Do you usually Tip on top of the bill when you eat out?

[LunarLass]

Hi everyone,
Just curious, how many of you usually leave a tip when you eat out?
I generally don't, but the other day, we went out with some friends who always tip. This time, I stuck to paying just for what we ordered—no tip—and you should've seen the looks on our friends' faces! Our bill came to £55, so it wasn't exactly cheap, to be honest. The meal was lovely, no complaints there; it's just that I don't usually tip out of principle, since they're getting paid for their job like anyone else

Always (unless they were a terrible service). They get paid minimum and it's a service. I would have had the same look as your friends TBH!

Of course I tip. It's expected, and I think much less of people who don't. As, it seems, do your friends.

Always! You should have rounded up to £60 as a minimum. Your friends think you’re tight and were probably embarrassed.

Always unless they insist on cash and then often I can’t as I rarely have it.

Always tip and definitely more generously since DD got a job as a waitress years ago on weekends and summer holidays. The tales she used to tell of awful customers! So yeah - always tip. Believe me wage or no wage they rely on those tips.

I used to always tip, but now most places add a 12.5% service charge, so I’m less inclined to if that’s the case.

Yes, I always tip, unless we've had really lousy service. I tip more generously if the service is exceptional but usually 10% as a minimum. Service staff are typically paid minimum wage and rely on tips to get by, so I think it's pretty mean not to personally, but each to their own. If money was tight, I'd go out less often rather than not tipping.

I find it so annoying that tipping culture has made its way to the UK.

If there's a service charge already on the bill then I don't tip.
If there isn't, I will round up or do 10%.

If service is mind-blowing exceptional I may tip on top of service charge.

Agree, I wouldn't necessarily tip if they have already added a service charge.

Yes. I think how waiting staff perform can make or break the experience of the transaction in a way that isn’t really applicable to e.g. a retail worker taking my money, or delivery drivers dropping something off. Also, waiting staff often take the brunt from customers in a way many other service workers don’t, including for other people’s mistakes like the kitchen getting something wrong or a reservation being messed up, and have to know how to navigate that. Unless they were poor, I tip them for their contribution of making my experience of the meal enjoyable.

If service is already added, then that's fine, they have calculated the tip for you (and 12.5% tells you what it should be), but otherwise, yes. And when you think that out of your £55 (which, yes, is cheap for what I assume is a minimum of 3 people as you refer to friends plural), the business has to pay rent, business rates, tax, staff wages and the cost of your meal, then is it surprising most places pay NMW?

If service charge is added, then no. Otherwise yes, if there is a choice on the card machine we hit the highest percentage. Both me and DH having worked in hospitality makes us appreciate being looked after well.

I never usually tip unless I’m getting my hair done and I tip the young girl washing my hair.

Yes, if service isn't already included. No, if service is already added.

I do get a bit irritated by the steadily increasing levels of added service charge - 10% has commonly become 12.5% and in some places 15% or more. Higher levels of expected tipping make sense in the US. In the UK not so much.

I always tip. I was a waitress in my first job at 16 and throughout uni and tips make a huge difference to your pay (which is minimum wage pretty much everywhere!). I would be surprised if I was out for dinner and a friend didn't want to tip "out of principle".

In Ireland and the uk there’s a minimum wage. I tip but as a retail worker it always bugged me because generally they were on the same wage as me! US this summer I tipped over the average

If there is a service charge added definitely not - and if service was bad I'd ask them to remove it. Otherwise if paying cash I'll round up, otherwise I may leave up to 10%. Service is rarely exceptional.

Hate the tipping culture and prefer to go to places without a service charge.

In Canada we tipped - but well below their standard level - even the person who was so bad we complained.

Always. 10% minimum and extra if the service was really good.

I’d be giving you a look too.

The tip is usually included in the bill and I always pay it. Sometimes we add a cash tip on top if the service/food was exceptional.
I'd never not tip unless the staff were actively rude. If the food is crap, it's not the waiter's fault. Often if I'm dissatisfied with the meal, sometimes a dish is sent back, I will actually tip more generously as I don't feel the waiter should lose out. Just because the kitchen messed up.
As long as staff deal with everything really well then of course they deserve a tip.
Hospitality is really hard work. Much harder than any office work.
I have a lot of respect for everyone in the restaurant industry who are trying their best to make some money and satisfy often very high maintenance customers.

I always tip 15% unless service charge is included or the service is awful.

I don’t tip - that’s what minimum wage is for.

It’s not new. I’m in my 40s and I remember my parents always leaving a tip.

As others have said, if service is already included I may not, but I generally leave at least 10%.

Exactly. Seems a lot of people forget this. There's a lot of people working for minimum wage who never receive tips (carers, fast food restaurant staff, retail workers and many others) yet are apparently expected to tip other people who earn the same as them for meeting the basic requirements of the job they are paid to do.

It's very geographical. London is awful for tipping culture. Scotland there is hardly any tipping expected. Australia...no tipping at all.