tipping question

I usually tip quite well, and this is just a general question.

Let's say I'm in a fast casual restaurant where my only contact with staff is
a) ordering at the register
b) and later someone delivers my food.

I get my own drink and bus my own table.

What's the tip protocol?

How about when my number is called so that I go get my own food and therefore my only staff contact is at the order taking?

Some chains just provide a receipt with no tip line. (Panera, Zoe's Kitchen)
Other registers always print with a tip line.

I'm a bit confused as to what's proper and expected.

Assuming there's a tip jar, I always leave a dollar. I can't really explain the reason; it may just be the psychological combination of seeing the tip jar and having spent years working in the restaurant industry and knowing that the pay is relatively low. The credit card receipts at Starbucks don't have a tip line on them, so I always make sure I have a dollar in my pocket when I stop in for a cappucino. On the other hand, receipts at the Popeyes Chicken on Bardstown have a tip line, and that always makes me a bit uncomfortable because I feel like I'm being pressured for a tip when none is warranted.

The wife and I had the same question at Papalino's on Sun.

Order at the register and wait for your number to be called. No real service being providing by a server, but still a tip line and the credit card receipt.

[Robin Garr]

The wife and I had the same question at Papalino's on Sun.

Order at the register and wait for your number to be called. No real service being providing by a server, but still a tip line and the credit card receipt.

It's local, with a tiny staff. The atmosphere is fast, but the food is sit-down good. I tip 20 percent-plus, and encourage others to do the same.

At McDonald's (and other corporate fast food)? It honestly never occurred to me to tip, and I would have assumed that corporate discourages and perhaps forbids it.

I don't really have an answer to your inquiry but I will say that I feel the expectation of a tip by those who make hourly wages at or above the minimum wage (which I assume to be the case of workers at "counter-order" places) does a disservice to those in the industry ($2.13 an hour waitstaff) that depend on tips as income.

While I believe in tipping for a job well done by hourly employees (valet parking, hair stylists), the expectation of a tip in the form of a credit card line or tip jar seems to have created a culture where it seems socially acceptable to put out a "tip jar" no matter the work being done or the amount being paid hourly for this work.

I know my stance seems both curmudgeoness and out of line with my left-leaning tendencies, but we all have our dirty secrets, right?

Would a Starbucks employee deserve a tip and more than a counterperson at Popeyes?

I

OK, Robin, that confused me even more.

I didn't think I was tipping on the quality of the food, as my tip does not go to the kitchen. And I honestly don't understand what the size of the restaurant has to do with tipping. What am I not understanding?

I thought I was tipping on the service provided and at Pappalino's (the example provided in the thread) I'm providing most of the service myself. I understand fast casual and don't mind picking up my order or bussing my table. I get that concept.

More input, please. I have no problem with tipping and I generally tip 25%, but that's if I'm being served.

[Robin Garr]

OK, Robin, that confused me even more.

I didn't think I was tipping on the quality of the food, as my tip does not go to the kitchen. And I honestly don't understand what the size of the restaurant has to do with tipping. What am I not understanding?

I thought I was tipping on the service provided and at Pappalino's (the example provided in the thread) I'm providing most of the service myself. I understand fast casual and don't mind picking up my order or bussing my table. I get that concept.

More input, please. I have no problem with tipping and I generally tip 25%, but that's if I'm being served.

I have no idea exactly how the tip jar works at Papalino's, but I assume that pretty much everyone (except possibly Allan) gets tipped out. Margins are small in the business. These guys work hard and aren't getting rich. If they think they ought to put out a tip jar, I'm willing to cooperate. And since the toll runs to a relatively small amount, when I throw in five bucks on a $20 lunch (as opposed to the $20 I put in on an $80 dinner at a Frankfort Avenue bistro), I'm not really thinking about the percentages. It just feels right. I dunno, Leah. I'm not telling other people how to behave here, but for me, calculating the percentages and trying to figure out what a server "earned" in a pizzeria with modest prices isn't the way my mind works. Tipping well in a small indie, to some extent, is to me a philosophical and political statement. Not a mathematical calculation.

Would a Starbucks employee deserve a tip and more than a counterperson at Popeyes?

Hell, yeah. People at Starbucks are nuts.

- On the subject, I tip less into a jar than directly to a server.

I've never tipped at a fast food restaurant that I can recall. I tend not to have cash so don't tip at Starbucks very often. I do make a point of tipping at local indies, not for political or philosophical reasons, but because it does "feel" right - so I did hit the tip jar at Pappalino's last week.

What about a fast food place like Sonic where the food is pretty ...ummmm.... not impressive but it is brought out to your car?

What about a fast food place like Sonic where the food is pretty ...ummmm.... not impressive but it is brought out to your car?

Ohh yeah....I did tip there.

I would tip at Sonic (if I was ever forced to go there).
At a place where you go up to the counter and order, I don't leave a tip, whether it is local or a chain.
I try to go to local places, but if I'm not tipping the counter help at McDonalds or Panera (if I was ever forced to go there), I'm not tipping the counter help at City Cafe or Bazo's.
I agree that tipping is for service, and all they are doing is taking your order, not bringing it to you or bussing your table.
I just ate lunch at Zoe's today, and it never occurred to me to leave a tip. It's just not that kind of place.
I would not tip at a counter place, but I always try to leave at least 20% at a sit-down restaurant (unless the service isn't up to par, and then I only leave 15%).

I subscribe to the tipping philosophy passed on to me by a friend in New Orleans as we came back to the city from the Westbank - "Down here, man, I tip at the toll booth"