Do you tip?

topaz emerald said:

You pay $250 for a bottle of wine at a restaurant? Is this often? Then you are living a high roller life. I don't think we've ever paid this much for a bottle of wine at a restaurant because we know the markup is ridiculous as you said. Only at wine auctions or like them French wine imported from overseas that costs like 2 or 300/bottle. My husband is a big wine drinker too, so much he's become a functioning alcoholic. But most of the time, he gets his wine from Costco.
When he was poor, he bought his wine from a grocery chain called Grocery Outlet ($2-3 bucks per bottle, sometimes you can find a good bottle). Actually,, he still goes to Grocery Outlet to buy his wine when we visit our parents in California. We live in Houston, TX now, so they don't have Grocery Outllet here. He likes his beer too, but only from microbreweries.

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Nowadays I am lucky to afford drinking good and even very good wine. It was not the case when I lived in Bay Area 20 years ago. But it was there when I built the taste for good wine. At first some of my classmates said that the only "real wine" was Bordeaux and Bourgogne. So I would buy French wine $4-5 a bottle at Trader's Joe. But at some point I could no longer deceive myself - the wine was terrible. Hence, I switched to Californian and could find gems under $10. And microbreweries, yes, I loved them. Pete's Wicked Ale, Anchor steam, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and others - good old times.

I usually tip 15% for breakfast or lunch and somewhere between 18-20% for dinner. Also tip my hairdresser, taxis, nail technicians, etc. I can't imagine not tipping. Guess I'm just so used to it. In fact when I took a taxi from the Helsinki airport to my hotel, I gave the driver a tip (maybe 15% in my jet lagged fog), and he seemed ecstatic! Only later did I find out that I shouldn't have tipped him. I had a pizza delivered to the hotel and asked at the desk if I should tip the delivery guy. She looked at me like I was crazy and said "Not necessary!"

[email protected] said:

Nowadays I am lucky to afford drinking good and even very good wine. It was not the case when I lived in Bay Area 20 years ago. But it was there when I built the taste for good wine. At first some of my classmates said that the only "real wine" was Bordeaux and Bourgogne. So I would buy French wine $4-5 a bottle at Trader's Joe. But at some point I could no longer deceive myself - the wine was terrible. Hence, I switched to Californian and could find gems under $10. And microbreweries, yes, I loved them. Pete's Wicked Ale, Anchor steam, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and others - good old times.

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He used to buy Charles Shaw $2/bottle at Trader Joes, haha. It was Merlot, I remember it was good.

Personally, I don't like French wine. It has more of an earthy taste compared to Californian wine. I will tell ya'll something. Some years ago, my husband purchased really expensive bottles of French imported wine from this Berkeley, CA store called Premier Cru, I think it was around 2012 or 2011, I can't quite remember. But each bottle was at least 200 bucks each. In total, he spent around 5-6 K. I think he had intended to get a profit from it later on, but I told him he was just going to drink it anyway and he was stupid and that French wine is expensive and overrated anyways. But we waited and waited and with every call and every visit to the store, they told us the wine hasn't been shipped yet, or that it was still on the ship on its way here. This excuse went on until finally they gave us half of the shipment like four or five years later. Anyway, during that time we waited for the wine to come, I kept telling him this is what you get for your overindulgence in wine. I told him they'll never give you the wine that you really wanted. Well, I was right. When we flew out to visit our parents in CA, the first thing we did from the airport was pay a visit to that store to harass them again. When we got there, we saw a few security guards standing behind the building where there is a parking lot for customers. There is also an entrance through the back door into the store. The security guards told us that they store is closing down and the owner is trying to sell off all the wine in the store. 15 minutes later, we see a man with blondish hair come out from a staircase and go inside his car. This man did not make eye contact with us, lol, but we think it was the owner for sure. He backed out his car and left. Shortly afterwards, we received a letter from the court explaining that the owner was scamming people and he scammed millions from people. I'm sure we weren't the only ones that harassed them for our wine, but I think what happened was some Chinese foreigners bought a lot of wine from him and never got their wine, and that's how he got in trouble, because I think they purchased the most from him. Anyway, my husband never got his wine, he had to replace it with other lower end wine at the store, LOL. I think my husband learned his lesson Never again.

By the way, this is news to me as I'm just googling this now, but the guy is only serving 6 years in prison, LMAO! Just told my husband, hahaha. where is he gonna get 45 million dollars to pay back his customers? He was completely bankrupt, lol.

http://www.winespectator.com/webfeature/show/id/Premier-Cru-Owner-Sentenced-for-Wine-Ponzi-Scheme

http://www.winespectator.com/webfeature/show/id/Premier-Cru-Owner-Pleads-Guilty

since you lived in CA and discovered your love for Californian wine, I'm sure you've visited the wineries out there. Me personally, I don't care for wine country, but my husband loves it. Our parents live about 40 min. to an hour from wine country out there. But we don't visit Napa Valley often. They wine tasting prices are too expensive and they are usually snobby employees serving you wine. We prefer Sonoma County wine (reasonable and much cheaper tasting fee, some places won't even charge you, and some will take off the tasting fee if you buy a bottle, but NOT in Napa), and have even visited some wineries out in Mendocino Country when we went camping out there once. When we visit our parents in two weeks, I know another trip to Grocery Outlet and Sonoma wineries will be on his list of things to do.

Arriba627 said:

I usually tip 15% for breakfast or lunch and somewhere between 18-20% for dinner. Also tip my hairdresser, taxis, nail technicians, etc. I can't imagine not tipping. Guess I'm just so used to it. In fact when I took a taxi from the Helsinki airport to my hotel, I gave the driver a tip (maybe 15% in my jet lagged fog), and he seemed ecstatic! Only later did I find out that I shouldn't have tipped him. I had a pizza delivered to the hotel and asked at the desk if I should tip the delivery guy. She looked at me like I was crazy and said "Not necessary!"

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LOL, I've tipped pizza delivery guys...they drive so late at night to deliver your pizza, so I feel bad. But my husband and I never tip taxi drivers. Some of them try to rip you off eating up the gas mileage pretending not to know where we want to go. This happened to us in New Orleans, LA. We told him to take us to a cemetery and even gave him the address. He proceeded to take us to another cemetery instead before our friend told him "stop running the meter."

topaz emerald said:

LOL, I've tipped pizza delivery guys...they drive so late at night to deliver your pizza, so I feel bad. But my husband and I never tip taxi drivers. Some of them try to rip you off eating up the gas mileage pretending not to know where we want to go. This happened to us in New Orleans, LA. We told him to take us to a cemetery and even gave him the address. He proceeded to take us to another cemetery instead before our friend told him "stop running the meter."

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Yes, in this area, we always tip pizza delivery people...You were probably going to the St Louis Cemetery in NOLA with the above-ground vaults. No way he didn't know where that was! Oh well, I still tip them, unless they totally rip me off like that. Tough way to earn a living (and getting more difficult what with Uber, Lyft, etc.)

Snow63 said:

Could you pease tell us how it's done in Australia? Do people tip there?

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No. Only for exceptional service in a restaurant or cafe.

The reason? We actually pay a living wage.

I haven't been paid $15 an hour...ever. When I started working at 17 I was already at $16 an hour, and by the time I left for proper work at 24 I was being paid $23 an hour. On weekends and public holidays, we got paid more - sometimes time and a half, sometimes double time.

Maybe it's because we think everyone deserves to be able to live, not just those who are fortunate enough to have a "good" job?

I've worked a wide variety of non-tipped customer service minimum wage jobs in my life, and honestly, depending on the day, I might not have been pleasant to everyone. I would have worked way harder to smile and flirt with customers if I had been tipped. I worked at a McDonalds in the drive-thru, a pizza place as a cashier/pizza maker (not a delivery driver), and as the manager of a gas station where I was the only employee on duty at any given time during my shift. But should young ladies have to flirt with customers in order to make money? I don't think so.

I always tip 20% or more to my servers and bartenders because I know they don't make enough - if service is bad, I will tip 10%, because oftentimes bad service could be due to someone other than the actual server, and I know how little they make.

Honestly I wouldn't have clicked on this topic but earlier I came across the 'Consumers Against Tipping' Facebook group, and I couldn't figure out if the posts were real or just jokes - but they were so ridiculous they made me laugh.

It is really interesting to note the cost of items in Australia vs the US. A lot of things involving a tip seem to have the cost of the tip built right into it via higher cost which should make a higher wage easier to pay. For instance the cost of a beer was about a $2.00 average higher per beer than in the US. Not sure on the haircut costs but outside of bars and hairdressers I rarely am in a situation where I would tip anyway. It's probably a bit more workable in many regards to make laws that work universally when addressing a smaller population.


https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-livi...jsp?country1=Australia&country2=United+States

I found the cost of owning an apartment in US vs Australia something to note. Renting was about the same but owning your own place seems a lot more expensive. So Auatralia seems better to rent but maybe not if your trying to own. Still.....we should not ignore the number of people and situations we are comparing are drastically diverse. The US is much larger with hundreds of millions of more people to skew the averages I'm fairly certain if I'm reading this project correctly. Like....are jeans really $70 :shocked:

I guess I'm not so certain one way is better than another and if one would or wouldn't work if applied to the other. People are pretty adaptable and TBH it is hard to ignore both have positives and negatives.

Sam-Skwantch said:

I found the cost of owning an apartment in US vs Australia something to note. Renting was about the same but owning your own place seems a lot more expensive. So Auatralia seems better to rent but maybe not if your trying to own.

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Yes, but that is a different issue. Millennials are being squeezed out of the housing market because of a combination of foreign investors and Baby Boomers/Gen X buying loads of investment properties to take advantage of "negative gearing" laws. This drives up house prices and gives Baby Boomers/Gen X plenty of opportunities to tell millennials how lazy and entitled we are and it's all our fault we can't get into the housing market. :sarcasm: But that vent is for another topic, nothing to do with this.

Sam-Skwantch said:

Still.....we should not ignore the number of people and situations we are comparing are drastically diverse. The US is much larger with hundreds of millions of more people to skew the averages I'm fairly certain if I'm reading this project correctly.

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Aaaah, the classic "but America is too BIG to look after its people properly!!!!!"

Sam-Skwantch said:

Like....are jeans really $70 :shocked: .

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Only if you're dumb enough to buy some over-priced brand label. You can pick up a good pair of jeans for $20.

Sam-Skwantch said:

Like....are jeans really $70 :shocked:

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Is this really a shocker? They list "1 Pair of Jeans (Levis 501 Or Similar)". I guess I must not know the right places to buy cheap Levis.

Even the Levis website lists a normal price of about $60 for 501 style (I imagine these jeans are even more expensive in Australia):

http://www.levi.com/US/en_US/category/men/jeans/fitnumber/501-original

topaz emerald said:

LOL, I've tipped pizza delivery guys...they drive so late at night to deliver your pizza, so I feel bad. But my husband and I never tip taxi drivers. Some of them try to rip you off eating up the gas mileage pretending not to know where we want to go. This happened to us in New Orleans, LA. We told him to take us to a cemetery and even gave him the address. He proceeded to take us to another cemetery instead before our friend told him "stop running the meter."

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Some taxi drivers do rip off their passengers, far too many. But obviously there are some honest ones as well. So you make every taxi driver pay the price for that one New Orleans con artist? That's not fair. Imagine if your boss found out that one employee was stealing from the company, but he couldn't figure out who, so he docked all of your paychecks. That's what you're basically doing to every cab driver. Do what I do. When I get into the cab, I activate the Google Maps navigation on my phone. It tells me the optimal route given the current traffic conditions. If the driver is taking a way different route, you'll be able to see it on the app. If you're pretty sure the driver ripped you off, then of course, don't tip. On top of that, get his cab number (every licensed cab in America is assigned a number by the local taxi commission/authority) and report him to the taxi commission. I used to do that all the time when I lived in NYC. The TLC (NY's Taxi & Limousine Commission) is very responsive. They promptly send you a check for the difference between the rip-off fare and what the ride should cost, plus they issue the driver a stiff fine. That's a productive and fair way of dealing with rip-off taxi drivers. Your approach is neither productive nor fair.

Sam-Skwantch said:

It is really interesting to note the cost of items in Australia vs the US. A lot of things involving a tip seem to have the cost of the tip built right into it via higher cost which should make a higher wage easier to pay.

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Um, yeah, quite obviously. If they raised the servers wage in the USA, it would indeed cost more to eat out in terms of prices on the menu. But if you're tipping appropriately now, you would still be paying the same amount then. However, restaurants and other businesses don't want to do this. Why? They don't want the customer to feel like they're paying more for the food than the price currently on the menu, and they also don't want to give up any of their profits to the servers.

Say a pasta dish now is $15 at (again this is a truly random example, nothing against this place in particular) the Olive Garden. If the servers wage was raised, the pasta dish would indeed probably go up to between $17 and $18. However, if you're tipping appropriately now, this would be at worst a VERY minor increase to you, and might actually be cheaper than the tip you were leaving before if you're a 'good' tipper. But the restaurant wants you to feel like you're only paying $15 for that! Basically, the only people getting screwed in a scenario where the servers wage is raised are the restaurants and assholes who don't tip appropriately.

Some people argue that then the quality of service will go down. I haven't seen that borne out in Europe. Servers here are comparable to those in the USA, though they will leave you alone for longer at the end of the meal in particular since unlike in the USA there isn't the need or culture of 'turning the table over'- they don't care how long you stay, and it's also culturally expected here that when you go out for a meal you plan/want to linger and speak to your dining companions. What happens if a server is truly terrible but not punished by a lack of tips? Amazingly, they're punished by being fired, and if you have a problem while at the restaurant, just like in the USA servers are generally eager to correct it and if they aren't there's always the manager.... just like in the USA.

I tip only if I get really exceptional service, or if it's a really busy night and I see that the person at the bar is struggling - I feel like I want to cheer them up a bit!

I never feel like I have to tip, because wait staff in my country are paid a living wage. Tipping is acceptable here but it's not the default, and in some situations tipping - especially if it's a lot of money and you make a song and dance of it - can make you look like you think you're superior, or make you appear arrogant. So I get why it's not the done thing in Asian countries, either. On the other hand, if I were to travel to a country where waiters get paid a lot less than others and where I know they rely on tips, I would naturally tip every time. I don't agree with the system, but as long as the system exists, I don't think the workers should suffer because of it. I know people who wouldn't tip out of principle even then, because "it's wrong and they should be paid a proper wage", but not tipping because of that will hardly make a change. It will just make poor people poorer.

Snow63 said:

I was in Europe twice (Spain and Greece), and I feel like it's optional there. Like, I left a Euro or two here and there, but never did it because it felt mandatory. Once a maid did really good job cleaning my room and left me an extra stuff, or that girl at the cafe was really nice and all, and in Greece the tavern's owner gifted us a giant traditional desert for free. It was all good. But I will never understand why I should tip a worker who does their job without going above.

For the US, my friends told me that normal tip is 15%, because the waiting stuff got paid like $2/hour. People leave tips because waiters get paid very low, and employers pay low because people leave tips. That's a really strange situation.

On the other hand when I traveled Asia (and I would like someone from there to confirm) my transfer guide said to me that tips in this place (Singapore, for example) are not only unwelcomed, but it is also offensive and insulting. It's just into their culture. So I don't get why people get all noble and wise over this, all the cultures are different, and all the countries are different. Some countries just make employers pay their workers decently, that's all.

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When my friends and I (from U.S.A.) were in Greece, we tipped well. We knew it wasn't expected, but we also knew how economically challenged the country was at the time (and still is). Selfishly, we got many excellent perks as as result, including an upgrade to a suite for our final night in Athens. Tipping is a way of life in the U.S.A. and I depended upon it for many years in the restaurant industry. I wish the U.S.A. would do away with its tipping system, but I dont' see that happening anytime soon.

sabinfire said:

Is this really a shocker? They list "1 Pair of Jeans (Levis 501 Or Similar)". I guess I must not know the right places to buy cheap Levis.

Even the Levis website lists a normal price of about $60 for 501 style (I imagine these jeans are even more expensive in Australia):

http://www.levi.com/US/en_US/category/men/jeans/fitnumber/501-original

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I've lived in the USA all my life and have NEVER paid $70 for jeans. Of course, that may be the retail suggested price of many brands, but bargains can be found everywhere. I generally buy them on sale for somewhere between $12 and $25 (and yes, name brands. Try Norstrom Rack sales). Of course, some of our wealthier citizens may pay several hundred dollars for a pair from some designer they like.

ssffww said:

some may pay several hundred dollars for a pair from some designer they like.

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That's true. Although I never paid several hundred dollars for a pair of jeans I buy only AG that cost above $100. That's because I feel comfortable in them. I tried Levi's and others - never worked with me.

topaz emerald said:

He used to buy Charles Shaw $2/bottle at Trader Joes, haha. It was Merlot, I remember it was good.

Personally, I don't like French wine. It has more of an earthy taste compared to Californian wine.

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It all depends. Now I think that French wine is the best (well, the best French wine is the best wine) followed by Italian and Californian.

I will tell ya'll something. Some years ago, my husband purchased really expensive bottles of French imported wine from this Berkeley, CA store called Premier Cru, I think it was around 2012 or 2011, I can't quite remember. But each bottle was at least 200 bucks each. In total, he spent around 5-6 K.

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Wow, what a story! I still hope that playing a different strategy now won't result in such an outcome: there are plenty of online wine stores with fast delivery. Once you get used to good wine it's very hard to go back. Hence, your husband might reconsider and if you allow him he can still buy some nice bottles. In fact my wife accuses me of pushing her to become a wine drinker. We have about 200 bottles of wine at home and we open another one almost every night. Well, it's still under control so far. When she was pregnant she did not drink wine for almost a year. And now that the family is in Sochi and I am in Moscow we don't drink as well.

since you lived in CA and discovered your love for Californian wine, I'm sure you've visited the wineries out there. Me personally, I don't care for wine country, but my husband loves it. Our parents live about 40 min. to an hour from wine country out there. But we don't visit Napa Valley often. They wine tasting prices are too expensive and they are usually snobby employees serving you wine. We prefer Sonoma County wine (reasonable and much cheaper tasting fee, some places won't even charge you, and some will take off the tasting fee if you buy a bottle, but NOT in Napa), and have even visited some wineries out in Mendocino Country when we went camping out there once. When we visit our parents in two weeks, I know another trip to Grocery Outlet and Sonoma wineries will be on his list of things to do.

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Sure I visited many of them. In fact, one of my classmates was from Mondavi family. He took us to Charles Krug winery. And it was funny how he explained that Charles Krug is a low priced wine and it is sometimes confused with one of more expensive French Champagnes Krug. I also heard the story that people in Sonoma and Alexander valleys are better than people in Napa from my friend who lives in Mendocino county in a big house in a forest near the village called Comptche. The matter was discussed when I said how beautiful Napa was and that if the stars are alligned I am willing to retire there. He dissuaded me saying that Napa people don't like strangers especially foreigners. Well, it was more than 10 years ago. May be something has changed.

Coming back to tipping, yes, I tip as required although I don't like it especially when restaurant bills are high. And once again the most bizarre tipping is on Maldives. Here is an abstract from my tripadvisor review:

"The main thing that perplexed me was tipping. At some point, I realized that each bill had the tips line even where it was in the all-included package. I asked the manager on the front desk what the rules were. The answer was that anything would be appreciated. That did not help. I erratically added tips to some bills and gave out cash. It ended up in about 400 dollars in tips. There was no reaction, neither “you were so kind to us” nor “we expected at least 10% of your total bill”. So this left me a bit dissatisfied. In the second hotel we stay in Maldives they don’t have tips line on a bill".

[email protected] said:

That's true. Although I never paid several hundred dollars for a pair of jeans I buy only AG that cost above $100. That's because I feel comfortable in them. I tried Levi's and others - never worked with me.

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Totally hear you. People can pay as much as they wish if they have the money. But, as a general rule, I do not find most your average jeans run $75 in the USA. By the way, depending on what you're looking for, Nordstrom Rack carries AG jeans, and some pairs are less than $100.

Jeans!! I buy them in consignment shops (I know, I know..) never paid more than $5 a pair and often less, most are designer labels, (the less spandex the better!); take em home and wash em twice in good strong detergent laced with vinegar before wearing, but these are "work clothes" that are usually worn threadbare.... I tend to look elsewhere for a fashion statement ..

I was a 2.15 an hour server in college. I lived for tips! I tip 15 for standard service, 18 if they are friendly or helpful and 20 for great service. But here is my problem... Counter Service. There is often a line for tips on the bill or a tip jar. I walk up, order, get a number, get a cup, get my drink, fork, and napkins. I sit and they bring food to me and I never see them again. They may or may not remove dishes. Why does this get a tip?