Tipping Etiquette: Reader Survey Says’¦ 15% is Standard
We had about ninety responses to the QC Tipping Survey in the last week. Of those who identified themselves by gender and orientation, we had 39% lesbian, 33% gay men, 21% straight women and two guys who were comfortable with their masculinity. The full results are visible here and my deeper analysis follows below.
Tipping Practices
Adequate restaurant service was worth 15%. Good service earned 20%, occasionally more while poor service knocked it down to 10%. But the polls were pretty split on how to handle a bad service situation. The next two big groups paid 15% or something less than 10%.
About half of you don’t tip the barista at Starbucks, which makes me feel much less guilty. Those that do, favor either a fixed dollar amount or less than 10% which I assume might be the change. Lesbians were the most generous with their coffee shop tipping but by contrast, they were 10% more likely than gay men not to tip the bartender. But the majority of everybody male or female tipped the bartender a fixed dollar amount.
We were all over the map with buffet service. Ten percent was the weak consensus but just as many people left nothing. Buffet servers were deemed more worthy of tips than take out counter workers. A resounding 80% of you didn’t tip for being handed your food. But when the pizza guy brought it you paid 15%.
42% of you wouldn’t touch the tipping on expensive wine question with a ten foot pole but for those who did, 15% seemed appropriate.
As for the issue of Paypal tip jars on blogs? About 7% say they’ve tipped at least once while 12% think it’s gauche. The rest either support the practice or haven’t heard of them.
And for the semi-explosive issue of tipping on tax‘”it’s a dead tie between people who do and don’t, with 15% in the middle: doing so, but grudgingly. The distribution of responses was almost identical across all demographics.
Attitudes about Tipping
The stereotype may be that lesbians are worse tippers, but from what I saw on this survey that wasn’t true (outside of the bars). Overall, the rest of us were neutral about the whole issue of whether tipping improves service. Lesbians were most likely to agree with the practice.
Most people liked the warm fuzzy of saying thank you through tips, but again Lesbians showed a much more enthusiastic response. Maybe it’s because over half of them felt that they were well educated in tipping protocol. Without the lesbian factor, slightly less than half of us felt we had a clue about what was appropriate.
Half of you supported alternative compensation for servers, be it included gratuity or fixed wages. 75% of straight women taking the survey were in favor of abolishing the current system, a clear majority there.
Gay men were much more likely to think about not tipping, but were less likely to follow through on a regular basis. Only about 25% of the readers claimed to not tip more than once, but even then only rarely.
Conclusion
While the survey may not be the most scientific, it does highlight the diversity in tipping practices. Lesbians felt the most positive about tipping overall and they varied their tips more or less depending on the quality of service received. Gay men didn’t do as generously as our stereotype would predict, but were much more consistent when service was adequate.
As always’¦ if you have any questions about the survey that aren’t covered here or would just like to share your opinion’¦ I live for your comments.
Like surveys and statistics? Mike is currently conducting a survey for his blog, Broken Cupid.
I always over tip. I was a bartender for a good while so I’m probably biased.
When I consider what to leave for a tip when the service is terrible I try to take the circumstances into consideration. If the restaurant is understaffed and the waiter/waitress is running around like crazy so my service is slow, I still tip well. I’ll tip better if they are apologetic.
In fact, the only thing that will make me tip poorly is attitude. Tired, harried, stressed… all fine. But be a jerk and it will hit you in the wallet.
As having a history as a server, and an avid restaurant goer, 20% is my standard tip amount. The difference between 15 and 20 percent is such a minor amount, that typically the server you are leaving the tip for would be the only one to notice. There are situations that, often unseen by the diner, the server has no control over. Should this person be tipped less, if they are a victim of poorly run restaurant or kitchen situation? I think not.
Having worked in the restaurant industry in the past, 15% is a good start. Most people don’t realize about how there service works. They only focus on the long time it takes to get there food. In actuality it’s usually the kitchens fault and your waiter/waitress has no control over that. Buy your wait staff works for tips, so its better to give more than less. And at some places you have to share your tips, which really cuts into the amount you really get.
I was formerly a waiter at various restaurants, including Red Lobster and Olive Garden. Let me tell you, there are still plenty of people who think a fixed dollar amount is appropriate for extensive service (and unfortunately it was common that the fixed dollar amount was a big ole $1 bill).
I always tip 20%, having been a server, unless the server is obviously rude. I assume that slow service is a consequence of unforeseen events, unless of course I’m the only seated table in the entire restaurant.
I don’t tip the Subway guy or the barista. I believe they are paid a significant hourly wage (unlike servers at restaurants, who if I’m not mistaken, received about half of minimum wage).
The results were fasinating. 😀
I tip “well” (min 20%) most of the time because I appreciate servers having to deal with demanding people all the time. Its a job I dont want am grateful to those who do it.
I still don’t ‘like’ that its based on the dollar value of the meal, not the quality of the service.
I’ve worked as a waiter before, which is an experience that will give you more sympathy for your server than the average consumer seems to have. I rarely tip below 15% unless the service was TERRIBLE and usually do around 20%.
Most of the folks I go out to eat with don’t seem to realize that servers in most restaurants make even close to minimum wage before tips.
Working at a TGI Fridays for a summer job really opened my eyes to how much it can suck to be a waiter/waitress. By default, I always tip 20%, regardless of service. Even if the service was terrible, I am not one to undertip. There are soooo many things that could make service terrible, and most of them are not under the control of the server. Even if they are rude, their are so many things that can contribute to that: crappy manager, short staff, rude customers, etc. None of these things can be controlled. They are gonna get taxed whether they get a tip or not, so might as well give it to em so they can at least give uncle Sam his cut. You would be amazed at how bad some people tip at resteraunts…its usually the locals and the old people (in my experience). 20-somethings and out-of-towners are generally pretty good. A lot of people also claim that there are destinctions across racial lines, but I didn’t get that in my experience. Just my 2 cents.
I’ve also found that women tend to tip better then men, although it’s not a hard and fast rule.
I figure the difference between an average tip, and a pretty good one is small enough that I tend toward overtipping. As far as the buffet goes, when I’m out to the Chinese buffet with my daughter and we eat three plates of food, plus desert, and the bill is barely $20, the waiter deserves $5 for removing three sets of dishes, and filling my water glass for the duration. And the $2 difference from just a 15% tip isn’t going to kill me.
Joe
Thank you for discussing lesbian tipping habits. There is now a specialized blog on this subject. We have concluded that it is indeed true that there is a stereotype out there, that lesbians are not generous tippers, and urge everyone of good will, including lesbians, to tip generously for good service. Thank you again.