To Tip or Not to Tip?

I never really thought about tipping someone when I ordered takeout. I figure that I am paying for the food and not really receiving any service. It is like ordering McDonalds, you wait in line, give your order to the person behind the counter, pay, and wait until food is ready. That is it. You would never tip a McDonalds employee for “preparing” your food. I am not saying that I am right. I tend to be super awkward are generally do not know when it is appropriate to tip. For instance, I did not know I should tip my super during the Holidays. (Luckily, I was told by my coworkers and this holiday season my super was tipped.) I also think people are a little tip happy in America. We have to tip everyone. From cab drivers to the people you do your nails. Again, I might be a selfish brat who doesn’t think of other people but honestly, I am just trying to make ends meet myself. All and all it is an interesting article that generally agrees that if the person did not perform a service, like cleaning your table or serving your food, they should not receive a tip. Interestingly though, I took the survey and it seems people are almost dead even between tip all the time and no takeout tippers.


What Can I Get You Folks? - Tipping on Takeout

by Hanna Raskin, Posted Feb 3rd 2010 @ 4:00PM

Photo: passiveaggressivenotes, Flickr

"Tipping may be contentious, but it's generally not too complicated. Most diners today are in the habit of adding at least 15 percent to their bills for the luxury of not having to pour their own drinks, fetch their food from the kitchen or clear their table at the end of their meal.

But even practiced tippers continue to struggle with what may very well be the most complex tipping quandary for restaurant-goers: Should one tip on takeout?

Here's why the problem's so advanced: It forces the customer to evaluate what's happening behind the scenes, a tricky proposition even for seasoned industry insiders. Since no server is going to bore you with the details of how your order was taken, placed, boxed and bagged, it's up to you to figure out whether anything tip-worthy transpired.

Tip-haters will be delighted to know I don't think there's generally anything wrong with skipping the tip on a to-go order. My fellow servers and I expect to be tipped on things like knowing the menu, anticipating diners' needs and keeping the dining room spotless – all of which are irrelevant in a take-out situation. While I'm quite sure there isn't a server anywhere who'd turn down a tip, few servers plan to get rich handing bags to customers.

If customers sense that their to-go orders might have chipped away at a server's time (which really does equal money in the restaurant biz), leaving a tip is the right thing to do. An astounding number of take-out customers will call a restaurant during dinner rush and ask whoever answers the phone to read the entire entrée section aloud -- and then check whether there's peanut oil in the salmon.

Most restaurants allow their servers to ring up to-go orders in such a way that they aren't penalized for the sale by having to report it to the IRS or calculate it into their end-of-shift tip-out. If your order's waiting for you at the bar, it's a fairly safe bet that nobody will suffer if you leave the tip line blank.

But if you arrive at a restaurant to find a server hustling off the floor to package your spaghetti, that's probably worth a dollar or two. Similarly, if a server offers to carry your food to your car, there's nothing wrong with expressing your gratitude in cash. Take-out orders don't require tips – but that shouldn't stand in the way of acknowledging good service. "

Do you tip on takeout?

Of course. It's the least I can do for people who don't make much in wages. 1900 (41.6%)

Never. If I haven't been served a drink or had my plate cleared, what's the point? 2112 (46.2%)

I never thought about it, but maybe now I will. 560 (12.2%)