Absolutely everything you said is right. No takeout tipping. Here we go again...

Don't get me wrong. I tip 20% for a meal and/or $1 per beer b/c I realize that the bar/restaurant won't pay high wages and expects most of the server's income to come from tips. No name-calling, please.

I just wonder... why is it that we're so hung up on tips? What started the notion of working for tips, as opposed to the restaurant simply paying the staff a normal wage? Why don't restaurants simply pay their staff a normal wage? The restaurant should just charge an amount for a meal/drink that would allow the restaurant to pay the staff. Isn't that simple enough?

Other countries don't do it, so why have we become so tip happy?

I know we're going to chase our tails on this one. What if we set out a purpose for tipping (in the US)? If we come up with a simple rule, then we can apply it to all situations equally, kind of like the Rule of Law.

Let me start. Tipping is applied to a situation where a customer takes up space and time while consuming food and/or beverages, where a worker attends to them at a table or counter.

No takeout
No McDonalds
No Starbucks.
No movie theaters
And anybody who sets their own prices like a prostitute or hair salon owner shouldn't be tipped. Just threw that in to see if you're paying attention. Maybe we should keep this in the food and beverage arena.

But a server had to box up the food. Tough. We shouldn't reward a poorly organized business. The hostess had to go get it from the kitchen. Too bad, that's part of your job. We can't be expected to know how a kitchen is organized. Some servers make your salads and sometimes it's a prep cook or whomever. Should we tip more if a server makes it? How about we just stick to the simple rules: of X% on served food and drinks. Let the market work the rest out.

Let the hate storm begin

No. When you eat in, you tip your server, not the kitchen staff. With takeaway you're really just dealing with the kitchen (prep) staff. Next it will be suggested that the prep staff should be tip on an eat-in meal. So, do you go into the kitchen and ask who actually worked on your meal. How about tipping the cleaners who come in each day to get the place ready for business? How about tipping the delivery folk who bring in food stuff and linens and floor mats? Oh, and don't forget to tip the meter reader so the restaurant has utility service.

CALLING SPRINGS1, CALLING SPRINGS2. Your assistance is needed in the restaurant blog immediately!!!

Why on EARTH would anyone even think to tip for a takeout order?!?! That has got to be the most moronic idea I have never heard of. You take the time to phone in your order, spend time and money on gasoline driving to the establishment to pick up the order, and you're supposed to tip for that?! Give me a break.

I completely agree with the sentiment that tipping is not appropriate in nearly every takeout situation.

It may be helpful to examine what a person should reasonably expect. In a sit-down restraurant, it is reasonable for the restaurant (the employer), waiter or waitress, and me to expect that I will tip. In the carry out context, no one reasonably expects me to do so. And, as someone noted earlier, a tip is for the server (who may share a portion of it with bus staffers and others who add to my experience), not to those preparing the food.

My rule is if I go in to get it, no tip.
If they bring it to my car, (Outback, Ruby Tues. etc.), I tip but no more than 9-10%.

I only tip for take-away if something extrordinary has happened. For example, one cold day, while I was waiting for my order, the person who took my order (the owner, I think, it was a Vietnamese hole in the wall) insisted I sit at a table to wait and he brought me a cup of hot tea. Which he didn't charge me for.

When he brought out my order, I left a couple bucks on the table because he'd been kind. He chased me out the door to try to give it back.

I see no reason to tip for takeout. Not at the corner sub and pizza shop run by delightful people, not at Dunkin Donuts, not at 7-11 and not at Subway. I determinedly ignore tip jars because I think that even asking is akin to the folks with the signs on the median at intersections except.....lower.

What about curbside takeaway? Good example is Outback. I usually tip a few bucks as someone brings me the food while I wait in my car. Sure it's not much effort, but it's effort nonetheless. Although they probably are making normal wages. Thoughts?

No wonder people are shocked when I tip for a takeout order. Seems I am the only Marylander who does. I got into the habit when I got takeout from the same places with the same workers everytime. They worked hard at the takeout counter and I decided they deserved a tip. How much? Normally 20% just like I sat at a table. I would guess you people don't include wine when you are calculating the tip at restaurant. Just a guess.

Remembering the acronym "to insure promptness," there are two take out places where I do leave a tip. My favorite Chinese take out has become so popular in recent years that waits of 45 minutes to an hour are common ... according to what everyone else tells me. Mine are always done in 15 minutes and the cartons always seem fuller than everyone else's. Its worth a couple of bucks extra on the debit card to show my gratitude, even if that's the right way to treat a regular.

Coincidentally, right next door is a terrific Mexican/Central American place that serves up great food at better than bargain prices. I throw a couple of bucks in the jar because I really want them to stay open! There is no promptness if they can't stay open.

Aside from these two, if I'm signing a slip at a counter instead of my table, the tip line stays blank.

You know, I'm reading this with interest. I live within walking distance of an Outback. Despite a plethora of lovely, small, individual non-chain restaurants, sometimes I just get a craving for something from the old Outback. I can't even believe it because I recall being up in arms when it opened.

Ok...a bit off point here. When I drive to Curbside takeaway (this IS the ultimate laziness as they are 3 blocks away) I feel an obligation to tip the person who brings it to my car. Particularly since they have spoken on multiple occaisons of "having to pack" the stuff. When I walk with the dog down, I typically don't tip since to me, this is the equivalent of going to a sandwich shop and grabbing carryout.

That all said, my friends are split equally on whether or not to tip at Curbside Takeaway at all. Does one NEED to tip this bagger? How can Outback actually pay that person the same as waitstaff inside? I can't imagine, especially with all this discussion.

Thoughts? Advice? Input?

I think this all depends on if you are receiving your food from a strictly carryout place or from a sitdown restaurant who happens to also do carryout. At the sitdown restaurant the server is only receiving a server wage, while at the carryout they receive a working wage. I always tip if I receive takeout from a restaurant but never from a carryout.

EL, do you have a paypal account? If so, shouldn't you be receiving tips for your posts? For posting our comments? The service in the Sandbox is superb, taste is exceptional, ambience is warm and inviting (the bar's a bit noisy sometimes, but isn't that what bars are for?). My only question is, 20% of what?

That jl. Always looking out for me. :-) EL

I do tip for coffee if I am buying it from one of my regular spots, because I know most of the staff by name. At work I pay for 12 lattes at a time (but ten, get two free), and I tip on that, but not every time I get the card clipped. If I am buying coffee in an airport, no tip, as a rule, unless there is some special circumstance.

Server input time - for takeout from a regular eat in restaurant, tip 10%. (You can always do more ). Otherwise stay home and cook. Who knows why the system is this way, but it is.

For the other carry out type places, coffee shops, etc that have the tip jars, throw it a buck or two. Would it really kill you? It is always appreciated. Unless that counter person is rude or grumpy.

Lower than street beggars? Really? There are some crusty curmudgeons this morning! That just crosses the line.

I don't tip on take out unless, like Dahlink, I know the folks who work there. I don't think we're expected to tip on take out. What's Emily Post say about it?

It is not tipping when you are showing support for regular take out place. So don't confuse that with tipping. It just shows that we eat out too much and tipping in restaurant is now standard. I will not be guilted into tipping because there is a smiling face behind the register.

So, Ms Julia, extending you view, is there anyone to whom you exchange money for a product or service that you don't think should be tipped? When you go to the ob/gyn, do you tip the MD?

Not only do I not tip for carry-out, I make a point of lining through the tip line on the charge/debit slip and carrying the total down to the bottom myself. I've had one carry-out shop fill in a tip when I didn't.

Depends on the restaurant. Usually, if it is a "regular" restaurant (Outback, TGIFridays, etc...not your local sub shop) a server or bartender is taking your order and getting it together. All the kitchen staff is doing is cooking it. Then they leave it on a shelf for the server or bartender to come get, sometimes put into a carryout container, and make sure it's waiting in the right place when you get there. In those cases, I tip. Regular carryout/sub shop place, no.

I tip at my regular places and get treated royalty at those places. I get my take out faster than people who got there first and are still waiting when I've gone.

One place where I buy coffee and tea regularly picks a charity that they donate the contents of the tip jar to each month. This is a coffee shop attached to a specialty store, so that may be different a place like Starbuck's.

When I was a waitress at the 5 star establishment that is Don Pablos, everyone would avoid answering the phone because if you took the order you had to fill it. There's a certain rhythm to waiting tables, and putting a carry-out order together definitely disrupts it. On top of that, you usually don't get a tip.

As a result, I usually leave at least a 10% tip if what I ordered was cumbersome to put together (lots of pieces) or if it's really busy. Extra %s if the waitress looks stressed. I remember that feeling. But I think that's totally the point of a tip. If I think you earned it, you should get it. But I shouldn't be obliged.

My personal tipping pet peeve is credit card slips with tip lines at my sandwich shop where I get lunch. Taking my order, swiping my credit card and handing me a bag is exactly your job description. One could also extrapolate that friendly customer service would also be included in the $9 price tag, but I won't get too carried away here. I definitely don't get how a tip would be warranted in that situation.

Absolutely you should tip in some take-out situations. You'll know when.

I've said this before: I like the bewildering, confounding, confusing system of tipping we have in the United States. I like that we have to sometimes stop to think about the implications and consequences of our behavior.

I agree with Julia above, and I tend to err on the side of reckless generosity.

Tipping for curbside service is stupid. Do you tip at the drive-through window at Wendy's? No. So stop it right now. You got no "service". You were handed a paper bag with food.

I agree with most and am generally in the non-tipping for carryout camp. My only exception would be for carry-out sushi. Especially if the sushi chef is still putting my order together when i arrive, I will leave a couple bucks on the bar.

It seems to me a lot of this misses the point. Servers/bartenders are paid a low hourly wage that takes tipping into account. Counter help at McDonalds or some take out place are paid a higher hourly wage because the system was not designed for them to earn gratuity.

This whole tip jar thing at the sub shop seems to have started slowly a few years ago and has taken on a life of its own.

I walk across the street from my office to get coffee and eat at a nice shop run by the owners. They have a tip jar out. Sure they're the ones who serve me and make the food, but they're also the ones who get the profit from the businesses itself.

These are the rules fools

Wait service (sit down)
15-20% pre-tax

Wait service (buffet)
10%

Take Out
No obligation
0-10% if the person went above normal service

Bartender
$1 per drink or 15-20% or tab

Tipping jars
No obligation
tip occasionally if you are a regular or if the person went above normal service

Where is this magical 5 star, how do you say...., ah yes, place you call Don Pablos?

When my daughter worked at Don Pablos and at the Lone Star Steakhouse, one night a week each server had to do time at the carryout desk (taking orders, getting orders, taking money for them) but still got paid the terrible server hourly rate - no tips really ate in to her evenings take home.

Why would tip the bartender who mixes your drink but not the person who puts together your fancy coffee? It seems to me the latter is more difficult.

Regarding the servers who get stuck taking the carry-out orders. I think that the orders are rung up under a different register code so that servers final sales numbers at the end of the night are not affected, therefore that server will not have to tip-out the support staff for the said carry out numbers.
Also i dont agree in tipping for the curbside service. Why dont the restaurants just post the menu prices 10-20% higher then?

Why would tip the bartender who mixes your drink but not the person who puts together your fancy coffee?

Why does God let babies die and yet Hitler and Hugh Jackman thrive? Well, that's just the way it is, that's why. What we have here is a set of arbitrary rules with tradition but not necessarily logic. Instead of increasing the tip rates and practices, maybe we should encourage people to get an education so that they don't have to work in crappy jobs. Plus all those tip jars are untaxed income, which means you pay a greater share of their tax burden. I say outlaw tipping and let the market establish the proper wages for someone making your silly coffee drink.

mike says Servers/bartenders are paid a low hourly wage that takes tipping into account. Counter help at McDonalds or some take out place are paid a higher hourly wage because the system was not designed for them to earn gratuity. Can this possibly be true? I could make more at McDonalds than I could tending bar?

Dahlink asks: Can this possibly be true? I could make more at McDonalds than I could tending bar?

Yes, you would make a higher hourly wage. That's why you tip your bartender, but not your fast food jockey. And why most people don't tip for take-out.

The whole curbside pick up thing is muddling what used to be a clear distinction, it seems.

With the computer age the order is put into the computer. The server does not cook the food, nor does the server put it in the little plastic/foam boxes the guys in the kitchen do. They do put the boxes into the carry bags and take it to the register though and shew, that is a lot of work!

Interesting...

At Kwiker Liquor (complete with Rolling Stones Sticky Fingers logo) where I sometimes buy my Makers Mark -Hi Bourbon Girl-, they actually have a tip jar there. Like I'm going to tip someone for ringing up my purchase?
don't think so.
Just up in Baltimore for the Ravens game and for our pregame tailgate visited Olympia Subs in Parkville Shopping Center. They have a tip jar and I contributed to it. Since, we go there whenever we want a sub and they never disappoint.

PCB Rob - hi your sweet self! Maybe the tip jar at the liquor store is for the guys who carry kegs or tons of stuff to your car for you? I tip those guys. (BTW, Smokehouse almonds with Makers for debate night. You?)

I tip at carry-out places where I am a regular, it pays off. I also always tip at Isabellas if those sweet young hunky male specimens are slicing the meat for my Italian cold cut in the most ridiculously slow careful way that they do. They care so much, you just have to give some love back,

Or maybe they do it that slowly just to tease me... oh those dirty boys with the sparkle in their eyes...

mary,

I've only been out of the restuarant biz for a year. The order doesn't go from the phone to a computer, a server answers the phone and puts it in the computer.

95% of the time the kitchen doesn't read that it's carry out and the server has to go search for a carry-out container (most of the time they are not restocked from the shift before) and transfer the food into it (then they have to find silverware to get the food into the container, and if it's busy, there's no silverware clean.......).

The server is also responsible for making sure it's correct and gets to the front where the customer will pick it up. And they need to make sure all parts of the order are there, which, since everything finishes at different times, requires the server to constantly run to the kitchen to see if it's all done yet.

All of this while waiting on their regular section of tables, which, if they were busy before taking the carry out order, can throw them right into the weeds for the rest of the night. Lots of times the lack of attention to the tables causes them to tip poorly.

All of this for a carry out order the server MADE NOTHING ON.

Carley C,

Depends on the restuarant. Most places I worked, it went on our regular sale totals and we had to tip out on it and claim it at the end of the night.

That's why you tip your bartender, but not your fast food jockey.

I tip my bartender when he's been pleasant. Or cute. Or personable. McDonald's employees are never any of the above.

Carey makes an excellent point: And they need to make sure all parts of the order are there...

There is nothing that irritates me more than to get home with a take-out order and find that it wasn't filled properly. The server is the last line of defense against that.

(OK...there are some things that irritate me more, but incorrect take out orders are toward the top of the list.)

So I'm thinking maybe I should be tipping for carry-out...at least carry out from places where the normal mode of business is dine-in.

I tip at carry-out places where I am a regular, it pays off.

That's just a bribe and one of the worst kind - the bribe to someone you know. That's an act of betrayal on their part and the encouragement of betrayal on yours. It creates a sick miasma of social dispulchritude. And we are know what level of Hell Dante reserves for the betrayers. How desperate do you have to be to pay for flirtation. Oh my world is a sham, perhaps even a Sham-WOW (you know Germans make good stuff)! Enjoy your sandwich Jezebel. Of course my appreciation of the comely lasses of various international and local extraction at Amicci's nearby is a different story because I don't have to pay them for attention.

You see what tipping does? It ruins lives!

I'm sending your puppy away to a farm upstate.

Point to Eve!

Carey, you work in a poorly run restaurant. Get a new job.

Consumers shouldn't have to subsidize poorly run businesses by propping them up at the bottom end with welfare (tipping) to compensate the owners for exploiting the workers. Only the workers can rectify that situation by organizing or acting in their own self-interest and moving elsewhere. (How did you like that combination of socialism and free-market capitalism?) The power is in your hands, don't lobby for scraps of guilt money from those that empower the owner. Stand up, speak out, walk out! Fight the power!

Don't forget that the bartender is your drug dealer and he has discretion over whether you get your drug and how much.

I need a big theory on this. It's coming.

I haven't worked in the business for a year. (I now work in the even-more-so mismanaged medical profession; makes restaurants look like a dream).

I never base an opinion on one experience alone. I worked in over six restaurants. Every one was basically run the same. Chain, non-chain, high-end, city, county, doesn't matter.

Restaurants get busy, stuff doesn't get done, and bottom line is it falls on the server because they are the ones dealing with the public face to face.

I firmly believe that everyone should have to wait tables at least once in their life. Gives you a whole new perspective on many things in life.

And it doesn't have to be for pay in a restaurant. Try waiting tables at a church dinner and you get treated very rudely by the customers. Over the years I noticed a direct link between those who act the holiest and those that make the most demanding customers.

Bourbon Girl,
For the debate last night, it was just the Makers, no nuts. I was out! It was storming pretty hard so I didn't want to venture out.
Have to pick some up at the store on the way home.

Carey makes an excellent point: And they need to make sure all parts of the order are there...

Yeah but Bucky as you say they DON'T get it right very often, so why would you tip someone without knowing even if they did the most moronic thing right? Doesn't make sense.

As for tipping bartenders, waitrons and Russian salami slicers based upon their looks, that's just a sad low level form of prostitution. Paying for future affection, it's like a whore futures market. I'm not judging, just analyzing through the lens of economics.

PCB, Don't flirt with Bourbon Girl if you have no nuts.

Point well taken, Owl Meat (Grumpy)...

I agree with Eve. I tend to (over)tip the bartender if he's cute. I think I put one bartender through college years ago. And speaking of cute bartenders, my fellow Sandboxers deserve to check out Bad Decisions in Fell's Point - corner of Fleet and Washington. Sam Sessa gave this place his thumbs-up. My buddy John and his brother Mike run the place and it is one of the best-stocked bars in town: real honest-to-goodness mead; Johnny Walker Blue; plenty of vodkas. John also has a limited menu of pub food (the sliders are terrific, $6 for 3) - and he's brought in his dad to make some awesome chili that sells out minutes after it's cooked.

In a restaurant, your take-out order takes time away from the server. Time for which they are paid a handful of change. They take your order, pack up your food, ring you up and get you out the door. That's time they could be using to earn tips on the floor. That means you tip them. I tip 20 percent every time I get takeout at a restaurant. If I get take-out at a carry-out, I tip, too, at least 15 percent. It just makes me feel better. I think it's the right thing to do.
By the way, I am absolutely shocked at the misconceptions about foodservice -- do fast food workers get paid the same as restaurant servers? Should I only tip the bartender if he/she is cute? CUTE? They're trying to make a living. I don't even know what to say. I completely agree that everyone should be a server at least once in their lives. It really makes you realize how awful human beings can behave toward one another, and why it is so important to regard everyone in the world as a human being, whether they are washing your car or caring for your toddler or filling your ice water. Your ice water that you've filled with six dozen sugar packets and a pile of squeezed lemon wedges in order to make your own lemonade. Because $1.46 for pre-made lemonade is too much for you. I'm having flashbacks ...

Blog Raptor,
I wasn't flirting with Bourbon Girl, just replying to her query and stating the facts.

Before you and her hooked up, we both found we like fine bourbon and fine nuts. And its always nice to chat with someone who shares tastes.

Piano Rob, there aren't any good commercial meads in the US. There is a lot of bad homebrew around, too.

My kinsman the mead maven tells me this is because you need wine equipment to make mead, but a beer license (or was it the other way around?), and folks tend to have one or the other.

I tried to put a tip jar on my desk at work; however, I soon found out that there are all these rules prohibiting government workers from soliciting tips.

Tipping at places where you are a regular is not a bribe. It is more of a symbiotic relationship.

PCB Rob - we will always have nuts and bourbon. I'm going to order pistachios from your internet place this weekend. Believe it or not, I've never had shelled pistachios. Shelling them has always been part of the fun, yes? (especially getting all the salt on one's fingers) but I'm willing to give the shelled ones a shot on your suggestion.

Bourbon Girl,
You'll like the shelled ones, theirs are very tasty. Just the right amount of salt.

Tipping at places where you are a regular is not a bribe. It is more of a symbiotic relationship.

I guess we will just have to disagree then BG, especially since you will have good pistachios at your house. Thanks PCB.

Bourbon Girl, I don't think symbiotic is the right word. I think "Pay-per-View" is more appropriate. Do you put your tips in a jar or tuck them in their butcher's apron?

Costco had shelled pistachios the last time I was there. Also pine nuts!

tip me tip me tip me!!!

Did you hear about the rabbi?
He only took tips!

Looks like I'm chiming in late, but what the heck...

I almost always tip when picking up phoned in "to go" orders or when I walk in and place a "to go" order. Since I've never eaten at an Outback or used the roadside pick-up of a Chili's or Ruby Tuesday's, I figure who ever takes my order and packs it up is a server whose work depends on tips. I usually tip about 10% for "to go", but up to 20% depending.

One last comment on tipping, whenever I pay by debit or credit card, I usually (if I have the small bills available) scratch out the "TIP" line on the receipt and pay the tip in cash. I figure it then gives the server the option of reporting it as income or not.

Owl and BG,

One other good thing about the shelled pistachios, since there's no shell, you can munch them that much quicker! And handfuls at a time if you are so inclined. I don't, because I like to savor the taste of just a few at a time.

EEL ... scores from the three point circle on church dinners. I have been on both sides of the counter and have been shocked -- yes shocked -- at how unprofessional people can become when they are volunteers, or are being served by volunteers. Makes airports seem pleasant.

I think that dried apricots go very well with pistachios, shelled or not.

Lissa,
I eat dried apricots all the time, but not usually with pistachios. I'll have to try that.

The best dried ones I've found come from the same place I get the pistachios. nutsonline.com

OMG - The bartender is not my drug dealer, he is my entertainment.

The guy at the package goods store is my dealer and unless he hauls a bloody piano out to my car for me, I ain't tippin' him!

My bartender is my bookie.

Oh good, someone wants to play. I too have had a long week ending with the odious task of sweeping up monkey chow. So Eve, do you just sit at the bar and watch the bartender dance? I want to go to that bar.

Like the Steve Martin character in "My Blue Heaven" I tip everybody.

Tomorrow's New York Times Magazine (already online today) has a very interesting article on a San Diego restaurant that has abolished tipping in favor of an 18% service charge. The owner had considered simply raising the food prices in lieu of the mandatory service charge, but ruled that out because "that would have penalized the restaurant’s many takeout diners." I guess that means that they don't impose the service charge on takeout orders.

No offense to you satyr, but that character (who I thought was very poorly cast and acted), that character and other Mafia characters exemplify the vulgarity of American tipping. Ding. Right on the money. It's the idea that you can get respect with money. You can't. Not just respect, but there is an idea that you can buy your way into "klass". See Sopranos for 300 examples. I could go on but I'm going to stagger over to Horrible East farmer's market, maybe.

Ok, how about this one. A steak house I frequent the cook cooks and packages my order, I get my own salad from the salad bar. All the server does is bring me an empty box for the salad and the bag when the cook is done and take my money.

Tip or not??? I don't, but am not sure if this is correct.

You should tip at the steak house. The time the server is taking to bring you your empty box and bag and ring you up (and put in your order and make sure everything's correct) is time she/he could be spending on her tables or side work. And if a lot of other people call in carry-out orders, they add up to a taking a lot of time. It doesn't have to be 20 percent, but you should tip.

If the cook is bagging up your order and you are fixing your own salad, then the server isn't doing anything but taking your money, it seems to me. That makes him/her a cashier, dosn't it? Do we tip cashiers now?

(In these instances, I always find it helpful to ask myself, "What would Springs1 do?")

'[D]'oesn't have to be 20 percent, but you should tip

When did servers in a steakhouse with a salad bar (assuming this is not a Morton's or its ilk) become investment bankers to get tips of 20%? In my world only white table cloth restaurants with well (classically) trained servers (no gum popping, sitting at the table to take your order, or introducing one's self to the point you feel obligated to add the server to your Christmas card list) go into the 20% plus category.

Bucky,
Don't poke the angry bear :-)

Bucky wrote In these instances, I always find it helpful to ask myself, "What would Springs1 do?"

GACK!

Barbara, I wouldn't tip in that situation, because you are doing half the work and the server is just being a cashier.

The exception would be if this was a place I ate all the time, liked, wasn't a chain and where I was treated well. Then I might, although possibly not all the time.

Springs1 would stiff the cook/cashier and then visit here to write an long, rambling, incoherent rant about how upset she was that the tip jar was present.

But...but...but, FL Rob, while I am not upset at their presence, aren't you just a little baffled at the presence of a tip jar at the occasional 7-11 or Royal Farms?

I had a few friends over for dinner recently. They were a bit perplexed at my "Tips are appreciated"jar centerpiece.

Apply KB's standard (nicely picked up by Mr RayRay) EL should be tipping each of us for our comments to the blog (and not just for the lucky one who hits a new X,000. And think, Bucky how many more Big 100's you would have.)

Eve,
You've seen tip jars at those places?

Yes, I would be surprised to see a tip jar on the counter at a convenience store.

A couple of years ago one of my sons' girlfriends asked for a book by Amy Sedaris, I Like You : Hospitality under the Influence. I laughed a lot when I read it, but had to add, "You know, her idea of putting a tip jar in the guest room is generally considered tacky."

No tipping on take-out. Here we go again - servers advocating more money for themselves. What’s next, a tip for answeeing the phone, for a smile, for the order bag ? Servers have been trying to change the norm on this take out topic recently. Very credible. Trying to change the existing customs for personal gain.
I tip appropriately for traditional table service, and the level of service. With take out - I call in an order, in my case the cooks are the ones who puts the order in a bag or container. The owner or waiter rings it up and I’m gone.

And please stop the “servers only earn below minimum wage” sob routine. They more then make up for that on regular table service tips, and I’m sure their reporting all that income to Uncle Sam (LMAO).

With take-out the restaurant does extra business, which keeps them in existence, which keeps a job for the servers. Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.

I don't know if any of y'all noticed, but on the bon appetit page EL linked to this morning, down in the corner they have a "Most Comments" section. Most of the articles had spawned, say, 10-15 comments. One article on how much to tip had 228 comments.

I was going to scan them to see if Springs1 had commented, but The Man called and I had to go back to work.

Steamboat, why do you object to people who make low wages trying to make more money? Isn't that how capitalism is supposed to work?

I mean, at least the person who packs up takeout isn't creating financial instruments that hide risk, thereby causing the world economy to collapse.