Survey: Many in U.S. would leave no tip for ‘bad service’

American restaurants have been in flux since the first days of the pandemic, grappling with new business models, staff shortages, rising labor and food costs and governments, both local and federal, looking to regulate how the industry tacks on fees to checks.

Is it any wonder that diners have widely divergent opinions on the proper way to navigate restaurants in 2024? A new YouGov survey provides a glimpse into the American dining public’s attitudes toward restaurant policies that help proprietors deal with their ever-shrinking profit margins: time limits on tables, charging for tap water, automatic service charges and cancellation fees for reservations that are not honored.

But one response stood out among the 40 etiquette questions that YouGov posed to more than 1,000 adults: 51% of Americans think it’s “acceptable” to leave no tip after receiving “bad service.” More men than women said stiffing the wait staff for poor service was OK (55% for men, 47 for women), and more Republicans and independents than Democrats said the same thing (55% for independents, 51 for Republicans and 47 for Democrats).

The survey made no attempt to define “bad service,” but its results indicate how the majority of Americans still view tips as discretionary, based on the level of service provided and not, essentially, a mandatory add-on to help pay for the front-of-thehouse workers who receive as little as $2.13 an hour in some cities.