To those who live in or who have visited the United States.

Growing up in the 90’s, the “minimum acceptable” tip was 10%, average was 15%, and a good tip was 20%. These days, I just round to the nearest dollar and tip 20%, but I’ve heard these days it’s not unusual to tip up to 40%!

What do you usually do?

  • agnomeunknown@lemmy.mlEnglish
    1·
    1 month ago

    I always tip 20%, more for exceptional service. I’ve worked as a cook for about 15 years, at various places from dive bars to fine dining. At some places the servers and bartenders make insane money, often more than the chef who is usually on salary and not eligible for tips. But at a lot of places, the servers barely make ends meet and live not only check to check, but hand to mouth, week to week depending on the business. I never assume anyone is making bank so I tip well as a professional courtesy and to make up for people who don’t tip.

    Increasingly these days, I’ve heard about and worked at places where the tips are split with the back of house crew, up to 40%. That ends up meaning that nearly 50% of our monthly pay is in tips, and that’s a blessing and a curse. Having PTO is basically worthless because missing out on the tips hurts so much.

    Here in Seattle, they just raised the minimum wage to just over $20 an hour, and tips and benefits can’t be counted towards that. It’s a step in the right direction, but because capitalism is going to capitalism, it means that’s barely enough to live in the city with a single income source. So I still tip well regardless.

    Most places in the country are not that fortunate, so I encourage everyone to tip their servers. If you think you’re going to force owners to pay people more by not tipping, you’re not only wrong, you’re actively making life harder for people who will likely never make as much as you if you work any sort of office job.

    The system sucks, and needs to change. Some people can’t afford to tip generously, and that’s fine. But if you don’t tip out of principle, you’re just an asshole.

  • zer0@lemmy.ml
    0·
    1 month ago

    As a transplant I refuse the whole US tipping system and stick to the way of “rounding it up”. It often ends up around 10% of the bill but % tipping seems absolutely stupid as you are being punished for buying more. A few rare times I actually tipped 20% because the service was very good. Nobody tips me on my job and on average I make less than these people so I don’t see the logical connection of this whole stupid tipping culture