[CnoteMD]

Originally Posted by eleven24

Here's the opposite point of view, coming from someone who tips very well. When me, my wife, and my 3-year old son go out we always tip very well. If there are no issues I'll generally tip 25%. If it's exceptional I'll tip up to 30%. But I deduct 5% on my tip if...

1. We order an appetizer and it comes out WITH our dinner/lunch. What's the point of having a ton of food on my table all at once?

2. We sit there for 15-20 minutes before anyone even approaches our table.

3. A table near us sits down 15 minutes after we do, gets their appetizer, and then main course while we are sipping our drinks trying to entertain a 3 year old.

4. Our waiter or waitress apparently takes a vacation to Tahiti while we've been done eating for 30 minutes and trying to entertain a 3 year old.

I have definitely been in this situation before (the appetizer actually came AFTER the main course). I told the waitress to take it back because I no longer wanted the appetizer. No apology, nothing. What made it even worse was that when the check came, I saw that she didn't even subtract the appetizer from the final bill. There were many problems with the service that evening that I won't bore you with here, but ultimately I left about 17cents worth of nickels and pennies on the table.

Usually I use 15% as a starting point for the tip (including tax). For each good or bad thing that happens during the evening, I will adjust the tip up or down. Under normal circumstances it usually ends up around 20-25%, but a few rare occasions the tip was significantly higher than the meal.

My very first job in HS was bagging groceries on a military base. This was COMPLETELY tip based income. If you don't get a tip, you don't get paid. So I can sympathize with people in the service industry.