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Tipping in the USA

Jun 15, 2017 | 4 Comments

For those of you who have ever eaten at a restaurant in the Unites States will know that you are supposed to leave a tip for your waiter/waitress. 

But why do you have to leave a tip and for how much??

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You are supposed to tip between 15% and 20% of what your bill was. You can round that number to the nearest whole number if you choose to do so. Generally, people give more or less depending on how good the service was.

FOR EXAMPLE:

1. Alice eats at a restaurant, and the meal cost her $28.36. Her server (waiter/waitress) was very kind, charming, funny, and helpful. They also were really good at their job. Alice leaves a $6 tip she is so happy with the service.

2. Mark eats at a restaurant, and the meal cost him $28.36. His server was rather rude, didn't talk to him much, and kept forgetting to refill his drink. In fact, he barely saw his server at all during his meal. Mark decided to leave a $3 tip because he was so unhappy with the service.

3. Alex eats at a restaurant, and the meal cost him $28.36. His server was very helpful and friendly, but they did mess up his food order. They offered to correct it later, but he was very hungry, so he said it was okay and that he wasn't too upset. He decides to leave a $4.50 tip because he had two extra quarters in his pocket, so he was happy to add the extra 50 cents.

*20% of $28.36 is $5.67

*15% of $28.36 is $4.25

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You are supposed to tip in America because waiters and waitresses typically only make $2.13 an hour. The minimum wage in America is $7.50. Servers make way less than the minimum wage, so most of them survive off of tips. 

You are helping your server pay their bills with your tip. Don't let that control how much you tip though. You should pay between 15% and 20%, but if you have a terrible server, you do not have to pay as much (tipping is not actually mandatory), and if you feel like your server deserves more, feel free to give them more.

I worked in a restaurant when I was 19 for a couple of months. I watched some coworkers leave a table in tears because they were left nothing for a tip and I've seen them leave with big smiles on their faces (that stayed for the rest of the night) because they had a generous customer. Either way, leave what you feel comfortable with, but always try to leave something (unless of course, the server is awful, in which case, please ask to speak with the manager).

Also, please don't judge your server on the food, they do not cook anything. If your food tastes bad, it is the chef's fault, not the servers. If your food is cold, then it is more than likely the server's fault. If your food is wrong, it could be the chef's fault or your waiter's.

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Have a great day!!

Elaina.C :)

**If you have any questions about this blog's vocabulary or phrases, please comment or send me a message and I'll answer as soon as I can :)

This column was published by the author in their personal capacity.
The opinions expressed in this column are the author's own and do not reflect the view of Cafetalk.

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