patrick.net

Patrick says

, I ate at a fun old Polish restaurant called Staropolska on Milwaukee Ave.

I think I just ate there last year - did they have outdoor seating? The sausages were amazing.

Yeah, looked it up. I ate there.

One defence of mandatory tipping is that sometimes large groups of hipsters and everyone will "Forget" to tip.

HonkpilledMaster says

Patrick says

, I ate at a fun old Polish restaurant called Staropolska on Milwaukee Ave.

I think I just ate there last year - did they have outdoor seating? The sausages were amazing.

Yeah, looked it up. I ate there.

One defence of mandatory tipping is that sometimes large groups of hipsters and everyone will "Forget" to tip.

www.youtube.com/embed/V4sbYy0WdGQ

4. I never go to eat out in large groups in a restaurant.

Go to Denny's or Texas Roadhouse instead.

Patrick says

When I was in Chicago a few weeks ago, I ate at a fun old Polish restaurant called Staropolska on Milwaukee Ave. It was with Polish relatives of mine, so I paid.

Patrick says

Then today, the exact same thing happened at Xahn, a Vietnamese restaurant in Mountain View! We were a group of 7, including wife's relatives. I go to pay

Now we know why you get invited out to eat by relatives so often.

It's common in the industry. I'm surprised when I don't see a restaurant do it. I wouldn't put a restaurant on my ban list for it. Just be more vigilant when looking at the bill. I don't agree with the practice, but it is what it is. Have a big family and group of friends we go out with a lot, so we deal with it a lot.

I have seen many menus where they have written verbiage like "Parties of X or more will have a gratuity of XX% added." Quite a common practice.

There was a curb your enthusiasm episode on this. Very funny. I don't like the practice because I usually leave 20 percent. I get it because a lot of people are cheap and have no morals but it rubs honest people the wrong way.

Tip is supposed to be on the pre-tax amount but many restaurants calculate it on the total bill, with tax included.

But first, let’s kill all bankers.

willywonka says

Tip is supposed to be on the pre-tax amount but many restaurants calculate it on the total bill, with tax included.

But first, let’s kill all bankers.

Exactly, NEVER tip based on a percentage with tax included, unless you adjust your tip % down to remove the tax % from the total... Fuck the .Gov thievery...

:

IF you're experienced eating out, then you know that MANY places put automatic gratuity on large parties. I've been a waiter and can tell you large parties are much more difficult, often requiring multiple servers to do it right, and are likely to under tip, becasue all too often everyone is pitching in, and they aren't pitching in enough.

IT's not a scam. Most of their business is not large parties, and the check format is set up for the regular tables (95% of their business). So when the computer includes the tip on a large party, the check format still has a place for a tip.

IF you didn't figure that out, it doesn't make it a scam.

Maybe it's just a feature of being a republican that right wingers are often incapable of looking at both sides of a situation. Also - how do you live in such a bubble that you don't know a lot of people that have waited tables ?

ForcedTQ says

NEVER tip based on a percentage with tax included

Yes god forbid you over tip !!

Tim Aurora says

"Suggested Tip"

I interpreted what Patrick called "suggested place for the tip" to mean that it was their standard check format, which shows a total and then a line for the tip. But the computer printed a total that included gratuity added. Surely it said something indicating that.

If you don't read the check carefully, or ask, you might make the error of tipping again. But that's just becasue of the format of the check blanks.

I don't go back to those places. Never once did I think the service was adequate at those places. And spite the bad service, more often than not, I planning on tipping more, even though I didn't think they deserved that. It cheeses me off to then see the tip included, even though I was going to tip more.

More alarming to me is figuring out how to defeat a Square terminal at a counter service restaurant. There's usually something like three large buttons with different percentages for tips. You've got to hunt down the "other" selection in small text. Or as AF likes to say, its cash or....

We once ate with another big family in a Mexican restaurant in San Diego. Asked the waiter to split the bill in the middle. The motherfucking motherfucker brought two bills allright, but both were for the full price of the meal and 20% "big group" tip included.

Tenpoundbass says

Never once did I think the service was adequate at those places

Are we talking all places that can accommodate huge parties ? Because most ( probably all that can accommodate parties of 12 to 20) do this.

This is confirming my theory.

marcus says

Maybe it's just a feature of being a republican that right wingers are often incapable of looking at both sides of a situation.

marcus says

and are likely to under tip, becasue all too often everyone is pitching in, and they aren't pitching in enough.

This. It's one thing to go out as a couple or with the kids and rack up a $60-80 tab. Okay, $10-$14 tip, that's doesn't seem that awful. Now rack up a $400 bill, people in the group don't remember exactly what they got (and how much it costs), drinks aren't always priced on the menu, so you got people leaving 5% tips, if that, because they're too lazy to pass the receipt around. Then if one person is in charge of the bill, that usual $12-$14 tip is now $80 and they start questioning if it's worth it and will leave $20 because it's more than their usual tip and not based on anything else.

As much as people bitch about tipping, work a day in a servers shoes at a busy restaurant. I'd bet most here couldn't handle it. It's not as easy as you'd think it is. (Side note - I've never waited tables, but my wife, 4 sister in laws all have and mother in law managed a restaurant for a decade)

I love paying the bill for groups when we go out. I get the credit card points which can be x2-x5 points. I also get to dictate what the server gets paid and then I just split it and ask for cash from everyone or venmo/paypal me the money. Some of y'all need to get out more it seems.

Iranian_Oil_Burse says

The motherfucking motherfucker brought two bills allright, but both were for the full price of the meal and 20% "big group" tip included

I assume you cleared the situation up? Except for bartenders it's a transient industry. Likely had someone that didn't know a system they weren't used to or something. Doesn't excuse it, because that's a pretty big fuck up double charging a group. My guess is once those closed the first bill they handed you, they would have no longer been able to charge that duplicate bill.

marcus says

Are we talking all places that can accommodate huge parties ?

Servers can't have it both ways. They can't get a percentage, then want more more when they have to get more stuff which only means more money for them in the first place.
It's not alike parties of 5 or more, just get a couple orders of fried rice and then just do Asian style communal dining, all sharing the same dishes of food.

WookieMan says

I assume you cleared the situation up?

We caught it in time, yes.

WookieMan says

It's not as easy as you'd think it is

Yep, during the rush, it's fricking intense, and there are aspects to doing it well that are counter intuitive. For example you stop a waiter to ask for another drink and then you see the waiter take someones food order before getting your drinks. That's becasue if they can't combine your drink order with at least one other one, they're fucked (and so are you - becasue they're running around too much - when someones meal is ready to pick up or countless other things need to be done just keeping up with the handful of tables they are responsible for - and it's not like the bartender can drop what they are doing for the waiter either).

WookieMan says

work a day in a servers shoes at a busy restaurant. I'd bet most here couldn't handle it

Correct.

Tenpoundbass says

Servers can't have it both ways

You have no idea what you're talking about.

In Tokyo they do it right I think; you eat, stand up, walk to the front and someone sitting there says "2000 yen" . The tip is included and no waiting.

clambo says

In Tokyo they do it right I think; you eat, stand up, walk to the front and someone sitting there says "2000 yen" . The tip is included and no waiting.

Ideally, yes, it would be done this way. I personally like the tipping system in America we have though, at least at the restaurants in the Chicagoland area. Servers wanna hustle here and work the most tables (not all, but most). I can't stand a meal taking close to 2 hours. Obviously if a salad or appetizer is involved I want some spacing there, but I don't want to finish my first drink and wait 10-15 minutes for another drink. AKA island time.

It always boggles my mind where tips are protocol and someone is drinking booze that a drink ever is empty. It's the quickest way to rack up a higher tip if you have patrons that recognize the work it takes to run around and bring you shit. Going to St. Thomas (I will avoid Pedo Island) in October and I'm dreading the restaurant experiences service wise. I'll likely just order two drinks at once, lol, food can wait.