Hellobee Boards

I think I'm an average tipper... not overly generous but not below the norms either. I usually tip 15% at restaurants unless the service is exceptionally good or bad.

However, I don't really "get" the tipping culture... I'd rather just pay people a fair wage!
For instance, I don't really understand why you tip baristas at Starbucks/independent coffee shops but not the employees at McDonalds...

At restaurants I always tip 20% or more. At coffee/bagel type shops I tip if I go in there all the time and/or if I get great service or order something complicated.

No I'm pretty bad... but I'm English and we don't tip much there, especially not in places like bars and coffee shops. Now I live in Canada, I try to be better but I still don't understand why at a bar I have to tip someone for taking the top off a bottle of beer!!!! I know, I'm mean! For us 15% is a good tip but I'm guilty of 10% too. I think if I'd grown up in the states I would have a very different mind set.

DH was a waiter throughout grad school so he almost always tips 20-30%

I start at 20% and you go up and down from there depending on the service. I think a lot of people just top 20% no matter the service level which I don't get. If you give me horrible I'm not going to tip you well just because it's "expected". And likewise if you go above and beyond I'll compensate you for it. I don't tip at places like Starbucks though, just somewhere that I have an actual waiter/waitress.

I usually tip 20%.

I think we're standard. We do give extra if the service was really great though or we were with LO and left a big mess.

I usually do between 15-20%. Never less than 15 though, unless service was terrible.

Usually always do a minimum of 20%.

Now? No. We don't tip in Australia, or if we do, we just round up (i.e. a bill of $98.20, we'll leave $100 if anything). Minimum wage here is $16/hr and most wait staff get more than that, so tipping is definitely not required or expected.... although the American influence is starting to rub off and tips are starting to occur a bit more often.

I will admit, when DH and I go to the States for a visit, we occasionally forget to tip or we'll give what's probably considered a low tip because we just don't think about it. Tipping for a sit down meal though is all I'll do - I won't tip at coffee shops, bars, hair salons, or any other service industry. I think those workers should get a fair wage and not be reliant upon tips.... and really, if those businesses pay their employees such low wages, expecting them to survive on tips, shouldn't the prices of their products reflect that? A Starbucks coffee in the States is no cheaper than one here, yet Starbucks here manages to pay their employees $16/hr whilst the ones in the States don't even come close to that and expect their customers to fork over a tip in addition to the price of coffee? Sounds like some corporate greed going on to me..

Sorry, a bit of a rant! I had forgotten how much the whole tipping culture annoyed me until I read this post!

20-25% is our usual, but we've gone up to 30%, depending on the service. You have to be really awful for us to leave less than 20%.

I cocktailed in a club for a year when I was in college, and my wage was $2.36. I absolutely lived on tips, so I'm prone to over-tipping, especially if DH isn't with me. He tends to temper my tipping a bit (but still rarely less than 20%).

15-18% is my usualy tipping range for average service, 10% if the service was horrible, and then more than 25/30% if they were exceptional!

Usually about 15%. People are cheap in my area, and when I worked getting tips at a golf course, I made horrible money (unless I was the cart girl that day).
I think 15% is a good rate. I would have loved to get that when I worked at the course. If they are horrible and slow, I might do 10%.
DH always does about 10%.. he hates tipping.

Wow, you guys are generous! 15% for us, and 20% if service is amazing.

For a sit down meal I typically tip 15-20% depending on the service. I refuse to tip at place where I know the cashier is making a decent hourly wage and they place a tip cup out front-drives me crazy! I wish restaurants had to pay people a decent wage and not the "server wage".

I think I'm an ok tipper. For standard service in a restaurant we tip at least 20% - for exceptional service, we tip more. It would have to be really terrible service for me to tip less than 15% - and in that case, I'd also speak to a manager.

Usually I just try to stick to a 20% tip standard for everything; but then there are times like yesterday when I went to get my hair cut at a new place and they did a really good job and it was only $35 which is ridiculously cheap compared to my old place, so I tipped her over 30%.