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Comment by tdumitrescu | Hacker News Reader

Horrible. For me the absolute #1 feature of these apps was not having to think about the stupid tipping economy. Officially charge a more expensive base fare, hell make it 2x, I don't care; but turn it into a social poker game where increasingly there are a set of unwritten rules about what you're "supposed" to pay, and I just want to find the first alternative out there.

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As an European I find it horribly annoying to have to tip in the US. If I do not like the the food I still have to tip because otherwise the nice waiter gets nothing? Or is that old information? Or was it always a lie? I only want to tip when I really like something, not as a kind of guilt trip with an unwritten minimum. Wish they would change that.

American server here. Yeah, if I provide shitty service, you shouldn't have to tip me. Personally, as someone who has served and has gotten paid less than 'minimum wage' (service industry is different in some states), even if I'm the one getting shitty service, I leave 2-3 dollars on a $60 bill. I understand shitty days and putting up with hungry people. But it definitely is a culturally economic thing too. So if someone provides excellent service, or I see them as an extremely hard worker toward the guests around me, I leave them extra. Although I definitely agree that the tip should be included in the menu items and servers should be paid more than $15 (min wage is $9 where I live) in the more populated cities.

> If I do not like the the food I still have to tip because otherwise the nice waiter gets nothing?

I actually don't think your parent was asking about shitty service, I think they were asking about if the service was good but the food itself was bad, in which case yes, they should still tip, right? Which I guess could seem unfortunate but that doesn't seem worse than no-tipping systems for that case, so.

Tipping makes full service restaurants a pain to visit and as a result I'm more likely to visit places where tipping is not expected.

Restaurant complaint etiquette:

Bad food---> Ask to see a manager and complain, leave appropriate tip (20%).

Bad service---> leave little or no tip.

Long wait for food---->If server says nothing, leave little or no tip. If server apologizes and says they're having issues in the kitchen ask to talk to manager and leave an appropriate tip.

Lyft has gotten much better. From heavy usage in San Francisco, my anecdata shows that tipping in Lyfts is not expected.

Drivers are reasonably paid without the tip (as opposed to, say, waiters) so you really can just tip for exceptional service.

My math, as a driver with 1k+ rides, says otherwise. I average roughly $5-6/hr after taxes and expenses.

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