Tipping

[deird1]

Read an article on tipping (with, yes, quite a lot of discussion about Aussies) this morning, and got interested...

Poll #4972 tipping

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 27

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How much should you tip in restaurants?

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0%
0 (0.0%)

0% ...but then, I'm Australian
4 (14.8%)

5%
0 (0.0%)

10%
5 (18.5%)

20%
15 (55.6%)

25%
0 (0.0%)

30%
0 (0.0%)

50%
0 (0.0%)

ridiculously huge amounts
0 (0.0%)

it really depends on the service
3 (11.1%)

Tipping...

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sucks
5 (19.2%)

is great
5 (19.2%)

is annoying, but can't be helped
12 (46.2%)

I'm Australian, and laugh at people who tip
3 (11.5%)

I'm a waiter, and glare at people who don't tip
2 (7.7%)

why be stingy?
15 (57.7%)

why not just pay the waiters properly?
17 (65.4%)

ticky!
12 (46.2%)

tip!
7 (26.9%)

ticky again!
9 (34.6%)

My general position:
- America, for some insane reason, underpays people and expects them to earn most of their salary through tips. Were I in America, I would (reluctantly) tip everyone. After all, it's not their fault their work conditions stink.
- Luckily, I am in Australia, where tipping is not expected. So I don't tip - unless the place was really brilliant, in which case I might add my spare change to their tip jar...

Comments

[next_to_normal]

Yeah, it's dumb, and restaurants should just pay their servers better (even if they have to charge more), but until they do, I absolutely think people ought to tip - there is some flexibility on the amount based on service, but I'd say 20% is the norm and you're stingy and rude if you go below 15%.