Originally Posted by
bigguyinpasadena
Chris-just so you know I am NOT a tightwad
My last dining check came to $63.I tipped the waiter $20 because he did an OUTSTANDING job under difficult circumstances-so that is what?35% of the pre tax(the amount you properly should tip on)bill.
Now-as to the auto 18% I think management does this to assure servers get a better than average(15%)tip because tables of six or more are more work and when a party split a check the server often gets shafted by one of the six=solved by the auto tip.
Of course you can tip more-you can always do that to reward excellent service-but you should call any shortcomings in the service to the managers attention and ask that the tip be adjusted.
Then this I wholeheartedly agree on. Like I expounded on elsewhere, if I had my choice, I'd never "grat" a table. Some people take offense; some have the audacity to say "if you wouldn't have put that on there, I would have left you more." That just seems outright rude on their part.
But mainly, I just generally get tipped more than 18% pretax. Why would I want to "force" a tip that's less than my average? That's like taking a voluntary pay cut.
Chris