I just got carry-out from a restaurant. Should I tip?
Posted by Storm Saxon (Member # 3101) on :
No.
Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :
I say no.
But Waffle House actually requires a 15% tip on all meals, carry out or not.
-Trevor
Posted by Allegra (Member # 6773) on :
No, you tip for delivery or dine-in because someone is making an extra effort to get your food to you, and should be compensated. The price itself pays for the preparation, and that is all you are asking for.
Posted by Storm Saxon (Member # 3101) on :
Eh? How can a restaurant require tips?
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
I do now. There was a tip thread a while back.
It is not necessary, or well known, though.
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
Allegra, Not necessarily true. In many restaurants, the person who hands you your tale-out food has put it all together. You don't necessarily tip a lot, either, but it is polite to do so.
Not all tips have to be a certain percentage, either! I always leave the Dunkin Donuts folks my change plus a quarter.
Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :
If it's take out, they tack on 15% to the bill, I believe.
A friend of mine got in trouble for that - I think the notice is posted somewhere over the register.
-Trevor
Posted by CStroman (Member # 6872) on :
No.
Posted by Da_Goat (Member # 5529) on :
I do sometimes get tips as a CSR at Domino's Pizza, but it's not really expected.
Posted by Allegra (Member # 6773) on :
I think a little bit is polite, but I don't think it is rude not to, if that makes sense. It also depends on how nice the restaurant is and if take out is a customary thing. If take out is half of their business most of the time a tip is not expected.
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
"Takeout - If you get good service, in other words, the waiter gets and packages the food, then tip $1-2 or up to 10%."
When we were in New York a nice waiter warned us that there was a tip automatically tacked onto every bill, saving us from unessarily tipping.
Now, I'm torn about tipping.
First, I feel that unless the waitress/waiter works very hard or is very good, there's no reason why i should tip, adding an extra cost to my bill and making going out to restaurants more and more expensive.
Second, I know that waiters and waitresses rely on tips to make a decent wage. The restaurant therefore morally forces the diner to pay more, even if the service is minimal/bad, because they know tipping has become part of a culture. You have to tip or you're cheap.
I tip when the service is good. Since many tips end up shared out between kitchen staff and on-the-floor people, I do not tip when to food takes ages, even though, obviously, it is not my fault.
I believe that tipping should either be included in the price of the food (therefore earning the restaurant enough to pay their waiters more) or should be reduced to a level where good service equals tips.
Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :
And complaining to the manager runs the risk of wait staff improving your orders.
I tend to make a note and not go back.
-Trevor
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
"I do not tip when to food takes ages,"
Hmm. The kitchen does not usually get tipped by the floor, though many servers will share a bit. The cooks make the food fast or slow. When you do not tip the server because your meal took a long time, you are hurting the server, who had no control over it in the first place.
However, if the server is pointedly ignoring you to serve another customer whom they think might tip better, that is another matter.
Posted by King of Men (Member # 6684) on :
OK, the consensus seems to be no tips for carry-out. I can go back to that restaurant, then.
Thanks for the, er, advice.
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
What Allegra said. I don't tip when I take out a pizza. But when I get take-out from a prettty nice restaurant, that does not specialize in take-out, I tip 10%. I also tip 10% at bufffet restaurants.
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
quote: If you get the idea that tip jars are inappropriate at any food-service establishment that does not actually bring the food to your table and keep your drinks refilled, then you are correct.
Thank you.
Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
quote: The kitchen does not usually get tipped by the floor, though many servers will share a bit.
It's never clear, though, where your tip is ending up.
Posted by jeniwren (Member # 2002) on :
I tip 10% or therebouts on takeout. Less if it isn't ready when they said it would be or if the order is wrong. I tip more if the person is a college student. Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
In MA it is now illegal to add tips...I just read about it.
There was a guy who was arrested because he refused (the service was horrible) even though he was told that parties of 8 or more had the tip added to the check.
He payed only the meal amount and was arrested.
In court he won, and he sued the resturant for having him arrested.
The court said that tips were not, by definition, mandatory, and struck donw all such rules.
Kwea
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
"It's never clear, though, where your tip is ending up."
Teshi, that is because it is different in some restaurant. Most go something like this(for a retaurant with a bar)
The server gets the tips. The bartender gets the bar tips. The cooks get paid a salary. (chef's a pretty good one, depending where) Busfolk: at the whim of the server, but the server would be stupid to screw them over, as they will save or not their behinds by bussing tables quickly. The server tips the bartender. Well. If they have a brain. You think slow food is bad? Nothing worse than waiting twenty minutes for a drink for many customers. The bartender often tips the dishwashers. Again, a behind-saving move. The dishwashers do not have to wash the bar glasses, but will. (especially if the bartender supplies them with a steady line of rum and cokes) ha ha
Some restaurants pool tips. All tips are shared equally, if/when servers are honest.
That is my experience from twenty years of life with a high end bartender.
Posted by blacwolve (Member # 2972) on :
What about buffet? I was at a buffet the other night where the server brought us a pitcher of water and took away a couple of dishes. I tipped at little over 10% (It was a $9 meal, counting tax, and I tipped the dollar I got as change) Is that about right or is it cheap?
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
Sounds fair to me.
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
I think that is fine for a buffet like that. However, if there is a server who is feeding you drinks and bringing you stuff, you should tip as you would in a restaurant, I would think.
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
You know, it just occurred to me. The people who know tip etiquette the best are the people with the most money. That is why I only recently learned to tip for take-out. If I had been protected from that information, I would not have had to pay a tip. I am NOT reading any more tip guides!
[ September 23, 2004, 10:45 PM: Message edited by: Elizabeth ]
Posted by Katarain (Member # 6659) on :
At Buffet's, the servers still get paid the reduced waitress minimum wage--it's really wrong! We usually tip $1/person at buffet's.. Not as much as regular restaurants...
Considering most people tip less or not at all at buffet's, the minimum wage should be the same as other jobs.
-Katarain
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
I agree, Katarain. Restaurants get away with a LOT.
Posted by Allegra (Member # 6773) on :
I think if the tips do not even their pay out to minimum wage the restaurant has to pay the difference, but I could be making that up Posted by Katarain (Member # 6659) on :
That'd be nice. I don't think it's an issue for regular restaurants... or it shouldn't be, especially if they're serving alcohol or the night shift.
-Katarain
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
I think they have the choice to, but often don't. Servers are some of the most rights-less people I know. No health insurance, because owners will make more shifts at under 30 hours. Illegal help in many instances. (not necessarily illegal immigrants, but young kids, et.) The turnaround is usually high. They can be money laundering outfits. It is very tentative work. Oh, and restaurants close. Good luck getting good unemployment on tips. It is sad, actually.
Posted by Allegra (Member # 6773) on :
I have always been a pretty generous tipper. I give 18-20% at for dinner at sit down restaurants. Usually more like 20-30% for meals under $10. I have friends however that tip between 10-15% always. I find myself leaving extra money to make up for their dollar tips. One of them is Indian, as in from the country India; she claims that tipping generously is thought of as wasting money in her culture. Is this really a true cultural norm? I try to encourage them to tip more but they act like I am out of line. They see nothing wrong with saving a few bucks so they can do something later. Are they being as rude to the service as I think they are? Or am I overreacting?
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
Not true, Liz....the law says that if they don't make minimum wage in tips plus, the employer must make up the difference.
That's a federal law, too....
although Bush just tried to gut it again, so maybe it's changed in the last month or three..
Kwea
Posted by Katarain (Member # 6659) on :
They're horrible people you should have no association with!!!
Okay, that might be extreme, but small tippers get to me. I can understand forgetting extra money and carelessly ordering too much to give a good tip--that's happened to me before... but it should be a rare occurrence. We're big tippers in this house, and we don't have a lot of money...so if you can't afford it, don't eat out. I've been friends with enough waitresses...
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