Tipping: Do you do it?

I generally tip but always refuse to pay a service charge for the simple reason that as a young fella I worked in couple of places where it was charged and then disappeared into the back office never to be seen by the staff. If I'm going to leave a tip I want the person who served me to get it.

In Ireland? Never. Everything is expensive enough here and it's not my responsibility to pay somebody's wages. Don't like doin it in the US or Canada either because it ****s up the prices and you never know what you have to spend but when in Rome...

I tip if the service is good.

I find overall that restaurant/eateries service to be quite poor.

If one person takes the order, I don't expect another person to come along and ask ' who's having the salmon'. That's one of my bugbears.

I expect to have delivered to me what I asked for.

Service in the states is better in my opinion as they are trying to earn their tips. Here people know they'll get paid nonetheless.

Once again we've been brainwashed by American culture.

To those saying "oh but they're on terrible wages". The minimum they're on is minimum wage - which a large number of entry-level employees are!

In the US, tipped staff are paid significantly less than non-tipped staff. The wage is as low as $2.50 in some states. That's why they tip over there, it's a different system entirely.

As others have said, why not tip the supermarket cashier, bus driver, postman, bouncer, sales assistant in Penneys?? In Ireland, it makes no sense to tip waiters and not tip the others because they don't have different wage levels applied to them.

And the point about level of service makes no sense either - other people who work are obliged to provide a good service and don't get special bonuses for doing so (ok well some do by their employers but most don't).

Another thing is that eating out in Ireland is extremely expensive, in America it's a LOT cheaper (probably because they can pay such low wages). Why should we feel obliged to fork out even more? To be honest I think a lot of restaurant owners would rather you didn't tip if it meant eating out more often. They already have to pay their staff and then their customers are expected to be burdened with tipping them.

And before anyone accuses me of being a scabby b*tard I used to work as a waiter.

Dodge wrote: »

Don't tip then. Feel smug and self satisfied with the quid you've saved.

Meanwhile less bitter people will not really worry about the earning so of waiters and waitresses and go on about their lives, happy to encourage good service with tipping

I'm neither smug, self-satisfied, or worrying about the few euro I saved. I simply don't think Irish people should tip for the reasons outlined above. If you want to tell me I'm mistaken, that could be useful.

Just read what the OP said... and it got me thinking
There was this takeaway I used to order from a few years ago. Takeaway is only about a mile away. I would never tip. Not out of being mean. Just the concept of tipping a driver didnt register with me then. Today it does. But thats the thing ... today it does. Because I heard many a driver say "if a customer tips i'll bring their food sharply" .... :mad:

Which brings us to this guy. I always thought he was a bit of a dickhead. But 40-45 ****ing minutes to bring me my food. Like fucking clockwork. Not only that but this ignorant prick would always be "on the phone" whilst handing me my order. Every... single... time. (obviously not really on the phone) That ****ing bald headed prick. Oh and for the record we are talking Hung Wans in Roselawn Village, Blanchardstown here.


So I come to this realisation ... why in the holy hell should I tip someone? ... because the time of receiving my food depends on it? Even tho they are making a wage out of it.