While I wait for Whomageddon to finish airing so I can download, here's a poll!

[gogmagog]

[Poll #1218262]

I'm just curious about the art of tipping; I'm well-versed in the art of restaurant tipping (having grown up with "home cooking" being various Kansas City restaurants), but I'm always unsure when it comes to those other kinds of tips how much I should give. (I usually end up going for the high side of what I think is acceptable, because I'd rather err on the generous side, but then I wonder whether I'm tipping TOO highly.)

Note that I ask for "on average"; what I mean by that is, how much would you tip for acceptable to good service in this area? Also, if any of these results don't apply, or you have other thoughts about tipping and such, post them in the comments!

Comments

[braaaiiins.livejournal.com]

AGH GODDAMMIT WHY ISN'T THERE A TORRENT YET??

Although I've heard it's kind of ridiculous.

Also, re: your poll. I only tip at restaurants (15 percent) because I have my hair cut at home, do not use cabs, and am not going to tip a barista for getting me a muffin out of the display case or whatever (I don't really drink coffee).

[petronia.livejournal.com]

Your last should have the option of NONE AT ALL THE MADNESS MUST STOP. Sorry baristas out there but what is next, tipping the person who makes your McDonald's burger? Note for the soft touches among us: just because there is a tip jar doesn't mean you have to put anything in it.

Otherwise, the appropriate amount to tip depends on local mores, so your poll may not be a great guide unless we say where we're from. ^^; In Montreal waiters are taxed under the assumption that they're tipped 10%, which has edged the usual tip upward to 15% of the post-tax bill. In Toronto the usual tip is 15%-20% of the pre-tax bill (in Canada the difference is sizeable). My hairdresser gets exactly 20%. Taxi drivers get an amount close to 10% most easily handed over without resorting to small change, which would probably annoy the guy more than anything else.

[bemysty.livejournal.com]

I tip at restaurants, delivery boys and for cabs, nothing else. At restaurants, I just tip what makes for the next round sum (like 16 Euro for a 14,80 bill etc.), I always give the cab driver 7,50 Euro as it's always the same distance and it's his fault if he bollocks it up hoping for more money from me. Delivery boys go the same as restaurants, usually, because those can very well spit in my food downstairs and I'd rather have my food as the cook intended it to be =_=

I don't tip for hair cuts, as I'd have to tip myself - I used to tip 2 Euro for the 20 Euro "discount" hair cut at a local hairdresser, but those cuts always ended up looking shitty after two or three days, so I'm back to cutting my own hair.

And tipping baristas? wtf?

Then again - Germany. Better wages etc. A lot of people I know don't tip at all.

tl;dr answer

[weruletheschool.livejournal.com]

I tend to tip well at restaurants, if the service warrants it. I tip my stylist probably about...20%, but seeing as I don't get the world's most complicated haircut, this ends up being about $5.00. I almost never take cabs, so I'm not really sure.

At a coffeeshop, it varies. If I'm just getting a cup of coffee or a muffin or what have you, I throw the change in the jar. If it's Starbucks and I'm getting a gross girlie drink, anywhere from $.50 to $1.00. If it is a real coffee shop with something fancier, I do a minimum of $1.00 per drink (sort of like at a bar).

I don't demand that my customers tip me for small things, but making a perfect cappuccino is a hell of a lot more complicated than making a gin & tonic, so if bartenders get $1.00 per drink for that shit, then baristas should, as well.

The thing that bothers me is when people go into a coffee shop for lunch and get pretty much the same meal that they would at a typical lunch joint, but don't tip because it isn't a "full service restaurant," never mind the fact that their barista prepped their food, plated it, served it, made their drinks, served their drinks, refilled their drinks, and basically did everything a server does and more, except take their order at the table.

As for the person equating tipping baristas with tipping McDonald's employees...riiight.

[vaulted-eel.livejournal.com]

Didn't answer the cab question because I've never been in a cab before. (Hicksville, I lives in it.) And I don't usually get anything more complicated than plain old coffee or tea at actual coffeeshops, so yep, change. Otherwise it's 20% across the board.

THIS IS SORT OF EMBARRASSING, but I have to carry around a little card that lists 15% and 20% of various dollar amounts because I can't do math in my head. XD;;

[brandchan.livejournal.com]

I watched Who and OMG OMG OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok as for tipping I do 20% for restaurants, because it's easy to figure out the math. One dollar for every 5 on your bill.

Hair cuts I just give $5, I just get a cut, but if I was getting more done I might give more.

I don't ride in cabs often and every time I have it's be frighting, so only 10% for them

And if it's just a coffee shop they just get some change. I have worked for places like that myself and I don't see a reason to tip them big, it's pretty easy work, but when busy it can be crazy so tips can be appreciated.

[supplanter.livejournal.com]

Do barristas really also get paid sub-minimum wage?  I didn't realize... I'm not in the habit of going to cafes, but when I do I usually just get a drinnk and something out of a case, so I never tipped.

I tip 18% at restuarants, because 18%tip+7%tax=25%, which is easy as long as they show the pre-tax total.

I've only paid for myself at a hairdresser twice, so no idea (probably 15-20%), and taxis are 15%.

[enkiae.livejournal.com]

No tipping in Dubai, and no tipping in Korea either. Which is kind of crazy cause delivery boys in Korea not only deliver your meal, but also come back to pick up the trash and leftovers! They work a lot harder but refuse tips T_T

I usually tip intuitively, usually in the 15-20% range. Somehow I feel like I should give more in restaurants I go to a lot, so around 25% then.

The only time we didn't tip was this one restaurant....HORRIBLE service. The waitress made us wait while she talked to her boyfriend on the phone and was surly all around, and the food was super slow and bad. So, no tipping XD; Suffice to say, never went back there.

[eikitty.livejournal.com]

I don't tip at coffeeshops. I make my own coffee at home or drink the free stuff at work most of the time, and when I don't I'm usually (a) traveling on business which means I'm at Starbucks or (b) buying out of desperation which means I'm at Starbucks, and when I'm already paying $2.30 for a drip coffee, I know I'm being ripped off.

The sales tax in Chicago is 10.25% now. I have always had a habit of just doubling the tax and rounding on my restaurant bill because I am pretty lazy/bad when it comes to math. So nowadays they are getting 20-22% on average when they used to get a solid 18%.

Generally with a cab I round up to the nearest whole bill unless it's ridiculously undeserved. So if my fare is $17 I pay $20. You get the idea. Sometimes I feel cheap but cab rides are almost always unpleasant for one reason or another.

I over-tip my hairdresser (she usually gets a really big fat tip from me) but there are two factors: (a) I get a haircut about twice, possibly three times a year, and (b) I've been seeing her for over 20 years now.

In Japan the service charge is added into the price so you don't tip, not even in cabs. It took me a while to get used to that and then a while to get back in the habit when I came back.