Tipping guidelines/ question
 

I eat out a lot.
Although my friends like to point out I am pathetic on tipping (because we entered a restaurant made in 1975- which recently had as "throwback 1975" pricing night, and after a few beers I mistakenly took the tab and tipped n 1975 prices )-my mistake- which I will never hear the end of. That wasn't a matter of being cheap though- it was a matter of stupidity. Generally though, I spend thousands a year eating out, I do like to tip generously- even if service wasn't so great.

So I think I'm all awesome and such in the tipping department:D

So here is my question- Tipping in atypical situations- I'm curious.

Let say you go into an open bar. You order a drink from the bar. You don't sit at the bar- you just order a drink- get the drink, pay up- no tab- and walk off. What percentage is expected?

Now- scenario two- while drinking the above beverage- you walk over to an open grill- order food through a kiosk type window. You get your food- they hand you a box of food (good food though.. no complaints!) what % do you tip?

Just curious. Thanks

When I do most of the serving myself, I don't tip much. A dollar. But if I am seated, and a server comes to my table, almost always more than 20%. It has to be VERY crappy service to be less than 15%.

A drink at the bar? I'd tip $1 or if I was going to get 2 or 3 quarters back, I might just leave that.

Food handed to me at a window, $1-2.

If I go someplace cheap, like IHOP (not often), and the whole bill is $10-15, but the waitress waited on my wife and I, I'll probably tip $5-8 depending upon the service. It's way more than a typical percentage, but tipping 15% or even 25% when the bill is that low is outside of my comfort zone. Once the value of the meal gets high enough, I'm usually in the 20-25% range.

open bar (Embassy Suites style) - $1 per drink.
open grill - usually 5%
take out pizza at restaurant - $2
delivery - I can't remember the last time I had food delivered.

i typically tip at the bar..maybe $5-10 that i hand to the bartender.. and then not tip for the next few drinks.

that's if i plan on camping out for a while.

I'm in line with Eric, $1 at the bar/15-20% to the waitress at the table. Don't feel bad about public math, for those reasons I avoid it...almost made the same mistake...will use a calculator for the big bills.

Same here but with conditions... If I getting a 50 cent beer in Vegas I don't tip a buck... conversely if I order a single malt I may go over... however to be honest in both cases I would probably hang at the bar... with 50 cent beers I would probably quaff three or four then tip a buck... if ordering a single malt I will no doubt want to sit and sip and linger a bit.

I have to admit I usually don't tip if I order at a cash register and pick up my food.

Sit down is 15-20% tip.

Always %20 unless poor service, or they overcharge me. Yes it happens, then it goes down drastically. A couple times lately I got the bill on what I thought would be about $60 and it was 80. I said to the waitress, hey, I need some help with my math, both times, different women, they immediately said, Oh, let me fix that, I am bad with math. So I knew they knew and were cheating me.

I tip the typical 15-25% depending on the service. I don't tip at take out or self serve places like Burger King or such. We almost never go there. About your kiosk tipping. I started a thread sometime ago about the cashier muttering something about why tip if its just a hand full of change when I drop the remaining change in the tip jar. This was a restaurant and I ordered breakfast burritos for my men. he handed me my food and he gave me 80-90 cents in change. I dropped it in the tip jar and I got siht for it. From now on, no more money in the tip jar.

If servers don't make federal minimum wage through tips at the end of the day, the establishment has to pay the difference. I only give Trinkgeld...

+1

Always, unless I am pimped. It has to be a vicious infraction. Then zero with a verbal communication as to why. Honest screw up? No biggie. When servers suck big time, more than one undesirable thing happens.

Pizza take out $1. Delivered $2. Favorite pizza lady in Akron, $5 before the pizza is made and it nets to a $2 tip after she applies goodness.

$1 a drink, or round up to the next buck. Add a buck if rounding up makes you look stingy.

Every once in a while, like Vash, if you know you're going to be there a bit, tip hard up front.

10% or at least a buck.

Everybody wins. Never tried that. Always wait till the end.

So that entitles you to be a cheap ass?

Haha I didn't say that. If service is beyond bad I won't tip. I feel it's earned. I generally tip around 20-30%, and considerable amount more when I go to waffle house. :D

I'll be the odd guy out. $40 tips at the local bar to my favorite servers/tenders.

Thanks everyone- I've pretty much tipped in these ranges so it's good to hear I'm not too far off. I also meant to ask about the pizza tipping so it was good someone threw that too.

i usually do 20% for being served and a dollar from the bar, but since when did they jack up the 'expected' tip percentage? Just about every place I have been to lately has a quick tip percentage guide on the bottom of the cc slip and now they all start at either 18 or 20% instead of 15%! (they used to have amounts for 15, 18 and 20, now they are 18, 20 and 22, or more recently, 20,22,25!)

That's the stuff that piss me off. Its like they are asking for it.

Went to a party at a Chinese restaurant.
Twelve people and drinks. Big bill.
Owner/waiter stopped us and complained about tip being deficient on the way out the door.
Very insistent and rude.
Bad experience.

A few weeks later, I read in paper the restaurant owners were getting sued by wait staff for shorting them $100K+.

Your repeated business keeps the establishment going, and the server hired.
Don't ever feel guilty.
Go back and eat there again if so.