Who do you tip? (UK)

DorsetDude

DorsetDude

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So who do you give a tip to these days or feel obliged to give a tip to at least?

Me:
Barber's, although if I only have the exact money I usually apologize, if I dont I usually give a £1
Taxi drivers, for about a £10 fare usually round up to the nearest £1 unless its less than 50p than I'll round up £1.50 as it were. If Ive had a few then I might give more hic.
Pizza/curry delivery boy? Maybe if paying by cash
Restaurant/gastropub bills but not in pubs (wetherspoons and the like) usually.

That's about it I think.
 
DorsetDude said:
So who do you give a tip to these days or feel obliged to give a tip to at least?

Me:
Barber's, although if I only have the exact money I usually apologize, if I dont I usually give a £1
Taxi drivers, for about a £10 fare usually round up to the nearest £1 unless its less than 50p than I'll round up £1.50 as it were. If Ive had a few then I might give more hic.
Pizza/curry delivery boy? Maybe if paying by cash
Restaurant/gastropub bills but not in pubs (wetherspoons and the like) usually.

That's about it I think.
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If I had enough hair to justify a visit to the barbers they could have a tip.....out of that lot Taxis and restaurants (if they haven't added it to the bill already)
 
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Barbers, food (but only when I feel they gave good service or it's nothing)

Also Taxis- I was actually talking to someone about this the other day. I take short trips in a cab in London when I'm in the area and I always seem to find that the driver seems to go on a weird route (when I know the quickest way). The price always comes close to £10 and I always say "keep the change". This has led me to consider the possibility that the cab drivers might be doing this on purpose. I'm still waiting to come across an ex cab driver or someone who can explain if this is true.
 
I tip the barbers I go to because I know them well, they charge £9 for a haircut and I give them a tenner. I always use the same Indian take away and if the bill is (say) £28.60 I'll give them £30 and tell them to keep the change but if it came to £30 exactly they wouldn't get a tip!

Otherwise, in restaurants etc it should be banned especially when the staff don't actually receive it.
 
Cartus said:
Otherwise, in restaurants etc it should be banned especially when the staff don't actually receive it.
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I often ask and find most of the big chains do pay it to the staff.

I used to work in a restaurant and we had to give the tips in. They were shared between all kitchen staff in the business. We read a document that explained that at the end of the year the chefs receive 97% of the tips between them and the remaining 3% is shared amongst the waiting staff. We usually got about £80 each so you can imagine how much the chefs got.
 
£1 tip, seriously. I was giving a couple of quid tip £25 years ago. I'd feel insulted and tell people to keep it.

Years ago when we worked all day Sunday, we would go up the local pub for lunch. Invariably they would have one or two strippers. After each performance they would walk around with a pint glass collecting tips. Just about everyone put a pound in. But one bloke, as he dropped in his pound coin told the stripper she was worth every penny. Quite how she resisted the urge to punch him I will never know.
 
connersz said:
This has led me to consider the possibility that the cab drivers might be doing this on purpose
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surely not.... ;) Dont be shy, tell them where you want them to go, I do. sometimes they argue, if so no tip and ask for not that driver next time.
 
Mainly restaurants. Will round up to the nearest £5 (which usually works out as 10%), and even then only if service is good. Never bothered elsewhere in the UK.
 
£1 or two at the barbers, occasional pound or two at my local cafe (I prefer to do that than drop 20p or whatever each time - I don't know why!).
About 10% in taxis, more if they've been friendly/helpful, less if they've ranted at me about immigrants.
10-15% in restaurants etc depending on service, maybe more due to rounding on smaller tips.
 
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Llamaman said:
less if they've ranted at me about immigrants.
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I've had that too! Apparently the guy was a Muslim and been in the country "just under 10 years"

Disgraceful behaviour :(
 
nilagin said:
Why a £1 wasn't a lot 25yrs ago, it's f*** all now.
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It's still someone giving you money for no reason whatsoever. I wouldn't / didn't complain. When I worked behind the bar in a pub back home (bit over 10 years ago) nearly all our tips were 20p or 50p, besides the regulars who would buy you a drink or whatever. You're already getting paid to work, so anything else is just people being generous and handing over free money.
 
nilagin said:
Why a £1 wasn't a lot 25yrs ago, it's f*** all now.
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It's more than 10% of a £9 haircut. What's unreasonable about that?
 
I once had a beggar give back the 10p I gave him (it was the only change I had).
He said 'I'd rather have nothing'.
Silly thing is, it was a busy train station - 10p from everyone would have been quite a nice earner.
 
viv1969 said:
It's more than 10% of a £9 haircut. What's unreasonable about that?
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Tips are there to help boost the wages of those in poor paying industries as well as showing your appreciation, what would be unreasonable to hand over £15.
 
nilagin said:
Tips are there to help boost the wages of those in poor paying industries as well as showing your appreciation, what would be unreasonable to hand over £15.
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It's not my place to be subsidising other peoples wages.
 
The unreasonable thing is (especially in backwards places like the USA) wealthy business owners expect the public to subsidise them by paying half their wage bill - as they're either incapable of running a functioning business, or just too bloody greedy to pay a living wage to their staff.

Anyway, retail staff (as an example) don't generally receive tips, and they're often paid far worse wages than hospitality staff.
 
nilagin said:
Yet we all do it, for most it get's removed from our wages before we get our hands on it.
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Exactly, damned if I'm paying it again voluntarily.
10% is a perfectly reasonable tip. Even on a tenner haircut.
Over the course of a week the barber will be up well over a hundred quid.
 
nilagin said:
Tips are there to help boost the wages of those in poor paying industries as well as showing your appreciation, what would be unreasonable to hand over £15.
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Utter codswallop. Do you tip checkout operators then? Roadsweepers? Care home assistants? Bus drivers?
Tips are to reward a good personal service, when you've received a good service (fnarr).
And what would be the point of me scouring my neighbourhood to find a barber for less than a £10 to then start handing over £15 every time I go. Madness. :wacky:
 
DorsetDude said:
Utter codswallop. Do you tip checkout operators then? Roadsweepers? Care home assistants? Bus drivers?
Tips are to reward a good personal service, when you've received a good service (fnarr).
And what would be the point of me scouring my neighbourhood to find a barber for less than a £10 to then start handing over £15 every time I go. Madness. :wacky:
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I don't use any of the above.
 
nilagin said:
It's bananas not fish(y) and why would I tip someone that I haven't had the privilege of using their services?
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I don't eat bananas :p

I don’t consider it a privilege when someone cuts my hair, or takes my order in a restaurant etc. They’re doing their job, it’s what they’re already paid to do.

If their service is exceptional I might tip, but even then it’s still not going to exceed that 10%. How much they are paid by their employer is of little to no interest to me tbh.
 
l get tips at christmas and tbh the amount etc makes little difference to the service people get, that depends on how the
person treats me all year round.
It's lovely to recieve 50p from a pensioner who really can't afford more but try and refuse and they get offended
 
viv1969 said:
I don't eat bananas :p

I don’t consider it a privilege when someone cuts my hair, or takes my order in a restaurant etc. They’re doing their job, it’s what they’re already paid to do.

If their service is exceptional I might tip, but even then it’s still not going to exceed that 10%. How much they are paid by their employer is of little to no interest to me tbh.
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But you aren't going to tip someone who hasn't done any of the above for you, which was my point in the first place, I don't use buses, care home assistants etc. so I won't be tipping them.(y)
 
Gremlin said:
l get tips at christmas and tbh the amount etc makes little difference to the service people get, that depends on how the
person treats me all year round.
It's lovely to recieve 50p from a pensioner who really can't afford more but try and refuse and they get offended
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That's another "tipping area" the yearly christmas one. Postman and binmen always used to get something each christmas, do people still do that? Maybe if you employ a gardener weekly, monthly, you'd tip him at xmas as well, that sort of thing.
 
DorsetDude said:
That's another "tipping area" the yearly christmas one. Postman and binmen always used to get something each christmas, do people still do that? Maybe if you employ a gardener weekly, monthly, you'd tip him at xmas as well, that sort of thing.
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Not a chance.
The bin men do sod all these days (and are paid rather well for that) and we never get the same postie twice in a row.
 
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I only tip if I've had good service and I think that is the key. In the US the tipping culture seems crazy to me.

It's probably 50/50 when we eat out, if the server is particularly helpful or friendly then I'll tip near to 10%, if they've barely said a word or seem grumpy they don't get anything.
 
I don't tip unless the service person went out of their way to achieve something for me.

Tipping is a way of showing gratitude. I don't get gratitude for doing my job day to day, so why does the waiters get gratitude for their normal daily job? I'd get bonus for going well, so does the service person get bonus (tips in this case) for going the extra mile.
 
My sister in law is a hairdresser and i'm always really surprised at the amount of tips she gets. She normally saves them all and opens her tins once a year and has usually about £3k or more. Last December she went to Lapland with her son and hubby and she looks at it as a free holiday which obviously it's not but it is a lovely bonus if you're disciplined enough to save it.

My dad had taxi's growing up so i've kinda always tipped well as i know these guys appreciate it. I paid my way through Uni by working in William Hill Bookmakers and tips were not really something we got often but now and again someone would give us money.
 
scottduffy said:
My sister in law is a hairdresser and i'm always really surprised at the amount of tips she gets. She normally saves them all and opens her tins once a year and has usually about £3k or more. Last December she went to Lapland with her son and hubby and she looks at it as a free holiday which obviously it's not but it is a lovely bonus if you're disciplined enough to save it.

My dad had taxi's growing up so i've kinda always tipped well as i know these guys appreciate it. I paid my way through Uni by working in William Hill Bookmakers and tips were not really something we got often but now and again someone would give us money.
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I worked my way through Uni through barbering, and I know just how those £1 here and £1 there add up.
The turnover of clients is sufficient to mean that 10% tips will soon net a healthy addition to a hairdresser's wage.
 
viv1969 said:
Exactly, damned if I'm paying it again voluntarily.
10% is a perfectly reasonable tip. Even on a tenner haircut.
Over the course of a week the barber will be up well over a hundred quid.
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So they average well over 100 cuts per week to achieve that amount extra, at a tenner per that's well over a grand a week and that is just on tenner haircuts?
In the wrong business....
 
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