Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Tipping is not the done thing.

546 replies

Lyndaishistory · 10/08/2018 20:01

You are not expected to tip in the UK! I'm not sure why some people think otherwise.
I would only tip if service was above and beyond but it is not an expectation and I wouldn't "cave" if it was crap service.

Husband and I had a rubbish meal at a well known resturant chain for our anniversary. I complained at the time but nothing was done about it.
Left husband to pay the bill and he tipped them. Bloody hell, I want my fiver back!
Seriously considering LTB over this.

OP posts:
birthdaygirls · 10/08/2018 20:38

No I don’t get it removed because I tip. I tip well. I was brought up to tip like everyone I knew.

It’s not a new thing lol!

SandyY2K · 10/08/2018 20:38

I was in America recently and tipping is definetly part of the culture, which I go along with, however when you're at a self service buffet restaurant, the waiting staff have barely done anything except get you a drink....yet they still expect a tip.

Original poster
Lyndaishistory · 10/08/2018 20:39

I don't think it's a new thing. The expectation of one is though.

OP posts:
MarthasGinYard · 10/08/2018 20:39

'haha, you're right, we shouldn't eat!'

Go for quality Wink

AynRandTheObjectivist · 10/08/2018 20:39

I know they are low paid but perhaps if they had worked hard at school to get a better paid job or not done a mickey mouse degree at a crap university they wouldn’t need to eaiting tables.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you....actually I don't quite know what this is. Assuming it's not a troll, it's someone with so little self awareness, or indeed much awareness at all, that I have to assume they're actually a mineral of some kind.

Please tell me, do you honestly not see what is so wrong with this on every single level? Because if you really don't, then I suspect it may actually be wrong of me to mock you.

Original poster
Lyndaishistory · 10/08/2018 20:40

I've never been to America but accept that tipping is part of their culture and prices reflect this to a certain extent.

OP posts:
MarthasGinYard · 10/08/2018 20:41

I always tip

Unless service/food bad

MarthasGinYard · 10/08/2018 20:41

Tip hair and Beauty also

user1487194234 · 10/08/2018 20:42

I always tip
I know I don't have to but I can (vaguely ) remember how good it was to get a tip when doing teenage type jobs
To me it's just the right thing to do
TBH ,particularly in restaurants,if there is a problem it is unlikely to be the waiter 's fault

Thisnamechanger · 10/08/2018 20:42

15% is my norm

AdoraBell · 10/08/2018 20:43

The only time I haven’t tipped was when a waiter omitted to return my change. It was a place we went to most weekends and they knew us as a family. The change was almost the amount that I intended to tip, so I waited at the table while DH put the DC in the car. I got the change and left, the waiter looked rather sheepish. Next time we went in he brought the change pronto and I tipped.

And yes, service jobs are low paid so I always tip unless service is bad.

Original poster
Lyndaishistory · 10/08/2018 20:43

AynRandTheObjectivist
I assumed the poster was being witty.

MarthasGinYard

I hear you Grin

OP posts:
PinkSparklyPussyCat · 10/08/2018 20:43

I never tip if a service charge is included in the bill, I look at that as tipping twice. I also never tip delivery drivers (they are usually shit) and I only give the hairdresser £5, regardless of what it cost.

Trunkisareshite · 10/08/2018 20:43

I assume Senior is in banking, so maybe a banker but spelt with a ‘W’.

I always tip unless the product/ service is crap and I’m happy to do so.

happypoobum · 10/08/2018 20:46

I tip everyone, unless the service is bad.

birthdaygirls · 10/08/2018 20:47

JennyBlueWren I’m a rounderupper to the nearest round number for taxis and coffee shops where I use cash. Hairdressers etc get a note, restaurants get a rough percentage.

I’m good st tipping and get it right lol! It’s much less stressful to go with the flow rather than try and work out to the penny 🙄. It’s a tip, not a maths quiz.

Once you realise that your tipping actually only adds up to £x per month and it’s a nice thing to do, reaps rewards and saves embarrassment, it’s v enjoyable.

Rudgie47 · 10/08/2018 20:47

Seniorcitizen1 Im seriously shocked at your ignorance.
If any of my friends were spouting rubbish like you have come out with I'd drop them like a hot potato.

LoniceraJaponica · 10/08/2018 20:48

"I'm not sure where you got 'it's not an expectation' from? It kind of is here, especially restaurants, takeaway deliveries and taxis."

Exactly. We have used the same taxi company for years. They have been unfailingly reliable. I'm sure some of it is because we are good customers.

I do't tip my hairdresser every time I go, but I give her a big fat tip every Christmas. Unless the food/service was bad at a restaurant I usually tip about 10%.

I think anyone who doesn't tip at a restaurant if they have had a good meal with good service is tight.

Hassled · 10/08/2018 20:50

As far as I'm concerned tipping is absolutely the done thing. I'd find it incredibly difficult to not tip in a restaurant. And in the US - it's really not optional. You tip, or you don't eat out or travel in taxis.

Original poster
Lyndaishistory · 10/08/2018 20:52

Exactly. We have used the same taxi company for years. They have been unfailingly reliable. I'm sure some of it is because we are good customers.

Because you tip or because you are a loyal customer? I'm not saying you shouldn't tip. I'm saying it shouldn't be an expectation from the person providing the service.

OP posts:
NancyJoan · 10/08/2018 20:55

I always tip. 15-20% in a restaurant, £2 or £3 for a takeaway driver, £5 for the trainee girl who shampoos my hair. All people who work on a min wage, I hope others will do the same when my kids are working low paid jobs.

JoanFrenulum · 10/08/2018 20:55

In America waitstaff are assumed to earn a minimum wage, and taxes are deducted from their pay on that assumption. What actually happens is that they get a paycheck that just covers the tax deduction. In theory tips make up the wage and the employer tops it up to the proper amount. This never happens. If people don't tip, they earn nothing. This is illegal as all hell of course but waitstaff do not exactly have leverage to protest that.

So if you are in America and you don't tip, you are making the server work for free. This is an asshole move and nobody should do it. Not tipping "to protest the culture" is also an asshole move. You want to protest the culture, campaign for legal wages for waitstaff.

In the U.K. the systemic aspects are presumably not quite as awful but I err on the side of caution. I've been an expat too long.

brainstormer123 · 10/08/2018 20:56

@Seniorcitizen1 on behalf of all retail/hospitality workers... what a stuck up cunt you are 😊

Original poster
Lyndaishistory · 10/08/2018 20:58

Honestly guys, it wasn't a great meal/service. If it was I would have tipped them.

OP posts:
Janni01 · 10/08/2018 20:59

I don't really tip, I've never done it in restaurants.
I tell the taxi driver to keep the change as it's only usually a pound or so.
Hairdresser doesn't get a tip but gets a card and her favourite chocolate at christmas.