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

[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.

[yoshitsune.livejournal.com]

Well, see, I don't mind tipping for a more complex drink, like a Frappucino (I get the non-coffee kind, of course); it seems somewhat involved and like it takes a decent amount of effort (certainly more than putting a burger under a heat lamp for a few seconds). On the other hand, I definitely think that I probably shouldn't tip if all they're doing is putting a cookie on a plate or something like that.

But yeah, tipping mores do vary by region; I have a friend from South Korea who NEVER tips, and I and one of my English friends were HORRIFIED at discovering this. And personally, it seems weird to me that you'd give a bigger tip to your hairdresser than to a restaurant; it seems from what I've seen of midwestern US standards that here it'd be the same for both, or even more likely, the other way around. (I usually tip 20% for haircuts and then feel vaguely like I'm overdoing it, whereas I happily tip 20% at restaurants.)

And I generally tip based on the final total (i.e., counting sales tax), but I don't know about other people. Especially here in Iowa, the sales tax is pretty low (about 5%; in Kansas City, it's about 10%, so tax seems so much cheaper here), so it doesn't seem like too much of a biggie to me. But yeah, I don't think most people take into account how much waiters are taxed; hell, it seems like very few people realize that waiters in the US can and are paid below minimum wage, so I can't imagine waiters' welfare really entering into things a whole lot for Americans as a whole. (We're a rather selfish lot when it comes to service industries, I think.)

But then tipping practices may not just vary by region, but by upbringing and habits; a lot of people don't go to restaurants very often at all, and so may not tip more than say 10-15% when they do go, whereas I go quite regularly (and pretty much always have, my whole life) and usually to the same ones, at which point it becomes imperative to tip at least decently (if you don't want crap service and food). And so I tip a minimum of 20%, up to 25% if the service was extraordinary or somehow above-and-beyond (like a large group or somesuch). Whereas I don't have a regular hairdresser, and my haircut is relatively simple, so it's probably not as imperative for me to tip my hairdresser well as it is for someone who goes every 2-4 weeks, always to the same person, and who depends on said person to cut/dye/straighten/whatever their hair so it doesn't look like ass.

[petronia.livejournal.com]

The federal + provincial sales tax here is 15%. ^^;

In a lot of places in Europe the server tip is included as a line in the final bill, and you don't tip beyond it except for extraordinary service (the included amount tends to be fairly generous anyway). In Brazil the service is attentive to the point of obsequiousness everywhere, and no one tips at all (though in touristy areas it's a line on the bill).

Reading your journal further - it was never the custom in Montreal to tip baristas, and the city has always had a vibrant cafe culture. The creep is rather akin to grade inflation, and a lot of people I know bitch about it (part of it being the fast food / coffee divide really isn't that clear; Tim Horton's is a bona-fide national coffee institution but most definitely a fast food joint. And again, why not tip the person who makes your burger and fries?). I'm only referring to takeout/self-serve though, not sit-down service.

...See, while I believe in tipping fairly, I don't believe servers have the right to give you crap food if they don't like their tip - that's unprofessionalism, not to mention holding the customer hostage. That being said I find the revelation that US servers can be paid less than minimal wage nothing short of horrifying. :/

[yoshitsune.livejournal.com]

Not just can, but generally are...a good part of the entire restaurant business is predicated on waitstaff being paid horrifically low wages (considerably lower than minimum wage; I think minimum wage here is a little under $6/hr, and minimum for waitstaff is a little under $3/hr) and being expected to make it up in tips.

I do agree that they don't have the right to give you crap food; however, realistically, it happens, and I'd like to avoid it if possible. (By the same token, retail staff don't have the right to give you horrible service if they don't like you, but it also happens.)

And I think the fast-food/coffee divide is a lot clearer here? I mean, you may have fast-food places with good coffee (Dunkin' Donuts' is supposed to have amazing coffee, for example), but no one would ever call them "coffeeshops," per se, and you wouldn't be expected to tip. Similarly, while coffeeshops may serve food, even something resembling fast food (like sandwiches and stuff), no one would ever class them with, say, McDonald's. And it's strictly in Starbucks and their more independent ilk that tipping is expected.

[petronia.livejournal.com]

...The other thing I'm thinking is that if your sales tax is 5% and you tip 20%, then you're paying a bit more than 25% over what shows on the bill. If I tip 20% post-tax, I'd be adding more like 38% to the bill. ^^; This is not so much to say that I have more right to be cheap but that economic theory dictates what's normative/average. Too, lower taxes tend to correspond to lower minimum wage, and vice versa.

[yoshitsune.livejournal.com]

True, that does make a pretty big difference in terms of tip. :o