The social convention of tipping taxi drivers/waiters etc?

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Why should I tip if i am unemployed?

If you're in a situation where it's custom to tip and you can't, you should at least apologize, otherwise they'll think you were angry with their service.

Apologizing won't work. They think if I am so unemployed why don't I cook my own food?

Hmm, where I come from tipping isn't such an obligation. More people that I know don't tip than do.

Speaking of taxis, I hate getting into taxis on my own because it's just me and the taxi-driver and I always feel I have to make conversation and I never know what to say and there are lots of awkward silences. It's better if the taxi-driver is the chatty type who would just talk about anything and not cause too many awkward silences, because I can listen and just give short answers.

Tipping is not about you. When you go out to eat at a restaurant , where tipping is expected, or hire a cab, then you tip. If you can't afford to tip then you should not patronize businesses where tipping is expected.

Why should it be a concern? If you can't afford to tip, then don't. If it's demanded of you, that means there's something wrong with how the business you're seeking services from distributes their money. I work in the service industry as a cashier, and though I often don't like working with customers, even I will admit that "the customer is always right".



Why do you say that? If I liked the food somewhere, and they had a big tip jar up front, and I didn't have enough cash left over from buying my food to give them a tip, I would still go back and eat there. I am not going to let some arbitrary social rule dictate that for me.

Tip jars are different... tip jars are for places that one goes often, but not where you receive table service. Tipping is not about "liking the food"... ever. It is a courtesy. It's like the waiter or waitress has rented your table and a few tables around you by taking a job selling the owner of the restaurant's food. The owner is only paying them a below minimum wage to take orders, explain the orders to the chefs and cooks, bring drink orders from the bar, keep track of everyone's orders, serve the food, and take care of whims. They keep an eye on the party, and when they are finished eating they clear the table, and take coffee and dessert orders, and serve that course. Then they add up all the bills and present them. Your restaurant tip pays for that service.

I apologize for my ignorance, but where do you live? I don't think it's legal to pay workers below minimum wage where I live, so I'm guessing that's why tipping isn't seen as being so important where I live.

But thinking about it now, I'll probably give the waiter a tip the next time I go somewhere with table service. I can see why it's a nice thing to do, but I still don't see how it's a "compulsory" thing. Cultural differences, I guess.

The USA has this crazy thing where it is OK to pay a ridiculously low wage - around $2 an hour, I think - if the staff receive tips.

I tip restaurant staff, but I haven't eaten alone or led a party very often. On the few occasions I have, then I must admit I've been quite stingy. I have been told a good rule is "10% of your bill, rounded up to the nearest pound, plus a pound". If I ever went to America, I think I'd be more generous.

Tipping in bars and particularly taxis seems strange to me. You already pay extortionate rates, why give them more?

Tipping is merely a nuerotypical social obligation. I have no problem with the concept of tipping but neurotypicals cannot understand that there are exceptions to this social obligation. Since I have been discriminated against I find myself in the position of being unemployed and these waiters are actually better off financially than I am. To give a waiter tip money would be a transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich. Yet I am obligated to tip and if I do not I am not a good person.

Don't eat there if it's one of those places where you have to do it like Olive Garden. Besides if you are unemployed, why are you going out to eat instead of using your money for your bills and finding a job? Eating out is a luxury and entertainment. If you are on disability and you have any extra money left over but cannot afford to pay a tip, don't eat there. Go somewhere else like a fast food restaurant or a buffet or a pizza place where tipping isn't mandatory.

Every country is different so I am aware tipping isn't something you do in places like the UK because they make the minimum wage there. But in the USA, waiters and waitresses make below minimum wage so they rely on tips. They are expected to make their wages from tips. Blame the system, not the waiters and waitresses. This is the reason why I leave them tips because they make below minimum wage. This only applies at sit down restaurants where you order your food and have to wait for it to cook. This does not apply at places that have already make food like fast food places or pizza places or buffets. If we eat at Sizzlers and I eat a salad bar but don't order any food, I don't tip. Some place are both sit down and a buffet. I don't know why this is so hard to understand. I read they make below minimum wage because they are expected to make their wages from tips so I thought "Oh, I didn't know that, I will start tipping from now on." Then I learn about leaving 15% tips and I learned "Oh, I didn't know how much of a tip you leave is based on how well they did, so if their service was good, you leave them 20% instead of 15% because 15% stands for fair and if their service was poor, leave them 10%." I had to read this stuff on Babycenter when people were arguing over leaving tips and even others there were ignorant about it like I was because none of us realized until we were told this. But some people just would rather not get it after being told.

as far as I know in the UK tipping is not much of a thing, you tip if you feel the service was really good and deserves more money, I am quite harsh in that way I like to pay what it says, I don't ever think of tipping, I am too awkward to say keep the change anyway. As for taxi's I always wonder if the price is too much because you just don't know if they have not gone the long way if you don't know the area to charge more, that's what I would do if I was a taxi driver

I used to not see the point in tipping pizza men when they come to your door because they get paid by work for delivering pizza. What I didn't know was their work does not pay for their gas and they have to use their own car to deliver and their own gas. So the tipping pays for their gas, it's like a reimbursement. I didn't even know this until I saw a video about it online so I learned I should tip pizza men just to help them out with their bills and their gas.

I don't eat in places with table service but about once every few weeks. I tip on the generous side unless the service is bad. Only a few times have I not left a tip and that was only because the service was deplorable.

Thankyou for all the replies and information on this, I have finally read them all I am replying collectively/namelessly as I find that easier in response to a large bulk of info:

To those who mentioned how waiters rely on tips to even get minimum wage as they get below minimum wage: That is useful information to bear in mind if I go abroad, and therefore I would find it easier to get my head around tipping more when in those countries and feeling okay with it. I hadn't realised that because as someone else mentioned, I do live in the UK and as far as I know waiters are legally entitled to minimum wage and that is what I was paid when I was a waitress. Therefore, in countries where waiters etc get at least minimum wage, I don't see why the argument 'it's not fair not to tip the poor people on minimum wage' makes sense unless you extend that to everyone else in jobs with minimum wage. In my view, if anyone is entitled to tips regardless of whether they gave exceptional service, cleaners should be more entitled than waiters as I would find cleaning toilets etc to be highly unpleasant - I was quite content with my waiters job earning the agreed minimum wage, but I would hate being a cleaner.

To the person who mentioned the Japanese viewing tips as an insult - that made me laugh, yes I like that view too

To the person who mentioned it also being awkward to say 'keep the change' - I too have that problem, regardless of whether this sounds silly. I'm not entirely sure why I find it so hard, I suppose it is a mixture of me preferring not to speak to these people unless I really have to, and also the issue that I find it hard to say 'keep the change' when I'm not sure why I'm telling them to keep the change, I'm just copying what my friends do, which then feels weird.

To those who said that in the UK tipping isn't as expected and therefore it is more reasonably up to the person whether they want to tip: I am still really confused about this, as I used to think that, but as I've grown up I've noticed that every single friend I have been for a meal with or in a taxi with, has always tipped and looked at me really weird when I didn't automatically do so, and told me it looked a bit rude of me. Yet they can never seem to give me a reason for tipping every single time for average service, other than 'You just should'. So then I can't help but think everyone around me is doing so just to follow the crowd, and not questioning it, which is why we end up with mad illogical customs in the first place, because people tend to blindly follow suit.

To the person who pointed out the illogical unfair way the system/society often expects you to tip expensive restaurant staff with higher wages much more than waiters on minimum wage working really hard in lower class restaurants - I completely agree with that. I like your way of reversing your tipping from the expected norms to try to make up for this unfairness, I think I shall do the same.

From reading this thread it does indeed appear to drastically vary between cultures, but also largely vary within cultures :/ I just wish there was a rule at least everyone within a particular culture could follow. But it seems uncomfortably random to me, like tons of things in life so I guess I'll just have to accept that, although I struggle to deal with what I see as feeding an unfair illogical system or convention, so I do feel bad tipping waiters but not cleaners or anyone else who is working really hard, but then if I tip everyone I'll end up with no money, so even deciding on my own rules to stick to, I find hard.