We've launched the new forums! Read more here

Funny Stuff On Tipping

I believe in tipping for dining, I do not believe in tipping if i walk in, up to the counter and walk away from the counter with it. If i sit, and you serve me, i am all in, but i will decide on the gratuity.
 
Mandatory for groups of 4 or more and not disclosed… lol

That would be the last time I went there.
 
MWard said:
Mandatory for groups of 4 or more and not disclosed… lol

That would be the last time I went there.
Click to expand...
I'd be raising hell about it, and would also seriously consider disputing the credit charge since they didn't disclose the fee prior to running my card.
 
BigMac said:
I'd be raising hell about it, and would also seriously consider disputing the credit charge since they didn't disclose the fee prior to running my card.
Click to expand...
Especially if it wasn’t on the main receipt to begin with, which it appears in the OP it was not.

I have a biiiig problem with that.
 
bigbov said:
I'm confused... was the surcharge a mandatory tip or just a surcharge applied because there were 4+ people and added to the cost?

Either way that is shady AF. I am a huge tipper and don't mind if places do mandatory gratuity... I usually add more on top. I just want to know about it ahead of time.
Click to expand...
 
bigbov said:
I'm confused... was the surcharge a mandatory tip or just a surcharge applied because there were 4+ people and added to the cost?

Either way that is shady AF. I am a huge tipper and don't mind if places do mandatory gratuity... I usually add more on top. I just want to know about it ahead of time.
Click to expand...
We took it as a mandatory tip. The funny part was the lady lost $6 with her actions.
 
I dont really have a problem with mandatory tipping even for smaller groups. I'm usually tipping around that amount anyways as I've found its kind of rare to truly get bad service that is 100% driven caused by the waiter/waitress. However, not disclosing the mandatory tip at all or until after the card is run though is bad.

I actually think mandatory tipping should just be a thing...as in just get rid of the tipping concept, build it into prices and just pay a regular wage. Mandatory tip doesn't sit well with a lot of people, but if the menu items were just 15-20% higher, probably isn't even an issue.
 
Table for four?

No thanks, two tables for two please.

This smells like airline pricing 101 - advertise the fare for as little as is legally possible, but charge extra for every single option that you can to help the bottom line.

At the very least I would ask the manager for an explanation of where that surcharge winds up. And I'm guessing little to none of it actually goes to the server which is the one doing the majority of the work.
 
Here in VA they have a state tax and a local tax which varies and is always a minimum of the state tax. So I've seen $100 orders become $140 with the two taxes and mandatory service charge when that's applicable. Seems a tad unethical to not advise on mandatory service charges.
 
MtlJeff said:
I wouldn't hold it against the server, even if she understood the math she is almost certainly not in a position to make that deal with you, and it could cost her the job if she did. So i wouldn't go to all in on her

Not to go on a "rant" here and break forum rules, but this became extremely predictable once the government starting taxing tips in various ways. It went from being a polite gesture (stated so eloquently at the beginning of "reservoir dogs" ) that was intended to give people in the service industry, which is typically not a high paying job and done in many cases by people out of school with kids etc, a little extra to help them get by......to now being mandatory.

And now that companies have realized people see it as mandatory, they have started to profiteer themselves by adding ridiculous mandatory tips, "suggested" tips of a minimum of 25% etc ....

Consumers are getting fed up, and there will likely end up being a line drawn in the sand at some point. Because the average consumer now doesn't want to give a vending machine a 25% tip on a Kitkat, but this is what the world is coming to

rant over!
Click to expand...
True, but good servers in good restaurants can make a nice haul. I knew a guy in the wholesale wine business who used to waiter at one of the best high end restaurants in this area. In fact it was named The Wine Merchant. He could pull 5 hundy plus on a good night. Back when the pandemic was really setting in and the gubmint was going nuts closing businesses there was a story in the paper about a server at a local restaurant that had just been closed down. She said that between salary and tips she was making $700 to $800 a week. Not a bad take for a server around here in a Tex-Mex restaurant that is definitely NOT high end! But that all went up in smoke and she had no idea how she was going to pay her bills.
MtlJeff said:
A couple of months ago i had lunch in NY alone, a meal that featured a 30$ glass of wine which was one of the lesser expensive options....

Then had dinner in Anderson, South Carolina with 3 of my colleagues

Want to guess which was cheaper? LOL
Click to expand...
This brought back a memory. Back when I was in the wholesale wine bidness, I had the sales manager of a California winery come out to work the market with me. We stopped at my favorite place on the route for lunch. He was a really cool dude but turned out to be one of those "order off the menu" people! I placed my order and he questioned the server for about 10 minutes, until the server remembered that they had offered a duck breast special the night before and had a couple left over in the cooler. He ordered that.

Our lunches were delivered and he had me taste the duck breast, which made me wish that I was one of those "off the menu" people! When the check came he stared at it so intently that I asked if something was wrong! He turned it around to show me the amount and said that back home he would expect to pay MORE than that for just his lunch, let alone both of our lunches! I told him that was understandable since it's all monopoly money in California!
bigbov said:
Takeout is a big debate between wife and I. She doesn't tip on it and I do. Full disclosure I pretty much tip anyone I can though and don't expect people to do the same.
Click to expand...
I will usually give a small tip for carryout. Sometimes just rounding up to the next dollar or just adding one dollar to the total.
Par5zN2 said:
This is where I was going to go with my post. My wife would lose it if a charge was added after the bill was presented, and said charge was then charged to our card without presentation. Oh NO!
Click to expand...
Yes That was low rent by the restaurant. However, customers do have an avenue for justice here. Reminds me of the time our company flew into San Francisco heading to the Monterey Wine Festival. I was with the boss at the counter when he rented the mini-van. He was going to rent a 4 door sedan and I begged him not to do that. Sitting shoulder to shoulder, 3 abreast for a week did not appeal to me at all. the mini-van had tons of space to stretch out.

We made sure to gas it up just before we checked it in, but when the bill came my boss asked about a discrepancy in the price. It turned out that the plan we signed up for charged you for a full tank of fuel no matter how full the tank was when you brought it in! That was NOT the story we were told when renting the vehicle. I also informed the counter man of this as I was right there when we rented. Their rep lied to us. He said there was nothing that he could do about it, and my boss said that there was something he could do! He'd call the credit card company and tell them to refuse the charge! The counter guy said that they would probably sue, and my boss told him to sue away! And he canceled the charge!
 
Junkyard said:
At the very least I would ask the manager for an explanation of where that surcharge winds up. And I'm guessing little to none of it actually goes to the server which is the one doing the majority of the work.
Click to expand...
At my previous club, they added an 18% gratuity on every dining bill. It was stated on the menus, so it was no surprise. I asked one of the servers about it and she said all that money went straight into the club's coffers - the servers didn't see a penny of it. She said most people figured that was the tip and they didn't need to tip their servers any more than that, which meant they got stiffed on every bill unless people wrote in an additional tip. Members knew, and we took care of the servers, but other people coming in had no idea and often stiffed them.

Another screwy thing they did was charge $75/hour for golf lessons from our PGA Pro, who also worked in the pro shop. She told me that the club pocketed that money and all she got paid was her standard wage for working in the pro shop, which at the time was $20/hr.

Try not to act surprised when I tell you that they had pretty high employee turnover.
 
I tip 15% on carry out, and 25% for dine in. Have tipped as much as 100% for kids that were friends of our kids in school, or work with our kids. I also leave a tip for the wait staff on league nights at our club, even when I don't eat. My daughter use to do that job b4 she started bartending there, and I know how cheap the guys can be. It actually started with my daughter fleecing me for a $5 tip b4 my round, even though I hadn't gotten a drink.:) It was a fun little back and forth about her not doing anything to earn a tip, and her talking about being my best(only) daughter. It just grew from there.
 
If it isn’t disclosed I either wouldn’t pay it or I’d never come back.

I really don’t like the disclosed mandatory fees either and wish places would just charge what they need to charge to cover their expenses. When you line item things people get to assess how I,portent the line item is to them.
 
Canadan said:
I really struggle going out to dinner based on the rising costs of everything, so it's already somewhat annoying to me haha

She decided a couple years ago that she is now entertained by chaos, and gladly calls/emails/texts bad experiences. And the last two times we went out, we got torched steak bites for my Son, and waited over an hour for our food the other time. Needless to say, she had fun.
Click to expand...
Going out to eat for a family of five is a big expenditure on top of the chaos 3 boys aged 8, 6, and 3 bring with them wherever they go, which is why it rarely happens for us.
 
Tipping is getting interesting for sure. Had lunch at a small higher end place last week. They had one of those credit card things they bring to the table for payment. Those typically list three "standard" tip percentage buttons. At this place they were 25/30/35%.
 
Jeff Spicoli said:
Going out to eat for a family of five is a big expenditure on top of the chaos 3 boys aged 8, 6, and 3 bring with them wherever they go, which is why it rarely happens for us.
Click to expand...
Dominos it is.
 
War Eagle said:
I dont like auto-charged gratuity. Especially when they try to sneak it in. If service is good, or even just ok, I typically am very generous with a tip. If there is gratuity already added for me before the bill is brought, then I leave it at that and that's it.
Click to expand...
I used to say that as a server. We had a requirement to put it on parties larger than 8, but I almost always made more than that and I would tell my manager I don’t ever want the gratuity added. Let me get what I earned not what they were forced to give me.
 
MWard said:
Especially if it wasn’t on the main receipt to begin with, which it appears in the OP it was not.

I have a biiiig problem with that.
Click to expand...
I would think that would be fraud or theft in most jurisdictions.
 
So, I am generally a generous tipper as I know this is where most servers really make their living.

But even I was taken aback by this...

Yesterday we went into a burger place where you order at the register then when your food is ready you come up and get it. If you eat there you have to get your drinks, plasticware, napkins, etcetera. When we paid for the food upon ordering their system requested a tip with a default of 18%. REALLY???
 
1860VS said:
I would think that would be fraud or theft in most jurisdictions.
Click to expand...
Gonna be weird when that charge gets called into question with one’s bank
 
leftshot said:
So, I am generally a generous tipper as I know this is where most servers really make their living.

But even I was taken aback by this...

Yesterday we went into a burger place where you order at the register then when your food is ready you come up and get it. If you eat there you have to get your drinks, plasticware, napkins, etcetera. When we paid for the food upon ordering their system requested a tip with a default of 18%. REALLY???
Click to expand...
I went to a Taco Bell years ago and after ordering was asked if I wanted to add a tip.

At Taco Bell.
 
1707932339530.png
 
BigMac said:
At my previous club, they added an 18% gratuity on every dining bill. It was stated on the menus, so it was no surprise. I asked one of the servers about it and she said all that money went straight into the club's coffers - the servers didn't see apenny of it. She said most people figured that was the tip and they didn't need to tip their servers any more than that, which meant they got stiffed on every bill unless people wrote in an additional tip. Members knew, and we took care of the servers, but other people coming in had no idea and often stiffed them.

Another screwy thing they did was charge $75/hour for golf lessons from our PGA Pro, who also worked in the pro shop. She told me that the club pocketed that money and all she got paid was her standard wage for working in the pro shop, which at the time was $20/hr.

Try not to act surprised when I tell you that they had pretty high employee turnover.
Click to expand...
First of all, if the servers didn't get that money, then it is NOT a gratuity. The definition is a tip given to a waiter, waitress, taxi driver, etc.! If I found out the business was pocketing that money, I would strike from the bill and simply refuse to pay it. Why would anyone owe them that money? In gratitude for keeping the restaurant open so that you can spend your money there?

Also, a gratuity is something given voluntarily, usually for a service rendered. It comes from the same root as the word gratitude!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top