Because it has come to my attention that apparently a lot of people weren’t taught proper tipping etiquette so here’s what I was taught.
- Always tip at least 20%.
- If you got something in a special or had a coupon, you tip on the price you would have payed, not the price you did pay.
- At breakfast always tip 25%. Breakfast is never as expensive as dinner and your waitress shouldn’t be shortchanged because you got $5 eggs instead of a $10 sandwich.
- If you keep a table for longer than an hour, add 10% for every hour you keep the table. It’s great that you’re catching up with a friend you haven’t seen in ten years, but you’re fucking over the waitress by staying for four hours. Every hour you’re there you’re costing her money. Make it worth her time.
We all know to tip 20%, but as someone who works as a cook and often talks to the waiters, no one seems to know about the rest. This is what my dad taught me and this is what I’ll teach my children. Be respectful to your waiters. Don’t undertip. They need to eat too.
America is terrifying.
It is, wtf.
how come we’re opting to make everyone do these rediculous tips and try to pass them as normal, instead of making restaurants pay their waitresses and waitors actual wages?
yall know america is the only country that does this right?
When I grew up (in MA) it was always tip at least 15% but sometime in the last decade or so it became 20% and I am confused and apprehensive.
In any case it is a terrible system and reason I often avoid restaurants with table service altogether.
My rule of thumb is $5 or 20%, whichever is higher. (This is probably why the waitresses at Denny’s tolerate me when I go in there to write for a while and only order a grand slam. If it’s really busy I move my ass to let them flip the table, but if it’s quiet, it’s the best place to write.)
Reblogging because:
a) this is good advice for both Americans and folks visiting the US (who are often among the most at sea), and
b) this also highlights the absolute insanity of the whole system of servers being paid mostly through tips. Because, on top of giving the customer complete discretion over whether the server gets to pay their rent or not, it makes it the customer’s responsibility to figure out the local norms and keep up with trends (I also grew up with 15% being standard, and it’s now 20%). That is RIDICULOUS. It should not be within my power to accidentally deprive someone else of a chunk of their wages because my guidebook is out of date or my math is off.
… I know none of us reading this are going to be able to charge out and just overturn the tipping system, but sometimes pointing out that this is not normal or okay helps.