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

I hate tipping culture! Other mimimim wage jobs don’t get tips- I don’t understand it. I do however avoid going to restaurants if I can’t afford to pay the tip. I think it is a pain and can ruin a meal if we ask for the service charge to be removed etc . We’d eat out a lot more I think if we paid for what we ate and didn’t have a silly service / tip charge on. Six by Niko end up adding £20 every time we go as they add a charity donation and set service charge on- so we don’t go unless we can afford this on top.

We went to America earlier in the year (fully except they tip here) and chose to only get food from places like fast food, no tip places due to this. We did eat out once and tipped correctly. On FB, Im on groups about eating out and tipping in the US and have seen on some groups where restaurants owners say they want the business so if you can’t tip then still come. I think it puts a lot of people off. And I’m one of them so don’t go!

Overall I think the tipping culture is adding to restaurants closing as if people see the tip as too expensive then they don’t go. We’re also not poor - well off and have to consider what we spend our money on to pay everything we need to each month.

Yes, always unless there’s a service charge which there invariably is these days or the service was appalling.

10 percent for good service and 5 percent of I have to wait a long time. I would only not tip if waiter was rude to me.

On MN, there are a surprising number of people who don't tip at all and are outraged if a service charge is added.

I'm not outraged, but I don't like a service charge added because I don't think it's clear where it's going. Do they treat it as a tip? Does it go to the staff?

This is the problem- they are pricing themselves out ! I do the same- I used to go for massages etc but the price is now not justifiable. What was once affordable is now not and becomes a once a year treat type thing at best.

I'm really curious about this. When you say that things have really changed, since when exactly? I don't think it has changed much in my lifetime and I'm in my fifties. I did waitressing work as a teen, and I would say that it was certainly the norm for people to tip back then...if anything, I'd say that it would have been more unusual not to get a tip in those days than it is now!

No. It was but legally that has been stopped and it was only a very few chains that did that. Gave everyone a poor name.

I used to tip always (unless service/the meal had been absolutely awful), but as minimum wages have crept up I don't feel like all jobs have risen in the same way and that gap is now much smaller and I really don't feel like it's as necessary as it once was. Plus we've generally found service and quality has gotten worse in a lot of places so it doesn't feel justified.

I always tip, not a lot , usually 10% or couple of quid left on the table in cheaper testaments like harvester etc .
I've worked delivering food & it's generally thankless , the customers that gave me even £1 id be grateful & usually if you can afford to eat out or get a take away you can afford a little bit extra in my opinion

I tip if the service is good and it's not already included on the bill. I have in the last asked for the service charged to be removed. Frankly however these days you don't really get what I would call 'service'. They bring you a menu or sometime it's QR code, they take your order and bring food. Rarely do I get asked if more drinks are needed or is water topped up without asking. Frequently the meals come out at different times ie not close enough together.

We rarely go out now or get a takeaway because standards of food and service are now so low. As for staff not being paid enough - not my problem, someone is making money somewhere!

I appreciate it is thankless - but it's not the customers responsibility to tip you. We shouldn’t be made to feel like as a customer we are responsible for paying the staff directly, under the euphemism of gratuity. It’s the restaurant’s responsibility to ensure fair payment and treatment and excessive tipping culture actually negatively impacts workplace satisfaction and benefits.

We always ask them to take the service charge off the bill and give the tip directly to our servers.

But no one gives me an extra £1 here and there when I’m working. I get paid a set amount and that’s that!

How exactly do you know people can afford more and also why should they afford more? You’re assuming people earn more than you- but could also be earning minimum wage as well. If a burger is £10 it’s £10 they owe end of.

I agree with this!! Its it’s very arbitrary who we tip and who we don’t. Yes, waiters work very hard. So does my Midwife. So does the lady in my corner shop. So does my GP - Good service doesn’t require tipping.

There is no doubt waiting staff should be paid more, but running a hospitality business is excruciatingly expensive - many close weekly.

However suggesting that a waitressing minimum wage job is the same as a supermarket job is ridiculous. They do much of the same role (carrying/restocking/standing) BUT they also have to know all the allergens of the food, give recommendations (do you ask staff at the supermarket what the latest ready meal is like - it’s not hugely usual to do so). And importantly they have to put up with often rude, lewd customers, some of which treat them like shit.

And tipping is a new thing? Don’t be ridiculous, it’s been part of our culture for decades - hairdressers, hair washers, postal workers, milkman etc. So let’s not pretend it’s a recent thing from the US!

I worked in hospitality for a while when the children were small, just to get me out the house for a while and evenings worked with dh's hours.

I did it because I enjoyed the environment not because I needed the money.
I actually think it's quite degrading to leave some change to someone who you assume doesn't have a lot of money.
Some tips would be a pile of coppers or small silver equating to about 80p and we were expected to be grateful for the hand out.

Even that got pooled between about 10 of us.

If there’s not a service charge already included in the bill then yes, I’ll always tip 10%. Unless the service had been bad.

I have to regularly have a meal with work colleagues. Tip would be £1-2 each.
2 of them don’t tip, they make me look tight and rude. I think a lot less of them

It does depend.

If a place insists on an 'optional service charge' I always have this removed, as I will decide if and how much to tip. Sometimes I tip nothing, other times I tip more than the service charge would have been.

I ask the waiter if they get all of the tip, and if they don't I don't tip. Not giving them money when they'll see a few pence and it's shared out amongst everyone else.

If it's been really great service and they get to keep it I often do, and have been known to tip £20 between a friend and I just as a nice gesture as I know how much it means in those jobs, having done them. But I don't feel pressured to tip ever and won't buy into the idea that tipping is a given. We don't have a tipping culture in the UK, people are paid a minimum wage for their work regardless, so tipping really is just an optional thing if you truly want to do it. I laughed once when someone at Toby Carvery handed the card machine over with the message asking if you want to tip lol. After we'd got our own drinks and our own food haha.

I worked as a waitress for years, as a food delivery driver, all sorts, and I 100% support people who don't tip. You've already paid for the cost of the service, it's built into the price of the food for goodness sake. If you want to, go for it, but if you don't that's absolutely fine and nobody should be getting shirty over it. Plenty of people can barely afford to eat out and have to save up for it, they can't always justify handing over an extra fiver or more on top of the bill just because of social pressure.

Where have you been the last 30 years you think it's only just made its way?

I’ve stopped tipping unless I receive exceptional service. More often than not we’re being served by someone that really doesn’t want to be there and it shows. We’re always polite and friendly to servers, used to be a waitress but I also used to at least smile at my customers which is very rare these days.

It's cheeky as hell too. They add it because they know people will feel too awkward to ask for it to be removed as the concept of looking 'tight' is too much to bear apparently.

In reality it's not a service charge at all, because the price of the service is included in the price of the drinks and food. If it wasn't, the service charge wouldn't be optional. It would just be mandatory. So they get around it by saying it's optional but really they add it as a default and you have to ask them directly to remove it.. but if you remove it you're not underpaying for your meal and service, it's all a swizz. It's the entitlement that gets me. Just be upfront and make it mandatory if you wanna separate out service and the cost of the food/drink. Or get rid altogether.

It's funny how the price of service apparently can go up and down depending on the price of the meal eh, as if bringing out a £40 steak is more/better service than bringing out a £12 salad...

Well I live in the US and as far as I know their wages are only around $2.00 a hour so we tip at least 20% or 25% if someone was really helpful.

Not sure which way to vote is which - is 'Yes, YABU' yes to the question or a 'YABU' not to have tipped?

No, I don't tip. I am appalled at service charges being added separately.

The listed price should be the price, as in all other industries. There's no call for me to pay more, and arbitrarily so based on the value of the item (it's not more work or effort to carry a more expensive wine/dish to the table than a cheaper one).

I do tip but I don't actually want to. i find most wait staff do the bare minimum, and having worked in retail and care, as well as hospitality, I found it a very easy job.

Sorry, should add, I don't think wait staff deserve more than the others. If anything, the tipping makes minimum wage a bit unfair on the others.