Originally Posted by
CJKatl
The IRS will require the waiter to report a $52 tip. Assuming a 25% fed/state/local tax rate, the waiter will pay $13 in tax. The waiter will have to tip out $15 to the bus boys, bartenders, hosts, runners and other floor staff that shares in tips, costing the waiter $3 above what you left on your $400 bottle of wine. The waiter will show your receipt to all the other staff, so if you go back, who knows what will be in your food.
This pretty much sums up the reason why I don't like the tipping system. "Who knows what will be in your food" because you didn't tip "properly". That's just wrong.
I don't think that $80 is a reasonable compensation for opening a bottle of wine. No matter how many people are waiting in line to get tipped from that sale. Just pay them so they don't have to spit into your food if you leave a reasonable tip for the work performed. It works almost everywhere else.
In the 1990s I was taught that tips should be around 10% or 15% if really great. About 10 years ago it was about 15% normally and 20% if really great. Now it seems that 20% is becoming more and more the norm? I wonder where we'll be in another 10 or 20 years.
HTB.