Is Tipping mandatory

Answer 1

In some of the more upper class restaurants that you could go to a tip is required, but for most places a tip is simply a way of saying that your server did a good job, unless you leave a penny then it is a way of showing that they did a horrible job. In a resturaunt, you need to tip anywhere between 15% and 25% (it's 2009 people) depending on service. Servers are only paid $2.33/hr and usually don't see any of that $$ because it is taken out for taxes. Servers often work very hard and have multiple tables. They do the best they can. If you get crappy service, which will sometimes happen, it is often because a resturaunt is short staffed on that shift and the server is being forced to handle more tables than they usually do. Or perhaps you were sat in their section at the same time another table was sat in their section. There are many reasons for sub par service and it's usually not that your server sucks at serving. You have bad days at the office and have had too much to juggle at once...servers are the same way, It's just more obvious to their customers. If you can't afford to tip 15-25%, then don't go out. We don't do our job for fun, we do it to pay the bills.