Buffet & smorg tipping ... what's the "rule of thumb"?

**CrotalusHH** · 06-02-2012, 03:54 PM

Soup or Salad, Luby's. If they actually refill my glass or bring me something, I will tip based on how much attention I get. If they do nothing they get nothing.

**jd_1138** · 06-02-2012, 11:18 PM

Originally Posted by Arcadies

This irks me as well and has jump started my lazy ass into going to pick up my own pizza, hell the restaurant is only ¾ mile down the street. I used to always tip a buck but ever since they started charging $1 delivery I quit tipping and now that the delivery fee is up to $3 I just go get it myself.

Hello, my name is Byron and I am a cheap bastard.

Those delivery fees at the large chain pizzerias don't go to the drivers. That's an extra fee that the pizza places charge to make up for increased costs such as liability insurance. They want to make it look like their pizzas are still cheap, so they just tacked it on as a delivery fee. The drivers have to pay for their gas, insurance, maintenance all out of minimum wage. If no one tipped, the drivers would be forced to quit, and then the pizzerias would have to charge extra for the pizzas or tack on a real delivery fee of like $5-$6 per pizza so they could afford to pay more than minimum wage, so either way the customer will have to pay for the convenience of getting fresh, hot food delivered to their door. I figure heck we only have pizza delivered maybe once or twice a month, I can thus afford to give this guy or gal a $5 bill for a tip.

But only being 3/4 of a mile away, you may as well fetch it yourself. Less hassle that way and cheaper.

**Antique Hoosier** · 06-03-2012, 11:46 AM

I do not frequent fast food or buffet restaurants in general but when I am dining out I typically leave 20% or better gratuity.

**mattnick** · 06-03-2012, 02:58 PM

I usually try and figure 10% for buffets (I end up at Fresh Choice quite a bit), but of course it depends. There are times during the entire meal where I don't see a soul. I stack the plates on an empty table and get my own drinks. I'm not leaving anything if service is zero. Other times staff offers to fill up drinks and clear plates as much as a full service place, and I'll usually go 15% then.

**Matt555** · 06-05-2012, 09:08 AM

Originally Posted by oc_in_fw

The problem is, that if you leave a sub-standard (to them) tip, the next time you visit you are going to get a little "extra" with your food.

And that is the exact reason I still tip despite the fact I despise doing such.

**maxman** · 06-05-2012, 09:22 AM

I do 10% at Buffets.
The only exception is if there is a huge pile of plates that haven't been cleared.
Then it might be a little less.

Having worked a buffet I can tell you that they are just about as much work because of the turnover in clients, but at the same time easier because the clients require less from you.

My only rule of tipping is don't tip lousy to a place you want to become a regular.

**jd_1138** · 06-05-2012, 10:18 AM

Originally Posted by maxman

My only rule of tipping is don't tip lousy to a place you want to become a regular.

If you tip decent at a place you go to a lot, the servers will remember you and give you great service.

The only time I don't tip is if the service is cartoonishly horrible. I've only NOT left a tip maybe 3 or 4 times. Last time was at a local small pub and grill. The place was dead (only like 2 or 3 tables were filled), but the server waited 10 minutes to come over to take our drink orders. And then it took another 10 minutes to get the drinks, and then it took almost an hour to get our burgers and fries out to us. And she brought our appetizer (cheese sticks) WITH our entrees. I asked her if she could please remove the appetizer from our check because it should've came out before the food (especially since the food took so long), and she then asked in a snarky way: "so you don't want to pay for the appetizer?" I said "not really". Instead of simply asking the manager if it'd be ok to comp the apps, she instead snatched the basket of cheese sticks off the table and went and dumped them in the trash. She was punishing us by throwing away the cheese sticks and not letting us finish them. Hell a simple apology like "sorry we can't comp you your apps because the manager doesn't allow it would've been fine." I would've paid for them. She was nasty. If you're going to throw the apps away, may as well let the guest keep them, because at least then, there might be a chance that the guests may go BACK to your restaurant. That place only lasted a few months before it closed down.