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<p>The standard practice as I understand it is as you’ve outlined…calculating tip percentages from just the net price, not including sales tax. </p>
<p>Flossy is correct. Do you gripe about paying your realtor more commission when you sell a more expensive house? If you find tipping illogical, then by all means, stiff people to prove your point. Chances are waitstaff will start recognizing you as a tightwad and you’ll start getting the kind of service you’re tipping/or not tipping for.But you’ll be logical!</p>
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Wow… Where did that come from? I started out this thread by saying I gave my waiter a 50 buck tip for a $250 meal. That makes me a tightwad?</p>
<p>No, you tipped the customary 20%.
Perhaps what sseamom was referring to was while you complained that the restaurant was overpriced, your ire seemed reserved for the waitstaff, not whomever selected the restaurant or planned the menu.</p>
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<p>Yes, I think this is also illogical because the same work is involved in selling a $150K house vs. a $300K house.</p>
<p>However, the practice should work to make the expensive restaurant (and realtor) jobs more competitive, and thus one should be getting better service, making the higher tip worth it. So it makes sense from that respect, but not from respect of a lower-cost vs. higher-cost meal in the same restaurant.</p>
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<p>Then wouldn’t leaving a cash tip facilitate waiters stiffing the busboys?</p>
<p>If the waiter was dishonest, perhaps.
But the waiter depends on the busboys and anyway, isn’t it the busboys who clear the table?</p>
<p>A lot of people (me included) give the waiter the cash and say “keep the change”</p>
<p>Can anyone tell me when the standard tip (or what many feel is now standard) rose from 15%, which it was for most of my adult life (I remember when I lived in NYC where the sales tax on food was 7.5%, everyone just doubled the tax to calculate the tip), to 20%, and where the logic is for that increase? Why is service now deemed a bigger component of the dining experience than it was? And what committee of tipping rules made that decision? A 15% per cent tip was the rule of thumb for decades–not saying there was any magic to that number, it was just the custom. But how does the custom get changed? And how is that change justified? If the argument is that servers deserve better pay, then why is 20% the magic number? It’s all wildly illogical, and I think we’d all be a lot happier–customers and servers both–if servers had to be paid wages on the same scale as everyone else, the increased cost was just folded into the price of the food, and the last step in dining out didn’t involve math! (And don’t even get me started on tip jars at Starbucks and others where the employees are not making server wages–no, don’t get me started on that.)</p>
<p>Our philosophy is that we’re enjoying ourselves and the wait staff is working for a living. We usually tip well allowing for the price of drinks (at least sodas) even though we most often order water w/lemon, AND we watch our time at the place. If we linger, we tip more accordingly. Even for breakfast at our local “made from scratch” diner where a bill for 2 comes to < $15, our minimum tip is $5.</p>
<p>We also tend to always get good service when we go places where we’re known. 
But our tipping policy is the same even when we’re traveling and unlikely to visit a place again.</p>
<p>It’s been a while since we’ve had bad service anywhere. That’s something I feel is worth paying for.</p>
<p>As for the original question… why $50 vs $5? I feel if we can afford the $250 tab, we can afford the tip - sharing the wealth. We could always choose the diner instead if it fit our budget better.</p>
<p>Now I’m finding myself with the urge to head to the diner for breakfast… it’s really NOT healthy (for what we order anyway), but it’s incredibly tasty…</p>
<p>MommaJ, the standard tip has always been 20% in our area as long as I’ve been an adult.
Which has been almost 40 years.
Perhaps the west coast has been more generous and NYC is finally stepping up? </p>
<p>Creekland, I love going out to breakfast too, even though what I order is easy to make at home. I suspect it brings back memories of grandma /mom making breakfast.
:)</p>
<p>When I was a food server 25 years ago in California my typical net take home was about $10-15 including tips. </p>
<p>This was good money for part time work and helped pay my tuition. We had a base pay of something like $2.35 an hour and got 1/2 off one meal. </p>
<p>When I order a bottle of wine at a nice restaurant, I do expect the waiter to pour whenever my glass is empty. When he pours, I do not expect him to fill it to the top, so he would need to watch my glass very carefully and it would be more than 5 pours. I will admit that I’ll tip higher percentage at a diner or a low cost restaurant. One thing to keep in mind is it would be less likely for people to hang out at a diner for 2 hours vs people may stay longer at a more expensive establishment.</p>
<p>As far as real estate commission…Maybe there isn’t that big of a difference between 150K vs 300K transaction, but a deal could be more complicated if it is of higher dollar amount. The advertisement and showing of a 5 mill home vs 1 mill home maybe very different. </p>
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<p>I notice that the high end homes in my area receive pretty expensive marketing. Very professional photography, high quality video virtual tours, photo spreads in expensive glossy real estate magazines. They may pay for professional staging and have “parties” for other top real estate agents where the house is shown and food, drink, or even entertainment is provided. It’s expensive to do that and it’s not happening for the 150K house. The real estate company is providing all of these services, and if they don’t sell the house within the time frame of the listing agreement, they eat these expenses.</p>
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<p>The transitional period from what I understand happened sometime during the '90s due to the tax authorities increasing the estimated minimum tip percentage for taxation. </p>
<p>Don’t know the details, but it meant many in my age group with parents who were socialized in an era when 15% was a good tip later found that 15% was considered a sign we felt the waiter/tress’ level of service was mediocre at best as 18-20% was considered the minimum reasonable tip for good service. </p>
<p>Regarding the real estate comparison. </p>
<p>That was an example of paying on percentage. Obviously a 300K home may require more work and expense than a 150K home. But, it may not. In NYC selling a 10 million dollar apartment may be no more work than a few phone calls. It’s not based on the work. It’s based on the percentage. And, sure it’s illogical and it could be factored into the menu cost. But, then of course you wouldn’t get to decide the service stunk and you would like to tip less. So, I’m not at all sure you would really prefer that method. </p>
<p>Tipping is very illogic. We went to dinner with 2 other couples, separate checks. H and I didn’t drink and had sandwiches. One of the other couples had premium wine, appetizer and steak. Same waitress, same effort, completely different bill. I know H tipped pretty good as we always feel bad when the check is low. </p>
<p>Since we are talking about tipping. How about the one person who always finds an excuse not to tip well. Drives me nuts. I always feel guilty and tip even more. </p>
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So you think just anyone can sell a 10 million dollar home? Do you have a list of serious potential buyers in your iPhone contacts? </p>
<p>Geez, I didn’t say that. The commission, like the tip, is based on percentage. </p>
<p>GMTplus7 makes a very good point. To have that kind of client list is not easy - many years of hard work.</p>