resturants that auto-bill the tip, your thoughts?

[97guns]

for the tab that was $1700 we tipped $200, it was a buffet so the wait staff took dirty plates and helped set up prior to the party, it lasted close to 3 hours.

we as the consumer have the choice to give our business or take it elswhere. i still feel it is bad practice for the businees to tack it on, if they make 1 customer unhappy it is a poor business decision. the resturant knew we had my grandmothers 100th birthday so one of the waitresses asked where we had it, we told her we went to another place

like i said ive been going to this resturant for over 20 years, the wait staff and owners know us by name. we have gone there as much as 4-5 times a week, now we hardly go at all, maybee 1 or 2 times a month.

do what you want to do, after all its your business and your decisions but i never see a corporate resturant practice this.

[disneysteve]

How much would you tip for 1700 dollars check?

if your party last 2 hours, the appropriate tip should be $50 for good service.

How much would I tip if I hosted a party and the tab came to $1,700. In those settings (which I have been in more than once), I'll usually tip generously because I know dealing with a large party is much more of a hassle than several smaller parties. So on a $1,700 bill (pre-tax), I'd probably tip $350.

On your example of $50 for a 2 hour party, what is that based on? How many guests involved? $50 may or may not be appropriate depending on the size of the party and the amount of work involved.

customers should be expected to consider tax when coming up with a tip based on the 15, 20, or 30 percents ratio

Was that a typo? Did you mean to say customers should not consider tax? Tip should be based on the cost of the food before the tax is added.

If tipping was ever based on amount, most of my waitresses would be getting less than a dollar from me since my tap is very low. But they usually get $50 from me for less than $10 in beer tab. My normal tab is usually 4 dollars for 2 beers I drink during happy hours on Friday night before heading home. I hang out for 2 hours at the bar talking to my buddy and I tip according to beauty and service.

That's different. I think the rest of us were talking about dining out, not just going out for a drink. I agree that 20% isn't enough if you are taking up space for hours nursing a beer or two. In fact, even at a restaurant, especially if I'm alone and have something small like just a sandwich or salad, my tip is sometimes 50% of the cost because I know I still took the server's time and occupied a 4-person table that could have been filled with more lucrative customers, so I might leave a $10 bill to pay for a $6.50 sandwich.

By the way, I don't tip male bartenders.

Well then you shouldn't go to places that have male bartenders. If you choose to go there, then you need to behave appropriately.

for the tab that was $1700 we tipped $200, it was a buffet so the wait staff took dirty plates and helped set up prior to the party, it lasted close to 3 hours.

That's different. A buffet is not the same as a table service meal. At a buffet, I usually tip a couple of dollars per person regardless of the cost of the meal (though I will give a little more at a nicer buffet and a little less at a cheap buffet). This is where service really comes into play. If my empty dishes are wisked away as soon as I set them aside - good tip. If the dishes pile up over time - not so good tip.

[nick__45]

Wow. I guess it's super impressive that I managed to use my tiny brain to find myself a second job where I can take home enough to start saving up for a downpayment on a house.

And no, most waitstaff are not going to expect a percentage tip on a party of that size if it's not restaurant policy. But most $1700 checks are not a 2 hour ordeal, they are closer to 4 or 5 hours, and take 2-3 servers. It really depends if you're buying 2 $500 bottles of wine and lobster for a party of 6, or 300 bottles of beer and entrees for 25, the amount of work varies greatly.

As for splitting the check, the only time I sigh at having to do this is when I'm splitting a large party (6 - 12) into individual checks, with lots of drinks and appetizers, when I'm otherwise very busy. That three minutes it takes to move everything around in the computer and print 6-12 checks (not to mention the time it takes to make change for that many checks) can seem very rude to my next three tables who are all waiting on me to deliver something and have to wait for their "slow" waitress to get back to them. If you're the only table I've got - hey, I've got all the time in the world for you - but if not, I have to devote the same time and attention to my two-top around the corner. They may not be dropping a thousand bucks, but they deserve the same degree of special service.

And HELL yeah it would be great if we were paid for every hour of our service, but that's just not the way it's going to be. If people had to pay more per hour, they'd leave faster, and I'd have more turnover and more tables. Last night I had a 4 top spend 4.5 hours in the restaurant, the last two hours of which I was just getting them glass after glass of soda water. That's 2 hours of being a devoted server, selling nothing. Their bill was about $50 and I made around $8. But, that's just the breaks sometimes. A couple nights before I had a $30 tip for an hour's work. It averages out.

I've also worked a lot of big parties where 40-50 guests are milling around the room and two waitresses are fetching drinks for everyone, on separate tabs, some buying drinks for each other, and people just wander off without paying. No tip there, and who do you think is responsible for their tab?

You are the exception to the rule as far as buying a house and such. The fact that you can logically talk about it here is impressive. The fact is, if you wait on us at a family restaurant, you would get at least 50% tip but I rarely visit family restaurant. On the hand, most waitresses I deal with are idiots and the smart/nice one get over 200% in tips from me, if you do the math of tip amount over the cost. Most waitresses spend their tax-free earning on junks and once they are done looking good, they'll just be a regular waitress and back to reality.

[yugugelizer]

I know those in the grunt industry would love their unrealistic 20% of the amount but I wonder what you, as a consumer, felt was appropriate. I find that waitresses hate to split the check as that mean they have to use their tiny brain, which is incapable of realizing that they tend to get more tip with seperated checks as people will tip 15-30% individually instead of a fair amount.

I don't know why you feel it is appropriate to belittle everyone in a "grunt" industry, labeling them incompetent, but speaking as a 4.0 Accounting Master's student, trust me, when guests asked me to split a check, I was never upset because I needed to use my "tiny brain." The only time it ever bothered me to split checks was when I had large parties (10+) who decided to play musical chairs, ordered each other drinks all night, and decided to tell me after a 3 hour drinking binge that they would like split checks. Then, I would spend my time separating their checks, neglecting my other tables, and would have to explain to the guests that they, in fact, did order a round of drinks for all of their friends. After I spent all of this time, fixing an issue that would have never happened if they let me know in the first place that they were splitting checks, I get a couple dollars on 20$ from each. Now, with my "tiny brain", I can't calculate that, what percentage is that? Am I incapable of realizing that I tend to get a better tip with separate checks, or are you making assumptions without ever having worked in the industry?

As far as the OP's question, tip what you want. Like I have warned, servers remember good and bad tippers, trust me. And word spreads fast. If a server is busy, they are going to have to prioritize; usually higher tippers are at the top of the list. I don't know of a fine dining restaurant that does not have a grat; the reason is, you cannot keep good servers if they get poor tips from "big spenders, low tippers." As far as buffets, I would say 15% would be adequate, but good service is good service, no matter what level of restaurant.