[Snowflakian]

Quote:

Originally Posted by trebleshot

I don't think tipping should be mandatory or automatically included, simply because the tip should always reflect the level of service received (though I do understand the reasoning behind adding it in with parties of 8 or more). I certainly won't add to it, if I'm already forced to pay a tip even when service is bad.

For restaurants in general, I will start at 15% for the tip. The waitstaff's performance during the course of my meal determines if I drop down to 10% or go up to 20%. In very rare cases of extremely bad service, I won't leave a tip at all and will usually boycott that particular location from that point forward. Not the entire company, just that one location.

I'm the same as OV when it comes to tip jars, though I will usually tip the bartender on multiple occasions throughout a given evening. It really depends on the service level there.

I also will not tip pizza delivery people, since every single pizza place around me now charges extra for delivery services (which should cover the costs to get the pie to me). As for doormen, general delivery people, etc., I have so little interaction with those professions that I don't have any set rules about tips. Most of the time I don't tip, for the same reason MegaPrime33 mentioned about them doing their jobs.

I hate those surcharges.
I've worked full service gas stations before. The owner charged 50cents more per gallon for full service. Everyone assumed that was our tip worked in. It wasn't. We never saw a dime of that money.

The same happens to pizza places. That surcharge for many of them, they never see. I've switched to carry out only because of it.

Forced tippings bother me, but overall I'm about the same based on service.
As for bars. I tip normally about a dollar per drink if I'm not running a tab. If I am running a tab, I tip 15-20% on it. If it's a new bar, it depends on the service, but chances are if service is bad I won't be back. The bars I use now I guess I'm considered a regular at(first name basis with all employees). So they usually always get 20%.

Something else to keep in mind though.
Not all waitresses/waiters or even commission start at minimum wage.
Some start at much lower with tips expected to make up the difference. I don't know which places do that anymore still. But it used to be about 3.25-5.25 as the baseline with tips making up the difference to usually much higher. I'm not sure if they've since changed how that works legally though. Before, because it's a tips/service based industry though, they could get away with it.

RadioShack with their commission based pay is at 5.25 too. Whether you have the foot traffic to meet the goals to get commission or not. (The goals are set by high point sales like holidays, and average normal foot traffic never meets that. So essentially, the majority only get paid 5.25 an hour. Two months of that, and I quit that job in a heartbeat. 60 hour weeks, and only 20 hours of that were minimum wage. The overtime.)