<p>I wonder if they even pay taxes on credit card tips</p>
<p>They do. They have to as their is a record of it. Cash tips are estimated.</p>
<p>I have heard that when you tip on a credit card, the server gets LESS actual money. I always leave cash for,the tip.</p>
<p>is “estimated” a euphemism for “under-reported”?</p>
<p>The original post was about the “illogic” of tipping and I agree. You can have a salad and soup or a steak at the same restaurant and have a much different bill, ergo a much different tip.</p>
<p>I have no problem tipping generously and we always leave at least 20% unless something really went wrong. If it went wrong from the kitchen, we still leave 20%. However this weekend we had horrible service at one of our usual places. She waitress kept apologizing all over the place for forgetting things (like water for the table and our drink order. We saw her trying to serve it to a different table twice). </p>
<p>She forgot the toppings on the burger, after she specifically asked us what we wanted, and she brought the wrong side and didn’t notice. Then she brought the correct side after we were almost done and the “extra” side dish ended up on the bill!</p>
<p>And again, she kept coming over and interrupting, “I apologize again for forgetting the vegetables” in the middle of our conversation. We reluctantly left her about 12%.</p>
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<p>That would be considered a pretty jerky motive for putting the tip on one’s credit card among those in my social circle, including those who pay high taxes due to earning top 1-2% incomes. </p>
<p>Especially considering waiters/waitresses are one of the few workers whom employers can legally pay well-below minimum wages and the hard work most put in when they’re waiting tables. </p>
<p>I try to pay tips in cash, but since I don’t usually carry cash, if I didn’t plan to go out, it goes on the card.
Never as big a spender as Dave Grohl.
<a href=“http://abcnewsradioonline.com/music-news/2012/6/7/report-dave-grohl-leaves-1000-tips-at-philadelphia-restauran.html”>http://abcnewsradioonline.com/music-news/2012/6/7/report-dave-grohl-leaves-1000-tips-at-philadelphia-restauran.html</a></p>
<p>is “estimated” a euphemism for “under-reported”? </p>
<p>Probably. But in a lousy restaurant they sometimes have to claim more than they actually make. It varies.</p>
<p>@cobrat, I’m not following from your post why it’s jerky to put the tip on the credit card bill?</p>
<p>The below article suggests another way. After going to France, I realized that American restaurant pricing is false advertising in a sense, as that 20% is always tacked on to any menu price. Just pay the server fairly, and price accordingly. </p>
<p>D is working as a server these days. Several things rankle. One is the base pay, all of $2 something per hour, plus there is no food provided. The restaurant owners apparently have no sense of responsibility for their employees. Server labor is close to free. Employees may work for 8 hours, and need to pay for a discounted menu item to eat while working. In my time in restaurants, a meal was provided to staff as partial compensation. </p>
<p><a href=“Leaving a Tip: A Custom in Need of Changing? - The New York Times”>Leaving a Tip: A Custom in Need of Changing? - The New York Times;
<p>Well, they could do that but it’s also true that most servers in the right establishment can walk out with a pretty nice chunk of change after 8 hours. That’s why a waitress job is preferable to an actual minimum wage job. They usually do much, much better. No, probably not always. </p>
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<p>Because waiter/tress are one of the few categories of workers employers can legally pay way less than minimum wage so unless they work in a restaurant with many generous/reasonable tippers, they could use every little bit of tip money they earn. Especially to offset a bad shift with little/no business, lousy/no tippers who were clueless about their situation or too cheap to leave a reasonable tip, employers mandating they share tips with busboys/cooks, or worse…employers who illegally mandate losses from dine & dashers are taken from the waiter/tress’ pocket. </p>
<p>On the last point, there were some recent cases including one in Western Mass where the court ruled that practice was illegal and violated the waiter/tress’ employment rights by assigning losses which really are the responsibility of the restaurant owners to their employees. The owners were ordered to compensate the waiter/tresses covered in the case for costs incurred when they mandated they covered for losses incurred by the dine & dashers while they were working those tables. </p>
<p>One more thing just to clear up some possible confusion. They make what is called the “tipped minimum wage”. They are not working for 2 bucks an hour tip or no tip. The employer would be required to make up the difference. Although, that never happens. No-one would work at that place.</p>
<p>Cobrat, surprisingly I do basically agree with you. There is something somewhat uncomfortable about 200-dollar restaurant patrons complaining about customary tipping.</p>
<p>It depends on the restaurant whether servers get free meals. My D gets one free per shift from a very limited portion of the menu-i.e. no free steaks. And yes, she pays taxes on her tips. The restaurant uses a formula to distribute all tips to eligible employees, and withhold taxes accordingly. Cash tips are estimated by the restaurant and there is withholding for those as well. She just did her taxes the other day and said her cash tips were vastly over estimated. The only time she doesn’t have to share her tips is when she serves to go orders and is given cash. I don’t know why that is. </p>
<p>She worked a full shift on Superbowl Sunday and got a total of $15 cash to keep. I’ll have to tell her she’s making out like a bandit and probably cheating on her taxes. </p>
<p>My niece worked as a waitress. She rarely did “great” … once in a while a big tip or just good tips. More often than not a group would sit at her table and drink beer - take the table space for two hours and leave a couple bucks. One time a couple ordered curly fries and got straight from the kitchen - she offered to switch it, apologized (not her fault) couple was 50ish… they tipped her zero. Who does that? We would average her rate with tips and her hourly rate at the end of shifts - and most often it was around $8/9 an hour. I really don’t think that she was not good at this - I believe she was. This was not a high class restaurant … but not fast food either. We pretty much tip 20% … 25% for great service, 15% if not good. Although if there is a lot of alcohol on the bill - I don’t always tip 20% on that.</p>
<p>The thread is about the LOGIC of how tipping is calculated. I’m still waiting for an explanation for why a $100 bottle of wine deserves a larger tip than a $25 bottle of wine WITHIN THE SAME RESTAURANT. Both bottles have one cork and 5 pours.</p>
<p>The standard IMO is tipping 15-20%.
You eat where you can afford the 20%.
I expect people who are ordering a $100 bottle of wine are going to be making sure they soak up as much atmosphere to make it worth it.
So not a lot of turnover at that table.
That’s what you’re paying for.</p>
<p>It’s not logical. It’s customary. Tipping is based on percentage, just like sales. Why should the salesperson make more if you buy a bigger house or a more expensive car? It’s the same thing. They didn’t necessarily do any more work. Although, they may have a little more knowledge or may have worked their way up to better auto dealership or real estate location or restaurant. But, mostly it’s just the way it works in those industries. No logic.</p>
<p>When you shop at an expensive boutique, the prices include the clerks commission.
Perhaps that is how restaurants should operate, by including the costs upfront rather than allowing them to appear discretionary.</p>
<p>I read somewhere that whatever percentage you tip, you should apply it to the amount net of the sales tax. Anyone else doing this?</p>