I do agree. As a percentage basis, I do tend to go higher at less expensive establishments or at least round up more often. Just because we spent $20/person on food at one place, and $50/person on food at another, it doesn't mean I received 2.5x the service at the second place. I'd love for restaurants to eventually just pay a full wage, and get rid of the nonsensical standard percentage tip. Most of the world outside of the US works that way.
The Wait personnel are the establishment's interface with the customer. How the interaction goes will often heavily influence whether somebody chooses to continue to patronize that establishment. So it makes sense to tie a substantial portion of the compensation to customer satisfaction. Most people tip ok. Some are generous and some are stingy. However when somebody receives poor service from the Wait staff it almost always drives the tip down and frequently when the service is really bad the customer will also talk to management to explain why they are not leaving a tip or are leaving a very substandard one. The system works. Shift pay more than covers the social security, medicare and medicaid takes taken out of the pay checks. People stay in the job only as long as they are getting ok tips. Once that is no longer happening, well they'd get fired eventually anyway but most of them leave of their own accord. The system does a particularly good job of preventing incompetent nepotism in the industry. Can't just hire your nephew or niece who is a crappy waiter if they're not going to get paid much due to that fact.
I generally do the 20% unless it is a small breakfast joint where I am getting eggs, bacon, home fries, coffee and toast for $4.50, then it will usually work out to almost 45% as I go with a $2 tip.
I worked as a server and bartender for pretty much a decade while I went to school. I always tip 20+% even if the service is shitty, but I have no reservations about calling out a server if I see that they are the problem. I know what goes on in that world, and most of the time its the jerk-off cooks in the back that are screwing up, or just bad management. I also know that most of the time servers are making 3$ an hour, and might even have to share tips with the rest of the wait staff or tip-out the bartender, busboys etc...so that tip is pretty much the rent, electric bill, child care...
I tip 20% minimum if I receive a shitty service for reasons FazeOne explained. I tip around 30% if the service is extremely well.
Also interested in everyone's opinions on pre-tax/post-tax tip. I remember reading somewhere that there was a big controversy at an establishment where the tip is pre-calculated at the bottom of the receipt and it was based on the total bill, including tax. Customers were all up in arms.
You are the second poster that asked that but don't see that big a difference to have people up in arms. On a $100 bill figuring a 20% tip the difference would be a buck and change.
I saw this a lot in the Caribbean, many restaurants would add a 15% service charge to the bill and make a note that it was not a tip. My wife and I simply stopped going to those restaurants. Interesting story on that, I went scuba diving on one of my Caribbean trips, small boat of 10 divers including captain and his helper. I asked the boat captain about these charges and if this is something the dive shops were going to implement as well. unbeknownst to me one of the divers on the boat was an executive for one of the chain restaurants that added the service charge. He spoke up, and told me who he was and asked my feed back, I told him my wife and I were avoiding those type of restaurants because I should be allowed to choose what to do with my money. I also told him, they should stop being so cheap and pay their employees better salaries so they can afford to go diving like he and I were doing. He thanked me for the feed back and we never talked again the whole time on the boat, my opinion is they skin their employees and the customers and they make no sacrifices themselves for the company they work for. That's why I personally avoid those restaurants. JMO
Part of the reason for that is the Caribbean sees a lot of European tourists who are not used to tipping and will resist doing so unless it is included in the bill. Many places in Florida do this also both because of the influx of foreigners and cheapskates from within the US who believe if their vacation is costing them a lot of money and they'll never be back to the establishment they can just stiff the workers. I'd add that in the last five or ten years some chains as well as individual restaurants in the US have made a lot of noise while announcing a no tipping policy and raised wages and prices to cover the raises. Virtually all have reversed that policy and are back at normal US tipping policies due to resistance from diners and difficulty getting good help.
Another tipping conundrum: Last night I grabbed a bite with the wife at some joint that had a half price happy hour bar menu. Do you tip on the amount of your bill, or based on what the meal actually goes for in the menu? I say the latter, the wife says the former. To me that makes little sense, just cause my cheesburger cost $8 bucks instead of $16 doesn't mean the waitress worked half as hard to get it to me. What do you say?
That's my whole issue with % tipping in general. That same logic can be extrapolated to different restaurants. You may get the same or better amount and quality of service at a place that serves a $20 meal as you would a $40 meal. Or perhaps within the same restaurant, with the same waiter/waitress one day you order a cheaper chicken dish & another you order filet & lobster tail. Does the value of the service really differ between visits? You probably experience the same number of interactions with the staff, regardless of the meal you ordered. This especially bothers me with large catering events like a wedding, where certain items, e.g. a prime cut of beef, will have an up charge, e.g. $10/person. If you have 200 people at a wedding & choose to offer the premium dish, not only are you paying a surcharge for the total number of guests (even if only half order it), your paying an additional $400 in gratuity just for going from the sirloin to the filet. You're not expecting any change in the service for that $400, but because we've been conditioned to tip a %, it's just an illogical surcharge. As for your conundrum, I would say etiquette would be to tip based on the regular price. That's what is always "suggested" when you use gift certificates or coupons. However, it's not an argument with having with the Mrs. Split the difference or let her have that one.
I meant to reply on this when I first saw it. I say you go with the total of the bill if it is the restaurants pricing but go with what would have been the bill amount if you are using coupons or gift certificates. Just like if you go to a Red Lobster when they are having a shrimp promotion, you probably wouldn't think about what the regular price is, you just look at what they are currently charging.
Wow. So the consensus appears to be the wife actually knows what she's talking about? I'm not sure I'm ready to live in a world like this.
