So in the same way that I would add tax to the price tag of an LCD TV and THEN decide whether I can afford it, I add tax AND tip to the price of an item of a menu and then decide if I want to pay that price.

It makes no sense to me that someone will say, “Gas is so expensive/The economy is down/etc/whatever, so I tip less now.” If the price of the food plus tax and tip is too high for you, then DON’T eat out at that restaurant in the first place.

Of course, the 15% number only makes sense in North America. Tip appropriately to where you are.

We also noticed that food was a bit more this time, so in a way a higher tip was built in.

I don’t think it is ranting. I think a lot of people simply don’t think about it, and don’t understand how tips are calculated, taxed, etc. Thanks for sharing your side.

I understand that sometimes someone can not be a “Big” tipper.

But if you have the money to go out drinking, you certainly should tip your bartenders/waitresses.

Even before I was in tip based employment (I am prior service Army) I always tipped. If I went out drinking, I brought a certain amount of money out with me. I tipped everytime I bought a drink. Once I was out of money, I was out of money. I didn’t skimp on the tip so I could have one or two more drinks that I certainly did not need by the end of the night, and never really needed in the first place.

As far as restuarants go, if you do not have 15-20% to tip on the bill (Which, for an average restaurant could be what? $5-$15? Unless you are in a large group and then gratituity is added automatically anyway) You probably shouldn’t be going out to eat. At least at a bar there is movement in the crowd and just because someone who is not tipping is sitting at the bar doesn’t mean that I am not serving other people who do tip that aren’t sitting at the bar. In a restaurant, if you are not tipping, you are occupying a table that someone else who would tip could be sitting. Since restaurant waitstaff usually have assigned tables, and not very many of them at that, every table that is occupied counts.

Not to mention that at many restaurants, waitstaff have to pay taxes on their tips each night. So, even if you do not tip, they still have to pay taxes on 15% of the total amount they served. So, if you don’t tip at least 15%, they are LOSING money. Then take into account that they have to tip out restaurant bartenders, busers, hostesses, etc, even if YOU DO NOT TIP. The tip outs are based on 15% of their total sales.

Of course, these are things that people not in the industry don’t necessarily know or really even think about. I don’t think that everyone who doesn’t tip is heartless. Some of them actually think that you make a decent base wage. I don’t know how they could miss the fact that based on our minimum wage laws, people earning tips only have to be paid $2.13 an hour.

When I point this out to people I know in everyday conversation, some of them say, “Well, then you should get a job that doesn’t count on tips.” I think that is about as uncompassionate as a person can get.

I am sorry if I seem to be “ranting” on the subject. I just believe from what I hear and read from other people on this subject that most do not understand all that goes into the tipping aspect of these jobs.