Duncan Idaho said:

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Bragging about over tipping is a flex I will never understand.

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I remember seeing a table of 6-7 youngish rich Mexican males at Morton's 15-20 years ago, stand up and argue loudly over who would pick up the tab. Smdh. Machismo is a real thing.

Duncan Idaho said:

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The post above mine is about young 30%+

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I posted that. I'm not flexing. We go twice a month to a local restaurant that was open during COVID with two people working the entire restaurant. One cook and one taking orders/processing to go orders. The girl in the front of the house was worried, you could see it on her face. It was at that time that we decided that this wasn't about tipping, it was a simple way to help her get through the early stages of the lockdown and let her know that God was caring for her and that he'd provide in ways that she never imagined.

And so we've continued to go there and when we walk in she knows our names, she knows our kids' names, she knows our orders, she asks how our daughter is doing in college, and she is very appreciative of how we cared for her. So will I take a $75 order and give her a $25 tip on it? Absolutely. What are we talking about in the grand scheme of things? A $13.75 difference? Who freaking cares.

She got the Willie Wonka golden ticket!

We look at it the same way - what's a few dollars to us that would make a big difference to a server. Especially where we are regulars.

schwack schwack said:

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Do y'all tip on the pre tax line? We tip on the bottom line - doesn't seem right,but never adds that much.

We are in a small town, so basically know most of our servers. We always tip at least 20%.

edit: This gets us great seating & service!

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I actually tip on the pre tax amount, although a lot of times it ain't much of a difference

a place where they take my order at the counter and then flip around the machine and then I have to go up and get my food I tip nothing
$2-3 if they bring my food
then usually 20%+ at full service restaurants

And at the bar $1 a drink

Matsui said:

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And at the bar $1 a drink

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If they just grab me a canned beer, sure. But if I go to the type of place where I order a whiskey sour, I'll be tipping more than $1.

20% regardless of bill and adjust based on service. Max is probably 25-30% for extraordinary service. I don't tip counter service or anytime the employee isn't being paid a server/bartender wage (2.13/hr) unless some special circumstance.

Bruce Almighty said:

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My base is to round to nearest 5 dollar amount and tip 20%. I'll go up or down depending on how good the service is. If the service is excellent, I'll tip 30%. I rarely go under 15%. After serving tables for 5 years, I understand that many of the issues that may happen are out of the server's control. I can tell the difference between server issues and kitchen issues, so I have to know that the server is the one slacking on the job for me to go under 15%.

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This. If you've been a server you can tell.

I pretty much tip 20-25% for good service. Even mediocre but friendly service will probably get 20%. Rude service will get nothing except me asking to talk to the server and the manager at the same time.

I tip 10% usually on takeout because I know there is work that goes into prepping the orders. I just get tally pissed if I find out my order got screwed up after I'm already home.

I recently ate somewhere (cannot remember where now) that was a order at the counter type place. I was shocked to see the "suggested" tip amounts given at the bottom of the receipt were 20%, 25%, and 30% of the bill. Pretty sure this was a breakfast taco order for a customer now that I think about it.

Systems vary but @ Pappas we still had to pay tip pool on take out sales. It sucked because the tips sucked and it was a crap ton of work to pull an order together while still trying to take care of 3-4 other tables.

Duncan Idaho said:

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Bragging about over tipping is a flex I will never understand.

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Shrugs. My wife thinks leaving a generous tip is sexy. So I do. How's that for a flex?

Yep. Pappas I think is 3.5% of sales into tip pool? When I served there after college one of the servers had a party with a $500 tab and they tipped her $5. In the end it was like her paying $12 to take care of that table.

during the pandemic I was tipping 20% still on the take out/counter order stuff. I figured they needed it.

I usually do 10% now, except Paulie's where I go a lot I do 15%

ScapeGOAT said:

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Yep. Pappas I think is 3.5% of sales into tip pool? When I served there after college one of the servers had a party with a $500 tab and they tipped her $5. In the end it was like her paying $12 to take care of that table.

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that stinks, but it's obviously not common.

How many tables does a waiter at Pappas usually serve in a night, what's the average check?

G Martin 87 said:

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Duncan Idaho said:

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Bragging about over tipping is a flex I will never understand.

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Shrugs. My wife thinks leaving a generous tip is sexy. So I do. How's that for a flex?

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Do you pay the whole check, or just the tip?

I mean... those of us who have been servers, how often have you ever felt like doing this:

ScapeGOAT said:

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Yep. Pappas I think is 3.5% of sales into tip pool? When I served there after college one of the servers had a party with a $500 tab and they tipped her $5. In the end it was like her paying $12 to take care of that table.

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As I recall, at least when I was there, tip pool payout had a max. You'd think I'd remember cuz I had numerous HW shifts and checked out the staff but it's been a long time.

American tipping culture sucks. IMO.

Raise prices 20%, give that to your staff. No tipping.

Diggity said:

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ScapeGOAT said:

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Yep. Pappas I think is 3.5% of sales into tip pool? When I served there after college one of the servers had a party with a $500 tab and they tipped her $5. In the end it was like her paying $12 to take care of that table.

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that stinks, but it's obviously not common.

How many tables does a waiter at Pappas usually serve in a night, what's the average check?

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My info is dated but the inexperienced servers had 3 4 tops, typically closer to the kitchen. Experienced servers had 4 stations. Headwaiters always had 4 and typically 1 was a 6 top. At 'Sitos the best case for evening service would be to turn stations every hour but that rarely happened(especially weekends) so typically a night would be in the 12-15 table range. Smoking sections were highly coveted because they drank more and typically ordered higher dollar entrees. Smoking section always went to experienced servers. I don't recall the PPA for 'Sitos or 'Deux back then but the latter was definitely higher.

All my shifts at 'Deux were headwait or bartender so always ate free before my shift (aka ET). I had fried shrimp, bread, and a side of ranch every day for a year and a half.

I assumed they were talking about pappas steakhouse

Me as well

TikkaShooter said:

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American tipping culture sucks. IMO.

Raise prices 20%, give that to your staff. No tipping.

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Service will go to beyond crap. But it really doesn't work now because too many give tips for crap service. Many of those people proudly post in here. Write "poor service" on the check and lower the tip. Hopefully the server gets the message and improves.

No different than when my manager gives me a performance review. Thats their performance review. Instead, diners tip them regardless.

amazing that I've gotten excellent service around the world without tipping 20%.

I've also gotten lousy service around the world without tipping 20%

This is strikingly similar to how it works in the US.

In the end, our current system is just a way to disconnect the real cost of a good/service from the listed price. What annoys me is that this strategy has oozed into other business types as well.

I'll take our system over a universal price hike every time. I get satisfaction for rewarding good service and directly punishing those who gave bad service. Most staff don't care if you never return or leave a bad yelp review.

But it only works if they're at a reduced wage.

Universal price hike What does that mean?

Maybe not phrased well, but I meant restaurants raising prices to cover increased labor costs if the tipping system were not in place.

TikkaShooter said:

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American tipping culture sucks. IMO.

Raise prices 20%, give that to your staff. No tipping.

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I kind of agree with this. Let the employer pay their employees a wage commensurate with the job.

I never worked as a waiter but just wondering how much they make on an hourly basis or if extrapolated to an annual basis compared to other full time jobs like a teacher or police officer. Realize the variability is huge.

Marcus Brutus said:

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TikkaShooter said:

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American tipping culture sucks. IMO.

Raise prices 20%, give that to your staff. No tipping.

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Service will go to beyond crap. But it really doesn't work now because too many give tips for crap service. Many of those people proudly post in here. Write "poor service" on the check and lower the tip. Hopefully the server gets the message and improves.

No different than when my manager gives me a performance review. Thats their performance review. Instead, diners tip them regardless.

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Picturing your boss handing you a paycheck with the amount reduced by 20% and "poor meeting" scribbled in the memo line.

coastalAg said:

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Marcus Brutus said:

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TikkaShooter said:

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American tipping culture sucks. IMO.

Raise prices 20%, give that to your staff. No tipping.

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Service will go to beyond crap. But it really doesn't work now because too many give tips for crap service. Many of those people proudly post in here. Write "poor service" on the check and lower the tip. Hopefully the server gets the message and improves.

No different than when my manager gives me a performance review. Thats their performance review. Instead, diners tip them regardless.

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Picturing your boss handing you a paycheck with the amount reduced by 20% and "poor meeting" scribbled in the memo line.

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Most people would prefer that over getting fired

aglaes said:

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TikkaShooter said:

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American tipping culture sucks. IMO.

Raise prices 20%, give that to your staff. No tipping.

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I kind of agree with this. Let the employer pay their employees a wage commensurate with the job.

I never worked as a waiter but just wondering how much they make on an hourly basis or if extrapolated to an annual basis compared to other full time jobs like a teacher or police officer. Realize the variability is huge.

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I worked at Carrabba's for 5 years before I became a teacher and the pay was roughly the same. I made about 500 dollars a week in tips over about 30 hours of work. I rarely got a paycheck as the taxes on the tips were more than the hourly wage.

I have mixed feelings on tipping in our country as its gotten a little out of control. The suggested tip lines on receipts rub me the wrong way, especially with how they keep getting larger and larger. I've seen places that have up to 35% on the receipt and 25% is their bottom suggested amount. That's nothing more than trying to guilt the customer into paying more. I also understand that servers would take a pay cut if we went away with tipping unless there was a service charge. Many countries do have a service charge, and I believe it is shared among all employees.

I only tip at bars and restaurants with table service. No tip for fast casual when I order standing. I start at 20% tip and the service dictates where it goes from there, although I have to be pretty upset or disappointed to decrease it.

All that said, I've had some of the best restaurant service of my life in Japan and South Korea where they don't expect a tip at all.

Diggity said:

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amazing that I've gotten excellent service around the world without tipping 20%.

I've also gotten lousy service around the world without tipping 20%

This is strikingly similar to how it works in the US.

In the end, our current system is just a way to disconnect the real cost of a good/service from the listed price. What annoys me is that this strategy has oozed into other business types as well.

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On average, the tipping model should lead to better service. Of course there are exceptions. The few experiences you've had don't prove both models are comparable. It also depends on the culture. If I go to Japan, I'd expect great service regardless. Other places, not so much, tip or no tip.

If you get crappy service here, no one forces you to tip at all, much less 20%. So the model is superior in that regard from the consumer standpoint.

Neither of us has any ability to know what our system would look like without the customary tipping at the end of the meal. All we can rely on is our experiences.

Having in-laws from another country point out the absurdity of tipping $200 at a steak house just tends to reinforce things. Definitely my own bias though.

I was a waiter for several years and while it wasn't the most fun, I won't pretend to have worked 4x harder than my grocery sacking buddies, which is where my comp was.