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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Just went out this weekend with the whole fam.  There was 11 of us.  They included a 20 automatic gratuity of 20 percent - 90 dollars.  I paid the bill and added another 30.

That’s what nice people do. [/quote]

This actually raises an interesting point, which is that some customers are much harder to deal with than others. Like a big group of 11 is a PITA for most restaurants. Same with a huge take out order, or ordering with lots of substitutions, or going out with multiple small kids who can't sit still and are noisy.

In those cases, I do think tipping extra is the "nice" thing to do because you are creating extra work for the people there, likely making it harder for them to serve other customers, and just causing additional stress. Having self-awareness about that is good.

But I don't think you need to tip 50% (or even 25% or 22%) if you are just going out to dinner with your spouse or a friend, and ordering off the menu and being polite and patient and causing no problems for them whatsoever. [b]Like OF COURSE the party of 11 should tip more[/b]. But that shouldn't be the standard for the quiet party of two at the next table. They don't need to tip extra to be "nice." They are already nice in that they aren't asking for anything more than standard service.[/quote]

Why?  You understand how math works, right?  Two people go to dinner, costs $100, you tip 20% - $20.  11 people go to dinner, costs $550, you tip 20% - $110.  The bill would likely be higher because its a larger group, bottles of wine, etc. The waiter IS getting a proportionally larger tip without the hassle of dealing with 5 different tables.  What's not to like?  Of course, if you like the service, etc. you tip more... same as you would if you were the "quiet party of two".

[/quote]

Large parties tend to take longer to order and to finish their meal, plus usually require a restaurant to reconfigure tables to accommodate them (which can screw with table assignments for the waitstaff. Sometimes they order more food but not always -- if it's a table for 11 but 4 or 5 of them are kids, the 11-top could actually wind up spending less than two couple dining out together. Large groups also often bother other customers, who might cut their meal short to get away from a large, rowdy table nearby, or who may wind up neglected by waitstaff who have to help with the large group, and therefore order fewer drinks and skip dessert.

It's also really, really common for large groups to underestimate tip by a lot, which is why a lot of restaurants have an automatic gratuity added for groups of a certain size. There are various reasons for the poor tipping. Often large groups involve out of towners who don't understand local tipping expectations (could be from a country without tipping culture, or from small towns where 15% is more common and where all the food costs less). You also see a lot of groups of young adults who often budget poorly and don't account for tax and tip when throwing in for the bill, which can result in the waitstaff being shorted.

Large groups CAN be lucrative, and with compulsory 20% tipping it can work out better for waiters. But the will have to really work for it. I do think if you have a group of 8 or more, or if your group required extra accommodations above and beyond standard service, tipping extra is the "nice" thing to do. But those rules don't apply to a 2-top or 4-top with more typical needs.[/quote]

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