The best tippers are people who at some point in their lives worked for tips.

Not exactly so. Some former tipped workers may have been lazy or uncaring and felt/feel "entitled" to a full tip regardless of their past job performance.

I'd say that the best tippers are people who take into account that tipped minimum wage is $4.65/hr in Florida, not full minimum wage, and they have to make enough to have money to take home and pay the rent after buying gas, groceries, kids' school supplies, daycare costs, etc. on the way home.

That is incorrect they must make minimum even if no one walks in the door.

No, in most restaurant situations, the employee's tips earned are claimed to fill in between the Tipped Minimum Wage the employer actually pays them ($4.65), and regular Minimum wage ($7.67).

"Employers of tipped employees, who meet eligibility requirements for the tip credit under the FLSA, may count tips actually received as wages under the Florida minimum wage. However, the employer must pay tipped employees a direct wage. The direct wage is calculated as equal to the minimum wage ($7.67) minus the 2003 tip credit ($3.02), or a direct hourly wage of $4.65 as of January 1, 2012."

If nobody walks in the door, then the employer does have to bring Tipped Minimum up to Regular Minimum. And if nobody walks in the door on a regular basis, they won't be doing that very long.

http://www.floridajobs.org/minimumwa...inWage2012.pdf

U.S. Department of Labor - Wage & Hour Divisions (WHD) - Minimum Wages for Tipped Employees

Ok, I stand corrected.

20%
 

.

20% rounded up to the next whole dollar.

I have dual motivations for being "generous" when tipping.

1. When the server is an older person I am thankful that my late wife would never have been required to work as a server if I had passed away first. I feel compassion for those who must do this work for low wages and tips.

2. I have friends who are younger who are serving now and I know how hard they work and how little they receive in tips, particularly from "older" customers.

In addition, the Bible admonishes Christians to be generous.
I Timothy 6:18


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25% here

15% for barely adequate service; 20% rounded up for good service; 25% for stellar service.

Let's do a bit of meal compared to tip. At The Villages, the percentage of people who order a drink is slim to none! The Village drink is an ice water with lemon.....come on people the server still had to go and get that drink for you! The chicken was dry.....so we take it out on the server? Next time you don't like the food call the Manager on duty....this had nothing to do with your server. People we are getting way to tight on our tipping. Do you realize that your servers in The Villages only make between $4.00 and $4.75 an hour plus tips. If you can't afford at least a 15% tip maybe you should stay home with a pitcher of ice water with lemon and a can of spaghettio's..........

There are many of us who drink water and tip fairly.

I'm with you old coach Ed! Mostly 20% but varies with service. We usually get good or very good service and that should be rewarded as the server is making an effort. Even with poor service we leave at least 15%. Anyone can have a bad day!

Have to put my 20% in (okay that was bad!).
Probably 98% of the times - 20% on the whole bill, 1%-15% if service is bad and 1%-25% if exceptional!

Please note that I said "service" not food !

We have a family "birthday dinner" almost once a month at the same place. Bill usually runs about $300 or so. they take GREAT care of us and we, in turn, take GREAT care of them.

I always tip atleast 10 percent even if the service is bad but normally I tip 30 percent. Most people don't realize that servers have to give some of that tip to the bar, bus, expo, etc. I am a server in the villages and the place that I work, 5 percent of your sales are automatically taken out of your checkout for other employees. So even if I do get 20 percent, in reality I am only getting to keep 15 percent. So if I am not topped I am paying tip wait on the table for up to an hour. I have never given bad service to anyone but some people just don't tip! Most belong to a certain group which is bad but true! When I go out I almost always get bad service. I still tip! Servers think I won't tip because I am young with a small child and in most cases that is generally true but I am a big topper. Minimum 5 bucks even if my check is only 10 bucks.

I once sat with a lady having coffee and pie for way over an hour. The waitress was great about refilling the coffee, etc. (that was the only woman who could outdrink me in coffee!). When I went to pay my tip on the credit card, it was over twice the cost of the food and she had to get the manager to specially approve the tip charge since it looked suspicious and the cash register wouldn't accept it. I realized we were taking up time when she could have waited on others at our booth so wanted to overcompensate her to make up for others that probably had shortchanged her. Hopefully, it made her day! :laugh:

Always 20%, and always in cash