WARNING: Tipping traps – Suggested tips based on total after tax (not your food bill!)

[Anonymous]

Just a heads-up for anyone dining out: tipping has become not only expected everywhere, but now even more frustrating with how it's being calculated.

I was eating in Arlington (which has crazy high food taxes), and when I went to tip 20% using the suggested option on the electronic receipt, I realized it was based on the total after tax, not the base meal price. That means you're tipping more than you think, essentially 20% on a higher total because it includes those added taxes.

I had to awkwardly edit the tip manually, and the server had to help me, which made things even more uncomfortable. I could tell by her looks she thought I was short-changing her or trying to get out of tipping properly, but that wasn’t the case at all—it’s just totally unfair to be tipping on top of tax.

On top of that, these machines intentionally make it annoying to enter a custom tip. You have to go through multiple screens or buttons just to do it, so it’s obvious they’re trying to push you toward the preset suggestions—which, by the way, now start at 20% and jump to 25% and 30%. It feels like we’re being steered, not given a choice.

For what it’s worth, the service wasn’t even great. Our drinks were forgotten, we never got refills, and the ketchup we were offered never showed up. I still left 20%, but what do you all think? Would you have tipped 20% in that situation?

[Anonymous]

This is like such old news. Have you not dined out since 2019?

[Anonymous]

Also I always tip in cash, directly to the server. Maybe consider that next time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also I always tip in cash, directly to the server. Maybe consider that next time.

I also tip in cash. That means that I also calculate the tip myself.

[Anonymous]

I also tip in cash.

[Anonymous]

What was the difference in $ ?

[Anonymous]

Warning - you might spend an extra $3 if you fall for this trap? What?

[Anonymous]

I have the opposite problem, I am tipping less because the options are 18-22% in places I eat. I used to always tip between 25-30, but it's easier just to click 22%.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Warning - you might spend an extra $3 if you fall for this trap? What?

That’s not the point.

[Anonymous]

People like the OP make me crazy, because they are both cheap and bad at math. Let's break this down:

- The tax on restaurant food and drink in Arlington totals 10% - the 6% regular sales tax and an extra 4% food and beverage tax.
- Let's assume that the OP is tipping 20%, though I tend to doubt that.
- Let's also assume that OP spent $100 pretax on her meal - a nice round number. With tax, the meal was $110.
- If she tipped on the the pretax total, she'd leave a tip of $20, and the total bill would be $130. $100 + $20 + $10 = $130.
- If the tipped on the after tax total, she'd leave a tip of $22, and the total bill would be $132. $100 + $10 + $22 = $132.

That's right - there is 2% difference. Assuming a 10% tax, if you tip on the after tax amount you will tip a whole $2 for every $100 you spend on food and drink. If you go out for a very expensive meal and spend $500, tipping on the after tax amount will cost you an extra $10.

What I tell my daughter is look at total bill, move the decimal point, multiply by 2, and round up. It's easy, and you don't out yourself as a pedantic weasel.

Finally, OP, you didn't "have to" manually edit the tip - you chose to, because, as I said above, you are cheap and bad at math.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People like the OP make me crazy, because they are both cheap and bad at math. Let's break this down:

- The tax on restaurant food and drink in Arlington totals 10% - the 6% regular sales tax and an extra 4% food and beverage tax.
- Let's assume that the OP is tipping 20%, though I tend to doubt that.
- Let's also assume that OP spent $100 pretax on her meal - a nice round number. With tax, the meal was $110.
- If she tipped on the the pretax total, she'd leave a tip of $20, and the total bill would be $130. $100 + $20 + $10 = $130.
- If the tipped on the after tax total, she'd leave a tip of $22, and the total bill would be $132. $100 + $10 + $22 = $132.

That's right - there is 2% difference. Assuming a 10% tax, if you tip on the after tax amount you will tip a whole $2 for every $100 you spend on food and drink. If you go out for a very expensive meal and spend $500, tipping on the after tax amount will cost you an extra $10.

What I tell my daughter is look at total bill, move the decimal point, multiply by 2, and round up. It's easy, and you don't out yourself as a pedantic weasel.

Finally, OP, you didn't "have to" manually edit the tip - you chose to, because, as I said above, you are cheap and bad at math.

Thank you for your service in writing that all out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What was the difference in $ ?

Exactly. The only people who care about making sure their server gets $0.80 less are already bad tippers.

[Anonymous]

This isn't new. I made a post on FB about this in about 2009. It's always been like this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People like the OP make me crazy, because they are both cheap and bad at math. Let's break this down:

- The tax on restaurant food and drink in Arlington totals 10% - the 6% regular sales tax and an extra 4% food and beverage tax.
- Let's assume that the OP is tipping 20%, though I tend to doubt that.
- Let's also assume that OP spent $100 pretax on her meal - a nice round number. With tax, the meal was $110.
- If she tipped on the the pretax total, she'd leave a tip of $20, and the total bill would be $130. $100 + $20 + $10 = $130.
- If the tipped on the after tax total, she'd leave a tip of $22, and the total bill would be $132. $100 + $10 + $22 = $132.

That's right - there is 2% difference. Assuming a 10% tax, if you tip on the after tax amount you will tip a whole $2 for every $100 you spend on food and drink. If you go out for a very expensive meal and spend $500, tipping on the after tax amount will cost you an extra $10.

What I tell my daughter is look at total bill, move the decimal point, multiply by 2, and round up. It's easy, and you don't out yourself as a pedantic weasel.

Finally, OP, you didn't "have to" manually edit the tip - you chose to, because, as I said above, you are cheap and bad at math.

I disagree. This is about the Suggested Tip automatically put on the bill by the restaurant. There is no reason that someone who lives in a low sales tax state should be suggested to leave less tip than someone in a high sales tax state.

[Anonymous]

I received terrible service the other day. I waited 10 minutes for the waitress to bring us syrup since ours was empty. My daughter still ate her pancakes, but I would have asked the table next to us for theirs. I wanted to tip poor but what's the point? Will she look at the tip and say oh right, I sucked with this table or just think, those people were a-holes....?