Journal Bill Dog's Journal: tipping 11

No, not of cows. (Altho I did go to quite a podunk school, with a lot of farm boys. But I would never do that to ole Bessie. Besides, you shouldn't play with your food.) Tipping waiters and other service providers.

Some people say you should start at 10%, and if service is above-and-beyond, tip 15%, and if it's poor, tip 5%, and if it absolutely sucks, tip nothing. Or leave a penny. (Or put it in an upside-down full glass of water on the table -- I never understood what was so great about this, as it can be removed without spilling the water the same way it was placed.) Anyways, I've only left a single penny once in my life. Only once has everything been wrong.

Waiters of course say you should start at 15%, and then only deduct if something majorly is wrong that they don't correct or make up for, and go up if service is excellent.

My folks, maybe it's old-fashionedness, have their own ideas about tipping. That is, maybe these were conventions (or urban folklore) of old. They tip 15% (and rounded -- more on that in a minute) if service is good, 10% if it's rotten. My dad has mentioned that technically you don't (need to) tip on the tax amount. (But not to forget to tip on the total bill even if you're using a gift card and not shelling out the cash for the full amount of the bill.) My mom has mentioned that you don't need to tip on the alcohol portion of the bill. Oh well, they're retired and on a fixed income, not to mention watching the value of their savings shrink as the dollar does. So I guess they can have their shortcuts.

My sister's like me in one way, but like them in another. Both she and I tip 20%. We both settled on that independently, not having ever talked about it, until one day we both found out that the other does it too. Neither of us were ever waiters. But it wasn't so long ago for us when we didn't hardly make any money. And we're all just trying to get ahead. So I think we both think to be generous with those in lower pay scales, as the high cost of living is disproportionately harder on them.

But something peculiar she does that she got from my folks, is to set the tip such that it rounds the total charge to an even dollar amount. I do that on the rare occasion I'm paying cash, as I figure someone doesn't want to carry around change all day. If that's even what happens/how it goes. But on a credit card? But she and her husband don't reconcile their monthly credit card bills, they just glance at them and look for anything that catches their eye as maybe being not right. So I guess they think whole dolar amount charges helps in that respect. I match my statement with my charge slips, so I just let the amounts fall where they may.

So who gets 20%? Everyone, pretty much. Even if there's a flaw in the service, I don't like to "punish" people. I can only remember a specific time once where I tipped 15% -- at a fancy restaurant with high prices and skimpy portions, and lousy food at that, and I was picking up the bill, and it was large, and a rip, IMO, and I only left 15% that night. I would've had to have overall liked the experience to leave 20%, as that's a large number on a huge bill. But maybe I shouldn't have done that. It's not the waiter's fault the place was a rip. Altho it's partly the cooks' fault for the lousy food.

All I ask of a waiter is that they get my order right, it arrives before I die of starvation, the food's hot when it's supposed to be, and they keep my soda refilled. That gets you 20%, rounded up to the nearest dollar (I round the tip amount). If I ordered something that I turned out not to like, if I know it to be a good restaurant, I'll just chock it up to my messing up. And if it's the first time I've been there, I'll simply just not come back (since I won't be already in the habit of going there, or will miss it).

Finally, here's a tip for anyone who might be reading this drivel, this far: Did you realize you can ask the waiter what is good? A couple of people I've been out with have asked for what they recommend, and it surprised me a little. I guess I would've thought that waiters would be very hesitant to do that, as peoples' tastes differ and why risk your tip. But both times it was the such-and-such was excellent, and the so-and-so is not as good. I guess I didn't think they'd be even slightly negative about anything on the menu, and remain neutral. I know I wouldn't talk to a customer at work and say I recommended a certain piece of our software, but that another of our components is not so good. Oh well.