Tips at restaurants

I was really surprised when I was at Giraffe a few weeks ago that the receipt had added on a 12.5% "optional" service charge.

However on the card machine there was no way to remove it!!! How is it optional when the only way to remove it is ask the staff to do so... I would feel bad doing that, even though the service was well average.
But 12.5% also... a bit high right?
 
I worked as a waiter for a few years, and was quite happy to receive tips, but never expected them. Very rarely were they 10%, 12.5%, or 20% of the bill either, as I now commonly see on restaurant bills in London. Most of the time the tips were whatever change people had in their pockets, or a spare fiver or something.

I take the same approach for tipping others, I'll leave a few quid if the service is decent, but never a set percentage of the bill.
Its more annoying where the "service charge" is added onto the bill itself, I'll usually relent and just pay it, but its not unheard of for me to ask it to be removed.

Recently a restaurant tried to get me to pay a service charge, and give an additional % to their nominated charity, that took the biscuit completely. I'm there for food and drink, not to talk to waiters or save the world.


Edit: With the comparison to bonuses, there no reason why you wouldn't get a bonus as a waiter if you had a good employer. As a waiter, I earned a tad above the minimum wage at the time, but we got a small christmas bonus, and there were occasionally weekly bonuses to the staff who worked hardest, which were a lot nicer to receive than getting tips.
 
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Housey said:
I tip if they have been attentive and done a good job, but if there is a service charge they won't get tipped and if they do a bad job and there is a service charge on there I will ask that it's removed..
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This. Services plays a large part in a nice meal. So I don't mind tipping a bit extra if it's been very good.

However most places these days have service charge added, and advertised on the menu as such. So that's that.
 
At a proper restaurant, rather than a pub, I would happily tip if the service was good.

But when I goto a local carvery, with a work colleague, it does my head in when he insists on leaving a tip for the waiter/waitress and wants me to match his tip... When I work less contract hours and bring home significantly less pay to support two of us, while he lives alone!
 
It's extremely rare that I don't tip. A waitress / cab driver / barber / whatever will have to push pretty hard to get me to not tip. I was born and raised in Saffrica so it's the way I was raised and the effect it can have on people makes it all worth it.

More often than not, crap service is the result of someone having a bad day or shift, and quite often a tip will help turn that person's day around.
 
I don't tip, it's as simple as that!

On a similar note, has anyone here ever asked for the 'optional service charge' to be removed from their bill? That goes down well. :D
 
i don't get why people would tip when they get exceptional service at quality restaurants. surely that is part of the job description and they should be rewarded accordingly in their pay packet.

i always thought staff were the most important part of any business but i suppose that's just me being naive.
 
Usually tip 10% in restaurants here. Was in Canada recently and didn't mind following the culture of 15-20% as the service there was uniformly miles better than the service you usually get over here, does take a little getting used to tipping for someone pulling you a beer though.

Wonder if the use of apps/internet has effected the tips that take away delivery drivers get. I always pay for pizza delivery online with my card whereas in the past it would probably be a 'keep the change' scenario.
 
I don't get paid extra just for doing my job, so why should I pay other people for the same thing? I only tip if the waitress is hot.
 
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I will add 10% unless they really **** up something.
If they add optional above that, I will get them to take it down to 10%. Unless of course it's a large group/party.
 
Monkeymatt said:
Am I the only one who doesn't understand why tips are seen as mandatory in restaurants? Being fairly young I know lots of people who work as servers and whenever they share any sort of article about the "struggles of being a server" on social media one of the complaints is always "bad tips".

People talk about the "10% rule" when it comes to tips but surely they should be grateful for any tips they receive? They get paid by their employer and then surely anything that someone chooses to give should be seen as a nice bonus, not judged because they didn't give as much as the server wanted?
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I don't tip in the UK. And they shouldnt expect it here either, in america however things are different.

I went to Giraffe a little while a go, I had to ask the server to remove the tip from the bill.... awkward, why don't they just leave it up the customer in the first place?

oli356 said:
I was really surprised when I was at Giraffe a few weeks ago that the receipt had added on a 12.5% "optional" service charge.

However on the card machine there was no way to remove it!!! How is it optional when the only way to remove it is ask the staff to do so... I would feel bad doing that, even though the service was well average.
But 12.5% also... a bit high right?
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hah didn't see your post before I commented.

Exactly, but I was happy to sit there and be awkward for the sake of my princibles.
 
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I do not like the idea of tipping for just doing your job and i do not buy into the whole system of if they are very good at it why not they should be good anyway they are getting paid to do it so do the job right or quit and i really do not like the % idea does it take more effort to serve me a more expensive meal or bottle of wine i would rather just get billed per hour im there
 
bartledvd said:
I do not like the idea of tipping for just doing your job and i do not buy into the whole system of if they are very good at it why not they should be good anyway they are getting paid to do it so do the job right or quit and i really do not like the % idea does it take more effort to serve me a more expensive meal or bottle of wine i would rather just get billed per hour im there
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Because the culture is to make up the wages by tipping, even in the uk that is true. That keeps a lot of power in the consumers hand.
As the tipping rate in the uk continues to decrees, we are seeing more and more companies building in wages into the price of the menu. Which means we have no control over it and receive worse service.
 
If it's anything like one of the places I worked at the service charge doesn't all go to the people serving you.

We added it up once and we only got 2% of the 12% they charged. So if you do it do it in cash.
 
I usually tip 10%, but don't go out of my way if it's slightly inconvenient (i.e slightly too little change or the pin machine doesn't offer the option proactively)

The benefit of tipping in the UK is that if someone does a bad job you can leave no tip at all. If i eat at a chain i also check their tipping policy online on my phone. I will only tip if it goes directly to the waiting / kitchen staff in that shift.
 
Glaucus said:
Because the culture is to make up the wages by tipping, even in the uk that is true. That keeps a lot of power in the consumers hand.
As the tipping rate in the uk continues to decrees, we are seeing more and more companies building in wages into the price of the menu. Which means we have no control over it and receive worse service.
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I don't think tipping is decreasing at all, if anything the average Britain tips more now than we ever did.

It doesn't provide control over the quality of service either, it might in the USA where it forms the majority of wages, but in the rest of the world the quality of service is largely decided by the restaurant and management.
 
It used to be almost bad form to tip in NZ as it just wasn't the done thing. That took a bit of getting used to :)

Anyway, it's becoming more acceptable to do so now which is good because I enjoy tipping if I've had a really great meal or fantastic service; it's a nice way to say 'thank you' which the cost of the food alone doesn't always convey.

I think an enforced service charge would pretty much convince me to never go back. I'll happily choose to pay a tip but I will not have it enforced upon me. That's obnoxiously presumptuous.
 
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