Have your (cash) tipping practices changed during the pandemic?

[AZMark]

I’m still tipping more than usual, even for takeout. As you note, service has gone completely down the shitter at most places so I need to rethink this.

 

[AZMark]

Minimum wage here is at $12.15 now, which is fairly high vs the cost of living. It’s definitely impacted restaurant prices.
Flat $15 minimum nationwide doesn’t make any sense in a lot of places and the majority of it will get passed on to customers whether the owner can afford to bear some of the cost or not.
If it goes to $15 tipping should be over for anything but extraordinary service in a nice restaurant.

 

[Andechsfinance]

I focus on curbside. I had made sure to tip 10%, but I up it if they are willing to bring it to the car. If I have to go in, then I'm less likely to tip because there is no service involved over the purchase of the food.

 

[212s]

Tip the same as before WHEN we can get out since lockdowns have made it a pain in the ass to go anywhere or do anything. I would like to tip more to help out those who are struggling, but the incentive to work hard is mostly gone since to government has gone nuts. Here in Canada we covid hotels to lock up travellers against their will, hefty fines if you violate unconstitutional mandates (these are not laws), and beatings & arrests if you complain. Welcome to the Communist Country of Canada - where the True North is no long strong and free.

 

[212s]

Minimum wage here is at $12.15 now, which is fairly high vs the cost of living. It’s definitely impacted restaurant prices.
Flat $15 minimum nationwide doesn’t make any sense in a lot of places and the majority of it will get passed on to customers whether the owner can afford to bear some of the cost or not.

Wages are a tax writeoff - it doesn't cost the restaurant (or any store) anything more to pay their staff more. There's no reason to pass anything on to the consumers except for greed.

I don't get why people keep saying this, it's not true. Perhaps the lying media is pushing it?

 

[Ronnie]

Got charged 13.5% tip for dinner for two, I’m used to the tip being included for a party of five or more. This is new too me. At the same time I was planning on leaving 10% as I didn’t think the service was good at all, whereas my wife would have left 15%. Why don’t they just include the tip as part of the cost of the meal? Probably a tax thing. I wonder if this will be the new (post pandemic) normal.

 

[Babin Farms]

Must be a CA thing. We don’t eat out much but when we do I dont see that out here in the sticks & if they tried I would stop going there. If anything I would ask about it.

 

[zipper]

They charged gratuity on tax! Wtf. I pay a tip on pre tax amount only. Crooks! But you did pay 15% gratuity pre tax, worthy of the service or not.

 

[seanmclean]

Wages are a tax writeoff - it doesn't cost the restaurant (or any store) anything more to pay their staff more. There's no reason to pass anything on to the consumers except for greed.

Is this a joke?

 

[fatboyroy]

Minimum wage here is at $12.15 now, which is fairly high vs the cost of living. It’s definitely impacted restaurant prices.
Flat $15 minimum nationwide doesn’t make any sense in a lot of places and the majority of it will get passed on to customers whether the owner can afford to bear some of the cost or not.
If it goes to $15 tipping should be over for anything but extraordinary service in a nice restaurant.

$15 min wage, they're happy now but 5 years from now when every price goes up, they will be complaining again and will be back to square one. Bottomline is, a starter job wont sustain a family, gotta build skills to get ahead. ONLY WINNER here is the goverment, higher pay = higher taxes.

 

[AZMark]

$15 min wage, they're happy now but 5 years from now when every price goes up, they will be complaining again and will be back to square one. Bottomline is, a starter job wont sustain a family, gotta build skills to get ahead. ONLY WINNER here is the goverment, higher pay = higher taxes.

I mean you’re not wrong, but if my pay didn’t go up for 5 years I’d be a lot poorer in real dollars just based on inflation.
Minimum wages are there to protect the kind of people that don’t necessarily know any better as far as negotiating pay and assessing their options. If we need to have one (which I believe we do at some level) then they should probably just rise with inflation automatically.

Edit: I also agree that there shouldn’t necessarily be an expectation that you can support a family on minimum wage.

 

[212s]

Is this a joke?

Nope...to at all...wages are an expense for any business - talk to an accountant. A good business owner is proud to pay their staff well for hard work...same as buying new appliances, glasses, tables, uniforms, etc. Doesn't cost anything in the long run for the restaurant...only cheap bosses who like to profit off their staff don't pay it back to their workers. Same kind of bosses who insist the staff tip out the owner = greed.

 

[212s]

They charged gratuity on tax! Wtf. I pay a tip on pre tax amount only. Crooks! But you did pay 15% gratuity pre tax, worthy of the service or not.

Actually 76.35 x 15% = 11.45 looks fine to me. But some bills don't sort the numbers in order so it looks like you paid on top of tax, but you're really not and it irks me. I also don't like places that insist on tip amounts - tips are for quality of service and they get what they deserve (we tip well for great service). I only tip cash so the business and government doesn't know what the servers are getting too.

 

[zipper]

I agree on 15% before tax. However, having worked as a bartender living off tips while living in Fla. in the 80's, I tend to tip 15-20% unless the service is bad. Forcing a gratuity on someone is very presumptious. I don't even like when they suggest a tip amount on the reciept. I can do my own math. lol

 

[HangOutdoors]

When the service is ok or better I always tip 15-20%. When the service is garbage I will usually give something trivial and small, that way they know I didn't forget the tip and hopefully my point is taken.

A couple weeks ago we were eating out and the waitress just sat on her phone while I could see our food in the window. 10 minutes or so went by. Everything was cold and when she put it on the table she basically just dropped the plates then turned around and went back to her perch and back on her phone. She got 50 cents on a $60 bill. Obviously customer service is not in her wheelhouse.!!!

 

[adrianp89]

20% standard for dine-in. 10% for take out. $1 per drink when at the bar.

We tipped a bit more in the height of pandemic but back to normal now. Great service will get you 30%+, crap service will get very little.

 

[BlkGS]

We have basically stopped going places that would be tipping situations. We don't do doordash or any of that other lazy crap, so can't comment on it. My basic understanding is ipay a delivery fee for it, so I wouldn't tip them, as I already paid for the delivery to their employers. If they were to like, sweep up my patio or something out of expectations, then sure, but not for just doing the job they're hired for.

If we go somewhere for rinks, a dollar per drink is still our standard. Unless you're just handing me a bottle or can, then it's less.

I don't tip take out. I came and did the work. Unless you go above and beyond somehow, I paid for my food which was the only service rendered. I see no reason to tip for that, I don't tip when I buy stuff at the store why would I tip for take out? Caveat, sometimes at mom and pop locations or family run places, I will tip. But not a chain restaurant or larger restaurant.

In the limited times we go out to a sit down restaurant, I still tip 15 to 20%. I think we have been edging lower as service has been declining and more places are changing over to electronic order taking.

Frankly, I think interacting with servers is the worst part of eating out, so I look forward to them all being replaced by touchscreens. Servers work half as hard as fast food workers and expec triple the pay.

 

[adrianp89]

We have basically stopped going places that would be tipping situations. We don't do doordash or any of that other lazy crap, so can't comment on it. My basic understanding is ipay a delivery fee for it, so I wouldn't tip them, as I already paid for the delivery to their employers. If they were to like, sweep up my patio or something out of expectations, then sure, but not for just doing the job they're hired for.

If we go somewhere for rinks, a dollar per drink is still our standard. Unless you're just handing me a bottle or can, then it's less.

I don't tip take out. I came and did the work. Unless you go above and beyond somehow, I paid for my food which was the only service rendered. I see no reason to tip for that, I don't tip when I buy stuff at the store why would I tip for take out? Caveat, sometimes at mom and pop locations or family run places, I will tip. But not a chain restaurant or larger restaurant.

In the limited times we go out to a sit down restaurant, I still tip 15 to 20%. I think we have been edging lower as service has been declining and more places are changing over to electronic order taking.

Frankly, I think interacting with servers is the worst part of eating out, so I look forward to them all being replaced by touchscreens. Servers work half as hard as fast food workers and expec triple the pay.

Are you Canadian lol?

While I somewhat agree on doordash, I simply don't support those companies because they screw the workers. They hardly make anything and DoorDash keeps all the money. If I have to use them I am tipping at least 10%. That entire thing is a scam and screws the buyers and the workers.

Clearly never worked in the food industry. Take out is 10%. They don't just hand your food. The person working take-out still makes crap wages but works just as hard to make sure your order is correct and on-time.

Curious on your service declining comment. Servers are working twice as many tables with half as many cooks because no one wants to work. Granted there are some real shit servers but a lot of the ones that decided not to take a hand-out are doing 2-3x as much work and may result in not as quick or detailed service. Not their fault.

"Servers work half as hard as fast food workers and expec triple the pay." - This is just 100% BS. Fast-food workers either A. Stand there and take an order or B. Use basically an assembly line to make food. Microwave a burger - so hard. Servers have to come to you, take your drink order, return with a heavy tray of drinks, take your food order, refill your drinks continuously, carry a heavy plate of food, make sure your happy, return several times, bring your check, return your check, clean the table. How the hell do you think fast-food workers work harder?

They want more pay because they make $4/hr and then cheap asses like you leave $5 after they kept you happy for 90 minutes.

 

[BlkGS]

Are you Canadian lol?

While I somewhat agree on doordash, I simply don't support those companies because they screw the workers. They hardly make anything and DoorDash keeps all the money. If I have to use them I am tipping at least 10%. That entire thing is a scam and screws the buyers and the workers.

Clearly never worked in the food industry. Take out is 10%. They don't just hand your food. The person working take-out still makes crap wages but works just as hard to make sure your order is correct and on-time.

Curious on your service declining comment. Servers are working twice as many tables with half as many cooks because no one wants to work. Granted there are some real shit servers but a lot of the ones that decided not to take a hand-out are doing 2-3x as much work and may result in not as quick or detailed service. Not their fault.

"Servers work half as hard as fast food workers and expec triple the pay." - This is just 100% BS. Fast-food workers either A. Stand there and take an order or B. Use basically an assembly line to make food. Microwave a burger - so hard. Servers have to come to you, take your drink order, return with a heavy tray of drinks, take your food order, refill your drinks continuously, carry a heavy plate of food, make sure your happy, return several times, bring your check, return your check, clean the table. How the hell do you think fast-food workers work harder?

They want more pay because they make $4/hr and then cheap asses like you leave $5 after they kept you happy for 90 minutes.

Looks like I hit a nerve...

Fast food workers have to do their job in like 10% of the time that restaurant workers do, despite doing the same thing. They might not have to walk, but they still take orders, hand over drinks, etc. Just they have to do that for a ton more people, while your server goes and does coke out back of the restaurant.

Clearly if you're going to a Ruth's Chris or something, you're gonna have a better server that's more attentive. But at a chili's or something like that, they're doing half the work of a McDonald's employee.

I don't support door dash because I don't support the pure laziness of people. If you can't find it to go out and get your food, you should learn to cook. Certainly there re situations with kids where delivery is nice, but the majority of the people I know who are big users of it are just too lazy to get off their couch to feed themselves.

 

[adrianp89]

A lot of people I am close with either work in the industry or did at one point. I have seen the struggle they go through.

At the core what makes a high-end steak house employee work harder than a Chili's?

My experience at these places is that they have even more help than your local restaurant.