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 ?

Yes.
I always tip when the service is at all reasonable.
I think people who don't tip are very mean and lacking in understanding of how tough these jobs are.

I waitressed for years, from 14 onwards. I always tried to give good service.
I had one job in a very busy cafe serving cream teas. I was quick, polite, gave huge portions. People used to wait, to catch me, to pay their say £4.95 bill, give me the £5, and wait for the 5p change. I used to hate that.

Am shocked that people don't tip in restaurants. Really shocked. I thought it was the norm, and would cringe if I was with someone who didn't tip. You build it into the cost of the meal.

Exactly Rask

Yes, not tipping is the sign of a mean person.

May just be my experience, but I find people who have less money themselves are often more likely to tip than those with enough/a lot. I guess that's how the rich get rich-little savings
The whole 'it's not MY problem they're in minimum wage' is just too ghastly to even begin to address...

vanilla chefs and kitchen staff are paid a lot more than waiting staff, apart from maybe the pot washers....... When I worked as a waitress we would give the KPs a share of our tips.

^ nope.

I don't tip.
I work a minimum wage job in retail. I work my arse off talking to customers to find what they need, shopping with them, doing bra fits, running for sizes, etc. On top of running cages of rubbish down, unpacking delivery, rearranging the stock room to try to make space, cleaning the store. PLUS chasing teenage boys out who come in to shout dildo, answering the phone to perverts who want to tell me about their dick, or ask me about my knickers, herding drunken students/ hen parties/ stag parties out when they get rowdy.

I don't get tipped, and we wouldn't be able to accept tips either.

I've always tipped restaurants and hairdressers. Except when my usual was on holiday and I had it done by the owner who charged me £41 for a wet cut.
So recently I have tipped £15 to the girl who did our pizza express party. £10 on a £100 meal in a family style restaurant. Normal haircut £3 to the cutter and £2 to the washer. Isn't that kinda normal behaviour?

I have only ever given a tip when someone has given exceptional service or have had to deal with a problem I've created - ie if my son has spilt a drink in a restaurant, taxi driver who has helped me to my door with my shopping

Where possible I will also contact their management too, to tell them how impressed I am with that particular member of staff. Most recently was a member of staff who was cleaning ables at McDonalds, she really went out of her way to be polite and helpful and was very nice to my little boy, I know they can't have tips there but I emailed McDonalds anyway praising her service.

The reason I don't leave tips is because I've never particularly earnt very much myself, always minimum wage or just over. If I go out for a meal, get a taxi (I usually walk everywhere) etc then it's always a 'treat' and I've likely gone without something else just so I can have that treat and can't really afford an extra tip ontop of the price of a meal/taxi.

I always tip. I would absolutely judge a friend who didn't as being mean. It has put me off friends and boyfriends in the past.

YANBU. In U.K. It should not be expected. I only tip if the service had been especially good and I take it off if it has been added to a bill but the service was poor (always with a polite and reasonable explanation).

As a PP said, wait staff are taxed more because HMRC assume that they are being tipped. At least that was the case when I was a waitress. So actually they do rely on their tips, as they are essentially paid LESS than minimum wage. I don't know whether this applies to hairdressers. Shop staff are taxed normally. Waitressing is hard work, and pretty exhausting.

So YABU, OP. And the rest of you tightwads.

And often, your tip will be shared with the kitchen and the cleaners.

guest2013 I won't resort to your level of name calling (it's a little unfortunate that you don't believe in your point of view enough to have the words to defend it and instead have to be so damn rude to a strange), but suffice to say, we won't be dining together any time soon.

Waiters are taxed on the tips that you don't give them, because HMRC assumes that most normal people tip them.

If I can't afford to pay the extra 10% to 15% on top of the menu, I don't eat in that restaurant, simple! If a friend couldn't afford a fancy restaurant, I would happily make up the cost of their meal and have done so regularly before. However, someone who consciously decided not to tip because they don't like the practice of tipping would not be someone I would eat with again.

** stranger

I've worked as a waitress and I never expected a tip. If someone thought the service was exceptional, and left one it was gratefully received but they weren't expected. Wjen tips were handed out every week just just saw it as beer/treat money.

I'd much rather people were polite and said thank you.

Utterly agree with rask and custard. You tip in restaurants what justifications you concoct in your head not to. to not is cringeworthy. I would be embarrassed for a friend that didn't.

I tip 10 - 15% and so does everyone I've ever dined with.
I am truly surprised that not everybody does.

The problem is a lot of people in the catering industry are getting shit wages because their employer is counting on their wage getting topped up by tips. It's wrong. Full stop!!

THIS! In bucket loads is the problem, not the non tipping customer.
Tipping of this sort (I believe in discretionary tipping) should be banned it's wrong and demeaning to the employee and embarrassing to both parties. Then these 'fat cat employers' will be forced to pay a wage in line with the service provided. Let the lobbying and campaigning begin.

I used to tip but now if I eat in restaurants like Wagamama, Giraffe etc etc I tend not to bother because I don't know if the server gets to actually keep it. Also probably because all the server has done is taken my order and brought my food and there is little interaction there. If I go to a restaurant where the waiter pours the wine when it gets low or talks about menu selection and what wine goes with it then that warrants a tip but not the service you get in a chain restaurant because it's only a very basic level of service which doesn't warrant a tip IMO

How is tipping demeaning? As a previous poster pointed out these worthy social justice excuses for being a tight non tipper are quite funny.

Of course it's to do with the wage you are on. I was a care assistant on MW for a long time so why would I tip someone who's earning at least the same amount as me, if not more. I now tip whatever I can afford if the service was good but that used to be nothing.

Care assistants are definitely doing people a service.

Can i ask a side question about the actual mechanics of tipping in a hairdresser's? I always round up my wet cut price when I pay my hairdresser and each hairdresser takes their own bill payment through the till. But how do I tip the shampoo girl on the odd occasions when my actual hairdresser doesn't do my wash herself? It sometimes happens and I feel bad that I haven't left something. Do i go prepared every time with a couple of pound coins, and do I hand them directly to the shampoo girl as she finishes towling my hair? Do I do it after the cut?

It's always the physical process of tipping that I find awkward.