Off-Topic Questions Thread - closed. Open new threads for specific questions please.

[Guest]

My only tip beyond 'keep the change' was in a hairdressers and it was the most awkward thing ever. The look on their face at this extra 25% was as though I'd offered it for a quick suck in the spinning chair.

 

The conversation log was probably something like this

me: and here's this as well

them: what's that?

me: oh, just something extra. for the service i guess

............

me: right anyway thanks a lot, see ya

 

Never tipping in the UK again, unless I see a designated jar

See, this is the kind of experience I have on the reg when it comes to tipping.

 

Back in the days when I paid someone else to run clippers over my scalp, I was once armed with a tenner and charged around £6.50. Not wanting to round it all the way up to the full ten, because that would sound insane, I said "Make it eight" as I handed it over. Off she went to the till and came back with £3.50 change.

 

Now at this point I don't know what's happened. Did she not hear me properly? Do I hand her back some coins and insist she buy herself something nice? Perhaps followed through a steely glare by a whispered "Don't embarrass me, sweetheart, and there won't be any trouble."

 

Or are they implementing a no-tips policy and don't want to make a big thing of it? Or was she disturbed by the inappropriate sum on offer and wanted this creeper to take his dirty money and GTFO?

 

So many questions. Why couldn't they just charge closer to £10 so I could comfortably say "Keep the change" and walk out? A small price to pay for a less socially awkward trim.

 

I'm literally going to cause an international incident.

[Keith Houchen]

 (not gay).

Why do you always do this?

[Carbomb]

Tipping in the UK's an odd one. The US has particularly shit laws regarding low-waged labour, so it's generally a good rule of thumb to tip everyone. The UK, though, most people get a minimum wage + tips, and we don't always get the amazing service American staff give.

 

When it comes to restaurants, if I get good service, I'll pay a tip, usually about 10-15%. But if I get the bill, and it's included, I don't pay it - I just give it to the waiter directly in cash. I take no chances, ever since I used to work as a waiter, and the boss used to take all the tips and use them to pay her kitchen staff, because she was illegally employing students who weren't allowed to to do more than 20 paid hours per week for longer than that. I also have friends who've worked as waiters who've had bosses do similar things, like keeping the tips for themselves, or putting them in the company's petty cash fund.

[MungoChutney]

Restaurants here I'll usually tip around 10-15% if the service is decent.  Doesn't have to be out of the ordinary but as long as there's a friendly demeanour I always tip.  The only time I won't is if they're rude or the service is slow and the place is quiet enough that it shouldn't be.  I know a guy who owns a restaurant and any time I go in he gives me 25% off the bill so I always just make up that amount and leave it as a tip.

 

Pubs I'll usually round up to a tenner if it's me and the missus out as the round is usually in the 8 quid range.  Not only is this a reward for service it also tends to mean you get served quicker next time you go up there.  If I'm ou tin a group and we have a kitty I like to leave £10-£20 for the bar staff at the end of the night.

 

In the barbers it works out about £13 for me and my son so I leave £15. 

 

I see it as a way of thanking people for the service when none of them are earning great money.

[Undefeated Steak]

10% in a restaurant or rounded to the nearest tenner or a bit more if it's good service.

 

Totally on board with Uncle Zeb re the hairdressers, I've had that too. Fortunately I've found a new hairdresser who doesn't let me walk out looking like Slapnut at a WWE shareholder's meeting so I give her a few quid extra (she doesn't charge enough as it is).

 

I have a theory that if everybody tipped just a quid then everyone in those types of services be better off and the level of customer service would increase. If a barmaid serves 50 people in an evening and everyone tipped them a quid then the oub industry would attract more decent people who give a better quality of customer service. There are limits to this theory of course, nobody's tipping a full hundred pence if they're buying Golden Wonders for 40p.

[mikehoncho]

Tipping should always be subjective; when a tip is expected, especially in the US, surely it devalues the sentiment from the customer ... ?  An expected tip is a worthless tip ... well, that's my view at least.  There's no incentive to try to be nice on the part of the tipee.

[Harry Wiseau]

I don't really go to many places that tipping is an expected thing - my mrs cuts my hair, and if I go out to eat I prefer just going to pubs where you pay when you order, im very much in the Seinfeld frame of mind with why would I want to pay for food when im not hungry? before the meal charge me whatever you like, once I've eaten the last thing I want to spend money on is food, and the tips normally come at the end with food. the only place I tend to tip is bar staff, it's not every pint or every pub but if they're friendly and decent beer and the pubs my kind of pub i'll say have one for yourself ALTHOUGH  if it's a young attractive barmaid 10+ years my junior (they rarely are in pubs I go to) I'm less likely to say that through fear of looking like an old perv / looking like I misunderstood the friendliness for some kind of flirting.

[Carbomb]

Tipping should always be subjective; when a tip is expected, especially in the US, surely it devalues the sentiment from the customer ... ?  An expected tip is a worthless tip ... well, that's my view at least.  There's no incentive to try to be nice on the part of the tipee.

 

I don't think the worker is necessarily all that bothered about the sentiment, as long as they get the cash.

 

I get what you mean about incentive, but because it seems to have become a culturally-entrenched thing in the US, it seems you'll automatically get good service, and therefore be expected to tip. I guess it's hard to imagine here because it's not such a guarantee in the UK. You can get some downright shoddy service here sometimes.

[mikehoncho]

 

Tipping should always be subjective; when a tip is expected, especially in the US, surely it devalues the sentiment from the customer ... ?  An expected tip is a worthless tip ... well, that's my view at least.  There's no incentive to try to be nice on the part of the tipee.

 

I don't think the worker is necessarily all that bothered about the sentiment, as long as they get the cash.

 

I get what you mean about incentive, but because it seems to have become a culturally-entrenched thing in the US, it seems you'll automatically get good service, and therefore be expected to tip. I guess it's hard to imagine here because it's not such a guarantee in the UK. You can get some downright shoddy service here sometimes.

 

 

Shoddy doesn't cover it in some places.  You can be in the nicest restaurant (Michelin star, for example) & get the shirtiest of staff.  Some really do look down their noses at the customer, but would still look for a tip at the end of the "experience".  Been there, done that, kept my tip cash in my pocket.

[Sergio Mendacious]

Tipping should always be subjective; when a tip is expected, especially in the US, surely it devalues the sentiment from the customer ... ? An expected tip is a worthless tip ... well, that's my view at least. There's no incentive to try to be nice on the part of the tipee.

As explained earlier, the tipped minimum wage is lower than the untipped minimum wage - therefore, if you don't tip, you may be contributing to someone making less than roughly $7.50 an hour. Now, obviously, that system is a mess, but I'd assume it's not a good idea to fuck with the restaurant lobby.

[Chest Rockwell]

Yeah. Your opinion doesn't matter for shit in the US, unfortunately, Mike. You're not going to change the system by not tipping, all you do is fuck over your server.

 

 

What I have started doing in restaurants in the UK now though, ever since reading how staff are being affected on service charge, is get them to take the service charge off the bill, and then leave it in cash. I've always asked staff at places where the to isn't included whether they prefer of I leave cash or add it to the bill. But I've started doing it where the service is added on to the bill as default now. It's really fucking dirty and underhanded the way restaurants try to screw their staff.

[Mr.E]

I've been the the US, and tipping is their system, so it's fine. Plus if the person who serves you was nice, you can leave a bigger tip.

 

For UK stuff, I don't tip unless I've been given amazing service, which very rarely happens.

[FLips]

I only tip is the service is really good or I can't be arsed to wait for them to piss about with change. They chose to work wherever they work so it's not up to me to pay their bills.

If someone outright asked me for a tip or told me I was expected to tip, it's no more than begging and they'd get fuck all.

[chokeout]

I only tip is the service is really good or I can't be arsed to wait for them to piss about with change. They chose to work wherever they work so it's not up to me to pay their bills.

If someone outright asked me for a tip or told me I was expected to tip, it's no more than begging and they'd get fuck all.

 

 

What about people who have no choice but to work in a low paying job?

[Devon Malcolm]

Hark at Mr. Pink up there.