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 ?

Lying I usually tip 10 - 12.5 per cent but I tip exceptionally well in some restaurants and therefore expect to get priority service there. If I didn't get it, I wouldn't do it.

I always get the best table within reasonable notice - say about 30 minutes. If I turn up unexpectedly I expect them to find me a table and upgrade me to a better one well before my food is ready. People make a big fuss of me during my stay. It's not necessary but I can't deny that it is very gratifying.

Restaurants that claim not to have a booking policy are lying, IME. If you are known as a generous tipper then you jump the queue. If anyone argues about it they are told that I was in the queue ahead of them and waiting in a bar around the corner for a text message.

In other restaurants I tip at least 10 per cent but usually 12.5 per cent because I want to. If service is appalling I withhold it and explain it. I last did that on my husband's birthday in 1996. That was an exceptionally bad evening and we haven't returned.

That's my habit and I am happy with it. If you want to behave differently, that is up to you.

Yes you would ask before you start the job. In any case the best places for tips are famous on the waiting circuit. Best waiters and waitresses a poached from other establishments with promises of the best section on a Saturday night!

Hosts who will put this stingy customers into the newest/shittest member of staff's section.

As I said up thread there is nothing fair about the situation. But it is a cycle that can really benefit the success and longevity of a business.

As someone else said restaurant owners are not rich people (until they get their chain of restaurants, then the money starts to come in). It is a delicate balance that works despite this stingy minority.

limited, honestly I was just interested, I wasn't having a pop at you or making any criticism of what you do. It's interesting about the booking system and I suspect you're right, tipping probably plays a big part in getting tables.

Thinking about it, it's not something I experience because I'm usually doing a corporate thing and have to get everything booked up in advance. I'm also quite sure that corporate expense accounts give impetus to restaurants to 'be nice' too.

BarbaraOfSeville, missed your post earlier, that's my personal philosophy on this too. I'd much rather super-reward excellence then just tip because of convention.

I imagine low staff turnover in restaurants is probably much more to do with good working conditions, good pay, good management, a good team more than whether the customers tip. But of course you take all the credit if it makes you feel better

With all due respect you can imagine all you like but mine is from firsthand experience and there is nothing happy clappy or good team or good management or good pay in the restaurants that keep the staff.

The restaurants that keep the staff provide good clients who pay good tips. That might sound mercenary, that might upset your Kumbya view of the world, but that is how it is.

If a server knows they can take home £150 extra for an evening's work and all they've got to do is turn over approximately £1500 for the company... everyone is a winner!

They don't have to like a fucker in there while they do it. They just have to work their arse off, count the cash, and get out of there.

Wow. We're expected to leave tips - and lavish ones - here in Canada. 16% - 18% of the bill. I've been here 4 years and it still infuriates me. There is ONE restaurant in downtown Vancouver that prides itself on its clients not having to tip. Sort of novelty thing. It should be widespread, and for every service.

I've often wondered about the chefs... they seem to be universally lowly paid (excepting Michelin starred gaffs) but sometimes, the food is just tremendous. It's customary to tell the chef so but, despite the excellence of the food, they are not tipped.

The waiting staff have brought the delectable food to the table but they weren't the ones who cooked it. Again, this is at odds with what is fair and correct, surely? I mean, a word with the owner to commend the chef is nice and all but why are they excluded? Same with Sommelier service.

I think, on reading this, that I've been thinking of a totally different type of restaurant to what you're referring to. I was just thinking of your standard restaurant that you find in every town or city, where you might meet a couple of friends for dinner and a bottle of wine, not somewhere that dining out is an event in itself, with hosts and special tables for valued customers etc. I've only eaten in that sort of place a handful of times and it's true that the service was entirely different from what I've experienced elsewhere.

I dont tip, you are already paying for their service with paying the actual price! People that are nurses/doctors etc dont get a tip off patients etc so why should other workers. Everyone gets a wage

Yup firsthand experience here too. It might only have been 3 restaurants so obviously not a huge wealth of experience but the one I stayed at longest was fuck all to do with tips and everything to do with the management being fair and approachable and fostering a good working atmosphere.

The one I stayed at for only 2 months was a fucking horrendous place to work. The management was dead friendly with a few if the customers and didn't mind when they treat us like shit, which try inevitably did.

Guess which I got the best tips at.

But that's just my personal experience.

treaclesoda that is a fair point and I am guilty of imagining we are all speaking about the type of establishments that I worked in for all the peoples opinions.

However after waiting tables I tip everywhere. I don't know that person's journey but I know the journeys of hundreds of other people I met along the way who relied on the tipping culture. Many of them are pretty fucking amazing!

I don't need the money and I don't begrudge it to someone else who is doing the job I need them to, and am grateful for.

That's nice of you to say Lying. It's my custom in regular places and it works well for me. I always tip something in other restaurants or cafes whether I want to return or not.

I also tip my hairdresser, minge waxer and round up taxi fares.

Your experience is closest to mine, frikadela; good relationships between management and staff - at all levels - makes a heck of a difference.

fame I do tip in restaurants, but I was just interested in the idea that you're tipping for a future dining experience, not the current one, because it wouldn't make any difference in the type of place that I usually go to. And in the type of place that it might make a difference, I'm unlikely to be able to afford a repeat visit

frikadela01 I do respect your opinion and your choice to stay at the one where you felt happier. But you were going through university, this was a temporary situation for you.

Many of us were rebuilding our lives, starting up a business, working on artistic endeavours... those tips were so valuable - at that moment more valuable that a happy work environment.

I will never forget that, and the gratitude I felt when I had a 'good' night. (Financially). And I worked hard, and I took shit and I made it. And now I treat those I met on the way up well... I might meet them some day again on my way back down!

Treacle soda in honesty I don't intentionally tip for that reason but it is a happy biproduct of the ritual.

See my tip above - my tips are almost like a gift to myself! A way to imagine I'm helping the next wave of 'hard as fuck' waiting staff realise their life plans and dreams!

Sometimes you even get to hear their story, and that's quite a gift they are giving in itself.

See my post above, not tip!

I'm with you on the hairdressing and all-off waxing, limited. I go to the same people all the time and always give a big tip because they're both incredibly talented at what they do (getting me to keep still is a job and a half on its own) whilst they're doing their thing.

If they ever emigrate, I will follow... if they try to retire, I will track them down and chuck wads of cash at them to persuade them to reconsider...

Tipping is expected in restaurants. I cant belive the amount of people on this thread who don't tip-I have worked as a waitress and you are (thankfully) in the minority. The standard is 12.5-15%.

I still tip 10% if service isn't great but I wouldn't not tip unless something was super bad.

And Tipping most definitely buys better service if you are a regular. If any of you no tippers are regulars anywhere I would feel embarrassed as the staff will "know you" and have a poor opinion of you!

And the comparison to other MW jobs is mute. Tipping is for personal service, so waiting staff, hairdresers, beauticians etc. Care staff too if they are employed by one person (maybe not every week but at Xmas like binmen etc).

I get incensed by non tippers- mean is not an attractive quality!

I can respect that. And of course getting tips and having a good night financially feels amazing but I still don't agree with arbitrarily tipping for the sake of it and never will.

Incidentally whilst it was temporary for me, it was still so hard to walk away from a job. I self funded through university and often had more than one job to keep afloat. Life is hard in minimum wage that's for sure.

Anyway I think we all reached an impasse like 400 posts ago .

Put simply, can you afford to tip? If yes, then why not? If someone is shouting me a meal I'd make sure I leave the tip myself though! Your friend shoudl have left one.

For an evening out where I feel I've been really taken care of well I'd always leave a tip. Waiters work really hard and the pay isn't great.

For a quick bite at lunch time no, and for poor service, no.

One last thing, never tip on a credit card. They'll probably not see it.

I'd say so too, but it is nice to leave on a slightly more pleasant note then how fraught it got in the middle back there!

I was ready to leave this but this:

Care staff too if they are employed by one person

The vast majority of care staff are not employed by a single person so you really are talking about a very tiny minority of people there.

This was my first proper mumsnet disagreement so I'm feeling g rather chuffed with myself to be fair. If I drank I'd have a celebratory glass of wine

I generally leave 10%, but if service is poor I won't. If service is really good, I will leave more.

This is in restaurants and hair/beauty salons. I don't tip taxi drivers unless they've helped with luggage.

Oh, and if my friend was paying for my meal, I would insist on leaving the tip!