How much do you tip at coffee shops? I’m starting to 2nd guess what % I should tip with the increase costs.
Just a drink – a buck or two. If I’m getting breakfast to go, 15-20%.
The same amount I tip the folks at Burger King for preparing my food.
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If they give me that automatic tipping thing with the ipad thingy, I press custom and ask them where the negative sign is.
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I only tip for coffee at coffee stands, not at big chains. Starbucks is the McDonald’s of coffee, and I’m not tipping at McDonald’s.
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McDonalds has better coffee than Starbucks.
Agree with $1/drink (not extra for refill I fill up myself)
At Panera if I’m camping out on the Sip Club free refills, $1 per hour that I’m there, maybe extra $2 per item if I get any food. Sometimes round up to a $5 so I can tip cash. But sip club has some weird rules inconsistently enforced, so I’d rather tip a little more hoping employees are more lax with those rules
The same as downtown
Rather than start a new thread about gratuities, I will dig up an old thread and add my question/complaint here.
I ate at a chain restaurant last night for dinner.
The payment was done on a portable little machine that the wait staff each carried. The machine had a touch screen the size of a phones, a card reader, and a receipt printer - all in one.
Anyhow, the machine gives tip guidance “for my convenience” and shows the tip amounts labeled 18%, 20%, and 22%. Service was ok, but not great. I hit 20% and was done with it, or so I thought. Today I look at the receipt more closely and realized that the 20% I thought I tipped was actually 25% of my purchase price including 12% sales tax. The tip suggestions were calculated so that the amounts of tip are actually, so that the waitress was tipped 20% of the total including food, tax and tip.
So instead of multiplying the food cost by 20%, the machine’s suggestion was the (food + tax) / (1 - 20%) which by MY logic is a 28% tip.
I want to publicly shame them.
Any feelings about this?
Chain restaurant was… Outback Steakhouse
I dunno where you are, but here, it’s a percent of the total bill not a percent of part of the bill.
One of the reasons why I will generally select “other” and specify a specific dollar amount.
Or tip in cash if I have the “right amount.”
But to your question: did the dollar amount of tip applied match the dollar amount displayed? If not, go to the restaurant and point out their error. That sort of crap is deceptive business practice and should be called out in every possible way.
I feel stupid, as Mr Math Guy, that I did not catch it at the point of sale. I only caught it today when I was putting the expenditure into my budgeting software.
Do you mean “in general” or do you mean specifically at Outback?
Sounds like Outback wasn’t being upfront.
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In general. Never seen a place where 20% meant anything other than 20% of the total.
I always assumed I tipped on the tax, but the 20% thing is weird. The server should get a 20% tip of what was charged before the tip, not 20% of what was charged after the tip. So in your situation, you’d have to tip an extra 1/4 (25%) for the server to get 1/5 (20%) of the post-tip bill. Tipping 20% on your bill means the server ends up with 16.7% of the post-tip bill. Which is what I think most of us intend when we tip.
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Those little machines are all over here.
I generally type in an amount, because I still feel that 18% is too much, mainly because the food prices are already too high, and the service does not vary by the amount I pay.
I am a little concerned about how the tip data are used, though. Especially if applied incorrectly.
Suppose a manager/owner/shareholders believes that the tip amount/% is an indicator of a good employee. If I put $0 and slip cash to the waitress (not $100, of course), my data are not included.
Suppose I get flagged for being a cheap tipper, even on takeout or those places where I am my own waiter at a kiosk, and the whole restaurant knows it. What “special sauce” will I get in my food?
So, you can see why I don’t go out as much as I used to.
Also, was at a brewery last night, drank three beers there (one was my wife’s). Then buy some beer to go. Guess what is added to the suggested tips? My beer to go! I have to do the math of totaling only my three drank beers, times 15%, all while a little tipsy (strong beers).
I think including tax in the tip % isn’t the sneaky part, it’s the let’s charge you an amount such that the server receives 20% of this. Heaven forbid you’re ever feeling rather generous and tip 100%!
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Infinity dollar charge.
Seems fair, tipping culture is just out of control. I forget where I was last week. I ordered at the counter, was expected to throw away my trash, pretty much fast food. And the suggested tips were 18%, 20%, and either 22% or 25%. Just no.
I’ve never heard of anyone doing math the way you describe and I’d say it’s disingenuous at best. Public shaming seems fine, or just not going back.
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