Tipping is starting to really pick me

I just left an airport restaurant. It is not busy here. There was no menu and I was ignored until I flagged a waiter down and asked for a drink. He said I had to download the online menu and order from there and went back to his little station.

Total interaction time perhaps 15 seconds. I took a photo of the scan code for the menu and downloaded it. I chose a drink and meal and then went to my cart to pay. The screen defaulted to the tip menu at 18 per cent. Now I had to think, because they were asking for a tip which is a bonus for a good service prior to me getting the service. I am not usually happy to tip, but I I generally do. But in this case I considered the way the service was being provided and decided 18% was far too much for what I was most likely going to get. I manually entered 12%. I had to enter my credit card info onto their app to pay so I asked for a card reader and was declined. Total time by the waiter at my table about 15 seconds to tell me I had to do the work myself. So then I spend the time to punch all my numbers in, the expiry date, and the three digits on the back. At that point I should have gone back and reducing the tip to 10%, which was a standard tip when I was a waiter over 30 years ago. My drink arrived without him breaking step. He plunked down a bottle of juice as he walked by so zero time at the table effectively. He brought my meal and asked if there was anything else I needed. I said no and he was off. Another 15 seconds or so of time spent with his customer. The empty plate was still on my table when I left 20 minutes later. So by my calculation, my tip was based on a waiter serving me for less than a minute in total and during which time I did some of his job myself. The whole thing is bullschmit and they might as well just call it a tax rather than a tip.

My Rant for the day.

Three of us sales guys went thru Houston and sat down to grab a burger.  $25 for a nice burger and fries, cup of water, tax, and tip.  We had to do the same - coworker was pissed off with the same tip process.  
 

I don't care as I'm now a 60 year old curmudgeon.  Get off my lawn.

Typical fast food like McD's or Chik-Fil-A?  No tip.

Slightly above fast food, where maybe you custom order at a counter and they bring it out to you?  10%. Same with delivery pizza.

Full wait service at a sit down restaurant, that's where we start talking 18-22%.

I'm with Mr Pink.

I have had a similarly lousy dining experience with a local Tex-Mex place downtown.  Order from app, pay from app.  The food could just as well been dropped at the table by a drone.  If this is the future, I don't want it.

I will tip for good, courteous service. 

I also agree with the tipping trend has gone exessive.

I say get rid of it altogether and adjust goods/services accordingly.     You're not going to guilt me into tipping when there's no "service" provided.

I tip very well for the service I get from the only establishments I frequent. Order from an app?uh, no, I will go hungry, same with pay app. Pizza delivery driver? yup good tip, one of the locals was using a Sentra SER not long ago. 

In reply to Duke :

10% on pizza? So like $2? That's pretty low. 

I had that level of service at Newark a few weeks ago. Then they messed up the order and it took over 35 minutes for my $25 burger. Of course in 35 minutes I drank my Diet Pepsi so I asked the girl that basically tossed the plate at me when she walked by for a refill and she says "refills aren't free", I say even if you wait 35 minutes for a burger? She gave me a "free refill" with free attitude. 
I wanted to recant my too which was selected at payment 35 minutes earlier. 

I usually order 2 pizzas and I usually tip $3-$4.

Send them a letter requesting a T4 slip for your time working for them.

It's getting stupid out there. 

I can't remember where we were but I watched the server enter the information in the machine and hit the % button for the tip before they handed it to me.

The lowest of the preset tips was 18%. I hit "correct" and entered 10% manually.

I usually leave 18 on for acceptable service but trying to guilt me into more is only going to get you less.

Can't say that we've ever experienced a situation like the OP described. But I think I'd be pissed about that. We go out to eat a lot ... 5-6 nights a week. Locally. We have restaurants we frequent and we know the servers/bartenders. We're "big tippers," usually 25% minimum. (I personally don't do charities, although Annie does, so instead I like to support the great people who consistently give us excellent service). One of our frequented places is Bill's, about a half mile from our house. We were there at the bar the other night and a former bartender who we haven't seen for a few years was there with her husband, sitting next to us. Surprisingly, she complimented us for having been "heavy tippers" when she worked there. She and her husband bought Annie and me a round of drinks. That made me feel pretty good because you don't often get feedback on that.

We went to Friendly's a couple months ago and not only was the meal pretty overpriced, but the  suggested tips at the bottom of the receipt were not correct by a fair margin.

They had the usual 15% = X / 18% = Y / 20% = Z pre-calculated amounts, but if you checked the math they actually reflected about 19% / 22% / 25%.

I told the manager we were never coming back.

Duke said:

We went to Friendly's a couple months ago and not only was the meal pretty overpriced, but the  suggested tips at the bottom of the receipt were not correct by a fair margin.

They had the usual 15% = X / 18% = Y / 20% = Z pre-calculated amounts, but if you checked the math they actually reflected about 19% / 22% / 25%.

I told the manager we were never coming back.

 

Lots of times they calculate it on the after tax amount, which is pretty shady in itself. 

I will avoid a good tip if I get especially E36 M3ty service, but most places where any service is actually provided I will tip at least 20%.

At the end of the year whats that going to be... an extra $20 out of my pocket?  Its going to people who could use the money much more than I, and its a loose insurance plan toward good service in the future.

this is an unwanted side effect of covid:

https://nypost.com/2022/04/08/guilt-tipping-pressure-to-tip-has-gotten-out-of-control/

https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/17/business/tips-coffee-ice-cream-touch-screens-ctrp/index.html

tip shaming is becoming a problem in America, automated tipping (which is the standard on payment apps like Square) is forcing people to feel obligated to pick a tip amount.  The psychology behind it is that people will feel pressured to do anything except one of the pre-programmed options.  In some cases some owners are putting those options at 20/25/30% meaning that somebody feels pressured to tip at least 25%.  The average tip for food service is still around 17% and change .  

source: https://globalnews.ca/news/3539922/customers-fear-tip-shaming-as-gratuity-expectations-grow/

In Canada, our servers make at least minimum wage (average is around $15.20 / hr) which is different than the calculated wages that some states are allowed to use.

There's no need for the huge tip amounts in Canada, we just automatically assume our servers are paid slave wages because that happens south of the border.

Nothing wrong with tipping, I just think that 20% + is getting a bit out of hand up here.

Most of the tips at fast food places don't go to the workers, anyways.

So, yeah, berkeley that

Panera Bread has this automated tip garbage at 20, 25, and 30%.  There is literally no "service" at their restaurant.  You order at a counter, like a McDonalds. They give you a little coaster/pager and you pick it up at the counter when it's ready.  You bring the dirty dishes to to the garbage/dish station yourself.  Who is this 20-30% going to?  It is so stupid.  0%. That's what I tip there. 

In reply to Lof8 - Andy :

Five Guys in my old town was doing that.

I don't like the preset option pressure.  I prefer to pay cash, and can do the math at my leisure. 

I'm quite old, and very Canadian, though.

The "Canadian" isn't to imply we are cheap.  Our wait staff are paid minimum wage at least, so the heavy tipping is not needed to get them above the poverty line.  However, it is expected and required because Revenue Canada can assign a value of tips on their income taxes due to their occupation.

Mr_Asa said:

Most of the tips at fast food places don't go to the workers, anyways.

So, yeah, berkeley that

I think that violates federal law. Though it could just be most local laws.

When Seattle moved to $15 minimum wage, the local steakhouse removed the tip line from the receipt making it difficult to tip. Instead it declares that they pay their servers enough, one does not need to tip.

And yet in the middle there are some places that pay there workers $2.35 an hour because they do differentiate minimum wage from restaurant minimum wage, the owners are committing wage theft, and the tips are pooled or stolen by management.

Be angry at the restaurant owners, not the server staff.

The restaurant owners are effectively running a fast-food or cafeteria style restaurant, but claiming that it is full service so that they do not have to pay their staff a minimum wage. Then shifting the responsibility for paying their staff onto you.

The #1 reason I dont do restaurants in North America unless I have to.  

In reply to Johnboyjjb :

Federal law does prohibit the employer taking the tips or allowing the management staff to participate in a tip pool.  It seems like locally there's somebody getting busted for that every couple years.

On the minimum wage thing, though, the employer is obligated to pay the employee the full federal minimum wage.  For a tipped job, they're allowed to take a "tip credit" which means the employer has to pay $2.13/hr straight-up, and then when the employee reports tips at the end of shift the employer is responsible for covering the hourly difference to get them to $7.25.

A while ago, our local Joe's Crab Shack raised all their menu prices, increased what they paid the wait staff, and declared it was a "no tipping" place.  I. Loved. It.  Apparently no one else did - people felt like they still had to tip on top of the higher prices.

If I'm at a bar, I'll happily toss in a tip to help the bartender remember my drink order or to make recommendations or whatever - I'm not tipping you to just do your damn job of pouring me a drink, I'm buying a little bit of extra service.  At a full-service restaurant, I'll tip at around 20% of the pre-tax check - more if my party is particularly difficult or if I'm there for a fairly long time and a little less if the service isn't to expectations.  I've left a nickel tip before when service was horrendous and I didn't want them to think I had just forgotten, but it's gotta be bad bad for that.

What galls me is the proliferation of tip jars.  You poured me a cup of black coffee and slapped a lid on the cup.  And then charged me three bucks for it.  Picking up a to-go order from a restaurant - you're just handing me a bag o' food.  I was interested to try Kroger's delivery service where you pay an annual fee to get groceries delivered to your home.  And that driver then expects a tip.  Don't think so.  And if you own the establishment, why would I tip you?  I loved it when Uber had their no-tipping policy.  What's the tip for?  You didn't stab me on the way?  If I'm making you wait or you're loading a bunch of luggage for me, alright.  But zipping me across town while seeing exactly how many moving violations you can commit per hour?  Pass.