Tipping
July 13th, 2004 at 10:10 pm (uncategorized)
Random non-knitting thoughts: My husband and I have an ongoing discussion (mainly when I’m entering the receipts into the computer) about how much to tip at restaurants where you get the food to go. Some restaurants bring the food out to your car for you, and some make you walk in. Either way - what do you think? Is a tip required (and how much of a tip?) just because there is a TIP line on the credit card receipt? We love that restaurants are actively advertising to-go service and making it really easy for us. They did get your food together (well, didn’t the chef actually do this?) and put it in to-go containers and put it in a nice bag for you. They walk it out to your car and take your money for it. Hopefully they do it in a timely manner and get your order correct (we’ve never had a problem with either of these at our standard to-go restaurants). How much is that worth tip wise? Is it a waiter or waitress who performs these tasks? A hostess-type person? A dedicated to-go person? (doubtful) Who gets the tip? When you eat in a restaurant you get interactive service from a waitress, get drink refills, make a mess in thier establishment that they have to clean up after, and I really value that - and tip accordingly. I just can’t figure out what the proper tip amount is for the to-go food service. Ideas? Opinions? Anyone in the know on the restaurant side of things? Enquiring minds want to know… :)
Joann said,
July 14th, 2004 at 10:01 am
Good question. If you have to go in and get it, I wouldn’t tip. If they bring it to your car, something nominal like maybe a buck. When I go to a restaurant and dine in, I tip at least 20% or more depending on service given, etc. (former waitress speaking - I know how hard that job is!). Did you see the article in the DP today about restaurants taking percentages of tips on tickets paid by credit card? Sheesh.
Ann said,
July 14th, 2004 at 7:37 pm
This website is funny and educational all at once. http://www.geocities.com/whine_n_diner/tipping.html
joann said,
July 16th, 2004 at 8:05 am
Interesting website, but from my own personal experience it’s the kitchen that packs the order, not the waitstaff. :)
Scott said,
July 28th, 2008 at 6:22 pm
Glad to run across this blog entry, as I was just wondering about this and found your blog in Google. Just got back from an Eat-A-Pita place where we ordered at the counter, picked up our own orders at the counter when ready, and took them to a table where we ate. Probably wouldn’t have thought twice about a tip if I had paid cash, but I used a credit card and had to total it up and sign the ticket. Didn’t add a tip but just brought the total down to the bottom line. Nobody seemed put off by this, but my rationale was that no waiter nor delivery person was involved, so no tip required. If they had had a tip jar, I might have put a dollar in there for each of our two orders, but no. I think I did OK with not tipping in this case. Tips are for serving or delivering your meal, not simply for ringing it up and preparing it.