Rlyss

Hi everyone. In Australia we don't have a tradition of tipping waiters so I'm not sure how the system works. I went out to dinner last night and the bill came to $42, and we gave them a $50 and got our change.

How does it work in the United States? Just say our meal was $42, and I want to give them a $5 tip, but I pay with a $50 note. Do I say "There's a $5 tip in there", so they know to only give us $3 change? Do we wait until they give us the $8 change and then return $5 from that? Or when you give a $50 note for a $42 meal, do they just assume that you won't want your change, since they assume it's a tip? Does everyone pay the exact price, plus tip, and leave it at that?

It's obviously got me intrigued

TM875

Each establishment is different, but here's the general jist of what you should do:

You go and pay the $42 bill with the $50 bill (which, by the way, most Americans never use), and you get your $8 change. If you want to leave $5, just lay the fiver on the table and leave.

Now, it also depends if you pay the waiter, or if you have to pay at a counter. Giving the waiter cash and saying "there's a $xx tip in there" and still wanting change back, to me, seems kinda weird. I wouldn't do it. I would either want all my money back and leave the tip on the table, or say "keep the change" and leave.

You can't go wrong with getting change and leaving the tip.


By the way, $5 on a $42 bill is pretty cheap there, buddy. I would have given the waiter at least the full $8. Remember, it's 15-20%, at the minimum.

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maleficent

Some places the waiters have the annoying habit of asking the question - "would you like change" - Unless I've specifically said, keep the change, change is returned.

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NotMinus

15-20% should only be for top notch service. If it was average okay to average I would say $5 is just fine.

If i were in your situation I would ask for $3 back.

st33lr4t

i would have gave him the $50 and from the change he returned i would have left $5 on the table on my way out.

fallenangel

15-20% is not just reserved for top notch service. Unless things were absolutely dreadful, don't tip under 10% things have changed a bit... What my auntie does, is just doubles the gst and makes that the amount she tips. Just a suggestion that's quick and easy.

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Rodney

Get your change and pay the tip out of that. I agree that the waiter asking "Do you want change?" is forward. That should be up to you: if you don't want change, hand them the bills and say, "No change, thanks." (It is acceptable for the waiter to make the statement, "I'll bring you your change," thus raising the issue without making assumptions. Then you can decide whether you want to wait for the change or not. But you don't have to take any initiative if you don't want to.)

If you've got nothing but big bills and are splitting a check with someone, throw the waiter a big bill and ask for change. He/she will bring it back, and you'll use the change to divvy up the tab appropriately with your fellow diners. But since you've already asked for change, in this case you would be expected to leave the amount of the meal plus tip on the table without further change-making from the waiter. (Well, if you still needed change the world wouldn't end, but there might be some sniggering about your poor math skills back at the cashier's station.

THGL

I had a waiter ask me "do you want change?" and my response was "Now that you've asked... Yes!" I made sure his tip was exactly 15% nothing more.

To answer the original questions, just get your change and leave the tip on the table. If there's a cashier, either leave your tip before you pay or if you don't have the change wait until you've paid and walk back to the table to leave the tip.

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The Phenomenon

I tip 10% if the service was satisfying. I tip 20% if the service was especially good. I tip nothing if the service sucked.

All the restaurants that I go to have a Gratuity part on the bill that i can fill in. i fill it in there, and then I hand them the money and they bring me my change.

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ShaniFaye

I have a whole problem with the percentage of the bill thing....for example if your bill was 80 bucks but 40 of that was food and 40 was for drinks some at 4.50-7.00 a pop why should you tip more than you would if you just had food and a regular drink? Im not tipping someone 12-16 bucks just because I ordered something a little bit more pricey.
an example...
If the order had 4 beers on it at a price of 2.50 that would be 10 bucks just in beer
If the order had 4 mixed drinks or a glass of wine at say 5.00 thats 20 bucks, you've just increased the "tip" 1.50 to 2 bucks just because the latter was more expensive.

I appreciate good service and I will tip accordingly, but I do not necessarily base it on my bill.

back to the orginal question....If Im paying in cash I always request the cash back and leave the tip on the table

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Journeyman

Dorito, just out of curiosity, how's the pricing at your restaurants?

There's a lot of people that seem to think that an end to tipping in America would be the downfall of good service coupled with the rise of prices (followed by inflation and the downfall of western civilization). Do you find eating out in Australia is more expensive then it is here?

Rlyss

I'm not sure if it's more expensive in the US than in Australia since I've never been to the US, but I'm not aware of either country having unusually high prices.

I was out with my partner at a Malaysian restaurant and we got an all-you-can-eat deal ($18.50 each) and a jug of lemonade, and I think another drink or something. This place wasn't fancy, it was just a family-owned restaurant with their high-school aged son waiting on us.

The kid was really nice and helpful (when he wasn't leaning on the cash register playing his Game Boy), but that dinner struck me as interesting compared to another night at a video store recently.

We were looking for 'A Night at the Roxbury' and asked the girl if they had it in since we couldn't find it on the shelves. She went to the computer, came back to us and said 'It's in', and then started walking. We assumed she was leading us to the right section to help us find it, but instead she walked back to the registers and just stood there looking at us. It may not be the same in the US, but here it's pretty standard for the video store clerk to help you find it on the shelf, especially if there are other staff manning the registers.

Anyway, the customer service got me thinking that perhaps tipping is the right way to go, as an incentive for staff to actually help you instead of do the bare minimum. It doesn't help if I tip at the end, because they wouldn't try if they don't know they'll get a tip. I wonder how Australia would react to a trend to tip their wait staff?

thebeat

I'm not sure if this was mentioned, but a majority IMO of waiters/waitresses only make about $2.13 an hour so tipping anything is appriecated, I speak from experience unfortunatly.

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The Phenomenon

In Reply To Dorito2

While tipping is a good insentive, life will get way to expensive if we have to start tipping everywhere.

In Reply To thebeat

I am perfectly fine with paying a tip for good service, but if the service was bad you get no tip whatsoever. A tip should be a reward for good service, not something that you are supposed to pay.

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Do not confuse altruism with kindness, good will or respect for the rights of others. These are not primaries, but consequences, which, in fact, altruism makes impossible. The irreducible primary of altruism, the basic absolute, is self-sacrifice - which means: self-immolation, self-abnegation, self-denial, self-destruction - which means: the self as a standard of evil, the selfless as a standard of the good.

Jim Kata

I always tip 20%. No less. If it was the first time I went there and the service was bad, I still tip 20%. The waiter/ress may have had a terrible day...who knows what they have been through. The next time I go there and they STILL give me shitty service then I tip accordingly.

I think that when ordering drinks from restaraunts they have to tip out the bartenders (for alcoholic drinks of course). Putting a mug under a tap and filling up 4 mugs is easier than making a sour apple martini....so if they cost the same....think of the preparation for the items you ordered.

And people.....tip your delivery drivers. I help out at a deli for a couple of hours a week, and the cheapskates out there are unbelievable. At least give me something for gas.

If your food was late, 9 times out of 10 it wasn't the drivers fault. It was the idiot customer before you...who answers the door, tells you to wait, looks through the whole house for their wallet or purse...its not like they knew food was coming or anything and it was waaaay too much trouble to have everything ready to make the transaction quick and painless.
Also the ones that like to make boring dull small talk because they are bored slow us down too....nothing wrong with being friendly but you gotta realize there are orders in the car waiting to be dropped off and if they get there late, it may mess with how much money I go home with.

Oh, and the 1 time out of 10 that IS the driver's fault that the food arrived late...is cause you are probably an asshole or don't tip so we don't give a shit about you and take your order last, or finish up our conversation on the phone, or wait for a commercial from our radioshow that keeps us sane while driving.

I just noticed I was pretty off subject there with this post. But I'm submitting it anyways without editing.

basmoq

I'm not rich enough to eat at places where you should tip, but if I was, I would follow the above instructions, good luck to you

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ShaniFaye

hmmm interesting point Jim Kata...can anybody here verify if they have to share tips with a bartender if its a sit down resturant?If that is indeed the case I shall have to change how I do it. I know at a regular bar I have no problem tipping the bartender more depending on what Im drinking.

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kutulu

I've actually never heard of a restaraunt where servers didn't have to tip out to the bartender. The different ways are % of bar sales, % of tip, % of total sales. The same goes for busers (if there are any at the place), and food runners.

calvin88

Well I happen to work at a sit down restaurant and we have to split tip between the kitches and the sushi chefs if our customers on the dining side order from the kitchen/sushi bar. So im assuming that places where there is a bar then they would split tip with the bartender. And tip is always good. There are these 2 guys(father and son) who come in and us waiters always flip a coin to see who gets to serve them because they tip well and so we serve them well. While some people we know come in, eat like a 50 dollar meal and tip like 4 bucks. While we still serve them, its not as enthusiatic.

Flyguy

I never frivolously tip just for the sake of tipping. Everybody and their mother expects a tip nowadays. You'll only get 15% from me if the service was really good. And I mean exceptional. Making me wait, sitting me at the shittiest table in the place when it's half full, will reduce your total tip.

Bentley Little

I agree. Tipping in this country has become a given. Not for me. If your service sucks, well, so will your tip. You gotta earn it.

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unoaman

I don't mind tipping the servers for good service, what I do mind is what the hell makes resturant owners think that customers have to pay their labor costs. I don't know about other places, but here, $2.00 to $3.00 per hour is considered about the average wage. Our business wouldn't last through the week if we sold our customers the product, then when the driver delivered it, he asked for a tip because we paid far below minimum wage. If they want to build it into the price of the food, at least it would stop the hassle of tipping, and servers would have to either do a good job, or look for another one.

Seaver

It's a given because waitstaff only get $2.14 an hour. 10% is for ok service, but if the waitor is friendly for the love of god give him 15-20%.

You dont understand how many times I've provide EXCELLENT service to tables of 15-20 people, only to receive a $5 tip. Now the total bill may come out to $200-300, $5 is shit for how much work you put into it. Ladies, yall are by far the worst tippers, dont know what it is, but the only good tips I've ever recieved is from old ladies. Middle-aged trophy wives suck ass, no matter how good service you give them, they will walk out w/out anything more than a quarter on the table.

Destrox

I do 13-15% minimum. Larger meals (Say I take my parents out for dinner to a nice place and the bill is in the 200$ range. Chances are you had that person bring out a lot of food, and in cases with large bills they take extra good care of you. You can bet your ass I put down a good 20-25% tip.)

Note, I am only 21, it doesnt require one to be "rich" to apply tips. They did you a service, now you do one back.

As for your question:
Give the 50, wait for your change to come back and leave it on the table.

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kutulu

I hate agreeing with you there but you are so right. I can't count the amount of times I was standing at the door and first the the husband gives his wife money for it plus a good tip and then the wife takes out a dollar or two, puts it in her purse and gives me a shitty tip.

Meier_Link

Gotta tip your servers. Has to be done. Bad service will get you a tip of around 10% and one less customer in the future. Good service will get you 20 % if I can afford it and a future customer. Sometimes my girlfriend will make me feel stingy, because I've seen her tip $20 on a $50 ticket.

Let me dig a hole here, since we're on the subject of stereotypes. Women are probably exceptionally good or bad tippers because for the most part the delicate art of mathematics eludes them. From what I've heard from friends that work in the service industry, black people are, for the most part (not all), the worst tippers.

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kutulu

I never noticed much of a correlation between race and tip amounts. I think most people want to believe black people tip less so the notice the bad tips and forget the good ones (at least subconciously).

Sargeman

It has been my experience that you pay for your service. If it's average service by all means give the 15%. If it's better give more. If it's worse give less and if it's real bad give them nothing.

When giving money you should always expect change unless you tell them to keep the change. It should never be assumed that you mean for them to keep it.

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