Calculating Tip: Include Tax or Not?

[disneysteve]

We never tip based on cost of food....I think that's rediculous. We tip based on service alone. A fairly good server will earn between $5 and $8. We figure they work for us for an hour, they deserve at least that much. A bad server will get maybe 2-3 bucks. Snotty ones get nothing. Albeit, we don't ever eat at fancy restarurants though where high "gratuity" is expected. We never eat at restaurants where an individual meal costs more than $10.00.

So if 2 of you go out, your meal costs $20 or less and you tip $5-$8. That's quite generous, at least 25%. I'm sure they are happy to wait on you for that level of tip.

Would you really leave that same $5 at a nice restaurant? If the bill for the two of you was $50 or $100 or more, $5 or $8 would be quite an insult to the server.

[PrincessPerky]

She said they never go to a restaurant were the bill would be 100...I think tipping based on time is a great idea, though you would have to consider the level of 'pay' expected based on the restaurant.

I might consider it next time we eat out.

[disneysteve]

She said they never go to a restaurant were the bill would be 100...I think tipping based on time is a great idea, though you would have to consider the level of 'pay' expected based on the restaurant.

I realize that. That's why I asked the question. Saying that you don't tip based on cost - you just leave $5 - isn't a problem when that represents 25% of the cost. I don't think it would be appropriate to leave that same $5 where that only represented 10% or 5% or less of the bill. So I'm curious how they would adjust that amount based on the level of the restaurant.

[Ima saver]

My last full time job was a waitress. I started in 1984. We got paid $2.01 an hour and were expected to do all the cleaning, the salad bar, even run the register.

I very seldom came home with more than $20 in the daytime. A great night on Friday or saturday might have you bringing home $40.

Now, 20 years later, the waitresses are still making $2.15 an hour. I ALWAYS tip 20%, usually more. Our average bill (we eat out 5 or 6 nights a week) is $16.04 and that includes tax. I ALWAYS tip $6.

We get the best service ever and ALL the girls want to wait on us!!

There are single moms and a widow lady in her 60's that work there. They have to support themselves; so think of that when you are eating out.

[disneysteve]

I ALWAYS tip 20%, usually more. Our average bill (we eat out 5 or 6 nights a week) is $16.04 and that includes tax. I ALWAYS tip $6.

Same question for you as for Coleroo. A $6 tip on a $16 bill is very generous. But what if the bill was substantially higher? Would you still give a 38% tip? I'm guessing not, which means in some way, you are tipping based on the cost of the meal, even if you aren't doing it as a flat percentage.

[Coleroo]

So if 2 of you go out, your meal costs $20 or less and you tip $5-$8. That's quite generous, at least 25%. I'm sure they are happy to wait on you for that level of tip.

Would you really leave that same $5 at a nice restaurant? If the bill for the two of you was $50 or $100 or more, $5 or $8 would be quite an insult to the server.

We never go to expensive restaurants....but if we some day did, we'd leave anywhere between $10-$20.... BUT that wouldn't be because of the "price" of the bill going up. It would be because quite simply, at a fancy restaraunt, the service (and atmosphere) would be expected to be "higher". I would have no problem leaving nothing if the service for a $500 meal was completely horrible! They work for their tips...the price of the dinner shouldn't have any say in the matter.

I think i'd be quite sick to my stomach if I paid that much for a 2 person meal though. lol At this point in my life, I just can't ever imagine us doing it.

We get our tipping habits from my parents...They frequent the same places we do, and I've never seen them leave less than a $5 bill when service was fairly good. I've never really thought about what percentage it was....it was just always normal for us that when we leave a table, a $5 bill is left on it. Mom would always talk about how hard it use to be when she was a waitress back in the 70s (I guess it scarred her for life!) and how they deserve it....

I know for one, I wouldn't be able to be a waitress unless I was starving. People can sometimes be too rude over their food! I wouldn't be able to handle it.

[maat55]

I just look for the total, it's easier to find, then tip at least 20%. I advoid pricey restaurants, food is food.

[disneysteve]

I avoid pricey restaurants, food is food.

I would beg to differ with that statement. That's like saying filet mignon is the same as a McDonald's hamburger. Food comes in different grades and levels and better grades cost more. Better ingredients cost more. And they do taste better.

Quick example. My daughter loves gnocchi. We serve it at home regularly, using store-bought packaged version. It tastes okay. She orders it in restaurants and always gets some other commercially prepared version. They taste okay, too. Last week while on vacation, we had dinner at a nice Italian restaurant in Arlington, VA. She ordered the gnocchi which were homemade daily in the restaurant. She thought they were "phenomenal" to use her word. She had never had anything nearly that good when ordering gnocchi before. Yes, it was a little more costly, but that bought a much better grade of product.

[maat55]

[QUOTE]

I would beg to differ with that statement. That's like saying filet mignon is the same as a McDonald's hamburger. Food comes in different grades and levels and better grades cost more. Better ingredients cost more. And they do taste better.

Let me fine tune my point. I would rather get a 12.00 steak at Outbacks than pay 20.00 and up somewhere else.

My daughter loves gnocchi.

Caviar=Fish eggs, yuk.

Gnocchi????? Never heard of it. I hear cocaine is good, but what I don't try, I will never miss.

Food like with any product, has a point where you are just paying for name and presentation.

[disneysteve]

Let me fine tune my point. I would rather get a 12.00 steak at Outbacks than pay 20.00 and up somewhere else.

Caviar=Fish eggs, yuk.

Gnocchi????? Never heard of it.

Food like with any product, has a point where you are just paying for name and presentation.

I can't stand caviar either. I love the scene in "Big" where Tom Hanks tries the caviar at the party.

Gnocchi is a pasta product made from potato. Try it some time, especially if you have the opportunity to get the homemade stuff.

Eating is done for sustenance. When it comes to dining out, though, I think it is more about the experience. I'm not generally into spending money to go out to eat unless it is for something that is somehow different or better than what I can make at home for a lot less money. I think that's why we gravitate toward nicer restaurants. When we go out, we want to enjoy good quality food, fresh, cooked to order with a nice atmosphere and friendly, attentive service. We don't want generic chain restaurant food. You are far more likely to find us at a family- or chef-owned independent Italian restaurant than at Olive Garden. Yes, we'll spend more, sometimes substantially more, but the food is far better and the experience is much nicer. And it does mean leaving a larger tip (the topic of this thread). But I'd rather eat there once every couple of months than go to Olive Garden every week.

[maat55]

[QUOTE]

Gnocchi is a pasta product made from potato. Try it some time, especially if you have the opportunity to get the homemade stuff.

I'll give gnocchi a try, anything made out of potato can't be bad.

[kork13]

Personally, I only tip because it's expected. normally i shoot around 15% then round to the dollar... but agian, simply because in the U.S. it's considered rude not to tip.

Having spent the majority of my life outside the U.S., I'll say that many places around the world (Japan and many places in Europe work well as examples), it is considered rude to leave a tip for your wait staff. It says that you believe they are desparate for the extra cash, or a number of other things about the waiter/waitress and the establishment which I can't really describe, they're just there.... A friend of mine once left a healthy tip on the table in a Japanese restaurant, only to have the obviously very embarrassed/distressed waitress come out and find us on the busy street to return the "mistakenly left" Yen.

So I'll agree with (i believe) disneysteve, in that i believe tips should not be expected. In those places I describe, the wait staffs are well-paid (on par with any blue-collar worker, and then some). Tips are not expected at all, and often rejected outright. I'd be very happy to see it that way in the U.S., where a "gratuity" really means that you are truly grateful to someone for his/her exceptional service to you, whether as a waiter, maid, taxi, etc.

[PrincessPerky]

The trouble with some restaurants is paying 50 for a meal is no guarantee of better food.

that and some of us view eating out as a break from cooking and dishes...it doesn't take much to beat my cooking

There are very few dishes I can do better than even fast food! (and none I can do without the dishes) so yeah I would rather go to olive garden every week than DS's fave spot once every couple months....sorry.(though we can't afford weekly OG either)

course if I had the money I would take DSs pick over a chain.

Oh and first I hear of gnocci I thought it was pronounced 'nookie' so I tell this elderly customer the special of the day was 'nookie', He informed me I had to be wrong and he wasn't buying that sort of thing. (I teach kindergarten, gn says NNNN, oo as in hook, i as is ski....NNNoookee)

[disneysteve]

The trouble with some restaurants is paying 50 for a meal is no guarantee of better food.

While that's true, I can't recall any time when we had bad food at a fine restaurant. We have had service issues on occasion, but the difference is that at the nice places, they actually apologize, maybe bring over an extra dish or a round of drinks and/or reduce the bill to make up for it. Once, a very fine place was late in seating us. While we were waiting, they repeatedly apologized for the delay. When they did seat us, they had a chilled bottle of champagne waiting and an extra appetizer for all of us on the house. That just doesn't happen at Applebee's.

And yes, they got a very nice tip.

[ithaca]

I always tip with cash, even if I pay with a credit card. That way the server can choose whether or not to pay taxes on the tip.