The general public seem to be tightwads.
I work in a restaurant here in Belgium. I'm not exactly sure what it's like in the UK, but you aren't really expected to tip any amount of money here, but most people do it anyway.

Before I worked here I always tipped in a restaurant, but only a small amount, say 2 pounds or something (for myself). Friends would also chip in with about the same amount, so in the end it was a pretty decent tip. I always felt like a cheap tipper but by god, was I wrong. Last week our restaurant was fully booked, and we had a few large groups in there (say 20 people). In the end I had to deal with about three bills of around 850 pounds each, so quite a large amount of money. We received 20p in tips that night.

Seriously... Like I said, tipping isn't mandatory, but 20p?! I would have understood it if the service was completely horrible, but I can assure you that it definitely wasn't. Somehow I just found it extremely rude...
(St. Dymphna, Tue 28 Oct 2008, 15:33, 21 replies)

That's weird
I always assumed tipping was an international thing. You know, something that went on in all restaurants/cafes in the civilised world.

Obviously not.
(brainwrong, Tue 28 Oct 2008, 15:39, closed)

I'm with the man in Reservoir Dogs
Being made to feel like you should always tip someone, who is doing their job, and getting paid for it, really irritates me.

I work 40+ hours a week, in an office. Do I get tipped? No. Do I whinge about it? No.

I know restaurant workers are very poorly paid (have done it myself in the past) and it is pretty cuntish of bosses to expect tips to make up wages, but I will only tip for exceptional service. Which is pretty rare.
(Son of Sam-i-am We're all as mad as hatters here, Tue 28 Oct 2008, 15:39, closed)

I agree. My girlfriend insists on tipping EVERYTIME
whenever we go to a restaurant, whether the service is shit or not.

The last place we went to was terrible. Crap food, horrible building, and only barely adequate service. Yet still I got "You HAVE to leave a little bit of a tip, it's not HER fault the food was crap"
(brainwrong, Tue 28 Oct 2008, 15:44, closed)

I tip if I am a regular...
for instance at my local curry house.

Hopefully it will make them think twice about turning my Jalfrezi into a Jizzfrezi.
( Piper Alpha is being a grumpy northerm bastard on:, Tue 28 Oct 2008, 15:49, closed)

I agree with you on some parts
If I didn't have a good experience, I wouldn't tip either. However, if you had a pleasant enough evening I consider it quite mandatory to tip, and not just because I work as a waitress myself. It doesn't have to be much, I appreciate a single pound, it's just some sort of token of appreciation.

And although I'm probably not making a good case for my own theory at the moment, we don't actually *need* tips here in Belgium, if you work in a decent restaurant you get an okay wage, obviously it isn't great, but I make quite a nice amount of money (definitely for a 19-year old) due to the 50-60 hour weeks I put in every week.
(St. Dymphna, Tue 28 Oct 2008, 15:57, closed)

i always tip
whether the amount is risible or celebratory depends on the service.
(bazmorningstar efil4nat3b, Tue 28 Oct 2008, 16:03, closed)

But why do you consider it mandatory?
This is what I'm getting at. I could sit here and list 5000 jobs, with a lot of customer contact, where you go to work, get paid and nobody tips you. This is fairly standard in the world of work.

As I said, I will tip for exceptional service but not apart from that. If I get the slightest hint that the waiter is expecting a tip I won't tip. It's a bonus for being really good at your job that should be accepted as such, not something you should view as standard.
(Son of Sam-i-am We're all as mad as hatters here, Tue 28 Oct 2008, 16:19, closed)

cos ive been there and done that and it makes a difference to a persons life
same as im always nice to people in call centres cos ive been there done that.

I used to tip cab drivers but then they got greedy.

I always tip food delivery dudes as well cos they deliver quicker if they know you're a tipper - this theory can be applied also to any service industry.
(bazmorningstar efil4nat3b, Tue 28 Oct 2008, 16:26, closed)

I've been there and done that (the waiting, not the call centres)
And when I did it I didn't expect tips, I considered them a nice bonus from nice customers who I'd served well.

I also didn't take 25 minutes to bring the first round of drinks over when there's more staff than customers in the place, deliberately overcharge people in the hope they wouldn't notice, start clearing the table before everyone had finished, or pick my nose in front of the customers.

Yes, it's a service industry, I will tip for good service!
(Son of Sam-i-am We're all as mad as hatters here, Tue 28 Oct 2008, 16:31, closed)

Lots of resteraunts work tips into what you get paid
So if you dont tip they hardly get anything. But hey i dont think it should be mandatory to tip, but if you can afford it give the poor fucker in the demeaning job a little extra.
(twocoats, Tue 28 Oct 2008, 16:23, closed)

Yeah, as I said
I think it's very cuntish for restaurant owners to exploit that fact to effectively pay under minimum wage.

But hey, I don't know if this is the case in any given restaurant. You can always work somewhere else! Or if you need tips to top your pay up to something decent, then do your job how it should be done and I will tip you. When I am pleased I tip generously, however service in approximately 80% of restaurants I've ever eaten in has been appalling. And no, I don't just eat in kebab shops and McDonalds!
(Son of Sam-i-am We're all as mad as hatters here, Tue 28 Oct 2008, 16:27, closed)

employer cuntishness is accross the board
and as we discussed yesterday in the water charges debate, the govt. are in on it too - take pensions for example: they are mandatorily provided by employers who benefit from tax breaks as a result but you cant touch them til you turn 65 by which time they are worthless as the banks have lost them.
(bazmorningstar efil4nat3b, Tue 28 Oct 2008, 16:38, closed)

Britain has a very good minimum wage (I think it works out to the highest in the world, in dollar terms), and I believe it applies equally to waiting staff as it does everyone else.

When one of our users at work contacts us, they expect good service from the helpdesk agents, the second line, the engineers, the managers, because their company pays our company. That's our incentive to work hard, because if we don't, our bosses lose the contract and we lose our jobs.

I don't see why I need a bribe to do my job well, and I don't see why anyone else in any other business needs one. There is already a major incentive to do your job properly; the desire to keep it.
(Musuko, Tue 28 Oct 2008, 17:56, closed)

Everyone I told this was utterly appalled,
which makes me wonder if it's maybe just a difference in culture?
I find it incredibly rude not to tip, it's just a social rule. Everyone I know does it, and the larger the bill, the more you should tip.

Anyway, I definitely don't use it as an incentive to be nice to people, I'm very friendly towards customers and do my best to provide them with a pleasant evening because it's my job, and I enjoy it. If they're nice to me as well I'll go out of my way to give them a few extra's.
(St. Dymphna, Tue 28 Oct 2008, 18:42, closed)

Tipping isn't common in the UK, as far as I know
Save for a "keep the change" or something along those lines.

I understand tipping is commonplace in America- mainly because it forms a large part of the staff's pay.

But the minimum wage in the UK is high enough for tipping not to be necessary, mandatory, or even expected.

And I'd always thought it was the same way, throughout much of Europe. Maybe I've been coming across as a tight bastard when I've been in Belgium. I do hope not.
( Thinker, Tue 28 Oct 2008, 19:19, closed)

Hehe, maybe!
Also check out en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tip

I'd say Belgium's situation is about the same as Germany's.
(St. Dymphna, Tue 28 Oct 2008, 19:30, closed)

UK tips
generally i go for 10% in restaurants (unless they've already applied a service charge, in which case zero), and rounding up the the nearest 50p or £1 in taxis ... the idea of tipping shop assistants or bar staff (as in the USA) just seems weird
( writerblock ... embedding disabled by request on, Tue 28 Oct 2008, 21:46, closed)

I usually tip in bars as well
Every few drinks that is, not for every drink. And it's more a 'keep the change' thing than anything else :) One dollar a drink in the US is extremely weird to me... (even weirder than tipping hotel staff etc, I really cannot see myself do that)
(St. Dymphna, Tue 28 Oct 2008, 22:22, closed)

It can work out quite well in the States
When I lived there, shelling out a few extra dollars on the first few rounds meant really swift service and, more often than not, lots of free drinks later (providing you tip a dollar for every freebie you get...).

Still took a while to get used to though!
(Lapin, Wed 29 Oct 2008, 12:12, closed)

.
One of the local places adds a 10% discretionaty to your bill for groups over 10.
(Not him., Tue 28 Oct 2008, 22:20, closed)

I object to tipping automatically as well, if the service is exceptional then yes but if you're just doing your job then no.
No one is forced to work in catering!
I did it for a while and the last time was in a pub.
We took a group booking for an Xmas meal from a local company for about 30 people and we gave out free coffee and mince pies at the end of it.
They then decided to pay individually so we had to set up a till and get them to queue up and work out what they all had. More than half of them made a point of saying "I didn't have a mince pie or coffee" as I totted up what they owed and I'm sure some of them were kicking themselves for not having them as I repeatedly said "They were free" in an increasingly irritated manner.
This was about the time I decided to leave catering. There are other jobs out there if you look hard enough.
(cmouse is pondering about life in other jobs, Wed 29 Oct 2008, 8:54, closed)