Do you tip on tax at restaurants?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t penny pinch on restaurant workers. I tip in thr total amount. I couldn’t tell you the last time I looked at the Tex line item. It’s irrelevant. I just take the total bill, figure out what 10% is and double it. Done. It I can’t afford an extra $5 then maybe I should be cooking hamburger helper at home.

Exactly! What's hard about this? I really am saddened to learn there are so many cheap, nasty people who think it's their right to reinvent the restaurant industry by withholding a bit of cash from service workers. I really don't understand why they even go to restaurants since they so strongly disagree with the system. Just to punish people, I guess.

I'm not just referring to tipping on tax but to all these anti-tipping threads.

I only tip 5-10% at D.C. restaurants because there is already a 10% tax included. For any restaurant adding an additional service charge, I leave no tip at all and – usually – I’ll also complain about a dish or two until the manager removes them from the bill. I mean, 10% tax + 18% SC is way more than the customary 15%. The greed in D.C. is unconscionable so I have no qualms about getting comped for a few appetizers or drinks. The entire system needs an overhaul. Restaurant workers aren’t the critical pillars of society they make themselves out to be. They’re mostly peripheral and disposable people that otherwise add no value to society.

+ 1. Truth hurts..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We've held the line at 15%, pre-tax, on the food and soft drinks. If there's alcohol, then we'll calculate the tip based on what it would have cost as a soft drink; i.e. iced tea or Coke.

Wow you are extraordinarily cheap. Are you very old? Do you tip to the penny or round up?

We use a tip calculator on our smart device, thank you very much. We don’t believe in supporting tip inflation. A 15% tip is for excellent service and it should be proportional to the basic food being served. If we decide to splurge on steak or lasagna, for example, we usually round down to the cost of a deli sandwich. The service is no different between high end foods and regular ones. Same as with alcohol.

DP. I will agree that you are extraordinarily cheap. That advice was appropriate about 20 years ago, but not today. With inflation exceeding pay increases, more and more waitstaff are having a harder time making ends meet. If you want good wait staff to stay in their jobs, then you need to be increasing the tips.

DP. The way my company works (I suspect yours as well).. they pay good performers well to make sure we stay at our jobs. Maybe the restaurant industry needs this education? Wanna be that champion so "good waitstaff can stay in their jobs"?

What a great idea. Unfortunately, you cannot change the system by just shortchanging the good staff.

That's like saying that rather than your company paying good performers, you are waiting for stockholders to return their checks to the company to disperse amongst the good performers. You can't change the system by cutting tips, having good waitstaff leave the jobs and hoping that the restaurants realize that they have to raise wages for their staff to keep them. It doesn't work that way.

The company is owned by the stockholders so their actions are aligned. The customers don't have a to give a sh*t. They just move on if quality suffers. Business 101.

I don't *want* to change the system, nor do I care one way or another. I'll just find a restaurant that "gets it". I don't need them, they need me. Y'all live under the impression that a particular restaurant is somehow magical and produces one of a kind food. An omelette is an omelette; A steak is a steak. Get over it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I generally tip 20% on the post-tax price. I do this regardless of where I go.

Same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You don't tip on tax or alcohol

Oooh, I have a friend like you. I always have to double my tip when I'm out with him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t penny pinch on restaurant workers. I tip in thr total amount. I couldn’t tell you the last time I looked at the Tex line item. It’s irrelevant. I just take the total bill, figure out what 10% is and double it. Done. It I can’t afford an extra $5 then maybe I should be cooking hamburger helper at home.

Exactly! What's hard about this? I really am saddened to learn there are so many cheap, nasty people who think it's their right to reinvent the restaurant industry by withholding a bit of cash from service workers. I really don't understand why they even go to restaurants since they so strongly disagree with the system. Just to punish people, I guess.

I'm not just referring to tipping on tax but to all these anti-tipping threads.

I only tip 5-10% at D.C. restaurants because there is already a 10% tax included. For any restaurant adding an additional service charge, I leave no tip at all and – usually – I’ll also complain about a dish or two until the manager removes them from the bill. I mean, 10% tax + 18% SC is way more than the customary 15%. The greed in D.C. is unconscionable so I have no qualms about getting comped for a few appetizers or drinks. The entire system needs an overhaul. Restaurant workers aren’t the critical pillars of society they make themselves out to be. They’re mostly peripheral and disposable people that otherwise add no value to society.

You obviously don't understand the system at all.

The tax goes to the local jurisdiction government (in this case, the city).
The service charge goes to the restaurant and some of it gets distributed across the entire staff including the kitchen staff. Some of the people receiving portions of the service charge (those who are not servers) are paid standard minimum wage, which in 2022 was 15.10 and January 1, 2023 moved up to $16.50. But only a small portion of that service charge actually goes back to your server, who makes a subminimum standarized wage (was $5.35 in 2022). If you add a tip on top of the service charge, that goes solely to your specific waiter.

Your ignorance of the system means that you are helping the restaurant industry continue to shortchange and persecute servers. The service change added does not compensate servers for having a minimum wage tha tis roughly 1/3 of the minimum wage for other staff. So, you need to tip additional on top of the service charge for it to go to your server.

Just saying the system is broken and that you won't play that game does nothing but segregates and abuses those with the least power to affect the system. And calling them peripheral and disposable is just obnoxious and callous. If this is how you think, you need to just stay out of restaurants. You're a general jerk and a terrible person.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t penny pinch on restaurant workers. I tip in thr total amount. I couldn’t tell you the last time I looked at the Tex line item. It’s irrelevant. I just take the total bill, figure out what 10% is and double it. Done. It I can’t afford an extra $5 then maybe I should be cooking hamburger helper at home.

Exactly! What's hard about this? I really am saddened to learn there are so many cheap, nasty people who think it's their right to reinvent the restaurant industry by withholding a bit of cash from service workers. I really don't understand why they even go to restaurants since they so strongly disagree with the system. Just to punish people, I guess.

I'm not just referring to tipping on tax but to all these anti-tipping threads.

I only tip 5-10% at D.C. restaurants because there is already a 10% tax included. For any restaurant adding an additional service charge, I leave no tip at all and – usually – I’ll also complain about a dish or two until the manager removes them from the bill. I mean, 10% tax + 18% SC is way more than the customary 15%. The greed in D.C. is unconscionable so I have no qualms about getting comped for a few appetizers or drinks. The entire system needs an overhaul. Restaurant workers aren’t the critical pillars of society they make themselves out to be. They’re mostly peripheral and disposable people that otherwise add no value to society.

You obviously don't understand the system at all.

The tax goes to the local jurisdiction government (in this case, the city).
The service charge goes to the restaurant and some of it gets distributed across the entire staff including the kitchen staff. Some of the people receiving portions of the service charge (those who are not servers) are paid standard minimum wage, which in 2022 was 15.10 and January 1, 2023 moved up to $16.50. But only a small portion of that service charge actually goes back to your server, who makes a subminimum standarized wage (was $5.35 in 2022). If you add a tip on top of the service charge, that goes solely to your specific waiter.

Your ignorance of the system means that you are helping the restaurant industry continue to shortchange and persecute servers. The service change added does not compensate servers for having a minimum wage tha tis roughly 1/3 of the minimum wage for other staff. So, you need to tip additional on top of the service charge for it to go to your server.

Just saying the system is broken and that you won't play that game does nothing but segregates and abuses those with the least power to affect the system. And calling them peripheral and disposable is just obnoxious and callous. If this is how you think, you need to just stay out of restaurants. You're a general jerk and a terrible person.

Wrong on all accounts!! Any D.C. server that fails to earn minimum wage through tips is paid additional money directly by the restaurant to ensure that every employee (even those on tips) is guaranteed to make at least minimum wage. Tips are icing on the proverbial cake. Second, taxes go to the government – of course, duh – but are then disproportionately redistributed to low-income workers via reduced income tax brackets, tax breaks galore, and unlimited handouts to the servers you imply are getting short-changed. The only servers not benefiting from this classic wealth redistribution scam are the ones earning enough to become progressively ineligible for the plethora of tax breaks and operations within only low tax brackets.

If anything, servers should be tipping me for allowing them to bask in my glorious presence….

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t penny pinch on restaurant workers. I tip in thr total amount. I couldn’t tell you the last time I looked at the Tex line item. It’s irrelevant. I just take the total bill, figure out what 10% is and double it. Done. It I can’t afford an extra $5 then maybe I should be cooking hamburger helper at home.

Exactly! What's hard about this? I really am saddened to learn there are so many cheap, nasty people who think it's their right to reinvent the restaurant industry by withholding a bit of cash from service workers. I really don't understand why they even go to restaurants since they so strongly disagree with the system. Just to punish people, I guess.

I'm not just referring to tipping on tax but to all these anti-tipping threads.

I only tip 5-10% at D.C. restaurants because there is already a 10% tax included. For any restaurant adding an additional service charge, I leave no tip at all and – usually – I’ll also complain about a dish or two until the manager removes them from the bill. I mean, 10% tax + 18% SC is way more than the customary 15%. The greed in D.C. is unconscionable so I have no qualms about getting comped for a few appetizers or drinks. The entire system needs an overhaul. Restaurant workers aren’t the critical pillars of society they make themselves out to be. They’re mostly peripheral and disposable people that otherwise add no value to society.

You obviously don't understand the system at all.

The tax goes to the local jurisdiction government (in this case, the city).
The service charge goes to the restaurant and some of it gets distributed across the entire staff including the kitchen staff. Some of the people receiving portions of the service charge (those who are not servers) are paid standard minimum wage, which in 2022 was 15.10 and January 1, 2023 moved up to $16.50. But only a small portion of that service charge actually goes back to your server, who makes a subminimum standarized wage (was $5.35 in 2022). If you add a tip on top of the service charge, that goes solely to your specific waiter.

Your ignorance of the system means that you are helping the restaurant industry continue to shortchange and persecute servers. The service change added does not compensate servers for having a minimum wage tha tis roughly 1/3 of the minimum wage for other staff. So, you need to tip additional on top of the service charge for it to go to your server.

Just saying the system is broken and that you won't play that game does nothing but segregates and abuses those with the least power to affect the system. And calling them peripheral and disposable is just obnoxious and callous. If this is how you think, you need to just stay out of restaurants. You're a general jerk and a terrible person.

Wrong on all accounts!! Any D.C. server that fails to earn minimum wage through tips is paid additional money directly by the restaurant to ensure that every employee (even those on tips) is guaranteed to make at least minimum wage. Tips are icing on the proverbial cake. Second, taxes go to the government – of course, duh – but are then disproportionately redistributed to low-income workers via reduced income tax brackets, tax breaks galore, and unlimited handouts to the servers you imply are getting short-changed. The only servers not benefiting from this classic wealth redistribution scam are the ones earning enough to become progressively ineligible for the plethora of tax breaks and operations within only low tax brackets.

If anything, servers should be tipping me for allowing them to bask in my glorious presence….

I see I was partially wrong. You are a jerk and a terrible person, but you are also a troll.

[Anonymous]

DildoBrain wrote:Not that we needed confirmation, but the bolded is very much "tell me you're not very smart without telling me you're not very smart."

It's rare that someone outs themselves as dumb, cheap and an a-hole in so few words. Congrats, I guess.

Oops, looks like you made a few typos in there. Allow me to fix them for you:

It's rare that someone outs distinguishes themselves as dumb brilliant, cheap transcendent, and an a-hole fiscally infallible in so few words. Congrats, I guess.! Your inspirational selflessness knows no heavenly bounds.

Thank you! So kind.

[Anonymous]

I was a waitress, saw both routinely. I personally tip pre tax.

[Anonymous]

Yes, of course.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I teach my kids to move the decimal point on the total, multiply by 2, and round up. That's the baseline tip.

For all of you who insist on pretax tips, if the tax is 10%, the difference on a $100 bill is $2. If you go out for a $500 meal, the difference is $10.

You should be ashamed of yourself.

The actual tip convention is pre-tax. Your rational is that it’s not that much and you shame people at the end. C’mon. At least provide a logical reason.

Yeah. It really isn't, and you have been shortchanging every server. Know that you are hated at every restaurant you frequesnt.

So frequently we just tip on post-tax out of laziness or because it doesn’t matter.
But your logic of shaming people and insisting they are shortchanging servers for tipping pre-tax doesn’t make sense. I sure as hell hope you also add 20% to your tax bill come April under this logic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I teach my kids to move the decimal point on the total, multiply by 2, and round up. That's the baseline tip.

For all of you who insist on pretax tips, if the tax is 10%, the difference on a $100 bill is $2. If you go out for a $500 meal, the difference is $10.

You should be ashamed of yourself.

The actual tip convention is pre-tax. Your rational is that it’s not that much and you shame people at the end. C’mon. At least provide a logical reason.

Yeah. It really isn't, and you have been shortchanging every server. Know that you are hated at every restaurant you frequesnt.

So frequently we just tip on post-tax out of laziness or because it doesn’t matter.
But your logic of shaming people and insisting they are shortchanging servers for tipping pre-tax doesn’t make sense. I sure as hell hope you also add 20% to your tax bill come April under this logic.

I think you’re trying to make a point but it makes no sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I teach my kids to move the decimal point on the total, multiply by 2, and round up. That's the baseline tip.

For all of you who insist on pretax tips, if the tax is 10%, the difference on a $100 bill is $2. If you go out for a $500 meal, the difference is $10.

You should be ashamed of yourself.

The actual tip convention is pre-tax. Your rational is that it’s not that much and you shame people at the end. C’mon. At least provide a logical reason.

Yeah. It really isn't, and you have been shortchanging every server. Know that you are hated at every restaurant you frequesnt.

So frequently we just tip on post-tax out of laziness or because it doesn’t matter.
But your logic of shaming people and insisting they are shortchanging servers for tipping pre-tax doesn’t make sense. I sure as hell hope you also add 20% to your tax bill come April under this logic.

I think you’re trying to make a point but it makes no sense.

It seems like a pretty easy concept to me. There is no reason to tip on tax because it’s not a service provided by the restaurant. It’s a tax.

[Anonymous]

When you think about it, tipping based on food price doesn’t make sense at all. The waiter does the same work if you order expensive food versus cheap food. It should be a flat rate per customer (large parties would then tip more).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Never.

I also didn't tip for the Panera to go order I placed online at lunch and felt zero guilt.

You should feel guilt about this.

People tip at Panera? Do you also tip at McDonald’s?