Rekna

While we have all the threads about tipping I thought i'd create another one. I have a disagreement with my friends when it comes to tipping on discounted food, like half off Sushi. Do you tip on the sale price or the original price? I think it is customary to tip on the original price not the discounted. What do you feel?

Ustwo

I've always tipped original price.

I'd also be worried about half price sushi.

__________________
Agents of the enemies who hold office in our own government, who attempt to eliminate our "freedoms" and our "right to know" are posting among us, I fear.....on this very forum. - host

Obama - Know a Man by the friends he keeps.

robot_parade

Hrm. Y'know, I hadn't really thought this through before, but I think my policy is that if the discount is through some action on my part (like, say, bringing in a 'X% off' coupon), then I would tip the full amount. If it's something that the place 'just does', like having a special on a particular type of sushi, I would probably just tip to the sale price.

Another (mostly effectively the same) rule of thumb I think I tend to use is that if the discount is listed on the receipt, then I'd tip the pre-discount price. Like:

Raw fish: $14
Rice: $1
Food poisoning: Free!
----------
$15

40% discount: $6
------
Total: $9
Tax: $whatever

Then I'd tip based on the $15 amount.

But if the sushi was the 'lunch special', and is just listed on the receipt at that price, then I'd tip based upon that and not try to figure out what the 'real' price was.

(Just kidding about the food poisoning bit, /me loves sushi)

telekinetic

It takes just as much work to bring out half priced food. Tip on the original.

__________________
twisted no more

Randerolf

Tip on the original price. Just because I got a deal, doesn't mean it was half the hassle for the server.

Leto

I always tip on the original price, pre discounted amount. After all, you still get a break. And as Twistedmosaic stated, the same effort is expended.

I always tip on the original amount as well, if for some reason the server offers a discount due to a poor dining experience.


But remember, the tip should be figured on the pre-tax amount.


As for the sushi... hhmmm i wonder if there is a deal to be had on Day-Old sushi/sashimi?

jewels

One evening about three, four or five years ago my girls and I waited over a half hour to be called to a table in a busy medium priced restaurant. We had spent the day at Busch Gardens in Tampa and were starving, exhausted and it was the most decent place we could find close by for seafood.

The drink order was taken shortly after we were seated by a waitress who was obviously busy, but for some reason very nasty to my daughters (they were maybe 10 and 11 at the time). It took about 15 minutes until their drinks were brought, at which time the waitress informed me they were frosting my mug since the beer wasn't quite cold, and she then took our dinner orders. A couple of times, I caught her eye and she kept throwing up her pointer, indicating I should wait a minute. After another maybe 45 minutes of enjoying talking with the kids and trying to test my own patience, seeing others who were seated in her area after us already eating, I got up and spoke with the Maitre D'. I told him what happened and that I'd really feel more comfortable eating away from her station. He apologized for her behavior and said he could give me a table if I could wait another 5 or 10 minutes.

True to his word, we had a much more comfortable booth with ice cold beer served to me as we sat down. The food we had ordered (at this point probably over an hour previous) was served to us within another five minutes. We had a wonderful waiter that made the girls laugh, got me over my anger and made sure we had what we needed.

When the check was placed on the table, I was thinking how to tell the Maitre D' to be sure the other waitress didn't get a penny of the tip. When I looked at the check, all the entrees, desserts and drinks were listed, with prices, totalled, taxed and then zeroed out, courtesy.

I gave the full amount of the bill (charges) as tip for the waiter and Maitre D' for making a hellacious experience into a wonderful one, and for doing the right thing.

I will never forget that experience. I saw the suckiest service and I saw one of the best. When you feel they've gone above and beyond, even to make up for a crappy experience, I think they deserve whatever you can give them.

Atmosphere is crucial to a dining experience. It doesn't have to be snazzy decor; even a dive with good food and service has its own atmosphere. The server is a huge part in how you feel when you sit your ass down in an eating establishment. I don't care how pretty or expensive your place is. Give me good food, good service, lighting conducive to conversation and whatever I have is yours.

If you don't want to tip for good service, then get it "to go".

__________________
We are always more anxious to be distinguished for a talent which we do not possess, than to be praised for the fifteen which we do possess.
Mark Twain

ktspktsp

That's how I feel too.

Yeah, pretty much.True, but then again the effort in bringing food is not related to the price of the food in general. Which is why it would be better if waiters were paid a full salary instead of depending on tips, and thus have their fair pay that way. I don't like the fact that the salary for waiters is getting forced out of the bill (since their salary is so low) and forced on the tip (because that makes the price on the menu seem lower, I guess).

I feel that restaurant operators will keep pushing the salary of waiters down as much as possible (thus saving on their cost and dropping the price on their menu items) and conversely force the tip become higher. While it ends up being the same total price overall, I just don't like that variable element in it. I'd rather just pay a fixed amount that includes proper remuneration for the waiting staff. Anyway, maybe this should have gone in the other thread

MiSo

since i work in the food service industry. i should chime in.

When a discount a given you should tip on the ORIGINAL price.
1) the same amount of work is required to prepare your "discounted" item.
2) most servers pay a percentage of sales out to bussers/host staff/bartenders, usually 3% of sales. when calculating sales the original tab is always used. so you should always tip on the original amount or the server gets shafted because he just got a bad tip and he's also tipping out so he just made even less. thats why tipping today should be atleast 18%. 15% for the server and 3% for the support staff (bussers,host,bartenders)

example.
you eat out and it cost $100. you have a discount for 50%.
when the restaurant calculates how much food was sold, the amount of food sold is $100. So you end up paying half and the restaurant pays for the other half. The server gets tipped $18. Tips out $3. Ends up making $15 on the table. INDUSTRY STANDARD.

if the server gets tipped off the discount price... $9. tips out $3. He then ends up making $6 for the original $100 tab.

correct tip, server makes $15
incorrect tip, server makes $6.

thats a big difference for a $100 tab.

shakran

To play devil's advocate, why should I as the customer have to sit there figuring out what amounts to a entry-level economics course in order to make sure I've tipped you correctly. Y'all pushed for 15%. OK. I've gotten to where, even with my crappy math skills, I'm pretty good at figuring out 15% of anything. You'll get 15% as long as the service is decent. Do a good job, and you get 20%. Blow me away and you'll get something significantly above that.

The trouble that you're having is that waiters as a group should, when offered $2 an hour plus tips with the caveat that oh hey you have to tip out a set amount no matter what you actually make in tips, you should say "No thank you, I'll get a job elsewhere." Trouble is you don't do it. In other words, you're willing to work under those conditions. It is not my responsibility to financially support you because of your poor career decisions.

It's like any other industry in this country. People will pay the minimum they have to in order to get the goods and services they want. Waiters aren't running to the tire shop asking if they can pay $200 over list price because, gee, the guys on the factory floor making the tires aren't all rich and would like a little extra in their wallet. You don't go into best buy and try talk them up from the pricetag.

Waiters as a group have offered themselves to restaurants for $2-ish an hour. Restaurants naturally aren't going to say "Oh nonono, here, have $80,000 a year and a company car" if they don't have to.

I never cease to find it amazing that people run around saying how great capitalism is, and how our financial system is so far and away superior to communism, yet they then sit there with their hand out demanding that others compensate them when capitalism naturally results in them getting less for their product.

And what *really* gets me is that waiters expect this compensation even when the service is lousy. I've had several occasions in which waiters, who do an allaround horrendous job, follow me out to the parking lot demanding to know why I didn't tip them. Some have even whined that 15% is the standard, and that I should tip that even for atrocious service. Sorry, no. You have agreed to a job in which a large part of your income is dependent upon how much your customers like the job that you do. It would be wisest if you saw to it that I liked your work.


The "gimme money to compensate my personal choices" trend isn't just coming from the service industry. Farmers want subsidies for growing corn. Then they want subsidies for not growing corn. The government subsidizes tobacco farmers and then puts out anti-tobacco literature. I bring this up not to threadjack, but to make sure you understand that I don't have some vendetta against waitstaff. You chose the work. You knew what it was going in. Don't complain when some people stiff you - it's a guaranteed variable in the system you willingly bought into.

ngdawg

I tip on those too, just not 20%; If the take-out is, say, $6, I'll usually leave about a buck or two for the person who took my order.

When I was working as a hostess/cashier/everything but waitress, a local lawyer used to come in and order his lunch to go from me. His order usually hovered about $12-13 and he would always hand me a $20 and tell me to keep the change. So, now I do the same-tip the order taker.

thingstodo

Always on the full amount. If the service is solid, 20%. If it's really over the top - keep going. And always round up. Also, don't be afraid to tip less. I've even written something on the slip I sign if service was bad and I tip low.

__________________
If you're wringing your hands you can't roll up your shirt sleeves.

Stangers have the best candy.

host

SInce, in my experience, and in the experience of almost everyone else who does the job, your statements above are not accurate....people don't "pay the minimum" in the US when it comes to tipping waiter and waitresses, the average tip would not be 19 percent in the market that I work in, if that were true....and waiters don't offer themselves "for 2-ish an hour", the wage exists by law, because of the investment in lobbying done to legislatures who make the labor laws by well funded restaurant business trade groups.

The waiters accept the jobs because your premise about people "paying the minimum", in the way that they tip for service, at least among US patrons, is not accurate. So it works, and those who refuse to go along with it are subsidized by patrons who "get it", and appreciate what they are getting enough to pay to offset the negative impact to waitstaff income of restaurant owners lobbying to keep legal wage minimums so low, and from patrons with more negative attitudes about tipping, or who are uninformed.

Those who tip less than average and the restaurant owners are "free riders" in this system. The system itself is a competitive, expected development of a capitalistic system in a market of predominantly generous, considerate and appreciative consumers. Waitstaff participates on the basis of personal ability and appeal, with the added factors common to the owners, picking the right location and demographics. The best waiters working at the most highly rated and most patronized businesses make the most money.

Some people know to tip on the total amount of the original prices of the food and drink served to them, and some don't. Enough do know to offset the impact of the ones who don't know or refuse to accept it.

silent_jay

It's a tip, people don't have to know to tip anything, they don't have to accept anything, a tip is at the discretion of the diner, not the server, we've proved this in the other thread you started, 15-20% is the acceptable tip, or the norm.

__________________
Absence makes the heart grow fonder

host

Show me the post where you "proved" Canadians and other foreigners tip an average of 15 to 20 percent. I <a href="http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthread.php?t=130889">posted an article</a> on a website with a Canadian URL that stated that credit card transactions in Canada indicated that 78 percent of Canadians tipped 'the norm" there....15 percent. It doesn't indicate that the rest tip at a higher percentage.

The posting by six TFP members who say they live in Canada and tip "15 to 20 percent" is not "proof", compared to credit card data combined with anecdotal remarks by others on that thread and on the internet at large.

I posted an article that says that the average tip in my market is 19 percent.
Remarks and articles abound on the internet and in print referring to US patrons as above average tippers. I've invited you or anyone else to post references of Canadian or other foreign tipping practices.

"Proof" would have to rise to a point, if it is to seriously challenge my contentions, to where it at least equaled what I posted to support my opinions. If you think you've done that on the other thread, I guess that the author of the joke, "what is the difference between a Canadian and a canoe?" owes you an apology, or Canadian tipping habits deteriorate when they travel out of Canada.

Leto

OMG Host, now you're being obtuse. I recommend that you go back to that other thread and read it over. I mean READ it.

I recall that silent_jay posted at least twice, if not three times, a survey of the thread participants' tipping habits. Please try not to be pedantic, read the words and accept the spirit of the discussion. I must say that this is very unproductive.

silent_jay

Read the other thread host, it's all been proved. Wow you posted an article, that's hard to believe, we posted an informal survey of Canadians in that thread not people saying they live in Canada, actual Canadians, unless you're saying we're lying about where we're from. But if that the case maybe you're lying aboot being a waiter to trool Canadians because you have such a hard on for us, and our informal survey that proved your article wrong, using actual Canadians, not just you're 'article' or 'data' that suits your argument.. Come on host, I know you're usually used to people just getting tired of your regurgitating the same old shit over and over, but even you can admit when you're wrong.

Here host I'll post it for a fourth time to see if you actually read the words this time or just see what you're blinders allow you to see.
You're posting of a Yahoo Answers link, or a distressed waitress link with TWO mentions of Canadians on the 'bad tippers forum' is proof? Of course it is because it supports your rather flimsy 'argument' and your questionable 'data'. Don't ignore others posts host like you usually do, you've lost this one, just man up and admit it. You tried stereo typing all Canadians as bad tippers and did a horrible job, we all know it, you know it, now just be man enough to admit you fucked up and should have 'researched' your data better. Or you could always respond to the other thread with better data, rather than just ignoring it.

One out of 33 mentions of Canadians, yep there's your 'proof' host, your own Yahoo Answers doesn't even support your 'argument'.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/in...2203639AAsJXBq

Oh yeah here's the 'survey' again, and it's more than 6 Canadians.
Yep that's 11, not 6 host, try and read the words in the post.
We have posted references, from actual Canadians, it isn't our fault you choose to ignore it, even your own 'references' are flimsy at best, they don't exactly do a grreat deal to support your side when ONE out of 33 people mention Canadians on your Yahoo Answers link.
You haven't posted shit to support your opinions, you've posted forum links and Yahoo Answers links that are just other peoples opinions that you are regurgitating and trying to say they're a fact, when in fact they are just opinions and we all know opinions are like assholes, everybody has one.
You'd think then that more than 1 person on Yahoo Answers would be complaining about Canadians if your 'proof' is so good. As I said in the other thread host, you can find articles on the internet to support fucking sheep if you like, so I don't know why you put so much credibility in these forum links and yahoo answers OPINIONS.

You keep citing a joke like it's a fact, do you know how many American jokes there are? Are all of them fact? Going by your reasoning they must be.

But you keep twisting the information and reading what you want to read, you haven't proved anything. You're looking more and more like a whinnying child who thinks he's always right than like an adult.

I'll refer you back to the other thread host if you'd like to continue this discussion as to not thread jack this thread anymore
http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthr...=130889&page=8
That's the thing, host only reads what he wants to see, not what is actually typed in front of him, he found a Yahoo link with 1 person to support his opinion and posted it without reading the others, he posted a distressed waitress link to support his opinion, with only 2 people on there to support it, so you see he doesn't actually read the whole thing, he just hopes that people won't actually follow his links like usually happens so they won't find out he's full of shit.

__________________
Absence makes the heart grow fonder

Barstool

I always tip on the UN-discounted price. Otherwise, I think I'd look/feel like a cheapskate.

Corneo

Here is a side question then. My coworker accused me of being cheap when I tipped double the amount of the tax (total tip 15%). He claimed I was tipping on the bill or something to that sorts. I always though 15% was good enough, I didn't get great service; 15% sounds about right to me.

MSD

Please make sure you keep your arguments factual and not personal.

silent_jay

......

__________________
Absence makes the heart grow fonder

Randerolf

15% is fine for pedestrian service. Fine dining usually is 20%. If they do a great job give them 16 - 20%. If they give you a blow job, ask your doctor or pharmacist.

silent_jay

How can something 'usually' be 20% when it is at the discretion of the diner? A tip is up to the person dining, not the waiter, it isn't based on what they usually get, or what they think they should get, it's what the diner wants to leave them, they could leave them fuck all, then imagine the pissing and moaning that would be going on here.

__________________
Absence makes the heart grow fonder

Randerolf

I just assumed Corneo wanted to know what is customary. I'm researching a trip to New York myself.

silent_jay

Ahhh, I see, I can see 20% for higher end restaurants with great service.

__________________
Absence makes the heart grow fonder

spindles

You know what? I can't. The food in the higher end restaurant is going to be higher than any other one. So the dollar value tipped (if 15% in both cases) is going to be greater in any case. Great service is great service whether in a greasy spoon diner or a top restaurant.

__________________
who hid my keyboard's PANIC button?

silent_jay

Good point, I forgot about the huge difference in prices in the higher end restaurants, (more of a burger and fries man here) the 15% is going to be more, and yes the service should be the same no matter what style of restaurant, if you're paying for the meal the service should be good no matter what.

__________________
Absence makes the heart grow fonder

Kaimi

I see myself as a reasonable tipper as far as my personal habits go. I have never truly taken the time to consider discounted food though. When I go out to experience a fine meal I am generally not one to choose based on which is the most affordable option. It is a luxury meal that I am afforded and I toss my Visa carelessly in the wind. As for myself, I would rarely tip less than 20% anywhere.

I do find issue though that staff are demanding to receive a fixed amount. When you are on the floor as a waiter/waitress you are selling yourself, representing the restaurant and providing a positive experience to the patrons. I have a hard time agreeing that a person who stopped at my table Once to take a beverage order, Once to take a meal order and once to deliver the food is entitled some great reward.

Now, take the server at the Indian restaurant who took the time to explain the best way to eat the meal. Consider the Server who would take the time to ensure I knew how to dive into a lobster properly. Consider the wait staff who saw the child order a Kiddie Cocktail and ensured he/she received a few extra cherries. The staff who show consideration to the customers above what is expected.. that is the staff that deserves the greater reward.

I recall one very bad dining experience in my past(one of several actually) The orders were taken as expected, drink orders first, followed by the meal order. Everyone seated at the table received their meals except one. How rude and how uncomfortable it feels to be eating in front of someone who is just as hungry (if not more) as you are. Do you let your food sit and get cold, do you wait until the others meal is served? No, no.. go eat my meal will be here shortly. 30 minutes had passed, still no meal. Excuse given, there was trouble with the bacon. Fifteen more minutes, finally someone checks in the kitchen on the meal. In the end it was an hour and 15 minutes before the last individual was served. People were bored, irritated and now the last to eat felt rushed. All around it was an awful experience. What did I tip that evening? About 10% and frankly with how dead the restaurant was that evening, I felt that was far too much.

Some people do well in the service industry and frankly others just are not cut out for it. The smart ones figure it out early and find themselves a more suitable profession.

Borla

I usually tip very well IMO. If the service is even passable I give 15-18%. If the service is pretty good, I give 20%. If I never have to ask for a refill, don't have a complaint about my order being messed up, and the server has a polite demeanor, I'll exceed 20%. In extreme cases of service above and beyond the call of duty I'll go 25-30%, just because I know those few extra bucks probably mean more to the person waiting on my and my group than they mean to me.

When it comes to a discount though, it does somewhat depend on why I have the discount. If it is a restaurant special, I'll probably tip 5-8% higher, but based on my actual bill. If it is something my server does to get me the discount, I'll generally give them 50-70% of the discount, plus their 20%.

For example, one time some friends and I were having a great time at a tequila bar. Our bill should've been north of $300 once we left (we put in HOURS of hard labor, lol). We were bantering with our server, having a great time, and she was busting her butt to keep us happy. Before her shift ended we told her we wanted to cash out with her, to make sure she earned the tip she deserved. She obliged, and brought us a bill for less than 50% of what it should've been. I double checked with her to make sure there wasn't an error. Her reply was "you all have been a blast to wait on, your bill is correct" with a wink. I tipped her about 70%, which was still a touch less than what I thought the bill rightfully should've been.

She made more than she would've with a good tip, and I paid less than I would've. Win-win.

__________________
Coimhéad fearg fhear na foighde!!!!

kutulu

I tip a minimum 20%. In addition to that, I don't tip less than $3-4. If I'm by myself and the order is $10, I don't feel right leaving only $2

percy

Missed one. But you probably didn't know.

The way I see it is like this. I tip on the total of the bill as stated in the other thread between 25-35% if the service is very good to excellent. 15-25% if the service is good. If not good or just terrible 10% or less.

As far as restaurants offering discounts as in some percentage off, or 2 for 1 meals, the same tipping method applies. The way I see it is if a restaurant offers a special, they are trying to attract me to become a repeat customer. Therefore I tip on the price of the bill. Otherwise maybe I wouldn't have been enticed to go to that establishment at all, hence zero tip.

People have said that it still takes the same time and effort to prepare, so one must tip on the original price. Why? Why should I cover the cost of the server when their employer is discounting something? I didn't make that decision. If the servers think they should be reimbersed the tip for the original price, that is between their employer and them, not me.

If an owner brings in lobster that he bought for 80% less the wholesale value it would have cost him, and decides to have half price lobsters, half the price of the original marked up restaurant price, then they should compensate their serving staff, not me.

Also getting back to the business that it still takes the same amount of time and effort to do something that is discounted. What then to do with moderate priced restaurants and high end ones. An 8 oz filet mignon cooked medium rare takes about the same effort and time to prepare. If a moderate priced restaurant charges $19.99 and a high end one costs $45.99, do you tip less at the high end place?

And believe me. I eat in restaurants alot because of my line of work. There isn't much difference between a $20 and $45 dollar steak.

And a couple more. Lunch specials? If that Philly steak sandwich is $6.99 rather than $10.99, do you tip on the original? If someone at an all you can eat buffet eats 4 plates to my one, does that person tip more because there are more plates to pick up?

You know what my answer is.

Paq

as a former server (turned daytrader)..

easy rule: if the restaurant has it as a price, tip on the price the restaurant gives you. I'm not too sure about 1/2 priced sushi or something like that, i just mean like specials, etc. If you bring a discount (coupon, whatever) or giftcard or get a discount from the restaurant for something unrelated to the service (bad food, not the server's fault), then tip on the original amount. Basically, what you're looking to avoid is shocking the server who thinks he's getting a certain amount only to find a discount has cut his tip dramatically. I would think the half priced sushi actually falls in the "tip the bill" since it's the given price by the restaurant at the time. That one is kinda tricky bc it's the same work by the server...On the other hand, I don't know many servers who would get pissy about someone ordering 'the special' if it's lower priced. I mean, it's better to sell the pricier stuff from a server's point of view, but still. In that case, i'd err on the overtipping side, but i'm generally a 20%+ tipper anyway, just bc i know how thankless the job is.

btw, it's really ..really annoying for people who have never served or worked in a restaurant to say something like, "why do servers put up with this, choose another line of work". servers, bartenders, porters, valet parking attendants, etc know they can make more off the system than they could working retail or any other job requiring the same skills. Most don't want to change the system bc *most* will tip reasonably well and you can have a better lifestyle than you could with any other job giving that much freedom. IE, name a job at $20/hr where you can shuffle shifts, take leaves, and work 2-7 days a week, depending on what you need.

Oh, one last thing. i can see where Percy is coming from with the discounts. I don't think i've ever had issue with a place offering menu discounts and my getting tipped less. I think, the easiest way to explain it: The price on the bill is what a server is taxed based upon. If there is a discount futher down on the bill, then servers are taxed based upon the pre-discounted cost, so tip on that. IE, if you were to go to a sushi place and get half priced sushi...say your bill was something like : Sushi: 8.5, Drink: 1.50, tax, .80, discount: $4.25=6.55...then you'd tip on the 10.80. If it said: sushi: 4.25, drink: 1.5, tax: .46=6.21, then you'd tip on the 6.21. That goes with percy's: discounts to draw in business arguments. Robot parade basically has it right. I didn't realize that . The last thing you want to do is make the server pay for serving you, which you 'can' do by undertipping. Ie, if you go to a ruby tuesday or most chain restaurants and leave 3% or less of the stated bill, the person who just worked for you did it for free or basically lost money from a different tipping guest. Most people wouldn't do that, but if you get a bad tipper combined with a huge discount, the server can get screwed for something he/she didn't really do.

wow, this stuff is really confusing

__________________
Live.

Chris

Derwood

i cannot remember the last time i got "discounted" food. what restaurants are you people eating at?