Quote Originally Posted by nun2sharp View Post
I grew up in restaurants 10% was the norm, anything above that is for exemplary service. Tips have gone up in recent years, but IMO its because staff now expects it of you and people are willing to give it. 10%
should be the norm for good service.

I realize there are a lot of different thoughts on this, but it's worth mentioning that wait staff often get paid almost nothing by their employers, so their only chance to make money comes from the customers. Don't know how that was in the past - maybe the owners paid them more?

If you factor in the time a waiter/waitress spends with sidework beforehand and afterwards, you're looking at a 6-8 hour shift (for dinner, say), during which only maybe 3 hours are very productive in terms of tips. Since they aren't making the food themselves, they're also somewhat at the mercy of the kitchen staff in terms of food quality and timing. Also, most have to take turns working far less lucrative lunch shifts.

I could go on, but it's all been said before. After years of waiting tables in different kinds of restaurants myself, I usually tip around 20% if the service is adequate - sometimes more if I expect to come back in the future. Lack of attentiveness or a bad attitude are really the only two things that will always drop that rate in a hurry.

One other thing: some people make the argument that the owner of a food establishment should be the one paying his employees - not the customers. I can understand the argument, but after traveling in several countries where this is the norm, I can say that I've generally received much better service when the wait staff depends on tips.