[Drivingforfun]

I didn’t want to take over the restaurant thread, but was interested to ask this, seeing as we have a range of nationalities and ages here

In the UK we are known to be mean tippers, 10% is normal here. I believe in the USA touristy restaurants often leave “polite” notes reminding British patrons that 30% is the custom there 😛

Maybe a 30% tip in the US is the same dollar amount of spending power as a 10% tip here, seeing as stuff is cheaper there and take home pay is higher? I don’t know

Instead of blindly tipping all the time I tend to give a decent (for here) tip, maybe up to 20%, but if the service is poor I won’t tip

[Rolebama]

Generally I go for around 20/25% in restaurants. When we had a chippie they had a sign to the effect that tipping wasn't wanted as the staff were on a good wage. Three years ago she-who-will-be-obeyed-or-else had a landmark birthday and I paid for the family to go to a decent (at the time) restaurant. The bill was around £420. I had drawn £500 extra to pay for it, so I just handed it over. I almost ended up in a stand-up row with the owner because I had 'over-tipped', until I pointed out it was only a smidgeon over the 20%.

[NMNeil]

A big backlash on 'mandatory tipping' is happening here.

The main problem is that restaurant workers who receive tips are on a much lower minimum wage, the idea being that their wages are increased by the tips.
So some states changed the law and they are now getting the same minimum wage as everyone else.
This means it now costs the restaurant owner more, so they started adding a 'service fee' to the bill to make up the extra wages they now have to pay. But of course that wasn't enough for some owners.

" It's not just service fees that have been added to the bottom of diners' checks by restaurants. A diner at Alimento in Silver Lake posted a picture of a bill that included a "donation" of $3.00 for tap water and a four-percent "wellness fee," to pay for workers' health insurance."

Already in the courts.
https://lamag.com/news/restaurant-se...ees-tipflation

[Drivingforfun]

I heard that about the tips in the US but a bit different - the owners paying less than minimum wage but a loophole let them write the tips into their wages, they just had to shoulder the risk of having to top up a waiter/waitress who didn't get enough tips

I once spoke with someone who used to work in a restaurant and had a disagreement with the restaurant owner over something, so they walked out - with their tips for that week. The owner accused them of theft as the tips were supposedly restaurant property ... he said it ended amicably but I wonder how that would be viewed from a legal PoV

[olduser]

Sorry, I don't get this tipping game, in a restaurant isn't the idea that they cook the food and deliver it to the table, clear away the previous course and so on?
If the waiters are underpaid then giving them money (if they actually get it) only allows the low wage situation to continue.
I have heard it argued that waiters are, 'public facing' making them different but do we tip the checkout people in the supermarket, why don't we tip the GP (if we can ever see one) or a Solicitor?

In my last job, I tracked down energy meters that had not been seen for over two years.
These may have had corrupt addresses, customer out when meter reader called, and so on.
I was also given, 'difficult' customers, to see if I could resolve the issues.
In many cases customers had been overcharged due to estimated bills, faulty equipment, wrong meter at the wrong address.
Obviously, it was my job to solve the technical problems (and to report theft if that was the issue) but because I could translate from industry jargon into consumer, I helped with overpayments.
My aim being, to have put in motion the resolution of any technical, safety or financial problems at that address before I left.
If anyone offered me a tip I would have been offended, I was doing my job as I saw it, a thank you was more than enough.

So, are we blackmailed into tipping or reinforcing the master servant relationship or what?

[NMNeil]

What has changed is the norm of now having the tip added to the bill and then paying by credit card. Of course some restaurant owners just kept the tips which has lead to lawsuits.
I always decline the credit card option to tip and give the waiter/waitress the tip in cash.
https://www.classaction.org/digital-...lding-lawsuits

[Rolebama]

FWIW: When I worked for the AA I was taxed on the expectation of receiving tips. It cost me approx £5 a week in extra tax. I made a lot more than this in tips, as I would go the extra mile in the service I gave. This is why I give tips. Someone goes the extra mile for me. I tip.

[olduser]

Originally Posted by Rolebama

FWIW: When I worked for the AA I was taxed on the expectation of receiving tips. It cost me approx £5 a week in extra tax. I made a lot more than this in tips, as I would go the extra mile in the service I gave. This is why I give tips. Someone goes the extra mile for me. I tip.

I think I understand what you are saying but it's the extra mile that is the difficult part to pin down.

At the risk of sounding conceited, I know I was doing more (for the customer) than others performing the same function in different areas but that was the job as I saw it.

There was a pay off, because I would be back in the same area in the future, I found the word had got around, and next time in that neighbourhood, people would be helpful rather than obstructive.
It worked something like this;
Local; Hello Mr Meter Man, was it you that was at my friends he/she got £X00 back after they did as you said, what are you looking for today?
Me; Oh good for them, I'm looking for this address but somebody's moved it!
Local; Oh you'll never find that, they were demolished 7 - 8 years ago and replaced by XXXXXX,
They all moved into YYYYYY apart from AAAAAA and they left but BBBB is in No 10, CCCC in 12 and so on.
Me; Well thank you, you have saved me half a day of hunting around.