When do you over tip?

[MetsFan5]

Considering the tipping standard in your country? Here in the US, I feel the norm is 20%. I tend to tip, on average, 30%. I have no doubt that I tip heavily due to having been a waitres, a bartender and a manger. If the service is poor I leave 20% as not to punish the bartender and busser. I realize my mindset is unique. I also tip on take out when it's at a restaurant where take out isn't the norm and tip 20% on all food (from restaurants) delivery. I also heavily tip my grocery delivery person.  

[weinoo]

I tip 20% on the total bill (after tax) at restaurants; but if I'm comped a drink or a dish, that tip goes up proportionately. At my regular places (i.e. the places we go weekly), the tip tends to be 25%.

 

At fancier bars, $3 a drink; at my local bars, it's hard to figure, but they get tipped handsomely.

 

I don't get groceries delivered.  Food delivery guys get $4 or $5; I'm not usually ordering food for delivery that costs more than $25 or $30.

 

 

[gfweb]

20-25%. Unless there's a few bottles of wine, then 15-20%.

 

 

[lindag]

I have a friend who is a heavy tipper and the unusual thing about her is that she never tips less than $5.00 no matter how small the bill.  I always thought that was nice.  I don't do that but I will over-tip atmmy favorite cafes where I get exemplary service and attentiveness.  And, the food at these local places is always very good.

[Thanks for the Crepes]

Some Waffle House employees in Charlotte got a very nice over tip recently.

[cakewalk]

3 hours ago, Thanks for the Crepes said:

Some Waffle House employees in Charlotte got a very nice over tip recently.

"Wahlberg posted a picture showing he'd left a massive tip for the overnight servers. A whopping $2000 on the $82.60 check."

Wow. There's nothing like overtipping and then writing about it on Facebook. Maybe he'll write a post on this thread! 

[gulfporter]

In the US we tip 20% and in Mexico we tip 15% (most locals in MX tip 10%, some only 5%).

 

We do have minimum tips in each country.  It's $5 in the US and 50 pesos in MX...this applies to Cheap Eats places in either country where our tabs run 20 bucks or less in the US or 300 pesos or less in MX.  We see no reason a server should be "punished" for working at an eatery that offers good food and low prices.  

 

[LivingMCM]

I tend to tip around 18% of the after-tax price. My understanding was always that 15-20% was standard practice, with 20% reserved for absolute, above and beyond, top-notch, A+++ level service. If the standard is actually higher than that, then I will have a very hard time as a customer, since dining out already gets quite pricey!

Edited August 1, 2017 by LivingMCM (log)

[shawnee_h]

I try to tip 20% or more if I can.

[MetsFan5]

Okay so... sorry to repeat myself but my husband and I are in an extending living hotel. We have a suite with a full kitchen and pots and pans, full sized refrigerator, separate bedroom, etc. due to not having power at home. 

 

  We had reservations through Tuesday morning with a noon check out. We never thought we would even need that much time away. We were wrong, big time. 

   So on Saturday I was talking with the overnight front desk agent? And asked if there was anyway to extend our stay until Saturday 3/10? Idk my days are messed up. She said she’d take my info and try her best. Her manager barked at both of us that “they don’t take waitlists”. She rolled her eyes and said “ignore her”. 

 

  Because I am a smoker I went out again to smoke and the night front desk agent saw a cancellation come in as I was going back into the hotel. This saved our asses; we’ve accumulated more things the longer we are here. 

   

  She looked out for me and I like to look give back in situations like this. I gave her $60 but am kinda feeling maybe that I should have given her $100?  She was super appreciative and said I didn’t have to, etc. and yes she was doing her job but she did me a solid and looked out for me, personally. Thoughts? 

[weinoo]

She would've been happy with $10.

[gfweb]

More than enough

[lindag]

5 hours ago, MetsFan5 said:

Okay so... sorry to repeat myself but my husband and I are in an extending living hotel. We have a suite with a full kitchen and pots and pans, full sized refrigerator, separate bedroom, etc. due to not having power at home. 

 

  We had reservations through Tuesday morning with a noon check out. We never thought we would even need that much time away. We were wrong, big time. 

   So on Saturday I was talking with the overnight front desk agent? And asked if there was anyway to extend our stay until Saturday 3/10? Idk my days are messed up. She said she’d take my info and try her best. Her manager barked at both of us that “they don’t take waitlists”. She rolled her eyes and said “ignore her”. 

 

  Because I am a smoker I went out again to smoke and the night front desk agent saw a cancellation come in as I was going back into the hotel. This saved our asses; we’ve accumulated more things the longer we are here. 

   

  She looked out for me and I like to look give back in situations like this. I gave her $60 but am kinda feeling maybe that I should have given her $100?  She was super appreciative and said I didn’t have to, etc. and yes she was doing her job but she did me a solid and looked out for me, personally. Thoughts? 

You were more than generous.

I'd probably have given her $20 but you're talking about New York/Jersey dollars, that's different.

Edited March 7, 2018 by lindag (log)

[blue_dolphin]

6 hours ago, MetsFan5 said:

Okay so... sorry to repeat myself but my husband and I are in an extending living hotel. We have a suite with a full kitchen and pots and pans, full sized refrigerator, separate bedroom, etc.

 

Since  we're talking about tipping, how about tips for the housekeeping staff?  Do you tip more in a suite?   When traveling with a pet?

 

I'm pretty tidy and don't make a big mess so I generally leave $5 - 10/day.  I make sure to leave a tip each day. I double it if there's anything extra to clean up or if I've made a request for more towels or something.   Still doesn't seem like much given how hard they work.  I've been leaving that same amount for years and years and it used to seem OK to me but now I'm thinking that I'm being too cheap.   

Edited March 7, 2018 by blue_dolphin (log)

[chromedome]

My step-daughter's a hotel housekeeper. I'll see what she has to say about it. 

[boudin noir]

I tip over 20% almost all the time. The few extra dollars mean little to me but much more to the server.

[MetsFan5]

Yes I always tip the housekeeping staff. Moreso when we have our dog with us. 

[chromedome]

Step-daughter says that tips for the housekeeping staff were more prevalent when she started, several years ago. Now, they're happy to get anything at all. 

 

FWIW in terms of context, she works at a resort hotel in California. 

[bokreta]

Wait, have I been rude all my life?

 

I've only ever stayed in US hotels while in transit, rarely for more than a day.  I've also only stayed at utility level places.

 

It never would have occurred to me that I should have been tipping the housekeeping staff for doing what I have little active interaction with.  I've also never asked for any "extras" - I tend to travel at minimal maintenance levels.

 

 

[blue_dolphin]

1 hour ago, bokreta said:

Wait, have I been rude all my life?

I've only ever stayed in US hotels while in transit, rarely for more than a day.  I've also only stayed at utility level places.

It never would have occurred to me that I should have been tipping the housekeeping staff for doing what I have little active interaction with.  I've also never asked for any "extras" - I tend to travel at minimal maintenance levels.

 

No, I don't think you've been rude.  From my understanding, and consistent with @chromedome's small survey (n=1) many, maybe most hotel guests don't tip the housekeeping staff.  

I tip, in part because that's what my parents did on the rare occasions when we stayed in hotels, but mostly because I know they work very hard in an environment where many of their colleagues (bell staff, parking attendants, room service, restaurant wait staff, etc) are regularly tipped and it's an opportunity for me to offer a small token of thanks.  

[gfweb]

Why not tip everybody?

 

 

[gulfporter]

In the US we tip 20% on full bill, including tax.

In Mexico we tip 15% on full bill.  Mexicans especially the most wealthy ones, rarely tip above 5%.  But here in an expat community with lots of US and Canadian snowbirds, 10% is the norm, I'd guess. 

In the US , we tip a minimum of $5 if the 20% is less than $5.

In Mexico we tip a minimum of 40 pesos if the 15% is less than that. 

We leave tips in US lodging at $5 a night at the end of our trip.  

In Mexico we tip the woman who cleans our hotel room directly, each day (sometimes it's a different person).  More often we rent vacation homes in Mexico and the owner will usually leave an instruction sheet about the maid, who they are, when they come (set days and times) and often will recommend a weekly tip.  I normally strike up a short-term relationship with the maid (they often come 3x or more a week for several hours a day)...it helps me practice my Spanish.  I will usually for their last visit, buy them a nice treat (small cake) and enclose my tip in a pretty card.  They appreciate something 'special' and food is always a good gift in a poorer country. 

 

On over-tipping....we will bring Christmas cards with a 100 peso note to our usual haunts the week before Xmas and hand out to the servers, even those not waiting on us that night.  

 

It is easy to be generous in Mexico.  Our dinner meals for the two of us with 1 or 2 wines each rarely go north of 400 pesos total.  Right now that's a shade over 20 US bucks and includes taxes.

Edited March 8, 2018 by gulfporter (log)

[lindag]

At the nearby Dairy Queen I have to ASK for my change back!

i only ever order a cone but the snotty young woman feels entitled to keep the change despite the fact that she's done nothing to earn it.  They keep a tip cup in the window marked 'colleg fund'.

Because I find the behavior so obnoxious, I won't  leave a tip at all which is something I'd never do elsewhere.

[cakewalk]

1 minute ago, lindag said:

At the nearby Dairy Queen I have to ASK for my change back!

This was commonplace in NY a while ago, but it seems to have stopped for the most part, at least in places I've been to lately. There is little that annoyed me more than this practice. I don't think it's because they cared about the money, it was usually just a few cents, but was more because they couldn't be bothered with the pennies. I don't care about the few pennies either, but it seriously bothered me that someone else thought they could make decisions about my money, that is completely out of line and I had no qualms telling the cashier to give me my full change. I ignore tip cups altogether. (They make me think of that Jackie Mason routine on Starbucks, he got that part spot-on.) In restaurants I usually tip 15-20% depending on all sorts of things. I don't do any high-end dining. The structure of our economy basically dictates that tipping is the norm and it will pretty much stay that way for quite a while. I'd like to see everyone (everyone, not just waitstaff) get a living wage, (and I'd also like to see lower rents), but we have a long way to go for that. 

[kayb]

I think this has been addressed before, but I forget what all was said. What about picking up something to go at a restaurant? I did that last night, and tipped 20 percent, out of habit. I tend to do the same most places I pick up something, although I don't suppose the money goes to the kitchen staff, which did the bulk of the work involved in preparing my order up to the point I walked out the door with it.

 

I'm pretty much a 20 percent tipper unless service is just horrible and I can't see a reason for it (they're shorthanded, frantically busy, kitchen could be source for delay, they're obviously inexperienced). If it's a small check, it'll likely be more. One exception is my favorite meat-and-three place, where you order at the counter, get your own drink, and when your plate is ready, they call your name and you pick it up at the counter. My standard lunch is about $8.50 (meat and two veggies, drink). If I'm paying with cash, I'll usually just drop my change from the $10 bill I use in the communal tip jar on the counter.

 

Stopped while on the road last month to eat lunch. Had to get change before I could leave a tip. Got to talking to the cashier and just forgot to go back to the table and leave a tip. Was several miles down the road before I realized it. Felt horrible about it. On the way back through the next day, I stopped at the same place (different time of day) with the tip and some extra in an envelope with a note of apology and a description of the waitress along with the time I was in on the outside. Hope it got to her.