On computer hand-held check devices brought to the table, I’m noticing that the ‘default’ is rarely the standard tipping range. It usually starts higher, and you must swipe down to find the standard default. Always makes me feel guilty, which I’m sure is part of the plan.
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I’m noticing the screens seem to be including lower options around here. For a while it was 20, 25, 30%. I’ve see 18 and even 15% recently. I wonder if more people are pushing back.
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Had drinks/dinner a bar/restaurant last week. Noticed that the bill automatically had a 4% admin charge added for the back office staff (or something like that). So, to calculate the tip for our waitress, I took the original bill amount (without the admin charge, without the taxes) and tipped about 20%. I usually round up to a nice round figure. But really? I am sure most people don’t look at the bill and don’t want to do the math, so they just pick the default 20% option.
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I don’t get it. Raise the prices of the dishes a dollar and call it a day.
it’s like tolls - I don’t get them either. Raise the gas tax 5 cents and call it a day.
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I’m actually ok with tolls, the folks who use the highways pay, the folks who don’t, don’t pay. I say this as someone who’s EZPass balance reload is around $150. At least a lot of the toll booths have been removed.
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I don’t use any of the default options for tipping if there’s nothing for 15%. I will do “custom” and choose the amount I prefer. m
I always tip the wheelchair pushers and cart people who get us between gates—@$5 apiece.
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But the people using the highways are paying for new roads throughout the state - roads that everyone uses and should be paying for IMO.
Did we already discuss this? Do you tip housekeeping in a hotel room? If so, how much do you leave?
My company covers $2 a day - so I do that - and we don’t really do hotels but Fairfields, Courtyards, Hamptons, etc. It seems about right - I’m low maintenance and so are the rooms.
More importantly, those working in housekeeping probably don’t make a ton. If everyone left a buck…
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we usually don’t have housekeeping, especially since covid. if needed, we get extra towels. we leave $5 for housekeeping when we check out, generally.
And then, there are people like this bartender. From the article, it appears some customers may not have paid close attention to their bills.
Had this happen at lunch a few weeks ago - split the check with a friend and since my meal was a little bit more, I told her I would cover the tip for both. She x’d out the tip line on her slip and when she got her credit card bill - it didn’t match her copy of the receipt - -$9 higher! I had tipped 20% of the total bill.
I never compare my receipt to my cc bill - she is a retired CFO and remembers numbers. She called the restaurant and the manager apologized and gave her a $40 gift card saying it was too hard to credit her back the $9.
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We had lunch and a drink at an out-of-town establishment. Food and drink were pre-paid with the order at the bar, and food delivered to the table, so we tipped upfront. This seems to be more common, although it then does not give the option of a higher (or lower) tip due to service.
Credit card billing for this lunch was higher than our receipt - and not due to an illegible number. However, by that time, we were gone, and not worth contesting via the credit card company.
We usually check our card statements for higher-priced or unknown items, but rarely for dining out unless very expensive. We just happened to remember this time, and still had the receipt, which we usually do not keep. I’ll probably be saving more of them now.
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I took my daughter on a shopping spree Friday as her Christmas present. EVERY time I checked out, the screen presented me with an option to give extra to some charity. I don’t like that. I’m giving to the charities I want to and don’t like feeling guilty for not giving at every store!
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I give to charities when it suits me —never because a screen asks me to. Sheesh!
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I’ve gotten very good at saying, “not today” or even “no, thank you”.
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GS was baptized weekend before last and one of my duties in helping D & SIL get ready for the brunch was to pick up the cake and deliver to restaurant the day before. I got to the bakery and identified myself, was told the total amount and my credit card was taken for a quick scan. I fully expected the fellow to turn the screen for me to elect a tip amount, but he handed my card back and said “you’re all done.” I was thrilled to not be presented with a tip option! A rarity these days.
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Good summary on the pre-/post-COVID evolution of tipping in this article. Some points:
By moving the suggested tip ranges away from our historical expectations, i.e., 10 percent, 15 percent, 20 percent as tip ranges, the app suggests a tip 20 percent, 25 percent, 28 percent. By moving the entire set of tips up, they reset people’s expectations of what a ‘proper’ tip should be,” she said. “Many people don’t want to be perceived as under-tipping or be perceived as cheap. It makes us feel guilty if we go in at the bottom of the range, particularly if we believe everyone else is tipping higher than us.”
“Because of inflation, the cost of the cup of coffee or the cost of the restaurant meal has increased significantly. So if we take a 10 percent price increase, a 20 percent price increase on the cost of the good, and then put a 20 percent or 25 percent, or even 28 percent tip on top of that, the price differential between what we used to pay to eat out and what we pay now feels enormous to today’s consumers.”
“If consumers believe that service quality has gone down post-COVID, then it’s going to make it even more dissonant to pay a higher tip. Particularly for counter service. If I input my order into an app, and I go and pick it up from the counter without any human interaction, should I leave a tip?” Avery said.
“If you’re concerned about your consumers’ reactions and want to preserve your customer relationships, instead of putting suggested tip ranges that seem too high or exploitative to consumers such as 20 percent, 25 percent, and 28 percent, proprietors can use an open-ended tipping question format. Just ask, ‘Would you like to leave a tip? How much would you like to leave?’ and let the consumer decide what’s appropriate given the level of service they’ve received,” she suggests.
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I feel like “you” can spin the reason or why or why not of tipping anyway you want to to try and plead your case - and make it sound somewhat convincing/reasonable. Either side - the business or the consumer.
I continue to say we eat out or order out WAY less since prices have increased and the tipping game (to the extreme) has entered the game.
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Yes, I find constant tipping very offputting, to say the least. We do dine out MUCH less. Used to dine out multiple times/day, now it’s several times/week max and often just a few times/month.
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