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

I wouldn't tip simply for food being brought to my table. It's for service provided and I say that with a hospitality background. I don't believe in always tipping just because it's the done thing.
I remember an old manager years ago giving us a talk on good table service - 'leave them wanting for nothing and watch the tips roll in' so if I was simply carrying food to a table I wouldn't expect a tip.
If a service charge is added to all bills I expect excellent service all the time.
The first place I saw it was a restaurant in Covent Garden more than 20 years ago, but the service was excellent, so I happily paid it.

However, wages should never ever be subsidised by the paying customer. Unfortunately there are many unscrupulous employers in hospitality.

I always tip unless the service was awful. I also check with the waiter that they actually get the service charge. When I first left home I was a waiter and the tips were essential. I did one day in a place where the staff didn't get the service charge. Hopefully rare but always worth checking

i always tip, the staff put up with some pretty awful customers, and for not much money at all. After a tranche of various customer service jobs as a student I know I’d never want to do their job for love nor money ever again, but I’m very grateful that they do, and usually with such professionalism and friendliness. I feel I’m lucky enough to be able to afford to eat out these days, so why not make the serving staff’s day a little better too? I also remember as a truly impoverished student what difference a few quid can make. Generally they are working for something closer to the minimum wage rather than the living wage.

Yes I always tip but only because it's expected of me and I'd hate to disappoint the waiter. I think restaurants (and everyone else) should pay proper wages and charge us accordingly. I like it when they add a service charge. Even better if they mention upfront that they will add a service charge because then you can budget for it. I don't want to have to think of how much to tip or judge the service when I'm just trying to relax. Why is it my job to motivate the staff?

I tip if the service is good but a maximum of 10%, nothing if a service charge is added.

Always! Its mean not too

Yes, unless the service is shit.

No. It's not the custom where I live.

Oh but yesterday I went for lunch somewhere where you had to go and get your own drinks at the counter, order your own food on the app and get your own cutlery/sauces etc. I didn’t tip on the app order!
Other than those sorts of places though I always tip.

I/we always tip.
Although had an embarrassing moment recently where you had to enter your tip and I accidentally pressed okay to £1! I would rather have left nothing than tipped £1!

Rubbish that people don't tip in Scotland. We tip exactly the same as everywhere else.

I don't usually tip and I'm strongly against the culture and social pressure to tip. I have worked hard all my life in low wage work and do not receive tips for the work that I do. I don't see it as my role to boost the wages of restaurant workers and I believe it to be the job of the employer to pay higher wages to begin with to their workers, rather than rely on the good will of people already paying for a service or might have saved up for a while for said meal. Often tips trickle on over to the management, anyway so you never really know where they're going. If you tip because you want to help boost the wages of people on low wages, great but please consider workers such as carers or retail workers who also deserve that wage boost when deciding where to channel that extra money. I wish society would stop shaming people on low wages calling them "tight" for not tipping when the REAL tightwads are the businesses who don't pay their staff properly.

Always tip and think less of people who don't tbh.

I have worked in restaurants and bars most of my life, including working in management in some very high end London bars. I don’t tip unless the service is exceptionally good. I often have a McDonald’s and the service is better there than many standard restaurants and yet people don’t feel the need to tip there.

Also, having worked in restaurants myself I know that quite often the member of staff you tip has to share their tip(s) with the whole team; which seems unfair - yes you could argue that the whole team makes the shift run well, but quite often it’s that one particular person that has earned that tip and they don’t see all of it.

You embarassed yourself for the sake of a couple of quid 👏

I dont tip, due to minimum wage. When there was no minimum wage, service staff were paid a pittance as customers usually tipped (I was a waitress).

Why tip waiting staff when they're paid the same as retail staff etc?

Not read any replies.

No, I never tip. There are lots of other jobs that also get paid extremely badly that don't expect tips.

As I have said many times before, I didn't tip the doctors and midwives that delivered my children so why would I tip someone for carrying my food and drink to a table?

I'd happily carry my own food and order at a counter myself. I don't need someone to do it for me and then expect me to pay them extra for the 'luxury' and faux niceties they put on to try to get me to tip them as much as possible.

My opinion on this will never change, no matter how many people tell me how badly they're paid and how awful I am, sorry.

so what do all other minimum wage earners who don't get tips do then, if waiters need to 'rely' on extra money other industries don't get?

I think, @easylikeasundaymorn, that by "rely on it" people actually mean "I'm used to getting it now and don't want it to stop", which isn't really a justification for tipping now we have minimum wage

As said I'm one of those who does tip, but that's because I choose to thank those who've made a special effort. Any suggestion that it's an expectation instead, or a well rehearsed story about how "the manager never shares the service charges" and that's the tip gone

The service I've had in both, has nearly always been far better than anywhere else.

I once tipped a bar manager in Greenking despite the fact I didn't even get anything in there. And wrote a note to their head office. He was phenomenally helpful, went above and beyond. In fact if I recall correctly I tipped, and then my stepdad went in the next day and bought him and the staff (they'd been working the night previously) a drink, including the kitchen staff.

I live in Scotland and there’s tipping everywhere?
I always tip unless service is already included.

so what do all other minimum wage earners who don't get tips do then, if waiters need to 'rely' on extra money other industries don't get?

I rarely tip because the whole point is it is supposed to be a reward for service that is above and beyond, not just to supplement someone's wages because you think they might earn less than you. If service is particularly good then I might tip but usually it's rubbish or just standard.

Never tip if service is included but do tip otherwise - unless service is shit.

And?
go do something more interesting instead! And yes I didn’t start the sentence with a capital to give you something to get angry about

Always tip between 10-20% depending on level of service. The only time I don't is if they have added a service charge or the service has been terrible