How do you feel about tipping? Should it be done away with and living wages be paid?

[gimmethesimplelife]

As someone who has been tipped labor for many years, I find this topic fascinating. While I was new to the biz, it was exciting to realize I could survive insane working conditions and leave with money in my pocket. This can become addictive - the constant adrenaline and the leaving work with money in your pocket. Now that I am out of the business and in something more stable, I am amazed that I survived the concept of being tipped and having little clue how much money I would make on a given shift - seriously, having this uncertainty lifted by a decent hourly wage in a more stable business has greatly improved the quality of my life.

Now the few times I do go out I overtip - I do this because I believe in karma and because I understand that not everyone is going to have the same good fortune in getting out of the business that I have had. I can't begin to see myself working waiting tables again - it would have to be that or live on the streets, I am that over the industry. But I still tip very well - usually 1/3 or in some cases 1/2. Like i said, I don't go out to eat very often. But I will still tip and tip well, even though I don't care for the business model. What's your take on tipping and why? Rob

PS Came back to add that SO has found work after a long search - doing guess what? Yep. Waiting tables - I hear horror stories of the business on a regular basis. SO is trying to break out of the business also but has not had the good fortune i have had. Not yet, anyway. Rob

[iris lilies]

Now is an excellent time to be job hunting, so good luck to your SO.

I always tip but don’t overdo it. We tip 20% because that’s so easy to do math on. On the other hand it’s been forever since we’ve been out to a sit down restaurant where you actually tip. I do think DH goes out to eat often in Hermann because the kitchen facilities are still very limited there.

[Teacher Terry]

I always tip 20%. If my bill is low then I tip more as the same amount of effort is put in and I am occupying a table. My dil is doing so well since the casinos opened up and she went back to work in March. She used to get tipped between 1-5 for a drink. Now it’s 5-10 and she’s had people that are winning on the tables giving her 100 per drink.

[Jane v2.0]

It's a dumb system, but I do tip--20% or more at restaurants, and usually twice what is expected for Uber and food delivery.

[ApatheticNoMore]

The thing is I suspect most people make far more on tips than they would on say minimum wage. Oh you said a living wage, that's at least $20 an hour here IMO. Yea that would make sense really, and I'd really prefer it to tips even if costs were passed on to the consumer. But I don't know how that works with current restaurant economics (which are all screwy anyway it seems to me but ...). Truth is there are probably far too many restaurants, many barely hanging on, some of course wiped out by the pandemic.

I find tips annoying, it's been so long since I've paid any, that I was flustered and didn't even know how to calculate one when I ate at a restaurant last week. My bf pays for restaurants, I cook, that's the deal, and that's why I don't pay tips, oh and covid. But I wasn't with bf but was treating sibling to a meal (that is rare I seldom treat their lazy self that won't work but hey ... ) but couldn't figure out a tip. I think I gave a poor tip, and they probably hate me at the restaurant. MATH IS HARD!!!

[GeorgeParker]

I tip 15%-20% if I'm eating at a restaurant, depending on the level of service and how much effort the server has to put into it. If I'm getting take out instead of dine-in, I tip 10% because it's usually a shared tip jar and I think tip-dependent workers should get a tip on every order unless they totally screw up. Taxis I tip $5 regardless of trip length, $10 if I have luggage and the driver doesn't charge a separate luggage fee. I rarely run into any other tipping situations, but when I do I just go with whatever feels correct.

OLD JOKE: A man sits down at a table and orders a bottomless cup of coffee for a dollar. He spends half an hour drinking 4 cups of coffee while reading his newspaper. He leaves a 15-cent tip on the table, and the waiter says to himself "It's correct but it ain't right."

[Jane v2.0]

Divide the total by five, pay one fifth, makes it pretty easy.

[iris lilies]

Divide the total by five, pay one fifth, makes it pretty easy.

Divided by five are you kidding? Like in my head you mean!!??

No here’s how you do it:

Figure 10% and double it. A bill of $34.62 becomes a tip of 3.40 x 2. Rounding is permissible.

—iris, math challenged

[Jane v2.0]

Many roads, same destination.

[bae]

I have been in countries where restaurant workers were paid reasonably and tipping was unexpected, or even considered insulting.

The USA is weird though. In an ideal world the workers would be paid properly, but the USA isn’t part of that world.