Why should we tip?

If the food and service is good, I do tip, it is a tough sector to work in but be polite and helpful as it goes a long way imho

As someone who worked as a waitress before, tips were a nice bonus at the end of a shift, the way it worked was whomever took the order kept the tip but larger groups or functions shared tips

The first time I was there I made a mistake with the currency (it all looks the same) and undertipped a taxi driver in NY and he ate the head off me. I mean proper abusive stuff. It had been a genuine mistake.

In most US States the owners have to make up the pay to minimum wage if they don't earn enough from tips. Companies that have tried to bring in a living wage and no tips for servers can't as the servers reject it, because they make more not declaring their tips to the IRS.

I tip for quality.

Service and food. A certain cafe bar in the city that I’m an irregular regular customer for what must be 15 years. Food is class and they have the hardest working, efficient and genuinely nice, kind and courteous servers. Every one of them. No problem spending €20 or whatever and leaving 4 or 5 euros as my own thanks and courtesy.

They really do work savagely hard and efficiently and never a sign of frustration, rudeness or indifference, no matter how busy they get… or how at times they may be understaffed… if I opened my own place tomorrow of the 6/7 of them I’d hire every one of them….without hesitation.

I tip on the basis that I likely have more cash than the people who are providing a service to me. It could be 2 euro or it could be 30 euro.

I’ve started to rethink tipping over the last few years.

Firstly in France for example, service is now included on menu prices so tipping is not what it used to be there- starting to become similar in other European countries too. So if you’re tipping in France you’re double paying - something to watch out for.

Secondly Many countries don’t expect you to tip - so worth reflecting on the level of tipping that’s now nearly “expected” in Ireland, either by statements on the menu in Irish restaurants or just culturally - frankly both are bullshit and should be given short shift imho- this is a modern phenomenon it’s got nothing to do with “tradition” or expected behaviour or even cafe culture, which has been the culture in other countries.
But before you hang draw and quarter me, while I don’t think tipping is necessarily wrong, I do think the expected levels of tip are just way off .

Thirdly the way we tip in Ireland was imported from America where basic wages were lower and essentially the waiting staff depended on their tips to make up the shortfall in income.

Our minimum wages these days are significantly higher than years ago - yes they’re low wages still but not in the way they used to be., There are also more protections for employees than there was years ago via legislation.

As restaurants have increased their prices quite dramatically over the last few years, it’s now become hugely more expensive to eat out- spending 12.5% -15% extra on tips is just not viable, for me anyway.

If food and service is good on a meal for two costing say 130 euro, I’ll give up to 10% of the food value of that bill as a tip - wine is usually at rip off levels of overprice these days so I no longer take the wine into account when deciding tip- so in this example about 9 euro tip.
If you think I’m stingy I really don’t care- but if service and or food is sho1te forget it- you won’t get a dime.

I've lived there and been chased out of a diner by a waitress over a misunderstanding around a tip

tipping in restaurants in Italy for example isn’t a thing. The small cover charge (coperto) is the effective service charge. Any additional tip is very much appreciated. I once had a waiter thank me as if I’d given his kid a kidney.

Yeah the Irish especially need to educate themselves on foreign restaurant and their cultural customs for that country -many leave 10-12% tip out of habit not realising that theyre being charged service already in their bill whether they like it or not, meaning they could be giving up to 18% or more as a tip.

French Geese?

lets do the maths shall we?

You work in a busy restaurant 4 nights a week- 6pm till late.

You serve on average 30 customers each spending 75 euro.
You get 10% from everyone.

Thats 225 per night x 4 = 900 euro

Do that for 40 weeks of the year and that’s 36,000 euro tax free- on top of your wages.

Tipping institutionalises poor pay.

In the USA the minimum wage for people who can get tips is less than 3 dollars, which is basically a disgrace.

Better off getting a reasonable wage.

I'll tip where I'm happy with service or food suppled but I will not be told how much I should tip.

I’d never tip in a queue cafe ever. Most ridiculous idea - anyone who does has more money than sense

I was a bit surprised when a good friend said her hairdressers put up a sign saying 'we prefer cash tips'.

Then last week we had a nice meal out, and when paying the bill, the waiter asked if we could leave a cash tip instead of adding it to the visa amount. First time I'd encountered that but maybe it's a thing now.

first of all that was a cheeky ask - secondly tips going through CC are now taxed I believe by revenue - that’s if the restaurant pays out to the staff in the first place - was an article in the last year or so on that I think in Irish newspapers

https://businessplus.ie/news/tips-tax-laws/

Restaurants have to pay a small percentage of card income to the issuing card company. It may only be 1 or 2 percent but it adds up.

Where tips are added to a bill (rather than being paid in cash), the amount on which the percentage is based includes the amount intended as a tip. I’m aware of some restaurants who remove this third party charge from the tip “pool” before distributing it to staff.

This is why cash tips are preferred. It’s a greater net amount for the beneficiary.