How much would you tip on a $53 bill?

[Anonymous]

OP here. Now that I'm thinking more about it, it seems like they were leaving 15% on the pretax amount??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, the person whose turn it was to pay this time gave $7.00. I saw the cash sticking out of the bill and realized it was too low, so when the person paying got up and went to use the bathroom before we left I stuffed some more money inside the leather folder. Just wanted to see if my instinct was right because I felt kind of weird about overstepping someone else's decision on that. But I did not want to the server to get less of a tip then they deserved!!

I've done that before. Walked out to the parking lot with everyone, and then said, "Oops, I need to go to the bathroom. See ya all tomorrow!" and went back and added to the tip. Some people are freakishly cheap.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Now that I'm thinking more about it, it seems like they were leaving 15% on the pretax amount??

That used to be the suggested tip amount for normal decent service. But in the DC area, the going rate for normal decent service is 18%. It should always be pretax, but lots of people argue it should be on total bill.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Now that I'm thinking more about it, it seems like they were leaving 15% on the pretax amount??

In order for the bill with tax to be $53, the pretax amount was around $48, so $7 would be a little under 15 percent.

[Anonymous]

$9
That's a little over 15% and 3 bucks a person. Nice and even.

[Anonymous]

10-12 dollars

[Anonymous]

At least $11-$12. I don't like to go below 20% even by a little bit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:$9
That's a little over 15% and 3 bucks a person. Nice and even.

Too cheap. 15% is no longer the standard tip unless the service was really poor. If it's not at least 20%, the server is left wondering what they did wrong.

[Anonymous]

$12-15

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, the person whose turn it was to pay this time gave $7.00. I saw the cash sticking out of the bill and realized it was too low, so when the person paying got up and went to use the bathroom before we left I stuffed some more money inside the leather folder. Just wanted to see if my instinct was right because I felt kind of weird about overstepping someone else's decision on that. But I did not want to the server to get less of a tip then they deserved!!

Your instinct was spot on. Good for you! I would have tipped $11 for good/normal/typical service.

[Anonymous]

10

2 more if we were more difficult than average (asking for something specific more than once, etc.)

[Anonymous]

And it should definitely be on the pretax.
I'm not including the gov't's share into the whole mix. They get they money last.

[Anonymous]

Was this your buddy posting here OP?:

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/653751.page

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$9
That's a little over 15% and 3 bucks a person. Nice and even.

Too cheap. 15% is no longer the standard tip unless the service was really poor. If it's not at least 20%, the server is left wondering what they did wrong.

When did 20% become the new norm?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$9
That's a little over 15% and 3 bucks a person. Nice and even.

Too cheap. 15% is no longer the standard tip unless the service was really poor. If it's not at least 20%, the server is left wondering what they did wrong.

When did 20% become the new norm?

20 years ago. Seriously.