There's a lot of debate going on right now about when you should actually tip or not.  It goes without saying that in the last 5 years that places have begun adding a "tip" line on their invoice/receipt for even the smallest of services.  Going back just 10 years or so, you would typically only see an area for a tip to be added on actual sit-down restaurant receipts.  A lot of places just had the old plastic jar out with "Tips" written on it versus automatically printing it on the receipt.

My question to you, kind and generous people of the Marlins board:

Do you always/almost always tip when you see an area for "tip" on a receipt?

Did you previously tip these folks BEFORE there was an area for a tip?

Do you now feel guilted into it and thus you begrudgingly do so now?

Do you feel tipping culture has gotten way out of control or that this is something that should have always been in place?

 

For me?  I feel like it's absolutely insane now.  I always tipped well when I'd go out to eat but I really struggle to tip if I go and pick up my own pizza for instance.  There was a TikTok video recently of a dude picking up his cookie order from Crumbl and there was literally nobody at the register yet it asked for a tip and he, quite rightly, asked "who is getting the tip?  do you want a tip for just putting a cookie in the box?"

My feelings were always that you tip for jobs where they pay less than minimum wage (i.e. a job that's nearly entirely tip-based) but if you go to a place where that person is already making minimum wage+ then you shouldn't feel as obligated to tip barring something exceptional.  The whole carry-out food guilt tipping drives me insane.  My wife, refuses to tip if she is leaving the house to go get her own food and I don't blame her.  I'm a pushover and experience guilt so I usually end up adding a few bucks. 

I'll tip waiters in sit-down restaurants, delivery guys like GrubHub, taxi/uber drivers, baggage handlers at the airport, barbers.

Basically anyone providing a service like that gets a tip.

If I am picking up my own food, I don't believe a tip is necessary. 

Yep. Tip if they're actually bringing you the stuff and other things, not if you get the food yourself.*

 

*unless the cashier is like suuuuper cute then just don't show up cause you're shy.

29 minutes ago, SonOfJack said:

I'll tip waiters in sit-down restaurants, delivery guys like GrubHub, taxi/uber drivers, baggage handlers at the airport, barbers.

Basically anyone providing a service like that gets a tip.

If I am picking up my own food, I don't believe a tip is necessary. 

yeah I agree with this in general.  This is how it was just a few years ago. Sure you'd see places with the general tip jar sitting out but I feel that's a lot less aggressive than adding the tip line by a total for something (aside from cooking the food itself) you're doing on your own.  I still get guilted into it though far too often. 

I will say for other things, like smaller / mid-level bands selling merch, I'll tip on that if they have the option because they're traveling a bunch and really need every penny they can get.

I always lean towards tipping sometimes even at grocery store. I do provide a smaller tip for pick up as there does seem to be an extra amount of work going in to putting everything into little containers.

16 minutes ago, pollythewog said:

I always lean towards tipping sometimes even at grocery store. I do provide a smaller tip for pick up as there does seem to be an extra amount of work going in to putting everything into little containers.

You tip the cashier you mean?

@Jack has a friend who likes to tip everyone when he goes somewhere.  Hostess, waiter, guy serving the food at the buffet if it is a buffet, anyone he interacts with.

I once did tip for a pickup. It was Outback though so I felt like that was a little different. The servers would bring the food over when they had a free moment from their tables. I know it goes against my pickup advice from earlier but I think that was different than say picking it up from the counter at the local Chinese food place.

29 minutes ago, SonOfJack said:

I once did tip for a pickup. It was Outback though so I felt like that was a little different. The servers would bring the food over when they had a free moment from their tables. I know it goes against my pickup advice from earlier but I think that was different than say picking it up from the counter at the local Chinese food place.

Yeah I think that's fair.

I think I may have tipped at the counter when the pandemic was at its peak, mostly because, "what the hell, why are people working and having to subject themselves to this, they deserve better".

I tip at sit-down restaurants.

 

With the heavier usage of "digital payment" - i.e. you sign on the screen - The casual "walk through" places now include a tip line......and those are hit or miss for me.....sometimes I'm like "uh no", sometimes I'm like "ok I'll give $1-2", it just depends on my mood at the time.

Do you guys tip on the total at a restaurant or do you tip based off the pre-tax total? Technically, you shouldn't be tipping on State/fed taxes because it's not part of the meal but I don't think most of us actually pay that close attention 

3 minutes ago, hovertical said:

Do you guys tip on the total at a restaurant or do you tip based off the pre-tax total? Technically, you shouldn't be tipping on State/fed taxes because it's not part of the meal but I don't think most of us actually pay that close attention 

On the full total though you're right, it really should be the subtotal.

I'll tip at pickup spots depending on the interaction with the server and if I think they've done more than the minimum duty of the job, and those people are really just waiters who were assigned to the take out area for the day, they're actually losing a lot of potential tip money just because they weren't assigned to tables that day so that's something to think about.

But in those cases I will usually only tip 2 bucks just to be kind but won't tip more than that because there's no way that's the same as tipping a server who waited on you for your entire stay/meal. I'd tip one dollar but that specifically looks like a cheap ass thing to do, a one dollar tip just feels insulting. 

But this brings me to another question, how do restaurants split or distribute electronic tips? If I leave a cash tip on the table I know that's going entirely to my server, the person who earned the tip. But that little tip I gave to the take out server sure as hell feels like it's not going directly or entirely to that person. 

I don't want my tip money split amongst the staff. My tip money is intended as a token of appreciation to the one person who specifically helped me. 

8 hours ago, hovertical said:

Do you guys tip on the total at a restaurant or do you tip based off the pre-tax total? Technically, you shouldn't be tipping on State/fed taxes because it's not part of the meal but I don't think most of us actually pay that close attention 

Damn this is a good point, pretty sure 99% of people tip off the full total as the tip line is right under the full total so that's the amount we see first. 

23 hours ago, SonOfJack said:

You tip the cashier you mean?

Yup! When the pandemic was really bad here in nyc became a common thing and I’m into it if I have a dollar in the wallet

i aint tipping the folks at my local sandwich shop for making my sandwich.

Just now, Das Texan said:

i aint tipping the folks at my local sandwich shop for making my sandwich.

Cheap bastard!

Just now, pollythewog said:

Cheap bastard!

I mean its what they are getting paid to do.

If they dont like what they make they can get a better job.

Not really my problem. 

1 hour ago, Das Texan said:

I mean its what they are getting paid to do.

If they dont like what they make they can get a better job.

Not really my problem. 

This is accurate but now it has me thinking... why do we tip barbers? Feels like something that became customary and I'm not saying we should change it but one could argue a barber giving you a haircut is nothing more than the minimum they're already being paid to do.

Edit: You could probably say the same for most things that we tip for. Maybe we've crossed a line where we tip for too many things now. It probably started as a way to help severely underpaid employees but are we even at that level anymore? Not many people are working for pennies and needing tips any more.

I went to pick up food from a spot yesterday and their suggested tip was like 25%. I usually tip a dollar for pickup but this time I gave them nothing.

It isn't just the ridiculousness of tipping for everything. It's that the suggested tip on these nifty little payments tablets has gotten pathetically high. And inflation isn't the reason. It's a percentage of an inflated price, so it's already factored in. I find it insulting honestly.

 

 

The purpose of tipping has been lost, it's now used as a way to just squeeze extra money from the customer while trying to mask it as something customary.

22 hours ago, hovertical said:

Do you guys tip on the total at a restaurant or do you tip based off the pre-tax total? Technically, you shouldn't be tipping on State/fed taxes because it's not part of the meal but I don't think most of us actually pay that close attention 

Pre-tax in general.......but I pay more attentiont to it for larger checks, vs a smaller one that may only be a few cents difference, at which point I'll round up if they don't have one of those exact percentage things digitally.

 

24 minutes ago, SilverBullet said:

This is accurate but now it has me thinking... why do we tip barbers? Feels like something that became customary and I'm not saying we should change it but one could argue a barber giving you a haircut is nothing more than the minimum they're already being paid to do.

Edit: You could probably say the same for most things that we tip for. Maybe we've crossed a line where we tip for too many things now. It probably started as a way to help severely underpaid employees but are we even at that level anymore? Not many people are working for pennies and needing tips any more.

Well, depending on who it is/what company it is, most of the money for the haircut likely goes to the business, not the actual person cutting the hair......some cutters also rent a chair in a place....tipping ensures it goes to them, not the establishment.

1 hour ago, rmc523 said:

.some cutters also rent a chair in a place

Ah yes true, I forgot about this.

Also gotta be weary of tip being included in restaurants when there's a big party. Especially if everyone splits the bill it's easy for everyone to miss that.