Suggested tip amounts on restaurant bill
 

Today I had lunch in San Francisco. Just me and a couple of friends for casual dining. Nothing remarkable until the bill arrived. I noticed, handwritten at the bottom of the receipt,

Tips:
15% $4.43
20% $5.90

Anyone else find this incredibly tacky? In "fairness" the restaurant seemed popular with foreign tourists who may be unfamiliar with tipping. I believe a better solution in that case is to include a service charge (in lieu of a tip line). Regardless, my party was 100% American.

Edit: Some restaurants have suggested tips printed on the receipt, which I also dislike but find less offensive. Seeing the amounts handwritten felt uncomfortably personal.

I find it insulting. A tip is by definition a gift. With superb service I've tipped as high as 50% or 100% depending on the country (it's average wages) or restaurant but explicitly putting it there like that is not conducive to me being generous.

While I understand that here in the US tips are an absolutely essential part of the staff's overall compensation, it's a bit tacky for a server to hand write a tip suggestion on a receipt. TBS, I'd be more bemused than offended.

Suggested tip amounts on restaurant bill
 

I don't agree that a tip is a gift. Waitstaff are paid below minimum wage based on the expectation that a tip will be earned. You should always tip except in the rare circumstance where service was intentionally horrible or the was a complete disregard for customers. The pre calculated amount are useful for those who may not be mathematically competent.

I don't see the big deal. It seems like you are making the argument that printing tip amounts is somehow indicating an expectation for something that is optional. However discretionary tipping may be, I think most expect to tip and waitstaff (and the IRS) expect tips will be earned.

My offence comes from the presumption that the tip was earned in the first place. My satisfaction as a customer is not something for the waitstaff to decide!

"While I understand that here in the US tips are an absolutely essential part of the staff's overall compensation"

Not as much in California as other states. Servers in California are paid the state minimum wage.

You know what's even more annoying, when they add the suggested tip amount to the final total, which included the sales tax. :eek: :mad:

dh

I am now seeing some major chains add this to the card receipts. The one I saw was calculated before tax and discounts.

I suspect discounts were causing issues with the staff so they added the suggestions (15, 18 and 20) were shown.

Rasheed

This is one of these "when in Rome" things. You can't compare how it's done in Sydney with how it's done in San Francisco. In San Francisco, the tip is a significant part of the staff's compensation (not necessarily just your specific server).

If you come from a place where a tip is not common or it's included as "service" and people sometimes leave a few coins, there is no other easy way.

Lots of foreign visitors @ San Francisco. Better the receipt printer spells out the tip %, but I'm not offended by the practice.

If everything around the world were the same, why bother traveling in the first place?

what's the current opinion on whether you are supposed to tip on alcohol? i remember hearing years back that you don't...not sure if that's changed. obviously if you are ordering drinks at a bar that's clearly a different story...but i'm talking about alcohol as part of a meal.

Could these suggestions have anything to do with the fact the fewer and fewer people have the ability of doing simple math in their heads these days? I will take odds that this is part of the reason for it.

In the US, the standard practice is to tip on the bill. Green beans and green beer alike.

The tip amounts are so small in most cases that I don't worry about. A few dollars here or there does the waitstaff more good than it does me. I am not worried about overtipping in the US where it is part of the normal wages. In other countries if I look like a silly tourist, well I look like a silly tourist.

I don't like it either, not just because of the reasons mentioned but also because I think it makes us stupider. It's good to use our brains to calculate tips, just another example of the dumbing down of our society.

i am intensely suspicious of any "suggested tip" amount preprinted on any bill.

first, many of them suggest things like 18%, 20%, or even higher. a proper tip is 15%.

second, as dhammer noted, the suggestion may be on the post-tax amount, not the proper pre-tax subtotal.

third, the amount may be entirely wrong! the last time i noticed a suggested tip amount (something like 18%), i calculated what it was 18% of - and it bore no relation to anything on my bill. the number made no sense at all.

fourth, i suspect that restaurant owners put things like this on the receipt to avoid paying servers directly. many states allow restaurants to pay less than minimum wage, but the owner has to make up the difference if the server does not get enough tips. by using these inflated suggestions, the owner runs less of a risk.