I find myself overtipping at breakfast. Breakfasts are usually cheap and servers have to be quick (I order eggs and they get cold fast - and cold eggs are terrible): in addition, they make multiple trips to my table to refill coffee. Fifteen or 20% just isn't that much so I leave more.

Also, do you tip before tax or after tax? I generally, tip after tax.

:) I generally don't think about that.
I probably am more likely to tip after the tax, the cheaper the bill is.

I tip before tax. ;)

I tip before tax. The State of California did not enhance the meal or service in anyway, shape or form.

I do 20%. I think 15% is too low now. Since a restaurant will automatically charge you 18% on a larger party, I will do anywhere from 18 - 20%, but mostly 20%........more if the service is really good and I can see they are being rushed off their feet.

I do 20% before tax, so it's a hybrid of 20% the 15% after tax.

Also, any person who has ever worked in the service industry (I have not) will always err on the side of you should leave the most possible (20% after tax).

I usually tip 20% for really good service, and only 15 if it was average, so I guess I am not being cheap.

While I think tips should be included in the price of the meal, and anything over is for good service, while American cultural norms and my ideals are not in agrement, I tip 15-18%, depending on the situation.

I tip 20% before tax. Until you get to really expensive places, that's basically the same as 15% after tax.

That said, I don't think 15% before tax is in anyway a "low" tip - I tip 20% because I'm feeling generous (or higher if the service was really that good) and would not figure that merely tipping 15% would work as any kind of a message.

For Denny's probably 15%
for a nice restaurant - 20%

for a nice restaurant with great service - 25%

As the bill gets larger, the tip (as a percentage) gets smaller.

Sorry - you really thought you'd earn $15 for delivering a bottle of wine to my table that you did not help me pick out? ;)

Excellent point of views.. I have never even thought of tipping before tax, but I'm sure people have many good reasons.

Anyways, I tend to be all over the place when it comes to tipping. Average, I tip around 18% as many restaurants that I go to usually are great in terms of food, as well as service.

I also have this tendency to just round up the numbers... For example, if the total is at $20.98, I would tip $4.02 so that the bill comes to exact $25.00

maybe I am the only person who does this...:confused:

When I used to tip I would tip O% for terrible service, 5% for poor service, 10% for average service, 15% for good service, and 20% for excellent service above and beyond the call of duty. On average it would work out to 15%. I strongly feel that if you are going to tip, you should let the tip serve its purpose of providing feedback to your server, rewarding or withholding a reward when appropriate. I don't understand this custom of blindly tipping a set percentage regardless of the quality of service.

I guess we're the only two that do this. :p