Tourist to DC here. No tipping at restaurants or anywhere else is appropriate, right?
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Anonymous
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It has become confusing. What we do is try to look online prior to visiting a restaurant to see if they have a service charge or whatever. Or look on the menu when we actually visit. If that service charge is 10%, we add 10% as tip. If the charge is 15%, we add 5%. Etc. We also look at the receipt before paying because I've seen some places add charges that aren't listed on the menu. I know there is a lot of talk about how some of these charges do/don't go to staff and frankly I cannot keep up with who does what as a customer. What this means for us is we tend to stick with the restaurants we know (rarely try anyplace new right now) and not eat out as often.
OP, I'd say as a tourist, to not pay anything over 20% extra including a service charge, and to take a good look at the receipt to make sure you don't get double-charged for a tip/fee. |
Anonymous
Here in California the hourly is between $16-$17 an hour, not $15 - at least not in the major metro areas. |
Anonymous
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10% tax
20% Service Charge (inc tax so 22%) PLUS tip (say 18%) Total 50% added to menu prices |
Anonymous
I don't tip myself. |
Anonymous
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Thankfully we don’t eat out in DC too often. The prices, IMHO, are too high. Hip Mexican place, at the Wharf recommended by Tom Sietsema, has $35 enchiladas that are just decent and $20 margaritas that are watered down and more ice than cocktail. I can get food that’s just as good, often better, in the suburbs and exurbs, for much less money.
Nail in the coffin for me eating in DC is the 20% service fee we got added to a bill when this whole fee thing rolled out. This was at a restaurant near Cap One Arena. It confused me and I didn’t know what to do. Unfortunately, I wrongly assumed that this fee went straight to the waiter, so I didn’t add anything to the tip. I always tip 20 - 25%, but I guess I unintentionally stiffed the waiter. |
Anonymous
We do not tip. But we are from Europe. |
Anonymous
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If restaurants are paying $15-20/h wages, then there should be no expectation of tips. It's simple, really.
No one is entitled to a double dipping of salary between now regular hourly wage and more expected tips on top. Tipping for wait staff only existed because it was the only industry allowed to pay far below minimum wage salaries per hour. If DC legislated that away, then the expectations for tips should disappear too. |
Anonymous
Don’t tip on top of a service charge. |
Anonymous
| Tip them! |
Anonymous
| They are not getting $15 currently. |
Anonymous
| You don’t find a more entitled group of people than staff at a high end restaurant. They expect 20% on the gross bill (food+drink+all the stupid fees + tax). And then they talk shit to each other if they don’t get it. I’ve got about 1 year left in me of tipping at all. |
Anonymous
Restaurant staff feel entitled to make 6 figures for waiting tables though, so you must tip to make this happen. |
Anonymous
They are expecting to make rent. |
Anonymous
They can make that decision BEFORE deciding whether or not to take a wait staff job that will now have an hourly wage. It isn't the customer's responsibility to make sure you a waiter can pay their rent. |
Anonymous
It's ok not to tip yourself if you don't give yourself good service but it's not okay to not tip other servers, if that's your policy just eat at home or at 7-11. |