Tips

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CardsofSTL
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Re: Tips

Post by CardsofSTL »

I'm all for tipping good service.

I'm not for guilt tipping.

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IMADreamer
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Re: Tips

Post by IMADreamer »

G. Keenan wrote:
January 30 23, 11:38 am
I tip 20% whether I'm dining in, or picking up carryout. Delivery I never do anymore. The fees are ridiculous.

I think the tipping on carryout was something I started doing during lockdown when I figured my local neighborhood places could use the extra support, and I've just kept doing it. It probably takes a similar amount of labor to pack up my burger, or Thai, or pizza carryout as it does to walk it 15 feet from the restaurant kitchen to my table if I'm dining in.

That said, tipping culture and just the cost of eating out is ridiculous in this country, at least in Chicago it is. I can only assume that rents are insane or something, because the cost of dining out can't be because of the $6/hour, no healthcare, no retirement plan, no paid time off that most tipped workers get.

My job takes me to Europe pretty often and I can never get over 1) how much better restaurant food is there and 2) how much cheaper it is than here. Whether you're comparing fine dining there to fine dining here, or replacement level dining there to replacement level dining here -- their quality is better, for less money, and you don't have to tip. Maybe in some cases you might want to tip 10%, maximum. I've literally had guys give me tips back. Straight up refused to accept it.

I don't know why the economics are so different. European cities, even when the overall population is smaller than an American city, have higher population densities, so maybe restaurants have more turnover and can charge less per customer? Maybe without tips, servers earn less than their American counterparts, and so incomes in the restaurant industry there are just less and those workers are ok with that? They do at least have healthcare. Average wages tend to be higher here so with more consumer spending power maybe restaurants here can just charge higher prices because the market will bear it?

I've really tried to cut back on dining out in Chicago because the quality to price ratio is just way out of whack, imo. It's one thing to pay a lot for a really good meal, with great ambiance, served by pros who know their stuff and take good care of you. I get that. What grinds my gears is the cost of just regular, nothing special meals. Go to you average neighborhood pub here in Chicago and have a couple of burgers with fries, and a couple of beers each, and after tip you're not walking out of there for less than $80. And this is not some recent, inflation-related phenomenon. Prices here are up a couple bucks on your average menu item, but it's basically always been this way. Just is what it is, I guess, but I've cut way back on my dining out because I just can't justify it to myself.

While I'm on the topic, something that I find absolutely offensive, and am seeing more of, are restaurants in Chicago that say you can only have the table for 90 minutes. This to me is just anathema to the dining experience.
Never been to Europe but dining out down here in no mans land has gotten pretty insane. This is going to sound silly to you guys I'm sure but tonight for the first time I think ever I spent more than $100 on a meal for my wife and I. Admittedly it's at the nicest place around but still I was a little sticker shocked. The last time we were there it was $60. We don't eat out all the often but I have a feeling it will be even less with prices the way they are.

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Radbird
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Re: Tips

Post by Radbird »

G. Keenan wrote:
January 30 23, 11:38 am
My job takes me to Europe pretty often and I can never get over 1) how much better restaurant food is there and 2) how much cheaper it is than here. Whether you're comparing fine dining there to fine dining here, or replacement level dining there to replacement level dining here -- their quality is better, for less money, and you don't have to tip. Maybe in some cases you might want to tip 10%, maximum. I've literally had guys give me tips back. Straight up refused to accept it.
That probably explains this - I tipped 20% at our first 2 restaurants in Prague. Both times the waiter took our payment and came back with a big smile and shots for us.

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G. Keenan
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Re: Tips

Post by G. Keenan »

Radbird wrote:
February 13 23, 12:40 pm
G. Keenan wrote:
January 30 23, 11:38 am
My job takes me to Europe pretty often and I can never get over 1) how much better restaurant food is there and 2) how much cheaper it is than here. Whether you're comparing fine dining there to fine dining here, or replacement level dining there to replacement level dining here -- their quality is better, for less money, and you don't have to tip. Maybe in some cases you might want to tip 10%, maximum. I've literally had guys give me tips back. Straight up refused to accept it.
That probably explains this - I tipped 20% at our first 2 restaurants in Prague. Both times the waiter took our payment and came back with a big smile and shots for us.
So you made it over there? Nice! I haven't had the opportunity to visit Prague yet but everyone says good things. Hope you had a good time!

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heyzeus
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Re: Tips

Post by heyzeus »

I'd bet every dollar I have that the food is better in European restaurants because Sysco has not taken over food distribution there...yet. Every restaurant in America, but for the fanciest ones, gets all their food from the same distributor of processed mediocre crap.

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