Tipping is a widely debated part of restaurant etiquette. It can be especially confusing for new college students who are just starting to eat out on their own or immigrants who come from countries where tipping does not occur. This page presents a discussion about tipping in Ithaca. Many employees in Ithaca rely on tips for their livelihood. Note that this page is about gratuities. You may be looking for Cow Tipping. Unlike humans, bovines prefer to get tipped 0%, except for perhaps the dairy cows.

General principles

The rule-of-thumb is that one should give a minimum tip of 15%, which is approximately double the tax. Other common flat rates that people often tip are 18% and 20%. Some people do not give a flat rate tip. They feel it should be less for poor service and more for good to excellent service.

Common Business Practices Related to Tipping

Many establishments have all the workers pool their tips, and then divvy them out again. In this case each worker gets a percentage of the tips depending on their position and the number of hours they work. The reason for this is that the business does not want employees to be shafted because they ended up being unlucky with the tables they got. However, many people dislike this because it seems to defeat the purpose of a tip being a reward for good service.

Another common business practice is adding gratuity for large parties (usually greater than 6). If a party is large enough it is possible that a waiter will only be serving that single large party. Hence his or her tips for the entire night may depend on the tip this party provides. A included gratuity prevents this waiter from receiving a small tip.