Recent Comments

• JellyBelly on How Much Do You Tip?: 15% is more the norm in “western” restaurants..except for bad service. Great service is more like 20% and maybe more in some circumstances. I think calculating the tip pre-tax is done quite a bit..but a lot of people just round the money off..not worrying about tipping to the exact percentage point. I worked in the industry for awhile (Vancouver) and 10% was considered cheap by the servers. Can’t comment on Chinese restos or buffets. Counter service really depends on the person helping me and usually they just get a looney or tooney not a calculated tip. I briefly worked at this type of place and the change payed for my skytrain to work and back.This really helped as I was making not much more than min.wage back then.

  ---

• ed.chan on How Much Do You Tip?: 10% in Vancouver is usually fine. I noticed that Ben and Suanne dine at a lot of Chinese places, usually in Richmond. 10% is THE norm for these restaurants. Many people don’t even tip that much. For western restaurants, I tip around the 15%-20% range. Of course, there are always exceptions. When I had crapper service at Guu a few weeks ago, I tipped exactly 0%. And for exceptional service (or a cute waitress, haha), I’ll tip much more.

  ---

• Chris on Prawn Noodle Paste: Tean’s is a godsend of Msian/S’porean expats everywhere! Still not widely available yet but worth hunting for! Tean’s also makes curry paste in a jar and the “crispy prawn sambal” is a must!

  ---

• KimHo on How Much Do You Tip?: Blur Momy, I calculate tips based on the amount pre-tax. Tax is government’s “share”.

  ---

• Ms._________! on Prawn Noodle Paste: I don’t think I ever try Malaysian food before.

  ---

• cissy on How Much Do You Tip?: My husband poited out to me one time that we should calculate base on pretax. yikes, i don’t tip my hairdresser(she works from her home), but my daughter does:P

  ---

• Blur Mommy on How Much Do You Tip?: Hi Ben, I am in Seattle & I usually tip abt 15% and maybe 20% in the upscale restaurants. Out of curiousity, I wonder if most people calculate base on pretax or aftertax? :)

  ---

• Jennifer on How Much Do You Tip?: Hi Ben, I’m sorry I have not been around. This is a good topic because typically it’s something I tend to put a lot of thought into whenever I am out somewhere. Typically, I try to tip at 20% (at least restaurant wise). I have a “cheat card” from Costco that I got a long time ago that helps me figure out what I should tip at 10% or 20% and I’m constantly on the sly with that one at restaurants. Now last night we went to the Boston’s place by the Bellis Fair mall in Bellingham and we were not impressed with the waiter. I ended up leaving him 10% because I think that maybe he will realize that he should up the ante on his customer service skills. Being in customer service myself, you can’t expect good feedback if you don’t put any effort into assisting your customers. Outside of restaurants I typically tip higher on coffee stands and hair cuts or other beauty services. For example, even if I buy a cup of...

  ---

• Jessica on How Much Do You Tip?: I tip my hairstylist $20-30 for a $70 cut. This is because I get color for free. I also make sure she gets a great Christmas present because of that.

  ---

• Linda on How Much Do You Tip?: For hotel room, tip daily because it may not be the same maid that cleans your room everyday. $1-2 is fine in an average hotel and $3-5 in a luxury hotel. May I ask how much do you tip your hairstylist?

  ---