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?

As I say I refuse to prop up an establishment that doesn’t pay its workers a fair wage. I also think the random list of “who to tip” is bizarre. Why don’t I tip McDonalds workers? Who, BTW, usually give a better service than a waiter. They bring my kids pencils and crayons, help them with iPads, fetch sauces etc but I don’t tip them. Why? And why do we have to tip hairedressers? My hairdresser drives a £55k Range Rover and charges me £140 for my hair. Why does she need tipped? I won’t be part of that nonsense I’m afraid

Lydia, if macdonalds workers are waiting on your table, feel free to tip them! Hairdressers....Well I'm partly with you there - womens hairdressing is so expensive!

Oh come on, just admit tipping is completely illogical.

There is no logic to that though. Being a bin man, postal worker or working in a warehouse/logistics can involve more walking and heavy lifting than waiting a table and yet those industries aren’t tipped.

I claim expenses for my meals to eat out when I work away from home. My company expenses do not allow for service charges or tips, the reason I'm eating out is because I have little choice. So I too always tell them to remove the service charge, its optional.

Sorry but I give good customer service as part of my job because its expected and polite and I refuse to tip any one just doing some thing that is considered polite, if they are not happy with their pay take it up with their employer not me.

Lux, its not about the physicality of the work, its about the attentive nature of the work, bringing something to you whilst you chill - bin men do get tipped!

Not near me they don't they are bloody useless and rude.

I'm amazed any of you had cash on you to be honest.

I've stopped tipping as I don't carry cash. But I also don't agree with tipping.

Most bin collections are early in the morning. I have never seen anyone run out in their dressing gown to tip?? Are you seriously saying you do that? I find that incredibly hard to believe.

@LydiaBennetsUglyBonnet

I see where you're coming from with that, but restaurants don't put an extra £2 on the price of their burgers because they are increasing staff wages - it's to offset the increase in food prices and other things. £2 directly to the staff will go to the staff, but £2 on the price of your burger will go elsewhere.

Not saying anyone has to tip. I work in hospitality and tips are greatly received; I see them as a marker of how good my service has been, but I don't expect everyone to tip. Many don't and that's fine. Personally I do like to tip when I eat out where possible.

What about friend 4?

You keep referring to people as tight. Your generalisations are quite offensive too. You chose an employer who pays £x per hour and expect the customers to prop up your wages. You've done nothing to earn the extra so, does this make you 'grasping', 'grabby'? Certainly there is a massive sense of entitlement and it's really grating considering by your own admission, you didn't provide anything like service, even a basic one. You said exactly that; dodging customers is not service, however you slice it.

The UK isn't the US so the comparisons don't make sense but since you insist, I would say that from my experience, other countries do 'service' better than the UK does. Perhaps that's why my tipping for excellence 'rule' applies? There are some people who are really, really good at what they do. It's absolutely not the norm here.

I'm actually a fabulous 'tipper' but it's not tipping to me, it's appreciating somebody else's efforts and wanting to show that. I won't tip for somebody just doing their job, it makes no sense whatsoever.

Yes, this is true. Ask any council's waste services team what sickness absence is like for refuse collectors, in the run up to Christmas. It is exemplary - and they are not on minimum wage.

Good for them, I wouldn't want to do the job but the premise of 'lady bountiful' is really grating. Bin men are often tipped because the householder wants to dispose of something they shouldn't, either in volume/quantity. That waste is paid for, by everybody else - it's not a tip, it's not in the 'bin man's' gift to do that for you. It's theft.

But that's literally what a waiter is being paid to do. Plus what is good service?

Most of the time they take your order, bring you the food, do a 'check back' because that's protocol, but panic if you actually say anything but 'fine thank you', interrupt your conversation a few times to try and upsell things you don't want and then disappear when you want to pay the bill.

Shop work isn't necessarily less interaction either. DP used to work in a bike shop for NMW and would spend ages going through all the different types of bikes and accessories to make sure everything was suitable, to customers spending thousands, build the bikes, check that they all fit, do services after a few weeks etc etc. Once or twice a year, someone might bring in some beer for the staff if they'd had a good experience, but apart from that, absolutely nothing, for exactly the same wages as restaurant staff get before tips.

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

but why is it a problem for you? Either way it’s twelve quid

How was the service "great" though? I've very rarely ever seen what I would class as "great" service anywhere, every time, it's been pretty much what I'd expect to happen and how to be served when going to a restaurant, and I think a lot of people conflate the two out of politeness.

But it's not. It's £10 for a burger, and £10 is all you need to pay. You don't need to gift £2 to a waiter/ress on top.

The argument that if we don't tip, prices will go up, is stupid. People who have actually waited tables in the UK always say the same - the tips were a bonus but not necessary. Waiting staff will not leave in droves if everybody stops tipping, and restaurants won't have to increase prices so they can pay higher wages.

So basically stick it to the low earners?

Because it's about the social pressure of "having" to leave a tip. Some people will say 10% isn't enough, oh so and so was a bit tight, I always leave 20-30%.

And if the prices were up, then no one misses out in a fair wage, no-one is shamed for not leaving a tip.

And it then actually makes the owners responsible for paying their staff a fair wage from their turnover. Not paying them only NMW, taking the higher profits and then everyone thinking it's great to do that, because some customers will feel bad for their staff and top up their wages.

Its such a great con, that people are defending the shit pay for workers basically, by saying you should tip!

No.... Make the owners accountable!
It's THEIR RESPONSIBILITY to make sure their employees earn a decent wage.

We shouldn't have to feel sorry for them and personally tip up their wages directly:/

No.... Make the owners accountable!
It's THEIR RESPONSIBILITY to make sure their employees earn a decent wage.

they pay the minimum wage.

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.

I’m sure, like in every job, it has it’s own particular difficulties. But I think people on here really need to stop pretending that it is some overly arduous job, where people should feel sorry for you or extra grateful for your sacrifice and therefore compensate you for it - it’s embarrassing. Tips are for good and exceptional service - it’s not to compensate for the exceptionally tough job you (don’t) have. It’s also incredibly disrespectful to be moaning about the difficulties of working in service and why you therefore should get paid extra by people who are not your employers, some of whom don’t even earn more than you do without tips, when there are people working in jobs that pay similar but don’t receive tips, and on top of that are genuinely difficult. I’m sure dementia sufferers aren’t easy ‘customers’ for low paid carers, and cleaning up tables is arguably easier than cleaning up a grown person who has soiled themselves.
Get a grip. It really is cringeworthy to read comments from grown adults that sound like bunch of spoiled children.

So basically stick it to the low earners?

Your reading comprehension sucks.

Tipping is a bit of a strange concept. Always found it weird how we only tip waiters and no other profession. I wouldn’t tip the min wage staff in a shop but am expected to tip the min wage staff in a restaurant? They’re no more skilled than anyone else, it’s just a bit weird.

I get it's a "strange concept" but it's always the tight and more selfish people who usually don't tip