"Forced" into larger tip than proper

[Ethilrist]

@Really_Not_All_That_Bright

The ten. So he left a tip of $8.12. He started with $40, left with nothing, and had a bill of $31.88.

Ah, got it. Some of us are assuming she took the $10 back to the register, paid off the remaining $1.88 and took $8.12 as a tip. The rest of us are assuming she pocketed the $10 as her tip. I’m in the latter camp.

[bienville]

@Mama_Zappa

with 15-18% the norm
<snip>
(and I’m not a stingy tipper as a rule).

I’ve got news for you. If you think 15-18% is the norm, then you’re a stingy tipper.

@racer72

Don’t know if I’m the only one that does not included the tax when figuring the tip.

@I.Dunno

And I was always taught that you indeed do NOT include the tax in the tip.

If tax is say, 9% (this will vary widely based on municipality) …
On a $50.00 check, tax will be $4.50
20% of $50.00 is $10.00
20% of $54.50 is $10.90

If you have ordered a $50 meal and you want to squabble over 90¢, you’re being extremely petty.

@XaMcQ

What annoys me is when the wait staff or cashier at take out gives me a lot of ones when they could have given me a five or ten, so I’ll have ones to tip with.

@boytyperanma

Bill is $52.50 I give the waitress 4 twenties and ask for change. Waitress brings back 1 $20, 1 $5, 2 $1s and 2 quarters… My plan would have been to tip $11-$12 but since I was brought back the twenty I asked to be broken I guess she only wanted a 7.50 tip.

@DrCube

This happens to me occasionally. I pay $20 for a $14 bill and get a five and a one back. I wanted to tip $3-$4, say.

Perfect! All the server has to do is remember “When I’m waiting on XaMcQ, I should not bring singles instead of larger bills, and when I am waiting on boytyperanma then I should bring smaller bills.”

How about this for all three of you (even you DrCube who will nicely wait for change a second time):
[ul]
[li]$14 check, paying with a $20 and want to tip $3[/li]Pay with the $20 and say “Would you bring me $3 back, please?”
[li]$52.50 check, paying with $80 in twenties wanting to tip $11.50[/li]Pay with the 4 twenties and say “Would you bring me $16 back, please?”
[/ul]

This is what I always do when paying cash and needing change. It also saves the hassle for the server of trying to scare up the exact 12¢ or whatever it is when the bill doesn’t come out to an even dollar amount.

[bienville]

@Ethilrist

Ah, got it. Some of us are assuming she took the $10 back to the register, paid off the remaining $1.88 and took $8.12 as a tip. The rest of us are assuming she pocketed the $10 as her tip. I’m in the latter camp.

Doesn’t matter if the $10 went in her pocket, up her ass, or if it jumped out of her apron pocket flagged down a cab and went to Reno. She collected $40, she owes the house $31.88. When she cashes out at the end of the night whether she goes home with that same $10 bill or not she still made $8.12 on that check.

[Really_Not_All_That_Bright]

@Ethilrist

Ah, got it. Some of us are assuming she took the $10 back to the register, paid off the remaining $1.88 and took $8.12 as a tip. The rest of us are assuming she pocketed the $10 as her tip. I’m in the latter camp.

It’s possible. But IME no restaurant allows servers to adjust the amount of a bill like that. Comp a specific item, sure, but even then they need managerial approval.

[Saintly_Loser]

@t-bonham@scc.net

That was my thought. I can’t remember the last time I paid cash for a meal. Possibly last summer at a foot-long hotdog booth at the County Fair.

Lots of restaurants, even very high-end restaurants here in Brooklyn don’t take credit cards. Cash only. Many of the restaurants on Smith Street’s little restaurant row (Cobble Hill/Carroll Gardens) don’t take credit cards.

And the famous Peter Luger’s steakhouse doesn’t take credit cards (actually, they take one credit card – their own – but no Visa, no Mastercard, no American Express).

I pay cash at restaurants pretty often.

[Alan_Smithee]

@BigT

This is the second time you’ve said this. Do you not get that this is an oxymoron? She’s being manipulative. That means she’s doing something wrong.

And It’s not win-win. It’s all about her and getting me to give her more money. If I give her more than I would have given her, I lose. I don’t get a discount unless I stiff her on the tip. That’s the point of her little manipulation. I either give her more money or I feel guilty.

You make higher tips by giving better service, not by trying to make it harder on me to give you what I think you deserve. Yes, it’s a small amount of money, but, again, that’s part of the manipulation.

Here’s how I would want to deal with it. I tell her that she must’ve made a mistake. And then if she claims it’s a discount, I thank her profusely and (truthfully) tell her it’s so nice since I don’t have a lot of money and that it’ll be nice to be able to afford to treat myself to [insert piddly thing here]. (Which I will truthfully use that money to buy.)

Legitimate discount–she feels happy for helping out. Manipulative trick, she feels guilty (if she’s capable) for trying to get more money out of me, and has to make up the difference out of her own pocket.

Whether I’d have the guts to do it, I don’t know. I’d probably just figure whether I could afford the extra money and go from there, either way writing in to management later–thanking them for the discount.

Smiling and mentioning the high-priced specials (that are already on the menu insert or a board) is also manipulative, but it’s not wrong. If she makes more money on average this way, she’d be an idiot to be resentful over the people who don’t tip. She gets a bigger tip from some customers who don’t mind tipping more and goodwill from those who don’t at no overall cost to her. That’s what makes it win-win. If you wrote a letter to the restaurant thanking them for the discount, they’d realize that she paid it out of her own pocket, and reward her for going above and beyond to satisfy a customer by giving her better shifts and more tables. Win-win-win. Manager love getting letters thanking them for their employees’ service. If you went back, you’d probably find the result of the letter was that they were encouraging all their servers to do this now (at their own risk, of course).

[septimus]

@BigT

This is the second time you’ve said this. Do you not get that this is an oxymoron? She’s being manipulative. That means she’s doing something wrong.

And It’s not win-win. It’s all about her and getting me to give her more money. If I give her more than I would have given her, I lose. I don’t get a discount unless I stiff her on the tip. That’s the point of her little manipulation. I either give her more money or I feel guilty.

I’m still confused. What would you have done if the bill has been $38.88 instead of $31.88? Given her two twenties and a ten and asked for change? Then ask for change now. Don’t say “Find a $5 bill in my pocket.” If you have a $5 bill in your pocket you could have left it in the event. If you’re using cash, carry cash. To hear some Dopers talk, bringing a few small bills along means you have to carry a suitcase stuffed with $1 bills. :smack:

Is the waitress being slightly manipulative? Yes. As they do all over the world. As all y’all would know if you still used cash in post-modern America.

You Americans are being bamboozled and manipulated by political forces … and you complain about this waitress? :smack:

[Alan_Smithee]

@boytyperanma

My feelings are I want to pay my bill and be on my way. If I instead have to wait around for the waitress to bring along change a second time they did a shitty job meeting my needs. If the waitress doesn’t think to give me 6 $1s change for a 14 dollar bill it’s likely she’d only get the dollar if she gave a $5 and a $1.

I missed this the first time. You’ve already seen that some people don’t like getting smaller bills and will tip less/not at all if they do. But then some people are assholes and will look for any excuse to tip less.

Your responses in this thread seem rather hyperbolic. You describe giving larger bills rather than smaller as doing a “shitty job” and call for her firing over giving slightly too much change. I can’t believe you’re really as emotional about this as you seem to me to be coming off. If you are, then WTF?