meal for 2 in an overpriced restaurant: $250 tab and a $50 tip.</p>
<p>50 bucks for a tip rankled. Then I got to thinking about the whole logic of tipping pricing. Was I really receiving 10X as much wait service in the expensive restaurant as I received in the diner? The waitress in the diner refilled our coffee cups as many times as the waiter poured wine out of the bottle. </p>
<p>In the same pricy restaurant, if I had selected a $100 bottle of wine, would the waiter do 4X as much work to pour that bottle as he would have done w a $25 bottle of wine?</p>
<p>I know it’s crazy, but some would argue that at the pricey place, you stayed at your table for a much longer time (at least that’s what often happens at pricier places). </p>
<p>Traditionally the tip is calculated as a percentage of the bill. Of course, you know that but if your asking why isn’t that a little bit like asking why the hamburger costs 10 times as much. Often, it’s not even a better burger. </p>
<p>No, the waiter is not working harder, probably, the opposite. But, tipping by percentage is expected.</p>
<p>Or…you order an alcoholic drink which costs $8 and the server only has to bring it one time. However, if you order a soda for $3, she has to refill it over and over.</p>
<p>Does the wait staff really come to your table to refill your pop?
Usually, if it is that sort of place, the beverage dispenser is accessible and you get it yourself.
However, I would agree that it is hard to predict re service.
Fr instance, at a neighborhood Chinese restaurant, they kept our water glasses filled up to within an inch of the rim.
But when it was time to get the check, it took forever & that process easily added 20 minutes to when we finished.
This was a relatively inexpensive restaurant.
More restaurants, like the sushi bar we go to, leave a water carafe on the table, they were also fast about bringing the tab, although they had made a big mistake on it. They were equally as fast to straighten out the check.
This was also a relatively moderate restaurant.
We very rarely go anywhere, where the bill is over $100 for two people, usually that is the charge for four people including drinks. We usually tip 20% unless it is really good or really bad service.</p>
<p>Right, the 20% is not really about the work being performed. You are not paying a waitress for every step she takes, The discretion comes in when the service is unusually good or bad but 20% is the baseline. </p>
<p>We’ve had this discussion before.In many chain restaurants, tips are built into the paychecks the waitstaff get, using a formula that assumes they are getting 15 or 20% tips from every customer, whether they did or not. While you might think that means they get MORE than the tips they actually got, it’s likely not, since the tips are averaged out to all employees whether they got tips or not. Often only the kitchen staff-cooks and expediters, do not share tips. That’s because they get paid more, sometimes far more, than the front house staff. Restaurant wages, whether this is fair or not, are kept very low on purpose, presupposing tips to make up the difference.</p>
<p>So rankle about your $50 tip but you can be assured that the one waitress did not get all of it. Even in decent restaurants staff do not make the best living, and in many, all staff are kept at PT hours (some even have penalties for managers who schedule staff for FT hours). </p>
<p>It may not be fair to anyone on any side of the table but the only ones getting rich are celebrity chefs and owners of top expensive restaurants. My daughter works for a nice chain restaurant (where they do, in fact, refill your soda) and only now that she is training as a cook is she getting even close to a living wage.</p>
<p>As the parent of a waitstaff who earns the bulk of his earnings in tips…please just tip the waiter well. You can’t convince me the service and such in a diner is the same as in a fine restaurant. Sorry…most fine restaurants don’t rush you through, and the wait staff is attentive and mindful of,your needs for the duration of your dining. </p>
<p>And yes, many fine restaurants have a 20% gratuity included in the check for parties over a certain number or checks above a certain amount.</p>
<p>I would urge everyone to work as waitstaff just for a week. That waiter in your fine restaurant didn’t get half of the tip you left. As noted above, the bus staff, bar staff, and even the hostess often get a share. </p>
<p>I tip well. I recently had an okay dinner in a nice restaurant. There was a piece of plastic in my food and I am lucky I did not choke. I showed the waiter and he really should have brought manager over, but did not. I still gave him a 20% tip - but I did write a letter about meal when asked to review. I also gave name and phone to contact me. Clearly restaurant management doesn’t care. Won’t be eating there, again. </p>
<p>I was in food service and I tip pretty well as a rule. I do get frustrated when server isn’t great and you know they count on you tipping them well out of guilt. If they do a good job, they will likely get 20-25%. If the do an okay job, I usually do 15-20%. Generally, they are taxed on 12%. I have never stiffed anyone. </p>
<p>I have worked as a waiter and generally tip well. But my pay was only about $1/hr. However in Seattle we will likely see a min wage of $15/hr and in WA the tips are NOT deducted from the wages so they will be making $15/hr plus all tips. That approaches excessive to me and I may rethink my tipping. </p>
<p>I used to tip the 20% even if the service was just o.k. I do not do that anymore. I tip 20-25% in a nice restaurant if the service was good. 15% if it was just adequate and 10% if something was surely amiss like a surly/argumentative server or being virtually ignored by a server. </p>
<p>@Nrdsb4, I guess I feel that if I remain at the restaurant and finish the meal, 10% is the minimum since I was served and accepted the meal. I also realize that tips are usually pooled, so why punish everyone for a bad server? In an upscale restaurant, leaving 10% is sending a pretty strong message. Think we have had to do that 3 or 4 times in 18 years of marriage. </p>
<p>There is some logic to percent tipping. If the average meal at a restaurant is $25, a server serving two people in a table will receive proportionately less than a server at the same restaurant serving a table of ten (all other things being equal). </p>
<p>I came of age when there was a transition from 15% tip being considered acceptably good to being below par and only to be given if service was mediocre. Granted, I may be biased as most of my restaurant experiences has been in the urban NE. </p>
<p>The practices I’ve heard, observed, and practice is 25%+ for outstanding, 18-20% for good service, 10-15% for mediocre, and no tip and a discussion with restaurant management if the waiter/tress was obviously rude to me or especially my date/friends. </p>
<p>I also make it a point to tip in cash as I’ve heard from waiter/tress friends that that really helps. </p>