# Negating an automatic tip on a bill **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 31, 2026, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/negating-an-automatic-tip-on-a-bill/1027233 "2026-01-31T16:33:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2026, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/negating-an-automatic-tip-on-a-bill/1027233/21 "2026-01-31T23:55:31Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > The moral of the story is to read the signs and print on the restaurant, then walk out if you dont like it. Doubly so if the restaurant is fictional. šŸ˜„ ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2026, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/negating-an-automatic-tip-on-a-bill/1027233/22 "2026-02-01T01:47:49Z")
A semi-factual answer ā€¦ IME having eaten half my meals of the last 40 years in restaurants all over the USA and a few other countries ā€¦ Simply writing a negative tip _might_ work. Talking to the server, the cashier, and the manager, in that order, _will_ work. So do that. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2026, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/negating-an-automatic-tip-on-a-bill/1027233/23 "2026-02-01T01:59:18Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > Restaurants, airports, etc. can add whatever bogus fees and service charges they want to. According to @Czarcasmā€™s link, they have to tell you ahead of time. > [@](#): > > A restaurant must provide clear notice to customers before they incur a mandatory service charge. The customer must be informed of the policy before ordering to prevent surprise when the bill arrives. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2026, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/negating-an-automatic-tip-on-a-bill/1027233/24 "2026-02-01T02:50:37Z")
Yeah, but even then, you can sometimes just ask to have those charges taken off (like in Vegas) ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2026, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/negating-an-automatic-tip-on-a-bill/1027233/25 "2026-02-01T03:38:32Z")
As I understand, the merchant can bill the credit card company for the total written on the receipt by the customer. So if the bill was $37.00+7.46 and the customer writes ā€œ-7.46ā€ for the tip and then ā€œ$37.00ā€ on the total line, the merchant can only charge $37.00; thatā€™s what the customer signed for. If they enter any other amount, the customer can contest it and the receipt the merchant has, which he will have to fax (or whatever) to the CC company, will show what the amount they were allowed to charge. There are plenty of bogus posts out there - surprise, surprise. I see regular posts about how to calculate your tip for your waiter - use 30%. The latest said 40% (!!). Thereā€™s regular posts about someone being asked to give up their seat for the poor starving grandmother/child/pregnant lady and refusing; where often, surprising, many of the surrounding seats are empty, almost like this is a movie set of half a plane interior. Itā€™s been decades since Iā€™ve flown on a big jet that wasnā€™t pretty much sold out. My favourite is the bike-car or motorbike-car collisions, whoā€™s fault is this? Designed to trigger the ā€œblame the cyclist/motorbikeā€ reflexes by being blatantly stupid. They are all ā€œstupid for clicksā€. Presumably, they get paid based on views. The more annoying, the more people will view it and add to the conversation to say how wrong or stupid it is. Worse, some of these are epople stealing someone elseā€™s video and making their own post - seems fitting that people making stupid posts get ripped off by others doing the same. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2026, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/negating-an-automatic-tip-on-a-bill/1027233/26 "2026-02-01T14:59:25Z")
> [@md-2000](#): > > I see regular posts about how to calculate your tip for your waiter - use 30%. The latest said 40% (!!). I tend to tip around 20%, so I just do a quick calculation in my head. Either that, or just double the tax. ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2026, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/negating-an-automatic-tip-on-a-bill/1027233/27 "2026-02-01T21:02:46Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > I tend to tip around 20%, so I just do a quick calculation in my head. Either that, or just double the tax. I think the 30% (and 40%) was an obviously ploy to rile the viewers and get them to engage with outrage, which generated whatever participation points the poster gets. The point of it all being, provovcative and annoying (and incorrect) tends to be more lucrative for the poster than accurate and informative. Then with all the participation that results, the algorithm bumps that to the top of peopleā€™s feeds. The most obvious such post was the guy who posted ā€œinstalling hardwood flooringā€ using a metal hammer to push the planks firmly against each other. Posting fake outrageous restaurant receipts is another example. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2026, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/negating-an-automatic-tip-on-a-bill/1027233/28 "2026-02-01T22:45:20Z")
> [@md-2000](#): > > As I understand, the merchant can bill the credit card company for the total written on the receipt by the customer. So if the bill was $37.00+7.46 and the customer writes ā€œ-7.46ā€ for the tip and then ā€œ$37.00ā€ on the total line, the merchant can only charge $37.00; thatā€™s what the customer signed for. Thatā€™s what I was thinking too; Iā€™d probably just calculate the tip I felt like and put a negative amount for the difference (assuming itā€™s less than 20%). They canā€™t force you to tip at all, much less a specific percentage. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2026, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/negating-an-automatic-tip-on-a-bill/1027233/29 "2026-02-02T01:05:31Z")
> [@md-2000](#): > > Posting fake outrageous restaurant receipts is another example. Pretty common also. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/negating-an-automatic-tip-on-a-bill/1027233.md?page=1)