To tip or not to tip, that is the question...



I tip taxi drivers and hairdressers too. It's a well recognised phenomenon with women that they tip their hairdressers even when they're leaving in a cloud of repressed tears and curses. Don't know why but it's very common.
 
Protocol said:
Yes, I too am curious as to why service charges are applied to groups above 6 or 8 people??
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I can't tell you if this is the management's reason for service on large parties but this is the practical result for us wait staff:

Larger tables result in more work. Larger groups generally tend to stay much longer so you may not be able to turn the table over twice during the evening. They take up more space in the restaurant; therefore a table of twelve people means you are not serving 6 tables of 2. If you had 6 small tables you could receive a tip of €5 on average for example from each table. However if a service charge is not applied the large table might just leave €10 even though their bill came to €300 or in some cases, nothing at all.

Tips are discretionary, but the fact of the matter is that most wait staff are not well paid and tips are how they make their living. Service charge policies should always be well advertised and be prominently displayed on the menu and the restaurant's web site. It is obviously your right to refuse to pay the service charge if you have been unhappy with the service but if that's not the case and it's clear up front that service charge is applied then IMO, it should be viewed as part of the cost of the dining experience.

A.
 

Ali

How much would you normally get (or expect to get) as a tip for a meal of say €100 (including wine, water, etc)?
 
Staples said:
Ali

How much would you normally get (or expect to get) as a tip for a meal of say €100 (including wine, water, etc)?
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Impossible to say. The rule of thumb is to tip 10%. However, we would often get the change from a bill of €96.70 (i.e. €3.30) when €100 was proffered and then a tenner off a bill of €30. In general when calculating tips people leave approximately 10% and I have never seen a customer deducting the wine cost before calculating the tip. (That doesn't mean they don't in their head).

As some people - no more than a quarter I would say - leave nothing and others are very generous, it averages out at 10%.

For example on a busy Sunday from 12 to 8.30, the restaurant might take €4,800 on food. The tip bowl will generally contain €450 to €500. 10% is taken off the top for the kitchen and the remainder will be split pro rata according to hours worked between the wait staff.

Additionally, if it's a busy midweek night and you're rushed off your feet, we would give the bar staff or lounge staff a tenner or fifteen quid if they dug in and gave you a hand.

I don't know how representative my place of work is and I should say that we get an awful lot of repeat business so that may well influence the level and frequency of tips.

However I disagree with the OP that tipping in Ireland is a new phenomenon. I clearly remember as a kid that my father would always tip in a restaurant (at a rate of 12.5%) - rather exact!

A.
 

Really bugs me when friends still insist on tipping even when they walk out unsatisfied. "But its for the staff", I insist on tipping only if I walk out of the place happy with the overall evening, food and service.

Why should some services expect tips - but other (possibly lower paid roles) get nothing!
 

BUT in america, if you have 2 or more drinks in a bar, they tend to throw the next round in for free and this continues as the night goes on. You buy two, they buy one.....
 
Just as an aside: Our lounge staff don't get tipped like they used to . They report that young people don't tip full stop. One lounge girl got 15 quid during an 8 hour shift on New Years Eve. Unheard of. Older people especially men tend to tip in the restaurant and in the pub.

Women who used to get a bad press for not tipping actually do tip in general but tend to be more exact (10% to the penny) and don't really throw an extra few quid but men, especially older men do. Having said that; if I had a quid for the number of men who look up from the menu and say "How much for you?", I'd be loaded. I usually just answer the 'pat' "you couldn't afford it" but f.f.s.! Some men really don't get that that's not a compliment.

A.
 
Newbie! said:
BUT in america, if you have 2 or more drinks in a bar, they tend to throw the next round in for free and this continues as the night goes on. You buy two, they buy one.....
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Thats never happened me in any bar in america.
 
truthseeker said:
Thats never happened me in any bar in america.
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Happened to me all the time. In fact I think the norm is that every fourth round is free - that's what I experienced anyway.

A policy obviously not costed with respect to Irish drinking habits
 
As a matter of interest ,how much do you/ would you tip the hairdresser?
For example its about 23e for a wash and blow dry,the same person washs and does the blow dry..I give a fiver..is that too much?
 
thedaras said:
As a matter of interest ,how much do you/ would you tip the hairdresser?
For example its about 23e for a wash and blow dry,the same person washs and does the blow dry..I give a fiver..is that too much?
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I give a fiver each time whether it's for a blow dry or for a colour as I'm a regular customer and they get it every week. My sister who is a more sporadic customer gives €5 for a blowdry and €10 for a colour.
My hairdresser did a wedding party last week. There was the bride, three bridesmaids, mother of the bride, mother of the groom and two flower girls. Took 3 hairdressers 3 hours in total and the party left a tip of €2.70 .

A.
 
Caveat said:
Happened to me all the time. In fact I think the norm is that every fourth round is free - that's what I experienced anyway.

A policy obviously not costed with respect to Irish drinking habits
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hmmm...either I never got as far as the 4th round (unlikely as I lived there for 3 years as a 21 year old so far more likely I got to the 14th!!), OR I was drinking in young busy venues where it was a case of standing with your drink and battling your way to the bar - so it would have been impractical.
 
I don't see why certain professions are worthy of a tip and others aren't.

Surely those working in retail and other lower paid jobs are on a similar wage to those waitressing in restaurants.

Why should certian professions get tips and not others.

People have said that hairdressers dicuss your hair with you and try to find the perfect cut. Waitresses are busy with large tables etc.

Surely this is part of the job that they are paid for and its not the responsibility of the customer to bump up their wages.
 
ice said:
People have said that hairdressers dicuss your hair with you and try to find the perfect cut.
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Yes but I would argue that this is sort of over and above what they are supposed to do. Really it should be "give me X cut", thanks, goodbye but it never is.

Waitresses are busy with large tables etc.
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But that is their job - most definitely.

To be comparable with the hairdresser example they would need to give you something that's not on the menu with no fuss, have it changed maybe etc etc.

They should probably get a tip for that IMO.
 
I suppose it depends on the price for a haircut ! I pay 65 euro so would expect more than give me x cut for that price.
 


I don't have a definitive answer, just that it has always been traditional to tip some "professions" over others. It's always been the way and that has probably shaped the way restaurants / hairdressers / taxis price their business; because they know there is a secondary price/ income. I'm personally glad of it but I do often think of kp's / cleaners etc. and think: they are on rubbish money too but they don't get the extra few bob.

A.
 
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