HOW do you guys tip in the US? Do you go by food total or bill total? I know it’s frowned upon in other countries, I’m not here to question or debate that.
No matter how you split it, pre or post tax, the “gratuity” is much higher than it should be! The 18%is higher even than what actual 20% should be!
Pretax should be $14.26, tax included (ripoff) should be $15.44. So why is the “20%” up to $18.25?! That’s a 25.5% tip.
For me, I tip “15%” but round numbers. The bill is $72, so I take 10% (7.20 but round up to 8 then add 4) which ends up $12.
If they were exceptional, I just go off 20% which is $16 by my method, and round the total to the nearest dollar… but even that isn’t their pretend 18%!! And technically my method is over 20% after rounding up. They’re all just taking advantage of niceness and guilt for patrons having to tip everyone.
Edit: I fucked up being hung up on numbers, not realizing to the left was the explanation. 😅 OK, so just: how do y’all tip?
You could, you would just have to tolerate the side-eyeing. 🤷♂️
Well, tolerate the side eye and be willing to screw over someone trying to pay their bills. Whether tipping should be the standard practice (it shouldn’t) is a separate issue. The general expected practice is that you will tip, and tips are effectively a server’s whole wage. It’s not an easy or pleasant job. Going to a sit down restaurant with the intention not to tip, to make someone work for you basically for free, just makes you an asshole. Until we get rid of tipped minimum wage.
They don’t work for me, they work for the restaurant owner who is offloading their salary onto me under guise of a “tip”. Fucking leeches feeding off our working class and you act like we’re the problem for questioning this predatory system.
I never said don’t question it, I said it shouldn’t be that way! But it is that way right now, and we are responsible for how our actions affect others, even in an unfair system.
I agree with everything you’re saying, but you going to the restaurant and not tipping hurts the server, not the owner. They spend time and effort for basically nothing in return, and even if you disagree with the system in place you are still using it to get cheaper food (because resteraunt costs are subsidized by tips to staff) at the expense of someone who in most cases can’t afford it.
It you want to hurt the owner in the short term, don’t go.
Eventually of course this means less serving jobs, again hurting the server.
So the best option is getting rid of tipped minimum wage. Easier said than done, but it’s the only real way to fix this.
This comment is 100% correct and anyone voting it down should seriously try to reframe their thinking.
You don’t have to like the situation, I don’t like the situation… but if you don’t tip at least 15% you are underpaying a server and meaningfully impacting their life.
Servers should be paid more by their actual employers and it’s ethically wrong that establishments are allowed to underpay their employees just so they can offload that cost to the customer and deceptively list a lower price on their menu. That said, this is the current situation in the US, that cost is offloaded, effectively making restaurant customers the primary source of income for restaurant servers. They are effectively your employees now, so please, don’t underpay your employees.
Morally you need to tip because of an immoral system. Capitalism at its finest.
We’re all trying to pay bills, and I also work in the service industry. Such is life, I’m not gonna be a baby/asshole and demand someone to pay extra (because they’re not underpaying or stealing, gratuity is basically charity and you’re meant to be competent at your job regardless) because of the inequalities of my fucked up so-called society. If you get uppity because someone doesn’t want to waste even more money on a night out just for free, sure, but I don’t think this very emotional take is valid, and it’s acceptable only in the US.
And, btw, the only intention anyone has by going to a restaurant is eating in exchange for money, the prices are there and I pay the price. Anything else (from complimenting you on your nice shoes to paying your medical bills because you’re very nice) cannot be reasonably expected.