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Waiter's Views

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Description

So what do waiter's think about tipping. One study (Liu, 2008) asked waiters what they thought would increase or decrease their chance of getting a good tip. Here's a summary of results.

Variable	Increase %	No effect %	Decrease %
Friendly service	85	15	0
Waiter makes good suggestions	85	15	0
Excellent food	80	20	0
Main course comes quickly	70	29	1
Restaurant is expensive	61	32	7
Customer has been drinking	50	29	21
Waiter introduces self	32	59	9
Payment by credit card	21	74	5
Sunny weather	14	84	2
Waiter touches your hand	11	75	14
Long time to get beverage	1	5	94
Seated in bad location	0	33	67
Waitress wears flower in hair	0	91	9

Harris (1995) found that waiters noted how good tippers were better at estimating the 15% norm (and bad tippers under-estimated this -- perhaps in a generous thought for such people).

It was also found that the following was seen as contributing towards good tips: friendly service, good suggestions, excellent food, prompt delivery of the main course and check, a self-introduction by the waiter, and receiving separate checks.

Harris also found that tips were decreased for waiting a long time for a beverage and being seated in a bad location.

Who gives good tips? Liu found the following:

Type of people who give good tips	% waiters who thought they give good tips
Rich people	29
Men	10
Happy people	8
Business people	8
People who have waited table	6
Selfish people	6

And bad tippers? Here's he results:

Type of people who give bad tips	% waiters who thought they give bad tips
Poor people	29
People in bad mood	12
People who have never waited table	10
Women	10
Young people	10
Old people	8
Rich people	6
Selfish people	6

Discussion

It is interesting to see that waiters see much of the tipping as being in their control - it is also noteworthy that they also see restaurant factors as being significant.

There is clearly a wide range of views as to who gives good and bad tips and how waiters actually determine whether a person is rich or poor or not is not clear. Perhaps a combination of clothes and whether the people order expensive food or the cheapest on the menu.

Waiter's Views

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