Tipping at restaurants

[jackieeekitty]

Just curious - what does everyone tip while at restaurants in DLR/DCA? Is it a set standard percentage or do you base it off of service? Is it above and beyond what you'd tip in the real world or lower?

My fiance and I usually tip 20% or more no matter what, but just wanting to get an idea of what everyone else does

[carolinakid]

20% generally. If the service is exceptional I gladly give more. If the service leaves something to be desired, I give less than 20%. I never give less than 10%. If I feel the service is less than 10%, I ask to speak to someone in charge.

[Drince88]

I tip the same at DL as I do elsewhere -- in the 15-20% range.

[currence]

I tend to be in the "around 20%" range, with the notable addition of a psychological minimum tip. I tend to not tip less than $1.25-$2.00/pp for breakfast, $2.00-$2.50/pp for lunch, and $2.50-$3.00/pp for dinner.

I don't do anything differently for Disney, though I don't recall ever having to raise my tip because I felt it was too little. Do keep in mind that at some of the character buffets, you pay the included gratuity when you pre-pay the bill.

[letshavefun]

I tend to be in the "around 20%" range, with the notable addition of a psychological minimum tip. I tend to not tip less than $1.25-$2.00/pp for breakfast, $2.00-$2.50/pp for lunch, and $2.50-$3.00/pp for dinner.

I don't do anything differently for Disney, though I don't recall ever having to raise my tip because I felt it was too little. Do keep in mind that at some of the character buffets, you pay the included gratuity when you pre-pay the bill.

Good point. We have doubled tipped before. I walked away thinking that was way more than I thought it should be and realized much later we had doubled tipped.

[DwarfPlanet]

I tip the same at DL as I do elsewhere -- in the 15-20% range.

Ditto!

[Malcon10t]

I tip at DL like I do most places. Starting tip is 15% and things go up or down from there. Never below 10% as that means I need to see a manager. I have also tipped 30%. Avg is usually 20% if the service is a bit above the expected.

[bennette]

Same as I do in the rest of the wide world.

I would say I have a tendency to tip up when visiting a Disney venue because the the staff TEND to provide excellent service in very busy circumstances. But again, I'd do that anywhere I saw it.

[josephfive]

We tip 20% and then round up.

[danyoung]

In the neighborhood of 20%. Also, if you are applying AP or other discounts, remember to tip on the undiscounted amount.

[Malcon10t]

In the neighborhood of 20%. Also, if you are applying AP or other discounts, remember to tip on the undiscounted amount.

One thing we do is tip the amount of the discount (we are PAP, so 15%) then add on.

[rivermary]

Just curious, do you tip on the total bill amount or before taxes? I have always wondered what is the correct way to figure tip amount.

[monkeyboy]

Just curious, do you tip on the total bill amount or before taxes? I have always wondered what is the correct way to figure tip amount.

I tip on the total bill amount, usually between 15 and 20% of the total, depending on the service, etc. I do tend to tip closer to the 20% side at the DL/DCA restaurants.
On a side note...
I worked as a waiter when I was in college, it can be a very demanding job so if I get good service I really appreciate it... Even if the food isn't too great I'll leave a tip, because that wasn't the waitpersons fault. But if the service is lousy I have no problem with not leaving a tip.

[Malcon10t]

Just curious, do you tip on the total bill amount or before taxes? I have always wondered what is the correct way to figure tip amount.

Before taxes. Easy rule is to double the tax (in CA, tax is 7.5% plus a little, so if you double the tax, it is about 15%.)

[danyoung]

Before taxes.

I was kinda surprised by this, so I did a bit of online reading before commenting. It seems that opinion is equally split on the pre-tax vs. post-tax tip. I just take the bottom line, post-tax number, reduce it by a decimal point to get 10%, and then double that. And even then I tend to round up to the nearest dollar. This, of course, assumes that I had good or great service. That tip goes way down if the waiter is lousy, but this really doesn't happen very often.

[currence]

I was kinda surprised by this, so I did a bit of online reading before commenting. It seems that opinion is equally split on the pre-tax vs. post-tax tip. I just take the bottom line, post-tax number, reduce it by a decimal point to get 10%, and then double that. And even then I tend to round up to the nearest dollar. This, of course, assumes that I had good or great service. That tip goes way down if the waiter is lousy, but this really doesn't happen very often.

Are you in a state that allows tip credit against minimum wage? I suppose I could see tipping on the total bill if I thought my server was getting $2.13 per hour. But in CA, the servers get paid no less than the minimum wage of $8.00 per hour in addition to their tips and the tax rate in some areas is close to 10%. I don't mind tipping well for great service, but sometimes I get frustrated at an expensive meal when I stop to think that my server is making more per hour than I am. It has never occurred to me to tip post-tax.

I wonder if the split in pre-tax vs. post-tax opinions is a geographic variable that is affected by the tax rates and the wages paid to servers?

[danyoung]

Interesting point, currence. I did some research and found this site -

http://www.dol.gov/whd/state/tipped.htm

Texas is indeed a state that pays $2.13 per hour, while California has a minimum wage for tipped employees of $8 per hour. I guess it's reasonable to look at a site like this to decide when traveling how much to tip. But I don't mind if I'm a bit more generous from time to time. Waiting tables is still a tough job, and most waiters aren't getting rich doing it.

[dban3]

Note: For character buffets, a 15% gratuity is added to the bill before you even sit down which always kind of bothered me. What if the mouse stiffs me on the entertainment?

[rivermary]

Thanks everyone for your answers about what total to use for tipping I am in California, I never really thought about different states having different payment options for wait servers. That chart was really helpful.

[Eighty8Keys]

One thing we do is tip the amount of the discount (we are PAP, so 15%) then add on.

We do this too. We're usually DAP so we double the 10% discount. Makes it easy to figure out.

[bumblebeeonarose]

Interesting point, currence. I did some research and found this site -

http://www.dol.gov/whd/state/tipped.htm

Texas is indeed a state that pays $2.13 per hour, while California has a minimum wage for tipped employees of $8 per hour. I guess it's reasonable to look at a site like this to decide when traveling how much to tip. But I don't mind if I'm a bit more generous from time to time. Waiting tables is still a tough job, and most waiters aren't getting rich doing it.

How come they don't have to pay the government minimum wage? Are they assuming that tips make up the rest of the dollars per hour? That seems awful to me.

[Malcon10t]

How come they don't have to pay the government minimum wage? Are they assuming that tips make up the rest of the dollars per hour? That seems awful to me.

Yes, they figure tips are part of the wage. Servers are also taxed on 8% of their sales in addition to their hourly wage, so people who fail to tip actually cost them money.

[TTFN92]

We double the tax.

[danyoung]

How come they don't have to pay the government minimum wage?

This has always been the one area that doesn't come under the minimum wage laws. I didn't know till this thread that this changes from state to state. I've always tipped well, knowing the server was making around $2 an hour outside of the tips.

[Neverland Princess]

In CA servers are taxed at 8% of thier reciepts on top of thier regular wage. Plus most places they have to give a percentage of thier tips usually 1.5-2% to the busboys and expeditors, so It can really dig into thier tip. I usually tip 20% but if service is really good I tip more. there are some countries that auto add tips to bills so when those citzens travel here, they don't necessarily remember they need to tip but the server is still taxed irregardliss of rather or not someone leaves a tip.