the sandbox guide to tipping demographics

this happened to me late at night in a French restaurant in London = ?

Delivery definitely but to-go orders picked up in house might be the worst from what I hear. People assume you don't have to tip because you're not being waited on or delivered to but there is usually a server assigned to takeout who has to package everything up with napkins and utensils and organize the whole thing while still dealing with their other tables. And at the end of the night the servers have to tip the kitchen staff out of their tips. So huge takeout orders with no tips means tons of wasted time and money for the unlucky server who has to deal with it.

There must have been a conversation I don't fully remember.

Ha, okay, I'm still totally vexed by this question -- it's like the "does this make me look fat" of servers. "Do you need anything" doesn't confuse me, because I know if I need anything. "How are your meals" is just ... I'm not supposed to be, like, honest, right? But then why the hell am I going to a restaurant and paying them money and then being forced to pretend -- "oh, they're fine, thanks!" -- that I like a crappy dish? I get really awkward about this, and I wish there were some way I could express that (a) the food sucks, (b) I accept that the food sucks and do not want to send it back, and (c) I'm not blaming the server -- all without drawing the server into my own awkwardness. (Cause if you tell them it sucks but don't ask for any kind of solution, they get all frozen and freaked out, not knowing what to do.)

Maybe from now on I'll complain, and then if they ask what I want them to do about it, I'll start crying and say "I'm not asking you to fix it, I just want you to listen to me."

at the store i once worked at if you told the cashier what you were looking for they'd page someone in that department and have one brought to you, provided we had it. if we didn't have it they'd tell you when it was coming in next or if it was an item we'd stopped carrying.

Civil servants were the worst. They don't make much money, they're assholes and they have an enormous sense of entitlement. This goes for civil servants in all areas of life, actually.

European tourists were actually even worse, but rare enough to not be bothersome. English tourists usually not so bad compared to Germans or the French. Still confused about tipping as a concept, less prone to running your hard.

I had to deal with this Friday night at a new place here. It's going for semi-upscale in a town that doesn't do upscale at all, and there were a million problems. The waitstaff were all nervous high-schoolers, so I didn't feel comfortable really letting our server know all the things that were wrong, for fear she'd run out into traffic. I'm thinking about writing a short critique aimed at the chef and management, the real culprits, and sticking it under the door sometime when they're closed.

The last straw was the fact that my salmon was served with no starch and no veg, just a salmon fillet, a couple of shreds of onion and bell pepper, and a bit of sauce.

also: A significant portion of the people I worked with in bars and restaurants would swear on a Bible that black customers were the worst tippers and had no qualms saying this to anyone and everyone.

xpost -- Milo, I have actually had a black person take my tip and then tell me she wasn't surprised, since black people never tip well.

Are you one of those people who will punish the server because the kitchen screwed up or the food was bad? Then send it back and tip well.
And even if you don't blame the server, you're a decent person and getting something new out isn't that much of a hassle for the server.

(unless the problem is a mistake you made in ordering, then sit quietly and eat)

I liked to go with a vague "How's everyone doing" question rather than specifics. Then you can tell me if the food sucks or you want something new to drink or whatever.

also: A significant portion of the people I worked with in bars and restaurants would swear on a Bible that black customers were the worst tippers and had no qualms saying this to anyone and everyone.

When I lived in a more "diverse" neighborhood, I rarely saw any of the blacks tip at Dunkin Donuts.

* of course, who knows about RICH BLACKS!?@!@
** in retrospect, I shouldn't have tipped either -- fuckers were slow and fucked up all the time!

This is another reason I want to see $1 and $2 U.S. coins hit the mainstream, so I can put what I feel is right into the jar and not set off anybody's cheapskate radar.

ok, anyone who works that kind of job want to fess up to putting those bills in there to make people feel bad?

If you get anything more complex than a coffee and a bagel. Maybe tip if the bagel is toasted. Anything that requires anything more than shoveling stuff into a bag and pouring = TIP

xpost

Poor bastards nothing. The last time I had movers in they were four hours late turning up, they slagged off the programme I was watching on the telly and then slagged me off when I got mad at them for being four hours late. They broke my picture frame and they tried to overcharge me for storage despite us having already agreed a rate. They can fuck off.

xp

-- jw (jo...), December 18th, 2006.

yes, I did that a lot. when i worked at a coffee shop for 5 years, that is.

I always tip coffee people if they're making anything more than a coffee and an untoasted bagel. My rule of thumb is to round up to the nearest dollar (if the order costs less than $x.50, and throw in a quarter or two if it costs more than $x.50) If there's any prep-work involved, or a call-ahead order I make sure there's at least a dollar in the pot, and if I'm ordering for more than 5 people I usually tip $2-3. What's unfortunate about all of this is that by-and-large the barristas snag the gratuities, while the kitchen help is jacked in spite of the fact that they're more responsible for the product.

trannies are terrible tippers
roman catholics (even church-ladies) are fairly decent tippers.
social workers, teachers, and clergy-members are good tippers.
fathers with their school-aged kids on the weekends are the best customers.
mothers on weekday nights with their kids are a mixed bag, inclined toward terrible customers.
construction workers, laborers, etc., are among the more easy-going clients.

http://www.waiterrant.net/wordpress2/

Do you tip at Maccas? What happens if you ask for it without pickles?

Couldn't get too mad at those people, though. The stories were tips enough.

x-p: I currently have the ignore function turned on for Rock Hardy. I am also about to exchange my perfectly good American dollar bills for Australian coins. Goodbye, Useful Wallet, at least for now...

haXor?

This is interesting. I live in Oregon, where we have the highest mandatory minimum wage in the country. It also applies to servers. The restaurant lobby complains, but the working-class folks I know make more money as a result.

I recently started a second job in preparation for a trip abroad next year. I'm baking (breads/pastries/etc) for the first time in a while. The restaurant divides all tips equally between everybody who worked that day - total tips divided by total hours. On a good day I can make an extra $5/hour.

Ok I'm intrigued now as nothing surfaces from the mists of memory as the best Burger in Manhattan, I can't even remember eating a burger at all last time I was in Manhattan.
However I am prepared to admit that it could have been something I might have said, what is this place?

My sis is a waitron so I tip between 20 and 25 per cent, at least in Minneapolis (our pho places are table-served and Mexican order-at-counter/pick-up/eat on-site rate $2 for each 10 spent). If you do 15 per cent on the nail that's a bit of a passive chuckyufarley. On Monday our bartender made Chris K's drink with the wrong vodka and then when she was a ways into it, hadn't noticed, he came back with the korrekt drink and said 'see if you like this one better' and was sorta willing us to hang onto both although CK and I misread those signals. He was tipped HANDSOMELY eg. full food rate. I'm sure we will get the red carpet if we go back.

When a barista is involved my tip is anything between 50¢ and $1 - unless I order a sandwich and there is table service.

This may have to do with me feeling like the dollar is Monopoly money right now, though, as pounds are hella advantageous in current exchange rates.

My g/f was a waitress over the summer and she said it generally held true for her. (Lesbians didn't tip well either.)