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

I agree with this!! Its it’s very arbitrary who we tip and who we don’t. Yes, waiters work very hard. So does my Midwife. So does the lady in my corner shop. So does my GP - Good service doesn’t require tipping.

But no one gives me an extra £1 here and there when I’m working. I get paid a set amount and that’s that!

How exactly do you know people can afford more and also why should they afford more? You’re assuming people earn more than you- but could also be earning minimum wage as well. If a burger is £10 it’s £10 they owe end of.

We always ask them to take the service charge off the bill and give the tip directly to our servers.

I appreciate it is thankless - but it's not the customers responsibility to tip you. We shouldn’t be made to feel like as a customer we are responsible for paying the staff directly, under the euphemism of gratuity. It’s the restaurant’s responsibility to ensure fair payment and treatment and excessive tipping culture actually negatively impacts workplace satisfaction and benefits.

I tip if the service is good and it's not already included on the bill. I have in the last asked for the service charged to be removed. Frankly however these days you don't really get what I would call 'service'. They bring you a menu or sometime it's QR code, they take your order and bring food. Rarely do I get asked if more drinks are needed or is water topped up without asking. Frequently the meals come out at different times ie not close enough together.

We rarely go out now or get a takeaway because standards of food and service are now so low. As for staff not being paid enough - not my problem, someone is making money somewhere!

I always tip, not a lot , usually 10% or couple of quid left on the table in cheaper testaments like harvester etc .
I've worked delivering food & it's generally thankless , the customers that gave me even £1 id be grateful & usually if you can afford to eat out or get a take away you can afford a little bit extra in my opinion

I used to tip always (unless service/the meal had been absolutely awful), but as minimum wages have crept up I don't feel like all jobs have risen in the same way and that gap is now much smaller and I really don't feel like it's as necessary as it once was. Plus we've generally found service and quality has gotten worse in a lot of places so it doesn't feel justified.

No. It was but legally that has been stopped and it was only a very few chains that did that. Gave everyone a poor name.

I'm really curious about this. When you say that things have really changed, since when exactly? I don't think it has changed much in my lifetime and I'm in my fifties. I did waitressing work as a teen, and I would say that it was certainly the norm for people to tip back then...if anything, I'd say that it would have been more unusual not to get a tip in those days than it is now!

This is the problem- they are pricing themselves out ! I do the same- I used to go for massages etc but the price is now not justifiable. What was once affordable is now not and becomes a once a year treat type thing at best.

On MN, there are a surprising number of people who don't tip at all and are outraged if a service charge is added.

I'm not outraged, but I don't like a service charge added because I don't think it's clear where it's going. Do they treat it as a tip? Does it go to the staff?

10 percent for good service and 5 percent of I have to wait a long time. I would only not tip if waiter was rude to me.

Yes, always unless there’s a service charge which there invariably is these days or the service was appalling.

I hate tipping culture! Other mimimim wage jobs don’t get tips- I don’t understand it. I do however avoid going to restaurants if I can’t afford to pay the tip. I think it is a pain and can ruin a meal if we ask for the service charge to be removed etc . We’d eat out a lot more I think if we paid for what we ate and didn’t have a silly service / tip charge on. Six by Niko end up adding £20 every time we go as they add a charity donation and set service charge on- so we don’t go unless we can afford this on top.

We went to America earlier in the year (fully except they tip here) and chose to only get food from places like fast food, no tip places due to this. We did eat out once and tipped correctly. On FB, Im on groups about eating out and tipping in the US and have seen on some groups where restaurants owners say they want the business so if you can’t tip then still come. I think it puts a lot of people off. And I’m one of them so don’t go!

Overall I think the tipping culture is adding to restaurants closing as if people see the tip as too expensive then they don’t go. We’re also not poor - well off and have to consider what we spend our money on to pay everything we need to each month.

Considering the mark up on a lot of places for food and drinks , I'd rather that they paid their staff more than rely on tips for them ( 'chain restaurants '/ pubs could do this )
(Although I suppose they would argue it would affect their profits :(
I used to tip my hairdresser and the one who washed it , but prices have almost doubled since lockdown and they seem richer than I am! Don't even bother going as it's too pricy now.

I would always tip 10 or 12.5% unless the service was really awful, or if it was already included in the bill. There have been times when I've taken the service charge off the bill and given it in cash to the waitress/waiter instead so that I could be sure that they received it.

That's what I don't understand - I'm older than you are and my parents have always tipped too. I was certainly taught as a child that it was the done thing! So not sure why people feel it isn't part of UK culture?!

Yes I always tip unless the service is poor. But I eat out a lot and could count on 1 hand the amount of times that's been the case.

I don't tip as rule, and I ask for service charge to be removed when automatically applied to a bill - I don't like this being dictated as a charge you must pay.

I will only tip if service is exceptional.

And I was a waitress for a 15 years!

I personally think it was very rude of you not to tip when your friends were. I'd always tip in a restaurant unless service charge already added.

Of course. Service charge already added, I don't tip on top as that IS the tip. No service charge added, then yes, I tip at 10-15%.

In real life, this is how everyone I know acts.

On MN, there are a surprising number of people who don't tip at all and are outraged if a service charge is added.

Depends.

If I'm sitting in a restaurant but they've introduced ordering on an app and I only see the waiter when they put the food in front of me for example then no, I don't tip.

If they add an optional service charge I always ask for it to be removed. And then I tip what I want, which may well be more than the automatically added one, I just object to it being there. The service is included in the price of the food and drink. A tip is additional and voluntary.

Recently I've found in some restaurants it's difficult to tip. They make it card only, which is fine but then the machine doesn't give you a tipping option and I haven't got cash on me. If I know I'm going to somewhere like this I'll get cash out, but often I don't.

I agree that it started as an predominantly American culture that has made its way to the UK. But the fact is that it has. I hardly ever eat out (unless you count Subway sandwiches!) but on the odd occasion I do, recently there's always a service charge added and I pay that. For a £55 meal, 10-15% would have been £5-8 ish. If you can afford a £55 meal, you can also afford to pay that kind of tip and I think that you should if you had a nice meal and good service. I have eaten out once in the last few months, the waiter was really nice, explained/recommended things and food good/service was quick. I paid the sum added to the bill.

I think you may have to adjust your cultural expectations - as things really have changed. I am not surprised your friends were aghast (sorry!).

I get pissed off tipping hairdressers as the prices have gone up so much just for a cut. So, I've solved it by not going. My teen cuts my hair in the kitchen and I do my dh's.

Takeaway no I don't tip.
If service charge is included on the bill again no I don't tip ontop of that.
No service charge then yes I do typically 10-15%

I always do. For my nails and things like that too. I'm in London and it's very hard living on a low salary.