for a waiter, tips are standard. plus, he said he was only half-expecting it.

People who don't tip are dicks. The service has to be pretty bad. As in, the waitress never brought you your drinks, or food and then went to the bathroom to do a crack line off the toilet seat instead.(Yes, this has happened to me at a Steak N' Shake. Didn't get a comped meal or anything for it.) Otherwise, 10-15% honestly should be expected. These people are giving you a service, you should be grateful. Servers are only paid half of minimum wage because they make the rest on tips, you know. As for OP, sucks to be you, but at least you have a job. Think of how many people can't find one right now.

In the U.S., 20% is the standard.

15% is standard. Unless its great service, or the holidays, or the holidays with great service.

No matter what, your waiter has to pay a busser, so when you don't tip your waiter actually has to PAY for your meal. Someone having BO isn't a good enough reason for them to have to pay for giving you service.

15% normally cept for this one time I gave a girl a 50% my bf and I were at a coney place and the girl had dark circles and ended up messing some stuff up. (it was during college finals too) and just stood there when we told her, and just looked down and said 'shit' then got our order right. I felt bad and she gave us a laugh so we left her at 10$ tip to be nice. we came back a month later she waited on us again and said thanks and explained she was an ap student and was studying non stop and she was having a bad day.

15% was the standard 10-15 years ago.

America is insane.

I totally agree, nobody anywhere should ever ever expect tips (this is coming from me, a person who generally tips, unless service is horrid or nonexistent). Tips are never mandatory (the very definition of gratuity indicates that!). Get used to the fact not everyone will be giving you a tip, a good tip, a great tip, or whatever is the norm these days (20%). Do your job above and beyond WITHOUT EXPECTING A TIP. And wear deodorant. Bring one with you and use it frequently.

but she DID get a tip ;)

It's simple economics. If people stopped to give tips (except for exceptional service), then the waiters would earn less. That in turn would lead to less people willing to put up with the job, which in turn would lead to higher wage for waiters so they would no more be dependant on tips. And yes, I do give tips, but I live in a country where tips are not expected and just a showing of good will. Also, for all you "be gratefull for the service", when was the last time you tipped a bus driver or the cleaning lady or the cook or anyone else who gives you a service and isn't a waiter?

20% isnt standard. Anywhere between 10-20 can be expected depending on service quality.

I was thinking that both had a first tip, a bad smell and both OPs were drama queens.

"THE OP IS SUCH A DRAMA QUEEN! HE DOESN'T KNOW ANY REAL PAIN! BUT I, A MERE ANGST RIDDEN HIGH SCHOOLER, DO BECAUSE I KNOW EVERYTHING!" ugh yeah we get it blah blah blah the op is whiny, the op should be grateful, you have it SO MUCH HARDER than the op, etc... If you don't like people complaining, why the **** do you come to a website where the only purpose is to complain? And getting a Mentos IS a shitty tip, but you are probably so terrible that a Mentos would be the only tip you ever got. Once you become a grown up and get out into the real world, you will learn that the world isn't a Trident Layers commercial and you cant get paid in candy if you want to survive. I don't feel bad for the smelly OP though, no one likes being near gross people.

Why do people always use the word "redundant" in such terrible ways here?

Redundant: repetition of the same sense using different words. Redundant DOES NOT mean what over half of you think it does. If you want to sound smart, try knowing what a word means before you use it.

This

Well put

It's not weird that this comment made me hungry is it?

agree! I'm not giving away my hard-earned money to someone that made my dining experience unpleasant.

everyone should tip, at least twice the tax. even if the service was bad, a dollar or two. im a watiress too and i give good service and i try to provide a nice dining experience, sometimes people leave nothing because they are cheap, or don't realize they need to. -_-. but if you smell...its your bad..haha...and that sucks.

Why would you tip if the service was bad?

In America, 20% is expected. If the service was kinda bad, I may round the dollar down. If it was awful, I'll still give 15%, cuz it might not be the waiter's fault. If the service is excellent, well, I've tipped 33% before.

Waiters often aren't subject to minimum wage laws and can be paid exclusively in tips, so not tipping often means that your waiter doesn't get a paycheck. Furthermore, a lot of restaurants require their waitstaff to pay bussers at least 5% from their tips, so when someone skips out, the waiter still ends up paying 5% of your meal cost to the person who cleared your plates away.

You would still tip because servers don't even get paid a respectable wage for what they do for customers. In Alabama where I worked as a server, my hourly rate was at $2.13. It's slave work to say the least.