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Great thread! I really enjoy hearing about different people's tipping habit, for poor service, mediocre service, and excellent service. For my part, I have found that I feel frequently "forced" into tipping for mediocre or poor service. I am not referring to establishments that will automatically add 15% gratuity onto your bill, but rather the social pressures to pity these poor individuals who work so hard on bringing us our food.
I don't know about all areas of this country (US), but I can relate some stories from my own experience.
I used to date a waitress. At the time we were dating, I was employed full-time as a biological scientist and she was working tables part-time while attending school. She did not work at a really nice restaurant where the bills, and therefore tips, were high. She worked at a local BBQ place that was really just a step above fast food. Sure, she got stiffed from time to time. Sure, she got the occassional $1-2 tip from a table of six. But when it came to the bottom line, she always, and I mean ALWAYS, made more money per week than I did. As a college graduate in a professional career, I was being outearned by my girlfriend who hadn't finished her degree yet. It didn't bother me and our finances weren't combined anyway, but it did make me take notice.
What's more, her money was almost all in cash. She (and other waitstaff that I have known) would always claim exactly 50% of the tips they had actually gotten for the night on their tip sheets for taxes. She would average $12-15 per hour and that $2.30 that the BBQ place paid her... well that was what she used to pay her taxes with at the end of the year.
Obviously, I don't think that the waitstaff (at least in my town) are doing all that poorly, or even just scraping by. The truth is that many of them are making enough to put themselves through school without student loans. That is great! I wish more student would have the guts to work instead of taking a handout and ending up in debt (but we'll save that for another thread.)
I guess the point of my story is this: I don't like being made to feel sorry for and feel obligated to tip people who are just doing their job. I've actually approached on occasion by a waiter who I left 'only' a 10% tip asking if there was anything wrong with the service. Yeah, obviously there was, but very poor form on his part to follow a customer and ask after it.
I'll shut up for now and let other people get their say in.
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You do not really understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother.
- Albert Einstein
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