Tipping

[Fullerene]

There are a lot of places in the USA where they do not do Chip and Pin - too slow.

Instead they verify your card and then leave you with a slip to write down the amounts and then sign.  If you sign without leaving a tip, they will do a generous tip for you.

Edited March 29, 2022 by Fullerene

[2426255]

8 hours ago, eez-eh said:

Takeaways we usually collect but if getting it delivered I find there’s something very awkward about handing someone on your doorstep a small amount of change.

Keep trying, the awkwardness will subside and it will become normal.

[welshbairn]

9 hours ago, eez-eh said:

Takeaways we usually collect but if getting it delivered I find there’s something very awkward about handing someone on your doorstep a small amount of change.

2 or 3 pound coins goes down very well, I wouldn't hand over a bunch of shrapnel though.

[101]

9 hours ago, eez-eh said:

Takeaways we usually collect but if getting it delivered I find there’s something very awkward about handing someone on your doorstep a small amount of change.

Give them a £20 note and it won't be awkward at all.

[Hedgecutter]

1 hour ago, eez-eh said:

The preference for not carrying cash isn’t snobby itself. I used card for the vast majority of purchases as well and I’ll occasionally find myself short of cash or change when I’m looking to tip someone.

It’s the way some go on about the concept of carrying cash these days as if it’s ghastly or beneath them that I find weird. A bit like this:

A completely cashless society isn’t a good thing for the poorest people in it.

Never mind the poorest.  My last offshore stint saw the card machine at the bond stop working for a few days.  Grown men desperate for a smoke trying to tap fags off of folk because they couldn't be arsed bringing a few paper notes out with them.  That or asking for somebody to pay them into the £2 quiz in exchange for some cans of Coke, or a bar of Marabou.  

Notes? Bad. Bits of metal unable to hold liquids? Bad.  Giant bars of chocolate in a golden wrapper too big for any pocket? Good.

[Richey Edwards]

10 hours ago, eez-eh said:

Surely folk know by now not to bother tipping by card? f**k all chance whoever’s been serving you will ever see it.

The aversion some people have now to carrying some physical cash or change on them in case they need it just feels very snobby.

I have a secret stash of coins solely for the purpose of tipping people. 

[hk blues]

2 hours ago, Leith Green said:

As for the cash comment, many people dont get paid in cash, there is little need for it so no real need to carry it.

A quick read of this thread, and numerous others, would tell you that's not really true.  

Stick a few coins or notes in your back pocket - best of both worlds folks.  

[Derry Alli]

You know you grew up a spoilt shit when your newspaper round was done out of a trolley. 

Edited March 29, 2022 by Mr. Alli

[welshbairn]

25 minutes ago, Richey Edwards said:

I have a secret stash of coins solely for the purpose of tipping people. 

I try to take a bundle of 5 euro notes for tipping on holiday.

[Fullerene]

The people at the Inverness recycle centre are always very helpful. 

Sometimes I would like to leave them a tip but I am told they are totally against it.

[hk blues]

Tipping isn't really a thing here so it's whatever coins are left in restaurants etc.

I try to give delivery guys a quid - that's the equivalent of 10% of their daily wage.

Taxi Drivers - nope.  They already double the fare going to my place so they can whistle.

Barber - I double the payment.  So, it costs me the princely sum of £1.50

Binmen - a fiver at Christmas

Postie - 50p if I haven't seen him for a few weeks and a quid at Christmas time

Water guys - 2 or 3 quid at Christmas time

It's an ongoing debate amongst an ex-pat forum I'm on.  The mainly American members just can't get their heads around the idea that it's not that cool to grossly overtip as it can cause issues and jealousy amongst staff and also create an expectation that all foreigners will overtip.  They don't seem to follow the "When In Rome..." idea.

 

 

[invergowrie arab]

2 hours ago, eez-eh said:

The preference for not carrying cash isn’t snobby itself. I used card for the vast majority of purchases as well and I’ll occasionally find myself short of cash or change when I’m looking to tip someone.

It’s the way some go on about the concept of carrying cash these days as if it’s ghastly or beneath them that I find weird. A bit like this:

A completely cashless society isn’t a good thing for the poorest people in it.

Do you carry a chequebook and and postal orders around with you too?

It's not beneath me it's inconvenient to have to seek out a (free) cashpoint and carry a wallet and in 99% of situations it isn't required so I don't. 

Had I known for a fact the restaurant couldn't take a tip by card I might have got cash out but again its so rare now its not something would cross my mind to do.

[kennie makevin]

21 hours ago, SweeperDee said:

I don’t tip anyone unless I get exceptional service; this isn’t the US we live in.

Hear bloody hear ! You'll be asking who gets an invite for Thanksgiving dinner next.

[Connor1874]

Always tip taxi's, barber's and delivery drivers.

Don't know why, but I become riddled with guilt when I don't tip a takeaway driver especially when they've had to come up loads of stairs.

[19QOS19]

Why is tipping taxi drivers so common? Did they used to get shit pay and folk did it out of pity?

Has anyone hear actually met a poor taxi driver? Any time I get a taxi they can't wait to tell me how well off they are. They can f**k off expecting a healthy tip in that case.

[Leith Green]

57 minutes ago, hk blues said:

A quick read of this thread, and numerous others, would tell you that's not really true. 

Which bit isnt really true?

Most people in the UK are not paid in cash, and most retail outlets, including those that are "mobile", take cards.

As I mentioned above, even the Big Issue guys have contactless............

So my last point - there is no real need for cash - is pretty obviously correct in 99.9% of situations.

That there are some - like my fishmonger - who still dont take cards explains their attitude to paying tax, not the ease of making non cash payments.

[Clockwork]

As mentioned back up the thread, it really pisses me off when you receive a restaurant bill with a 15% service charge already added and generally decide not to tip. Then feel really guilty when the waitress/waiter has been particularly helpful (it isn’t their fault), and tip them a fiver anyway. So a £50 meal for example becomes £62.50, which you then just round up to £65.00. You’ve given the restaurant an extra £15 quid without being completely sure that the waiting staff will receive any of it. Suppose you could just round it up to £60 but a £2.50 tip doesn’t seem very much for someone whose probably on a miserly hourly rate. Don’t think I’m tight but this does bug me a little.
Taxi drivers, barber, car wash usually rounded up to the nearest fiver.
Been to the States a couple of times, a few dollars for food and drinks staff has seemingly been sufficient. The over the top attentiveness at some places to secure a healthy tip is just unbearable though, and let’s not get started on additional base sales tax and local surtaxes!![emoji15]

[hk blues]

4 minutes ago, Leith Green said:

Which bit isnt really true?

Most people in the UK are not paid in cash, and most retail outlets, including those that are "mobile", take cards.

As I mentioned above, even the Big Issue guys have contactless............

So my last point - there is no real need for cash - is pretty obviously correct in 99.9% of situations.

That there are some - like my fishmonger - who still dont take cards explains their attitude to paying tax, not the ease of making non cash payments.

You've just defeated your own argument there.

I agree that it's possible to get by cashless but for those situations which do arise from time-to-time why not just stick a few quid in your back pocket?  

Do you own a watch?

[Bairnardo]

Never mind the poorest.  My last offshore stint saw the card machine at the bond stop working for a few days.  Grown men desperate for a smoke trying to tap fags off of folk because they couldn't be arsed bringing a few paper notes out with them.  That or asking for somebody to pay them into the £2 quiz in exchange for some cans of Coke, or a bar of Marabou.  
Notes? Bad. Bits of metal unable to hold liquids? Bad.  Giant bars of chocolate in a golden wrapper too big for any pocket? Good.

One of the THE most annoying thing about offshore workers, up there with referring ordinary aircraft as "fixed wing", is their cultish insistence that Marabou is some sort of God tier chocolate and non offshore workers are living a life of chocolate ignorance and couldnt possibly understand how good it could be.

Why is tipping taxi drivers so common? Did they used to get shit pay and folk did it out of pity?

Has anyone hear actually met a poor taxi driver? Any time I get a taxi they can't wait to tell me how well off they are. They can f**k off expecting a healthy tip in that case.

Mind you live in one of Scotlands few Tory strongholds mate. This sort of arseholery is surely to be expected as the norm in such a region?

[hk blues]

11 hours ago, Bairnardo said:

Couple of points here.... Certainly in America and some other holidays too.... Mexico springs to mind, if you don't give them a decent tip from the get go in a bar, you simply wont be served, so aye, it basically is paying for priority. 

 

Also, I have to admit iv had quite a lot of occasion where a taxi driver has rounded down for me. They're not all arseholes. 

It's how tipping was originally done back in the days of horse and carriages etc.  They would stop off at a coaching inn and start by leaving a tip to ensure good service rather than afterwards as a reward.  Makes sense.