'tipping' in restaurants and other places

Is this other city in North America? In some countries, it's quite different. Iknow when I went to Japan, tipping just wasn't done. In North America, it's pretty standard everywhere - definitely for restaurants, taxis and hotels.

1) I think 15% is considered "standard" e.g. anything less is considered a bad tp. Obviously if someone does gives excellent service, give more.

2) That was the reason you don't tip in Japan. Waiters were paid more money - and this was reflected in the cost of your meal. But here, waiters, bartenders, etc. get paid less than the minimum wage on the understanding that they will be getting tipped. At least in most places. Some restaurants have an automatic "service charge" that they add to the bill.

Sineed wrote:

Usually I tip 15-20%; I like to err on the side of generosity.

Same.

10% to 20% is the general rate in Canada for tips. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tip_%28gratuity%29

I would vary the amount depending on the service, inlcuing how the person involved in providing the service treats and helps you. E.g if the cab driver is friendly, helps you with your luggage and gets you to the right hotel in a friendly and timely manner, you may want to tip around 20% but if you get someone rude and unhelpful, 10 % or even nothing may be appropriate.  Rounding to a dollar amount may be easier for everyone than counting out the loose change. - When I was a cab driver. with a  $17.60fare for  cab ride, a $20 bill and "thank you, keep the change" ( a $2.40 tip), was appreciated more  than  they give me a $20, I count out the change and then they count out a  $1.76 tip  (10%) or even $3.52 (20%)/

 Along with a tip,, you should  try to be a good customer, make things easy and as much as possible enjoyable for the service provider. e.g. for this ex cabbie a friendly manner and  a clear destination - " Hi, can we go to the Plaza Hotel on Main St.please?" -was very much  appreciated.  Same, for regular meals at a restaurant , I would follow the 10% to 20% range, rounding up or down as appropriate, and trying to be friendly and a good customer.

 For the hotel, there is a tip expected if someone helps you with your luggage and/or escorts you to the room,($5?)  but that  service seems to be disappearing. Probably should leave some money for the chambermaid or whoever cleans your room- I would guess $5 to $20 depending on your available money and the service provided- e.g if you are there for 3 messy nights, tip more than if you are so neat and quick no-one noticed you were there. Overall ,  you should show your appreciation for good friendly service, with a smile, a thank you and a tip you feel comfortable with. .

I agree that 15% is the bare minimum, and 20% is standard.

As pookie says, hotel workers are not paid well.  Some are unionized, but even that doesn't mean they get paid really well - it just means they're not paid the starvation wages of non-union hotels.

Standard may verify by region. Restaraunts in maritimes would be about 15%. 10% would be considered on the low end.

Quote:

At what point will we as a society decide that it's time to question the practice of 'tipping' and instead have the realistic price of prepared meals, waiters, taxis, hotel/motel cleaning staff, etc.... included in the cost of what you have received, and drop 'tipping' as an acceptable practice

Great idea, that would probably save customers a lot of money in the long run.

Presumably, there's some reasonable amount I should expect to pay for a server to go to the kitchen a few times for my appetizer and entree, and maybe a detour by the bar if I order a drink, and a few courtesy calls to ask "Is everything all right?". Whatever that is, add it to my bill.

But here's the thing: it doesn't cost a server anything MORE to go to the kitchen for an expensive prime rib than it does to go for a burger. It doesn't cost them more energy or time to bring me a $40 bottle of wine versus a $5 domestic beer. So customers wouldn't have to prorate the tip against their total bill the way we do now. It could be a set fee for a fairly set service.

Dunno how servers would feel about that, though. I think they're going to be used to getting extra pay based on the cost of my meal, not on what work they had to do to bring it to me.

Actually, I just went to that site right now and the first post is a discussion about "Who are the worst tippers?" The first response in the thread declared CANADIANS to be the worst! http://waiterrant.net/?p=1597

Quote:

Catchfire, I think that's why you tip as a percentage rather than a flat amount. If you'd tip 20% on a $20 meal, you should put down 20% on a $200 meal.

What's the logic behind this?

I understand that if your bill is large because you're a party of 20, each getting a $20 meal, that's a lot of work for a server, and their tip should fairly reflect that.

But what if four people are dining, each getting a $100 dollar meal. Same total bill, but about one fifth of the running around. If we're discussing "fair pay" for servers, shouldn't the tip (or addition to wage, if it comes from the employer as proposed) be proportional to service rendered, not to overall price?

During the Spanish Civil War, in Barcelona where the anarchist movement was strong and the workers were able to take control of their workplaces, they abolished tipping.

There's definitely a funny logic to tipping. My partner used to serve at a buffet restauarant. She had to run around basically non-stop--way more plates to change and extras to bring to the table than at a similarly priced regular restaurant, yet because it was "buffet" most people felt they didn't need to tip. More work, less tip. Hmm.

Part of the logic, I think, is that serving is a vocation--so you are just good at it. If you serve four people with the same bill as a table of ten, the idea is that those people are getting better service. Better restaurants (with higher bills) usually take serving more seriously--I'm not sure if the example you cited is at the same establishment--it could be, I guess.

Obviously, the way around that would be to demand a liveable, fair hourly wage for the service industry. Ha! Obligatory service charges would be a nice, foreseeable middle step--for the Olymipcs here in Van, for example, all downtown restaurants and bars adopted this policy. I'd like to see them keep it!

peterjcassidy wrote:

 For the hotel, there is a tip expected if someone helps you with your luggage and/or escorts you to the room,($5?)  but that  service seems to be disappearing. Probably should leave some money for the chambermaid or whoever cleans your room- I would guess $5 to $20 depending on your available money and the service provided- e.g if you are there for 3 messy nights, tip more than if you are so neat and quick no-one noticed you were there. Overall ,  you should show your appreciation for good friendly service, with a smile, a thank you and a tip you feel comfortable with. .

Having worked as a hotel room cleaner in my younger days, among many other service type jobs, I can tell you that a tip was not expected, but was always a nice surprise. Our favourites were the KLM flight attendants who would often leave $3 - $5 dollars under the pillow - so that it was obvious it was for you - and sometimes some unopened cans of beer (Heineken, of course) as well as  sometimes these small, thin cigarettes they often bought but didn't use. (Mysteriously, the ones they did smoke often had only been smoked about half an inch down.) Also if you're going to tip at all, you only need to when you're leaving, not every day that you're there.

I don't think 15% in any industry is considered "bare minimum", whatever a Big Tipper ego might say. A tip has to be earned. I don't leave a tip if I didn't like the service. Often, if 10% is the easiest in terms of rounding, or in terms of having only a loonie or twonie available, rather than go to extraordinary lengths to make some extra change, that's what I'll leave. The big tips are earned with larger dinners or parties, and those kinds of gatherings are usually more demanding on the server, so I don't worry so much about some kind of exact percentage when I'm out alone.

Michelle wrote:

Interesting, jas.  Personally, for me it's not about ego, it's about knowing what servers' minimum wage is, and wanting to make up for it.  But yes, I do realize that a lot of servers make a very comfortable amount in tips.  Then again, why shouldn't they?  I make a comfortable amount at my job.

Do servers earn a different minimum wage than other minimum wage earners?

I would imagine if the tips weren't sufficient to provide a liveable income, servers would leave that kind of employ, or at least go to where the tips or wages are good. If enough servers didn't want to work at a job or restaurant where there were lousy tips, restaurant owners might have to start offering higher wages in order to keep personnel.

Star Spangled Canadian wrote:

I'm sure if you asked most people if they'd rather get paid whatever the hourly minmum wage is or get tips, they'd go with the tips. I'm sure it depends on a lot of factors but I'd imagine that if you're working in a nice restaurant that gets busy, you're probably clearing a lot more per night than you would on minimum wage.

I've had a lot of "service jobs". I'd go for a good hourly wage - not tips, which force you into an "undignified" position with respect to the patron, if you want a good tip. Servers really need to be unionized - but that suggestion got me fired. 

A bartending friend of mine used to be able to clear anywhere from $100-$300 in tips per night, all in nice tax-free cash. 

Star Spangled Canadian wrote:

I imagine it depends on where you are. If you're working in a litle diner where the average meal is 10 bucks or so, getting a higehr hourly wage would probably better. But, for example, back in Toronto, there's a restaurant I always go to with my dad. We've been going there together over 10 years. And we always have the same waiter. He's not a college guy earning tuition money before moving on to a better job. He's clearly made his career working at that restaurant (does a great job and knows his food and wine like crazy) and I'd imagine he probably makes a pretty good living since the average bill for a dinner there is probably a couple hundred bucks and if the average tip is, say, 15% he can probably clear a pretty good amount in a night.

I wasn't earning tuition either. I was trying to survive. I know people in some places make good tips. But I don't like tips in any case and my argument appeals to human dignity. 

I'm not at all intending this to be a generalization, but I've talked with a few servers who are pretty happy that so much of their income is in cash, and they're smart enough not to report zero tip income.  Declare enough to be reasonable and not arouse suspicion, and the rest is yours.  I imagine many self-employed people do much the same thing.  I wish I had a nickel for every "mom and pop" store I've visited in which the cash register drawer is always open a crack.  Took me years to figure out why that was.  I'm sure they similarly don't tell the government that they haven't earned anything.

I tend to tip bartenders more than any other service sector employee, where the amount is not so much along the lines of a percentage, but proportional to the quantity consumed.  Last week at Finnegan's Pub in Ottawa for example, I certainly felt the love from behind the bar.

Because the reason why some jobs are allowed to pay less than min wage (like waiters, bartenders) is because they are classified as tip bearing. And it states very clearly in the Tax act tipd, gifts given as a result of a job, are taxable

Just like selling stuff on ebay is taxable unless it was your stuff to begin with

In Ontario the minimum wage is $10.25. Students (aged 18 and under) are paid $9.60. Workers who serve liquor can be paid a low as $8.90.

In BC, which has the lowest min. wage in the country at $8 an hour, if you have no work experience an employer can pay you $6 an hour for the first 500 hours. Vancouver, perhaps it is prudent to point out, has the highest cost of living in the country and a liveable wage is calculated at $18 an hour, ten dollars more than the minimum.

I'm not familiar with these exemptions, and I'm not sure they existed in BC when I was growing up.

Anyway, all the more reason to uphold the definition of tips as gifts.