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

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

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[quote=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?[/quote]

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