# Tipping etiquette question: How should I tip when I'm receiving a substantial discount? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 19, 2013, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-etiquette-question-how-should-i-tip-when-im-receiving-a-substantial-discount/656102 "2013-04-19T03:26:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2013, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-etiquette-question-how-should-i-tip-when-im-receiving-a-substantial-discount/656102/41 "2013-04-22T20:02:08Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > If the server gives you a discount then you give them your phone number 🙂 What if I’m not attracted to the server? Can I give him the phone number of a less attractive friend? ---
**Author:** ![justrob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a9adbd/32.png) [@justrob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/justrob)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-etiquette-question-how-should-i-tip-when-im-receiving-a-substantial-discount/656102/42 "2013-04-23T01:12:24Z")
> [@redtail23](#): > > Nope, not a joke. I found out when someone was explaining to me how to figure the tip by taking the sales tax (which was around 7.5% here) and doubling it to get 15%. > > Yes, between the reduced percentage and excluding sales tax, they probably saved a whopping buck and a half. > > OTOH, I don’t think they intended to be cheap, that’s just how they’d been taught to do it. > > But I have actually seen people online argue that you shouldn’t have to tip on the sales tax. This seems like a perfectly reasonable why to figure out a 15% tip. Tipping on the tax doesn’t add an appreciable amount to the tip but it does add to the tip creep that seems to be happening. By that I mean at one point 15% was a decent tip and 20% was a good tip. These days people seem to imply you’re cheap if you tip 15%. ---
**Author:** ![pricciar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@pricciar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pricciar)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-etiquette-question-how-should-i-tip-when-im-receiving-a-substantial-discount/656102/43 "2013-04-23T01:38:13Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > What if I’m not attracted to the server? Can I give him the phone number of a less attractive friend? As the generic less attractive friend, I say yes. I always enjoy strange tip related phone calls. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-etiquette-question-how-should-i-tip-when-im-receiving-a-substantial-discount/656102/44 "2013-04-23T01:42:34Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > There’s a simple formula to use in confusing cases. Take the post-discount price. Double the sales tax and add that in again, if there’s no sales tax add 10%. Subtract your age in dollars from the total. If the cents column is an even number add the day of the month to the total in dollars. If it’s an even number take the first 3 digits of your SSN and add that in as dollars in cents. Round the amount down to the nearest dollar. Then leave a decent tip based on the pre-discount price. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-etiquette-question-how-should-i-tip-when-im-receiving-a-substantial-discount/656102/45 "2013-04-23T05:18:32Z")
> [@pricciar](#): > > As the generic less attractive friend, I say yes. I always enjoy strange tip related phone calls. “Hi, Susan? No, this is her friend, pricciar. Yes! You were the server for my friend the other night, you gave her a discount because you thought she was cute and nice, and she gave you \*my \*number because she wasn’t attracted to you, and I’m the generic less attractive friend that was sitting to her right. What? Huh? Hello? Hellooooo???” 😛 ---
**Author:** ![sbunny8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@sbunny8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sbunny8)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-etiquette-question-how-should-i-tip-when-im-receiving-a-substantial-discount/656102/46 "2013-04-23T05:23:04Z")
Let’s look at the big picture here. Why tip at all? reason #1: wait staff are underpaid and they deserve more money. If you believe this, then you should consider how many tables your sever is covering and try to guess how far below a living wage they are being paid and then try to tip enough to make up the difference. The trouble is that you don’t really know how much they are being paid. But I know that in Oregon it’s AT LEAST $8.95 per hour, PLUS tips. So even if you tip nothing at all, they still get a decent wage. But if you’re in an unfamiliar state, then all you can do is guess. reason #2: because you want to give feedback to the wait staff and reward excellence while punishing incompetence. If you believe this, then you can tip whatever amount you want, but remember that your message won’t hit home if the sever thinks you just followed a formula! Tip $3 on a bill that’s roughly $20 and the server has no idea at all whether you think they did a good job or a lousy job. The only way this works is if you leave outrageous tips like $10 or 25 cents to make your message clear. Seems to me that regardless of which reason you choose, following a formula is the wrong thing to do. But the formula gives you a reference point, something to compare to. And I agree that the formula would be 15% applied to the undiscounted price, before sales tax. Then when you’ve figured that precise amount, feel free to ignore it. ---
**Author:** ![Among\_Liberals](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Among\_Liberals](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Among_Liberals)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-etiquette-question-how-should-i-tip-when-im-receiving-a-substantial-discount/656102/47 "2013-04-24T02:21:49Z")
> [@sbunny8](#): > > But I know that in Oregon it’s AT LEAST $8.95 per hour, PLUS tips. So even if you tip nothing at all, they still get a decent wage. But if you’re in an unfamiliar state, then all you can do is guess. That’s $18.6k a year before taxes. How on Earth is that a decent wage? [Side note: if the server’s got a kid or two, he is living in poverty as defined by the [ASPE](http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/13poverty.cfm)] I personally know several servers that work their fucking asses off and _still_ are not sure what their livelihood is going to look like next week. I have no idea what the standard of living is like in Oregon, but I can’t imagine $8.95/hr is _makin’ it_ or if somebody at that income level would see themselves as making a decent living. If you’re working a tip job, the minimum wage can be anywhere from 1/3-1/2 of “normal” minimum wage. There’s usually some stipulation about the employer making the difference (or at least partially), though. Coincidentally, Oregon has the same minimum wage across the board. Still, that’s far from the national (or even Federal) standard. I always wondered why so little people know about this when making arguments like, “Servers don’t deserve a tip! They already make _so much!_”. Not to say you were making that argument with your “theoretical” reason #1, but I think it’s fair to say you skirted along those lines. Not all servers have it so bad (such as in my example, where you have people working earnestly and as hard as they can but still make just an edge above a pittance), but it’s certainly not a majority case that servers don’t rely on tips. I don’t see how this is a case of “believing waitstaff are underpaid and they deserve more money”. They _are_ underpaid and you’re _literally_ expected to give them more money. Now whether or not that’s actually your responsibility is up to you. Fun derail! For the original topic, you should probably tip based off the pre-discount amount, but I usually tip generously anyways (obviously people who should not be working with people should not be rewarded for doing a shitty job at it). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-etiquette-question-how-should-i-tip-when-im-receiving-a-substantial-discount/656102.md?page=2)