Do you tip takeout counter people?

I tip minimum 20% on haircuts, sometimes as high as 50% if they've done an amazing job, especially because you can tell if a person is rushing through it or being careful and taking their time.

 

Well, I was one of those waitstaff back in the day, so maybe it kind of was directed at me.

Actually, I never would've done that to a patron's face; I just would've complained about it to a co-worker afterwards.

Making a patron feel uncomfortable (whether you're a waiter, cab driver, hair stylist) is lame.

 

Making fun of customers after they leave is a time honored tradition, and is necessary to prevent massive work suicides.

 

Look, it's not a big deal for me as I've only worked waiting tables for a few months about 2-3 nights a week during law school...I'm not a career waiter and can see both sides of the argument. I love how passionate both sides are over this issue. My response to the people that say "tough ****! I don't care if they make $2.62, they don't do anything worthy of a tip!" is that you are enlisting the service of people employed in an industry where it is the absolute standard to tip people. Don't enlist the services of people in an industry where it is standard to tip unless you're prepared to tip... I also enjoy how Manny cites a job where he made almost FOUR AND A HALF TIMES as much as a waiter's base salary as a reason why he shouldn't have to tip.

 

I love how worked up some of you get about it. It's a freaking dollar for someone who needs it more than you do...that's the way I look at it so I give a small tip.

 

Every waiter/waitress I've known in real life (and there's probably around 20 of them) take that tip and go straight to the bars when their shift ends. I don't blame them, cause it's probably one of the ****tiest jobs in the entire world, but they're not a charity case.

 

I know they aren't a charity case, I just know they make terrible hourly wages and a buck means little to me (I mean, I would end up wasting it on a coke or something later anyway) so I give it to them

I certainly don't care if people don't tip take out people...I just love how heated people get about it

 

Well, I guess you're dealing with a couple issues, pride and money. Nobody wants to give away their money to people they don't feel deserve (or earned it) and nobody wants to feel like a cheapskate either.

 

What about tipping at freebirds?

any thoughts?

They seem to expect a tip. You have to sign your reciet and the guy behind the counter is always glaring at me.

At chipotle, which is the same level of service, they don't expect a tip. They just give me my cc receit and dont make me sign anything

 

My rule is that if they're actually bringing me SOMETHING (food, drinks, even water) I'll usually tip. Sonic car girls, curbside takeout...but if I'm walking my lazy ass up there, that tip is going into my beer fund.

 

This is misleading. Taking tips into account, waiters make well over minimum wage, so the tip isn't "making up the difference". On the other hand, if they receive no tips, the restaurant is required to get them up to minimum wage. What we should do is just require that restaurants pay at least minimum wage and scrap tipping all together. The worst part is, the attitude that some waiters have that if you don't give them a satisfactory tip, they are somehow entitled to either not provide even the most basic level of service (timely delivery of food and check, which is all I am looking for out of a waiter anyway) or to mess with your food (eg. spit in it). I would prefer all restaurants have the option of a pick-up counter to be honest, the whole waiter thing only serves to make my food take longer to get to me and cost more when it does.

 

I'm glad you enjoyed it. I like how you make the blanket statement that I feel that I don't need to tip at all. Totally not true - I said I don't tip a takeout person. I always give 20% and sometimes more when I go to a sit down restaurant and the server does an adequate to above adequate job. My criteria for tipping them is simple:

1) Did they get my food right when it comes out (yea I know this is ultimately on the kitchen but it is still the server's job to check and communicate effectively to the kitchen staff what my order is)

2) Is my server attentive to my drinks?? If she or he is filling them up without me having to say anything, then they are going to get 20% but if I have to constantly ask them to re-fill then that could cause me to go down to 15 or maybe even 10%.

3) Did they get the ticket right? I'll go out to eat a lot with my in-laws and their tickets are always separate from mine. Yet I have had very recently a dingbat server put their stuff in addition to mine on one ticket and charge it to my visa and this after telling her (several times) that our orders were to be separated on 2 different tickets.

I would say about 97% of the time, these 3 things are done well enough to garner giving 20% but the last time I ate at Applebee's, none of those 3 were done satisfactorily. It was so bad that the manager told me that my family's meal was free and he begged me to give them another chance.

So I don't want to hear bull**** that I don't tip because you don't know me well enough to make that statement. Talking to me over the internet and in a chat room isn't the same as being with me in person and watching me fill out a damn credit card slip and figuring out whether or not the server deserved 20% or not.

Oh and like someone else said, if these servers are so pissed at their low wages, then they need to find a better paying job.

 

I tend to leave a buck here because I see the guy wiping down tables. They are always nice and smile so I figure a buck won't hurt. I do the same at Luby's since they have cleaning lady's.

Place by my house Cues Burgers, you bus everything so I don't tip. Same at 100% taquito.

 

I tip at texadelphia during lunch because the same old guy has been busing tables there for the last 12 years. I like to assume some of the tips go to him.

 

Not a buck fifty, but about $2.15 or whatever. The food service industry is allowed to pay waiters below minimum wage.

That's why I was saying earlier that you can't say "why don't we tip everyone who makes a low wage" because it's not an apples-to-apples comparison.

 

Well I figured that but if you read his (SCF) post, he was mentioning that I made about 4 times and a half the average salary of a server. It wasn't clear how he worded it, but I think he might have taken my last wage at the bank (the 9.56) and used that instead of my first wage. So, I stand corrected and see how that statement makes sense.

 

I tip very generously at any restaurant where I sit down and am served in a traditional restaurant style. I will usually leave a tip at buffets too.

I NEVER tip for counter service or takeout. That's ridiculous. And yes, I was a waiter (2 straight years in college).

 

I should note that I was a waiter...for two weeks, before I got fired for underage drinking at the place I was working. But I learned a lot in that time about waiting tables, and the #1 thing I learned is that if you bust your hump, you will make more in tips than people who don't. Also, smokers tip more, and smokers who drink tip even more than that. Always keep drinks flowing, especially if its alcohol.

Anyway- sort of a side question- if you're sitting at a table eating lunch and order some food to go to bring to someone, do you figure that extra amount in on the tip?

 

i usually dont tip at a take out place the only exception is this little mexican place round the corner. i usually either leave my change or a dollar in their tip jar there every time I go. They know me there now and every time I had tipped (if i had the change) my burrito was magically like a pound heavier. figure 20 cents to a dollar is totally worth it for me to get like twice as much.

it sucks when i have to use my credit/debit if i dont have enough cash cuz then even if i do leave a tip they wont notice it.