This is something that commonly bothers me, because I'm always at a crossroads as to what to do. Usually I'm ordering to-go food from a fairly nice place, and they always add that little line on the receipt for a tip amount, but those places, I'm sure, are paying those people (not waiters and waitresses, but cashiers) on an hourly (not tip based) basis. And a lot of times they ask you to sign and add up the total before they give you your food, then I get really worried thinking "If I don't put a tip, what will they do to my food?" You know they're going to look at the receipt before they give you your food.
When I worked at a Mexican resturant as a cashier/to-go girl I never expected a tip, but when I did get one on occasion it was very nice; still I never expected it 'cause well, how hard was it to ring them up and hand over the food? Not hard at all, seriously it was hardly work. But then on the other hand, when I worked at Olive Garden there was a girl that would specifically work the to-go's, and she said she made bank in tips. That she even had repeat customers that would fork over $30 in tips each time (of course those were much larger orders). But for most places, to-go is hardly any work, so I don't really feel like it's worth tipping.
So, it always bothered me...what is the kosher thing to do? What does everyone usually do? Well, that's why I put up the poll. I decided that whatever the majority came out to be, is what I am going to do from now on. So, unless I get really good service from my next to-go person (which I always feel deserves a little something extra), I'll be doing the common thing from now on. No more tipping when I pick up my to-go food. I've joined the NTTGFF (Non-Tipping To-Go Food Force), and I'm feeling pretty good. :)
~Crystal
