18% gratuity

[ULuvCeCe]

When you're at a restaurant with a large group and 18% gratuity is added (this may be a different percentage in other states). Do you still tip on top of that?

Some restaurants I've been to say that the 18% is basically a convenience fee for them and that you need to still tip your waiters. I think that is a crock and if they're going to charge that they should be splitting it with their employees.

Depending on the service we still try to offer cash on the table but if your party is big enough to warrant the 18% I feel that the restaurant has gotten more than enough money. Your thoughts?

[alina6]

Depends on the service - average service and 18% it is. If it is exceptional service we would leave more.

[bud1]

No.  All tips go into a jar and are split among  all the waiters/waitress. The 18%  should be more than far.

[mh874892]

I usually base it on the service and if I am with people who I know do not tip very well. I stick with the 18% for average or below average service, and go up from there. Also, I watch what others tip and factor that in too.

[davidh121]

I tip slightly more when this is not included and with lesser size groups if I think the service was decent (i.e. 20%), but with larger groups there isn't as much incentive to tip much further; I also do not want to force other people to put down more as we're often splitting the bill in these situations.

[wsptaxijay]

For us the tip is always based on service, usually on the bigger parties the waiter/waitress does work harder and IMO you do get better service with bigger groups so we do tip extra on top. What gets me is the 18% gratuity on carryouts

[ckaliszewski]

If you order an alcoholic drink you should still leave a tip, for the bartender.
The gratuity in my state for groups is 15%, I usually leave an additional tip if the waiter or waitress is especially good (or good at all)
However it seems like the waiter/waitress doesn't do as well if I'm in a group (they probably just don't care because they're already guaranteed a tip.)

[floorlady]

I work for a big chain restaurant and we add gratuity to parties of 8 or more. We have to split the tip between two servers and we only make $2.63 a hour and we have to tip out a percentage of our sales to busers and bartenders. When you are in a large party it is always greatly appreciated if you tip over the gratuity. Often times a group is there for 2 or more hours and you work very hard to keep your guests happy. I say if the service is good tip more than you are forced to please 

[BeccaGoga]

I try to tip no matter what. How much I leave as a tip depends on the service.

[lgemini]

When they tell us how much to pay it is not good.  If I have to pay 18% of the bill I will not put something extra on the table.

[mintopewku]

Certainly there are times when the 18% is enough...I think several things needs to be considered.  Are your servers exclusive to your party or do they have other tables?  How much time did you take in the section? Was the service good?  And was alochol ordered--this matters because bar tenders are an additional service, so your waitress would need to tip them out.

I have been in both situations where the 18% was more than enough, and I've been in situations where I made sure to tip in addition.  I have also had two servers assigned to my party though it was obvious that one was doing the majority of the work.  In such a case, I specifically place my tip in her hands without the knowledge of the other server.  Now if the good server chooses to share, that is up to him/her.

[Cuppycake]

Tipping is no longer what is is SUPPOSED to be which is gratitude for excellent service. It has become a way for greedy selfish companies to get away with not properly paying their employees! It needs to be put to a stop!

[wsptaxijay]

Tipping is no longer what is is SUPPOSED to be which is gratitude for excellent service. It has become a way for greedy selfish companies to get away with not properly paying their employees! It needs to be put to a stop!

  I believe its a mixiture of greedy selfish companies and the "entitlement era" we live in. If you do a good job, I will gladly reward you, But if you think just because you showed up at your job I HAVE to tip, well just ask the waiter in Greektown about the 2 cent tip I left him. I understand servers get paid very low hourly pay but if you just show up and provide bad service you should not be tipped. If you do your job, I will be glad to tip very nice as we lived off of just tips for several years.

[animikokala]

Tipping is no longer what is is SUPPOSED to be which is gratitude for excellent service. It has become a way for greedy selfish companies to get away with not properly paying their employees! It needs to be put to a stop!

  I believe its a mixiture of greedy selfish companies and the "entitlement era" we live in. If you do a good job, I will gladly reward you, But if you think just because you showed up at your job I HAVE to tip, well just ask the waiter in Greektown about the 2 cent tip I left him. I understand servers get paid very low hourly pay but if you just show up and provide bad service you should not be tipped. If you do your job, I will be glad to tip very nice as we lived off of just tips for several years.

Agreed.  I have no problem leaving tips for a satisfactory job.  However, when I go out, I include the mood of the server (penalty for being a rude grumpy-butt) along with the relative speed and frequency of their service (accounting for how busy they are) when I make my final decision on the tip amount.  Also, don't rush me by shoving a check at me while I'm still clearly eating my meal; that's just like telling me "your order has no value" which I translate into "your tip will have no (or limited) value" for them.

If it's especially poor service, I've left handwritten notes as my "tip" listing every reason why they don't receive one.  I've had a server give me coke when I ordered lemonade (how they mixed up the two is anyone's guess), then when it came time to refill, put dr pepper in the cup....  This same server gave us food that was completely wrong as well; we ended up waiting an extra 30 minutes before receiving what we ordered.  Then they had the audacity to put the incorrectly ordered food on our bill and tried arguing with us about it.  Those types of "note"worthy servers have only amounted to a total of two notes written, fortunately.

[Jess71903]

If there is a gratuity added, (i.e. the 18% mentioned), I willa sk to see if it is actually a tip or aservice charge going to the restaurant -- I don't feel taht the waiter/ress should get short-changed because of a restaurant's policies. If the waiter/ress does an above average job, I may leave a few dollars more than the already added gratuity. I know that a large party is a lot of work. Would you say anything if the service was awful and there was a gratuity added?