tipping with a credit card

[breakingnews]

Originally Posted by smoothmoniker

The waiter gets a tip on the food, not on tax or alcohol.

If there is a sommelier who does their job well, they get 15% of the wine bill.

-ml

Waiters take your drink order, just like your food order, and bring it to the table, just like your food. They don't prepare either your drinks or your food; how do you justify tipping for one and not the other?

I know many restaurants have their wait staff share tips with the bartenders. So, if you are heavy drinkers like my friends and I, tip on the whole amount, and leave a couple extra % for "rowdiness" factor.

[staceyv]

Waiters take your drink order, just like your food order, and bring it to the table, just like your food. They don't prepare either your drinks or your food; how do you justify tipping for one and not the other?

AMEN.

The standard for tipping is the same for bartenders as waitresses. Chainsaw, If I were you, I wouldn't go to the same establishment twice- and start a tab so they don't contaminate your drink after they find out how you tip. If 15% is your high point, you must reserve that for bartenders who are really nice to you and do a very good job. That's kind of cheap for excellent service.
A buck per drink is okay if you don't have a tab, BUT if you order 3 martinis at $8 each and you give the bartender $3, that's about 12.5%. But that works really well for all beers and wines by the glass and basic cocktails...
I wish everyone would be a bartender or waitress for ONE day. God, there wouldn't be a need for these types of conversations. Everyone would just tip 20% and give 15% for bad service with a comment card stating why they tipped like that. Seriously.
But you know what? Here's a tip for you: If you're really old, we actually feel lucky to get 15% out of you. Old farts are an exception. As are minorities, white trash and teens. If you don't fall into one of those categories, if you have all of your teeth, if you don't pronounce the 'T" at the end of merlot, for christ sake, just be generous.

[wolf]

I have a friend who started the nonsense about not tipping on alcohol (you have no idea how hard it just was to spell out the word rather than typing it as ETOH) and I got her corrected on that one ... alcohol is as much a part of the meal as the Death by Chocolate.

Oh, and I tip pre-tax.

[404Error]

At the Sbarro restaurant I work a 'tip' line is printed right on the credit card receipt and a lot of people will write in an amount but we never see any of it. When I first started working there I asked why and was told there was a no tipping policy so I've since advised people that the employees don't receive the tips they are writing in and encourage them not to do so. Why should some fat cat owner of the place get money I deserved for prompt, courteous service?

People that pay in cash will often leave the change from their order with the cashier and it used to be put in a cup and split at the end of the shift. Management put a stop to that too and demanded the change be put in the cash register. Not that I need what amounts to a few bucks at the end of a shift but what the hell, I'm not going to let that fat cat owner get it either, I always give the people their change back.

[breakingnews]

That's really fucked up, 404. How on earth do they justify accepting a tip and not distributing it in some manner? That's a deceptive practice that the BBB would love to get its fangs in.

[LabRat]

That sounds barely legal to me...but I've never worked in foodservice either.

[mrnoodle]

i never considered the pre/post-tax angle. Let's see. If I make $10 and go to a restaurant (ok, this is a cheap restaurant), my $10 has already been taxed when I earned it. The meal is $5, which will be collected by the restaurant and taxed again, partly as income for the restaurant, and then again when it becomes income for the owner/employees. The tip will be taxed again once it reaches the waitstaff's pockets (assuming they declare it). By now the government has gotten a piece of my $10 from like 4 or 5 directions. So the question now becomes, which puts more spendable income in the waitstaff's pocket? tipping pre- or post-tax?

I'm not good with numbers.

[Happy Monkey]

Um, money isn't taxed, transactions are. And some of the transactions you mentioned are deductions for other ones.

And tipping more puts more money in the waitstaff's pocket so unless the tax decreases your bill, calculating the percentage after tax will be more.

[breakingnews]

Nothing really gets double-taxed in that instance. The restaurant will pay taxes on its bottom line (well, EBITDA = earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization). That amount already accounts for general expenses, including payroll/wages. The money is handed over to employees before it's subject to any corporate taxes.

So, really, the whole sum of your $5 is taxed only once.

And of course post-tax tipping puts more money in the waiter's pocket since it's a higher amount. Just a matter of how much you want to leave and (again) whether the waitstaff declares it.

Edit: Of course, gross dollar transactions are subject to merchant transaction fees, if paid by credit card. I don't know if there are any tax implications there, but I doubt it.

[mrnoodle]

this kind of thing is why i always flunked math. until HM's post, I never really considered that the government is taxing the movement of money, not the money itself. I think that pisses me off more.

[Happy Monkey]

It's not like money is created in the paycheck, and destroyed when you spend it. You can't put a checkmark on a $20 bill, and only tax the first time it changes hands.

The closest thing to taxing "money" instead of transactions is the property tax, and I somehow doubt that much enthusiasm could be drummed up for moving from an income (ie transaction) tax to a total holdings ( cash, funds, and assets ) property tax.

[smoothmoniker]

Ok, I should maybe clarify the whole wine thing. If I'm eating at our local Chili’s or Roadhouse grill and order a beer or a glass of wine, of course I'm going to include that in the tip, and I usually leave about 20% if the service was good.

But when I eat at the French Laundry in Napa, or at Water Grill here in LA, I'm going to spend $60-100 per person for dinner before tax and wine. 20% of that is more than adequate for the wait staff. Assuming I'm there with a party of 4 that's $80 for them to split however they need to.

Wine is probably going to be another $60-100, depending on their selection and what was ordered. If I am familiar with their wine list and feel comfortable pairing up a bottle, then I won't ask for the sommelier. If the sommelier helps me out and does a particularly good job selecting a wine, then I'm going to tip him for his expertise and service, usually 10-15% of the wine bill.

But here’s the word on it from the expert, and should be remembered by people who are in the service industry:

“Tipping is a recognition of excellent service, not an obligation on the part of the person served. A tip should be accepted, not expected.” – Nina Zagat (Zagat Survey)


-sm

[glatt]

Originally Posted by smoothmoniker

“Tipping is a recognition of excellent service, not an obligation on the part of the person served. A tip should be accepted, not expected.” – Nina Zagat (Zagat Survey)

Exactly.

[Happy Monkey]

Unfortunately, restauraunts and the government have set up the rules so tips are essentially considered salary.

[russotto]

I personally prefer places with a no-tipping policy. Let the restaurant pay the waitstaff. Unfortunately, now that tipping has invaded American culture, it's unlikely to go away.