cross-posted from: https://lemmy.today/post/58025748

HOW do you guys tip in the US? Do you go by food total or bill total? I know it's frowned upon in other countries, I'm not here to question or debate that.

No matter how you split it, pre or post tax, the "gratuity" is much higher than it should be! The 18%is higher even than what actual 20% should be!

Pretax should be $14.26, tax included (ripoff) should be $15.44. So why is the "20%" up to $18.25?! That's a 25.5% tip.

For me, I tip "15%" but round numbers. The bill is $72, so I take 10% (7.20 but round up to 8 then add 4) which ends up $12.

If they were exceptional, I just go off 20% which is $16 by my method, and round the total to the nearest dollar... but even that isn't their pretend 18%!! And technically my method is over 20% after rounding up. They're all just taking advantage of niceness and guilt for patrons having to tip everyone.

Edit: I fucked up being hung up on numbers, not realizing to the left was the explanation. 😅 OK, so just: how do y'all tip?

I base the the tip on the overall total. I usually tip 40-50%. We don't go out often, so the high percentage isn't as much of a financial burden as it may seem.

You tip on the bill value even if you get free stuff. The discount doesn't nullify it's existence in your belly.

The discount doesn't nullify it's existence in your belly.

Or the work the staff performed to get it there.

The receipt itself states that the suggested tip amount are calculated after tax and before discounts. Those figures are correct.

We see you, big waiters!

Mmhmm, yeah, no

Oh so that’s what we’re gonna do today? We’re gonna fight?

My rule is this: If I order standing, I don't tip. If I tip, it is 10%.

I'm not your employer. Tip is supposed to be spontaneous to the individual that helped you. Not systemic.

Yeah i realize I missed that after reviewing what someone else said. My fuck up!

Subtotal $71 plus $13 makes $84...$8.40*2= ~ $17 so $17 tip.

20%, rounded up, plus $2 per messy kid at the table, though I may slip that directly to the busser who comes to clean it

BUT if I receive a discount I tip on the amount before discount AND the tip should be at least as much as the discount was unless it was to recover for server error

If you add back the fourteen dollar appetizer you got for free, all the math checks out. The receipt says it's all calculated before the discounts, and you were served that food.

what the hell is a SUGGESTED TIP....

This really depends. When I had little kids and was restaurant training them, I would tip very high because the bill did not at all represent the work of the wait staff.

If my husband and I are indulgent (unusual) the bill is more than the work, we do 20% still because we know they aren't paid enough.

Drinks? $1-$2 each one.

I'd never heard of tipping on anything other than the total (including tax). I always do at least 20% by the rules used on the receipt, unless the service was horrid. I get that tipping shouldn't be necessary, but here in the US where workers are constantly shit on in numerous ways, it feels only fair.

It’s mainly there for people who can’t do the math.

Pretax but will add in discounts so it will be a % of 85, e.g. $13 at 15%, $15 at 18%, $17 at 20%, $19 at 22%.

If I have to pay my tip before I am served anything, usually it's between 50 cents and 10% if at all. More or less I treat it like being nice to a panhandler in the shape of a business. If the establishment earned more through good service, I'll drop some change or a fiver on my way out.

My city has removed the minimum wage exemption for tipped employees and raised the minimum wage to $21.30 so I have stopped tipping.

What's the reason most people say they calculate tips before discounts? I mean I come from a wildly different tipping culture, I wouldn't know... But it's not really the waiter's achievement how there's some wednesday appetizer special? And it's probably not like the restaurant is losing money on it, but it's some clever advertisement strategy and they factored it in with the rest of the pricing strategy, so you kind of paid for it anyway, just in a different way? So why add this hypothetical number to what you actually paid?

Somehow we're saying the same thing, more or less, but I'm getting 1:1 ratio'd.

I tip 20% of whatever the total is after tax because for the most part I don't eat at expensive places where a few percent is more than a dollar difference to care about what the 'right way' to tip is.

Why is the tipping even based on the money spent when that has no bearing on the effort the waiter spends serving? The whole system is stupid and makes no sense.

Yeah, that's a bit of a different question... A valid question because it doesn't make any sense... But then, I think earning money rarely relates to effort. Like you do backbreaking work in construction or in the hospital, or run around as a waiter for 40000 steps a day, put up with people, and of course you get paid next to nothing. Better: you sit at a desk for 8h a day and push around some paper, that gets some medium pay. And best is not to work at all, you gotta own a lot of money and that makes it multiply all by itself by some magic.

20% of total. Rounded to $-.00. Not worth thinking of taxes or specials. It's literally pennies in most bills.

I have money. I usually just tip 20% of the total. Usually I'll round up. Like I was just at a bar and the total for 2 drinks and some food was $33. I tipped $7.

If it's a place I go to regularly I'll tip more. My regular bar sometimes throws in free stuff, and let me reserve some tables recently, so I usually tip generously there.

Without service, 0-$2.
For service, 18-20% of pretax. I agree that a $50 meal is not harder to serve than a $12 meal, but it is what it is. Couple of dollars per drink at the bar. I freaked out when my husband tried to tip $100 on a 4 drink $500 bar tab.

I tip the amount before tax... Never heard of tipping after tax amounts as a suggestion/standard.

That's just double dipping. Tip 15% on a number that's already been increased 15%? That's a $3.45 tip instead of a $3 tip on a $20 meal. That's a 17.5% tip.