I went to a restaurant recently with my wife for our anniversary. Had great reviews on Google Maps above 4.5 stars. Yes I know this should not be the only indicator of a good experience, but the food sounded good and it was in a neighborhood we don’t often go to. Something new.
When we got the bill, the server came to us and skipped past the food prices to the tip screen immediately. That should have been my red flag to stop and ask why she did that, but I didn’t. I tipped 20%, then later found out that they already included that in the bill. So I tipped 20% on top of the total that already included 20%. Needless to say I won’t be going back.
Do a review on Google maps, and TripAdvisor, if you are in a touristy city. Warn the world, and put the ownership on notice.
Oh we did
Also consider complaining to the secretary of state perhaps? Idk, it’s not city tax revenue so not likely, but it’s still fraud. But I would definitely consider a chargeback. This is just like in the old days when managers or severs would scribble in a different tip and total on the merchant copy.
This seems like it is probably more of a server issue, and not a restaurant issue. The server has learned how to increase their tips, I doubt that’s company policy. This is Management’s problem to solve, not the government’s.
This is bad logic. Every industry has a thousand things they solve by regulation to establish a sane baseline that you experience every day mistaking this hard won normalcy for a self occurring default.
The behavior that is described is actually fraud and if you consider across just this one employees year it probably is thousands of dollars in fraud. It would be normal to report such to the city government which reports such to the business which in turn fires the server and trains the rest not to defraud customers.
This is one server, in one restaurant, not an industry-wide issue. Expecting some kind of regulatory remedy over an anecdotal issue is not the answer. I’m not a right-winger by any means, but even I know that the government isn’t the solution to anything. There already is a law against this, so the local gendarmes are as far as this needs to go.
Remember when your mom told you “Don’t make a Federal case out of it?” This is the kind of thing she was talking about, literally.
It actually already does cover it. He’s tricking folks into tipping twice by failing to disclose that they have already tipped. It’s simple fraud.
Right but the fraud is with the server, or possibly the restaurant, not the industry as a whole. I just think getting the government involved to deal with a dishonest server is going a bit far. Just make the manager and corporate aware. They’ll deal with it.
Bullshit. Hopefully it’s one server and management should take care of it. But it’s appropriate to complain to the right authority so they can see if it’s a pattern in need of enforcement.
This is how things get done. A single instance of food poisoning can be a mistake, but a pattern of food poisoning is potentially in need of enforcement and remediation. But they can’t see a pattern if no one complains
I call and complain for crap like this all the time now. I make sure to let them know I bitch to all my friends and coworkers about it too.
My latest crusade is restaurants that put 4% service fees to help pay for people’s health insurance. Just raise the price on the individual items on the menu. Making me math out what you are actually charging like that is bullshit.
I would have gone back and not left until I had both 20%s in my hand. Call the police? Please do!
Smart businesses know that the key is “customer retention” and they don’t screw you. Dumb businesses operate on “one and done”. “We’ll screw them and they probably will never come back”
It wasn’t the business that did this. It was the server looking for a one time bonus.
Tips in the US must be entirely out of control. In my experience, 10% is for good service, above for rare exceptional and less if you weren’t entirely satisfied. Not even printing anything below 16 is insane.
Tipped minimum wage in the US is $2.13/hour, hence the reason for the high percentages.
Oh right i forgot about that. That’s insane as well; minimum wage should be… well, minimum, obviously; for everyone.
Sad thing is regular minimum is only $7.25 at the federal level. This country absolutely despises it’s workers.
But nobody wants to work anymore!!!
/s
Cant wait for this meme to be 20k pixels tall with new screenshots when I die
Should be changed to, “Nobody wants to work anymore because the wage isn’t livable anymore”.
I was hired on my first job at $14/hr as a retail associate back in like 2005! Same job today has the same wage… well $15/hr but still 20 years later… savage! Hmmmm, wondering why no one wants to work, that job can’t even pay the rent of most places in America with all the other costs of living. (Car, insurance, phone, utilities, etc.).
Okay, this image would be better if it actually showed whatever article it came from, so we could verify the print and date. These could all be books printed in 2016 for all we know. But like I totally believe it.
Edit: I have the grammar of a 3rd grader
That’s the true problem, federal minimum wage hasn’t changed in decades despite the inflation and costs over the years! That’s the true problem!
I’m not sure it would be better without minimum wage for tipped employees rule. For example the minimum wage in Ontario is $17 and it’s the same for servers, but all the restaurants have tip suggestions like: 18%, 20% and 25%
Idk where you are living but in MN it’s $11.10/hr plus tips. I get paid more because I am an assistant manager as well so $15/hr plus my tips as a server. I make almost 3X more than when I was a teacher working full time and I have half as many hours…
the idea of percentage based tipping is so wild to me, in my mind a tip is only based on the reason i want to tip them.
If they did an impressive job but just did their job then i’ll give them a euro or something, if they had to endure something miserable like cleaning up baby vomit then they get like 10 euro because god knows that’s what i’d need to stay on that job.Also, importantly, the tip is in cash and goes directly to the person i think deserves it, and i’m going to tell the worker that wink wink nudge nudge if the employer asks then i didn’t give them a tip.
20% has actually been the norm for a while. Maybe it was a bit on the upper end a couple decades ago while now it’s more default, but I remember my parents tipping 20% for normal service back in the 90’s. Of course, with prices soaring tipping is still getting pricier and pricier, but the expected percentage here has been relatively stable.
The thing that’s out of control is where you’re expected to tip now. I often see a tip prompt come up at retail stores where the only service the employee provided was ringing up the items I brought. I never tip in those kinds of situations, and I doubt the employee would see any of it even if I did.
Stop tipping!!! no more
Laughing in European
Stop tipping culture. If you just stop tipping people who rely on tips, you just make their lives much harder
Ok genius, tell us how to stop tipping culture without stopping tipping?
Pass a law that removes the minimum wage exemption for “tipped” professions.
What a coincidence I just put on my lawmaking socks!
Quite obviously through regulation.
That’s socialism!!1!
Try to avoid services that rely on tipping? Don’t go to restaurants or order food delivery where you’re expected to tip.
I understand it’s not an easy thing to fix, and I sure as hell dont have the solution, but not tipping someone who is relying on tips is just a dick move
Part of the problem is that it’s considered the customer’s responsibility. The real dick move is on the employer not paying a decent wage.
Complain loudly while you tip?
give the tip directly to the worker, and also hand them a pamphlet about organizing a union at the workplace
Don’t use tipped services if you’re not going to tip. There are alternatives. You’re offloading your “political action” at the expense of the worker, while the owners won’t care. Support legislative change, don’t use your politics as an excuse to harm the workers of a service you chose to use.
It probably won’t stop until everybody starts asking for tips, so that those that traditionally receive tips are losing it on tipping everybody else.
I think the only chance this will work is moving somewhere it’s not a thing.
I like tipping. The service is better, and servers are paid more than they would be without it.
No because I live in Australia where the govt forces restaurants to Pay their staff in full rather than outsource their wages to the customers directly.
Edit: Pay, not Pauly.
Pauly must be busy.
Wow must be cool living somewhere completely irrelevant to this post!
we’re in a section called “shitpost” and you’re complaining about quality? also - its related by “tips”, but maybe you just wanted to practise your sarcasm.
If only, the tipping crap is trying to leak in here.
I’m surprised no one mentioned that a lot also calculate the tip after applying taxes.
Example: Meal was $40, then a 20% tip would be $8. But if taxes were $4 (making the total bill $44), then the receipt would show $8.80.
I don’t tip on tax.
But on the flip side if I receive a discount of some sort, I tip on the pre-discount amount.
My Dad taught me that as a kid. I’m extremely supportive of wait staff, and I’m an excellent tipper (25% is not unusual), but I’m not tipping on tax. I draw the line there.
How is that different than tipping 22% (or whatever) on the post-tax? I swear people lose all rationality when it comes to tips.
Probably nothing, but it just makes sense to tip on the actual bill. Why am I tipping the government tax?
So now I have to figure the 25% tip before tax, then the 22% after tax, then decide which I want to pay, etc. Just tip on the pretax amount. Why is that controversial? How is that “losing rationality?”
Why does this require any discussion? You want to pay a tip on the tax, go wild. I’ve used my method for decades, and my servers get tipped well. I don’t think I’ve lost any rationality.
Makes me wonder how many servers out their think their customers are being cheap because they only tipped X% when in reality they actually tipped 15% or whatever before tax.
I got chewed out on reddit once for being “cheap” because I said tip before the tax. Guy was super pissed over what amounts to a difference of cents. Went off on a huge rant belittling me like I admitted to murdering puppies…
Like… Dude, if your whole life comes crashing down over 40¢, to the point that’s your reaction, maybe there’s a much bigger problem going on here?
Yeah, you shouldn’t tip on the tax, that has nothing to do with the food or service.
Just playing devil’s advocate but that’s 0.40 to you, but to a server who might wait on 100 people a week, that’s $40.
Sorry to inform you, but I’ve been told recently that 20% is now considered bare minimum and cheap. Yes, I eat out a lot less accordingly.
I don’t care what people think, I’m still doing 10% for okay, 15% for good, and 20% for great.
It’s not my job to give servers a raise. The food prices have already exploded, they are already getting more in tips just because the base cost went up
My $10 meal and 15% tip ($1.50) is now a $15 meal with a 15% tip ($2.25) which would have been a 22.5% at previous prices. They already come out ahead in that scenario without tip percentages increasing.
Which is insane, it’s a percentage, compensation for inflation is baked in.
Your logic is inverted. The lines would have to have a place for folks to add in the taxes. Otherwise the math would work in the opposite direction – the calculated amounts would be lower than the amounts based on the number at the bottom. (Unless a discount was applied that’s not shown.)
I’m not sure what you’re saying. But to expand on my point:
A lot of receipts have an area where they show you a “calculated tip” for some %s. Many restaurants calculate the tips using the total (meal+tax) rather than the subtotal (meal).
On those receipts the person still has to calculate the end amount (meal+tax+tip).
Wait so you get scammed but still give 20% tips? This would be an automatic 0% tip
Yeah, what’s likely happening here is that the tip numbers were calculated off the subtotal intentionally. So say you buy a “happy hour” drink and it is $3 instead of $6, they tip is calculated before the “discount”.
Their machine could have actually been wrong, but using a total before discounts seems more likely.
Not saying this isn’t real and completely scummy, but sometimes the tip is calculated before discounts, gift cards, and whatnot. I always tip based on what our total order was even if what we paid was less. If this is truly trying to fudge the numbers to take advantage of people then that’s shitty.
It looks like the percentages are based of a total of $37.95, so it’s possible there was a discount included that made their total closer to $30.
Always tip on the subtotal. If your server worked their ass off for your table but you had a coupon for, let’s say, 50% off 2 entrees and a birthday dessert, that’s just devalued their effort by about $50.
Also, the tipping culture is broken, and this is bonkers.
I came from a tipping-optional culture and worked foodservice. If I got good tips, they went back into the bar at the end of the shift, or into my savings jar at home. It was never make-or-break on whether I got to pay rent or not.
tip what is appropriate regardless of the bill
there’s no reason for somebody to get $10 more because I bought the premium beer instead of what’s on special
Does the waiter work much harder to bring a lobster than a Mac and cheese? Tips are dumb in general, but if anything they should be based on time, not food price. And they should be called a wage while we’re at it. At it should be enough to live decently.
Maybe a comp’d desert (or app) that’s ~$8 ?
My only exception to the “pre-discount” price is when places have a “buy 1 get 1” deal and they try to make you tip based on that, but the single item price is way overpriced because of it. Happens around me a lot where they’re like 3pack tacos, buy 1 get 1 $21, like yeah that’s great price for 6 small tacos, but I wouldn’t be paying $21 for 3 tacos, so I’m not gonna tip whatever crazy amount for a bill that “would have been” $75 or something for some tacos and a drink. Granted these are usually carry out orders, but don’t try to artificially inflate my bill to get better tips because you discounted it to a lower price.
Edit before people give me flak: I still tip fairly, but if a place tries to give me some “your bill was 100$, but we discounted it to 20$ that’ll be a 20$ tip though” they can fuck off. I’ll tip right, but don’t try to guilt trip me with a discount when you know I wouldn’t be here at all of it wasn’t for the discount.
Is that usd? A great price for 6 small tacos is 6 bucks, 21 is ridiculous.
Also, the restaurant probably has no control over those numbers. The software might give them a Yes/No option on showing suggested tips or not at best.
Customer pays for product/service, and it’s the employer’s job the pay the employees. What the employer needs for this is his/her job to include in the price.
Tipping is a holdover from slavery. It’s a way to control service workers.
This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t tip people who rely on tips, it means the system is fucking broken by design.
I’m guessing the tip is calculated before any discounts/comps, which would be conspicuously cut off in this photo
Why would you calculate the tip before the final amount? And why would that incorrect amount be printed out for the customer?
It certainly shouldn’t be the default “pre-caluaclated” amount, but if I have a gift card or something, I’ll still tip based on the pre-discount.
Say the bill was $100 for a group of 4 and we use a $50 gift card, I’ll probably still tip the $20. Seems kinda scummy to only leave $10.
It’s a terrible system that exploits people. I can’t change the system, but I can do my part and tip someone fairly for the hour they’ve helped me out.
That would be quite optimistic, but this is something I’ve noticed at multiple restaurants myself. I saw the tip “suggestions” were not accurate so I checked to see what numbers they might have been using and tried the after tax amount etc, but nope the numbers are just inflated artificially. It’s happened with or without alcohol on the tab, with and without sale items, and I don’t ever really get anything “comped” unless it’s a sauce on the side or something. I wouldn’t say it’s a scam, but I did roll my eyes the first time I noticed it.
This may be anecdotal, but I ran into this exact same issue a few weeks ago. The suggested 20% was significantly higher than the 20% on the bill. It took me a little bit to figure out, but we were at the restaurant for a steak special and happy hour. The 20% tip was for the non-special price. For example, the steak and two sides special was $18, but the normal price was $28. The drinks were $5 but the normal price was $8. So the suggested tip was 20% of $36, not 20% of $23. These aren’t the exact numbers, and there were two of us, but you get the idea. The POS/Tip suggestion is setup so the servers don’t get the shit end of the stick when the restaurant is doing a deal/special. I’m not sure I fully agree with it, and I have my own beef with tipping culture in general, but I’m just looking to explain what might be seen in OP’s photo.
It’s not hard to include a disclaimer tip prices based on full price if that’s the case to avoid looking bad.
That’s should be common sense. Tip on the FULL amount not on a discount you received, you didn’t get discounted food or service so tip accordingly. It’s not hard.
I don’t know if Groupon is still a thing, but at its peak there were posts online on a regular basis from wait staff who got stiffed, because customers would tip based on the balance they owed after the 90%+ discount Groupon voucher.
Fuck tips. 0 tips. Pay your people.
You pay for the service of being waited on… don’t want to tip… then go to McDonald’s! wtf! 🤬
It’s not a “service”. All I want from the staff is to tell them what I want to order and to bring the food. That’s all. I don’t see what extra “service” I’m supposedly paying for
I like prompt refills. I’m happy to tip for that.
If I was your server, I would get you!! Never would be empty! Usually half full is when I ask if they want another.
SITTING DOWN, waiting on you, and then BRINGING YOU FOOD, ensuring it’s up to your standards after a couple bites, if you don’t want that SERVICE get fucking take out! It’s that fucking easy!
the restaurant pays for their staff… should you pay for having a table and chair too? staff is a basic requirement of a restaurant
Welcome to America where tipping culture is a thing, don’t like it, get take out and fuck off!
Is there an option to pick up my own food at the counter? I’d gladly do it.
Yes, it’s call take out. But still employees have to put the order together, bag it, and ensure everything is 100%, so def should tip them something!
I don’t tip for take out I have to pick up myself. But tipping culture here in The Netherlands is vastly different than the US. We basically only tip in restaurants, and only if the service was really good. Most people don’t tip for bad or average service.
Yeah, a lot of people don’t tip for take out, but who do you think makes and puts together your order for a nice restaurant take out? (I work for a Sushi and Steakhouse). Sadly, we have to and ensure orders are right and still don’t get tipped. It’s not a McDonald’s (we have many other options and temps of food, etc.). You came to a nice restaurant for take out and we ensure all is well, we had to put together your order and ensure all food is correct, it’s vastly different than a fast food drive thru. Yes, you had to pick it up but we still had to put the order together and ensure all the fine food is correct. If that makes sense, it’s different.
We don’t just heat up a cooked burger patty and put it on a bun and shove you through a drive thru, it’s 100% different. You came to a sushi steakhouse with different orders and temps of foods with modifications very different than the standard “take out”.
Basically, America just needs to pay the employees vs tips but that’s not changing. I was a teacher for years but with the recent political drama and parents shoving their kids to iPads with no respect I left and found out I am making almost 3X a month as a server than a teacher, that’s savage!
The answer is in your last sentences, employers should just pay a livable wage (mandated by the government really). In your first paragraph, all the things you explain to me are just part of the job. Nobody is going above and beyond to give me a better service/experience, it’s literally just people doing their jobs. In non hospitality services, people don’t get tipped for doing their job either, right? I’ve never seen anyone tip a nurse, teacher, police officer, etc.
The whole tipping culture in the US is such a wild concept. In that aspect, I’m glad that we here in The Netherlands don’t have that culture (yet), that we are not expected to tip and that we only tip great hospitality. But meanwhile the times are changing, we also see a “leave tip” prompt more often and it is really starting to annoy me. I’ll decide if I want to tip, no need to shove it in my face, especially not considering people make a living wage without tips anyways.
Tipping by percentage never made much sense to me. I order a coffee at a diner, the waitress only gets a 42 cent tip? She should get more if she has to carry a plate of food? She checks on me the same amount. That’s a five dollar tip at least.
Hahah in my country she gets a wage for that shit
Not only that but that waitress at a diner is probably providing a hell of a lot better service than that bartender where I have to wave money just to get served
You WRITE the tip amount on the receipt? How does the payment terminal know how much to take?
It’s entered manually, usually at the end of the shift. It’s standard for most, if not all restaurants in the United States
In Canada they just bring you the payment machine and it asks the percent you want to tip. There is a physical bill but its only used by the server to know what to enter really
You tip in Canada? I was hoping this sad culture was limited to usa.
It is sadly a part of canadian restaurant culture but not seen as mandatory. Canadian service workers are regulated to be paid at least minimum wage.
Companies mostly use tipping here as an excuse for the wages to not come out of their own pockets. If tips received equal or exceed minimum wage then they don’t have to fork out the cash. If the employee only made $10hr in tips then the employer fills in the rest.
Because of this, I mostly refuse to tip. I’m not going to subsidise a restaurant paying their employees. If you can’t afford to pay people you shouldn’t be in business.
Asterisk: there is such a thing as “minimum wage for tipped workers”, which is lower than the normal minimum wage. At least in some provinces.
For instance, in Quebec, the normal minimum wage is $16.10 per hour, but for tipped workers, it’s $12.90$.
And yes, my reaction to this is also “what the fuck”.
Thanks for the clarification. I totally forgot it isn’t federally regulated.
There are also student wages which allow you to pay students under 18 even lower wages. Fun stuff!
Here in the states, the minimum for tipped workers is $2.13. Also, the federal minimum wage for nontip is $7.25. And they wonder why we can’t afford McDonald’s over here.
Absolute madness.
Unfortunately…
Same in most of the world. Sucks that these machines brought tipping to places it didn’t exist before. Used to be only shitty tourist trap restaurants asked for tips in Stockholm. Now all the machines do.
Remember kids. Never tip, ever.
That’s because everything needs a pin, if you pay cash this still works this way. USA only started using pins around covid time iirc and it’s still not universal.
The PIN thing really confused me when I visited the US (right before Trump got in again). Like even the places that did support chip would just accept my payment without having me enter anything. First time I bought something I thought the machine glitched because I didn’t even realise a payment could be made without the PIN
It’s getting to be less common. A lot of newer/trendier places are giving their wait-staff tablets (which are also handling ordering, seating status, etc), or at least portable payment terminals.
Some of the big established chains have kiosks at the table where you can order apps/drinks directly, pay, play games.
I’ve also been to several places that’ll put a QR code on the receipt for payment. They may also have their menu online that you can get from a QR on the table. As an added bonus that usually means their online menu is actually kept up to date.
Good point, I’ve actually used all those payment methods myself as well
The server has to manually enter it.
Here’s their bullshit workflow:
- Print the check
- Customer reviews it
- Credit card is given to the server
- Card is swiped/authorized at the POS
- Server returns with the receipts
- Customer then writes in the tip amount and signs on the merchant copy
- Server takes the signed receipt and enters the tip amount back at the POS
For whatever reason, the USA keeps using their signature, when the technology for pay at the table has been around for decades.
Meanwhile, chip & PIN has been standard everywhere in Canada for the last decade, with some businesses using it for almost another decade prior to that. Mexico wasn’t far behind either, so it’s absolutely possible to adopt better methods.
Money. Banks make money on chargebacks and disputes. The bad system makes them money. That’s why we have the bad system. Money. Like always.
If your employees rely on tips to meet months end, your business model is shit.
