Bon Appetit article on tipping

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The whole "trust us because we're the experts" is part of this not so subtle shift in American culture in the last decade and which isn't playing out very well.

I've recently been tempted to cut back tipping from 20% to 15%. Really don't see why it should be any higher.

I agree. Service is terrible across the board at most places. Tips should reflect service quality and if you’re going to be a crap server then it’s a crap tip.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Service fees may not be tip. If you don’t like it go somewhere else.

But in some cases you don’t know there is a service fee until you have been seated, and are reading the menu. How many people do you really think are going to get up and walk out of the restaurant at that point? I would say almost none.

I also don’t tip if there is a 15-20% service fee is included.

Ask. It’s how you’ll know.

Again, you don’t know until you’re seated at the restaurant. Still, the service fee is not a problem on my part because I usually tip between 18 and 20% and I’m not paying a tip on top of a service fee.

I’m sorry are you not able to speak once you’re seated at the table? How do you order?

The bizarre part is paying 20% tip to someone whose job is simply taking food from a kitchen to your table. It makes no sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The whole "trust us because we're the experts" is part of this not so subtle shift in American culture in the last decade and which isn't playing out very well.

I've recently been tempted to cut back tipping from 20% to 15%. Really don't see why it should be any higher.

I’ve definitely noticed that when restaurants give you the helpful calculations for 20% etc, they calculate including tip. So, to them it does look like I’m tipping less than 20%. I tip 20% for standard service. 15% for bad. 25%, maybe more if excellent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't care what kind of charges they include, at the end of the day, I'm only giving 20% on food items ordered minus taxes. If they include any kinds of fees, etc. that gets subtracted from the 20%.

If the service charge is 20%, they're not getting another dime.

Honest question - do you tip on drinks like water or soda?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most places are losing money on food costs. Many still haven’t recovered from covid shut downs.

No they aren't. Most foods already have like a 75%+ markup and then they are raising their prices even higher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, I totally agree about the quote. The restaurant industry is a mess right now. They don't know what they are doing and they don't understand their customer. At all. Here are various arguments I've heard from people in the industry over the last year:

- Customers should be asking servers how much they are compensated and whether service charges are going to staff, and basing tip on that conversation. This is nuts -- I do not want to spend my nice dinner out discussing the waiters compensation, and I definitely don't want to have to increase how much I pay for my meal in order to make up for a stingy owner, especially if I'm already paying a service charge. Work your employment contract out with your employer and leave me out of it.

- Customers should accept rude, slow, or inadequate service because restaurants are all short-staffed and people are burned out from Covid. But... customers are also burned out from Covid. They are not going to accept crap service, especially if they are paying higher prices due to inflation and service charges. I'm not even commenting on whether they should or not -- they just won't.

- Restaurants can't just bake cost of service into food prices because that would make the food much more expensive and then customers wouldn't come in. But then the argument is that the restaurants will still charge this amount that apparently would scare of customers, they'll just do it in a tricky way so the customer doesn't know until the bill arrives. And they think this is a valid argument. What the hell.

- Customers are all rude and unreasonable now and working in food service sucks. I have worked in both food service and other service jobs (retail, personal fitness) and I know that some customers really are terribly rude and unreasonable. So I do get it. But the truth is that if you can't find a way to deal with that, food service is not for you. When I see individual servers saying this, my gentle suggestion is to find another job (it's what I did). Burn out is real and happens in many public-facing industries. But when I see restaurant owners saying this, I don't feel bad for them. Don't go into this industry if you expect to be treated awesome all the time and for all customers to be wonderful. You should only be in the restaurant industry if you understand that customers are sometimes a PITA and still believe that you can find ways to deliver value and please them. Otherwise, get out. It's not for you.

This is really well said and I agree with all of it.

[Anonymous]

We cut down eating out significantly. I don't eat lunch out anymore unless I am traveling - I would rather pack a sandwich from home or eat a granola bar. There are so few excellent restaurants and I am over my fancy food stage in life. It's all too much.