Do you guys think you should or shouldn't tip waitress/bartenders? Explain why you should or shouldn't

Should. Show your gratitude for their good service and perk their low wages.

Of course you tip waitresses...I also don't do the bar scene, but if I happen to be at a restaurant sitting at the bar, I will tip the bartender. The money that you tip these servers is pretty much their pay as the wages they get paid are very low....also, the servers sometimes must share their tips with the table busers....so yeah, tip.

Yes, I always tip a waitress if she's doing a good job. I don't go to bars but I do go to restaurants here and there. To me? Good service is worth a good tip especially as they don't get paid that good anyway. The better the service, the better I tip. I think it's the polite thing to do.

I tip every one. I don't care how good or bad the service was, where you work or what you do. Everyone gets more than the standard. I've been known to tip even more generously if I got bad service. I figure they are having a bad day, why beat them up more?

One of my biggest pet peeves is pettiness with money with servers. Do you really think you are getting your point a cross by leaving them a penny? Do you really think you're doing them a "favor"by giving them 10%? I have been able to tell a lot about someone on how they treat people who serve them. I have left friendships over it.

Yes.

I was never had a service job, but I have some familiarity with how such servers look at their jobs on a particular day and particular circumstances and I try to line my reactions up with their thinking.

Two extreme examples:

I once got to a local bar / restaurant where a popular local group was performing its final show before disbanding.  I got there about 5:00 PM and intended to be there through closing.  I was taking a premium "4 top" table which would have most likely generated a fair number of tips for her throughout the evening, but at the time I was a "'Pinch' scotch on the rocks and a water back" drinker, and I kept my intake at about 1 drink per hour.

When the waitress came to the table, I asked her if she was working the whole evening.  She said "yes."  I explained that I would be there all evening, that I was not much of a drinker.  I gave her $20 (this was in 1975) up front to "rent" her table and that I would also take care of her again at the end of the night.

Needless to say, she was in a good mood and quite attentive for the whole evening.  (As it got later, the bar was very busy and a number of strangers wound up joining me toward the end---no problem, and more money for her from their tips.)

To the other extreme, I was a regular at a particular Steak & Ale restaurant from the time it opened until the late seventies---I ate there about twice a week.

One evening I had dinner and received absolutely abysmal service. The waiter had a disdainful manner and treated me more as a nuisance than a guest.  Long story short, I formulated a plan and left him a $0.02 cent tip.  (Coincidentally, I had new pennies in my pocket, so it made a nice presentation.)

The next night I went back for dinner.  I asked to be seated at his station.  He came around the corner into the dining room at a rapid pace, looked up and recognized me, and stopped dead in his tracks.

He and I never had a problem after that second dinner.

First - a correction to the mistaken assumption that servers don't make minimum wage.  That is ENTIRELY WRONG. They ONLY time a server does not have to be paid minimum wage by the employer, is if they make it up in tips.  If the server has a bad night and doesn't make any tips ... The employer has to pay them minimum wage.

While I usually tip my server... It DOES depend on the service I get.  They will get a larger tip, if they provide "above average" service.  If the service is bad, the tip will reflect that.  >  I don't care if you're having a bad day, like people gave in examples above.  That is NO excuse to treat customers badly.  (If that's the case, you're lucky you're just not getting a tip - I've known people to get fired for letting a bad "personal life" day affect how they treated customers.)

And because I'm paying... The pretty waitress who flirts with me is probably going to get a better tip than the handsome waiter who flirts with my date. LOL

I normally tip 15% for average service/food.  When we get exceptional service/food, I give more. 

I learned in one US restaurant that the waiter did not get paid. He paid for the tables he served and that payment went to the kitchen staff. He lived off his tips!  (there was an auction and he bid on the tables he wanted to serve) This waiter was exceptional, and because of the amount he paid for the tables, the kitchen staff made sure the food was exceptional. He got an exceptional tip.

It's different in Australia where the minimum wage is $16.87/hour and many people in the service industry would earn more than that. Over here, tipping does happen but it's not expected.

One Askling (I think it was Kokinaw) said that a couple of years ago he was in New Zealand. He ordered a round of drinks at the bar and carried them back to his table. The bar attendant walked across and gave him his change. He said, "Haven't you ever heard of a tip?" And she replied, "I've heard of them. I've never seen one."

Good Service, Good Tip. Give server and management verbal 👍.

Bad Service, I try to turn it around by giving encouragement to my server, If bad service continues. No Tip, Or if they're really terrible. I leave .02. Or draw a 😝 on the TIP LINE.  I may speak with the manager. Or not.

In the USA, most wait staff make a different "minimum" wage as Walt points out, when they make it up in tips, I'm not sure how much it is currently, but I would assume it would be around $3.00 an hour. They literally rely on tips for their actual income. My wife was a waitress for many years, often she would make more money per hour then I did at the time, some days made in the ups of $34.00 an hour and this was 10 years ago. A good server can make a good living. But if you travel overseas, do not tip, in many countries it is an insult to tip the wait staff, especially in Japan.

:D Oh I just had to remember this one: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-qV9wVGb38