Originally Posted by
MSPeconomist
If there's a mandatory tip or service fee, I refuse to tip in addition to it. When appropriate, I tell the sever that I would have tipped more if there hadn't been the mandatory charge.
My objection to that approach is that it penalizes the wrong person, i.e. the server who had nothing to do with the policy and even less ability to change it. I have no issue with an upward or downward adjustment even to the point of eliminating a tip as the server's behavior dictates. I don't see the point in adjusting the server's tip under these circumstances.