restaurant tipping etiquette

Originally Posted by G18C

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it's not "overkill." Most servers remember me when I come in the second time so it does help.

Let me tell you it is overkill and being remembered is not always good. I am sure they remember the guy who always stiffs them too.

Yea, there are no fees. I'm a delivery driver and i just cash out all my receipts and add up the cash deliveries i have and see how much i owe the register and keep the rest. Untaxed. You have to register a certain amount on your taxes but even on my check it has a thing in there claiming it for me till minimum wage or something. I dunno, i need to look at it closer. I just know i get straight cash homey.

Some people give me cash tips on card orders too but i don't really care since money is money. What i dislike is people not tipping at all. Especially when i make a delivery to a person who i know never tips.

you're funny whether you know it or not.

Originally Posted by HEWSINATOR

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Let me tell you it is overkill and being remembered is not always good. I am sure they remember the guy who always stiffs them too.

Originally Posted by G18C

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I usually pay the main course with credit card and tip cash by placing it on the table in a discrete envelope after the meal. However, I've been noticing that most CC receipts have extra slot for "tip." Which is more polite or more appropriate, i.e. so the server gets the tip and not the establishment? Thanks.

You've been noticing? Either you've been living in a cave or Europe. The tip slot has routinely been on receipts for at least 15 years.

yes, the Batcave, packed with state of the art dining equipments, not to mention English accent butler.

Originally Posted by Wick

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You've been noticing? Either you've been living in a cave or Europe. The tip slot has routinely been on receipts for at least 15 years.

Originally Posted by G18C

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I usually pay the main course with credit card and tip cash by placing it on the table in a discrete envelope after the meal. However, I've been noticing that most CC receipts have extra slot for "tip." Which is more polite or more appropriate, i.e. so the server gets the tip and not the establishment? Thanks.

Have you not been to a restaurant in what...10 years?

You should come to grips with the fact that you are probably laughingly referred to by the servers as "that ridiculous envelope tip guy".

I don't know. I would think they would find it odd but harmless, as many patrons of any dining establishment tend to be. Particularly regulars.

To above; I would say approximately 5%, if that, of people in the service industry here declare their tips.

The thing is many people believe that the waiter just walks out of the restaurant with cash in his pocket and the end of the night. Not always the case. Especially in fine restaurants where 90% of the sales are paid in credit card. The owner is not going to withdraw his cash just so the waiter can get paid at the end of night. I know a lot of places that pay their employees at the end of the week in a check making it extremely difficult for the waiter to cheat on taxes since there is a pretty obvious papertrail.

^Fair enough; where I work servers sell between $1000 and $2000 per shift, and even if only 30% of that is tipped out in cash there is more than enough at the end to take home in bills. It's been the same everywhere I've worked in service; more than 30% of bills are paid in cash, and tips amount to way less than 30% of sales obviously (more like 12-15%).

Originally Posted by SoCal2NYC

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Have you not been to a restaurant in what...10 years?


Wait until he sees a receipt with TWO tip lines.

One of the things that has disturbed me in the past is how much to tip, in general, in USA. Another is shopping when you arrive at the till you then get tax added on.

Fortunately neither a problem here in Italy. The coperto (cover) is essentially for the service and it's a fixed amount for the restaurant when you sit down. Of course, if you think the service was exceptional you can leave extra, but there's no obligation. I suppose in a culture where one's take home pay relies so heavily on tips because the basic is so low or non-existent, it's somewhat different. Although I believe Italy has the lowest average income in the EU, and I don't imagine waiters are up there with notaries in their earnings.

Originally Posted by G18C

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to clarify, I have envelopes made with my family name, Mr. X, thru my church. We give donations at the end of church service, and per customs, most people put their money donation in envelopes with their family name signed on the outside envelope, again ordered and sent to our house by the local church for free. I use these same envelopes when I go to restaurants. I think it's much better than leaving naked cash on a table. They fit like tiny checkbooks in the brief so it's not "overkill." Most servers remember me when I come in the second time so it does help.

Leaving tips in an envelope is odd, but mostly harmless I guess.

Leaving tips in an envelope that has your name printed on the outside is somewhat creepy.

lefty

Whether or not leaving your tip in a collection envelope with your name on it is creepy, strange, off-the-wall, etc., probably depends on the restaurant and the size of the tip.

Originally Posted by chronoaug

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Yea, there are no fees. I'm a delivery driver and i just cash out all my receipts and add up the cash deliveries i have and see how much i owe the register and keep the rest. Untaxed. You have to register a certain amount on your taxes but even on my check it has a thing in there claiming it for me till minimum wage or something. I dunno, i need to look at it closer. I just know i get straight cash homey.

Some people give me cash tips on card orders too but i don't really care since money is money. What i dislike is people not tipping at all. Especially when i make a delivery to a person who i know never tips.

My sister and I order pizza a couple times a month and we order it from online, filling out the tip on the website. There was one driver who complained about that and tried to get me to tip him in cash. I reminded him that we filled it in online and he mumbled something under his breath about those tips never making it to him in a very rude manner. We figure he was just trying to get more money out of us. That was in the spring and I have not seen him since. So what really was the deal here, I thought drivers would be able to claim that tip.