To those who live in or who have visited the United States.
Growing up in the 90’s, the “minimum acceptable” tip was 10%, average was 15%, and a good tip was 20%. These days, I just round to the nearest dollar and tip 20%, but I’ve heard these days it’s not unusual to tip up to 40%!
What do you usually do?
15-25% usually 20%. I have worked for tips so I get it.
My wife tipped 25% at an ice cream parlor last night. Which I thought was ridiculous considering he just pulled three pints out of a freezer behind him.
It’s too many places now.
I avoid restaurants that require tipping. When I do have to tip, I give way too much if the service was good. IMO, good service is to not try to talk to me too much, and to be responsive to what I need done (refilling drinks, taking additional requests). Bonus tip if I know they’re overworked and handling it well.
15% floor. Throw an additional $10 sometimes. Always direct to the worker because these places steal tips. Also I tip cooks sometimes.
But I avoid going to these restaurants.
Nothing I live in Australia
Nothing, I live in a country where it’s the employer’s responsibility to pay their staff a livable wage.
When I have been in the us I used to tip around 15%. Accepted that as a weirdness of the us.
On my home country tipping is just weird and unheard of, so 0%.
Edit: last time I was in the us was like 15 years ago.
I’m almost always a 25%. I used to work in the industry in a previous lifetime, and tips were what kept me afloat. Now I’m an overpaid professional, and have no qualm paying it forward.
The only situations I will tip much less is if:
- Service was just absolutely fucking abysmal due to very clear negligence.
- It’s one of these new hipster restaurants that keep popping up, where you order and pay for your food upfront and are expected to tip then as well, without knowing how service will be. I’m not talking about food carts or kiosks either, these are actual restaurants. I hate the expectation that I should just pay an extra premium without even having a chance to evaluate the experience.
I was going to answer, but then you clarified on the body of your post that you only wanted answers from people in the US, lol
15% flat always. Canada has sadly embraced tipping culture so I’ll not deny anyone the going rate or judge them at their workplace - but Vancouver is also expensive as fuck and anything over 15% starts putting meals close to the 100$ mark.
Don’t pay it. In Australia they’re trying, and I remind them they get paid well, get paid overtime, get paid a pension, and get paid more to take holidays. After being paid all that, why is the shitty machine prompting a tip?
but I’ve heard these days it’s not unusual to tip up to 40%!
That seems pretty unusual to me.
I normally tip 20%.
I’m usually 25 and round up. Probably closer to 30.
Usually 20-25% unless the service is inexcusably bad (like 1-5% of the time, and even then I’ll tip like 15%). I’ll typically approximate 20% and round up to the nearest dollar, then maybe add a dollar or two. I remember 15% being standard with it being acceptable to go down to 10 or up to 20; 18% was sorta my standard at the time, and I’d only go as low as 15%. I’ve only ever asked to speak to a manager three times that I can remember, and both times were due to what the kitchen sent out to me. I still tipped fully to the server since it wasn’t their fault. I was a chef for years, so I know how stressful it gets back there, but there’s still no excuse for the dishes I’ve sent back. There’s usually an offer to cook something else, but if I’m sending food back it’s because I don’t trust the kitchen to send out food that won’t give me food poisoning.
Tipped minimum wage here (and therefore all tipped wage) is $2.17/hour. I believe that these businesses should be forced to pay proper wages, but stiffing your server doesn’t achieve that. These people are on their feet running around for hours and they usually don’t have enough support or leadership to do their job as well as they’d like to, and then they’re too exhausted and broke to study or work to break into another industry. We’re gonna have a lot of 30-50 year old servers living paycheck to paycheck until their knees and back give out. I’m down with tipping an extra couple bucks so they can get some Dr Scholl’s.
Typically 20-25 at a restaurant. I’m not a fan of tipping for transactions where I’m not served. I only tip when someone does something.
If i was still there I’d still tip 20% cash preferred. (Card/electronic transactions are more often stolen by management)
0%. We do not have a tipping culture, nor will I ever move in the direction of us having one.EDIT: I’m not in the U.S so my answer does not apply
in Canada, usually 15%, if the service is outstanding or i’m a regular I’ll tip 20%
