why do people not tip their server?

[service question]

what is your reason for not leaving waiter/waitress standard 15% tip? if i have good service i always tip but have seen folks leave really lousy tips and am curious as to the reason. what is your tipping guideline?

[outsider]

For lunch, $1 a head. For dinner, 15% for regular service, 20% for good attentive service, and 2 cents for piss poor service. The 2 cents is so they know you didn't forget to leave it.

[GA Peach]

service question wrote:

what is your reason for not leaving waiter/waitress standard 15% tip? if i have good service i always tip but have seen folks leave really lousy tips and am curious as to the reason. what is your tipping guideline?

20% of the bill. People do tip pathetically here - worse than any place I've been. What I love is the group of women who want one ticket - sit for an hour figuring out who owes what then leaves a group tip that amounts to nothing. Or, taking a couple to dinner and they say "I'll get the tip." They tip so poorly, that I've slipped the waitress and extra $10. Sad, but true.

[GA Peach]

outsider wrote:

For lunch,$1 a head. For dinner, 15% for regular service, 20% for good attentive service, and 2 cents for piss poor service. The 2 cents is so they know you didn't forget to leave it.

Apparently, you left your manners in the damn dessert, too, but you forgot to leave that big chip on your shoulder. Assbite.

[challenger99]

For lunch, just my wife and I,$5 minimum.
Dinner,20% normal, 25% to 30% depending on number of courses and length of time we have tied up the servers table.
How good, bad or indifferent the meal itself is has no bearing on the gratuity, the server didn't prepare the food or drinks.
$5 to the Host/Hostess for a good or "selected" table.
Realize that the Server normally "shares" a part of their gratuity with the busboy.

[GATOR]

outsider wrote:

For lunch,$1 a head. For dinner, 15% for regular service, 20% for good attentive service, and 2 cents for piss poor service. The 2 cents is so they know you didn't forget to leave it.

I AM NOT LEAVING A TIP AT ALL IF MY DRINK SITS DRY FOR 15 MINUTES BECAUSE A WAITER WANTS TO FINISH THE GOSSIP WITH THE WAITRESS. IF THEY CANT SERVICE CUSTOMERS THEN THEY NEED TO FIND ANOTHER JOB MAKING A RATE OF PAY THEY CAN DEPEND ON.

[Clem]

I pay my internet bill every month and I'm not sending money to the server people too.

[local]

Hate to go to dinner with people who say "I'll get the tip" then leave only a measly 10% on the table. Really annoying especially when the service was fine and is disrespectful to the server. I usually say "Oh, I think I left something on the table", then go back and add a few extra bucks.

Normally, I tip 20% but more if the service was extraordinary and 15% if the service was crummy.

[reply]

I have to work hard to earn my money. Servers should work hard to.

[BROKE]

I have to save up for months to get to go out and enjoy a nice meal. My husband and I usually leave $2-$10 depending on the service. But the nicest place we ever go is Pizza Hut.

[yeah]

reply wrote:

I have to work hard to earn my money. Servers should work hard to.

and you have obviously never been a server with a comment like that. it's one of the toughest, most demanding jobs out there. hats off to all the servers in the area, and i will always leave a 15% tip.

[pick your battles]

i personally know that buffet style restaurant wait staff don't get what the feel are sufficient tips. people get up and get their own food, the bus boy picks up their plates and all they see the waitress/waiter for are drinks and napkins. i definately pity those waitresses but they also should realize the logic the customer has about how much they should leave on the table for the wait staff. if the restaurant owners would charge the tips to tickets, this would help that problem. i believe they should when it comes to buffet style because the logic on the customers brain is that the more the waitress/waiter works, the better the tip. i have worked as a waitress and it's hard work, specially when you don't have the buffet, bus boy, dishwasher or cashier to help you earn that tip. any wait staff knows the harder you have to work, the better odds of gaining the tip.

[the lulu]

proper...15% waitress served...10% buffet...really depends on the service...

[Shocked]

I always leave 20% or more. I know that servers only make $2.15 and hour and need those tips to live on.

[boodoodle]

pick your battles wrote:

i personally know that buffet style restaurant wait staff don't get what the feel are sufficient tips.

I really don't understand why they would feel cheated ... all they do is bring your drink ... they don't have to write your order or serve your food. We leave a tip at buffets but nothing like we do at full service restaurants.

[Hungry]

the lulu wrote:

proper...15% waitress served...10% buffet...really depends on the service...

Agreed.

[gabby]

boodoodle wrote:

<quoted text>
I really don't understand why they would feel cheated ... all they do is bring your drink ... they don't have to write your order or serve your food. We leave a tip at buffets but nothing like we do at full service restaurants.

us too. not sure why complaints would be made or if it is a server complaining from a buffet place here.
you would think with the fast pace of buffet's, you have a quick turnover so more tables, more money?

[Roberta]

I only tip a few bucks if its a buffet - all they do is bring me a drink!

[Cntry]

For me my tip is based on sevice. If my drink never goes dry and you are not rude then you get way more then the 15%. If u argue with me on how i want my steak cooked and i run out of tea then you get 1 penny.

[Burp]

AHHHHH!!!!!

The tip is commensurate with the service.

Bad Service = Bad Tip
Good Servivce = Good Tip
Great Service = Great Tip

I always tip!(keeping in mind that EVERYONE has a bad day on occasion)

Poor service may not reflect the overall work ethic of the server on any given day.

Great service may just be a fluke from the individual at hand.

Servers are people. People make mistakes and have off days.

Granted....their PERSONAL FRICKEN DRAMA is usually more abundant than the rest of us but don't skip the tip.

They work hard for the money even if they SUCK at it.

Someday they'll find something they are meant to do and be really good at it.

They might even remember you if they run across you in their new chosen profession.

Like law enforcement or nursing home health care for example.

Do you really want people pissed off at you because you're a cheapskate?

Think people! Think!