Please explain the American tipping culture?

I have worked in the restaurant business for 18 years. I'm afraid to say that the minimum tip now is 18-22%. Most, if not every server has to tip out the hostess, bartender, and buss boy if not more people. After tipping out, most servers walk home with less than 10% of their sales. All servers in every state have to claim and pay taxes on 10% of their sales. All servers are paid LESS THAN minimum wage. In South Carolina all servers are paid 2.35 an hour plus tips. This is still the same wage it was 20 years ago. Most other states are like this also. Changing things is not easy to get done here in the United States. Most people only tip 10-15% even with EXCELLENT service!!!! Some tip less because they dont understand or check to look around and see what their server is doing. Most people are self centered obnoxious idiots who expect their feet to be kissed and their food fed to them for mere dollars. I work in a very BUSY high end restaurant and people do not understand everything a server has to do to make sure a customer gets great service. How can anyone expect superior service when the server knows that no matter what, they are not getting anything above 15%-20% and after they tip out ,its just not worth the extra trip to the table. Even when I only have one table to wait on and make sure the service is EXCELLENT, my tip is only 15-20%. After I tip out 6% -8% of my sales at the end of the shift, it means I am only getting less than 10% --even though I did most of the work. I know i should have gotten a college education and worked a real job, but my life was different than most and this is what I ended up with and I try and make the best of it. Most servers dont mean to be rude but are just tired of giving everything they have to a table and not getting rewarded for it. Makes you leary of every table you get after that. I hope that when you come to America you can enjoy great service and delectable food and I hope that you will tip your server well.

The first answer is correct, though I'd like to add some more info for you. Food servers, cocktail servers and bartenders make a set wage of less than half the national minimum wage. If I knew why, I would explain and try to change the law.

If you go with a large group, some restaurants will add the tip to the total. But you will want to tip at bars and sit-down restaurants. Tipping is not necessary for fast food, although some independent places like coffee shops will have a tip jar which you can utilize like you would in Europe (only tip if service is exceptional or just your left over change). Taxi drivers will also expect a small tip (say roughly $1 per 5 miles of travel) as will any delivery services for food ($2-$3). Depending on how long your stay is, hair stylists also expect and depend on tips, probably 10% of your total.

I hope that helps!

Well it all started not long ago when sometimes people would pay the right amount of price, then give the person who helped them shopping/served food (mainly food)/etc... a little money. It's usually never over 5 dollars, usually 1-2 dollars, maybe less. So anyway, people started tipping people more and more, mostly at resturants, and soon everyone just started tipping people, and it became a way of saying "Thank you, keep up the good work!". But not everyone would tip people. So, because tipping is such a common way of saying "You did a good job serving us,", when a customer would not tip, the waitress/waiter would often feel offended as if to say "You did not serve us well" if they tried their best to make sure the customer was happy. If the waiter/waitress was late, messed up on the orders, etc... it was normal to not recieve a tip. But to not receive a tip and have been working your butt off would make you feel sad. Another form of tipping would be called "Keep the change,". It usually occurs when they're is lets say a 4.50 dollar product and you use a 5 dollar bill to buy it. If the person helping you was nice and was also working the cash register, you would technically give them a small tip by saying "Keep the change,". However, some businesses have policies where if a customer says to keep the change the business gets the money, not the worker, but sometimes the worker does get to keep the change.

If you visit, the tipping standard is different for each thing you are expect to tip for. When eating at a restaurant you should tip 15-20% for your normal service, and more if you think they did an outstanding job. Never tip less than 10% the servers that wait on you are taxed on 10% of their food sales, so if you tip less, then they are basically paying for you to eat at their table. Not to mention that most places require them to give a percent of their food or drink sales to other people. Not the amount they earned, but the amount that they sold. This is only for sit down restaurants where the server takes your order and brings everything to you. Places where your server only brings your drink to you and you go to a buffet for your food, most people only leave a few dollars per table.

From what research I've done for other industries you should around 10-15%. For instance, in the below listed source, a cab driver responded to the question stating that he has had many fares that have tipped anywhere from nothing, to over 20%. His attitude to his customers is completely dependent on their attitude towards him. He also stated that he had to pay for the privilege to drive the cab. That means that if his fares don't turn out, then he is essentially loosing money.

Just try to keep in mind, that while we do have a minimum wage for most jobs, anything that can be construed as a tipped employee only has to be 2-3 dollars an hour. That makes it to where if they don't get tipped then they can't even pay their bills, much less live on their wages. Restaurants even pay their take out servers tip employee pay, and most people don't even realize that.

If you have any questions about a tipping rate that I didn't cover, you can always ask the person being tipped. They will be glad to tell you the standard and probably be glad that you asked in the first place.

I hope that you enjoy your visit in our country

We do have a minimum wage here but waitresses and bus boys make less than that because of the tip. It is kind of an incentive to do a good job and pamper a customer so they will come back. A tip is based on service. Anywhere between 15-20% (or higher if the meal was very good or you got extra special service). If the service is bad a very low tip like 10% says more to the wait staff then no tip at all.

Cab drivers get a tip...generally $2 for a normal ride in the city to $10 if they give you special service like speeding to the airport.

A hairdresser would get a $5 as would any salon worker like a manicurist/pedicurist.

Tip your pizza man well...$4-$5...for the quick delivery and he will remember you next time.

Tip the bell boy who helps you to your room...for simple luggage $1 is fine..for something especially heavy or lots of luggage...$5

It is not fair to say that everyone in the service industry "expects" a tip, but they do work for them. If you get exceptional service, tip well and the staff will cater to you. If you do not appreciate/tip their service...and it is good, they will ignore you.

Tipping in the US is standard, but many people feel it shouldn't be. There is a minimum wage for wait staff, etc. However, if they receive tips, the minimum wage is less than 20% of minimum wage for those who don't receive tips. Who actually gets to keep the tip depends on the establishment also. Some restuarants allow servers to keep all of their tips while others have to give a certain percent to the busboy, cook, bartender. Other establishments pool all tips and split them equally at the end of the night. The "normal" tip used to be 10-15%, but not restaurants are encouraging a minimum normal tip of 20%. Personally, when I tip, the server starts out with a 10% tip. From there I add or subtract depending on the quality of the service. I agree with you that tipping has become something that it should not, but I also know what it is like to work for tips. It is not the waitstaff's fault that their employers do not pay a living wage.

EDIT: Walking out on the bill is not screwing over the waitress, it is stealing. It is not true that the waitress will always have to pay for it out of his/her tips. It is true that you are stealing from the restaurant. Someday, you will get bit in the a** if you keep doing that.

Here is my spin.

"Having said that if there is no minimum wage and tips are expected why not just charge a standard service charge, then tipping could go back to what it was intended for, to reward exceptional service."

I'll focus on this only. The tip is leverage and I like having it. If the food server knows 15% is locked in then there is less incentive to do the basic job let alone a better one. But if the food server knows it is all up for grabs then that person has every incentive to do a great job.

Since tipping is so much of a protocol now, I actually use it to show my dissatisfaction. For example, if I have a rude waitress, not only do I not leave her a tip, I also do not pay the bill at restaurants where I have been told that when a customer walks out of a restaurant the waitress at that table foots the bill from her tips. I think it is ridiculous how far customer service has gone to ****. I've had everyone from hairdressers, to waitresses expecting an above average tip for crumby service. There was a waitress at a pizza shop once who dropped our pizza on the floor in the kitchen, assumed that we hadn't seen it through the doorway, picked it up, and brought it out to our table, denying that anything in the kitchen had been dropped. When we then got up and left of course with out eating the nasty on the floor pizza, or paying (why in the world should we pay for a pizza that was on the floor??) She began beating on the windows of the pizza shop demanding money for the food AND her tip?? Get lost!

I live in Miami and many places put a 15-18% tip automatically on the bill, so it is wise to always check the bill to see if gratuity is included. In areas where tourism is big, a lot of establishments automatically add it since they know that people from other countries may not know about the tipping policy.

If not, 15% is standard for OK service, up to 20% for excellent.

If the service is extremely poor or the server is rude beyond belief, don't leave a tip.

Actually there are a few states that are not right to work states and actually servers don't lose any wage for being tipped. They are taxed on their tips though. If the server screws up let them know and see how they react. Poorly cut the tip to the tax if they fix the problem without fail then just double the tax. If you feel they have gone above and beyond then of course tip more. But don't feel obligated to tip!