The most awesome tipper EVAH!. Oh...wait...

[Broomjockey]

Things are getting a bit heated in here, and we all know how well tipping threads usually do around here, and though this did better than most, I think this one's run its course now.

[Evil Queen]

(they charge $2 for delivery... now what they use that for/who gets it I have no clue -- used to be for the company delivery vehicle or driver, but they got rid of the company vehicle when the gas prices went up)

When I delivered Chinese food, the $1 delivery fee was to insure I got a tip.

The absolute WORST tippers were the people at the local Hospital. I'd always wind up delivery nearly $50 worth of food (which I had to pack in a giant cardboard box so I can deliver the damned thing in one trip!) and wind up constantly being tipped a buck and a half. It got to the point where I started everyone else's deliveries (because most others tipped well) and left the Hospital as my last drop off.

Cruel, I know. But hey, they were jerks first. Nevermind that I used to pack extra fortune cookies because they really liked them, or used to deliver their food faster then the pizza joint that was across the street (and I was across town). Hey, Karma is a bitch and so am I.

[Racket_Man]

I rarely ever tip more than 10%, just because I don't have a lot of money to spare. Once I have more money I'll be more generous.

If I were this guy, I'd go back to the restaurant but give no tip for the next couple of visits. Generally these places pool their tips so it doesn't go directly to the server, but that's not always the case.

I will reflect what others have already said.

/rant on

[f you do NOT have that much money, why are you eating out? and why are you taking money out of other peoples pockets by doing so if you can go to Wal-Mart and get 3 times as much food for the same price.

I ABSOLUTLY HATE the "I do not have much money" excuse. that is one of the most lame excuses I hear other than "Times are tough these days ya know" yeah I get that my income suffers too but I am not the one ordering $30 - $50 in delivery as I can not afford it

IF you do NOT have the money to tip properly do not eat out or get delivery. go to wal-mart and use what little money you have in a better manner.

servers and delivery drivers drivers are human too and need to pay bills just like you. sorry we do not get paid minimum wage (well below) and tips ARE assumed and expected to make up for the difference (via the IRS rules which is why we and our emplyers occasionally get auditied for compliance with the minimum tipping claim rule then get fined and penalized when we do not claim what the IRS THINKS we should claim and yes there are enough civil court/tax court cases to support this).

a promise for future "generous" gratuitites when your financial condition is better is not something that pays our bills NOW. my landlord, gas/electric/phone/car insurance company will not accept 150 "Have a nice day's" for payment each month.

as for suggesting the original dinner should not tip for the next 3 or 4 trips to the restaruant is just plain dumb. what if the original server is not working those nights or has left the places employ??? should the other servers suffer??? I suspect if that were the case the original dinner would soon get "less than steller" service for non-tipping.

and as for pooling tips????? there are very very few places that do that. sorry I work my butt off for MY tips and I am not sharing unless I am required to tip out the bartender, busser, hostess, the manager, the phone CSR, the prep person, the homeless guy on the corner down the street

/rant off

IPF: the bussers and kitchen staff ARE paid minimum wage. but still, as required by the restaruant to be tipped out by the server as they "helped" the server. it sucks I know but that is reality for a LOT of servers. the servers still have to claim all of their tips, but walk away with less. I am not sure if the others are required by law to claim their portion of the "tips"

sorry if I turned and drove into Fratching Territory

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

This is the kind of thing many customers are completely unaware of.

What a sucky policy.

I concur. Seems like an excuse to pay the kitchen staff/busboys less than minimum wage as is done with the waitstaff.

[otakuneko]

On top of that, many restaurants have a tip out policy where the server must tip out a certain percentage of the total bill to the kitchen staff. If a customer doesn't tip, this comes directly out of the servers pocket, so by not leaving a tip you are essentially taking money from your server.

This is the kind of thing many customers are completely unaware of.

What a sucky policy.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

I rarely ever tip more than 10%, just because I don't have a lot of money to spare. Once I have more money I'll be more generous.

Then why are you eating at sit-down restaurants? Stick to fast food instead.

[Happy Otter Lover]

I rarely ever tip more than 10%, just because I don't have a lot of money to spare. Once I have more money I'll be more generous.

If I were this guy, I'd go back to the restaurant but give no tip for the next couple of visits. Generally these places pool their tips so it doesn't go directly to the server, but that's not always the case.

I really hope you're either a troll or you live somewhere where tipping isn't standard, because that is a completely rude and disgusting way of dealing with the situation. As a server, I can say that if I had a customer behave in that manner I wouldn't just be annoyed, I'd be outright offended. Lots of places don't pool tips, so it is unfair to assume they do. On top of that, many restaurants have a tip out policy where the server must tip out a certain percentage of the total bill to the kitchen staff. If a customer doesn't tip, this comes directly out of the servers pocket, so by not leaving a tip you are essentially taking money from your server. And even if the restaurant doesn't have that tip out policy, it's still a rude and juvenile way of dealing with an error on the customers part.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Disclaimer: I AM AN ENGLISH TYPE!!!

I only ever tip when I get good service. If I get terrible service, I will not only not tip, but will also make a complaint. Last time I checked, no-one deserves to be rewarded for not doing their job correctly.

I can't say what I'd do if I did what the customer the OP tells about did, cuz it's as likely to happen as the discovery of unicorns in London. XD I certainly don't ever see myself spending that much on a meal by myself in any case, and whenever I go out with friends, everyone tends to throw down a couple of quid each for the tip anyway.

[jedimaster91]

I try to tip 20% because one of the girls in my class is a server and fusses at us if she hears we don't tip well. That and I figure at least one person has stiffed the server, so a few extra dollars from me will help them out a bit.

[Can I have a cheeseburger]

I rarely ever tip more than 10%, just because I don't have a lot of money to spare. Once I have more money I'll be more generous.

If I were this guy, I'd go back to the restaurant but give no tip for the next couple of visits. Generally these places pool their tips so it doesn't go directly to the server, but that's not always the case.

[Bagboy]

He keeps that up and he'll be ingesting an amazing variety of bodily fluids.

**And I am not for a second advocating that anybody do this. But the reality is some people in food service don't have the kinds of moral codes we here have.**

Your french toast will be right out sir.


if you've ever seen roadtrip,you'd know what i'm talking about.

[Plaidman]

But when you give a "small" tip (about 20%), and the driver automatically assumes you want change.... that's kind of sad.

Assumptions on tips are never a good idea. If they assume it and keep it, the customer could sue or press charges for theft.

At least thats how I view it. I tip though.

[IEatCustomers4Breakfast]

All these posts are making me think my town's full of the "no tipping" people that might request change for the tip left.... I ordered a pizza and stuff the other night (they charge $2 for delivery... now what they use that for/who gets it I have no clue -- used to be for the company delivery vehicle or driver, but they got rid of the company vehicle when the gas prices went up), but I gave the driver about $4 over the total (I just rounded up to $25). Driver's first comment was "I'll go get your change". Which threw me off, I said "it's yours, I figure you have expenses and stuff." He replied "thanks! We do have to pay for our gas again."

But when you give a "small" tip (about 20%), and the driver automatically assumes you want change.... that's kind of sad.

My fiance is a manager for a pizza chain, and was a driver for several years. The delivery charge usually goes towards insurance. A la, if a driver gets in an accident and it comes back to the store somehow, then the store can cover it. This is the general principle in major chains, I think... not sure about your small mom-and-pop type pizza place.

And when I was a server, the "I'll go get your change" was a ploy to get a customer to say, "oh no, that's for you!" Because when they didn't say that, 98% of the time, they were going to give you only a portion of whatever the change was, however minimal it may have been. Which always sucked.

Related to the OP though... I'd tell the guy to shove it, and play dumb like he never gave me more than the originally intended $8. But where I was a server, we all always had pockets full of cash, most of the time having no clue who gave us how much, just knowing what our totals were at the end of the night.

[JLRodgers]

All these posts are making me think my town's full of the "no tipping" people that might request change for the tip left.... I ordered a pizza and stuff the other night (they charge $2 for delivery... now what they use that for/who gets it I have no clue -- used to be for the company delivery vehicle or driver, but they got rid of the company vehicle when the gas prices went up), but I gave the driver about $4 over the total (I just rounded up to $25). Driver's first comment was "I'll go get your change". Which threw me off, I said "it's yours, I figure you have expenses and stuff." He replied "thanks! We do have to pay for our gas again."

But when you give a "small" tip (about 20%), and the driver automatically assumes you want change.... that's kind of sad.

[STEELMAN]

I had a similar thing happen to me one time. There was a family that ordered pizza from us quite regularly and they always stiffed the driver. I delivered there one night and a different lady came to the door and gave me a check with a three dollar tip. Later that night the woman that lives there came into the store and said that the lady who paid was her sister and she didn't want her paying for the meal so could she buy the check from me. I said sure, so she wrote me a check. I told her she was three dollars short because the other check had a tip. She got all huffy and walked out.