A tip, or gratuity is a voluntary payment given over and above the amount of the bill (incl any service charge) as a “personal reward” from you to waiting staff. A little something for the service, ‘free’ bread, ‘free’ water… A kind generous thought.
What makes you think the restaurant obviously pay less than the public on the net?This was mentioned and addressed earlier. I always used to pay more for my film, processing & printing than the public paid. Also, my other half is in a business where she pays more for her supplies.
She’s also in a business where people can tip or not, or they can help her carrying her bags in and out the premises for example. Whether they do or don’t doesn’t bother her, but from the booking moment, there is a link to what constitutes a nice person.
Many years ago, I used to work (don’t laugh) at Butlins behind the bar. All the staff were on the same wages except for dining staff who were paid less and expected to receive tips.
Looking back (and that rarely brings pleasure) it was wrong.
You can thank a person without giving them money… I always thank anyone who does anything for me, no matter who they are. It surprises me how many people do not bother even acknowledging the existence of serving staff in restaurants, hotels etc maybe they think that if they leave a tip afterwards that will suffice instead of basic human courtesy and friendship.
I think being nice and courteous to people for the extra mile or an excellent job is great but better done also with a small tip where they rely on performing well (in a direct face to face service job where human interaction is so important) to earn decent money.
When people are working hard, are nice and try to accommodate you beyond just ticking the box, I tip the electrician who comes to visit, the plumber, the gardener, the local shop, the taxi etc, and in restaurants or similar regardless of whether the tip is included (although taken somehow into account). I’ve failed only in Japan where tips appeared unacceptable (as if implying the expected service level was not high enough or similar, not entirely sure?) and I’ve been chased after leaving the table and the restaurant to be handed my change back (and of course I deeply apologised!)
Hm, well now thinking about all of this, I know tipping the electricians is probably a habit from the past when they were not charging through the roof and could not afford twice as expensive cars and holidays than me :)), but hey - a good job is a good job and not everyone is making the effort.
I think you should be nice and courteous to people yiu encounter, and in particular people who do something for you (including serving staff), nothing to do with whether they “go the extra mile”. In a country where people are, or are supposed to be paid a decent wage for doing a job, and without a tipping culture - that to me is Britain - tipping to me seems only appropriate when someone has “gone the extra mile”. I don’t think anyone I know who would dream of tipping an electrician, plumber etc, unless they were particularly helpful in doing something outside whatever were the terms of engagement/contract. I tip people like delivery drivers if they are particularly obliging, e.g. bringing something very heavy/awkward into the house instead of dumping on the driveway
I used to live in Japan for a very long time as an ex expat, and I did tip whenever I felt the service was exceptional, and they would be happily accepted, contrary to whatever is said here. Maybe they do not accept your tips if they know you are some kind of tourists or visitors to this country, or you just receive some kind of regular meals, or services?
Not sure about the generosity, but I always feel that I am lucky to have some people coming over, fixing things in my house or taking good care of my cars.
That’s a rather simplistic view of what constitutes nice. Someone could be a human trafficker, a child pornographer, mass murderer or whatever, but giving generous tips won’t make them a good person.
Interesting how peoples view on which service industry staff should be tipped, and which shouldn’t. If you tip a taxi driver, then perhaps you should tip the bus driver for letting you know when you are at your stop, and being happy to pause the bus while you struggle leaving it. Perhaps tip the train platform staff who help an old person on a train, or the Tesco cashier who was particularly helpful, and didn’t rush you.
I’m a little worried that this thread is going down a dark place and perhaps we should remember what the thread is about.
Its a personal choice isn’t it?
I tip the dustmen here at Christmas with a bottle of red each, I tip the mot guys with a bag of croissants and pain au chocolat. They all have a wage.
I think my objection to compulsory tipping via a service charge is just that, an objection to compulsory tipping.
Very interesting and curious as it happened to me twice but indeed only in restaurants when on business or for holiday (and discouraged me as I heard I may be doing the wrong thing and heard from others at the time it’s not accepted). I’ve noticed that Japanese people love to give and receive small presents as tokens of appreciation (well, I hope I got that right!) but will look your suggested reading up with great interest, thanks.
Ah, I forgot about tipping at Christmas! I often the postman and a couple of other regular delivery people, dustmen and milkman, enough to “have a Christmas drink on me”.
It is yes. I only tip in restaurants if the service has been really good. The hospitality sector has low pay, poor hours and the staff typically get little appreciation.
I know it was traditional to tip the dustmen but wasn’t that when they had to carry bins to the cart and back. These days I often have to walk 50 yards to get my bin that they have emptied. Or worse poured someone else’s crap into my bin before emptying it.
In tonight’s wonderful restaurant: nearly all wines roughly only 170% markup but I won’t say where exactly in case they change their minds.
As an example: the Terre Brune we are drinking tonight cost €42 in the supermarket, €52,50 in the deli and €70 in the restaurant.
The restaurant was full and the food was magnificent. This is the way it should be.
We’ve done wine tours of Margaret River. Always mightily impressed with Western Australia wines. Our favourite was Vasse Felix, Cullen and Discovery where we had lunch as well. gorgeous. The upcoming Great Southern was also good. The land is being bought there by Margaret River growers as there is none left in MR that they can expand.
tip is concerned .