Do you usually Tip on top of the bill when you eat out?

Always tip here if service is good.

When I was a waitress, the nicer you were to customers, the less you got tipped. Seriously! Customers think you like them, so they don't need to bother impressing you with a big tip. Being off hand (not rude) gets you much more money.

I don't have cash on me so it goes on the card. No one has ever complained, although I have heard about waiting staff in the US getting stroppy if the tip is on a card. I'd just tell them to remove it completely if anyone said anything!

I would never tip if the service charge is already included as that is the whole point of service charge - and always tip if it is not included (unless the service was beyond dreadful).

Why? The service staff don't care

If the service is good, yes.
Otherwise, no.
Always in cash. Never an "add on" on our card.

I've started not tipping if I'm encouraged to pay online (DD will insist I do- don't ask! ). Wagamamas and Pizza Express for example.

Also, I've been to a couple of restaurants recently and haven't been offered the option of leaving a tip when paying by card, and so have had to leave a £10 note. What's going on there?

I wasn't sure how it worked with these service charges add on.
Next time I'll get it taken off the bill ( not that I eat out that much anyway !)

I've done this many times in restaurants where I'm not convinced my tip will be given directly to the waitress/waiter, and I then give them 10 or 12.5% in cash.

You can absolutely get it taken off, as I have done many times - the charge is completely optional! Why would they force you to post it if you didn’t want to @the80sweregreat ?

I was out with a crowd of people and the lady who organized it all asked for the service charge to be taken off ! They did it , but I know that I wouldn't do this myself as I they will probably say ' no' ! Can you ask for it to be taken off ?
What's the law around it all ?

I don't mind tipping when I come over to the UK because it's so much less than they expect in the US (20-25% and for everything). So I do tip in the UK but it's not normally a whole lot unless I felt like the service was particularly good.

There seem to be a lot of people who ask for the service charge to be removed. I wish I could be that assertive. I’d much rather leave a cash tip but I’d be too embarrassed to ask them to remove the service charge.

I tip if I receive good service and service charge hasn’t already been added.

It’s not my experience that it’s expected where I live. I’ve not had service charges added when eating in local restaurants and wait staff normally press no tip on card machines before they hand it to me.

My daughter works in hospitality at the moment and she’s dealt with some right shitty behaviour - someone threw a knife at her face a few days ago - she finds she tends to get tips left from tables nearby who have witnessed she shitty behaviour, maybe out of solidarity or something.

I always ask for the service charge to be removed and tip in cash separately.

If service charge is in then never. If not then I tend to do it service is ok.

It's not compulsory though. You don't have to pay it

@paranoidnamechanger Exactly it's part of the job description. As is paying attention to allergies, sorting the wrong food out etc

I get the service charge removed and tip directly if service is good. Don't bother tipping for crap service though

But waiting staff being observant, efficient and having a pleasant attitude are aspects of their job description, so why tip them for doing the job they’re paid to do?

That's probably a very valid point, but while of course it's their choice to make it does worry me to read the number who'll tip on top of a service charge - as in do they also sneer at those who won't?

It seems to me the sort of thing that spreads until that too becomes an expectation, and also explains why including it all in the headline prices wouldn't work. As in the US there'll always be those who like to flash the cash, and while that's completely up to them, the same "your choice" doesn't seem to work the other way round

I choose which people I tip based on whether what they do is influential in the overall experience. If I go to Sainsbury’s and the man on the checkout is a bit surly or doesn’t say hello or is slow or whatever, my experience of buying apples and milk isn’t really affected, because I’m not in Sainsbury’s for the experience. Likewise the man from Yodel who delivers my new pair of shoes, it makes no difference. Whereas if I go out for a meal and the waiting staff don’t have a pleasant attitude or are inefficient or not very observant to signals, that does materially affect the experience - because most people go out to a restaurant for the ambience, the enjoyment, and want to feel good. So I tip them for that aspect, rather than the act of them carrying plates to the table.

I find it so annoying that tipping culture has made its way to the UK. Really? When do you think that the UK was free from tipping? Certainly not in your lifetime.

I don’t tip. I don’t care what other people do, that’s up to them 🤷‍♀️

@TofuTart I think because this forum has a lot of people with money then they assume everyone is the same when infact the majority of people in this country and the rest of the world don't have much. It's like they're in their own little bubble.
Fair enough if they tip.. but the ones who have judged those of us who don't and called us insulting names.. you are horrible human beings.