The worst demographic for tipping in white women. Looking at you, DCUM.

If you're so cheap that whether you should tip on post on pre-tax bills is an issue, stay home.

Moira: It's a great coat. At least let us see it on you.
Jocelyn: I gave it away. I'm sorry. It just it didn't suit me. And I thought about Ronnie and, you know, she could always use some more feminine pieces in her wardrobe, and so I took it over to her and she really liked it, so I paid it forward.
Moira: Well, Jocelyn, there are certain things that are just not done: Smoking in a car with a baby, unless you crack a window; tipping before tax; mixing drinks with cola; and giving away a coat that doesn't belong to you.

What's the highest tax on a bill you could reasonably find? 10%? I think that's what it is in Arlington.

So if I spend $6,000/yr at restaurants. That's $600 in tax and $120 in additional tip at 20% of post-tax amount.

Tip post-tax total: $7,920
Tip pre-tax total: $7,800

so you're paying an extra 1.53% to just tip on the post-tax amount. I didn't know this was even debate, just tip on your final bill.

Anonymous wrote:For the lousy tippers, please stay home, you don't have to come out to a sit-down restaurant. We are so busy right now and rather serve the ones who are not cheap. I don't need people to overtip, but lets not be cheap either. The ones who do, thank you, because you are making up for the cheap ones.
I worked almost 11 hours yesterday non-stop. Recovering today. It would have been a good exercise in my 20s and 30s, but I'm 45.

But what if you’re a good tipper, but base a tip on the pre-tax total?

Why should I tip more for a service not provided, merely because the jurisdiction charges a tax? Arlington County charges a meals tax (raising the total tax to 10%); Fairfax County does not. Should a server providing the exact same service in Arlington get a better tip than a similarly situated server in Fairfax, merely because Arlington charges a higher tax? If you’re tipping post-tax, that seems unfair to the server in Fairfax.

Tips are lot charity. I tip well, but I try to apply principles to my tips to be fair and for the tips to have meaning. For me, that means tipping more for good service but not tipping on government-imposed taxes.

Anonymous wrote:I was a waitress, saw both routinely. I personally tip pre tax.

+1. Former waiter, 20% pre-tax.

For the lousy tippers, please stay home, you don't have to come out to a sit-down restaurant. We are so busy right now and rather serve the ones who are not cheap. I don't need people to overtip, but lets not be cheap either. The ones who do, thank you, because you are making up for the cheap ones.
I worked almost 11 hours yesterday non-stop. Recovering today. It would have been a good exercise in my 20s and 30s, but I'm 45.

Anonymous wrote:I generally tip 20% on the post-tax price. I do this regardless of where I go.

a

Same. My dad tips on the pretax amount and I cringe every time.

Went out to dinner Friday night with my wife and our 30 year old niece, whom we love dearly. The evening took on a bit of a celebratory feel so I ordered a special bottle of wine at $300. The entire meal came to $505 and we had very good service. My wife said make sure you tip him well, to which I agreed. I left $100 for the tip with my reasoning being that over half of the total was for a single bottle of wine. My niece, a former server while she was in college, agreed that $100 was generous considering the breakdown. Somehow I left there unsure if it was generous or not. It was certainly sufficient as it was 20% on the total bill including the tax.

Not on tax unless I get a refund in April.

Anonymous wrote:Of course. And then some. Usually bring a crisp Ben with me and use instead of including on my credit card. 150 dollar meal and leave the $100. Had a $1000 dollar meal for a bunch of folks before Christmas and left the servers $1000 on top of it. Got to help those folks, especially around here. Shame on those of you who don’t tip good servers well.

I agree with your point but honestly your tipping amounts seem kinda low so I would encourage you to reassess your tipping.

Of course. And then some. Usually bring a crisp Ben with me and use instead of including on my credit card. 150 dollar meal and leave the $100. Had a $1000 dollar meal for a bunch of folks before Christmas and left the servers $1000 on top of it. Got to help those folks, especially around here. Shame on those of you who don’t tip good servers well.

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Anonymous wrote:I teach my kids to move the decimal point on the total, multiply by 2, and round up. That's the baseline tip.

For all of you who insist on pretax tips, if the tax is 10%, the difference on a $100 bill is $2. If you go out for a $500 meal, the difference is $10.

You should be ashamed of yourself.

The actual tip convention is pre-tax. Your rational is that it’s not that much and you shame people at the end. C’mon. At least provide a logical reason.

Yeah. It really isn't, and you have been shortchanging every server. Know that you are hated at every restaurant you frequesnt.

So frequently we just tip on post-tax out of laziness or because it doesn’t matter.
But your logic of shaming people and insisting they are shortchanging servers for tipping pre-tax doesn’t make sense. I sure as hell hope you also add 20% to your tax bill come April under this logic.

I think you’re trying to make a point but it makes no sense.

It seems like a pretty easy concept to me. There is no reason to tip on tax because it’s not a service provided by the restaurant. It’s a tax.

The point about paying extra taxes, however, is nonsensical.

A tax is a tax. What is nonsensical? Insisting on tipping on the restaurant tax is absolutely as stupid as insisting to tip on your income tax.

A PP said they don't tip more than 5 or 10 percent because there's already a tax of 10 percent -- that's what's nonsensical. Choosing not to tip on the post-tax amount is much more reasonable, though I tip on the post-tax amount because (a) the math is easier that way and (b) it's not that much extra money, so why not.

If you have access, interesting article called “Tipping is Weird Now” in The Atlantic on this topic - https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2023/01/technology-pandemic-economy-gratuity-tipping-etiquette-square/672658/

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Anonymous wrote:I teach my kids to move the decimal point on the total, multiply by 2, and round up. That's the baseline tip.

For all of you who insist on pretax tips, if the tax is 10%, the difference on a $100 bill is $2. If you go out for a $500 meal, the difference is $10.

You should be ashamed of yourself.

The actual tip convention is pre-tax. Your rational is that it’s not that much and you shame people at the end. C’mon. At least provide a logical reason.

Yeah. It really isn't, and you have been shortchanging every server. Know that you are hated at every restaurant you frequesnt.

So frequently we just tip on post-tax out of laziness or because it doesn’t matter.
But your logic of shaming people and insisting they are shortchanging servers for tipping pre-tax doesn’t make sense. I sure as hell hope you also add 20% to your tax bill come April under this logic.

I think you’re trying to make a point but it makes no sense.

It seems like a pretty easy concept to me. There is no reason to tip on tax because it’s not a service provided by the restaurant. It’s a tax.

The point about paying extra taxes, however, is nonsensical.

A tax is a tax. What is nonsensical? Insisting on tipping on the restaurant tax is absolutely as stupid as insisting to tip on your income tax.

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Anonymous wrote:Say it’s a $100 casual meal, what about a $300 meal with drinks?

So, say 10% tax on $100 bill = $10 tax × tip 15% = extra $1.50?? You're asking if you need to pay extra $1.50 tip on a $100 tab? that's cheap.

I am terrible with math and even I know this is wrong. PP, on $100, a 15% tip is $15. On a $10 only, yes, 15% tip is $1.50.

You really are terrible at math aren't you! PP was pointing out that the tip on the $10 tax is only $1.50 and why is that such a big deal. It's just chintzy and cheap. Someone can afford $100 for a meal but not the 1.50 tip on the tax on that meal? Pathetic.

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Anonymous wrote:Say it’s a $100 casual meal, what about a $300 meal with drinks?

So, say 10% tax on $100 bill = $10 tax × tip 15% = extra $1.50?? You're asking if you need to pay extra $1.50 tip on a $100 tab? that's cheap.

I am terrible with math and even I know this is wrong. PP, on $100, a 15% tip is $15. On a $10 only, yes, 15% tip is $1.50.