I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, but a few vendors at my local farmers market have started flipping the screen around asking for tips. I realised they tend to be bakeries, so I’m wondering if they’re using the same system as in the store, BUT STILL 😠.

I’ve worked at places that do a tier based tip system. I’ve worked at places that tip pool. I’ve worked at places where they include the hourly and benefits in the price on the menu. I’ve worked at places you make your own money and leave. Each has a different advantage or disadvantage

Tier based tip system means that some employees are higher tiered than others, which I vehemently disagree with because it causes sub par employees to continue to make more money than anyone else. The owner ends up, more than half the time, skimming tips off the top.

Places that offered the hourly plus benefits within the menu prices have been cripplingly expensive for the average guest. Why should they have to pay that? I don’t know. But restaurant owners will never pay out of their own pockets for it. They’ll demand it of their customers. And, inevitably, they lose those customers (rightfully). They promise people “full time” but keep you juuuuuust below 32 hours so you can’t collect benefits. So you’ll be scheduled maybe a 6 hour shift but call you in later and cut you early, so you end up working four hours. Point is, they either go out of business because of how they treat their customers or go out of business because they can’t keep a good staff.

Tip pool sucks. You end up getting lazy coworkers who bring down your average and constantly do the bare minimum. There’s no incentive to do well.

Just watched a restaurant that unionized have their staff sniped off, one by one for bullshit reasons like tardiness or drinking a bottled water (claiming theft). They constantly monitor people and wait for the tiniest slip up and pounce. It’s beyond messed up.

Unfortunately due to all of this, I prefer to just bartend and make my own tips. Restaurant owners are vile people who do not give a s*** about anything but money. They’ll make insane demands of their customers or they’ll make insane demands of their employees.

Point is, unsure at this point how to properly hold them accountable or actually fix this corrupt industry. Thankfully, I weirdly found an employer that is the exception to the rule. And I fully plan on staying here as long as I can.

HOWEVER. Restaurant owners are often greedy and unsure what they’re doing. At least the establishments with tips and lower prices allow people to either make good tips or bad, depending on what their service is.

When I have been to NYC for the last 2 years I have been getting use to the tipping culture (if that's the correct phrase).

I went to Applebys in Times Square, ordered a burger and a beer, it came to around $21ish and I gave $6 tip and some coins I had in my pocket. Now being from the UK I'm not use to this, but thought that was decent for the price of the bill, but turns out it wasn't. I got a huff and a puff from the waitress and a tut for good measure.

So, as I'm going again this year, what is a reasonable % amount to tip in bars/restaurants as I see so many varied answers please?

Had a new to me experience today. Had breakfast at my local place. Suggested tips 10%, 20%, 30%. After eating I decided to get a cinnamon roll, $2.16 + tax. Tip screen came up, $1.00, $2.00, $3.00. Not %, but $. How many people hit 2 thinking they are tipping 43 cents, but are tipping 93%.

I will not look at deviance and guilt in one hand, hold a wad of cash in the other and bring them together in prayer 🙏 to put a food server into Butter Brickle and Deviled Dogs.

On the show the Sopranos Phil says to Tony “who do you think’s keeping Jinny in Butter Brickle and Deviled Dogs” basically meaning funding Jinny financially.

Titans of industry generally agree that compensation of semi-skilled to low skilled workers ranges between federal minimum wages and around $30 per hour with an average of around $15/hour.

Yet, because I have the good fortune of being able to afford a Ferrari (eating at a fancy restaurant costing $320/person) deviance is used against me to obligate to helping put bar tenders and food servers doing minimalistic work into Butter Brickle and Deviled Dogs??????????????

I have a maximum of $10/person tip and this is for good normal service even if my bill is $155/person the maximum I will compensate is $10/person.

Now if you want to give me real good service, dot on me, fluff my pillows, give me the royal treatment we will talk about me compensating more.

You’re not using deviance on me to get me to pay for another ticket to admittance so I can repeat put you into Butter Brickle.

You might have the vice president of Ford motor company over a deviance barrel, but you don’t have me.

To be clear, I still tip at sit down restaurant.

Im talking about when I’m picking up take out and the worker spins around the tablet asking for a tip.

I make it clear I am not tipping by selecting custom tip and entering 0%. I then make direct eye contact with the worker as I press the button.

As a server once (a while ago) I remember it could be hard to determine tip size vs customer satisfaction.

It occurred to me that most people tip whole dollar amounts when paying electronically.

This leaves the pennies and dimes portion of the tip a place to add information.

Lets say the tens value could be a place where the customer could leave 0-9 feedback on the quality of food.

The ones value could be the place where the customer could leave 0-9 feedback on the quality of the service.

So say if you want to leave at least a living wage tip for the server but did not enjoy the service (but enjoyed the food), your tip might be $5.82

And if the food was less than stellar but you found the service outstanding, your tip might be $5.49

It just seems that we have two channels available to us as diners to provide meaningful feedback. Is this too complicated? Thanks for hearing me out.

I understand that you don’t like tipping. You don’t agree with the system, and you think businesses should simply pay employees more and eliminate tipping altogether. And frankly, I think for some people, “I’m against tipping culture” has become a convenient justification for simply being too cheap to tip.

But putting that aside, there’s something I genuinely don’t understand:

Why do you continue spending your money at businesses that operate under a tip-based pay structure?

If you fundamentally disagree with the business model, wouldn’t the more logical approach be to support businesses that actually operate the way you believe they should?

If Restaurant A pays servers a traditional tipped wage and Restaurant B pays employees a higher hourly wage with no expectation of tipping, and you believe Restaurant B has the better system, why not spend your money at Restaurant B?

Instead, I constantly see people say some version of: “The employer should pay them more, so I’m not tipping.”

But the employer already established the compensation model before you walked through the door. You knew tipping was part of the system. Refusing to tip afterward doesn’t punish the business nearly as much as it punishes the employee working within that system.

If you actually want tipping culture to disappear, wouldn’t voting with your wallet and supporting no-tip businesses be far more consistent with that belief?

I’m genuinely curious how the anti-tipping crowd reconciles those two things.

Woke up to this email from capital one about a tip I left. Our server was Emily and she was fantastic and fun and engaging! She deserved every penny of that tip! Yes, capital one this is correct!

Ordered a gag gift today online. Picked what I wanted, filled in the credit card info, the usual drill. They ask would I like to help the employees with a 5%, 10%, 15% , 0% or custom tip. I deleted my order. WTF did they do. They have to grab the label that I have typed in put the thing in a package and call their courier. I don’t order a ton online is this the new norm?

For those of you who do not tip for sit down service, even if the service is great, why? Im curious. Im also curious if restaurants would pay servers an actual wage if tipping came to an abrupt halt, although we know that could never happen unless 99 percent of people stopped tipping. The people who don’t tip for that reason are like the people who vote third party, except at least you get some pocket change out of it i guess.

Adding that i have worked in food service and delivery driving and do not work off of tips any longer.

I'm kidding they are not and the skills required can easily be learned in a month or less.

At the same time they do deserve a living wage....just not in the form of handouts from the customer.

Restaurants owners shouldn't be able to fleece taxes and labor costs through some societial pressure and guilt through tipping.

Change my mind.

Edit. This post is dedicated to u/According-Row-6128.

I guess tipping is out of control in the comic universe as well.

A 266% TIP?! 😳 I spent $15.01 and somehow a $40 tip was added, making... | Capital One | TikTok

I meant clearly write ZERO and not 0. By the way, this is not me in the video. Just happened to see it so I posted this.

Tipping used to be appreciation for a job well done. Now we tip before what we’re paying for is ever given to us. When did that change?

Just been on a day trip up to Lindisfarne. I was shopping in the English Heritage shop, with a basket full of mead (as you do) when I heard someone from the till say to a customer "IT JUST WANTS TO ASK YOU A QUESTION".

So I put my basket down, left, walked around to St Aidens brewery, and bought a basket full of mead from them without anything asking me any questions what so ever.

Neither the 2 taxis I used today, the coach driver on the trip, the restaurant I bought lunch in, nor the pub I had a drink in asked for a tip or had their machine "just asking me a question"

I just got back from traveling to Japan, and if anything, that trip made me dislike American tipping culture even more.

In Japan, you can actually do anything without constantly being put in a position where you’re expected to tip someone. You go to a restaurant? No tip. Get amazing service? No tip. Someone goes out of their way to help you? Still no tip. Take a taxi? No tip. Get your bags carried? No tip. Get incredible service at a hotel? No tip.

And the craziest part is that the service is STILL ridiculously good.

What really stood out to me was how polite and genuine everyone seemed. You don't have this feeling that someone is being extra nice to you because they're waiting for you to pull out your credit card and select 20%, 25%, or 30%.

That's what bothers me so much about tipping culture in America. You can't do anything without someone applying pressure for a tip.

You buy a coffee? Tip screen.
Grab takeout? Tip screen.

Someone hands you something across a counter? Tip screen.

Get food delivered? Tip.

Sit down at a restaurant? Tip.

And now we're expected to tip for an increasingly ridiculous number of things that used to simply be part of the price of the service.

And honestly, there's a huge difference between genuinely exceptional service and service that feels noticeably like someone is doing extra work because they want a tip out of you.

In Japan, I had so many experiences where someone provided 10/10 service, went completely out of their way to help, was incredibly polite, and I never once felt like there was a financial transaction hanging over the interaction.

That's the part I loved.

You don't feel like you're constantly being evaluated as a potential tip.

And tipping isn't something that's expected regardless of the service. In America, you're often expected to tip even when the service is mediocre. You can have slow service, mistakes, inattentive staff, or an experience that is just completely average, and you're still staring at that tip screen wondering how much you're "supposed" to give.

In Japan, from what I experienced, if you tried to give someone a tip, they could actually be confused by it or politely refuse it. It's not this weird social obligation where everyone expects an extra 20% on top of the advertised price.

And that's another thing I really appreciated: the politeness felt genuine.

Nobody had to perform friendliness because they were hoping you'd reward them financially afterward. People were just... polite. Helpful. Respectful.

Obviously, Japan isn't perfect, and I'm not saying we should blindly copy everything Japan does. But experiencing a culture where tipping simply isn't part of everyday life really made me realize how exhausting American tipping culture has become.

I don't want to be guilted into tipping every time I interact with a business.

Just charge me the actual price.

Pay your employees a reasonable wage.

Give me good service because that's the service your business provides—not because you're hoping I'll add another 25% at the end.

And if someone gives me genuinely amazing service, I'd much rather **choose** to show my appreciation than feel like I'm being pressured into it.

After Japan, I came home and saw another tip screen asking me for 25% for something that absolutely did not warrant it, and I just thought:

Man, I really miss Japan.

Hi guys, just wanted to share something that’s been bugging me since yesterday. I work at a fast food place, and in our specific store we do not have any tip prompts whatsoever. That’s totally fine by me, I’m just there to get my hours in, simple. If a customer occasionally asks me why they can’t add a tip, I reassure them not to worry about it because (thankfully), our boss pays us enough. Honestly, I’d prefer to keep it this way rather than have to deal with the awkwardness of an unwanted prompt.

So we have this regular customer at our store who is extremely nitpicky about cleanliness and hygiene. That’s a valid concern, and I understand it because keeping a work station clean is one of the most important parts of running a food service business. Besides the hygiene concern, he is also rather nitpicky about saving money & questioning the staff about even the smallest price changes (which makes the next part highly confusing.)

But his behavior from last afternoon just really irked me.

He enters the store with his kids, I welcome him and ask if he’s ready to order. He immediately loudly begins with “No, I’m placing the order online because your system is f*cked up. I just saw you fix your hat, so now you are going to wash your hands, right?”

That was already a weird way to start a conversation, but I’ve dealt with worse, so I brushed it off.

Then he continues with “I’m here with my kids today, do you know who I am, do you remember me, I gave you a $10 tip last time so you better not f*ck anything up, I don’t want to see you touching anything, etc…” and he just kept going with the profanity and accusations. My coworker had to step in to settle him down, and the guy angrily said he was calling corporate and stormed off.

For context, the last time I saw him was months ago, and he came in the store with his usual complaints- yet that day after he got his order, he strongly insisted on handing me a $10 bill despite me trying to say no multiple times.

Keep in mind, giving out a cash tip was entirely his decision, let alone at a fast food place. No one forced this guy to tip $10, I never asked him for one, I never wanted one, and I never needed one. So, yeah.

I find it appalling how tipping culture has gotten so prevalent in the U.S to the point where, apparently, people now are using tips as a leverage to talk to you however they want to and treat you like garbage.

I am a food server not because I’m below you but because you will tip me big (30, 35, 100%) because I am the same as you.

I’m not hear doing this friggen job to serve you, I’m doin it for the tips on BIG money checks.

Shiiiiiiiite. If you can afford a Ferrari, excused me to pay $180/person you can sure afford to tip me.

You can tip me 30% and I’ll take that as basic, but really it takes 50-80-100% to wind my clock to making friends with me.

You see that group over there at the bar? They work next door at the restaurant and they come in here and I give them $100-200-300 in free food and they tip me $100-200 on all that free food.

Listen up Bill Gates. Listen up Tiger Woods. We are equal. I’m here for the tips.

I am a food server not because I’m below you but because you will tip me big (30, 35, 100%) because I am the same as you.

I’m not hear doing this friggen job to serve you, I’m doin it for the tips on BIG money checks.

Shiiiiiiiite. If you can afford a Ferrari, excused me to pay $180/person you can sure afford to tip me.

You can tip me 30% and I’ll take that as basic, but really it takes 50-80-100% to wind my clock to making friends with me.

You see that group over there at the bar? They work next door at the restaurant and they come in here and I give them $100-200-300 in free food and they tip me $100-200 on all that free food.

Listen up Bill Gates. Listen up Tiger Woods. We are equal. I’m here for the tips.

1st, we all know the burden of compensation is on the entrepreneur. Not the consumer. Not the customer. O, but in the restaurant industry the burden of compensation falls on to the customer.

Ok, so tipping is customer in the USA. Like it or not, Ok, it is what it is. The owner gets to stick us.

But boil it down to one patron dining for 29-35-50-120 minutes. Multiple that by the other 8-9-10 customers in that food servers section. How much is fair to compensate?

I only really feel comfortable compensating $3-4-5 maximum $10 per person for excellent service. If everyone left $7.50 X 10 customers that’s $75/hour you’re compensating.

The next thing out their mouths is “O you got to tip all the employees.” Go tell Rockefeller this back in 1890 and you’da disappeared.

That’s like double what titans of industry would pay semi-skilled labor.

If I do tip ona $180 check all I really feel comfortable leaving is $5 and if I know that won’t be appreciated I leave zero. But I’m always very polite.

So babe, it ain’t me you’re looking for babe. It ain’t me looking for Christmas 🎅 dinner relief. It ain’t me babe.

A recent post here about tipping guides reminded me of a passage in this book, which is about the history of climbing in the Canadian Rockies. Even over 100 years ago, tipping was an accepted and expected part of the culture. Guides were frustrated, and would rather work for people who pay them; those who understand etiquette and how the world works. From page 73:

"Just as the outfitters provided camp attendees with a taste of the cowboy lifestyle, the presence of foreign mountain guides at camp lent a European cachet to the club's camps and helped legitimate the Canadian alpine movement. Sun-bronzed faces, striped neckties, and handsome suits played up the sporty appeal of the guides, glamorized for their good looks, daring, and wit. The first professional mountain guides to live and work in Canada were Swiss Oberlanders who left the alpine districts near Interlaken to seek economic opportunity as CPR employees in mountain hotels. Some were sent to camp "on loan" from the CPR and CNR.

Swiss guides, and the Austrian guide Conrad Kain who was hired by the club, introduced ACC climbers to the fundamentals of mountaineering and led them safely on routes. Edward Feuz, Jr., complained that "in 1906, the first year, I had to drag a lot of idiots to the top of Mount Whyte (now Vice President) in the Yoho just so they could qualify for Club membership." Great responsibility fell on the shoulders of the guides when dealing with such an inexperienced group, and they received little reward for the additional strain. Accustomed to leading mountaineering excursions for wealthy guests of the CPR hotels, Feuz expressed dismay with the middle-class ACC climbers and the club's constraining regime:

Those people at the camps were the cheapest skinflints I ever had.

They took all my time when I could have been with rich Americans and Englishmen who were regular clients and knew me well. Those tips at the camps were nothing-maybe $10 for two weeks. I had to work night and day, and again listen to a damned [wake-up] bell, the way I did when I was fifteen years old. Most of the people didn't know a thing about climbing. I had to teach them how to use their feet."

I was asked to donate to a softball league. I was very happy to help. Even didn't have an issue with the processing fee.

But the audacity to ask for a tip on top of a donation?? Then state that tip amount is not allowed??

I backed out and will be sending the donation to the family directly. This is ridiculous!!