Re: On tipping (again)
 

I just do not understand why Canadians feel the need to give so much money away. Baffles me why they have this culture.

Re: On tipping (again)
 

Im sure it baffles Canadians that the british are so tightfisted and dont seem to acknowledge the fact that tipping jobs are poorly paid on the grounds that tips will make up a large proportion of the persons total income.


Its their culture, and we should observe it if we are going to choose to live here.

Re: On tipping (again)
 

On the reverse, it feels weird when you go to a country that tipping is not common.

Re: On tipping (again)
 

I don't know. My wife understands my views. Even some Canadian friends to an extent. I accept the culture but it makes it no less baffling.

What is tight fisted about a price being displayed and paying for the product and service as quoted?

Re: On tipping (again)
 

My son works as a head bar tender - he is lucky that the hourly rate he gets is the standard minimum wage and not the minimum wage for servers -which in Ontario is $8.90 an hour.

Bearing in mind that servers don't generally get minimum guaranteed hours - or if they do it is normally 3 - they have to heavily rely on the tips they receive in order to pay their bills.

If your main job is in the service industry and you get 4-5 shifts a week consisting of anything between 3 and 8 hours it doesn't add up to much! If the restaurant or bar isn't busy, you get cut - you go home having earned perhaps $35 gross.

The majority of restaurants and bars require their serving staff to pay a percentage to the house for distribution to non-tipped staff (kitchen, cooks, dishwashers, busboys etc.) - this is not generally a percentage of their tips, it is a percentage of the amount of the bills! Consequently, if they don't receive a tip from a customer or a very small one, they can actually be out of pocket.

Perhaps the people who don't want to put their hands in their pockets to tip the staff should consider that in doing so, they are actually costing that server money.

:thumbdown:

Re: On tipping (again)
 

I'm sure your son doesn't do this but I can't stand it when bar staff moan on about tips. TBH it has the opposite effect they desire, especially when they get paid minimum wage.

Re: On tipping (again)
 

No, he never does - but then he is very popular and gives absolutely outstanding service (no, I'm not biased - I have been told by several people!) and people tip him well because they can see he actually makes an effort to make their visit special and he cares. He has customers that go in there just because he is working.

:)

Re: On tipping (again)
 

That's good, because I've never seen such terrible service than in BC, especially Vancouver. They're always cocky bastards, who for no discernible reason I can see, think they're far too good to be waiting and serving. And do they moan? And its not the good moaning about trivialities and silliness, its a constant wail of self-absorption. :thumbdown:

Re: On tipping (again)
 

yeah i had that ,,,the server taking the dollar from the $5 i handed over for a $4 beer ,,,,i dont see why i should pay her wages ,its the waiters/bartenders choice whether the wages are livable not mine.
To put it mildly she was not happy when i asked for my change
if the service is really good fair enough i will put a toonie down. not a hope in H.. ill put down 20%
jimmy.

Re: On tipping (again)
 

If you look at the international section of the link you posted on the first page you'll find that British tipping ettiquete is much closer to international tipping ettiquete.

According to the low pay logic tipping should apply in McDonalds, Walmart etc.......

Re: On tipping (again)
 

Really?

I get that it's their choice to work there and to work as a server (in what ever capacity) but it's not the servers choice of the rate of pay - it's the government and owners of the establishments. The government anticipate that servers will receive 15% minimum tips, hence their rate of hourly pay is set lower.

I normally have a tab and tip at the end of the evening - it's easier and you can decide how much you want to tip depending on the service given.

Funnily enough, when my son goes out he never tips less than 20%, unless the service has been awful.

Each to their own I guess.

Re: On tipping (again)
 

What about if people didn't go out? How much would that cost?

Re: On tipping (again)
 

What what humanities graduates do for employment?

Re: On tipping (again)
 

Yeah, or they could adopt Aussie standards, where, sure, there's no tipping, but then the staff are paid about $16/hr minimum wage. Then your coffee and muffin is $10 or an individual pizza and a beer runs closer to $30. All of a sudden, I bet lower wages + tipping doesn't look so terrible to some folks, right? :)

We just can't afford to go to restaurants here in Australia. Back in Canada, when we're on holidays, it's like reverse sticker shock looking at how cheap everything on the menu is, even allowing for tips.

Re: On tipping (again)
 

It's a GIFT! They bring those things home because they love you!:rofl:

Re: On tipping (again)
 

I'm not feeling the love last experiences are skunk and porcupines :thumbdown:

Re: On tipping (again)
 

Even Canadians and Americans hate tipping. Everyone hates the way that people in the service industry manipulatively guilt trip their customers into tipping because their wages are shit. They only get away with it because not tipping is seen as socially unacceptable and dickish. Nobody wants to look like a dick and so they tip.

Re: On tipping (again)
 

You mean the smily faces on the bill? :)

Re: On tipping (again)
 

I bought a drive-through latte the other day and paid for it using the very convenient electronic paypass system.

It was a tad too hot, so, I gently pried off the lid to let some heat out, only to discover a perfectly rendered smiley face made with some bitter-sweet finely ground cocoa yuminess. It looked just like this, but in different colours: :)

Talk about post-purchase non-tipping guilt tripping. You know, it's not my fault I hate carrying cash :frown:

Re: On tipping (again)
 

I tend to give between 10-20% when I go out to eat/drink. It does go against my personal principle about tipping if service is bad but as its against the socially accepted thing to do in Canada I'll still tip. I'll always make sure to have a couple of coins in the purse just to give when I go out.

It is a shame that people in the service industry are treated poorly and I was surprised that they usually pay for uniforms and pay a percentage of their wages to the other non service staff (behind the scenes) which in theory is quite a nice thing but I felt the business owner should pay that and not staff.

I don't like that you feel forced to tip and if you do tip, the person raises their eyebrows and act as if they have just spit on you. It annoys me that people are ungrateful about what they receive sometimes and make you feel guilty. I know that I tip to whats recommended and so am happy not to justify it if questioned/made to feel embarrassed.

The OH once told me that if you go out and are served by the owner of the business then a tip isn't really expected for that person. As at a local greasy spoon I go to its usually the owner that serves me but just because the food is good I still tell him to keep the change.

I do find that if you do tip regularly (and well) especially at a bar, you'll always get a good service. At a local bar I go to, I always get a little more vodka in my Caesar than I would elsewhere. Helps the OH has been going there for many a year.

I'm not sure there'll ever be a consensus with this topic and I guess you just do what the situation that arises deem acceptable.

Re: On tipping (again)
 

Drive a school bus? Or maybe you need a Masters for that:unsure:

Re: On tipping (again)
 

In restaurants I tip well if they manage not to poison me with gluten and I tell them why. I do it in the hope they will remember. It usually works. It seems a little like paying protection money to stay well, but needs must so I do it.

Re: On tipping (again)
 

I got paid more for my one shift as a busser here than I ever got for being a duty bar manager in the UK (in charge of three venues with a combined capacity of 1800 people, supervising 30+ staff).
In eight years of barwork I could count the number of tips I got on one hand (university and a theater bar).

Re: On tipping (again)
 

I live in NA so unless I see the server spit in my food I tip between 15 to 20 percent depending how many beers I've had and then add another 5 to 15 percent on top of that if the waitress is hot and flirts with me.

Re: On tipping (again)
 

So sexist but so true :thumbup:

Re: On tipping (again)
 

My tips are usually between 5% and 20%+ based on the sliding scale of boob size - I tend to avoid hooters as it can get quite expensive :)

Re: On tipping (again)
 

I'm not sure its about sexism, its probably more to do with middle-aged vanity.

Re: On tipping (again)
 

Re: On tipping (again)
 

I'll save money on tipping now, I give % of the final price with tax. Today the restaurant tax drops by 7%, so I guess one good thing comes out of losing the HST!

Re: On tipping (again)
 

no tip, it's included in the price of delivery that you probably had to pay for too.
Same with the pizza guys although they usually get change as I don't ask for it.

Re: On tipping (again)
 

Didn't realise tipping had been illegal in a few states in the early 20th century.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22846846

Re: On tipping (again)
 

What is as equally as baffling is the way Canadian employers knowingly paying such low wages and expect someone else to shoulder the responsibility of ensuring their workers get decent take home pay!

I do tip by the way.

Re: On tipping (again)
 

I drive the elderly and disabled around. The elderly regularly give me a dollar for a coffee. Then i shout out them, it isnt ****** 1944!


:)

Re: On tipping (again)
 

Do people not tip in the UK? (sorry, we're moving THERE and when I was visiting, we did tip... were we "out of line"?)

just curious. :)

Re: On tipping (again)
 

You can tip if you like, but it's not exspected

Re: On tipping (again)
 

Boo hoo. If we didn’t eat out, we wouldn’t have to tip at their expectant rates, we wouldn’t have to endure their miserable, “I’ve got a degree in humanities so I shouldn’t really have to do this job” attitudes and people wouldn’t be so fat.

Re: On tipping (again)
 

They got a Hooters on the Rock?

Re: On tipping (again)
 

You shouldn't give them money because they'll only spend it on booze and scratch cards and it does nothing to encourage them to get a proper job. If you really want to help it's best just to leave a little bit of food on your plate so that they at least don't go hungry.

Re: On tipping (again)
 

In the UK most restaurant bills will come with a service charge included. However, they can't force you to pay the service charge. It can result in a bit of unpleasantness but you can always deduct this and save a few pounds.

Re: On tipping (again)
 

Didn't know that?

Bit cheeky to add a service charge no matter what the customer thinks of the service. They may have started doing that when service in the UK was crap no matter where you went do nobody tipped. ;)

We tip in the UK if the service charge has not been added. If it's been added already they can go and take a hike!