Why You Should Always Tip 20 Percent
Published October 1, 2014. This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
I’ve seen a lot of stuff out there lately (like when Eagles football player LeSean McCoy left a $0.20 tip) about people leaving really bad tips for servers at restaurants because of the service. I’ve even heard some of my friends say they leave bad tips when the service is poor. Well I’m hear to tell you why you should always tip 20 percent, no matter what.
Servers and bartenders make all of their money on tips, there is no paycheck. Servers make $2.13 an hour, which always goes to Uncle Sam for taxes every two weeks. Tips are their lifeline and many of them do it professionally, not just while they’re in college. What if your corporate America gig was based on service and performance with every single little detail you carry out?
I’m sure your corporate job in your office is a great one. Great benefits, good money, not too many bosses, a good gig. While all jobs are based on performance I doubt very seriously that your job would pay you based on every little thing you do, it’s all encompassing. Whether you mess up, whether you do a good job, whether you’re late every day or stay late at work, your check is most likely guaranteed to be the same every two weeks. Now let’s just say you were paid based on every detail you carry out like: assembling a power point presentation, communicating with co-workers and clients, Making sure to send an email on time, being on time to meetings, etc. Oh yeah and by the way you only get 1 shot to get it right, there is no going back to fix the power point, or rescheduling time so that you aren’t late on that email or meeting. One shot, that’s it. Taking all that into consideration, should you make the money you do? Everyone has bad days, bad weeks, heck even bad months, but most likely that won’t jeopardize your income.
When you’re a waiter or bartender you are responsible for providing excellent service to your guests. From making sure drinks are always full, recommending a great bottle of wine, to taking orders from those “add this, take that off, could you put more of this on there” type of people, all while having a smile on your face. Oh yeah, not too mention you get 1 shot at doing this for up to 15 people at a time. If you mess up on taking an order, or are 15 seconds late on that Pepsi refill, most likely people look at that as bad service. What if some of these servers or bartenders are new at the restaurant, or perhaps are having a bad day just like you and I do? Really what it comes down to is having a little patience and graciousness for these folks who are on there feet 12 hours a day every weekend and holiday of the year. And just like you at your job accidents happen, only when they happen in the restaurant industry it affects their income. I do want to preface that there are circumstances for you to question like when you are neglected service on purpose, or servers using foul language, or even them yelling at you, but at that point don’t worry about tipping poorly, get a manager involved and get a new server who would love to provide you with great service.
In the end we’re all humans and always make mistakes, I’m just asking you to reconsider when you think of tipping poorly. These people depend on your tips. They have families to feed, college to pay for, and sometimes just like us, need a little grace.
Tip Away!
Elevate Your Every Day Cooking
Get Chef Billy’s go-to tips that transform “blah” into “brilliant” plus weekly newsletter!
I don’t think you should always tip 20% and for one very good reason. Tipping is a gift of gratitude for good service. Having done some travel outside of the USA, I have found that American service is actually internationally excellent. Canadian waiters are fine. German waiters will seemingly forget about you for arbitrary lengths of time. You have to fight for the attention of Russian waiters. Apart from upscale restaurants, I’ve never consistently seen service offered on par with what any competent American waiter does. And do you know why? It’s because American waiters are dependent on tips for everything. It means that they have to really offer good service in order to get what they’re after. Now, I’m not a bad tipper; I tend to always give a bare minimum of 10%, but since I tend to pay for a lot of things in cash, I oftentimes let staff get a little extra out of convenience and because I feel like it’s mean to wave a tenner in front of their faces only to then demand change and leave them with three dollars plus some cents. I do tip very generously to the people who deserve it. If a waiter really gives their all and does a splendid job, I make sure to find some way of compensating them for it. If they’re having a tough day, I’m more lenient.
My girlfriend whines at me that I should always tip 20%because the staff need that money and they rely on tips and she’s talked to waiters and they’ve told her 20% is what people should give. She’s also told me her friends and father have all worked such jobs, so she really feels honor-bound to be a big tipper. The thing is, so have I. I’ve worked tipped jobs, commission jobs, salary jobs, hourly jobs, and so on. And you know what? Going into them, you know and accept the risk of having bad days and stingy customers. It’s just part of the job. There were times when I loved working jobs where I got paid on gratuity, like when a big party of real nice guys who took a solid couple hours for a business lunch left a $50 tip. And then there were times when I hated gratuity jobs, like when I got stuck with stingy grumps who would give awful tips no matter what was done. I once got $3.50 for a $100 meal. Anyway, overall, being free to go and earn as much as I wanted by working as hard as I wanted was actually immensely rewarding for me, especially as a fresh grad. It made me hungry; I wanted to do my best so I could maximize my pay.
This brings me back to why we shouldn’t just automatically tip 20%. It demotivates staff. I’ve had bad service from someone who needed my tip, but I’ve never had great service from someone who didn’t. From their perspective, they’re getting paid just about all they need, anyway. What reason do they have to try harder? I’m reminded of the time I decided recently to electronically book a ride to the airport, and being a nice guy, I gave a prepaid tip of 20%. Now, this was for a pretty good limousine company, so I figured that I may as well pay a little more, thinking I’d get a grateful driver and that he’d have to be good at his job in order to work there. Wrong. The driver was late, hardly help at all with my luggage on either end of the trip, and spent most of the journey either listening to loud music or talking on the phone, and he was not very courteous. The next time I tried that company, because I believe in second chances, I instead deigned to pay the tip in cash at the end based on performance. Needless to say, the driver was punctual, helpful, professional, and social, so I gave him a nice big 30% tip. This ties in to what is known about human behavior: humans respond to incentives — they need an incentive to do something and yet another to do it well. Cutting out performance tipping or just making it an automatic 20% removes the incentive to do it well, so, like my first driver, they’ve already got theirs, so there’s no need to do any more than the bare minimum.
I don’t know that I remember any occasion where I wasn’t treated well.
Tipping shows appreciation for someone who’s run back & forth at your beckon call, which in our country is amazing. We really are spoiled here.
While the point you make is fair, it is too general and lacking insight on the other side of the argument.
Corporate jobs are not nearly as lenient as you are proposing. A server will only be struggling on tips if they consistently perform at a level deemed inadequate from the party. A professional with a 9-5 job will be fired for inconsistent performance. There may be some companies where this is not true, but successfully run organizations do not put up with poor performance from its employees.
Additionally, there should be a differentiator between good and poor performance from a waiter, and poor performance should come with negative consequences while good performances should come with rewards(>20%).
Now if the point is to be more forgiving with what is considered poor, that is an absolutely fair complaint. Slowness should be taken into context etc. The patron does not know all the details, but very poor performance is not difficult to see and, frankly, is particularly rare. So suggesting that there should be a minimum of 20% is a bit absurd to me. If that is your argument, your target should be lawmakers that allow for a low base combined with tip wage. That way tips would truly be a reward and the honus would be on the restaurant to maintain good staff, i.e. only pay the higher wage to those who are deserving since you would be charging a higher bill to accomdate the change in payment distribution.
I think you missed my argument. For the 9-5’ers with inconsistencies, that is usually built up over time. Waiters can get fired on the spot for 1 mistake, rarely will that happen in corporate America. Also my argument is more so about people who are having bad days, and weeks and are just not able to perform to their level and with a few missed things it can significantly drop their income. It is clear to me you have not worked a day in a restaurant?
I totally agree…..I overtip to make up for the people in my party who I know are notoriously cheap. I usually dont go out with them again . My daughter li ed on her tips for many years…. when we see a party of 4 throw 2 dollars on the table after eating…it makes my blood boil.
Billy,
The Salmon recipe caught my eye but I am glad I found this post that became dessert.
The statement Why you should always tip 20 percent will definitely have people taking sides but when you seasoned it with the comparison of the corporate job – that changes things.
Coming from the pizza delivery business I totally get when you are coming from.
Thanks for sharing and I am sure this will change some peoples minds.
Ramon
Thanks Ramon. It’s always interesting to me to get the perspective of people who have never worked in the restaurant/hospitality industry and how they view service.