Suggested Tips

[blas]

I was out to eat Saturday night with my bf and his two friends. We were eating at a local chain Mexican restaurant, Cancuns.

I noticed at the bottom of the bill, it says "Suggested tips" and it shows what 15%of your bill is, what 18% of your bill is, and what 20% of your bill is. Funny enough, we used our tip calculators on our cell phones (so handy!) and guess what. The restaurant rounded up each "suggested tip".

I've worked in restaurants before. I am ALL for good tipping. Call me weird if you want, but I think it's absolutely RUDE to put "suggested tips" on the bottom of someone's bill. Sure, it may come in handy for those of us who are bad at math, who don't have tip calculators on our cell phones.....but to me, it's extremely inconsiderate to put something that says "Suggested Tips" because it makes it see as if they are expecting at LEAST x amount from you. What if the server was a completel idiot or rude and you were only going to give 10%? What if your server was out of this world and you wanted to tip more?

Call me a bitch and a traitor to the restaurant industry, but I feel that putting that on your bill is just not right.

[crazylegs]

Although there is an etiquette regarding tips, it ultimately depends on what the customer decides, not even the rounded up figures will assist in getting people to pay more.

However it is easy to work out how much to leave, decide on what figure to leave percentage wise, divide the bill by 100 then times it by your percentage, easy.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Having worked as a waitress, I can say I see both sides of it. Yeah, it's a little presumptuous, but some people who are bad tippers aren't bad tippers because they are jerks. They simply don't know any better. Believe it or not, I realy do think that some people would really be kind of mortified if they realized they'd insulted their waiter or committed some faux pas.

Of course, some people are just jerks, cheapwads, or whatever. But with the overwhelming ignorance that people are exhibiting nowdays, I have no trouble believing that there is a huge sector of the public out there that just simply does not know how to act.

I would imagine that the "suggested tip" thing is probably for them. People who tip don't need it, people who don't won't regardless.

[Miyon]

Actually that would work well for my mom. It takes her awhile to figure out the tip, even though I keep telling her my tip trick.

say $54.30 for the meal.

move decimal point one over.
$5.43, thats 10%, double it.
$10.86, thats 20%. Easy as pie.

[otakuneko]

I never leave change as part of a tip, even on credit card payments. It's always an even dollar amount, entirely based on how good the service was. Rare is the waiter that gets more than a couple bucks.

...Though there was this one time, at Pizza Inn, I saw my waitress getting chewed out by an SC for something totally out of her control (I forget what it was, but it was not something the waitress could've done a damn thing about). After he left she apologized to me about having to see that. When I left she found a three dollar tip for my five dollar buffet meal. She was always real nice to me after that.

Then there was a waitress at a Don Pablo's in Orlando, Florida that provided absolutely horrible service to my dad and me. She got nothing. In fact, she got worse than nothing as she came outside after us whining about not getting a tip. My dad had some words with her and her manager about her completely unacceptable behavior.

So yeah, places can suggest all they like.

[blas]

Well see, the thing about me is, I generally over tip. I am super polite to wait staff. And things that I KNOW are not the server's fault (food temperature, wait time, etc) I NEVER punish a server for. It's not fair when the cook is still getting an hourly wage and the server relies on tips.

I would like to think that I'm free to leave whatever the hell I feel like and not something they suggest. If I want to tip 50%, I'll do it. If the server was rude and incompetent and I only want to leave 10%, I'll do it.

[icmedia]

Just to play 'devil's advocate' here, I know that our credit card processing machine prints those same "Suggested Tips" percentages at the bottom of each credit card slip...and that they were pre-programmed into the machine when we got it from the credit card processing company. I wouldn't put it past them to have been lazy at doing the math (or just plain stupid).

We wouldn't have the slightest clue how to change the printouts if we wanted to, and some of the programming functions that we have tried to execute didn't work properly, anyways.

Just my $0.02.

[hecubus]

Usually, I'm a very good tipper. I tend to tip more than the standard 15%, even when the service was merely adequate. However, if the service is woefully inadequate, I can be kind of vindictive.

About 20 years ago, while on a college trip to New York, my brother, some friends and I went to a small deli to eat. Not only was the service horrible, but we were able to overhear our waitress and another of the waitstaff totally verbally trashing several other patrons at the deli, including several members of the Christian heavy metal band Stryper.

So, when we finished, as a way to show our dissatisfaction, we left the waitress a nickel for a tip. As we were leaving the deli, she actually followed us out, all the time ranting, "That's 15% gentlemen!"

You see, one thing I've learned is that, if you want to make a point about bad service, it really doesn't do any good to leave no tip at all. The server could just think that you forgot. The trick is to leave a very, very small tip (a few pennies, a nickel or a dime). Then they get the point.

(By the way, before I get in any trouble, I've very rarely ever done this. 99.99999% of the time, I leave a good tip.)

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Actually that would work well for my mom. It takes her awhile to figure out the tip, even though I keep telling her my tip trick.

say $54.30 for the meal.

move decimal point one over.
$5.43, thats 10%, double it.
$10.86, thats 20%. Easy as pie.

That's easy as pie if you aren't dyscalculic.

I can calculate tips, it's just very, very difficult for me and I'd never be able to explain to you the bizarre homemade "math" I use to do it.

To be honest, I'd love it if the bill came with some percentage breakdowns on it. It's kind of embarassing for me to have to work that hard while sitting in a restaurant.

[Lingering Grin]

Actually that would work well for my mom. It takes her awhile to figure out the tip, even though I keep telling her my tip trick.

say $54.30 for the meal.

move decimal point one over.
$5.43, thats 10%, double it.
$10.86, thats 20%. Easy as pie.

I just do $2 for every $10

Total is $70?

2 x 7 = $14

$54.30

2 x 5 = 10

then throw in an extra dollar to cover the rest.
$11 tip... easy

[TeaHouseLackey]

Here's something I've been wondering about tipping for a long while:
When you calculate your 10 or 20% do you do it on the food itself? Or the total of food + tax?

[Megg]

I always tip after tax, but I am a server. If I get 10%, I wonder what I did wrong. If I get $3 on a $60 bill, I think you are a loser and do not deserve to breathe the same air as me. I mean, really. I work hard for whatever pittance my customers feel like giving me, and most of the time it works out well. Unless they suck.

Luckily, I am damn good at what I do, and most days I walk with at least 20% or so. If you are in my section, you will get good service, and if you do not, I would expect that to reflect in my tip. If I give you awesome service and you give me 10%, I get sad. I have bills to pay too, and I make half of minimum wage.

Be nice to your server, but if they suck, tell them. Or the manager. Be specific as to what they did badly. It helps.

/end

[Peppergirl]

Be nice to your server, but if they suck, tell them. Or the manager. Be specific as to what they did badly. It helps.

/end

And for god's sake, if you have an issue with your visit that is clearly not within the control of your server, please don't take it out on them via the tip. Tell the manager..deal with it like an adult. Don't leave a shitty tip and slink out of the restaurant without speaking up as to what your issues were.

I was a damned good server and if for some reason I didn't provide good service, I didn't expect a good tip. But to stiff me because you're an asshole or because something wasn't cooked to your liking...something that ISN'T in my control, you could DIAF for all I care.

Trust me, the karma bus does come around. It might take awhile, but it does.

Ok - rant over. On topic, I think I would be a little put off by a 'suggested tip' chart, but I'd ignore it and tip what I wanted to.

[Emrld]

Just to add from another chain.
I went out to eat at a place that serves family style. As in you chose your meat and bread . . .then bowls of that days veggies are passed and shared.
On the table was a nicely written note that sadly I don't remember the exact wording of . . .
Basically it said - Just to make you aware our wonderful serving staff is paid $______ per hour which is below minimum wage. Please take that into consideration when you see the tip line on your bill. Calculators are available upon request.
Apparently it is a place that out of town/ out of country like to visit for Southern Cooking. (It isn't the best Chicken Fried Steak . . . but it is in the top 10) So corporate decided this would be the best way to take care of staff. I like it.

As for at the bottom of the slip . . .it doesn't bother me . . .just gives me a guidline to work from.

[Meganjo23]

It does seem a little snotty to me to put suggested tips on the bottom, but I am really bad at math, so it does help. I would never leave less of a tip becase of that, I know that things like that are not under the control of the server.

My mom, however, is kind of sensitive to waitress's 'asking' for tips. And by sensitive, I mean she hates it. Some servers, when they take your money and go to get change will ask "Would you like change back?" which is basically another way of asking if they can keep the change. She'll give a little less if they ask that. I'll do it to, but only if the waitress's are rude or pushy about it. I think it's because I don't like the idea of leaving a lesser tip just because of one thing they said, that they may not even know sounds rude.