In the United States, in at least some places (the ones where I've worked in restaurants) it is legal to pay waitresses and other restaurant staff less than minimum wage.
That's why I always tip. That and these additional reasons:
So, tip those waiters and waitresses! Remember that they will split their tips with the kitchen staff and bartenders - they don't get to keep the whole tip.
Ask a waiter sometime. They'll give you the scoop. If you, or someone else you know has gotten more salary on the nights when their tips didn't make it, it is the exception, not the rule.
This creates problems for me when I go to the States. I have inadvertantly been very rude to service people just because I forgot all about tipping and ignored their cues. I have to say that living in a society without tipping has not endeared me to the practice, however. It creates a situation where the consumer constantly has to decide how much reward the waiter or other service person gets, when the he naturally wants to pay as little as possible. Tips for exceptional service are great, but tipping as a practice seems so unfair and antiquated. Face it--tipping is just expected bribery after the fact. When there is a set price, there is no misunderstanding or animosity.
I dislike tipping. Please read why before you downvote on opinion.
I believe strongly that the compensation of a waiter, waitress, bartender or other personnel in a restaurant, is an agreement between the employer and the employee. There is no reason for me as a customer to be involved in payroll issues, especially not in a service establishment, since I'm very likely there to have a good time. Tips should be used as an incentive and reward for outstanding service, not as a part of compensation. I don't give money to lowly paid employees of Wal-Mart, and I don't want to give money to lowly paid employees of T.G.I. Fridays.
If the above is true (GangstaFeelsGood and Flip), that the restaurant will lower the pay so that salary + tips together make minimum wages, then I will definitely stop tipping. I have no interest of supporting a situation where the waiter is a hostage held by the restaurant, used as a mean to make me pay more to the restaurant.
Luckily, most countries do not have the sick tipping culture of the United States. Unluckily, that's where I happen to live now.
Now, when I go to a restaurant, on top of good food I want good service. If I didn't, I could just go to McDonald's. Tipping has the benefit of encouraging you waitperson to give you good service, and it also gives me the opportunity to decide how much to pay for my meal. Now, some people may argue that tipping is stupid and that wait staff should just be paid more. I disagree. If you did that, the cost of your meal would be greater, and then you would, in effect, be paying more money to your waitstaff with no choice. With the way most US restaurant's are, you essentially have the option of deciding the cost of your meal (to a certain degree) based on your overall experience.
To me, this makes a lot more sense and I'd rather have it this way. You don't like your service? Great, you don't have to pay as much for your meal. You really like your service and want to say thanks? Pay a little extra. I can't understand how anyone would rather pay the same amount regardless of their service than having the freedom to decide how much your dining experience was worth.
The reason that tipping has begun to become an obligation in America is that the servers are only paid $2.13 an hour in most states. Not to mention that fact that they are taxed automatically assuming a 10 or 15 percent tip on all of their sales. (This varies from place to place, and is not true everywhere). But basically that waitress is paying taxes on that tip even if you don't give it to her.
If you don't tip it actually can cost them money to wait on you. How would you feel if (say for instance), you were a programmer, and someone called you up and said this.
"Hey, I need you to write this program for me, and I am going to complain about every aspect of it, but I am not going to pay you, and the IRS is going to tax you as if I did!".
Would you be happy with that?
If you live in a country where tipping is expected, and you are being waited on by someone who depends on your tip to feed their family, then you really should be tipping. Otherwise you are theoretically depriving someone from the lower class from a bit of their weekly income. If you were not there, then they would have waited on someone else, that someone else would have probably tipped.
You don't have to worry about any crazy formulas or algorythms to determine how much to tip. Just tip whatever you want to give. Just make sure it is something, even fifty cents will at least cover the income tax that the server might be paying on your supposed tip. If anything I tend to tip higher at the cheaper restaurants. The servers at those places usually make about half of what the people at the fancy places make. The servers at the very best establishments may possibly make quite a bit more than you. But the ones who work at the cheap diners tend to make only slightly more than a fast food employee.
If you are a server I suggest getting to know your regular customers, trying not to make mistakes, and apologizing when you do. Save that brilliant "personality" for people who actually seem interested in speaking with you. Plenty of people just want to get their food, without having to put up with your amateur acting.
Service scale: 00 = Worst service 01 = Poor service 02 = Mediocre service 03 = Average service 04 = Good service 05 = Great service 06 = Grand service 07 = Exceptional service 08 = Fantastic service 09 = Amazing service 10 = Best service tip = bill * 0.15 * s totalbill = tip + bill
Like many others in America, many Casino workers rely on tips (known in the industry as tokes) to subsidize their very low hourly wage. Blackjack Dealers, Craps dealers, Roulette dealers, change carriers, cashiers, Cocktail waitresses, and bartenders all rely on tips to make a decent wage. Some wages become so decent that these workers become, in essence, trapped, unable to quit and get a "real job" that would pay much less than this surreal job pays. They put up with all kinds of abuse from drunk and mostly losing gamblers. And when a gambler gets really lucky and hits a winning streak, walking away with large sums of money, the dealer, waitress, etc., often goes untipped. Henceforth, the popularity of a name tag worn on the employees shirt that simply reads, Tipping is not a city in China. Unfortunately, these tags are not allowed by management, so are rarely seen, but the sentiment, none the less, is widespread.
I'm an American, so this is strongly biased towards American standards and guidelines—in fact, as Fruan and RPGeek have reminded me, it's pretty much only applicable in the U.S.1 I have very little experience elsewhere, although I recall in Paris my then-girlfriend and I left €1 each on top of the included gratuity. Moreover, I live in New York, so that may further skew the numbers here listed. Naturally, your mileage may vary.
EDIT 10/12/2005: Thomas Keller's Per Se in the Time-Warner Center in New York has recently abolished tipping and added a 20% service charge to all checks.
In all cases, of course, you can adjust these numbers up or down to reflect the quality of the service, but looking for problems in order to justify a lower tip makes baby Jesus cry.
Whatever the guidelines might say, avoid leaving coins, definitely avoid leaving only coins, and even if you're charging the tip, don't tip less than a dollar. If you're paying by credit card but tipping in cash, write "cash" in the line for the tip unless you don't mind getting dirty looks.
If you find yourself in a situation not listed here, 15% to 25% is probably about right.
Lastly, this is purely from the viewpoint of a customer; I've never depended on tips, nor have I held a job where tips were customary.
