Tipping in a Restaurant (English Cafe 110)
One of the topics of English Cafe 110 was eating in a restaurant. We had a couple of good questions about tipping, so I thought I would answering them here. Jeff and I wish we could answer more questions on the blog, but we just don’t have enough time to do it and to produce three podcasts a week. We wish we did! To hear more about the topic of tipping in an American restaurant, listen to English Cafe 41.
Question 1 from David:
Last time my parents and I had a dinner…at the end of the dinner, a waiter put a booklet in our table, inside it’s the check. Then, of course, my mom paid the bill, and it’s by cash. The total amount plus tax is 42 USD. So my mom put 50 USD inside, and we thought the waiter or host will give us back the changes. But he didn’t. We waited there for so long time…so the waiter came by and asked what’s going on…..well, we didn’t say anything because at that time we didn’t know how to say or how to ask (we can’t speak English well was the main point…) At last, we just leaved that resturant, but we did put the tips on the table.
I really don’t understand, is this a kind of American culture that resturant don’t give the changes back? maybe next time I should tell my parents pay by credit card?
The standard tip is 10-15% for lunch and 15-20% for dinner. Since $50 includes about 15%, your waiter may have thought that you were including the tip. (If you are paying cash and you are including the tip, you say “Keep the change.” But normally, the waiter should bring you change back if you don’t say that.) You can do one of two things in this situation:
1) When you give him your payment (money), you can say, “Could I get change, please?”
2) If he doesn’t bring your change and he asks if there’s a problem, you can say, “We’re waiting for our change” or “Could we get our change, please?” He should bring you your change and then you can leave the tip on the table (or in the little book that the check is sometimes placed in).
_______
Question 2 from Michael:
I generally understand the custom of leaving a tip in US restaurants, but how do you communicate it? If the bill is about $20 and you want to leave a tip of 20% ($4), will you say “make twenty-four”, “make it twenty-four”, “take twenty-four”, “get twenty-four” or something else? I’m not sure if this phrase can be translated from German which would mean “Machen Sie vierundzwanzig.”
Will the tip be given to the waiter separately? E.g. give 2 $10 bills to him for the bill and 4 $1 separately to him. Give him $25 and expect to get $1 back? How do you handle it, if you don’t pay cash, but use your credit card?
If you are paying with cash, there are several things you can do:
1) You can give the waitress a $20 bill and a $5 bill and say, “Just give me a dollar back.”
2) You can hand her the $5 bill and say, “Can I get change for a five, please?” She will bring you five $1 bills and then you can leave $24 on the table.
3) You can do #1 from Question 1.
If you pay with a credit card, there is a separate line where you can write in the tip.
gratuity = tip
Write in the amount of the tip you want to give, add that to the amount of your meal, and then write in the “total” amount. Don’t forget to sign your name at the bottom where it says “signature.” The restaurant will give the tip to your waiter or waitress.
~ Lucy
November 9th, 2007 at 11:12 am
Thank you Lucy for this topic! It’s very usefull. Here in Russia I haven’t any cases
when a waitress haven’t brought me a change.
I think it’s a good idea to publish answers you can not replay in regular PodCasts in this blog.
Sorry for my English and… have a good weekend!
November 9th, 2007 at 11:36 am
Thanks Lucy and Jeff.
I wish I have read and listened all this before I travel to Texas, a year ago. I didn´t know how much to tip, and how to tip. And I disliked having the bill before I have asked it, but also this I learned with ESLPOD that it´s just the way happens in US.
Nevile
November 9th, 2007 at 12:11 pm
I think you get lots of questions, but this new idea is great. If some of the topics of american life are explained as good as you do it should be useful for all us i we travel to US.
Each country has different habits, and some times we are so stupid as to think that everybody, every country do the same that we usually do, and it is a big mistake.
Here, in Spain, all is different about tips. Nothing to do with yours or other places round the world.
Thank Lucy for your good ideas and scripts, and Jeff your voice is so friendly and warm that it is always a pleasure listen to you telling us her scripts.
This blog are creating a group of friends, so I may say all of you that Cuca my wife is a little better. Thank all of you again for your good feelings.
November 9th, 2007 at 9:39 pm
hi, Jeff and Lucy!
thank you for your great job! i learned a lot from your podcast. I have to say that here has become my must-see and must-listen in my free time! I really appreciate your voice, your explannations! It’s of a great help to me! I noted down as my tips to the USA Today. I hope i can get to know more and more about American customs & culture by keeping doing so.For me, your podcast is just like a treature, i enjoy digging it!
November 10th, 2007 at 5:50 pm
Hi, Jeff and Lucy!
This is the best greeting from China. I have to admit that I have gotten a great improvement in my english since I came here around one month ago. Here I learned not only the basic knowledge about the English, but also about many life-styles in US. You really really do a great job which helps many people like me in the world. Thank you very much again.
November 10th, 2007 at 8:32 pm
And there’s still a question for me if we can leave our tips on a table after dinner or include them in a total sum?
I think that leaving some cash on a table could be considered as rude and we would better don’t do that, but some people think it’s normal.
Could anyone clarify that for me please?
Thanks in advance!
Oleg
November 10th, 2007 at 11:18 pm
Every time the subject of tipping comes up, these two books always came to my mind:
1. Waiting: The True Confessions of a Waitress by Ginsberg, Debra
2. Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich
These two non-fiction books depict the reality of surviving as a waitress in America. Both authors share their personal experience of waiting tables with the reader: Ginsberg worked as a professional waitress out of the necessity and Ehrenreich did so as a one of her research project.
I myself waited tables for a few years many years ago when I just arrived in U.S. Since then, every time I pay a bill at a restaurant, I think of how hard it is to have make a living in America as a waiter or waitress because a waiter depends on tip and nothing else to survive. With the tip, he has to share with the bus boy and bartender, pay tax, ren and tranportation. Many of them cannot afford health insurance.
I would recommend to tip 15% if the service is rendered as expected and 20% if it is beyond the expectation or you dine in a high-end establishment. In my opinion, a few dollars more in tip can make your waiter’s or waitress’ life a little easy. In a slow day, with an extra dollar from tip, the waiter or bus boy may be able to afford his bus fare to go home across the town.
Generally, a waiter prefers cash to credit card payment because many establishments deducts the credit card service charges from the tips.
November 11th, 2007 at 8:58 am
A Government has to thing about salary of employees in their country. If all waitresses are poorly-paid, and depend only on earning tips, that’s not right at all I think..
November 11th, 2007 at 12:05 pm
That’s right Oleg, I think like you, and of course tips has to be free, if you have a good service or have a good day you may tip or not, it depends of your will or how the person has attend to you.
Here some companys forbid their employees to accept tips, and if you pretend to tip them, they say you not it is not permitted. In spanish some times you can see and advise “no se admiten propinas”…….., and I think it is because they pay enough to their employees and it is more easy for customers not to think about that matter.
November 11th, 2007 at 11:23 pm
First of all thank you very much Lucy and Jeff for your great work! I really like your voices (both Lucy’s and Jeff’s) and I may say that listening ESL Podcast is a must for me now. I really feel that I can understand better. Your lessons have a kind humour. Give my best to all of your team!
As it concerns to tips I think that in Russia we have almost the same rules. A waiter returns you your change in a little book and you leave him (or her) 15-20 percent of your total sum give or take. The amount of tip depends on quality of service. Of course we are calculating the sum in Russia very roughly, so I may pay more if I haven’t little money, or I may pay less. So I think no one in Russia would pay 5 dollars and ask a one dollar back. It is differences between different cultures.
November 12th, 2007 at 5:24 am
Here in Germany there is no such a custom to give tip. I think it is good for us. What do you think?
November 12th, 2007 at 11:21 pm
hi
dear jeff and lucy
i have to say your web is so amazing! it’s the best!
you two let me know so much! all i want to say is just one thing , that is you all so great!
November 13th, 2007 at 6:34 am
Hi, Kadir,
Since you don’t have a tipping system in Germany, what’s the incentive for a waiter to do his best in serving his customers? Personally, I like the tipping system here in US because it awards who works harder and serves the customers better. Also, with this system, the poor is less likely to be discriminated by the servers because most waiters work harder for those who tip well, and believe it or not, in my years of experience as a waiter, the poor and casually-attired in general tip better than the rich and well-dressed.
Kadir - It’s so nice to have a chance to share the cultural experience with you.
- Pedro
November 13th, 2007 at 7:22 am
Hi everybody!
Wow , here everybody is writting very well in english!
It’s difficult for me!! but i tring understand.
Have a good day!!
November 13th, 2007 at 3:32 pm
hi i just want say i like this webside .
from now i will come here everyday.
November 13th, 2007 at 11:15 pm
Hi Pedro,
It is interesting to me to hear your opinion because you were working as a waiter. I think that very often very-very rich people are very tight-fisted. One of my friend is working for a very rich man here in Moscow and his boss wants to economize on everything - on salary for workers, on paper for printers and so on. It becomes ridiculous.
People that have less money I think mostly are more generous. May be to become really rich you have to be tight-fisted? I never wanted to be very rich, for you have a great worry about your money.
November 15th, 2007 at 4:55 am
Hii Pedro,
I think why there is no such a wide tip culture in germany is that they (german) are doing their job just because they have to do. And it is not important if you give tip or not, they do their job good. I think so. I am actually not a German. I come from Turkey.
“Kadir - It’s so nice to have a chance to share the cultural experience with you.”
It would be a great experience for me too
November 16th, 2007 at 2:45 am
Hi kadir,
No tipping culture in germany? What makes you think that? 10-15% tip for the service should be normal. Some of the girls at the Oktoberfest make more money with the tips then with their regular salary. Of course that depends on the kind of location, but at some locations where no tips are given the service is rude/bad.
I am a german and was surprised you said we have no tipping culture.
regards,
Anek
November 16th, 2007 at 1:49 pm
Hallo Anek,
As you know there are many “Döner”-Restaurants in Germany and I eat usually at these Restaurants and I’ve never paid so far any tip. One more explonation: I’ve never been to Oktoberfest so I don’t know ´how things work at there. I wrote just what I did so far
I mean, I have never gave tip.
November 17th, 2007 at 4:45 am
Hi,
Well i wouldn´t call a “Döner” a dinner…, but okay that´s true i never gave a tip for a Döner either. Do americans give tips for taco,buritos,hotdogs etc. ? Don´t think so. You never gave a tip for a taxiride or a cocktail at a bar?
btw your english is quite good, little bit funny to chat with a germanspeaking person in english isn´t it?
November 18th, 2007 at 4:54 pm
Yeah Anek,
You are absolutely right