Okay, lets begin, I work in a small restaurant that seats a maximum of 44 people, there is one cook in the back, a dishwasher, and two people that work the front as waiters/host/bus person. I just happen to be one of the people in the front. That's 22 people to serve for each person. I also work in an expensive restaurant and tipping is an expected thing to do. As a waitress, I constantly clear the table and replace used plates and finished food items, we talk to the customers and compliment them, always refilling their water glasses when they are about half full, and for regular customers that are good and really nice we give them 10% off.
Okay I know that in London or Paris, or mainly Europe (not exactly sure) it is considered rude to tip or not necessary, that's perfectly fine. But in Canada it is considered a must, and I think that the tip at the moment, is at 15% of the bill, well it's really 15-20% of the total bill, 15% is the minimum. Most people just tip at 10% of the total bill, but hey it's good that they tipped something. Some people that are really bad are those that carry this Entertainment Card around, you can get this in Canada, it gives you a discount on 1 dinner but you must order 2 dinners, and the rules are: You have to tip 15% of the total price before the discount. It is a rule that is written in the book and on the card. But most people just tip 10% of the bill after the discount and many of them are very cheap because the discount gives you a max of $12.50 off the total bill, so if someone had a $23.50 dinner then they will be paying $11.50 and tipping $1.50. The Entertainment Company gives what they make to charity and community services and centers. I don't really mind the card, just as long as you follow the rules then it's fine.
I hope this doesn't sound like a rant, I'm just trying to explain why you should tip the actual %. Most of the time I am actually being honest, kind, nice and happy, when someone tips badly I wonder if the service was really that bad, or if there was something wrong with the food but I just didn't know. Maybe I have this inability to understand bad tippers. I don't know. I guess the people that really irk me are the ones that I am really being nice to, but they are mean back and bad tippers too!
First of all, in the restaurant I work at, it gets really really busy, like a full house. We have to serve a lot of drinks, and things are constantly coming out of the kitchen that we must rush back to get and serve correctly and politely, smile and make sure everything is okay with the food and service. We are very kind and cheerful even if we really are freaking out because there's just so many things to do!
The worse people are the ones that don't
tip at all, or the ones that order $70+ dollar
dinners and only give $1.00 tip. I'm not kidding here, it has happened many times!
We work our asses off, and this is the thanks we get, even when some customers are being completely rude and making a huge mess everywhere we must still be nice and say everything is okay and smile and we get nothing for it, except for mediocre $1.00 tips or most of the time tips that are 5%-10% of the price. I am just writing this to make everyone aware of what it feels like through a person who works at a restaurant that doesn't make that much, so I may be a bit [biased, but I'm just trying to explain what this causes. I will try to word this more appropiately when I fix it all up on notepad.