To Tip or Not to Tip: Is it a Must in Restaurants and Hotels?

[disregardthat]

I made the dishes once in some odd job... Only the waiters got tipped, but we split it evenly among all of us working there.

 

[Evo]

Here is a guide for tipping in the US.

http://money.usnews.com/money/personal-finance/articles/2013/05/16/your-ultimate-tipping-guide

 

[WWGD]

I guess TAs are not included. I passed my tip jar and got nothing but confused looks .

And same goes for tutoring gigs; never got a tip , even when I was told I did a good job, and customers returned.

 

[russ_watters]

This is so amazingly ignorant it blows my mind.

Why?

 

[Evo]

So what are the criteria of getting paid for doing a job?

Why not leave the cook out of the bill, or the people doing the dishes, or the laundry, or the repairs, or the maintenance?

So Americans like to make the choice not to pay the waiters and (apparently) the cleaners? What if the food in the restaurant is bad, shouldn't you have the choice not to pay the chef?

Chefs/cooks don't get tips, nor do bus boys, dish washers or host/hostesses, these people aren't expected to have their wages supplemented with tips, only the waiters/waitresses.

 

[Monique]

Chefs/cooks don't get tips, nor do bus boys, dish washers or host/hostesses, these people aren't expected to have their wages supplemented with tips, only the waiters/waitresses.

That's my point, why are some people expected to supplement their wage with tips and others are not? I find that a really strange concept. Why are people not paid for the work they do.

I do give tips, when someone does an exceptional job not expected from their job description. Like a couple of employees from a furniture store who did a great job of delivering furniture and even helped move stuff not from their company. They received 20 euros each.

If I were to give someone a few bucks for a common service, that would be an insult. It would mean I think little of them and that I think they have a low-wage job. Unfortunately in the US that is the case.

 

[ChiralWaltz]

This is so amazingly ignorant it blows my mind.

I agree. I think the wisegeek article does a good job of explaining what more goes into the job beyond "moving plates."

I always appreciate good service and tip well. Last week, Cody from Chuy's Tex-Mex in Webster, Texas kept our glasses, chips, and salsa full without being asked. He took great care of our party and was tipped nicely ($5 out of my $11 meal plus other party members' tips). I rarely eat out, so when I do I usually leave good tips because I know how those jobs can be.

Off topic, you can tell a lot about a person by how they treat a server in a restaurant.

 

[ModusPwnd]

Chefs/cooks don't get tips, nor do bus boys, dish washers or host/hostesses, these people aren't expected to have their wages supplemented with tips, only the waiters/waitresses.

Many, probably most places, do expect servers to "tip out" the bus boys, host/hostesses and food runners. Sometimes formally as a percentage of your sales, sometimes informally. I did when I was a server and my wife did at both places she was a server. Some places expect you to tip out even more than that, from what I have heard. But usually the majority of the tip stays with the server.