Let's keep the discussion away from what your state or country's actual laws are and more talk about what policy you'd want to live by and whether or not it'd be feasible where you live.

So news broke out today, or at least the news article that's trending right now is a famous NFL football player tipped only $0.20 on ~$60 burger joint bill. This particular player probably makes around $9.7 million a year, which apparently is incredibly relevant because the media is having a field day with all of this.

Basically this sparks the discussion - should tipping be mandatory despite any quality of service? For instance- if you had incredibly bad service, do you feel you NEED to tip if you were the one making the policy on how waiters/waitresses/bartenders/busses, etc make their pay. Additionally- should the fact the player who tipped this burger place have a larger impedance to tip the restaurant simply because his income is in the top .001% of the world?


Personally- I think it sucks that someone's income is coming into play with tipping. I don't think millionaires need to just "donate" money arbritrarily with gigantic tips when they're only being provided basic service. We don't need to report our salaries when we come into an Outback Steakhouse and base our tips off that. Additionally- when someone tips only 20 cents, it's not an accident. It's not like he had a "brain fart" and he forgot to tip, but he very clearly wanted to send a message by only leaving that tip. I assume that message was "My service was abyssmal."

I'm well aware that minimum wage with waiters is only 2-3 dollars because there's a tip factor and if they don't hit minimum wage STANDARD management steps in and pays the difference. In an ideal world for me, we could make dining out very similar to car salesmen where it's okay that waitresses need to go above and beyond otherwise they may not receive a tip or at least no guarantee of 15 or 20%. I think that'd work out better for everyone but lazy waiters and waitresses because it makes amazing waitors and waitresses get compensated, the men and women dining out are also more assured to have great service, and those who aren't ready to bust their ass can choose a different field to work. I understand though that the downside to that is it happens all the time where waitors and waitresses work their ass and then don't get tipped due to just a stingy customer. But still - if we make an evident change in policy, I think the "standard" social norm would shift towards people living bigger tips for the right situations.

What say y'all?

I think that a problem with this discussion could be that there are massive differences between regions on the whole "tipping" thing. In Belgium, nobody tips, and nobody expects a tip either. I think that there are several contributing factors that caused this:
1) Waiters make enough money here. Really, I think you earn something around €10.5-12 an hour if you do it full time, and maybe €9 an hour if you do it as a weekend/student job. My brother is 16, he makes €50 in one friday evening, without any tipping, and with taxes deducted.
2) Waiters are usually younger people, students etc. Being a waiter is (mostly) not a permanent job, but rather a means to support oneself temporarily. As such, the money they make is a surplus, not a necessity. Nobody feels the need to help a waiter out: the money they make most likely doesn't go to their families.
3) Not sure if this is correct, but does your post imply that a good waiter makes more money than a bad waiter? This is not the case where I live: everyone is OK at worst, considering the owner of the venue takes responsibility (is expected to take responsibility) when a waiter is bad. The waiters will most likely lose their job. The good wage itself combined with this extra bit of pressure is enough for people to do their best. In my experience, people will do their best even without tips.

The above does not answer your initial question, but does explain that there are massive cultural differences. This makes it difficult for us europeans to answer whether or not good service should be tipped or not: it's not a custom, nobody does it in Western Europe, as far as I know.

My personal answer would be no, but only because I'm used to the circumstances above. If I were to live in an area where tipping is common (and necessary?), maybe I would have another opinion.

Yes I'm implying that good waiters currently make more than bad ones "in theory". In that good servers will provide good service, and thus sway the people to tip higher, and then said tip will go specifically to that good server.

I'm unaware of any laws enforcing a tax on anyone, unless the restaurant (or menu) specifies something along the lines of (15% tip mandatory) or perhaps at say a Japanese Steakhouse it's common to see (25% gratuity mandatory for parties of 8 or greater). My understanding however is culturally, in the states, it's considered appropriate to tip 20% to your servers.

But yeah when stating an opinion it's important to say what your culture and country is like. Where I'm from (South East United States), is what I'm referring to. The incident occurred I assume in East US.





On a side note: I find it incredibly inappropriate that a server actually took a picture and turned in to the press simply to paint a bad image of this athlete.

The fact that the server took a picture and sent it to the press insists that they aren't a very good person so they probably weren't a very good waiter/waitress.

Australian here, I don't like tipping. Minimum wage works fine.

Obviously tipping is a cultural quirk, so it's not possible to discuss it without bringing up country...

I'm not American, so the idea of tipping to my is ridiculous. If it's mandatory then why shouldn't it just be included in the price? If I'm supposed to decide myself based on the service, why should they get angry?

In my country businesses MUST pay AT LEAST the minimum wage, they ARE NOT allowed to require or encourage employees to solicit or beg from customers in order to make that up. And should they receive a tip, the companies are NOT allowed to reduce their wages to compensate. Of course, in my country waiters make 5-10x as much as they do in the US (according to your post).

In the US I've heard they also don't add tax, so they have a "99c burger" but it actually costs $1.10 or whatever. So maybe it's part of the little scam they run trying to make people think it costs less than it does.

tipping based on the quality of service builds a culture of good service, which i think is important. i cant stand pathetic waiters, waiters provide a service, service providers must provide that service and do it with a smile and put effort into their shit.
unfortunately the status quo is ruined by douchebags that dont tip and waiters/waitresses that expect tips and get bitchy when they dont recieve the tip they think they warrant.

personally, for a normal meals bill, il tip 10% as standard (10-15% is pretty much the standard here) anything more or less depends on the quality of service.

theres no law over here about tips or whatever, but for large tables, resturaunts will often include a set service charge, instead of relying on tipping.

the potential earnings when waitering at a reputable resturaunt can be quite hefty, more often than not, the tips outweigh their wages/salaries, and tips are tax free.
i have friends working locally at nice places that can clear R1000 (100$) in tips, on a good night. considering the average earning potential in South Africa, R1000 for one night is huge.
and for friends in the UK, tips of 50 pounds from one person/table werent uncommon.
so yeah, tips can make or break you in the resturaunt biz.


'murica
they didnt hand it over specifically to paint a bad picture of him, they turned it over for the money and just didnt care how it affects his image.

Tipping is an interesting thing. I usually tip waiters/waitresses and food delivery people, I don't know if they expect it though.
Doctors, on the other hand, ask for money where I'm from, even though they are state employees. It's all illegal, but it's customary, and I wouldn't do it if I was ever put in that situation. It's a quite hefty sum, too.

Tipping is just as much of a cultural thing as it is a legal thing. Personally, as an American, I would tip regardless of how much a server makes. Tipping for me is a measure of the quality of the service, and it helps a server realize how good/bad of a service that they provided. I do however find the wages that servers make appalling, and I hope that this issue is resolved in the future,

As far as the incident with the player goes, I don't feel that he necessarily did anything wrong. Rich people are not meant to be money dispensaries, and he felt his service was bad enough to tip poorly. To be fair though, my service would have to be preeeeeeeeeeetty bad to constitute such a bad tip.

The problem with using tips as a way to express bad service is that one, tips aren't always given to just the waiter/waitress who served you and, two, it provides no actual feedback other than somebody didn't like their service.

Depending on the restaurant or service, tips are sometimes pooled between all employees, so bad tips aren't necessarily going to convey your displeasure to bad service, and it sometimes hurts people who performed their jobs well, like the cooks. If the food was good, but the service was bad, a bad tip will punish both the bad waiter and the good cook.

And a bad tip doesn't tell the person anything as to why they deserved a bad tip. Sometimes, there is no reason and people are just being stingy, but if there is a reason, just telling the person in question or telling the manager will at least give some information as to improvement. A bad tip by itself just feels spiteful more than anything else.



As a side note, people who feel self-important give lower tips overall. You would not believe how poorly people tip after they've been to church, it's practically an insult.

As an American, I have grown up with the idea that it is important to tip certain types of workers. People like waiters, barbers, taxi drivers, and bartenders need tips but for different reasons.

I normally cut my own hair, but if I feel the need to get it done by a pro then I will give a generous tip. I tip my barbers to show gratitude for not destroying my haircut with negligence. They hold a lot of power on people will view you.

Barber tip = 0-25% tip depending on result

In America bartenders expect pretty large tips, like 50%. If you go expecting to pay only the drink price then you may not get any service after the first drink. It depends on the bar but I have seen cases where the bartender will refuse to waste their time with a lousy tipper. They get tips based on service, and how often you expect to return to the location. If you want to become a regular you better leave a good impression. (I do not enjoy drinking at bars, due to the large expenses...)

Bartender = 0-50% tip depending on service, and likelihood or return.

Taxi drivers are a different story, If they give bad service or attitude then I won't bother with a tip. If they drive me to my home, then I will tip no matter what. They deal with people all day so sometimes they can be very callous.

Taxi driver = 0-15% tip

Last is the waiter/waitresses. My culture teaches to tip these workers. When we go out to eat, we expect good service. They need to be filling up cups of water, and they need to be very attentive. The tip a good waiter or waitress gets depends on the overall price, and the quality of service they provided.

Waitress = 0-30% if its under like 8 dollars i may be a baller and go 50% tip if they were really good ;p

Before I go and buy any services like these, I have to ask myself " do I have enough money for the service, and to pay respect to the worker?". This is key and not everyone thinks like this. A young person who becomes a professional athlete may not have grown up with these ideas. They may be more focused on the idea of buying material items to highlight their wealth. If they had almost no money and then started to receive very large amounts, how well could they be expected to handle it? They may buy a mansion, a nice car, lots of clothes/tattoos/jewelry , and also treating their friends/entourage to nice meals. A person living like that would probably not tip because that is just one more expense they do not need. A person who does not tip on big meals should not return , because the workers might remember them and spit on their food.

I do not think people need to focus on a persons salary and how well they tip. The person with the money should know how much they have to spend. In America, we tip certain jobs, that is just an underlying expense that is expected. If you are famous then many people will have their eyes on you and all your actions will be scrutinized.