Tipping at "iPad" restaurants
Mar 12, 2018 | 10:06 am
#1
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Tipping at "iPad" restaurants
Last time I went through EWR a colleague and I ate at one of those new restaurants where you order food and drink off an iPad at the table so now the waiter/waitress is reduced to simply bringing stuff from the kitchen or bar. My colleague put $0 in the tip payment when he checked out (also automated on the iPad) and when I asked him why he said that he hadn't been "served" so he wasn't going to tip. He waitered at university and said he earned his tips for the human part of his job and not just for carrying stuff to the table. I feel like he kind of has a point but I still wouldn't leave a zero tip. Maybe 10% or something. Thoughts?
Mar 12, 2018 | 11:19 am
#3
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I'm pretty sure servers took orders for drinks at the conveyor belt sushi place I went to near me so tipping is still appropriate there. Other places may be different, however.
Mar 12, 2018 | 11:26 am
#4
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I figure the people working in those restaurants are probably not paid minimum wage so I just tip my usual 15-20%. I bake the 20% tip into my expected cost of dining out. Besides, for an entree and drink a 20% tip is what, $5? I don't begrudge the kitchen and waitstaff $5.
Mar 12, 2018 | 2:16 pm
#5
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Last time I went through EWR a colleague and I ate at one of those new restaurants where you order food and drink off an iPad at the table so now the waiter/waitress is reduced to simply bringing stuff from the kitchen or bar. My colleague put $0 in the tip payment when he checked out (also automated on the iPad) and when I asked him why he said that he hadn't been "served" so he wasn't going to tip. He waitered at university and said he earned his tips for the human part of his job and not just for carrying stuff to the table. I feel like he kind of has a point but I still wouldn't leave a zero tip. Maybe 10% or something. Thoughts?
Mar 12, 2018 | 10:19 pm
#6
Join Date: Nov 2013
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I would give a standard 15-20% tip, assuming the server does a normal job outside of not taking orders.
If you're saying the server literally drops off plates without even making eye contact or saying "you're welcome" in response to my "thank you," then I would certainly tip $0.
If you're saying the server literally drops off plates without even making eye contact or saying "you're welcome" in response to my "thank you," then I would certainly tip $0.
Mar 13, 2018 | 3:48 am
#8
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I figure the people working in those restaurants are probably not paid minimum wage so I just tip my usual 15-20%. I bake the 20% tip into my expected cost of dining out. Besides, for an entree and drink a 20% tip is what, $5? I don't begrudge the kitchen and waitstaff $5.
But not at McDonalds or KFC where theyre bringing your food and drinks too, so why at the sushi belt or an iPad restaurant? (Paraphrasing my colleague here)
Last edited by cblaisd; Mar 13, 2018 at 8:11 pm Reason: merged poster's two consecutive posts
Mar 13, 2018 | 5:00 am
#9
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A server at an "iPad" restaurant should still check back with you, whereas at a fast food place, they retrieve your food from the "hot' area and pass it across a counter. They don't check back with you.
Mar 13, 2018 | 5:00 am
#10
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You don't order from the table at either, though, so it's no surprise you wouldn't tip there (or if you do, it'd be while you were ordering and not at the end of the meal).
Mar 13, 2018 | 5:14 am
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Mar 23, 2018 | 12:44 am
#14
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I dont tip at drive thrus, Chick-fil-a (where they usually bring the food to your table), or a Panera type place that theyre just dropping food off at the table. If they take my order at the table, bring and refill drinks, as well as check up on you, then thats a tippable service.
