Saturday, April 24, 2010

Tip

How much tip do we pay when we go to Restaurants ?
In US, even if we went to a restaurant with Buffet, for more than 6 people a gratuity (Tip in other words) of 15% of the bill amount. And they served only the Rotis and one Tandoori chicken at the table. Plates, Cutlery, Food you should bring out from the Buffet Table.

Back in India, even for A la carte, where you get separate set of plates and cutlery for starters, main course and dessert set and cleared , food served in plates, continuous supply of water, clean up of table after every course, Finger bowls, mostly everything at your service .. what do we pay in addition to the bill as a tip ?

I have seen more than one occasions where the tip paid was less than 1% of the bill. In actuality, the wages of an American Waiter and that for an Indian one would differ radically..
When I added a tip of nearly 8% ( an amount to round it off to nearest 100) , I got surprised eyes and opened door as I left .. :)
I only had to keep the payment away from the eyes of my Mom .. but thats fine.. I can explain her ..

3 comments:

Chica said...

Thats quite a disparity I agree... Whenever I get exceptionally good service I leave a big tip even if Im low on cash...coz anyday he needs it more than me.

Himali said...

I might sound a bit harsh here but i do not agree with the concept of tip.
Do they not get paid for what they do? The reason why they are waiting on others could be explained by lazy attitude when they should have been burning midnight's oil..
To look at it from a different point of view, when we slog our asses off, do we get the tip?
To compare salaries of the bigwigs and the lower strata like me, there is a disparity as well but then what i do is considered as part of my job. awards, yes but thats certainly not the tip and neither do you get it that very often.
To praise a quick and efficient service, i make sure that i ask the waiter his name and write a good comment in their book.
Hope that helps him with him appraisal but tipping them according to me would make them even more lazier... ;)

Chica said...

I like the way u put it Himali..very true !