question for Americans!

[deird1]

Dear helpful flisty people,


A friend of mine will shortly be going to your fine country, and, being an Aussie, has no idea about tipping.

So...
- Who are you supposed to tip?
- When?
- How much are you supposed to tip them?

Any info you could provide would be very useful.


With love, from a confused Aussie

Comments

[velvetwhip]

15% of the bill is the generally accepted minimum at restaurants. You tip wait-staff, people who help you with bags and such at hotels, people who park your car if you valet.


Gabrielle

[velvetwhip]

I forgot to add cab drivers.


Gabrielle

[a2zmom]

20% at a restaurant if it's a fancy place. Gnerally, in a city such as NYC, 20% is more the norm.

[velvetwhip]

You are quite right. I should have added a NY caveat.


Gabrielle

[a2zmom]

Everything is always more money in NY. I still love it though.

[blackfrancine]

Also, if your friend happens to get any services like a massage or haircut or other beauty-related service (facial or whatever), they get a tip, too. Usually they get a bit more than 15%--maybe up to 20%.

[lutamira]

When you eat out, 15% is the absolute minimum, but 20% is the standard these days, especially in cities. You also tip your barista if you get a drink at a coffee shop - usually a dollar or so/drink. Same with bars - if you go up to the bar and order a drink, you leave a tip for the bartender, or, if you have a server in a bar, you just add the 20% onto your tab.

[lutamira]

As for details - your server will bring your check to your table when they think you are done eating. (If you need it faster you can always ask for it.) If you pay by credit card, then the receipt you have to sign will have a line on it that says tip: and you write in the amount you want to add to the total as tip. If you pay with cash, you can leave the full cost of the bill plus the tip and say 'keep the change' or just walk out, or, if you don't have exact change for the tip, you can ask for change and then leave what you like. The servers keep track of all their tips and then split them up at the end of the night with the various busboys, dishwashers, cooks, hosts, etc who may have also been working at the restaurant.

In coffee shops and the like, there will be fairly obvious tip jar near the register.

[dr_carrot]

thank you all for this, it is most helpful! As a completely confused Aussie, how much do I tip bag carrying people, drivers ect? Tipping in this way is entirely foreign in Australia, and I don't wish to offend. Trying to be a good tourist! Thanks again.

[lydiabell]

Do you have a smartphone? There are apps where you can look up proper tipping for various situations.

[immer_am_lesen]

Is it really compulsory? Last time we were in the US we didn't know about it, and nobody seemed upset that we didn't give them extra money...

[eleanorjane]

As I understand it (and I'm an Aussie too, so not an expert), the service economy is set up in the US such that "minimum wage" is nowhere near enough to live on. Tips are pretty much essential, I believe.

Which is lousy, and seems barbaric to me, but that's the way it works for them :/

[immer_am_lesen]

Really? Wow, that sucks. Always feeling beholden to the people you're serving, because they can actually be the difference between you eating/paying the rent that night, and not having enough? Ouch. :-(

Now I know this, I'll definitely tip if I ever go the US again...

[lutamira]

yeah, it is true - there are legal loopholes that make it so that people who earn tips at their jobs don't have to be paid minimum wage. Most servers live entirely off the tips they earn. Tipping in restaurants in the US is absolutely mandatory, even if the service is terrible. You just factor it into the cost of eating out.

[kisekileia]

Sorry, screwed that up. There are places in the U.S. where the minimum wage for tipped employees is $2.13 an hour. I believe tipped employees in the U.S. are also taxed as if their tips get them up to the standard minimum wage, whether they actually made that much in tips or not. It's a really awful system.

[zeborah]

I understand such jobs are often/always(?) taxed on the assumption that they'll earn a certain percentage, too - so even if they don't get a tip, they still have to pay tax on money they didn't get.

[kisekileia]

There are places in the U.S.

[klme.livejournal.com]

On my one visit to the US I found all this incredibly confusing - the sheer volume of Maths involved in every purchase was very stressful! I remember going out for lunch with my limited supply of American currency, and looking at the price list thinking "I can afford a sandwich, chips and a coke...but then I'm supposed to add tax of some description which isn't listed on the price list, and a tip of some amount...I have no idea if can actually afford them at all, and I can't know until I take them up to the counter!"
There should be (and there probably is) an iphone app for tourists which works out all the Maths for you on the spot.
Then of course there was the whole issue of shops wanting exact money - $1.89, for example. In Australia I'd hand over a $2 coin and expect a 10c piece back. Once you understand the whole "cash means rounding to the nearest 5c" it's simple. Two coin exchange. I got so very confused by the different notes that all look the same, and the quarters, and the lack of 50c coins. I can't even tell you for this example how I could make up $1.89 in American money. All I know is that I kept finding myself handing over big notes just to make sure I covered tip and tax, and to get around trying to add up weird coins, only to receive a whole pile of little coins back every time. I had A LOT of pennies at the end of the trip.
I think I'd want some on the spot "help I'm an Australian in America" app on my phone to help with all that, as well as just the tipping thing.

[(Anonymous)]

The math on 20% is pretty easy - you take 10% (so move the decimal over one place) and then double it.

I always tip 20% for restaurant meals if the service is reasonable or good, and 15% if it's bad, and maybe 10% if it's really horrible (like, top 10 worst ever in my life).

I'm a graduate student living on a shit stipend, so I don't usually tip baristas (coffee makers), sandwich-makers, order-takers, etc. since they actually get paid a real minimum wage (~$7/hr depending on the state). Minimum wage for waitresses and waiters is different - they only make ~$1.50/hr because the law assumes they're going to get tips that will more than make up for the difference.

I also tip $1 per drink in a bar, which is a pretty standard.

~ gingerwall

[octavia_b]

Another Aussie who's always wondered about this too. I can understand the concept of 15% of the restaurant bill but the rest of it is totally confusing. How do you know how much to give them? What if you don't have change? I rarely carry small change around!

[(Anonymous)]

Most people just pay with debit cards or credit cards so they don't have to carry change. Or you round up to the nearest dollar.

I don't think anyone pays with change these days (except MAYBE quarters every once in while). The except to that is if you're just throwing whatever change someone gave you for a purchase into a tip jar (i.e., at a coffee shop/order at the counter place, not a sit-down restaurant with a waiter).

~ gingerwall

[goldenusagi]

I'm American and I wonder these things, too.

I never get out.

[eilowyn1]

For places like hotels and resorts, they may have something called a resort fee (the resort I work at has a $20 resort fee), and that's supposed to cover tipping of the bellman who helps you with your bags, the valet who parks your car, and the concierge who makes reservations for you. It's always nice to give the bellmen and valets a little something extra. What the resort fee does not cover is dining in or out, even if the restaurant is within the hotel or resort, or spa/salon services. Food and Beverage and Spa treatments are separate from resort fees.

20% of the bill or services rendered (like a massage or a pedicure) should be plenty, and giving a little something to the barista is always nice.

[a2zmom]

Also, leave somthing for the maid(s) who clean your hotel room. I ususally do 2-3 dollars per night. More at a very fancy hotel (which is a pretty rate event!).