No. You are not obligated to tip. You will have no repercussions if you do not tip. You will just be viewed as a douchebag by the people in whatever establishment you don't tip at. The only reason to tip is if you want to, if you feel the service warranted the tip, if you feel sorry for the person serving you, etc. The reason you should tip is completely up to you. No obligation.

for some reason this is the mental image I have of the OP:

There is now thirty-eight pages in this thread but this was my initial reaction. You sound very judgmental of your customers and your friends and I don't know this for a fact but I bet you would spit in their salsa.

That said I would leave the $1.50 ninety-five percent of the time, unless the bartender was a douche bag, had a pointy beard or both.

But this is not a thread about tipping it's a thread about people doing things somewhat illogically, in a penny wise pound foolish fashion. The answer is people don't always break it down like that. And when some guy tries to explain the error of their ways they tend to just get more stubborn.

My friend and I used to go on business trips all the time, and he would drive hours out of his way to get pie that he liked, or stop in NYC for bialys, but he was the cheapest guy on the planet when it came to hotel rooms. It just came down to his priorities. (Of course, gas was $1.50 a gallon then.)

You meant "eight", not "thirty-eight", right? Right?

so i really want a wii. called every store within 50 miles of me. kinda gave up since then but still have kart dreams sometimes so i def want one. anyway, my friend calls me and says he found one at gameexchange. 240$, used, no controllers, no games.

its just the principle. same with the chips and salsa. i would almost never pay for them at a restaurant on principle.

Correct. 50 p/p. That's how the forum pros roll.

Forum pros roll 100. You must be a noob.

Forum pros roll with 100, plus continuous VB page script.

Real ballers use 90/page cause that was the highest for like a week after the software switch.

I didn't steadfastly do anything.
But if I'm getting tipped well by my players and they aren't getting tipped at all....or vice-verse....it doesn't make ANY difference at all.
So I would much rather have a table of really nice people who aren't blowing smoke in my face.

Generally speaking, the bigger tippers are going to be the players who bet a bit higher. But they are also the ones who are going to be the biggest pricks more often than not.
If I have 3 or 4 nice, old people who are betting $5 at a time and are hardly tipping at all then I'm having a much more enjoyable time then if I'm with the biggest jerk in the world who thinks his occasional $5 or $25 tip gives him the right to abuse me.
But some people are really happy to have the bigger tipper even if he was a jerk and I just never understood why.

I'm with Bob. I'd rather make ~$50/week less and have a pleasant working environment.

Ok I actually read through about page 17 but I gotta hit the sack so I skipped the rest. I can actually relate to this thread pretty well because my dad actually owns a few Mexican restaurants in the area and I've worked at several of them for the past few years as a waiter during the summers. I do understand completely where the OP is coming from on the tipping issue.

When eating out, I generally tip 15-16% for very poor service, and 20-30% for anything from good to excellent. I personally view anything that's less than 15% as a sign of disrespect. Paying for a $7.45 lunch tab with a debit card and writing in $0.55 as a tip amount is pretty rude imho. That being said, I don't think there really is a point in arguing about tips with anyone who hasn't worked in the restaurant business. People involved in the business are usually pretty solid tippers, and of those people waiters are usually the best. That's just how it is, because anyone who's worked in restaurants knows what's it like to serve the huge variety of personalities that go out to restaurants on a daily basis. You get all types of people.. **** sometimes you get the worst people. You suck it up, serve them to the best of your ability, and you take their 5% tip in stride. This is especially true when you're working at a Mexican restaurant. The average check price is generally pretty low so you're obviously going to get people trying to save a buck or two. People trying to save a buck aren't usually good tippers.

The thing is, I know all of this and when I see that terrible tip I don't mind. Like happyhappyhappy said, all that matters is the long-run, and there are enough decent tippers to keep your tip average up if you're a good waiter. The best solution though is to work at a restaurant with a high average check amount so that you can earn better tips over the long run. Not sure that working as a waiter for an extended period of time would be such a good idea with all the 2+2 nits out there .

qft, i didnt even know there was an option for 100 until I read this thread. Im sticking with 90 though.

I use 50 because of the lag issues during the upgrade to vbb and I've just decided to stick with it. Forum pros indeed roll with this number.

No reason to change this thread topic though, OP had a major meltdown in this thread even though he started out OK. Henry17 has again shown he has a no clue about anything.

F*** you OP!

Tipping should stop. You don't like your wages? Talk to your boss or quit.

You're the cheap f*** for expecting extra compensation from clients for doing your JOB! No other profession gets away with that crap.

Well first that is not true. Many professions involve tipping. Second even if it was true being a server is not like any other profession in that severing specifically has a different minimum wage in most jurisdictions. If we abolish tipping then we have to change it so serving has the same minimum wage. That would increase labour costs and thus the price of everything on the menu. That is certainly not good for cheapskates who now get a free-ride by under tipping.

This will never happen because no server would ever agree to this.

Serving is a straight out hustle. The quality of your service is determined by the amount you're willing to pay.

Tip a bartender $50 on your first drink one night and see if you get front of the line service for the remainder of the evening. Tip nothing, go home sober.

Wow. So people who are willing to pay more for a premium service get a premium service. This is so wrong. We need to put a stop to this. Maybe a Facebook group should be started.

still a hustle. slipping a doctor $100 to see you before the other guy in the waiting room is no less ethical.

Hustle to me implies at least one party to the transaction is not aware of the situation. I see it as a social convention or social norm.

What is the point you are trying to make?

Yea you're not hustling someone by giving them more money to serve you better... wtf.

Also, if serving minimum wage ($3.77/hour in florida) was the same as normal minimum wage ($6.79/hour), the cost of your steak would rise from about ~$15 to at least $20+ to pay your waiter, the busser who cleans your table, your host(ess) who sat you, and the bartender behind the bar who makes your mixed drink while you're in a booth. Now in the restaurant I work at, I believe the servers average $15-$25/hour in tips depending on the server/experience/section. If you abolish tipping like you suggest Jimmy, then restaurant owners will have to pay their servers at least a good portion of what they would make through tips, and the cost of your one meal would be more than it costs you to fill up your tank at your average casual place.

A few months ago the serving minimum wage in FL raised from $3.65 to $3.77, this pathetic 12 cent/hour increase was felt by my boss who signs the checks for 70+ FOH (front of the house) employees and that 12 cent increase was definately reflected in the menu prices.

No. Crackedquads nailed it.

As for bartending school, my experience is that people who have no experience at all in the service industry get the most out of it. I think you would be just as well served getting a job as a bar back, ask questions and observe and be ready to jump in if things get busy. Plus, you would be getting paid for on the job training as opposed to paying for the school.

100 post/page FTW.