Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Another good rule to remember is to tip for the full amount even if you are doing one of those specials or discounts. Yeah, the restaurant might be doing 1/2 off all appetizers but waiting staff aren’t providing less service. If anything they are probably overworked cause the restaurant’s discount is bringing more people in.
My good friend who was a waitress through grad school always said to write CASH on the tip line of the bill if tipping in cash. I think it was so that the manager would see the customer tipped - like the service wasn’t **** - but leave out how much you tip in cash, it’s not the manager’s business. I think that was the thinking behind it but I’m not sure.
Hmm.
I haven't, but I will in the future. Sounds reasonable.
Another good rule to remember is to tip for the full amount even if you are doing one of those specials or discounts. Yeah, the restaurant might be doing 1/2 off all appetizers but waiting staff aren’t providing less service. If anything they are probably overworked cause the restaurant’s discount is bringing more people in.
My good friend who was a waitress through grad school always said to write CASH on the tip line of the bill if tipping in cash. I think it was so that the manager would see the customer tipped - like the service wasn’t **** - but leave out how much you tip in cash, it’s not the manager’s business. I think that was the thinking behind it but I’m not sure.
As a former restaurant worker (although not a server), there is much truth to the above.
A couple of random musings (and these are my rules, if you don't like em, cool)
1. For and foremost, 20% is the floor for me. Leaving a small tip does a couple of things:
A. Holds someone responsible financially for something they may have had little to do with. The server could have been on their game but if the kitchen screwed up, you're blaming someone for something they had no control over.
B. Like it or not, you are remembered where you eat. Chitty tippers are called out by the staff the minute they walk in. In the place I worked, the server who got the chitty tippers would enter an "order" in the POS so the cooks all knew who was there.
C. The old rule mentioned in Waiting rings true.....never, ever, ever F with someone who is handling your food.
2. Yup on the "whole bill thing". The wife and I were out at a buddy's restaurant for our Anniversary. He comped the whole meal (multiple apps, drinks, two entrees, two desserts). I left the whole bill as a tip.
3. Cash is always better for tips. When I was in the industry, servers made 1.63 an hour. Not sure what its at now, but what it was was pathetic.
Another good rule to remember is to tip for the full amount even if you are doing one of those specials or discounts. Yeah, the restaurant might be doing 1/2 off all appetizers but waiting staff aren’t providing less service. If anything they are probably overworked cause the restaurant’s discount is bringing more people in.
My good friend who was a waitress through grad school always said to write CASH on the tip line of the bill if tipping in cash. I think it was so that the manager would see the customer tipped - like the service wasn’t **** - but leave out how much you tip in cash, it’s not the manager’s business. I think that was the thinking behind it but I’m not sure.
Very true about specials/discounts, sometimes there is way too much math that is involved with just trying to eat out haha
Cash is always better for tips. When I was in the industry, servers made 1.63 an hour. Not sure what its at now, but what it was was pathetic.
My mom was a waitress and got audited twice by the IRS because they thought she didn't claim enough income for tips even though she claimed the actual amount earned. They expected to see a certain percentage of the total earned income claimed for tips, but that was a long time ago and things may be different today.
My mom was a waitress and got audited twice by the IRS because they thought she didn't claim enough income for tips even though she claimed the actual amount earned. They expected to see a certain percentage of the total earned income claimed for tips, but that was a long time ago and things may be different today.
No you for sure have to do that still.
Where/when I was working at a restaurant (2002-2005) they would say "you should claim all of your cash tips, but if you're not going to, do at last 15-20%"
Until you clean house it is not going to change. It needs to start with the owners/managers of those places because too frequently the sexual harassment starts with them and it just creates a breeding ground for it to continue.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,771 posts, read 81,704,810 times
Reputation: 58165
We always look carefully at our restaurant bill, as they have been known to make errors. The 20% in lie of tip seems an appropriate amount since we normally tip that much or more for good service anyway. For me the issue is that you cannot tip less when the service sucks. It's also an issue for the servers. With really good service some might get 25% or 30%, and now that fee is shared with the back kitchen people.
After one time learning that a place has that fee, I would not go back. Just pay people a living wage and charge us enough to make a fair profit. We only eat out 1-2 times a week, if our cost for dinner out goes from $60-80 it won't send us to the poorhouse.
I just had to disupute a bunch of fraudulent charges to my credit card. I never lost my card but somehow somebody out there ordered food from postmates 4 separate times last week. While looking over the chargers the tips were listed separately and it was fascinating to see that even when using a stolen card they tipped less than 10%. Some people are just bad tippers!
I just had to disupute a bunch of fraudulent charges to my credit card. I never lost my card but somehow somebody out there ordered food from postmates 4 separate times last week. While looking over the chargers the tips were listed separately and it was fascinating to see that even when using a stolen card they tipped less than 10%. Some people are just bad tippers!
LOL
How cheap is THAT!?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.