Most of us tip despite bad service: Poll

Just one-third of British Columbians will refuse to leave a tip if they receive bad service at a restaurant, according to results from a new Insights West poll.

In the online survey, 32 per cent of respondents consider it acceptable to not leave a tip at a sit-down restaurant if the service was below average and the server wasn’t busy.

Older patrons are most comfortable stiffing a server, with 41 per cent of the 55-plus crowd saying they’re comfortable leaving no tip.

The majority of us, however, said we feel obligated to leave something, regardless of how bad the dining experience was.

According to the survey, 31 per cent of British Columbians will still tip a bad server up to nine per cent of the tab, while 32 per cent say they’ll shell out 10-14 per cent.

Asked what they would tip for average service, most British Columbians (53 per cent) would leave 10-14 per cent. For good service when the restaurant is busy, half would leave 15-19 per cent.

British Columbians tend to dig deeper into the wallet for exceptional service when a restaurant is busy, with twoin-five saying the circumstance would warrant a tip of 20-25 per cent.

When it comes to takeout, 70 per cent of British Columbians don’t tip anything when they pick up their food. Other results from the poll:

44 per cent said they never tip at a coffee shop;

71 per cent said food servers can’t get by on their salaries alone and it’s important to tip them;

66 per cent agreed (21 per cent strongly agreed, 45 per cent somewhat agreed) that food servers nowadays simply expect a tip, but don’t work hard to earn it;

Only 6 per cent of respondents said they never tip food delivery drivers.