Why should we tip?

AyeGer

I came across a discussion on a different forum of an American waitress complaining about a tip she believed wasn’t enough. Lots of responses from other service industry workers with similar complaints.

It got me thinking that we are quite lucky in Ireland that tipping isn’t as expected as it is in America. Do we want to end up like the US where we are basically expected to tip service staff. Under-tip and be met with anger, tip the expected amount and be met with indifference. Over-tip and only then will any appreciation be shown.

They like me are employed by a company/organisation. I work hard and standards are expected of me. I don’t get tips or bonuses. What is it that I am missing, why should I tip someone working a different job no more difficult than mine. Should I be expected to supplement their wages because their employer doesn’t pay them what they believe they are worth. Even if their employer paid them well I think they'd still want a tip anyway.

Do you tip? If so why exactly?

Fr Tod Umptious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058344859/why-should-we-tip

Under-tip and be met with anger

I've lived in America, I've over tipped and under tipped many times.

But I've never been met with anger if I under tipped.

Shield

I tip because the servers are usually on minimum wage, and if I can afford to eat at a nice restaurant, I can afford to throw a few dimes their way. Pretty much every server knows that the better the service they give, the higher the likelihood that a generous tip will come their way, and they’ll remember you the next time you visit. If they remember you for all the right reasons, they can (and do) try to get you seated in their section.

Also bear in mind that a compliment left with the manager praising the server can go a long way too, especially if there’s some form of incentive scheme in operation.

-Shield

Ted222

It’s a form of appreciation. Always discretionary and should be related to how much you enjoy the experience. I’ve no problem adding 10% if the service and food has been excellent.

I’ve noticed in London that restaurants automatically add a discretionary 12.5% but at least you can price that in in advance.

The US is a different story altogether where servers require tips to make up for a very low salary.

Ferrell

I was always told by my American friends that waiting staff are paid poorly and they get their money from tips! Took me a while to get used to it, especially the first few times you get a receipt and pen for the amount you want to tip!

In Ireland I tip my barber, or if some of the waiting staff/bar staff were friendly I would also tip. You can tell the difference it makes to some people, lets them know they're doing a good job and generally these staff aren't going to get rich from their careers so why not give something extra if you think it's worth it! It's a lot more rewarding seeing a waiter/waitress get a fiver here compared to when it's expected elsewhere!

Pauliedragon

Dead right Mr Pink.

JP Liz V1

If the food and service is good, I do tip, it is a tough sector to work in but be polite and helpful as it goes a long way imho

As someone who worked as a waitress before, tips were a nice bonus at the end of a shift, the way it worked was whomever took the order kept the tip but larger groups or functions shared tips

Fr Tod Umptious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121971151#Comment_121971151

I was always told by my American friends that waiting staff are paid poorly and they get their money from tips! Took me a while to get used to it, especially the first few times you get a receipt and pen for the amount you want to tip!

And the wait staff don't get all the tip, they have to share it with the "bus boys", the front of house etc etc.

AyeGer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121971204#Comment_121971204

I worked in a restaurant in America as a J1 student as a cook and occasional busboy. The waiting staff shared 20% with the cooks and busboys. Tipping as the food was great probably bumps the pay of the waiting staff more than the cooks.

I tip if someone has been friendly and helpful. But I hope we don’t go down the route of America. I’ve seen it from both sides. Waiting staff in America can approach a table a number of times asking if everything is alright in an effort to get a decent tip. I prefer to be left in peace once my food has been delivered unless I need something.

AyeGer

In the American system the customer is basically the one who pays the waiting staff their income through tips as they get very little from the restaurants as wages.

Nobody tips workers in the local shop or the bin-men or certain other industries even if they are similarly low paid. It’s primarily restaurants and maybe hairdressers or bar workers.

SteM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121971122#Comment_121971122

The first time I was there I made a mistake with the currency (it all looks the same) and undertipped a taxi driver in NY and he ate the head off me. I mean proper abusive stuff. It had been a genuine mistake.

thegame983

The only reason we tip here is because we consume American media and have become Americanised.

Del2005

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121971151#Comment_121971151

In most US States the owners have to make up the pay to minimum wage if they don't earn enough from tips. Companies that have tried to bring in a living wage and no tips for servers can't as the servers reject it, because they make more not declaring their tips to the IRS.

EmmetSpiceland

Not tipping is a sign of a real stinge. Hearing their, usually angry, “reasons” as to why they don’t is repugnant.

Would be better if they just said they don’t tip because they are mean skinflints

Strumms

I tip for quality.

Service and food. A certain cafe bar in the city that I’m an irregular regular customer for what must be 15 years. Food is class and they have the hardest working, efficient and genuinely nice, kind and courteous servers. Every one of them. No problem spending €20 or whatever and leaving 4 or 5 euros as my own thanks and courtesy.

They really do work savagely hard and efficiently and never a sign of frustration, rudeness or indifference, no matter how busy they get… or how at times they may be understaffed… if I opened my own place tomorrow of the 6/7 of them I’d hire every one of them….without hesitation.

Bobson Dugnutt

I tip my barber, taxi driver, waiting staff, those folks who take your drink order and drop it to your table in some pubs, tour guides. Not throwing service staff a few quid is just miserly.

nachouser

I tip on the basis that I likely have more cash than the people who are providing a service to me. It could be 2 euro or it could be 30 euro.

Anaki r2d2

is this thread about tipping in the USA or Ireland? I am confused as there is mention of dimes, dollars, folks, IRS.

US employment law and Irish employment law is thankfully very different.

Oscar_Madison

I’ve started to rethink tipping over the last few years.

Firstly in France for example, service is now included on menu prices so tipping is not what it used to be there- starting to become similar in other European countries too. So if you’re tipping in France you’re double paying - something to watch out for.

Secondly Many countries don’t expect you to tip - so worth reflecting on the level of tipping that’s now nearly “expected” in Ireland, either by statements on the menu in Irish restaurants or just culturally - frankly both are bullshit and should be given short shift imho- this is a modern phenomenon it’s got nothing to do with “tradition” or expected behaviour or even cafe culture, which has been the culture in other countries.
But before you hang draw and quarter me, while I don’t think tipping is necessarily wrong, I do think the expected levels of tip are just way off .

Thirdly the way we tip in Ireland was imported from America where basic wages were lower and essentially the waiting staff depended on their tips to make up the shortfall in income.

Our minimum wages these days are significantly higher than years ago - yes they’re low wages still but not in the way they used to be., There are also more protections for employees than there was years ago via legislation.

As restaurants have increased their prices quite dramatically over the last few years, it’s now become hugely more expensive to eat out- spending 12.5% -15% extra on tips is just not viable, for me anyway.

If food and service is good on a meal for two costing say 130 euro, I’ll give up to 10% of the food value of that bill as a tip - wine is usually at rip off levels of overprice these days so I no longer take the wine into account when deciding tip- so in this example about 9 euro tip.
If you think I’m stingy I really don’t care- but if service and or food is sho1te forget it- you won’t get a dime.

BagofWeed

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121971342#Comment_121971342

We have the homelessness and the tents as well. Big increase in pro militarism and racism too.

The J Stands for Jay

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121971122#Comment_121971122

I've lived there and been chased out of a diner by a waitress over a misunderstanding around a tip

Anaki r2d2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121971487#Comment_121971487

I would agree with all of your post, apart from dime. If you swopped that for cent, I would agree 100%.😁

Tipping happened here because of Celtic tiger shopping trips to the US. Ken and Karen went to NY and seen that it’s the done thing to tip for service and brought that back.

Next time you went out with Ken and Karen for dinner, you were stingey because you did not tip 18%. El voila - tipping like your in Chicago happens in Cork.

“Cough it up buddy, It’s a dollar a drink Paddy!” And we loved it, flying home on cheap Aer Lingus flights with suitcases full of Macy’s “bargains”

We done this to ourselves, we copy stupid **** from Other countries and think we are uber modern, chic. Really we are dumb asses.

Bulgarian Cira 2004, property prices had three rates. One for the locals, one for the tourists and one for the Irish.

Ted222

tipping in restaurants in Italy for example isn’t a thing. The small cover charge (coperto) is the effective service charge. Any additional tip is very much appreciated. I once had a waiter thank me as if I’d given his kid a kidney.

Oscar_Madison

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121971545#Comment_121971545

ha ha yeah I knew I should have said “cent” 😀

I’ve been eating and paying regularly in restaurants for over 30 years now - back in the early 90s you left maybe £1.50 -£2 as a thank you - that was still nearly what waiters earned per hour believe it or not - frankly you didn’t have it to spare and the waiting staff didn’t expect to get tips from everyone anyway - but then restaurants like The Chicago Pizza pie factory opened in Stephen’s green and tipping started to become more prominent (they rang a bell everytime someone left a tip) - so for some Dubliners at least, that’s where a culture of tipping actually started in Ireland. Restaurants and eating out more really took off in the early 90s too so we sort of adopted the American culture of tipping probably because we just thought that’s what you did- but with no rhyme or reason to it.
In France at the time you’d always leave a few centimes after your drink in a bar and a few francs after a meal - this was accepted culturally as the way to do things. You’d never dream of leaving a few pence at the bar in Ireland after your pint of plain - just not done, but you’d tip the lounge staff at the end of the night if they were serving you drinks all evening.

Personally I’d prefer to go back to a few euro as a token gesture for the good service - nothing else actually makes sense to me- it’s an imported habit that really should stop as you’ve said yourself, it’s just getting ridiculous what’s expected now as a tip

Oscar_Madison

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121971608#Comment_121971608

Yeah the Irish especially need to educate themselves on foreign restaurant and their cultural customs for that country -many leave 10-12% tip out of habit not realising that theyre being charged service already in their bill whether they like it or not, meaning they could be giving up to 18% or more as a tip.

Anaki r2d2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121971608#Comment_121971608

agreed but the French man, the Finnish lady don’t tip. Paddy tips 15% in Lake Garda, because he doesn’t want to be a cheap skate. And so the cycle continues. We are dumb **** (starts with a F and sounds like ducks)

Oscar_Madison

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121971713#Comment_121971713

French Geese?

Anaki r2d2

First sensible post I have read in a long time on this forum. I do think we have no one to blame but ourselves, we embrace all the daft ideas from around the world with such enthusiasm.

You can see it now in Restaurants (in Ireland) staff do not flinch, sometimes not even say thanks when you add a tip. It’s become so normal and expected.

Oscar_Madison

lets do the maths shall we?

You work in a busy restaurant 4 nights a week- 6pm till late.

You serve on average 30 customers each spending 75 euro.
You get 10% from everyone.

Thats 225 per night x 4 = 900 euro

Do that for 40 weeks of the year and that’s 36,000 euro tax free- on top of your wages.

mrslancaster

Most people know it's typical here to tip in restaurants, cafes, table service in pubs, taxis, hotel porter, hairdresser/barber and food delivery. It gets a bit complicated after that, ie. who else should be tipped?

I know someone who never tips, they said it is a form of snobbery and superiority, treating those who provide a service like a servant - throwing a few extra euro for 'good' service is like patting someone on the head and is degrading to the recipient who is a person doing a job they are trained for and who is either self employed or paid by an employer.

Do they have a point?

AyeGer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121971391#Comment_121971391

See post 11 from SteM to see where this ends up once tipping becomes normalised. I don't mind tipping in exceptional circumstances but i won't tip as a matter of course.