# Why is tipping by %? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 3, 2012, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-tipping-by/608226 "2012-01-03T04:21:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Time\_Like\_Tears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/df705f/32.png) [@Time\_Like\_Tears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Time_Like_Tears)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-tipping-by/608226/21 "2012-01-04T22:28:38Z")
In your general mid-level to high class restaurant, no waiter is lucky enough to be able to serve 30 patrons in a NIGHT, much less at a time. He’d need 8 arms to serve 30 patrons efficiently at any given time regardless of the ritziness of the establishment. Servers make the most money not from giant tips, but from table turnover. In an average restaurant (seats 200) on a Friday night (10 servers on the floor) each server would be assigned a section of 3-4 tables to take care of for the duration of their shift, which may last until closing time or only an hour, depending on volume. Servers are cut and the remaining servers’ sections may or may not grow as they absorb the tables that are left uncovered. The average table in a restaurant contains a couple, or a small family. The large groups are fought over viciously, sometimes involving steak knives and thrown soda, especially when the restaurant has an auto-gratuity for large parties. Then not only do servers have to pay taxes on what they make, they often have to share tips with busboys, kitchen staff, sommeliers, hosts, etc. Just sayin, a dollar per patron standard would never bring most servers anywhere near up to minimum wage, considering Federal tipped minimum wage is $2.13/hour. ---
**Author:** ![put\_down\_the\_sabre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/da6949/32.png) [@put\_down\_the\_sabre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/put_down_the_sabre)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2012, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-tipping-by/608226/22 "2012-01-05T02:04:09Z")
> [@Anamorphic](#): > > … > > You’re going to be paying that money one way or the other. Wouldn’t you rather have that small amount of control over it? I wouldn’t, no. Tipping in America turns what should be simple transactions (going out for a meal, or a drink) into a major source of class angst, where servants are obseqious to customers but hate a proportion of them, and customer lord it over servants but secretly worry about offending them (“I hope that was a good enough tip! I hope noone thinks I’m stingy!”) Imagine if other service industries (medicine, accounting, the law) were like that. pdts ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2012, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-tipping-by/608226/23 "2012-01-05T02:54:07Z")
> [@steronz](#): > > I can’t be the only one who takes this into account. > > At a typical greasy spoon where you can get a decent breakfast for $5.50 a person, I’ll typically tip on the range of 30%. Which means tipping 3 or 4 dollars for a couple of people versus $1.70 or whatever 15% would be. If the place is out in the country and/or particularly dead, I’ll go to 40 or 50 percent. > > My normal restaurant tips are in the 20 to 25 percent range, depending on what we ordered and how much my kids have destroyed the place. I generally tip 20% OR $2 per person, whichever is more. I’m single and am usually eating alone, I don’t drink, and I live in an area with a number of cheap, locally-owned restaurants, so it’s fairly common for my total bill to only be about $6-8. A 20% tip would only be about $1.50, so in those situations I tip $2. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-tipping-by/608226.md?page=1)