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Do you feel under pressure to tip?
Spouthouse
Posts: 1,046 Forum Member
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I usually tip waiters or waitresses if service has been good. However, I don't know why but I feel under pressure to do so every time these days. I especially feel under a huge amount of pressure when paying by card, when the machine asks directly 'do you wish to leave a tip?'
For me, the whole tipping thing can create an unnecessary anxiety at the end of a meal. I'd rather restaurants paid their staff a decent flat rate, put their prices up a bit, but made it clear that they don't accept tips.
For me, the whole tipping thing can create an unnecessary anxiety at the end of a meal. I'd rather restaurants paid their staff a decent flat rate, put their prices up a bit, but made it clear that they don't accept tips.
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doesnt make a whole lot of sense tbh
There are loads of jobs that are hard work. Most don't get tips.
I tend to leave a tip, if merited, and sometimes out of social obligation, but I'd much rather people got paid fairly for the work they do by their employers, and I'd much rather be quoted the price I'm expected to pay.
But don't you think it would be better if restaurants just paid their staff a higher wage and added 10% on to the prices?
I think that does happen in some establishments.
Just out of interest, do you tip the cashier at the supermarket? Or your dental nurse? Or your postman? Or the workers at the rubbish tip? They are also hard jobs.
...now that the Council has removed the weekly bin collection!
So do i. Waiting tables is hard work.
You must be psychic:D
When I tip, I don't because I think the waiter/waitress is underpaid - I doesn't come into my thinking.
Equally, I object to, and won't pay a service charge because that is an integral part of the dining experience, I don't expect to collect my own food or cook it myself.
Also, if I tip the waiter/waitress I want to tip them personally, because they have made my meal out a bit more special than they needed to; be it humour, really attentive or whatever. If that goes into a pot, or is snarfed by the management I can't control that, but I want them to know that I appreciated their efforts.
Yes, it's hard. That's one of the reasons I usually tip. However, lots of jobs are hard, but we don't feel socially obliged to tip them (other than perhaps at Christmas).
And you must be made of money.
I always believed you tip if the service has been good and sometimes it isn't that great. Also i went to a buffet restaurant last week and a tip was added on there! All they do is bring over a drink then leave you to it! What exactly am I paying them for?
I've had friends say, "Do you still tip if they go the long way round?"
I always told them, the same as I'm telling you, that "long way round" crap is a music hall joke, like mothers-in-law, and tight Scotsmen.
Once in a million times you'll get a prat who'll go the wrong way on purpose, but the vast, vast, majority of black cab drivers just want to get you to your destination, get paid, then get another fare.
No doubt people tipped me for the same reason, it's the done thing, but hand on heart, I never gave a toss if the fare didn't tip, provided I got what was on the meter at the end of the job.
They could tip, or not tip, their prerogative, no argument from me.
In restaurants I prefer it when they add the gratuity to the bill, but if anything had been wrong I would, and have had, no hesitation in getting the gratuity removed.
I always tell them the reason why I'm not leaving a tip, and hope that they learn from that.
If no gratuity has been added to the bill, I always leave 12.5% - 15% in the U.K., and 15% - 18% in the U.S.
If the service has been bad, or non-existent, I don't tip, but I'll tell them politely why, (I've rarely had bad service in the U.S. they've had years of practice at getting customer service right.)
No I'm not made of money, I just like to show some appreciation in a small way. I don't like skinflints, they are usually the people with loadsamoney.
You should have questioned the bill and got the 'service charge ' removed
I totally disagree with establishments that automatically add a tip onto the bill, which is "optional" but then you're the person who has to specifically say you don't want to tip. I guess that's the idea, pressuring you into feeling awkward about asking for it to be taken off. Funnily enough most places (not all, but most) which I have visited with this feature have provided much worse service than others. Most recently, a bill included a 20% tip - where the staff could barely remember my party's order which was 3 teas, 2 cheesecakes and a bowl of ice cream - not exactly a complicated order, but there you go, they got a 20% tip where normally I wouldn't give one for sloppy service like that. All tips should be optional, and not optional but you have to tell them specifically you're not tipping them.
I agree with a previous suggestion in this thread that waiting staff should have higher wages with prices reflecting this, and no expectation of tipping whatsoever. It would just make it easier all round!
It should be entirely voluntary.