DizMT

Touring is all about maximizing a limited budget. How many of you tip at food establishments while on tour? Lets hear it

Dan The Man

Why should touring be different from anything else? It is not like I am trying to blow my money on a day to day basis and then suddenly decide to save money on tour. If it's a diner or someplace with service it's 15% rounded up to the next dollar usually.

Dave Nault

Just because your touring doesn't release you from the common courtesy that you would show while not on tour. It's not the waitresses fault your on a limited budget. If you explain that you are touring and the server doesn't accept your tip that's one thing, but s/he just out to make a living like everyone else.

10 Wheels

I meal in a restaurant is a meal in a restaurant.
The waitress is not on tour.

DizMT

How about the bartender? How about the local hookers?

BengeBoy 

Are you trolling, or asking a serious question?

'cause it looks to me like you're trolling.

antokelly

when in spain 2006 i cycled with a groop of jack benny's (younger crown won't know him), anyway at the end of the meal there would be a big discussion on should we tip or not, because they felt the service could have been better.MAN i coulden't belive this mean way of going on,three of these guys are millionairs my god no wonder they have it.BTW i always tipped the waiter /waitress regardless there not that well payed for what they do.so don't be a jack benny ,TIP.

axolotl

Yup, sounds like trolling to me, too. Could be a sock puppet as well.

raybo

When on tour, I tip everyone I would normally tip. However, when I tour in other countries, I try to find out who is normally tipped in that culture and follow suit. In my experience, tips aren't required at restaurants in France, the UK, or Switzerland.

I don't drink much and rarely buy alcohol in bars. But, I do know that it is customary to tip bartenders in US bars, so I would tip if I was drinking in one. I do know that tipping isn't necessary in pubs in England and Ireland.

I'm not familiar with the cultural standards on tipping hookers.

Lastly, not all of us tour on a limited budget.

Ray

acantor

When travelling in places where tipping is expected, I tip, regardless of my budget.

I give 15% - 20% for good or exemplary service, and 10% for middling service. For unspeakably deplorable service, I still tip... but I become truly miserly! My reasoning is that a 5% tip sends a stronger message than no tip at all. The extreme form of this is to leave exactly 1 cent, but I have never had the chutzpah to do this. (But I have only received really bad, no-good, hostile service once in my life.)

In some jurisdictions, the minimum wage for restaurant servers is less than the minimum wage for other workers, precisely because the government assumes that the income of servers will be supplemented by gratuities. So when you don't tip someone who is doing a good job, you are, in a sense, taking advantage of someone who, due to bad luck, lives in a jurisdiction that has regressive labour laws.

Better that you work an extra few days so you'll have enough money to tip restaurant workers who provide you with good service.

jamawani 

"Should you tip while you are on tour**********"

That has to be the stupidest and most self-centered question I have seen on this blog.
Maybe, if we are lucky, this person will leave and not come back.

surfjimc

Having been on both sides of the question, I always tip. Walk (or ride) a mile in your servers shoes before you decide to cheap out on them. Your tip can say just as much about you as it does about the service.

gamecock

+1 all the above

DizMT

Do you normally tip on a cup of coffee?

I think we can all agree that tipping at a sit down meal is mandatory but I'm curious how many tip at a deli or coffee shop, etc.

Do you tip the person bagging your groceries? How about the fast food workers?

nancy sv

I'm with the others - I tip if it is appropriate. That being said, we don't eat in restaurants very often because of the fact that with the price of 4 meals AND the tip, it's simply too much for our budget. We go to grocery stores usually.

GeorgeBaby

Let me help you out a little.

Most of us know that tipped employees make a large part of their income from tips, rather than their wages, and we therefore leave tips. Here's a reference.

Minimum wage lower for tipped employees

blaise_f

++

BengeBoy 

No, usually I ask people to tip *me* for coming into their establishment. I figure that their regular life is so boring, that when I come into their store -- hot, smelly, covered in bike grease, and with a two-day growth of beard -- that I am so fabulous that they should pretty much comp me my food and give me a little extra cash to help me make it down the road.

Often I end up signing autographs for 15 or 30 minutes as well, and waitresses usually ask to have their photo taken with me.

Just another day in the life.

Line forms to the right...

Kabir424

More than likely a troll.

Anyways, I wait tables here in Alabama and the minimum wage for waiters is $2.13/hour. If we don't make tips then we can't afford our bills. I would suggest tipping 15% minimum and 20% is nice, especially if it is something like a cup of coffee that just cost you $1.50. I have left a 10% tip before a few times because of bad service. I actually recommend that people do this because it is a good way to communicate to your waiter that they need to do a better job.

I have also confronted customers that I know I have given good service to and they didn't leave a tip. Probably not supposed to but they always end up apologizing and giving me a 20% tip or so for my good service. They were in the wrong and when I confronted them they acknowledged this. I have also not confronted customers when they didn't leave a tip if for any reason I messed up with the service. They communicated their disapproval and I might not agree but I understand.

escii_35

UK -> Generally Yes

People would take that little extra time to ask where I was from and where was a going on the bike.

USA -> Mostly No

Machka 

+1

Grocery stores for meals, campgrounds/hostels for accommodations.

paul2

No it's not. Touring is all about traveling by bicycle.

tourdottk

If this question is not just about touring in The States, then it is extremely pertinent to anyone, tourer or not, when travelling abroad. While tipping in the US is commonplace, it is not necessarily the norm in other countries. For example in Mexico and Central America, it is usual to tip the kids bagging your groceries, whereas is Korea and Japan it is considered rude to leave a tip behind in eating and drinking establishments. In fact, you'll have the waitperson running after you to give you your change back.

The best advice would be to do some homework before you leave home. There are a multitude of country info websites out there to peruse for this sort of information. One such site is https://www.worldtravelguide.net/, but cross referencing is always a good idea. Another way of knowing what the local custom is, is to watch them closely when it comes to paying in a restaurant or supermarket. It's not that hard to work out what is going on through body language and gestures.

vegenaise

everybody knows that that's just some whiny propaganda the workers in the service industry say to get their grubby hands allover your money.

tipping. honestly, who does that?

DizMT

probably the most sensible post in this thread

I know, right??