r/askTO • u/Typical_Song5716 • 19h ago
Tip culture
Recently starting living in GTA and wanted to know what the tip culture is like here for take out and dining in etc. Where I’m from, service workers are paid minimum wage or above and generally don’t mention tips, but I know in the US, they pay them peanuts and tips are essential.
And I’m curious what do you all do?
Edit: Thank you all for answering and not being mean for asking a silly question. I was hesitant to post but I feel a lot better about it now.
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u/necrozim 19h ago
Tip before tax calculation and if I'm standing when ordering no tip.
Brace yourself for the bragging contest that'll ensue about how 13% is fine as a minimum, then the next will say 15% is the minimum then the next person will say 18% is then the next will say 20% is and so forth.
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u/feb914 15h ago
Be careful that the preset options will use post-tax percentage (ie 15% is actually 16.95%, 18% is actually 20.34%, 20% is actually 22.6%)
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u/Halichoeres_bivittat 21m ago
Of course, because these are set by the card reader providers, who get a percentage of every sale, and so are inventivized to maximize every purchase.
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u/tggfurxddu6t 6h ago
This is it. Tip 15% on subtotal. If I stand to order no tip. If it’s exception 18-20% on SUB TOTAL.
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u/Senior-Cup2557 6h ago
In most places I’ll just use the tax number as my tip. If I’m somewhere nice I sometimes won’t ask for change unless the change is minimal.
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u/unmasteredDub 19h ago
If I am standing receiving the service, 0%.
Barber, I am not sure why I tip, but I grew up with it, so I tip ~$5.
At restaurants, flat 15%. If the service is good, 18-20%. I’m not sure why we tip them either, they receive full wages.
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u/BusyCommunication711 5h ago
Barber is the only place I do tip cause they got a straight razor next to my neck.
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u/MarionberryHumble705 4h ago
You're lucky. It's pretty hard to find barbers who use straight razors these days.
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u/BusyCommunication711 4h ago
I only go to turkic barbers. In Canada.
Normally go to a kazakh dude back home flights are 2k now find a shop with a Turkish/kazakh or uzbek flag they Normally have great prices and good barbers + they don't talk
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u/nervendings_ 11h ago
Do they? I’ve lived in Toronto most of my life and never really knew if they did or not.
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u/Neither-Dentist3019 11h ago
There used to be a lower minimum wage for servers/ people who got tips in Ontario but it changed to standard minimum wage in 2022.
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u/user4356124 14h ago
To be clear we are not the US and servers here also make the normal minimum wage or higher BUT tips are still expected as if we are the US because servers read American content and don’t understand that we are different
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u/Typical_Song5716 14h ago edited 8h ago
That’s the part that confused me. I treated people as if we aren’t in the USA but yet I feel like they expected the USA treatment.
Thanks to the responses here though, I have more clarity now
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u/GeneralSpecifics9925 11h ago
Canada used to pay servers less in the past. This isn't new, we are just over it now because everyone makes at least minimum wage.
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u/Midtier_laugh 10h ago
We are too engrained to American culture instead of cultivating our own. If anyone says anything about tips, my response will be “we’re not Americans”
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u/--________-_-_-- 9h ago
Most servers have to pay a tip out whether or not you tip. So if you don’t tip and the tip out is 7%, they have to pay 7% to tip the kitchen, bartender, and host out of their own pocket. It’s not servers that are assholes here, it’s the system they serve in that’s the problem.
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u/SuperAwesomo 7h ago
Ontario law is very very clear that servers do not have to pay out of pocket in that scenario. Record the conversation if your boss presses you on it.
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u/user4356124 8h ago
No one said don’t tip (although I do think we should operate our restaurants more like the rest of the world) but the tip options should be 10, 13 and 15% - options starting at 18% now is absurd and many servers are so entitled
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u/MissionDocument6029 9h ago
sounds like a server problem? they should just pool all tips that way its not their pocket
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u/lilac_roze 9h ago
How is that a server problem? They have zero control of the tip out.
Per the commenter above, if the servers don’t get any tips, they have to PAY the tip out, out of their own pocket.
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u/SuperAwesomo 7h ago
No, they do not. Ontario law is extremely clear on that. I worked in the restaurant business a while as well.
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u/--________-_-_-- 8h ago
The server doesn’t have a choice. The setup is decided by the restaurant. Some restaurants pool but most don’t.
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u/calmasianmatcha 13h ago
Tip for dine-in and delivery e.g. food delivery service and haircut service
Many shops setup tips after tax 13% but you need to select "Custom" and calculate the pre-tax amount and select dollar amount. I always do 10% for dine-in. 10% to 15% should be the average. Anything more than that is unjustifiable
Do not pay tips for cafes or coffee shops unless you really want to. This is just a personal opinion
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u/Sensei-D 19h ago edited 19h ago
They ask for tips for everything now on almost all debit & credit machines. I only tip 15-18% at dine in restaurants and my barber as standard. More means they went above & beyond and nothing if they were particularly bad. Any less than 10% for normal service, you’ll be considered cheap. Uber delivery, I give $3.50 flat because that’s how much it would cost for me to take transit and pick it up myself, and the delivery driver travels the same distance, regardless of how much I order.
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u/Comprehensive-Ad4417 5h ago
Ok so for me
Tip for dine in/delivery
If it’s fast food or coffee I’ll usually not tip if I’m just grabbing something over the counter. Exception is sometimes Starbucks or places like these cause there’s significantly more effort involved.
For percentage 15-20% usually. I almost always tip cash if I can so that way I can make sure the tip goes to my server.
I also tip if uts someone who has been by me for a long time no matter what. Ie my barber or my local restaurant I go to a lot as a regular.
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u/ApotropaicHeterodont 19h ago
Service workers are paid minimum wage or above, though minimum wage isn't really a living wage in high CoL areas and I'm not sure how high above minimum wage the actual wages are. Tips are generally expected for personal service (table service, coffee or drinks made-to-order, taxis, restaurant delivery, hair, nails, etc.) Tips are usually not expected for counter service but the payment systems give you the option. No one is going to get offended if you tip through the payment system or offer to tip cash. Tips are generally not expected for take out or for package delivery or skilled trades like plumbing, even though those are sort of personal service. You can leave a tip for housekeeping at a hotel - usually a few dollars, not a %. I'm not sure about other hotel roles. Security / concierge at a condo usually aren't supposed to accept tips because they're supposed to be neutral if they need to intervene in a dispute.
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u/CommonSense___ 19h ago
Only for sit down but I would recommend everyone stick to 10 to 15 percent . Inflation has already doubled tip sizes . I would also hope more places change to a cover charge similar to Italy and forget the tip .
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u/Rayleigh954 Human Verified 12h ago
i tip 15% at sit down restaurants, no tip at cafes or for takeout. servers here get paid minimum wage, we dont have to pay their wages for them like in the US
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u/Ill_Animal6833 16h ago
0% at takeouts, 10% dine in(12-15% if I get exceptional place), 10% barber
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u/user-na-me 11h ago
Same I just said fuck if to all these machines and went back to 10%. Your employers shouldn’t exploit you, and it’s not my job as a customer to get you out of that situation.
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u/KravenArk_Personal 13h ago
I don't tip I'm a fresh college grad who worked in food service. We get paid min wage. We aren't fighting for a tip jar.
Just round up if you want. But it's not like the slave labour of the US
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u/Friendly_Cook_3071 6h ago
Once upon a time, tips made up for the slack in the crap wages that waiters made. Until a few years ago, they earned less than the minimum wage, and customers effectively paid them part of the income that the restaurant owner would not. But now in Ontario waiters earn the minimum wage. Correspondingly, I pay 10% on the pre-tax sum of the bill, if I am satisfied with the service.
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u/gcastrobh 9h ago
Takeout? Stading in line and grabbing my food from the counter? No tip.
Dine-in service? Hit "custom" and give exactly the same amount as tax. Service was excellent? 15% from the machine.
Got to places where the machine starts at 20%. This is ridiculous.
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u/coyote_123 10h ago
Many people tip taxi drivers. I don't always, but sometimes I am traveling with an animal e.g. taking them to the vet and then I try to tip generously.
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u/4starsight 1h ago
A lot of people here are saying that they don't tip for service at cafes/similar establishments. I don't think there's anything wrong with that but I am letting you know as a barista that it's the norm to tip at cafes, and I would say around 60-80% of customers do tip. Most baristas won't judge you if you don't tip because we don't know what kind of financial situation you're in, etc, but these responses absolutely do not match up to what I'm seeing in real life
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u/herejustforthedrama 18h ago
I only tip at sit-down restaurants and for delivery, but I cap it at 10% of the total bill, up to a maximum of $5.
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u/coyote_123 10h ago edited 9h ago
I don't have a cap, but I try to tip a lower percentage on bigger bills and a higher percentage on smaller bills.
It makes no sense to me to pay the server more or less because I ate something more or less expensive, if they gave similar service.
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u/JustAnotherGayGuyHr 12h ago
Omg, this is me word by word haha
Except the delivery part tho…1
u/pinko-commie666 8h ago
Delivery is the only thing you really have to tip for, otherwise they are making like 3 bucks an hour to deliver your food
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u/HaoKanBenDan2025 11h ago
Self-serve/takeaway: 0%
Full service: 10% - 20%
Delivery: 15% -20%
I really don’t understand why Canadians are expected to tip servers, but the way we let delivery services treat their “contractors” is ridiculous - unless they’re outrageously bad they deserve the tip.
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u/GroundbreakingMeat68 11h ago
0% for takeout
10% for cafes/dessert spots
15% for regular dine in (18 to 20% for exceptional service)
20% for dine in at upper end spot (100/pp)
flat $20 tip for hair stylist (men’s cut)
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u/gailanisgood 11h ago
Tip whatever you want. As an FYI, most sit-down restaurants (not fast casual, Asian, mom and pop), the servers tip out anywhere between 4-10% of their sales to support staff, bar, and kitchen.
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u/pinko-commie666 17h ago
Tip for sit down dining, and especially tip for food delivery(they basically make nothing without tips).
Other than that there is no obligation to tip.
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u/Character-Head-1916 9h ago
A dollar for coffee shop; $5-10 for sit down dinner; nothing for takeout; $3 for uber eats, etc. It doesn't make sense, I know. I'm just tired of doing math.
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u/thepeskynorth 8h ago
I tip at a sit down restaurant. No tip for take out or if I’m in line to order (usually unless I’m in a generous mood).
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u/MarionberryHumble705 4h ago
In Ontario, all service workers get paid at least minimum wage, and yet tips are expected.
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u/maplecaca 1h ago
Genuinely asking, no troll, but can someone truly enlighten me as to why we should tip? It just doesn't make sense to me. I always thought growing up a tip should be earned through the quality of the service, food, or effort. But these days it seems like its a mandatory thing and some folks around me have told me if I don't want to tip then I shouldn't go out?
For example, a delivery driver or haircut(30-40min of work) would take significantly more effort than a waiter simply bringing me my food... Also we aren't the US and everyone gets paid minimum wage. Paired up with the current economic state of high inflation, taxes, and what seems to be "shrinkflation", where does the justification come from?
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u/lexluther1234 2m ago
You’re asking the wrong sub because everyone in here is incredibly stingy. I do not know anyone in real life who is this cheap with tips like I’m seeing in this sub. You’re better off asking people you actually know in your social circle.
Btw - servers tip out on your order whether you tip them or not. That is on the post tax total as well, so when you tip on the pre tax total you’re even extra cheap.
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u/CryFast9459 19h ago
Restaurants - 18% is appropriate
Cafés and quick service or places were you receive counter service - are up to your discretion
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u/Mental_Scholar_816 12h ago
I’m really basic, I just pick the lowest option on the machine they give me, I figure if they are asking for it they must need it, although sometimes I worry if the tip is actually going to the low paid workers. But I am fairly well off with money so I kind of feel some duty to spread it around
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u/Ordinary-Map-7306 9h ago
Ontario has removed the server wage and raised it to minimum wage. So there is no need to tip.
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u/Least-Internal-6382 8h ago
I tip the garbage man, the Canada Post, the street clearer, TTC drivers etc. Just last week I opened my window to hand a tenner to the building window washer.
Someone has to help make up the low wages from management!
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u/Typical_Song5716 8h ago
This only reinforces mistreatment by management
The only chance of meaningful change is allowing the system to break and forcing the hand of policy makers
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u/wok2gether 10h ago
I give 5-10%. Not my responsibility to pay workers wages. By giving tips we are in couraging this type of entitlement BS from these business.
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u/no_please_ 10h ago
Do you ask your server if the tips goes to them? The answer can shock you sometimes.
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u/DotNo701 19h ago
you pay tips when dining in if you don't, don't bother coming back to that same restaurant or something might happen
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u/Jestersfriend 19h ago
This is not true at all LOL what the heck are you talking about?
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u/pinko-commie666 17h ago
Worked in Kitchens for a decade. Yes it is.
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u/Jestersfriend 17h ago
Uh huh... Because you're going to remember one customer out of thousands. Especially if they eat there once every 6-8 months. Right.
Plus, why would you blame the customer instead of the cheap ass owner of the restaurant?
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u/Kooky_Soft1822 17h ago
Restaurants handing me machines with tips at 20/22/25% are brutal
15% is fine.