Another Tipping Question

How much do you tip the host or hostess of a restaurant when they take your coats and hang them up, take you to your table, and then retrieve your coats when you are ready to leave? This has happened two or three times.

Carl,
I normally don't tip the host/hostess separately for this service unless they have been extraordinarily helpful. I also don't tip the bus person for clearing my plates and cleaning up the crumbs from my table. I assume, perhaps incorrectly, that the host staff and bus staff get a cut of the server's tip.
Bill

Agree, but if you check your coats yourself you tip there don't you?

From Tipping Etiquette:

I recommend tipping 10-15% on the alcohol and 15-20% on the food. 10% on the wine is perfectly acceptable. Whether to tip 10 or 15 percent would depend in large part on how helpful the server was in choosing the wine and serving it.

Food server - 15-20%.

Counter service - 15-20%.

Cocktail server - 15-20%. For free drinks in Vegas, tip $1-2 per round.

Bartender - 15-20% or $1 per drink. If at the bar before a meal, settle up with the bartender before you go to your table.

Wine steward - 10% of wine bill.

If a bar has a cover charge, you do not tip on it.

Busboys - Nothing, unless he did something extra special like cleaning up a huge mess. Then give him $1-2.

Maitre d' - Nothing, unless he gets you a special table or the restaurant is full and you had no reservation. Then give $5-10 or more.

Coat check - $1

Restroom attendant - $1

Separate checks - If you want separate checks, ask the server to go ahead and add 18% gratuity to each check.

Musician in lounge - $1-5

Musician that visits table - $2-3 if you make a special request. Optional if he just stops by and plays.

Takeout - If you get good service, in other words, the waiter gets and packages the food, then tip $1-2 or up to 10%.

Drive through - Nothing.

Self-service restaurant or buffet - Nothing unless there is some service. Tip 10% if the server delivers all or part of your meal or keeps your drinks refilled.

When breakfast is included in the price of the hotel room - Estimate the value of the meal by looking at a menu. If there is no breakfast menu, consider the quality of the hotel and the price of an evening meal, then make your best estimate. Your tip should be 15-20% of your estimate.

Teppanyaki chef - 15-20% of the total bill. The gratuity will be split among the wait staff and the chef.

I tip a buck a coat when the coat[s] come back, maybe two bucks if there are scarfs, hats, etc. Same as to a hat check person. Nothing at the beginning for for just being seated.

[Robin Garr]

From Tipping Etiquette:

I recommend tipping 10-15% on the alcohol and 15-20% on the food. 10% on the wine is perfectly acceptable. Whether to tip 10 or 15 percent would depend in large part on how helpful the server was in choosing the wine and serving it.

Food server - 15-20%. (etc.)

For the record, at least in terms of "better" restaurants in urban areas, these suggestions are consistently on the low side. In my opinion, 20 percent is the <i>floor</I> for tipping nowadays, and you shouldn't hesitate to kick it up a notch from there if service is good.

Bottom line, in today's economy, you're making a hell of a lot more than the guy who has to work his butt off to make your dinner a good one, and if you can afford to drop $100 to $200 for dinner for yourself and your sweetie, you can afford to treat the guy well. Anything less makes you look like a cheapskate.

("You" is not personally directed here, Bucko, just preaching to the congregation ... )

Personally I like to tip £1 for the traffic warden when they give me a parking ticket

That's pretty low, Ian -- 4% or so based on the last ticket I got in London. Loosen up, son!

Bottom line, in today's economy, you're making a hell of a lot more than the guy who has to work his butt off to make your dinner a good one, and if you can afford to drop $100 to $200 for dinner for yourself and your sweetie, you can afford to treat the guy well. Anything less makes you look like a cheapskate.

Reminds me of this story about Frank Sinatra:

Frank is in the parking lot of a top Las Vegas hotel and he says to the admiring attendant ......

"hey kid what is the biggest tip you've ever been given ?".

The kid replies "$100 Mr Sinatra"

Frank replies "wow - well here's $200 and when people ask next time you tell em Frank Sinatra gave it to you"

Curiously Frank then asks the kid - by the way who gave that big tip ?

The kid smiles and replies - "you did" !

I like that story, John. By the way, where did you get that avatar, the animated wine in a glass?

There is a lot of great knowledge and advice here, but nobody has answered my origional question. It was about tipping a combination coat check and host/hostess person. One who takes your coats, hangs them up, takes you to your table and introduces you to wine steward and waitperson, and then retrieves your coats when you are leaving.

It just doesn't seem right to tip the buck or two you would give a person in a cloak room.

Well, I did answer your question, Carl -- "I tip a buck a coat when the coat[s] come back, maybe two bucks if there are scarfs, hats, etc. Same as to a hat check person. Nothing at the beginning for for just being seated."

But, Janet says in practice that we normally pay five bucks when we get the coats back in those circumstances. We frequently go to a restaurant where the regular hostess does double duty.

I'm not sure why I tip more than for just cloakroom duty in this circumstance -- we wouldn't tip for someone who showed us our seats, gave us the menus, introduced us to the sommelier and the waitperson -- but didn't do any cloakroom duty.

But my practice is different, according to Janet -- if the host or hostess also does cloakroom duty, I tip more -- but maybe I won't in future. Either that, or I should start tipping hosts and hostesses who do the seating/intros but no coats. That at least would be consistent.

And all this ignores the twenty I tip to get a difficult table -- an entirely different type of transaction.

Thanks Bob.

For the record, at least in terms of "better" restaurants in urban areas, these suggestions are consistently on the low side. In my opinion, 20 percent is the <i>floor</I> for tipping nowadays, and you shouldn't hesitate to kick it up a notch from there if service is good.

My thoughts on that observation:

Then the restaurants ought to be paying their servers better wages. And maybe charging more up front for the meals.

If 20% is the floor for what originally was a "gratuity" (payment only for service above and beyond the call of duty), then things have gotten way far out of hand.

-Paul W.

[Robin Garr]

My thoughts on that observation:

Then the restaurants ought to be paying their servers better wages. And maybe charging more up front for the meals.

If 20% is the floor for what originally was a "gratuity" (payment only for service above and beyond the call of duty), then things have gotten way far out of hand.

While I don't disagree in principle - the European system of paying servers a decent wage and tipping only a token amount works better for both waitstaff and the public - I hope you don't put this theory into practice when you're dining out.

The problem is that whether we like this system or not, it's entrenched in the US. If you want to change it, get involved in a movement to pressure the restaurant industry. But don't punish the low-level, low-wage worker who's busting his butt to give you a good dining experience. That punishes the wrong person, and it doesn't identify you as a person of principle but merely as a thoughtless cheapskate.

If you can afford to drop $100 for dinner, you can afford to go along with the system and add another $20 for the guy or gal who's working for a lot less money than you make. Until the system changes, anyway.

But don't punish the low-level, low-wage worker who's busting his butt to give you a good dining experience. That punishes the wrong person, and it doesn't identify you as a person of principle but merely as a thoughtless cheapskate.

I am split on the issue of tipping a pre-determined amount. My philosophy boils down, essentially, to the notion that tipping still is, and should be, a gratuity for capable service. Therefore, if I receive bad service (legitimately bad, not just one or two little things), then I don't believe I am punishing the wrong person. In fact, nothing irks me more than the mentality from a server that he/she is entitled to a certain payment from me even if they don't concern themselves with performing their job adequately.

After living in Europe myself for five years, I learned to love the tipping system there (or lack thereof). Since I have returned, I have begrudgingly accepted the American "standard," but I refuse to set aside my principles and reward poor performance.

Don't get me wrong, truly bad service is not common, but when I do encounter it, I adjust my tip percentage downward accordingly. The revese is also true for exceptional service.

[Robin Garr]

Don't get me wrong, truly bad service is not common, but when I do encounter it, I adjust my tip percentage downward accordingly. The revese is also true for exceptional service.

Steven, I have absolutely no quibble with that, with the caveat that I've seen people punish the server for offenses that should have been blamed on the kitchen or management. You make clear that you're aware of this distinction, though, so I don't disagree.

Please note, however, that my comments related directly to the issue of witholding a US-appropriate tip simply because one doesn't approve of the system. My advice to people who feel that way is, "Please vote with your dollars and don't eat out. But don't try to change the system by stiffing the server. It's not his fault."

Don't get me wrong, truly bad service is not common, but when I do encounter it, I adjust my tip percentage downward accordingly. The revese is also true for exceptional service.

Steven, I have absolutely no quibble with that, with the caveat that I've seen people punish the server for offenses that should have been blamed on the kitchen or management. You make clear that you're aware of this distinction, though, so I don't disagree.

Please note, however, that my comments related directly to the issue of witholding a US-appropriate tip simply because one doesn't approve of the system. My advice to people who feel that way is, "Please vote with your dollars and don't eat out. But don't try to change the system by stiffing the server. It's not his fault."

I agree, with regard to both of your paragraphs...If something is out of the control of the server, either because of the kitchen or because of management giving him/her too many tables, e.g., I don't "punish" him/her with a lower tip....(although, quite frankly, I'm tempted to based on the theory that the server should talk to the management/kitchen and say "hey, stop crapping on me, can't you see it's costing me money!"....But I know that's a pipe dream and not real life, so I just vent to my wife instead and leave the normal tip).

Legitimately bad service is rare in my experience, and I will leave a big "$.00" in the tip line on the credit receipt for the most egregious, offending examples...but I note that I've only done that a few times...maybe once every 2 years, if that. I don't usually frequent the priciest restaurants, so my basic guide to tipping is 15-18%. That's for normal service, which includes a few glitches (we're all human, afterall). For bad service, I adjust downward, usually to 12-13%, sometimes more, depending on the degree and the extent to which I can attribute the problem directly to the server (and, again, noting that I mean truly to the server and based upon apathy, bad attitude, blatant rudeness, etc. I don't punish for "bad days," or the mistake or two, and the qualities I use to adjust downward are not something that I'm looking for with a fine tooth comb...bottom line, if it is objectively obvious and consistent throughout the dining experience). For great service, I leave 20-25%. I feel that in my own way this allows me to stick to my principles that a tip rewards while still factoring in the reality that the diner is expected to subsidize their paychecks.

If 20% is the floor for what originally was a "gratuity" (payment only for service above and beyond the call of duty), then things have gotten way far out of hand.

Agreed, Paul. Some people feel obligated to reward mediocre service. I don't. I also believe 20 percent is not enough in some cases. An example is Denny's. Stop in for breakfast while on the road and the waitress is working her butt off for a check that is not going to be five or six bucks. Leaving a buck or a buck twenty tip (20 percent) seems miserly to me. I usually flip a ten spot on the table and call it good.

The same goes with our wine tasting group that meets in a Thai restaurant. They never charge us corkage. Per person cost for a glutonous feed is $20-25. I always throw in a couple of Jacksons and still feel like I got off cheap.

As with so many things, the situation dictates the standard... 15-20 percent is still the 'acceptable' amount per various etiquette sites.

How do you like these tips?

Have you ever been a victim?

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/21/new.york.identity.theft.ap/index.html

In Germany we used to have to tip the lavatory attendants. It was usually better to do so before you did your business. Is this still common practice in Europe?

In Germany we used to have to tip the lavatory attendants. It was usually better to do so before you did your business. Is this still common practice in Europe?

Why? Did they hide the paper or something?

What did they use to say on that radio game show? Réponse exacte!

While I don't disagree in principle - the European system of paying servers a decent wage and tipping only a token amount works better for both waitstaff and the public - I hope you don't put this theory into practice when you're dining out.

The problem is that whether we like this system or not, it's entrenched in the US.

Yes, and I do play along with the system. Doesn't mean I have to like it, though.

-Paul W.