marcomarks Loc: Ft. Myers, FL

Takeout - no special service has been rendered except what they get paid by the hour to do. A robotic arm and an ATM card scanner could do the job better because it could be programmed to have a smiling face on a screen and digitally thank you for your order. NO tip. Never.

Buffet - very little service is typically provided as you are eating and usually you have to practically throw something at a server to get their attention away from rolling silverware into napkins while talking to the other servers - if you can find them at all. Tip but lower than other eat-in establishments - typically 10% unless bringing a group then 15-20% because that's a lot of cleanup work when you're gone.

Eat in - personalized service is provided, everything is brought to you, requests are taken care of. Tip 15 - 20% but if service is exception I might even push it to 25%.

Tips should never be based on the perceived quality of the food because the server had nothing to do with that, only the manner in which you received it and were coddled throughout your eating.

Sometimes after I frequent a place a lot and I get to know the waitresses. I once tipped $5 on a cup of coffee to a very pregnant soon to be single mother who was taking a few weeks off after her shift that night to have her baby.

Another time it was close to closing time in late December and I tipped $20 on a $10 buffet purchase for a single mother of two small children who was going to KMart after work to pick up layaway'd toys for their Christmas. She chased me to the front door and said I had made a terrible mistake. I said no, it was intentional. She cried and hugged me and said, "You didn't know it but I was $20 short of enough tips to pick up the layaways tonight."

LBullock Loc: WA

Yes; sometimes it's the change left over and sometimes $1.00--never more than a buck.

picturedude Loc: Yosemite natl. park, Ca.

I'll bet that made your favorite Christmas. (Whoops, can we still say Christmas?)

Lancer W/A Canon Loc: atlanta

Yes, because they are putting the order totally together in most cases, in fact, there's more to it than simply dropping at a table. They have to get containers, put food in, get tops on tight, sauces, sides, then bag it.
A buck or two.

3Stripes Loc: Rocester, UK

must just be me then, but why on earth does that qualify them to get a tip? not exactly hard work...compare that to a health/hospital worker, a miner, rubbish disposal worker. Do you tip them? Where would you draw the line?

I don't know about over there but here in the UK there seems to be a deliberate effort to make sure you don't get all your order especially at KFC...always something missing that means you have to check your order before driving away. Sorry a tip? No chance!

Chris

Lucian Loc: From Wales, living in Ohio

The cook throws it in a take out container not the person behind the counter. In a restaurant the cook throws it on a plate or into a container, either way the job has been done, so why tip a take out place just because someone is taking your money off you?

Many countires tell you not to tip in Europe because they have laws that include the tip in the price and the workers get a fair share of that tip, such as in Scandinavia. I recall years back in Sweden and Denmark there were Govt signs in taxis telling you not to tip because the price already contained the tip.

This was a period when there was a transition from the cost to a price that was the cost plus the tip and it was to educate everyone that the tip was already being included and not to be fooled into tipping double.

Shutter Guy Loc: New York

Take out - never. What's next, the check out at Walmart?
BUT! Waitresses & waiters... hard working people whose employers figure tips into their pay. They get 20% every time, unless they are really bad which has only happened to me twice in fifty years. FYI - I never worked as a waiter but can recognize someone who's working hard.

Wabbit Loc: Arizona Desert

Hey Doc ..... take out nope ..... but then again I haven't had a good carrot to go in ages .....

Harvey Loc: Pioneer, CA

Some take out - I do - some I don't. My wife is quite disabled so she seldom goes into a restaurant. Most local places know me and know I am a regular take-out customer and treat me as well as I a sit down customer. Tip is 10% for those places. Drive up windows get -0-.

JAW Loc: LA

No, on take out. Don't these employees actually work (physical work - something more than moving their position of one foot to the other) and get paid for this - I refuse to tip take out - period. Tipping is stupid and thought up by some employer so they don't have to pay a fair share of their profits. When was it decided I am to supplement their pay? I don't remember that stumbling in to my life's requirements. If they can't or won't work for the going rate per hour - how is that my problem. Why don't they form a server's union and then go on strike. Then we can see how important working for a living can affect servers. I think they would be out on strike for ever.
Until then, I'll be eating at fast, fat ladened food places so I can laugh at the upper crust tipping their way to a better life through their wallet - cause the one % has most of my money now.
Don't most eating establishments give each employee a voucher or allow an employee a maximum value (eating value meal) to eat on the premises. All employees have to eat and I see them eating many times on the premises. I've never see a fast food employee brown bagging it. It might be against company rules. Anyway, I'm not there to tip, I'm there to push down some of that fast gourmet food down my throat and still enjoy my life.

mollymolly Loc: In the heart of the Everglades.

I guess you think it is easy to be on you feet for 8,10, 12 hours at a time. Servers are some of the hardest working people in the work force. Besides, they have to put up with a whole bunch of crap from people who are having bad days and want to take it out on them- and do so with a smile! If you don't want to tip, then don't. But it is not right to criticize people who are trying to earn an honest living. The restaurant industry has put many, many people through college and will continue to do so. Besides, not everyone had the opportunity to earn a degree or whatever, so they depend upon that job to support their families. And, do you realize how many people depend on their measly little server job to supplement their measly little social security checks??!!?

Goldengatebill

That always made me laugh - a tip jar when I just order something to go. That is realy gaulie! I think most of them dont allow that, never saw one at Mc's or Burger King.

country Loc: back woods

waffle house adds .75 to thier take out orders, no need to tip...

JAW Loc: LA

A little insight: I worked on my feet for 8 to 16 hours at a time - 6 to 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year. I never asked for tips or felt tips were necessary - I looked for a job providing a decent wage at an early age, found it and you should too - forget tips. You accepted a service job knowing what it entailed - why not accept what your employer pays you or find a different, better paying job? Does your employer provide benefits? If so, what? I'd be interested to know. Is the service industry the only place you feel you can use your shills or talent - being what they are. You think you are the only one with a hard job? Oh my - self-righteousness little you - sounds more like poor little you can't make it out there in that big world. "Crap" you say, the public has a way of getting in one's face, under one's skin and you have to be cool, don't get upset, working with idiots which includes some of your fellow workers but hey, life can have it's moments. Sometimes, you can actually feel some of the warm personality types walk through the door and dump a load on you. I know - doesn't it feel good, so warm, uplifting and rewarding! And why is it not right to criticize - it's the way the world works. Get used to it. That's what we are doing here on the forum. It's called venting. It's nothing new. No one said the restaurant industry is not an honest way of making a living - just don't look for tips - it's wrong and it needs to stop. Tipping is out of control as it currently stands, why make it worse. College sounds good - why not try it. Yes, not everyone has had an opportunity to get a college education but what does one thing (job in food industry) have to do with the other. Have we lost sight of our objectives. Just because your in the food industry doesn't preclude you from going to college - give it a try. What may keep you out of college could be many things - GED (HS diploma), among others is capital (money), personal interest (is it something you want to do), willingness (your potential), attitude (how to persevere), fortitude (non-stoppable), desire (mind over matter), and how about your ability to see yourself 4 or 5 years down the road. Will you still be working for the restaurant industry or did you realize your dreams and make them a reality? Yes, it takes guts and an attitude to get where you want to go. So, get off you duff and learn some important skills that may help you down the road - college credits (a degree) or a trade school, it up to you. How important is your future to you?

mollymolly Loc: In the heart of the Everglades.

I will have you know that I am one of the people who paid my way through college with a server job. And when I graduated college, guess where I wound up working? I went back to that same restaurant as part of the management team and worked my way up to their corporate office. I was part of the team that ran one of the biggest restaurant groups in the US, Denny's. I am proud of my accomplishments. So you need to get off of your little high horse and join the world. How dare you make assumptions about me without without knowing your facts! You are one of the rudest people that I have ever had the displeasure to encounter! Why don't you just keep pigging out on your fat filled fast food and educate yourself. And you, did you go to college? If not, you should consider a 'School of Etiquette'. But, it doesn't take college to learn manners!