If I pay with a credit card, most of the time I add the tip to the credit card bill. Frequent Flyer miles, you know.

For all others, I tip with cash.

And by the way, the cash tips should be taxed, but not everyone reports them on their tax return, therefore, restaurant owners, etc. are obligated to report a portion of them on an employee's W-2. If not enough is taxed then the employee is obligated to report the difference on his/her 1040.

The reason your taxes and mine are so high is that there is a whole other economy out there getting paid with cash and not paying their fair share of taxes on that income. We don't have a choice. We have our taxes withheld before we get our money. The person getting cash reports as much or as little as they think they can get away with. (Some people are more honest than others.)

We had a friend who worked in a large well known restaurant/night club in San Francisco. He used to brag about the large tips he got, and didn't have to pay taxes on.

I certainly don't mind tipping, to help the _poor_ restaurant owner who cannot or will not pay his employees liveable wages, but I feel that these tips should be taxable, just like my income.

I know restaurant owners say that they would have to raise their prices in order to pay there servers more. In fact, we are paying 15 - 20% more for our meals with our tips.

Why tip your hairdresser if he/she owns the shop? I know the obvious reasons!

Maybe I can get my employeer to pay me a part of my salary by check, and the rest in cash, calling it a tip for good work done.

Maybe I'll put a tip jar on my desk (like Starbucks etc..). so that next time I help someone, they will know to give me some extra money. And I thought that courtesy and service were all part of a job .... how naive I have been.

Sorry about getting on my soapbox

In small places for breakfast or lunch we leave the tip on the table. Everywhere else we add it to the bill.

Interestingly, friends in Scotland keep reminding us when we're over there NOT to put the tip on the credit card as they claim the servers never see it. Better to leave cash on the table.

At my hairdresser, the cashier always asks me if I'd like to add my tip to the credit card bill, and they give me the cash which I hand over to the stylist. Not sure why they do this, but it's fine with me.

Because waiters, hairstylists,colorists,shampoo people like to get cash.

I would really like to know: how many of you have the owner of the beauty shop do your hair and then you pay the bill and really do not tip the owner?

I have just started going to the owner of a shop, and it is really, really hard to just pay the bill and not leave a tip.

But it sure would be nice to save all that tip money.

I never, never add the tip in when paying by credit card; I just write "on table" across that line to make sure no one fills in an amount later.

The reason: often, servers don't see the money until the restaurant owner decides to give it to them, which may not be for a day or two or longer. I heard of one case where the restaurant owner disbursed the credit-card tips weekly via a report from an accountant. By the time it goes through all that, there is no way for the server to be sure he/she is getting tips from tables he/she actually served, never mind being sure the amount is correct.

I figure it's between me and the server how much I actually tip, and I want to make sure the server actually gets the money. It also means I keep a lid on credit card debt without losing all THAT many FF miles.

As to all those soapboxers about taxes, tipping, etc.: Why take it out on people who are nearly at the bottom of the pay scale and who usually work bloody hard to serve you?

Leaving cash does not mean the server gets to keep it all.

If the server is supposed to "tip out" to the bartender or busboy then they are supposed to include cash tips in thier total.

If they don't include cash tips when they figure out how much to tipout ,,,,,then they are only steaiing from their support staff.

Think the server doesn't get paid much ..then think of the busboy,

If the service is really, really bad,,,I don't tip the server,,,,but I do generously tip the busboy.

The owner of the salon does my hair and I also get hair color and manicures.
I tip the manicurist,shampoo girl,and colorist --I do NOT tip the owner.I ahve seen people who did not know better start to give him a tip and he thanks them and says "no,I own the place" with a smile.

I add the tip to the restaurant bill if it is over $20.

1- FF
2- It is easier.
3- Someimes I don't have the bills.
4- The server knows how much the tip is, since he/she takes the receipt from the table.
5- Indeed, everyone should pay his/her share of taxes. When they don't, it is not the government they are cheating, but all us other taxpayers.

It doesn't matter. It's all the same in the end. I can't believe that people are wasting time thinking about this.

I agree with Dick, it really doesn't matter if the tip is in cash or on the credit card slip. This is because the server claims eight percent of their total sales, either way. At the end of the night, the sales slips are traded in for cash, this is when the "tipping out" begins. I, also will tip just the bus boy if the service is really poor.

I heard from a server that their credit card tips are adjusted for the fee that the credit card company charges the establishment. In other words if the credit card company gets 4% (or whatever amount) of the total charge on the credit card the server loses 4% of his/her tip. We tip in cash and make a line through the tip section of the credit card receipt.

So they lose 4%(actually 1.5% to 2.0% is probaably more accurate).

Let's see on a $20 tip that amounts to 30 cents to 80%). Since they are probably not going to report the tip as income on their tax return,,,that "taxes" them at a rate of 1.5% to 4.0%.

since I must pay taxes on all of my income, I have no sympathy for someone who is "taxed" at such a low rate.

I go to the owner of the beauty salon, too, and I am also to timid to not tip. I wish I had the nerve to just pay the bill and walk out. I guess I am afraid that when I come back, she won't try so hard to do a good job.

topping

I miscalculated on a stylist's tip once, and after I got home I felt so guilty but didn't have the nerve to go back and give her more money. It was an honest mistake, I usually tip well. After that episode I could never get another appointment with her again. I called three different times and was told by the receptionist that my stylist was either all booked or would be out of town. And we're talking Cost Cutter here folks. Imagine what the high cost salons would do. Anyway, I made one mistake and apparently she never forgot, so I ditched her and found a better stylist.

I have been going to the same beautician/owner for years. Instead of tipping her, as I see most of the other customers do, we take her out to dinner, or bring back little things from our travels.

Someday I hope to get up the nerve to ask her how she feels about this.

In Paris you tip the movie theater usher just for pointing you to a seat.

I don't tip the owner, but I always feel so guilty. Someone explained that the tip is built in, because if he were not the owner, he would have to give part of my payment to the owner. And the owner gets to keep all of my payment when he is the one who does my hair. But it still feels funny to walk out without tipping. I'm curious about how more of you handle this.

to the top

Can I throw in another question in this same vein? How do you feel about gratuities being added for parties of 8, 6 or even 5? Just this week, three families went to lunch, two families of four, one of three. They added a 15% tip to each of the bills. Sure, we were all at one table, but there were three checks handed out. What do you think?

I think it's great. Actually I always tip 20% unless the service was bad, so the automatic tip saves money and the hassle of figuring out how much everyone owes (especially if everyones had a few glasses of wine!).

Did you ever get home and say "No wonder the waiter was so nice when we were leaving" only to realize you left a 30% tip? No, we're not THAT generous we just had impaired math ability.

ttt

Waiters (I am a former one)rely on tips to make their living. Other than tips, they are making minimum wage or worse. I agree -if bad service then forget the tip! For good service, tip or go to restaurants where tipping is not necessary.

To answer the large group tip incldued on bill question - without the tip included, a large party is no party for a waiter. That is why tip is often included even for large parties who ask for separate checks. They take a lot of time, take up a lot of a waiter's station, and total bill's are typically smaller overall.

And, often in the havoc of everyone putting in money to pay the bill, much of the tip gets forgotten or left out (everyone's had occasion where they have to put in extra money for the bill to cover the schmuck who only gave $10 for a $15 entree and left before the bill arrived and before tip is even considered).

If your party is six or more people - always ask if the tip has been included. If it has been included, this should be clearly indicated on your bill (and on the menu).

"Someday I hope to get up the nerve to ask her how she feels about this."

I am a Hairdresser,own a little salon, working behind the chair. I can tell you how I feel when just some of my clientele do not leave a tip. Its feels awful. Because I work hard as well as other non-owner hairdressers.

And as I read in some comments "Why tip your hairdresser if he/she owns the shop? I know the obvious reasons!" feel even worse.

The reasons that you know obviously wrong reasons. Because as the hairdresser I have to get my paycheck too, as everybody else. The rest of the payment for the service will go to the business money from which I have to pay rent, bills, supplies, fees, insurances, marketing, taxed and so... And what is left? Not much or nothing sometimes.

If we talk about tip paid by credit cards, yes we got deducted 3% from the tips to share the portion for credit cards charges. But its all about preferences how customer will pay. The all tips has to be taxable anyway. But cash tips will save a hairstylist a 3%.

This has to be one of those "secrets of the universe" topics for sure (there never seems to be any agreement on "the" answer.

We keep hearing rationalizations from cheapskates about how

you don't need to tip (much) in places where the food server is making "a decent wage"

you don't need to tip that person in the hotel who cleaned your bathroom and the toilet because "that's what they are paid to do anyway"

you should always ask what everybody else does before you do any tipping because it isn't the service you received that counts; it's what the "custom" is

Quite frankly, I couldn't care LESS about what everybody else does since they are not the ones who received the services and let's get real here:

the tipped person will never forget it and YOU will never miss the money.

Do we really have to drag up a 10.5 year old thread to discuss tipping? Really??

this seems to be happening on other threads as well.

summer2010,

You really expect to be tipped and you own the shop. Look at any etiquitte book and you will find that tipping the owner is not the norm. You should set the price to make however much you can or however much you deem reasonable, etc. Personally, I love places that don't accept tips.

I agree spirobulldog, the owner should be charging a price that means they do not have to rely on tips,

We have just come back from a trip to the US, and managed the tipping thing okay, although we were always puzzled when we paid by credit card. The server would bring the bill to the table. We gave them the credit card which was taken away. Then eventually brought back and then there was the space for the tip. DH would add the tip and sign the Visa slip.

We wondered whether our Visa had been charged the original amount, and what happens when we add the tip. When we checked our Visa statement, it seems the original amount goes through, then it gets reversed out, and the new figure including tip, added.

Why isn't there a space to add the tip on the original bill, so you don't have to do the second step, or should we have just added the tip straight away?

To the person who gives her stylist little chatchkes from travels, etc. I doubt that will pay the rent or put food on the table.
To the visitors wondering about their charge card. They bring the bill to you for you to check the orders, and for the amount. The bill you sign--with the tip amount--isn't itemized. I have never seen what you are describing on a billing statement, unless you asked for the first one to be cancelled.

Shop owner--you DO charge your other stylists rent for their spaces, don't you? Forgot that in your laundry list of expense--income counts. ;o)

No never asked for the first one to be cancelled, but the first charge was always reversed out, and a new charge added, when the tip was taken into account.

Now that I check most of my bills on line I also notice that as soon as I charge a meal at a restaurant, just the amouunt of the bill is posted on my account. Several days later it is changed to include the tip. If you don't check your account daily you would not know this even happens.

Really. How interesting. So in the end, only one transaction is there? The first one is deleted?

Yes...the first one is gone and just the transaction including the tip is listed on the final charge.

>>No never asked for the first one to be cancelled, but the first charge was always reversed out, and a new charge added, when the tip was taken into account.<<

The first charge was an authorization hold for the cost of the meal. The restaurant doesn't get that money but it was "deducted" from your balance until the restaurant clears it with a final transaction, typically done daily with all an aggregate of the CC and debit card sales. Your hold goes away and is replaced by the final amount which did (or didn't) include the tip. Sometimes the hold is called a pending transaction.

It's not only restaurants but any CC or debit card charge whose final amount is variable: hotels, gas, car rental, equipment rental.

It can be dicey for those who live close to their CC limits or those who plow everything through one card including big ticket items (like college tuition). It can very pricey for those who use debit cards, don't know how close to $0 the balance is, and end up with overdraft fees.

Thanks obxgirl, makes sense. I was checking the balance daily so would see the hold.