Friends didn't "tip"....bit tight?

[tvsavec]

Me and three friends went to a little family run Greek restaurant.
The bill came to around £80 for four of us.
At the end of the meal
Friend 1 put £2 on the table and I also put £2
Friend 3 said "is that for a tip"
We said yeah.....she shouts for the waiter and hands him the £4 and says thanks
They didn't bother to put a couple of pound in each

Aibu to think it's a bit tight?

Tipping is totally optional and you can’t like your friend very much if you’re slagging her off to strangers on the internet. I actually feel quite sorry for her. And, before anyone asks, I rarely tip. The last time we tipped was €10 on holiday this year in Spain when the steak was practically melt in your mouth. Normally, we don’t as we’ve paid for our food and that’s enough. Get new friends if you don’t like her.

I’m so confused l, she handed 4 and each of you put down 2. Who didn’t tip?( I don’t go to restaurants regularly, sorry!)

Plus I always put in a tip but it is true that restaurant workers in Ireland and from what I hear the uk, get the same pay as I do working in a shop!!!

You should tip if you’ve had a good, personal service - but not if it was lazy or bad.

When I waitressed, it was a surprisingly stressful job and I was paid a lower wage than when I worked in a shop.

You have to work hard to make sure each customer has a good meal and feels looked after, and you have to be ‘on’ all the time.

We had to give 10% of our tips to the kitchen staff, but there were less of them, and they got paid more anyway. They also weren’t having to deal with the customers so could be as grumpy as they liked.

It’s also worth noting that despite working very hard, waitressing was the job where I most got treated like crap by customers.

So yes, all these years later I do tip!

Maybe these restaurants should actually just pay their staff properly.
Why is it the customer's responsibility to make sure waiting staff earn "enough"?

This is a huge con that people don't realise is a scam, and these companies get away with it!

Company pays crap wages and relies on social pressure to top them up.

Exactly this, I say this on every thread about tipping because some people seem to feel paying for some food and service entitles them to treat the people serving them like shit and that bunging a few quid on top of the bill means they can do it even more.
I'm not looking to find my best mate, just be treated like a human being and you don't get to buy the right not to do that, no matter what you're paying.
As said, tipping is by the vast majority I've worked with, seen as something that is a bonus, not to be expected or that you're entitled to, it's gratefully received when it happens and not resented when it doesn't.
Some people don't appear to like hearing that though, they almost want us standing there with our hands out so we can be told off and put back in our box.

I don't think the friends in OPs case are tight for not tipping, I think they're bloody cheeky for not contributing but then being the ones to hand over the tip though. That said, a tip is always usually gratefully received and often one person from the table hands the tip to staff or it's left on the table when they go, I doubt the server even registered who it's from within the party, I certainly don't have the time or will to break down who left what with individuals at tables, it's picked up and put in the pot before I move on to the next job.

Ohh come on, we’re not all that bad! Only a few delusional posters, I won’t name names but we can all know who ;)

I agree with PP who said rude and entitled customere are the worst. Or those who leave the table a battle zone. I worked a private booking once where they could not have made a bigger mess if they’d tried. Drinks /food strewn all over, Cutlery spread. God only knows whether they were eating or doing something else with the Food and cutlery.

I don’t think it’s the cultural norm to tip in the UK any more. Not for many years - not since restaurants brought in service charges as part of the bill. Anywhere else, no. If the restaurant doesn’t add a service charge (optional) to their bill, then more fool them.

@rushrushflat

So you'll read the menu, see they add a service charge, order anyway and eat the food then ask for the service charge to be removed? What do you tell the manager the reason is for that?

Oh my, How can some folks have so little grasp of this.

ok so here’s the deal. There is no scam, either way you pay,

so price of burger is ten pounds with discretionary tip on top if you get decent service. Wait staffs earnings are artificially low and tips make up the difference based on service given. So staff member earns 70 pounds a week no thirty in tips, total 100.

price of burger is twelve pounds, no tip is required. Staff member paid 100.

either way the customer pays it’s just is it in the meal cost or is it discretionary. There is no scam. And the non tippers is why restaurants moved to Inc service charges.

I could not give a toss if people have an issue with it. Get a better job if you want that extra pay, like the rest of us.

Won't be going out to restaurants to spend your extra money from your better job if there's no one to work in them because they all got a better job now will you?
There's a shortage of hospitality workers at the moment and your shitty attitude towards them is one of the reasons why. And no, not because you don't tip either. Just your disregard and disrespectful attitude.

I hate it when people don't tip. Really hate it, it's so tight which is a very unattractive quality. I find it embarrassing

Maybe these restaurants should actually just pay their staff properly. Why is it the customer's responsibility to make sure waiting staff earn "enough

Exactly this. It's not like eating out is cheap. Venues should pay their staff properly. We are paying higher prices anyway due to the cost of living increases. Also until covid/Brexit, venues were able to recruit cheap labour from overseas; now they'll have to pay market rates for staff. That is a good thing.

And why on earth does a hairdresser need a tip? I didn't even know that was a thing until I joined MN!

I am happy to round up a bill like they do in Germany but I find the expectation to tip beyond that annoying, especially when the owners/managers take the tips anyway.

the non tippers is why restaurants moved to Inc service charges

of course it's a scam, in many many cases the restaurant owner keeps the service charges. The staff don't get them!

I also suspect as others have mentioned that waiting staff would rather their customers be pleasant and polite, and not make a mess, than give them tips that their bosses take anyway.

If you're gonna tip at least try to tip 20% and also she's under no obligation no tip it's not like how it is in America but I'm just saying if you want to tip then you should tip well

Yes, and service charges are discretionary as well and can be removed.

They should just include the "service charge" as part of the meal cost. Because they should just pay their workers a better wage. It isn't our responsibility to "top up" wages after paying for a meal. It is the company's responsibility.

You don't need to give a reason. They're not compulsory charges.

All they are is saying "here's the tip we want you to pay" .

Maybe they had no change? It's nice to tip if you can but if I've got cash on me and card machine doesn't allow for it I dont worry about it. It isnt like America where the staff are horrendously underpaid and need tips to top up their pay. I like the way it is in Japan - there if you try to tip they assume you have made a mistake and give you the money back! They also pay their staff properly

@chiweenie

Uglybonnet: "why did you work for £4 .an hour?"

Standard hourly rate for the job back then.

That was the hourly rate back in 2000-2002

I didn’t ask why, I asked when. But actually that’s the same time I waitressed and I warned £3.50 an hour - standard rate at the time certainly not salve wages!

.
The tips took it to 7-12 pounds an hour

what?! Really?? I NEVER earned £12 an hour in tips at the time. The chefs only earned about £8-£9 an hour and I think they’d have something to say about it.

I’m sorry but I just don’t believe that in 2000 a waitress could warn 4 times their salary from tips. That’s a ludicrous claim.

I am not sure what kind of restaurants you have worked in but only the naffest places I have worked in at 13 had customers who did not tip frankly.

Nice ones. Often people would round up their tip to the nearest fiver but 10% being standard was most definitely not a rule.

I have worked in over 10 restaurants and the norm is for people to tip. People who do not tip stand out and yes servers will judge them as being cheap and yes I think they are unreasonable and cheap too.

again I disagree that tipping 10% in the UK is the unspoken rule. And I never judged anyone for not ripping because I’m not a weirdo.

In the US yes it is 18-20% and they will really let you know what they think of you if you dare not tip there.

Why what do they do? Do they murder you?

As I said thanks to the generous customers not quibbling over a few quid whose tips supported my wage back then so I could get educated

Again I find it hard to believe you funded an university education through tips. I was at Uni and my wages fed me and that’s it.

I’m also very surprised you’re not American because of the words you use.

Honestly I waitressed for 4 years and I never had the chip on my shoulder that some people here seemed to have. It was a laugh doing that job - certainly wasn’t sitting around trying to scrutinise if the people walking through the door would leave a 8% tip or 11% tip, getting upset because someone only left a quid etc. Then again I earned NMW at the time for an unskilled job, it was the norm.

I also hate this thing of having to consider the feelings and lifestyle of people serving you. To be drank, it’s not my problem it waiters don’t earn enough as much as they’d like and it’s not my job to top up their wages. I go for a meal to enjoy it for myself and whoever I’m with and give very little thought to serving staff. I’m never rude (which is more than can be said for a lot of serving staff these days), courtesy and rounding up to the next few quid is all in giving I’m afraid 🤷‍♀️

I don’t think the managers personally ask before allowing the service charge to be removed 🤣 I just say “Can you remove the service charge please”. It’s not rocket science.

I’d rather just pay £12 for a burger in the first place with no expectation to leave a tip. Problem solved

Stayathomer, working in a shop, the customer walks up to you, you do not walk up to them several times whilst they sit and relax. Shop work and waiting tables are very different

Lydia, so money not the issue you can afford to tip

They’re not different at all. They’re unskilled hospitality roles serving customers. And of course people approach shop workers! And even if they didn’t, opening your gob and asking what food people would like in the place they’ve deliberately come to eat hardly sets a person apart from a shop worker.