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I Don’t Like Automatic Gratuities
By JLP | May 12, 2008
The definition of gratuity according to Merriam-Webster:
“something given voluntarily or beyond obligation usually for some service”
The other night my daughter had her first dance recital (my daughter calls it a “dance cital”). After the recital my wife and I took her family to Olive Garden to celebrate the evening. It was after 9:00 pm by the time we arrived at the restaurant so our wait was minimal. After we were seated the restaurant started clearing out, which meant that our server had fewer tables to serve. I’m sure with the closing time approaching, our server did have other things to do besides serve our table.
Although her service wasn’t “bad” it wasn’t “good” either. It was sort of in the middle. What bugged me was when the check came and I noticed that the tip had been automatically added to the check because we were a party of more than eight people. It wouldn’t have bothered me so much if it had been the standard 15% tip. Instead it was 18% and then there was a line for an additional tip.
When did the standard tip percentage increase from 15% to 18%?
Now before you start thinking that I’m a mean guy, let me be clear that I am a fair tipper. I don’t undertip and when the service warrants it, I leave a nice tip. But, in accordance with the definition of gratuity, the tip should be VOLUNTARY! I did notice at the bottom of the check, there was a note that stated that an 18% voluntary gratuity would be added to parties of 8 or more. When they autmatically add it in, it doesn’t feel voluntary. It puts me in the position of looking like a mean ol’ customer if I don’t think the service warranted an 18% tip. If 15% is the bottom line, then why not make that the voluntary gratuity?
I understand that restaurants started adding in tips because of cheap customers. But, how is waiting tables in a restaurant any different than spending several hours or days working on a presentation in order to make a sale and still losing out on the business? Should the company that refused to do business with you be required to compensate you for the time involved in putting your presentation together?
I have never been a server in a restaurant so this post was written solely from the customer’s point of view. I’m sure current or former servers will have a different point of view from mine. That’s okay. I will say that as far as I’m concerned, the automatic tip will almost ALWAYS be less than I would have given on my own.
May 12th, 2008 at 9:30 am
I normally tip 20% because I feel the server is under paid. But I agree I do not like to have the restaurant determine the amount I want to tip. And what is it about a party of eight that determines the voluntary tip?
May 12th, 2008 at 9:30 am
When did the standard tip percentage increase from 10% to 15%?
May 12th, 2008 at 9:34 am
Mo,
I think the “large party” rule is to insure that servers don’t spend a lot of time servicing a large party and then get jipped on the tip.
Jeremy Bettis,
As long as I can remember the base tip has been 15%.
May 12th, 2008 at 9:39 am
The problem with the sales pitch analogy is that waiters (in many restaurants) are actually paid below minimum wage, on the assumption that their tips will put them over the threshold. Even if a waiter does a bad job, they are still entitled to minimum wage.
Thus, my argument has always been that waiters should get at least minimum wage, and the expected tip should be 0% instead of 15%. If a customer is particularly pleased with their service, then they can give a tip if they’d like.
This is becoming more and more relevant, since many immigrants from countries where tips are not expected (or where the standard is less than 15%) either don’t know that a 15% tip is expected, or don’t care.
May 12th, 2008 at 9:46 am
I feel strongly about tips as well, I get a ton of slack when I leave a small tip when it warrants it. When I get an attitude from a server I am still expected to tip well? Furthermore, people expect 20% these days. Crazy…
May 12th, 2008 at 9:59 am
Sam,
“The problem with the sales pitch analogy is that waiters (in many restaurants) are actually paid below minimum wage, on the assumption that their tips will put them over the threshold.”
Many salespeople are paid commission only, so they can make much less than minimum wage, and actually make 0 dollars for doing a lot of work. Is it fair to spend 40 or 50 hours of your week putting together a presentation, traveling, and end up not making a single cent?
The waiter should feel pretty good that they can do a piss poor job for a few hours and still put a couple bucks in their pocket, even if it is below minimum wage.
May 12th, 2008 at 10:30 am
We have a restaurant here where you go and order and they bring you water or tea and bread and rice. For that if you have a party of >5 (yes, over five!), they add a grat of 15%. I tip and usually tip well but I don’t think bringing me water and rice is worth 15%. Most of the time when a restaurant automatically adds the tip, I think they are doing a disservice because I’m likely to tip more than that but when they do it automatically, I don’t do more than the automatic.
May 12th, 2008 at 10:33 am
I’ve been a server more than once in my life. In most places, servers start at 50% of minimum wage, and tips are expected to make up the other 50%. Having been a server, and knowing that the job sucks, my base tip is 20% more if you do a great job, less if you suck (having done the job, I also know enough to tell the difference between a server screw up and a kitchen screwup). Treating the bussers badly will cost you a huge chunk of your tip as well. However, if a “gratuity” is added to my bill, that’s all they get. Period. And I tell the server (and, when possible the manager) that the policy of deciding my tip for me, cost them money.
May 12th, 2008 at 10:46 am
I can understand for a large group, however the policy should be posted on the menu. When my husband and I ate at The Melting Pot, we had 18% added automatically. We were not a large group at the number of 2. It was New Years, I was feeling generous. In fact we were thinking 20% until I got the bill. Never did I see on the menu this policy.
May 12th, 2008 at 10:54 am
I’m not a server, or a bad tipper, but I think with a large party adding the gratuity to the check is probably the only way a server can get a decent tip. Many customers probably leave the same amount for a tip no matter how much the food cost. I always leave 20% if the service was good. My grandmother, on the other hand, leaves a five no matter what the meal cost, or how much trouble the server went to take care of our table. She’s not cheap, that’s just the way she’s always done it. I imagine a lot of people are that way. Fifteen percent on a party that large adds up to an amount that many customers would balk at leaving voluntarily. Waiters and waitresses have to pay the rent, too! Seems fair to me.
May 12th, 2008 at 11:02 am
We usually tip at 20% (my wife is a former server), however when they automatically add the 18% “voluntary” gratuity that usually is all we leave - unless the server went above and beyond.
May 12th, 2008 at 11:36 am
A restaurant should be able to do whatever they want…AS LONG AS THEY DISCLOSE. If you don’t like it, then don’t dine there.
I grew up in the restaurant biz and average customers are cheap.
May 12th, 2008 at 11:38 am
I like looking out for my servers - they work hard, they’re good people, and they deserve to make a decent wage. I’ve been known to tip 20%, 25%, and on the rare occasion (for phenomenal service on a relatively inexpensive meal) 30% or 40%. But if they decide my tip for me - the establishment, I mean - that’s what I tip, and not a cent more; I also tell the manager (if I can find one) that the policy lost them money.
On the one occasion I had a server *write in* a tip (20%) for me, I crossed it out and complained to the manager, as it was extraordinarily presumptuous for service that was, in point of fact, horrible. I think the server had gotten the idea that most people would be too shocked and uncertain about what to do in that situation and would just leave it as it was. I never saw that server at that restaurant again.
May 12th, 2008 at 11:41 am
Bill,
So you’re saying that if a group of people go into a restaurant, sit down, and then see in the menu that an 18% gratuity will be added to their bill, that it’s okay because it’s been disclosed? Either that, or they can make a scene by leaving the restaurant?
It’s not the automatic gratuity that bugs me as much as it is the arrogant 18%, which is quite a bit more than the standard 15%.
May 12th, 2008 at 11:44 am
I always tip about 15%, rounded up or down to get cool numbers as the total amount.
May 12th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
It seems to me as if the people commenting on this article incorrectly correlate being frugal with the need to be cheap. I have never worked in a restaurant but I frequently leave 20+% because I feel as if I have to make up for you people. You forget that tips are often pooled nowadays and distributed to other employees so while you may be spiting your server or adding a few dollars to your piggybank you’re also spiting other people who are working for a living.
May 12th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
I agree with the argument of adding on a gratuity. The other thing I find odd is if they are annoyed when you ask for a bill to be split up. When it is split each person may leave a much larger percentage because leaving only a dollar seems so small. It seems like sometimes on a split check they could get 30% on it.
May 12th, 2008 at 12:37 pm
This is why I eat out less or I only eat at places where I know service is exceptional and warrants 15-20%. I’ve eaten at plenty of $8-$10 places where I’d leave 25-35% tip because service was so good and the few extra dimes were no big deal. But I’m not likely to leave 25% at a place where the bill is $250 - they’ll get 15% or maybe 18% if we had several people working well together for service.
I really hate it when it is automatic. Especially when they add it on and its exorbitantly high - 20% or more has happened before “by accident”. So make sure when they tack it on its a correct amount not an “accidentally too high” amount.
The waiters being played less holds no water with me. I know they make less than minimum, but if its not enough to earn a living on - find another job - then employers will start paying better.
May 12th, 2008 at 12:55 pm
@Sam,
“This is becoming more and more relevant, since many immigrants from countries where tips are not expected (or where the standard is less than 15%) either don’t know that a 15% tip is expected, or don’t care.”
The foreign born have never composed more than 16% of the U.S. population and they eat out a lot less than US born citizens. They may not understand the concept of gratuity but they compose a tiny drop in the bucket which I don’t think is relevant.
May 12th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
JLP: Actually, I remember when 10% was standard and 15% was for very good service. And I have experienced the 18% large party auto gratuity for more than 5 years.
Bill: Seems to me the “average” restaurant is cheap if they pay their wait staff less than minimum wage.
Also, I can truly say that in those instances where an gratuity was automatically included, it ended up being less than what I would have tipped. I typically start at 15% and work up OR down from their based on performance. I know, call me mean. But you can go down to Target/Walmart and get an job at above min wage with no problem.
May 12th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
Well said Cindy. I am a server myself, and very rarely with a large party will you get a fair tip, because exactly what was said, people are shocked by 15% or 18% of a bill that large. What people do not realize is that when we do not get tipped properly, it can cost us money to even take the table. Regardless of what you tip me, I still have to tip out the hosts, bussers, and bartenders based on my sales, not my tips. So when you leave me $2 on $80, which does happen all the time, I just paid money to serve you. Servers put up with so much and are just trying to make a living or make it through school. Anyone in any service industry understands this, how come others don’t. Many foreign people do not know how to tip in the US, but it is our responsibility to teach others. When a foreign person blows a stop sign, do you think they should be given a warning instead of a ticket because the roads are different in their country? No.
May 12th, 2008 at 2:44 pm
You can always count on a post about tipping to bring on the comments. So here’s my two cents worth:
20 percent is pretty much my standard tip. I usually tip more at places where the food is inexpensive but the service is reliably good, our regular eating places. Likewise, my tip drops down to about 15% or less at expensive place, especially if the bill includes alcoholic beverages. I look more at the amount of work the servers did than the cost of the food. (For instance, little kids that leave a mess.)
I assume most places will put an automatic gratuity on parties larger than 6 or 8, as in my experience most of them do. Generally the automatic gratuity is about what I would have left, and I never add on to the automatic gratuity.
Some places add an automatic gratuity on every bill, and have explained that it is because they get a lot of foreign travelers that don’t tip (Hawaii, for instance). In that case, I don’t leave anything above the automatic gratuity.
We usually receive decent service, so there aren’t many times I have decreased the tip due to crappy service. Recently we have had some really bad experiences at fast food restaurants - slow service, bad food, filthy dining area. You can complain, but since the employees are usually high school kids or people that don’t speak English, about your only recourse is to boycott the place. We have plenty of options in our neighborhood, so there is no reason to go back to places that don’t treat us right.
My preference would be to require servers to get at least minimum wage, and then tips would truly be a reward for excellent service, but the current system is pretty entrenched so I’m not hopeful.
May 12th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
I usually tip 20% for good service (and often round up a little bit beyond that so the total is an even dollar amount).
However, in a place that automatically adds a tip, they get the automatic tip, and not a penny more. If you’re going to take away my ability to lower the tip for bad service, you lose your opportunity to earn a higher tip for good service.
May 12th, 2008 at 7:23 pm
In China most restaurents we dine at add a 10%service charge to every meal with an additional line for us to add our “tip”. I kinda like this approach better than what is done typically in the US
1) waiters/waitresses don’t get screwed
2) sets the bar at a more reasonable level — if the service wasn’t noteworthy I don’t leave any extra.
3) believes it provides a more equal distribution of tipping from customers instead of some giving 20% and others 0%.
May 13th, 2008 at 7:07 am
I’ve had a similar experiece…but I actually put a negative amount in the tip line. The waiter changed the tip amount in the computer because the amount I put on the bottom line was what appeared on my credit card!
Don’t get me wrong, I am a generous tipper (waiting tables in college will do that to you). But if service is below par, then someone has to let the person know!
May 13th, 2008 at 8:11 am
I really wish that we could just have 10% added onto the price on the menu and then the restaurant pay the minimum wage or whatever, and tips would be for exceptional service, and go back to a 5-10% tip being good.
It almost seems like a sleazy credit card hidden fee with that 20% expected to be added on the items price, even if you know it is coming.
May 13th, 2008 at 8:56 am
I imagine it’s a compromise thing. It eliminates the argument between the 15% people and the 20% people on what do give at the end of the meal.
If you buy the argument that servers should work somewhere else if they are not happy with the pay, then you should dine somewhere else if your not happy with their gratiuity policy.
May 13th, 2008 at 10:00 am
tipping posts are actually banned on a poker forum i frequent - I agree with them - most of the arguments, although valid, won’t change anyone’s mind on tipping
May 13th, 2008 at 11:31 am
Register for the NO CALL LIST, so this isn;t a problem.
https://www.donotcall.gov/
May 13th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
I really hate the argument that people have about servers not getting paid enough. When I got out with friends and its a group of 8 or more, the bill is usually over $200 for about 1.5 hours in the restaurant. That’s a $36 tip at 18% or $24 an hour for the server. Considering how infrequently the server is seen I have to assume they are also waiting on other tables. If I make the assumption that the server can successfully wait on 24 diners at one time, that comes out to something like $72 an hour, which is over double what I make. I’m sure the effective wage is higher at some places and lower at others but its nonetheless high enough for a job that requires no education. I think restaurants should figure out gratuities for you based on what it takes to get their servers to a fair unskilled labor wage. For example on the check it should give you an option, to pay the server $10, $15, or $20 an hour and checkbox that lets you choose.
May 13th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
I don’t mind the involuntary-voluntary gratuity, but increasing the tip from 15% to 18% is bogus. I also think there should be a tickbox that lets you change the amount of the tip if the service was terrible.
May 13th, 2008 at 6:35 pm
Check this out. No pun intended.
http://www.clevescene.com/2008-05-07/news/when-it-comes-to-tipping-lebron-goes-scrooge-mcduck/
May 14th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
I usually try to be sensitive to the service given a tip accordingly. Good service on a large group gets over 20%, however, if they tack on their 18% automatically, the tip ends there.
May 16th, 2008 at 10:13 am
I agree with Jon - I don’t see how the number of people at a table (or the total bill) should determine the amount of the tip. It should be based on their hourly rate. So if a waitress makes $3.00 as her base rate, and spends 1 hour waiting on my table and 3 other tables, the tip for each table only needs to be $1 to get her up to $7/hr. Now, a server at a 5 star restaraunt may deserve a higher hourly rate than the waitress at the local diner, so it makes sense to a certain extent for it to be based on the cost of the food, but it takes only slightly more time to serve a table of 8 as it does a table of 2.
May 16th, 2008 at 11:34 pm
I have been a server in multiple restaurants. More importantly, I often go out to dinner with a group of people. With my regular group of friends, this isn’t a problem, but I’ve been out to dinner with acquaintances and so many times, people don’t put in enough towards the bill. So who gets stiffed? The server. I think the restaurants add the tip so that it’s part of the bill so that the servers don’t get the short end of the cheap stick.
Plus, larger parties are more difficult to tend to. More people, more confusion, more requests… they’re definitely more work.
May 25th, 2008 at 6:04 pm
Regarding minimum wage v. tipping, European standards are different. Waiters receive a living wage, and they usually do all of the work (i.e., no bus boys). And that system is reflected in the service, which is fine but hardly great. Service here on average is excellent by comparison. In Spain, I’ve had waiters get annoyed at me for asking for basic things. We just laughed and shrugged it off, but his attitude would have been much different if his livelihood was depending on a tip from us.
I’ve dined out in large groups often, and I can tell you from the POV of a customer, they’re a pain. It’s a challenge for the kitchen to organize the timing of the meal and it’s a challenge for the staff to keep everyone happy (e.g., this one wants water no ice, that one’s allergic to something). Then at the end, everyone puts in money, but it feels like I always put more in than the stated per person cost. That is, someone usually shorts the pot, and most people would sooner walk away than put more money in than they feel they should have. In groups like that, I’m sure the staff don’t get 18%, but something close to it, and the rest is the staff’s loss. In your case, if one person paid…well, you just got the short end of the stick. If you paid the bill in cash, I’m sure you could have paid what you considered a more appropriate amount.
Anyway, eating out is a luxury and should be treat as such.
June 1st, 2008 at 11:15 pm
My head is truly spinning from the amount of opinions in here. Since when did the service profession become subjugated to such abysmal respect? We should only seek to achieve the equivalent of the minimum wage? I have had the privilege to work as a server putting myself through graduate school, and now I am in the finance industry. BY FAR, the most challenging job that I have encountered is serving people. The organisational skills, as well as the language, and negotiation skills that are required leads to beg why servers are not treated with more dignity? The government taxes them to death, they are forced to give up at least a third of their earnings to support staff, and are held hostage by international guests, and clients who are itching for a reason not to tip. Very few servers make $75 per hour as one person stated, another person mentioned that the more the check, the less they tip-what? You are a truly miserly person. Imagine if servers were paid a salary, your food cost would soar by at least $500 % to meet the labor costs. The restaurants would all close. 18% is the base tip for average service in urban cities (at least in the North East) and has been since 1998. The straw man argument posed by someone else about commissioned workers is recalcitrant-the server has to put up with a lot of evil stuff, including very miserable management/owners, and very mean customers, and people leaving pennies for admirable service. If we drew that logic out and applied it to all paid labor, then we should ask our President to reduce his own salary, based on performance. Service workers have a right to earn a living, if they provide you with the basic service, greeting you, delivering drinks, taking orders,delivering food, providing the bill, and executing payment, then they have performed their basic responsibility. Anything else is additional and should be reflected in the TIP (To Insure Prompt Service), including smiles. It is not part of the job to smile or be in the mood that you all expect. They are only there to do those basic things. If you do not like that, then please, please, stay home or go to McDonald’s where you will not have to tip, or receive a smile.
June 8th, 2008 at 2:01 am
The standard gratuity for a server at a restaurant is 20%. The idea that it is ok to tip a server 10% or even 15% is outdated and archaic. I always say that everyone should have to serve tables at least once in their life to understand the difficulty of it. Servers are generally only paid 2.13 per hour sometimes a few cents more. The 2.13 does not even cover taxes. SO, the next time you think it is ok to tip someone 15% or less (unless the service by the server was genuinely awful) think about how you would survive on 2.13 per hour and only making 10%. If you can not afford to take care of the people that take care of you then do not go out, or like Zaru says, go to McDonalds where you do not have to tip or receive a smile. Here is my tip for you all, Historically the tip was given at the beginning of the meal To Insure Prompt Service (TIP) The amount you tipped reflected how much and how good of service you expected to receive. I think we should go back to that. That way we would not have to waste our time and smiles on lousy cheapskates!
July 7th, 2008 at 1:30 am
“That’s okay. I will say that as far as I’m concerned, the automatic tip will almost ALWAYS be less than I would have given on my own.”
Right. I understand psychology. You’re trying to make us servers who tack on the gratuity feel guilty. It’s been my experience, and today was no different, those who were the most vocal, do so because they don’t want to pay out that gratuity. Meaning, it’s on them; they’re cheap, and didn’t want to fork out the money despite excellent service.