Leaving a Gratuity?

Just remember after you get your degree, are making some £, and travel to the US, to tip us well....only if we serve you well.

Well, I actually got my degree 5 years ago and have also spent 18 months living in the US as a student !

After my degree, I worked in retail for a year so I could afford to do my masters, then after my masters I moved to the US to do a PhD, but moved back to the UK a few months later... I've been looking for a graduate job for 2 years now (working in retail again for that time) and I've only just got a job now (I start in a couple of weeks), but I will still actually be earning less than my hairdresser to start with, despite the fact that I'll be working for a UK government organisation  .

If you wish to tip your taxi driver or hairdresser then fel free to, they will be grateful. However it's generally not expected. I go to get my hair cut and sometimes people tip him, other times they don't. I generally tip him at Christmas.
I guess it's just that tipping isn't customary here, some people will say that they should be paid a reasonable wage to start with.
I prefer to come from the angle that tipping should not be the norm and expected.

The restaurant service charge might go to the owner and might go to the staff, its up to the restaurant (which is crap IMO). A friend who is a waitress says people leave cash and it is pooled and once a week the manager divides it up but she did mention the below....

The service charge is NOT mandatory, it is OPTIONAL. You can ask to have it removed if the service was not to your expectation OR you would prefer to leave cash on the table as a tip for the server.

Now that I know this, I would ask the server if the service charge goes to the server and that would help me determine if I would leave cash for the staff ;-)

I tip at restaurants, bars, and when I get my hair cut. Not necessarily at a pub for a pint (unless I don't want the pound coin or something in change), but for more complex drinks. For my hair, I go to the same guy every time now, and he does a GREAT job, but I only tip him like £5 extra (on top of a £35 cut) which is just under 15% I think. I don't know; I tend to go with the philosophy that if I'm at a point in my life where I can afford to tip, I do, just because...

I don't tip cabdrivers though, and neither does DH. Hmm. 

I don't at bars.  I do at restaurants.  I do for anything related to my appearance!  But I can afford it, so I factor it into the price.  I don't go crazy, though. 

Cabs..I go back and forth.  it feels weird not to tip, but I don't do the 20% that I would do at home.

I LOVE not having to tip

I rarely do, unless the person has been extremely helpful or had excellent service, or went way above and beyond. And even then its only like 10%.  I loved not having to tip the moving company.  I love knowing what I'm paying for a bill in a resturant and not tipping extra in a bar/pub.  Why should it be expected and the norm?  Tipping should be an unexpected pleasure, not a mandatory 18% added onto anything. 

I used to work in the food service industry in the US as a student, and whilst I loved all the extra money the tips brought in, I could never actually see the point- If served you a beer, which already cost $5 ,why should I get an extra $0.50 - 2.00 just because it took like 5 seconds to pour the beer?  Didn't make any sense.     

 

Also, I was told that service charges are not mandatory and can be reversed in cases of poor service.  Is this true?

Yes this is true. If you are not happy with service you received, ask for the service charge to be removed.

I do like that tipping is much more discretionary, rather than expected, in the UK.  I tend to tip fairly regularly, for all of the stuff that has been mentioned.  But I do like that the tip is seen as a voluntary extra thank you for a job well done rather than fulfillment of an expectation, because an employer doesn't want to pay a decent wage. 

When I've taken a taxi on Christmas Eve and or Christmas Day, I give the driver a £10 tip.
When I got my hair done recently, I gave her a £5 tip. She was a nice girl and I liked what she did.

My partner who is a tattooist, gets tips sometimes. Its not expected here in the UK and he always says "are you sure?" when they hand it to them,and of course he always thanks them.

My other half couldnt understand the whole tipping thing in the US being mandatory,but I explained to him that waiters/waitresses make way below the minimum wage,last I remember it was about $2 an hour, so they live off their tips.

I LOVE not having to tip

I rarely do, unless the person has been extremely helpful or had excellent service, or went way above and beyond. And even then its only like 10%.  I loved not having to tip the moving company.  I love knowing what I'm paying for a bill in a resturant and not tipping extra in a bar/pub.  Why should it be expected and the norm?  Tipping should be an unexpected pleasure, not a mandatory 18% added onto anything. 
 

This is my philosophy exactly.  Tips should be a reward and an incentive to provide good service, not something that a person depends upon for his or her livelihood.  In the US I tip out of what my mom calls "liberal guilt," because I know how bad the wages are for servers, but to be honest I resent it.  I don't make much money either, but no one ever tips me.  Maybe I should start demanding an 18% minimum gratuity from all my students.  Considering how much they pay for their courses, that would end up being more than my salary! 

As someone who worked for years as a waitress in the US, even I have to agree with the sentiments above.  I have read and heard many, many arguments for the system in the US ("we work so hard" - yes, it's hard work, but is it any harder than the job the dishwasher in the back is doing?  no.  And he's getting paid more, officially, per hour, but after tips you're making 3-5x more than he is!) but they are almost always justifying the fact that in the end, people who wait tables average a much higher per hour rate than any comparable job in the US.  Yes, it's compensating for the fact that they're officially making 2.13/hr there.  It's much more than compensating for that, actually.  

whew, okay, deep breath.    Going off on a tangent there!

If you combine the required tipping in the US along with the fact that they're encouraged to turn tables every 45 minutes or whatever, it just doesn't make for a pleasant dining experience for me anymore.  I am happy to tip for service, don't get me wrong, I was raised with it and have profited from it personally.  But I find I enjoy the dining experience here (and on the continent) much better than I do back home now.

As for hairdressers- I often use the student college nearby.  Their rates are amazingly low, and it leaves lots of room for a very generous tip (which they appreciate so much) when they do a good job.  Which they always have (knock wood!)

My hubby told me not to tip the taxi driver - he makes more money than we do.  I would tip the taxi driver if he helped me with my bags or something, but not just for driving us around.

I usually leave some tip in a full service restaurant, maybe about 10%.  And for my hair or pedicures, it really just depends on how I feel and if I have some spare on me that time.

My hubby told me not to tip the taxi driver - he makes more money than we do.  I would tip the taxi driver if he helped me with my bags or something, but not just for driving us around.

unfortantley thats not how it is anymore. In the big citys like London,yes. But anywhere else, no. My partners dad just retired because its so bad. He would leave to go to work at 8pm, and get home in the early mornings, and usually made an average of £20 a night. Why? Because there are too many taxi drivers. At the train station,there is usually no less then 50 cars lined up at a time.

unfortantley thats not how it is anymore. In the big citys like London,yes. But anywhere else, no. My partners dad just retired because its so bad. He would leave to go to work at 8pm, and get home in the early mornings, and usually made an average of £20 a night. Why? Because there are too many taxi drivers. At the train station,there is usually no less then 50 cars lined up at a time.

We do live in a city, and the amount we pay the taxis for even a short distance is a handsome sum.  So I think we'll stick to that, otherwise we'd be paying them an astronomical amount, IMO. 

I never tip unless I receive exceptional service. Same when I lived in the US.