To not want to leave a tip ?

[cookieswirls]

Went for a meal tonight nothing fancy just pizza and my friend seemed mortified that I didn't leave a tip. I was paying for our meal and I generally don't leave tips. Ive never left a tip for anyone actually not taxi drivers, hairdressers, waiters is that mean of me ?

Correct. And... They know that their wage is customarily topped up by tips. Just because you don't like it doesn't stop it being the norm.

Of course it is the norm. I am just not so sure that it should be the norm anymore.

And it isn't that I don't like it as such. Like I said, I tip my local restaurant very generously. I tip my hairdresser, I tip the postman and regular delivery drivers at Xmas. However, I don't like it when tippers accuse others of being tight and mean if they don't follow suit. It is an outdated tradition and just because it is the norm that doesn't mean it should be or people are wrong for not taking part in it.

What gave me pause on this thread was the suggestion that people, possibly on a MW and struggling themselves, should never get to eat out unless they are willing/able to tip the waiting staff.

WTAF.

Atlanticblue76 Chefs often work far more than full time hours for £15-25k pa, so an hourly rate that isn't even NMW. It's only really possible as a labour of love.

In my own job I'm happy to campaign for better conditions and support others in doing the same. But I won't withhold a gratuity because the person should be campaigning for better conditions. To me that's like saying I won't give to the homeless because the government should be providing shelters.

lying

They get taxed on tips they have recieved

Not on taxes that havent received

I think some posts were coming over the wrong way up thread

I always tip in restaurants and pubs unless it's shit service. The ones that piss me off are the ones where the service is included - and then the bill has a space for you to add a further tip, which seems to be on the increase. No, not tipping twice, thanks!

I never tip my hairdresser because she owns the salon and is v wealthy and it would just feel weird. But I have tipped in beauty salons etc.

I think YABU not to tip, sorry.

I agree.

Or saying I'm not going to donate to one charity because it isn't fair to the others.

Or I'm not going to volunteer my time because the charity should work out its budget to pay all the helpers.

Or I'm not going to buy a raffle ticket because they should work out their budget without me giving any of my money away.

Sounds like some people on this thread would enjoy a communist society.

Last time I checked we are free to spend or hoard our money as we chose.

Rufus, thanks for the explanation. How is it worked out? If tips are discretionary to individual staff and there's no traceability there, how can they be taxed? It seems very arbitrary somehow - and perhaps unfair to the staff is they're determined at a higher rate than actually received. Do staff report the tips they receive?

I'm just wondering how this system works so that it's fair?

The. System. Isn't. Fair.

The biggest problem in this thread is that people are perceiving the world or the country as fair and that wealth and perks are evenly distributed.

Fairness is an idealistic concept used to socialise people - it's not real.

RhiWhites*, sorry but I don't agree. I can't get my head around your comparison of waiting staff on salary -v- homeless people who have nothing. It's not the same thing at all in my book.

I've worked with waiting staff who ARE homeless.

lying

To be honest i just looked it up as what people were saying didnt sound right

So basically, hmrc will assume that the waiter is getting tips and will tax accordingly, no idea how much it is

If the waiter fills in a tax return saying how much in tips they get they will be taxed at that amount

The other two ways are by something called a tronc system. I think that is where all the tips are added together and the tronc master gives them back out...fairly. In that case the tronc master tells hmrc

The third way is if the restaurant automatically adds a service charge, in which case the restaurant will let hmrc know

Very confusing...but that is the britsh tax system

Ah Rufus, thanks again. I was under the impression that HMRC sets some kind of arbitrary figure and just taxed on that. Tronc is probably the way to go. I'm so glad I don't get tips, I can barely work out my excess mileage so don't bother claiming the VAT back on it.

It is all extremely confusing!

I tip waiters/hairdressers/cab drivers etc- if I've asked for a 'personal' service and they've done a good job I tend to give between 5-10%

If it's good service I always tip in cafes/restaurants,hairdressers and taxi drivers.

Near Christmas we don't tip but we do give something to the bin men because they've been great they're not supposed to move the bins out of the gardens or put them back in the gardens anymore but they know that my DH isn't here when they come round and that I'm disabled.

We used to give a gift to the Postman as well because he was lovely and forever saving up the elastic bands and giving them to our sons so they could make they're elastic band ball.
But now we have a different one and he's been pretty awful,we once had 7 letters through the door only 2 were for us 2 for other houses in our road and the other 3 different house numbers and road names.
I think he wanted us to deliver them for him the cheeky sod.

I generally tip waiting staff. It's a tiring job, it can be frustrating working with customers, lots of reasons... If it's bad service I wouldn't

I'll take gifts etc in for teaching staff.
Can't think of many other examples.

Yabu. Tipping is expected in U.K. In restaurants. Couple of quid won't break the bank. 10% is what I was brought up to leave

I usually tip in restaurants, taxis, delivery drivers but I don't tip my hairdresser because I find it expensive enough

Yes of course you should tip - restaurant workers work really hard. They deserve their tips.

Tipping is a real nightmare - I feel so 'patronising' when I give a tip, like some ghastly Lady bountiful. If you don't give what is deemed enough you look mean, and if you give too much you look flash.I wish it wasn't the custom, but I've never had the nerve to not tip!

If you are in a culture of tipping, and partaking of a service where your tip is part of their pay, then YABVU. You may not like tipping, but it's that or eliminate tipping and see your bill for things like taxis, pizza, etc. go up by 20% or more.

Either way, you're paying the wage in the end. With tipping you just get to reduce it if they were subpar, or give them a bonus if they were exceptional.

HeyOverHere, I would much rather see prices go up by 20% if it meant that staff were paid more. I'd want to see it across the board though not just for waiting staff but for the essential jobs which seem to fall by the wayside.

Customers in the UK are not and should not be paying for waiting staff's wages through tipping. Waiting staff should be paid appropriately by the owners/manager, a fair wage for their work. Having done the job myself, I don't agree that waiting staff work harder than anybody else - and certainly not those in the healthcare/social care professions. If anybody should be tipped, it's them.

It depends......... I don't personally go to the hairdressers but I always leave the lady who cuts my son's hair a tip, and do everytime he has his hair cut. She's done it since he was 6 months old and does a fantastic job of it. I tip in small restaurants too and sometimes delivery drivers - especially if it's a miserable night outside and they deliver food because I've been too lazy to cook or even lazier to pick up the food myself.

On the other hand, my 3rd 'pocket money' job is as a barmaid in a local social club and often get a 'drink' bought for me so £1 goes into a pot. At the end of the night, that's mine to take home. I save them up and often buy myself something nice at Christmas with the 'tips' that I wouldn't normally splash out on.

I don't think anyone is being U or not U, it's a personal thing I suppose.

What's wrong with tipping in order to buy an enhanced experience in future? If you've enjoyed the experience and want to return, then tipping is good, isn't it? They will remember you and treat you better. To me, that's the main point of tipping apart from giving the standard 12 per cent.

All the reasons people are giving for tipping wait staff apply equally and more so to all the other low paid workers that don't get tips.

Shelf stackers who lift tonnes and tonnes of boxes of products each shift, so it is there for us to buy.

Care workers who wash, dress, feed and medicate people in their own homes, dashing around against the clock, trying to keep to an impossible schedule.

I rarely go back to restaurants because either I am on holiday and want to try a few places, or at home, there are over a thousand of them in my city on Trip Advisor and I would be happy to eat at a good few hundred of them, so usually want to try as many as possible, rather than go to the same place all the time. And even if I do go back every few months of so, they aren't going to remember my tipping behaviour after that time, even if I do get the same server.