| Total Ads Listed: | 6303 |
| Registered Members: | 7601 |
|
Article Details
How to tip in a restaurant
Each day you see cups and mugs marked, “Tips,” at coffeehouses, lunch counters, and even at such places as lunch wagons. Where should salaries cover services and where should the customer be expected to tip? This is a difficult question, even for the most seasoned diner. This article answers the tipping question for the most common dining and bar experiences.
Food and Coffee Counters
A confusing tipping situation is often created by counter servers. Diners who wait in line, select from a menu and pay at the counter, should not be required to subsidize poor salaries given to food servers. If you order from the menu and do not require any extra care, a tip is not in order. If the server prepares the item to your specifications, such as a adding an extra take out sandwich when you are dining in the establishment, then a tip of ten percent is in order. If you require additional services, such as special ingredients that the establishment keeps for your regular service, a 20 percent tip should be given. Any special food preparation should be rewarded with an extra tip.
Restaurants
If you live in a small town with only one restaurant where the proprietors are the cooks, as well as the serving staff, tipping may not be a concern for everyday life. In most towns, tipping is in order for all restaurant servers.
In elaborate dining establishments, a tip might be given for seating in a preferred area. Ten percent of your dining bill is a rule of thumb for specialized seating. Wine stewards or sommeliers require a minimum tip of fifteen percent of the bill for their specific services. Upscale servers should be given 20 percent, if no other accommodations to the menu are required. A 20 percent tip should be given to the chef, if special needs are met or if you are allowed to order a dish not offered on the regular menu.
Dining with children and babies means leaving an additional tip. Even if your children are well mannered, they still have sticky hands and require extra napkins and care. If your server is attentive, then double the tip. Babies in highchairs require extra clean up by servers. If your children are less than orderly diners, a tip of 30 percent may be in order. Dining tables, the floor, and booth or seating may need additional cleaning. If accidents happen or if food is spilled in the normal eating process, tip an additional five percent of the bill. Think about the care you take in your own home and then image the processes the servers must take when you leave the restaurant. The server would not be completing that process for other diners, so an extra tip should be given for those services.
Dining with the elderly or dining while conducting business requires an additional tip. There is no problem in a long leisurely dinner, but your server should be compensated in a manner to give them the same income that additional diners would have provided. Calculate an hour for dining. If you take anything over the hour for dining, double the tip.
If you are dining in a large party, an extra tip (one-half of the regular tip) should be left. Any party over six should leave an additional tip, since the server will be responsible to hustle to bring drinks, bread, and condiments so that all diners can eat at the same time. If some diners are served before others, or some guests must wait for items, then the tip should be reduced to the amount that you would tip as a solo diner. If your party uses multiple tables, multiply the number of tables times a standard tip for one diner. The combined tip should be left for all diners. Place one diner in charge of collecting amounts to cover the bill, that way the server receives an adequate tip from the entire party, not a stituation where a few high-tipping diners subsidize a minimal tip for entire party.
Bars and Tips
A dollar tip should be left for the server for a single drink ordered. Larger orders should include a tip of at least 15 percent, especially if the server brings complimentary snacks. It is to the drinkers advantage to run a tab, since the tip can then reflect 15 percent of the total, rather than a dollar for each time a new drink is served.
Entry to popular bars may require a tip for a select table. An easy way to figure the tip for such establishments is to estimate the total bill for everyone in your party, then take 15 percent of that figure as a tip for the person who arranges the seating.
If your car is parked by a service at a bar or restaurant, consider the treatment you expect for your car and tip accordingly. For an older car, a couple of dollars will be an adequate tip when the car is returned at the end of the evening. For a new sports car, a tip when you leave the keys might ensure that your car isn't taken for an extra spin around the block while you are inside dining.
Tipping is a thank you for a job well done, not something that should be expected. If your service was well below average, then do not leave a tip. You work hard for your income, and a service person should also work hard to earn a tip!
|
| |
|
|
