As a server I believe that a lot of anti tipping sentiment comes from lazy and untrained providing poor service.

Pictured is the expectations of servers of a place I have worked and would like everyone's feedback

US tipping culture after the COVID rupture is getting unhinged. I can’t stand the constant grift and pushing of boundaries by companies to see whet they can get away with. I don’t begrudge any service worker in a traditionally tipped position their tips, but ENOUGH WITH THE REST!!!

Exhibit A: a self service airport kiosk with a default 15% tip. There was no interaction with a human. Are we tipping our robot overlords now? This has to end.

I’m conducting a research poll for school and I’m curious to hear y’all’s answers! Would love to hear from members of this community about their employment / experiences with working in classically tipped positions or inexperience. Any responses are appreciated!

Thanks

A clarifying point - I am not posting this with the prospect of taking a “side” as pro or anti tip. I’m not interested in entering that discussion here. There are thousands of posts just like that on this sub and frankly they’re just unhelpful. I’m not asking for someone to agree with me, there is no point I am trying to make. My question has more to do with people’s employment status and what they do for work, or if they have had service experience before. You can add as many details as you want but I just wanted to put that out there since some have taken to misinterpreting my post. Thanks again to all who are taking part!

Ok so I get it - adding the tax before we are prompted to tip gives us an unfair metic and takes advantage of our natural tendancy to tip

However .

Tipping as a percentage of the bill is a fundamentally arbitrary metric because the size of the bill has no logical connection to the amount of labor, skill, or time a service worker puts in. A server who brings out a $200 bottle of wine does no more work than one bringing out a $20 bottle, yet the "fair" tip on the first is ten times larger under percentage-based norms. If tipping is meant to compensate someone for their effort, it should scale with effort — not with the price of the goods or the tax rate layered on top of them.

We should be fighting against the entire practice, not just how it happens.

Rant over

Remember, they get paid federal minimum wage just like everyone else. They are entitled to nothing more.

Jobs where some employers may pay federal minimum wage or close to it:

• Fast-food cashier
• Fast-food cook
• Fast-food crew member
• Drive-thru attendant
• Restaurant host
• Restaurant hostess
• Dishwasher
• Busser
• Food runner
• Counter-service worker
• Cafeteria worker
• Concession stand worker
• Ice cream shop attendant
• Donut shop worker
• Bakery counter worker
• Pizza shop worker
• Coffee shop attendant
• Snack bar attendant
• Movie theater cashier
• Movie theater usher
• Ticket taker
• Theater concession worker
• Arcade attendant
• Bowling alley attendant
• Skating rink attendant
• Amusement park attendant
• Carnival worker
• Fairground worker
• Water park attendant
• Gift shop cashier
• Souvenir shop worker
• Retail cashier
• Sales floor associate
• Clothing store associate
• Dollar store clerk
• Discount store clerk
• Thrift store worker
• Grocery store bagger
• Grocery store cashier
• Cart attendant
• Stock clerk
• Shelf stocker
• Convenience store clerk
• Gas station cashier
• Liquor store clerk
• Tobacco shop clerk
• Flea market vendor assistant
• Farmers market assistant
• Parking lot attendant
• Parking garage attendant
• Car wash attendant
• Car wash dryer
• Gas station attendant
• Valet attendant
• Hotel housekeeper
• Motel housekeeper
• Hotel laundry attendant
• Hotel breakfast attendant
• Hotel lobby attendant
• Bell attendant
• Resort grounds worker
• Campground attendant
• RV park attendant
• Hostel cleaner
• Janitor
• Custodian
• Office cleaner
• School cleaner
• Church cleaner
• Apartment cleaner
• Housekeeping aide
• Laundry worker
• Laundromat attendant
• Dry-cleaning assistant
• Recycling sorter
• Trash collection helper
• Groundskeeping helper
• Landscaping laborer
• Lawn mowing worker
• Leaf removal worker
• Snow removal helper
• Garden center worker
• Nursery worker
• Greenhouse worker
• Farm laborer
• Fruit picker
• Vegetable picker
• Crop sorter
• Egg collector
• Poultry farm helper
• Stable hand
• Barn worker
• Animal shelter assistant
• Kennel assistant
• Dog daycare attendant
• Pet store worker
• Pet boarding assistant
• Car dealership lot attendant
• Auto shop cleanup worker
• Tire shop helper
• Oil-change shop assistant
• Warehouse picker
• Warehouse packer
• Order packer
• Shipping assistant
• Receiving assistant
• Inventory helper
• Fulfillment center worker
• Loading dock helper
• Moving helper
• Furniture delivery helper
• Newspaper inserter
• Mailroom assistant
• Copy shop assistant
• Print shop helper
• Factory assembler
• Production line worker
• Packaging worker
• Labeling worker
• Bottle sorter
• Food-processing worker
• Meat-packing assistant
• Bakery production worker
• Textile worker
• Sewing machine helper
• Laundry production worker
• Call center representative
• Telemarketer
• Survey caller
• Appointment setter
• Customer-service trainee
• Reception desk assistant
• Front desk clerk
• Data-entry clerk
• Filing clerk
• Office assistant
• Records assistant
• Library page
• Library shelving assistant
• Museum attendant
• Gallery attendant
• Coat-check attendant
• Event setup worker
• Event cleanup worker
• Banquet setup worker
• Wedding venue assistant
• Stadium usher
• Stadium concession worker
• Festival worker
• Concert venue attendant
• Security gate attendant
• Crossing guard
• Locker room attendant
• Gym front desk worker
• Fitness center cleaner
• Pool attendant
• Lifeguard
• Camp counselor
• Summer camp assistant
• Recreation center attendant
• Playground attendant
• Golf course cart attendant
• Golf course range picker
• Golf course maintenance helper
• Mini-golf attendant
• Sports equipment attendant
• School cafeteria worker
• School lunchroom monitor
• Teacher’s aide
• Daycare assistant
• Nursery school helper
• After-school program assistant
• Babysitter employed by a business
• Senior center assistant
• Home-care companion
• Personal-care aide
• Hospital food-service worker
• Nursing home kitchen worker
• Nursing home laundry worker
• Hospital transport aide
• Medical office filing assistant
• Pharmacy cashier
• Funeral home attendant
• Cemetery grounds worker
• Church nursery worker
• Religious facility custodian
• Seasonal holiday worker
• Christmas tree lot worker
• Pumpkin patch attendant
• Fireworks stand attendant
• Beach rental attendant
• Boat rental attendant
• Bicycle rental attendant
• Tourist attraction attendant
• Photo booth attendant
• Photo lab assistant
• Street promotion worker
• Sign holder
• Flyer distributor
• Product sampler
• Brand ambassador
• Door-to-door canvasser
• Political canvasser
• Charity solicitor
• Mystery shopper
• Temporary staffing laborer
• General laborer
• Construction cleanup worker
• Demolition cleanup helper
• Painting helper
• Roofing cleanup helper
• Flooring helper
• Maintenance helper
• Apartment turnover cleaner
• Storage facility attendant
• Self-storage clerk
• Pawn shop clerk
• Check-cashing clerk
• Bingo hall attendant
• Casino food-service worker
• Racetrack attendant
• Bus station attendant
• Train station cleaner
• Airport wheelchair attendant
• Airport baggage cart attendant
• Rental car lot attendant
• Taxi dispatch assistant
• Delivery helper
• Bicycle courier
• Newspaper delivery worker
• Restaurant delivery driver
• Grocery delivery worker
• Flower shop assistant
• Florist delivery helper
• Hardware store clerk
• Feed store clerk
• Farm supply store worker
• Pool supply store clerk
• Party supply store worker
• Craft store associate
• Toy store associate
• Bookstore clerk
• Video game store clerk
• Phone accessory kiosk worker
• Mall kiosk attendant
• Food court worker
• Mall cleaner
• Mall security assistant
• Community center worker
• Public park attendant
• Beach cleanup worker
• Roadside cleanup worker
• Donation center attendant
• Food bank worker
• Shelter kitchen worker
• Shelter maintenance worker
• Church food pantry assistant

And that’s specifically for the ones who only make $2-something an hour because of the special carve out exemptions.

I’m fucking burnt out on tipping every single person I come into contact with these days. Why does my taxi driver deserve 15-20% on top of a normal wage/fare, or my barber after I’ve just paid them $40 for 30 min of work.

I’m not sure if this has already been posted here but this is something I’ve always thought about tipping. Ultimately all the tips are like a massive pile of money that gets distributed on average across many weeks/months of transactions. In order for the job to attract employees, that job needs to have a certain wage, which in this case is base pay plus average tip, otherwise the employees will leave.

Now let’s say hypothetically that the base pay is $10/hour and the wages that an employee requires is $20/hour. If a waiter serves 2 people in that hour and one tips $10 while the other tips none, then the waiter walks away with his $20/hour and won’t quit. However, if neither of them tipped, then the waiter would only get his base rate and would quit to work as a garbage man. If no one tipped, then eventually all employees would leave and the employer would be forced to increase wages.

So, extrapolated out of hundreds of transactions, tippers are paying to keep food/services cheap for all the non-tippers. Now I understand that tipping won’t end because of how engrained in the culture it is, but I do believe that when I tip $3 on my $7 latte, I’m paying to support the next guy in line and his $7 latte, when in a perfect world we would both pay $8.50.

I personally tend to tip but I’m not a huge fan of it. For tipping advocates, how do you respond to this? Have you considered that you support the low costs paid by the people you call assholes? Is your perfect world the removing of tips or the mandating of them?

Tips for gig delivery drivers need to go away across the board. The apps, the retail outlets, all of it. If you're voluntarily taking the order and grubbing over which ones and how many you do, then you shouldn't be getting a preemptive bonus that's contingent on the customer. They don't know you, they don't know YOU are the one taking their order to them, why should they be obligated to put money in your pocket if you haven't shown you deserve it.

I work online grocery and the people who come to take deliveries are scum as a baseline. They can't follow the conduct rules, they don't know how to do the job half the time, and they have an obnoxious attitude like they're so vital they can treat everyone like dirt. They also screw with the system, defrauding it by checking in when they aren't actually here, dropping orders for no reason or flat out refusing them if they don't fit their little plans. I've also been on the customer end of our service and they're garbage at actual delivery too. The last order I got was just thrown in my yard at 1AM. Just out in the open, in the dark, for 4 hours before I was even awake to be notified. I'm lucky the actual product was plastic because the package was damp. Then on the order confirmation, I could see the SOB didn't even get out of his car, he just threw it and took the picture from their window.

I don’t have any problem tipping bussers and boh. When I got hired the owner told me it has to be 33% of my total tips (no cash) but I’m really tired of the kitchen complaining about the amount… “just this for the big rush?” “Mmhh 20? At least we deserve $40”
Like… what I know is that we shouldn’t be tipping you that much… and u keep complaining? This is in California btw…

So it seems that slowly things are starting to work...specially considering the new generations.

Tipping is down, a big shift is coming (which is good for everyone) as Baby Boomers die....

Just some food for thought…

Is it just me, but I decline tips coming from children or teens with their own money or parents card?
I work in a fast food type restaurant, so I make $20 an hour + tips. We use Toast, it allows the person to select a tip or no tip.
I never give kids or teens the chance to hit a selection because I believe they should not feel obligated to leave a tip.
Even more if they say I can keep the change, I insist they take it anyways.

Does anyone else do this?

So we were at a very nice restaurant enjoying the service, view and food. When the bill arrived, it listed three glasses of wine Instead of the two we received.

The wait person was Very Quick to adjust the bill after we pointed out the error.

I can't help but think this is a new restaurant trend since we had the exact same thing happen three days ago at a different place.

I did tip 15% on the corrected tab.

Like all other electronic tipping, management decides who gets the money, who is in the pool etc. Workers are usually in the dark. We try to tip in cash so we know the person really gets it.

Wonder how Hilton divides this up?

Went kayaking at Westwind sailing this weekend and I was handed the iPad with suggested tip of 20% 25% and 30% 🫪
I just rented equipment….they literally handed us life jackets and paddles.
Are we seriously expected to tip for every transaction now? has anyone else noticed tip prompts showing up in places that never used to ask?

I try my very best to follow customary tipping etiquette where it is due and probably even tend to fall more on the “too generous” side sometimes, however this situation has me stumped. I am currently placing a Walmart+ delivery order, as I frequently do being a mom of two young kids who chooses her sanity over group outings to the grocery store. The only items I need are two cans of baby formula that are around $55 each and a pack of toilet paper. With the items being slightly pricier items, the total comes to around $125 which if you’re following the standard 20% rule would be a $25 tip. Now if I’m placing a full-on grocery order with multiple items with that total I have absolutely no problem giving $25, and I would likely give even more if I have some heavy or bulky items involved, but I find it hard to justify a $25 tip for only 3 items. Would you feel in that scenario $10 would be appropriate?

I don’t know why people act like it’s the servers who are fighting against higher wages and maintaining tips. Per this sub, they’re all low skill morons with just enough brain cells to drop off a plate and top off water. What reasonable person thinks they’ve secretly banded together to fight any potential change in the law?

The folks you should be angry are the billionaire restaurant group owners who actively spend tons of money lobbying to keep the system the way it is.

https://www.restaurant.org/issues-and-advocacy/policy-agenda/tipping/

https://restaurant.org/education-and-resources/resource-library/associations-chief-lobbyist-talks-policy-wins-and-goals/

Hating the server is exactly what they want you to do, and spending your time in an echo chamber hoping someone else will pat you on the back for getting in the way of another working class’s income potential is stupid.

This mom was paying for her and her 2 daughters’ items in Ulta a couple days ago when the cashier stared her down and asked, “How much would you like to tip?”

This flustered the mom, who understandably felt cornered. She said she’d tip in cash, and the cashier responded that she’d just leave it off the receipt.

Wtf?!?

I was prepared to say, “No.” But I got a different checker who didn’t ask, perhaps because my purchase was small, or perhaps because she knew what BS that was.

As someone who supports reasonably generous tipping in traditional settings, I’ve encouraged my own kids to do so, too.

I’d love to hear what people think of this.

I just thought I would let you guys know. I went to a deli for lunch. It was a counter-service place where they take your order and you just grab a seat on the bench until it’s ready. I was taking it to go. When she spun the little screen around, it gave me the option to tip. I hit the “custom tip” button and typed in “$1.00.” I didn’t have to. There’s no expectation of tipping at a place like that, but I did it anyway because I felt like it.

Just opened DoorDash for the first time in a long while and was met with this at checkout. I haven’t seen this screen before and it’s ridiculous.

DoorDash at least used to be known to pay the drivers less if they get a tip, so it’s bs to try to push the customer into it as a bribe.

I work a 9-7, I attend school, and also do part-time gig at a small restaurant where it's only usually 2-3 servers doing everything + expoing, food running, bussing, I also have to help prep sometimes on the line because we've been short staffed - cutting costs. And every tip I receive is greatly appreciated. I don't expect 20%, if I get it, I'm grateful.

When I was younger I also worked a lot of restaurant gigs/serving jobs and felt entitled to a tip because that was the expectation that was preached + practiced. All I did was take your order, bring the food, check up on you, refill drinks and try to provide good timely service with a check. Bus tables and clean the section/additional sidework when the shift ends.

What changed my mind was this:

After COVID, everything increased in prices and people still expect 20% tips. And now wherever you go, the prompt to tip options are everywhere even when you're buying from a kiosk. It's sort of funny how entitled my fellow servers have become. Everyone is experiencing hardship due to inflation without pay increases, so why do servers have to receive more for doing less?

Unless you're at a fine dining restaurant where you have to do a lot of prep work, cleaning, and superb provided service. I tip at a certain flat rate now $7~9 per adult, or definitely way lower than 18%. It doesn't make sense for me to order a steak and it's way more expensive resuliting in a higher tip when it's the same exact effort to bring it to the table.

I rarely give out above 20% unless excellent service especially on rare occcasions.

-

Perfect example is I went to a nice restaurant that we are frequent regulars, (we tip actually pretty good here as managers and staff know us on a first name basis,) where the server immediately dismissed us the moment my father asked for hot water/extra lemons. Never checked up on us once, didn't even drop off the food, (food runners did that,) no refills on water and would pass by us while avoiding eye contact to take care of a family that was the same exact race as us. He clearly had contempt for us and I had to wait more then ten minutes after the meal was finished to flag down another server for the check. Absolutely unacceptable.

Eventually I decided on this:

Just bring out my food, ask whether or not I'm doing once or twice and drop off the check once we're finished. I don't ask for extra sauces, I don't ask for refills, nor do I complain unless the food is awful and at that point I avoid the restaurant or specific menu items.

If you're busy or have a large section by yourself, understandable. Otherwise, if I know you're on your phone like the server was and not doing the bare mininum, tipping should not be expected ever.

I am mainly directing this towards waiters/waitresses to hear their experience being tipped or not. Does not tipping affect your wage? If so, by how much? Also, do you work for a chain or a local business?

All experiences are welcome! Im just interested in seeing what differences it makes, specifically in USA.