so where did this mandatory 10% tipping thing start??
Discussion
just a quick question, after a disagreement with my sister yesterday...
had this arguement with my sister , I refused to leave a £10 tip for an £80 meal. Which would have seen the waiter left with £20 total tip ( splitting the bill 50/50 between us) for half an hours work that he was already being paid for........
I also wondered what business it was of hers what level of tip I would leave and why she considered 10% simply HAD to be paid on top of the bill to be reasonable....funnily enough her tip was put on her card which likely the staff will see none of and mine was cash which will have went straight into the waiters pocket..
This percentage of the bill malarkey is b
ks, the bill actually included drinks we had bought at the bar before dining and carried through to the restaurant..
I left a tip was a lot less than £10 which put my Londoner sisters nose well out of joint....and she left disgusted calling me a tight bd...
I am honestly not generally tight with money , in fact the exact opposite I waste money like it was water, but I simply dont agree with this unwritten LAW that says that 10% addtional to the bill HAS to be left as a tip because of the poor wages paid to the staff by their employer for doing their job.
I cant remember when the last minimum wage shop assistant selling me my groceries or pair of jeans expected a 10% tip for doing their job.
I was a waiter and barman through college and before leaving school.... I certainly never relied on "tips", if I had I would have been a rather wealthy teenager if I was getting 10% from every table that I waited on... would easily have earned well over hundred a day on top of my wages even back then....
had this arguement with my sister , I refused to leave a £10 tip for an £80 meal. Which would have seen the waiter left with £20 total tip ( splitting the bill 50/50 between us) for half an hours work that he was already being paid for........
I also wondered what business it was of hers what level of tip I would leave and why she considered 10% simply HAD to be paid on top of the bill to be reasonable....funnily enough her tip was put on her card which likely the staff will see none of and mine was cash which will have went straight into the waiters pocket..
This percentage of the bill malarkey is b
ks, the bill actually included drinks we had bought at the bar before dining and carried through to the restaurant..I left a tip was a lot less than £10 which put my Londoner sisters nose well out of joint....and she left disgusted calling me a tight b
d... I am honestly not generally tight with money , in fact the exact opposite I waste money like it was water, but I simply dont agree with this unwritten LAW that says that 10% addtional to the bill HAS to be left as a tip because of the poor wages paid to the staff by their employer for doing their job.
I cant remember when the last minimum wage shop assistant selling me my groceries or pair of jeans expected a 10% tip for doing their job.
I was a waiter and barman through college and before leaving school.... I certainly never relied on "tips", if I had I would have been a rather wealthy teenager if I was getting 10% from every table that I waited on... would easily have earned well over hundred a day on top of my wages even back then....
Edited by hedgefinder on Sunday 5th October 15:16
Gruber said:
It's not mandatory. It's a social convention. Respect it or ignore it - your call.
Personally, I always tip good service in restaurants at 10% ish, especially if it's somewhere I plan to visit again. Poor service => no tip.
I know its not officially mandatory, but my sisters attituded showed her to almost believe otherwise.Personally, I always tip good service in restaurants at 10% ish, especially if it's somewhere I plan to visit again. Poor service => no tip.
If that gets your goat most chain type places that I've visited in the last 6months seem to be adding 12.5% on by default.
I generally ignore it and tip what I want to in cash. This is typically about 10% but varies depending on the level of service, cost of meal and what cash monies I have on my person.
I generally ignore it and tip what I want to in cash. This is typically about 10% but varies depending on the level of service, cost of meal and what cash monies I have on my person.
I tip if I consider the service to be good. I hate the tipping culture when in the US though. When my wife and I visited New York in January this was summed by a card given to us in a diner. In c6 different languages it basically said 20% for good service, 15% for average service and 10% for poor service. Thankfully we didn't receive any poor service but I'd only have tipped a couple of times during the trip if it had been in the UK. Most of the service was from pretty miserable Eastern Europeans. On my final day I think I pissed one off by giving a 20% tip AND our change before heading to the airport.
the stupid thing was that at least £35 to £40 of the bill was for Drinks bought at the bar before carrying them through to the restaurant and were only on the bill as we had an open tab..
And I have NEVER EVER seen my sister tip a barman in her entire life..
She made a rather a scene, which didnt bother me in the slightest because as far as I was concerned she was being utterly ridiculous conforming to an unwritten rule that has developed by way of social/class pressure.
She started with "its disgusting, these people dont get paid as much as you do."
This comment was from someone on over 100k a year.. yet her charitable works and donations have so far seemed to add up to approximately 0% of her net income....... thats not counting restaurant tips of course..
And I have NEVER EVER seen my sister tip a barman in her entire life..
She made a rather a scene, which didnt bother me in the slightest because as far as I was concerned she was being utterly ridiculous conforming to an unwritten rule that has developed by way of social/class pressure.
She started with "its disgusting, these people dont get paid as much as you do."
This comment was from someone on over 100k a year.. yet her charitable works and donations have so far seemed to add up to approximately 0% of her net income....... thats not counting restaurant tips of course..
Tipping server staff heftily is something that's come across from the U.S. where 15-20% is the norm. This is because most places in the US don't have a minimum wage (or a livable one) so pay maybe a couple of dollars an hour, so the rest is earned from tips. Tipping heftily in a country like the UK that has a solid minimum wage is a waste, unless you feel that the service received was above and beyond your expectations.
It doesn't really make any sense in the UK; serving staff aren't paid any more or less than someone working in a shop.
As has already been said, it's a custom which originated in the US where serving staff are exempt from minimum wage and therefore need tips to make the $2 per hour, or whatever they earn, into a liveable income. If US servers were being paid just over $10 per hour (the USD equivalent of the main UK minimum wage), would people tip nearly as often? I'd guess not...
As has already been said, it's a custom which originated in the US where serving staff are exempt from minimum wage and therefore need tips to make the $2 per hour, or whatever they earn, into a liveable income. If US servers were being paid just over $10 per hour (the USD equivalent of the main UK minimum wage), would people tip nearly as often? I'd guess not...
absolute liberties being taken by a lot of chains now adding the 10-12.5% to bills straight off the bat.
have no qualms about tipping and would think nothing of slipping the serving stuff a good tip in excess of the discretionary if the service warrants it.
BUT
service in the uk is so hit and miss. I've had both fantastic and god awful experiences in the same resteraunts. and as for tipping when paying by card I wouldn't trust half the places to pass it onto the staff so always make sure if theres a tip its handed to the appropriate staff in cash
have no qualms about tipping and would think nothing of slipping the serving stuff a good tip in excess of the discretionary if the service warrants it.
BUT
service in the uk is so hit and miss. I've had both fantastic and god awful experiences in the same resteraunts. and as for tipping when paying by card I wouldn't trust half the places to pass it onto the staff so always make sure if theres a tip its handed to the appropriate staff in cash
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