then so be it. I'm happy to do it. I like to give back.

  I read a Miss Manners article discussing tip jars at Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts. She said that since they are paid at least minimum wage and that you carry your food to the table and bus your own table that you don't have to tip them.

  I agree with this. I always felt strange tipping at those places. I don't tip them.