Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

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. Like OF COURSE the party of 11 should tip more. 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.

+1. 20% is currently the standard for good service. Above and beyond is additional.

Tell that to the cheap ass poster who inflicts her kids on the server and then under tíos. So far as I’m concerned, a table with kids is almost by definition “harder to deal with.”

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just ask if the establishment if they use the tipped minimum wage if you want to. Those waiters make far less hourly money, so tipping 15% isn't amazing at full-service restaurant.
If you are eating at a fast-casual spot, they get above the regular minimum wage, so you shouldn't look at the tipping situations in the same way. $1-3 is just a nice addition. Remember if you're paying via credit card that they are ultimately taking a cut too so your tip may not be quite as generous as you first think.

Pre-pandemic, 15% was the norm and waiters were perfectly happy. Post pandemic, waiters who are 'taken advantage of' with the tipping minimum wage system have way too many other options. Why don't they just quit and work at a Starbucks or a fast-food place and get paid a higher wage? They didn't pre-pandemic, and they won't now because they make way more than they would otherwise.

Sorry, 15% has not been the normal my entire adult live. Maybe in small town, but not in major metropolitan areas.

Fine. Pick a number that makes you happy. My other points stand regardless. Don't want to earn tipped wages? Find another job that pays legal minimum wage. Think it's not enough? Vote for the right guy or upskill. Intimidating, aggressive beggary is not the answer.

You wouldn’t confront intimidation and aggressive behavior if you picked a number that actually is the norm.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

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. Like OF COURSE the party of 11 should tip more. 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.

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".

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.

18-20% is perfectly fine. As prices go up, so does the total tip. Why would the percentage have to increase from year to year?? It's not as if a table of 10 is more annoying/difficult in 2023 than in 1981 (and yes, I was a server - back in the 80s).

It's nonsensical that the percentage should keep increasing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just ask if the establishment if they use the tipped minimum wage if you want to. Those waiters make far less hourly money, so tipping 15% isn't amazing at full-service restaurant.
If you are eating at a fast-casual spot, they get above the regular minimum wage, so you shouldn't look at the tipping situations in the same way. $1-3 is just a nice addition. Remember if you're paying via credit card that they are ultimately taking a cut too so your tip may not be quite as generous as you first think.

Pre-pandemic, 15% was the norm and waiters were perfectly happy. Post pandemic, waiters who are 'taken advantage of' with the tipping minimum wage system have way too many other options. Why don't they just quit and work at a Starbucks or a fast-food place and get paid a higher wage? They didn't pre-pandemic, and they won't now because they make way more than they would otherwise.

Sorry, 15% has not been the normal my entire adult live. Maybe in small town, but not in major metropolitan areas.

15 for ok service, 20 for amazing service has walywas been standard. At some point enough is enough.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just ask if the establishment if they use the tipped minimum wage if you want to. Those waiters make far less hourly money, so tipping 15% isn't amazing at full-service restaurant.
If you are eating at a fast-casual spot, they get above the regular minimum wage, so you shouldn't look at the tipping situations in the same way. $1-3 is just a nice addition. Remember if you're paying via credit card that they are ultimately taking a cut too so your tip may not be quite as generous as you first think.

Pre-pandemic, 15% was the norm and waiters were perfectly happy. Post pandemic, waiters who are 'taken advantage of' with the tipping minimum wage system have way too many other options. Why don't they just quit and work at a Starbucks or a fast-food place and get paid a higher wage? They didn't pre-pandemic, and they won't now because they make way more than they would otherwise.

Sorry, 15% has not been the normal my entire adult live. Maybe in small town, but not in major metropolitan areas.

Fine. Pick a number that makes you happy. My other points stand regardless. Don't want to earn tipped wages? Find another job that pays legal minimum wage. Think it's not enough? Vote for the right guy or upskill. Intimidating, aggressive beggary is not the answer.

Anonymous wrote:It’s so strange to me that overseas restaurants are usually lower price, higher quality ingredients, pay their employees a higher wage, and pay higher taxes. But, in the US, it’s the customers fault. Yet, when I’m a customer in Europe and I round up and it’s not my fault. I tip more in the US and tip less in Europe, prices are lower in Europe, but for some reason my more generous actions in the US makes me “cheap” and a “problem”.

+1

Anonymous wrote:just do 15 and be done with it. 0 for carry outs. i refuse to buy into this crazy tip-sh*t culture we are in

+ Million. No f'king way I am tipping more than 15%. Don't care what you folks say.

It’s so strange to me that overseas restaurants are usually lower price, higher quality ingredients, pay their employees a higher wage, and pay higher taxes. But, in the US, it’s the customers fault. Yet, when I’m a customer in Europe and I round up and it’s not my fault. I tip more in the US and tip less in Europe, prices are lower in Europe, but for some reason my more generous actions in the US makes me “cheap” and a “problem”.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What I hate the most is this strategy of shaming you or making it so awkward and uncomfortable that you are "forced" to tip higher amount. I can deal with it now but it took some getting used to.

I’ve stopped going to places that put it on the screen at the counter. Who is it even getting paid to? The person at the register?

Nobody knows.

I would not be surprised if some employers are just pocketing it.

i wouldn't either.

Actually, I think this has been proven to be the case, in the past.

18-20% was the norm

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just ask if the establishment if they use the tipped minimum wage if you want to. Those waiters make far less hourly money, so tipping 15% isn't amazing at full-service restaurant.
If you are eating at a fast-casual spot, they get above the regular minimum wage, so you shouldn't look at the tipping situations in the same way. $1-3 is just a nice addition. Remember if you're paying via credit card that they are ultimately taking a cut too so your tip may not be quite as generous as you first think.

Pre-pandemic, 15% was the norm and waiters were perfectly happy. Post pandemic, waiters who are 'taken advantage of' with the tipping minimum wage system have way too many other options. Why don't they just quit and work at a Starbucks or a fast-food place and get paid a higher wage? They didn't pre-pandemic, and they won't now because they make way more than they would otherwise.

Sorry, 15% has not been the normal my entire adult live. Maybe in small town, but not in major metropolitan areas.

Add: I'm almost 50.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just ask if the establishment if they use the tipped minimum wage if you want to. Those waiters make far less hourly money, so tipping 15% isn't amazing at full-service restaurant.
If you are eating at a fast-casual spot, they get above the regular minimum wage, so you shouldn't look at the tipping situations in the same way. $1-3 is just a nice addition. Remember if you're paying via credit card that they are ultimately taking a cut too so your tip may not be quite as generous as you first think.

Pre-pandemic, 15% was the norm and waiters were perfectly happy. Post pandemic, waiters who are 'taken advantage of' with the tipping minimum wage system have way too many other options. Why don't they just quit and work at a Starbucks or a fast-food place and get paid a higher wage? They didn't pre-pandemic, and they won't now because they make way more than they would otherwise.

Sorry, 15% has not been the normal my entire adult live. Maybe in small town, but not in major metropolitan areas.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

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. Like OF COURSE the party of 11 should tip more. 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.

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".

“I’ve never served tables” would have been faster and easier for you to post. For future reference.

I have served tables, for years, and I agree with the PP. no need to tip over the 20 percent they already added on. And 11-tops aren’t always more difficult than 2 or 4.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just ask if the establishment if they use the tipped minimum wage if you want to. Those waiters make far less hourly money, so tipping 15% isn't amazing at full-service restaurant.
If you are eating at a fast-casual spot, they get above the regular minimum wage, so you shouldn't look at the tipping situations in the same way. $1-3 is just a nice addition. Remember if you're paying via credit card that they are ultimately taking a cut too so your tip may not be quite as generous as you first think.

Pre-pandemic, 15% was the norm and waiters were perfectly happy. Post pandemic, waiters who are 'taken advantage of' with the tipping minimum wage system have way too many other options. Why don't they just quit and work at a Starbucks or a fast-food place and get paid a higher wage? They didn't pre-pandemic, and they won't now because they make way more than they would otherwise.

Uh, no.