In coming up with my personal tipping guidelines, I looked at how much per hour these guys were making. I don't think any waiter deserves more than $20/person tip for dinner. That being said, I do occasionally tip up to $30/person, but only if the meal was superb.

On the other side, I agree that 20% is reasonable on a very small check.

The turning point in my tipping career was when waiters at Smith & Wollensky in New York were bragging that they had a guy who made $500k per year off tips.

QL