Lebron James doesn't tip well

[Chris]

Here are some tipping guide lines:
If service is good, give 15%.
If service is great, give 20%.
If service is poor, give 10%.
If you are not willing to allow a server to have an off day, stick with take-out.

Unfortunately, those numbers have become a bit outdated.

At this point, 18% has become pretty standard, with 15% being the bottom, and 20+% being reward for a job well done (or more accurately, a message to the waiter of "please like me")

I always find these stories funny though.  I don't think it means anything about them as a person, but it does show a lack of awareness of their celebrity (or a desire to just be seen as cheap).

As a celebrity, you need to know that this stuff always gets out, so, you really are required to overtip in order to avoid getting the cheap label.  

I'm curious.  What is the logic for these numbers changing?  

i asked a pizza guy what he  expected and thought was fair once and he said essentially a buck and change, but that was in maybe 1999, so maybe it's 2 and change now

I don't think there is logic behind cultural changes like that.  They just happen.

Now, maybe its different in different parts of the country, but in Boston, 18% is customary, as is evidenced by it being the number the automatically add to checks of groups of 6 or more.

edit: also, I am certainly talking about something different than tipping for a pizza.  I am talking about eating at a nice restaurant.

[Eja117]

Here are some tipping guide lines:
If service is good, give 15%.
If service is great, give 20%.
If service is poor, give 10%.
If you are not willing to allow a server to have an off day, stick with take-out.

Unfortunately, those numbers have become a bit outdated.

At this point, 18% has become pretty standard, with 15% being the bottom, and 20+% being reward for a job well done (or more accurately, a message to the waiter of "please like me")

I always find these stories funny though.  I don't think it means anything about them as a person, but it does show a lack of awareness of their celebrity (or a desire to just be seen as cheap).

As a celebrity, you need to know that this stuff always gets out, so, you really are required to overtip in order to avoid getting the cheap label. 

I'm curious.  What is the logic for these numbers changing? 

i asked a pizza guy what he  expected and thought was fair once and he said essentially a buck and change, but that was in maybe 1999, so maybe it's 2 and change now

I don't think there is logic behind cultural changes like that.  They just happen.

Now, maybe its different in different parts of the country, but in Boston, 18% is customary, as is evidenced by it being the number the automatically add to checks of groups of 6 or more.

I see what you mean, but I am going to be slightly resistant to letting the restaurants decide that for me. They seem a little biased to me

[Chris]

Here are some tipping guide lines:
If service is good, give 15%.
If service is great, give 20%.
If service is poor, give 10%.
If you are not willing to allow a server to have an off day, stick with take-out.

Unfortunately, those numbers have become a bit outdated.

At this point, 18% has become pretty standard, with 15% being the bottom, and 20+% being reward for a job well done (or more accurately, a message to the waiter of "please like me")

I always find these stories funny though.  I don't think it means anything about them as a person, but it does show a lack of awareness of their celebrity (or a desire to just be seen as cheap).

As a celebrity, you need to know that this stuff always gets out, so, you really are required to overtip in order to avoid getting the cheap label. 

I'm curious.  What is the logic for these numbers changing? 

i asked a pizza guy what he  expected and thought was fair once and he said essentially a buck and change, but that was in maybe 1999, so maybe it's 2 and change now

I don't think there is logic behind cultural changes like that.  They just happen.

Now, maybe its different in different parts of the country, but in Boston, 18% is customary, as is evidenced by it being the number the automatically add to checks of groups of 6 or more.

I see what you mean, but I am going to be slightly resistant to letting the restaurants decide that for me. They seem a little biased to me

Absolutely.  I hate it.  I think the whole point of a tip has been lost, when it is actually worked into the bill, or assumed to be a certain amount.

I saw an interesting study about tipping though recently, and it makes a lot of sense.  They found that tipping really did not correlate with good or bad service very strongly.  Instead, it correlated with peoples desire to be liked.  Some people, who really care about what others think always tip a lot, no matter how bad the service is.  Some, who don't care, always tip very little, no matter how good the service is. 

[bdm860]

Celebrities truly can't win I think.

If they tip 20%, people still think, "you have money, you should tip me more."  But if a rich celebrity calls a plumber, I don't think he pays double what was charged just to be a nice guy and because he has the money.  A lot of wait staff feels too entitled too a big tip in my opinion (and I used to be a waiter).

The thing is, guys like Antoine and Vin Baker I heard were super generous tippers.  Now they're broke and everyone calls them a fool for wasting their money.

I kinda disagree with this. The idea that a rich celeb can't be a good tipper cause they just can't win or everyone feels entitled or they'll go broke is just a bit of a stretch for me, your excellent plumber example not withstanding.

Now I knnooowwww that's not exxacccttlly what you said, but I still disagree with what I THINK is the GENERAL sentiment here.       

I'm not saying they can't be a good tipper, but the bar is just set so ridiculously high.  The original article actually mentions Johnny Depp leaving a $1,500 tip and a $4,000 tip, and I've heard other stories like this too about other people.  It's every working person's fantasy.  Because of things like this, normal generous tips don't seem so generous when it's from a celebrity.

Again if LeBron went to Chili's, got a $20 meal, if he left a $4, most people would think that's cheap, even though it's 20%.  If LeBron left $10 on a $20 meal, most people would still think "hey that's LeBron, he's got over $100m, he should have could have given me a $100." If that $800 bill already included $160 for gratiuty, people would still think LeBron should tip more.  Maybe he tipped $500 last time he was at the restaurant and they didn't seem like they appreciated it, so this time he left $10.

If Johhny Depp ever goes bankrupt, people will say he was a fool who lived too lavishly leaving $4k tips.

[Chris]

Celebrities truly can't win I think.

If they tip 20%, people still think, "you have money, you should tip me more."  But if a rich celebrity calls a plumber, I don't think he pays double what was charged just to be a nice guy and because he has the money.  A lot of wait staff feels too entitled too a big tip in my opinion (and I used to be a waiter).

The thing is, guys like Antoine and Vin Baker I heard were super generous tippers.  Now they're broke and everyone calls them a fool for wasting their money.

I kinda disagree with this. The idea that a rich celeb can't be a good tipper cause they just can't win or everyone feels entitled or they'll go broke is just a bit of a stretch for me, your excellent plumber example not withstanding.

Now I knnooowwww that's not exxacccttlly what you said, but I still disagree with what I THINK is the GENERAL sentiment here.       

I'm not saying they can't be a good tipper, but the bar is just set so ridiculously high.  The original article actually mentions Johnny Depp leaving a $1,500 tip and a $4,000 tip, and I've heard other stories like this too about other people.  It's every working person's fantasy.  Because of things like this, normal generous tips don't seem so generous when it's from a celebrity.

Again if LeBron went to Chili's, got a $20 meal, if he left a $4, most people would think that's cheap, even though it's 20%.  If LeBron left $10 on a $20 meal, most people would still think "hey that's LeBron, he's got over $100m, he should have could have given me a $100." If that $800 bill already included $160 for gratiuty, people would still think LeBron should tip more.  Maybe he tipped $500 last time he was at the restaurant and they didn't seem like they appreciated it, so this time he left $10.

If Johhny Depp ever goes bankrupt, people will say he was a fool who lived too lavishly leaving $4k tips.

All I would think is "Why is Lebron eating at chilis?  Maybe he does need that money more than me...

[Redz]

I've been waiting tables a couple of nights a week for the last couple of years (after taking a 10 year break from the business).  One of the things that made me crazy when I was doing it full time was that my service was pretty much consistently well above average to excellent (and, yes I can say that objectively I am a good waiter because I care about my customers and I know what the hell I'm doing) but the tips weren't always commensurate to the service level.  I hated that my salary was based on the whim of the customer.

Nowadays my main goal is go in, make some money, not get aggravated, and not hurt my back.  So far so good.

As a whole I get tipped pretty well. 

My wife has worked in the restaurant biz for many many moons, and has a saying "Happy to help you happy people".

Maybe Lebron can't do math.

[ManUp]

Wow, I can't believe this thread.

Amazing.

[bdm860]

Here are some tipping guide lines:
If service is good, give 15%.
If service is great, give 20%.
If service is poor, give 10%.
If you are not willing to allow a server to have an off day, stick with take-out.

Unfortunately, those numbers have become a bit outdated.

At this point, 18% has become pretty standard, with 15% being the bottom, and 20+% being reward for a job well done (or more accurately, a message to the waiter of "please like me")

I always find these stories funny though.  I don't think it means anything about them as a person, but it does show a lack of awareness of their celebrity (or a desire to just be seen as cheap).

As a celebrity, you need to know that this stuff always gets out, so, you really are required to overtip in order to avoid getting the cheap label. 

I'm curious.  What is the logic for these numbers changing? 

i asked a pizza guy what he  expected and thought was fair once and he said essentially a buck and change, but that was in maybe 1999, so maybe it's 2 and change now

I don't think there is logic behind cultural changes like that.  They just happen.

Now, maybe its different in different parts of the country, but in Boston, 18% is customary, as is evidenced by it being the number the automatically add to checks of groups of 6 or more.

I see what you mean, but I am going to be slightly resistant to letting the restaurants decide that for me. They seem a little biased to me

Absolutely.  I hate it.  I think the whole point of a tip has been lost, when it is actually worked into the bill, or assumed to be a certain amount.

I saw an interesting study about tipping though recently, and it makes a lot of sense.  They found that tipping really did not correlate with good or bad service very strongly.  Instead, it correlated with peoples desire to be liked.  Some people, who really care about what others think always tip a lot, no matter how bad the service is.  Some, who don't care, always tip very little, no matter how good the service is. 

I’ve always heard tipping is paying for the service.  When you go to a sit-down restaurant, you’re paying for 2 things.  The food – that’s the bill you get from the restaurant, and the service – that’s what you tip your waiter/waitress to actually wait on you.  If you don’t want that service, you can order take out (although if you have it delivered, you’re supposed to tip the delivery person, I don’t think it has the same tipping expectation, like the pizza guy eja mentioned).

So as to why the tip has gone from 15% to 18% or 20%, well that’s because the cost of everything else has gone up too, and every other occupation has gotten wage increases over the last 40-50 years, but if you’re just tipping on the old custom, you’re not keeping up with the cost of living increases and the changing times, etc., etc.

This is how I’ve heard it explained, and to me this makes sense.


I hate the automatic tip too, but it saves me money cuz I usually tip more 

[Redz]

You know what has increased the tip percentage more than anything?  The tax rate going up from 5% to %6.25 (plus some towns have a local tax on top of that).
First off, a lot of people tip based on the bill total including the tax. Secondly a lot of people use a multiple of the tax to determine the tip %.  It used to be in Massachusetts you could multiply the tax by 3 to give a 15% tip.  Do that now and you're leaving a 18.75%.

[Tai]

Yea, Lebron probably should have tipped more, but man, I can't bring myself to care that much....

[317]

this isn't the first i have heard of Lebron not tipping well, granted its the first published report of it since i had only heard from a freind at Ohio State that Lebron was known in the area as a bad tipper.

[LooseCannon]

I’ve always heard tipping is paying for the service.

These days, tipping feels more like a conspiracy to evade taxes.  I prefer to tip in cash so servers can under-report their income, if they wish.

Would you rather we inflate prices by 15-20% and change the custom to no tipping?

Has this thread really gone on this long without anyone mentioning Reservoir Dogs?

No one would criticize LeBron James if he were an average tipper.  We would never hear any stories about his tipping.  If LeBron James habitually tipped 10%, we'd probably never hear stories about his tipping.

[jambr380]

Here are some tipping guide lines:
If service is good, give 15%.
If service is great, give 20%.
If service is poor, give 10%.
If you are not willing to allow a server to have an off day, stick with take-out.

Unfortunately, those numbers have become a bit outdated.

At this point, 18% has become pretty standard, with 15% being the bottom, and 20+% being reward for a job well done (or more accurately, a message to the waiter of "please like me")

I always find these stories funny though.  I don't think it means anything about them as a person, but it does show a lack of awareness of their celebrity (or a desire to just be seen as cheap).

As a celebrity, you need to know that this stuff always gets out, so, you really are required to overtip in order to avoid getting the cheap label. 

I'm curious.  What is the logic for these numbers changing? 

i asked a pizza guy what he  expected and thought was fair once and he said essentially a buck and change, but that was in maybe 1999, so maybe it's 2 and change now

I don't think there is logic behind cultural changes like that.  They just happen.

Now, maybe its different in different parts of the country, but in Boston, 18% is customary, as is evidenced by it being the number the automatically add to checks of groups of 6 or more.

I see what you mean, but I am going to be slightly resistant to letting the restaurants decide that for me. They seem a little biased to me

Absolutely.  I hate it.  I think the whole point of a tip has been lost, when it is actually worked into the bill, or assumed to be a certain amount.

I saw an interesting study about tipping though recently, and it makes a lot of sense.  They found that tipping really did not correlate with good or bad service very strongly.  Instead, it correlated with peoples desire to be liked.  Some people, who really care about what others think always tip a lot, no matter how bad the service is.  Some, who don't care, always tip very little, no matter how good the service is. 

I’ve always heard tipping is paying for the service.  When you go to a sit-down restaurant, you’re paying for 2 things.  The food – that’s the bill you get from the restaurant, and the service – that’s what you tip your waiter/waitress to actually wait on you.  If you don’t want that service, you can order take out (although if you have it delivered, you’re supposed to tip the delivery person, I don’t think it has the same tipping expectation, like the pizza guy eja mentioned).

So as to why the tip has gone from 15% to 18% or 20%, well that’s because the cost of everything else has gone up too, and every other occupation has gotten wage increases over the last 40-50 years, but if you’re just tipping on the old custom, you’re not keeping up with the cost of living increases and the changing times, etc., etc.

This is how I’ve heard it explained, and to me this makes sense.


I hate the automatic tip too, but it saves me money cuz I usually tip more 

I am not totally sure of the 'cost of living increase' argument, as a percentage is just a percentage. Since the cost of food has gone up, doesn't that mean that the average tip has gone up, too, since it is a percentage?

I agree with many here that it is odd that tipping seems to have increased. I remember going out with my grandmother when I was a kid in the 80s and she always carriend with her a tip card that had 12% and 15% tip amounts. 20% tips are now customary and I think waiters and waitresses feel slighted when they don't receive that amount. Even at buffets, you are expected to give at least a 15% tip and you have to get your own food. I give 20% without even thinking about it.

As for Lebron, I tend to agree that on an $800 bill, the 18% tip was probably already added in and the $10 was extra. There is never anyway to make the extra tip look big without the percentage getting up into the 30s.

[nickagneta]

Not only does LeBron not tip well but he's ugly and he smells.

[Chris]

I’ve always heard tipping is paying for the service.

These days, tipping feels more like a conspiracy to evade taxes.  I prefer to tip in cash so servers can under-report their income, if they wish.

Would you rather we inflate prices by 15-20% and change the custom to no tipping?

Has this thread really gone on this long without anyone mentioning Reservoir Dogs?

No one would criticize LeBron James if he were an average tipper.  We would never hear any stories about his tipping.  If LeBron James habitually tipped 10%, we'd probably never hear stories about his tipping.

I went to Paris earlier this year, where tips are generally part of the bill, and waiters are essentially on salary.  It definitely did not do much for the service...