mattie
missing in inaction
Easy to remember, I like it.
Tipping in the US?
- Thread starter mattie
- Start date
Easy to remember, I like it.
ATOMIC SUPLEX
Member Since: 1985 Post Count: 3
A buy back.
mattie
missing in inaction
This is sort of my point - are there actually rules? If so, what are they, how much do they insist upon, what does somebody do to earn them? That's the point of discretionary gratuities, it doesn't seem so discretionary in the States.
Anyway, I'll be tipping barstaff a dollar per drink, taxis I'll give a few dollars to, and restaurants get twice the tax. I can't think who else I'll be tipping, I hate being waited on in any case so discouraging them is a good thing.
at a bar tip $1 per drink, 15% at a regular restaurant and 20% at a nice one....taxi drivers and pizza delivery get about 10%. the tip is based upon the before tax amount
valets get $1 extra on top of their regular fee
enjoy
mattie
missing in inaction
at a bar tip $1 per drink, 15% at a regular restaurant and 20% at a nice one....taxi drivers and pizza delivery get about 10%. the tip is based upon the before tax amount
valets get $1 extra on top of their regular fee
enjoy
Nice one, cheers. Dollar bills all round for the little bits, 10-15% for others and bumped up to 20% for genuinely good service.
yes that's it i couldn't remember the name for it
You'll find you get given your change almost entirely in dollar bills for that very reason. And my experience, the service is well worth a good tip!
mattie
missing in inaction
So, this is a formal thing, or does it involve copious flirting with barmaids?
ATOMIC SUPLEX
Member Since: 1985 Post Count: 3
My first buy back involved some flirting but I don't think it affected the outcome.
I don't think it happens in all bars, my friend from New York had never really come accross it herself (when I asked) .
skyscraper101
0891 50 50 50
The federal minimum wage in the US is $5.85, and where I was the minimum state wage was $7.15. Yes I've seen reservoir dogs, and I'm with Mr. Pink. Why should you tip one section of society that serves food and not another? You don't give even loose change to McDonalds staff, so why do I have to give $15 to a waiter that didn't do anything spectacular other than bring out food and drink?
That's the government's fault for making minimum wage so low. Its not fair but its how it is. Why should I have to supplement the wages of restaurant waiting staff if the restaurant doesn't even acknowledge them to be any more worthy than a street cleaner or a retail assistant? I thought the waiter in my case deserved an extra $5 sure but I've had more attentive air stewards in the past and didn't feel the need to tip them because it wasn't the done thing, though they probably deserved it more imho.
it's not formal but it's pretty common. in New York too. it does mean you have to stay a fair while at one place though.
mattie
missing in inaction
Was it clear that it happened (i.e. did they say it outright, or just bill for fewer drinks)? I can see uncomfortable moments trying to figure out if the waitress has given a free drink or is just too thick to add up.
As an aside, I was told when I went to Las Vegas to sit round playing a slot machine for a little while and I'd get a free drink - presumably to get pissed people gambling. I played for an hour and got nothing. I reckon it's a rumour spread to get people gambling in the hope of getting pissed.
mattie
missing in inaction
I think tipping 20% is bonkers - the restaurant pays rates, utilities, taxes, bills etc, how one person is worth 20% of that is beyond me (even if there is a tronc - sp? - system in operation)
Still, when in Rome. I'll be doing it at any rate.
generally tipping 20% to 25% is reserved to the higher end restaurants where you may have a few people waiting on your table instead of just one....it's meant to cover them all
at most places you just tip 15% and if you get shite service you tip 10%
Yuwipi Woman
Whack-A-Mole Queen
I suspect that restaurant meals are cheaper in the US than most other places. The tip is just part of the cost of going out and even with tip will likely be less than the UK.
And yes, we tip a lot of places. I tip my hairdresser. God forbid I don't and get a bad haircut. She gives me extras like eyebrow shaping sometimes so it works out.
Oh, and I think the minimum wage for waitstaff is even lower than standard minimum wage. Something like $2.10 and hour. They are taxed as if they were making 15% on each customer so its theoretically possible for someone to lose money by waiting on you.
ATOMIC SUPLEX
Member Since: 1985 Post Count: 3
I mentioned to the bar maid that other people had been leaving bills on the table that did not amount to the price of the drink. She then explained that I should be leaving a tip of a $1 each time and I would pay my bill later. After three beers I got given another and she told me it was a buy back from the bar. She said it was because a lot of people only stay for a couple of drinks???????
It was clear that I was getting a free drink because I didn't ask for it.
I asked what the deal was and was told is the short answer
Pingu
Credo
at a bar tip $1 per drink, 15% at a regular restaurant and 20% at a nice one....taxi drivers and pizza delivery get about 10%. the tip is based upon the before tax amount
valets get $1 extra on top of their regular fee
enjoy
aye this is pretty much what I follow when over there and it seems to work ok.
having said this if i get really good service I will tip more. like to the bloke in the bar in orlando who went over the road in the pissing down rain and reserved us a seat at a restraunt we wanted to go to when we couldnt get thorugh on the phone. Ok so he possibly got a kickback and we could have gone ourselves but we got good seats and a cracking meal.
indeed
I'm so accustomed now to not tipping very much that I always embarass myself when back in the US. It's a real problem, they don't get paid much, they live on tips, and even if they aren't so good at their job, you really have to think long and hard about 'stiffing' them.
I get really annoyed at people who go to the US and don't tip because they stubbornly don't think they should have to.
Just as many UK folk get pissed off when people from America come here and ask why you don't celebrate Thanksgiving.
Works both ways, people.
I get really annoyed at people who go to the US and don't tip because they stubbornly don't think they should have to.
Just as many UK folk get pissed off when people from America come here and ask why you don't celebrate Thanksgiving.
Works both ways, people.
Yuwipi Woman
Whack-A-Mole Queen
1927
Funnier than he thinks he is.
I've only ever come across it in NY, so don't know where ya mate is drinking!!
Noone has explined yet that the situation is even worse than the minimum wage being low. I have actually known personally people who PAID for the right to have a job!!!
The bar manager at Windows on The World, the bar atop the WTC in NY, told me that he had to bid in an auction for the job. He had paid that year $100k for the post. The IRS calculated his pay by taking the gross takings of the bar
and reckoned that he would ahve been tipped at 15%, so if anyone didnt tip at that rate he lost out even more. In addition to this he had to pay all the other bar staff out of his tips!! He said that it was worthwhile, so that bar must have been taking a hell of a lot of money.
baldrick
hmmmmm
Wait staff get less than minimum wage. They rely on tips to make up the difference.
Scrooge. Remind me never to go to a restaurant with you.
skyscraper101
0891 50 50 50
Fuck all that. Tipping should be something extra you pay because someone put in the extra effort when working.
But tipping 15% automatically just because the government expects them to be tipped and then justifies paying lower minimum wage? Thats bullshit. And what it then does is lower the standard of service whereby waiting staff simply have to just do their job to get an extra reward, and if you don't tip, you're more likely to get inferior service the next time.
Its bollocks. Why should I endorse their policy through automatically tipping some 'socially' required minimum just because the government refuses to pay them as equally as a street cleaner?
baldrick
hmmmmm
Don't endorse them at all - don't go to restaurants in the US, remove yourself from their system completely.
That way you can legitimately complain.
But right now you look like a complete miser - saying these wait staff haven't earned your money - what possible fucking difference does an extra $15 make on a $100 meal?
That way you can legitimately complain.
But right now you look like a complete miser - saying these wait staff haven't earned your money - what possible fucking difference does an extra $15 make on a $100 meal?
miss direct
misfungled
I hate tipping, I feel so awkward about it and never know how much to give. Here in the UK I only tip if I've had good service in a restaurant, or a good haircut.
I'm going to New York for five weeks soon and am on such a limited budget that I think I'm just going to avoid eating out and drinking. I simply can't afford to tip that much.
Remember being in New York before, close to where the WTC used to be. A guy had a little stall with paintings, and a big sign saying "Looking is a town in China, tipping is standard in the USA." Oh, so I should tip just to glance at his tacky paintings? I also had a guy accost me at the Port Authority, "helping" me with my bags. I thought "ooh, people are friendly here", (to be fair, I was 20, alone, and had just got there) until he stood threateningly close to me, hawking me till I gave him money. That won't happen again! I'll keep a firm grip on my own bags!
I'm going to New York for five weeks soon and am on such a limited budget that I think I'm just going to avoid eating out and drinking. I simply can't afford to tip that much.
Remember being in New York before, close to where the WTC used to be. A guy had a little stall with paintings, and a big sign saying "Looking is a town in China, tipping is standard in the USA." Oh, so I should tip just to glance at his tacky paintings? I also had a guy accost me at the Port Authority, "helping" me with my bags. I thought "ooh, people are friendly here", (to be fair, I was 20, alone, and had just got there) until he stood threateningly close to me, hawking me till I gave him money. That won't happen again! I'll keep a firm grip on my own bags!
skyscraper101
0891 50 50 50
On that premise we should be handing over dollar bills to anyone who serves us anything - the guy in the shoe shop, the bus driver, the air stewardess, the staff in KFC. Do they work any less hard? You don't feel the need to tip them everytime... Why should it be 'accepted' that you hand over 15% regardless of the quality of service in some jobs and not others?
littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
If you know the people waiting on you are being paid $2 per hour, and the service has been at least tolerably ok, but you do not tip, you are a cunt.
