I tip on the total, too. Guess I’ve been overtipping, but I’m not going to change now.

I don't worry about it and I don't live where taxes are high enough to make much difference.
The tip is also adjusted on the quality of the service and anything else that relevant.

I tip on the total. Not worried about the few extra dollars that tipping on the tax adds.

No plans to change my practice either. We went out tonight to a joint we visit regularly. The girl serving our area was excellent and very busy covering a lot of tables, her tip was over 30% and it was a no brainer. Frankly I think we get better service because my wife and I are known to the staff as good tippers.

Total + 20% is where they start out when I'm seated.

Then it can only go down from there, based on their actual quality of service.

It takes a lot to get me to start subtracting, but it happens sometimes.

Pretty much no one gets more than 20%, except for big parties or extreme circumstances.

quote:

Originally posted by 46and2:
Total + 20% is where they start out when I'm seated.

Then it can only go down from there, based on their actual quality of service.

It takes a lot to get me to start subtracting, but it happens sometimes.

No one gets more than 20%, except for big parties or extreme circumstances.

Exactly, I'm pretty patient, even just saying, "hey I know I haven't been by much but I'm swamped tonight." Will go a long way. I'm personable and hate to judge what kind of shit they might be dealing with, I worked in a restaurant in high school and it sucked then, prolly worse now.

quote:

Originally posted by sigarms229:
Frankly I think we get better service because my wife and I are known to the staff as good tippers.

Funny how that works, eh?

Although I’d never put it that way to the servers, I look at large tips at local restaurants as a form of charitable donations to people I know and who do something for me rather than going into some anonymous pit that might or might not benefit those whom it’s supposed to help.* In these times in particular I’m grateful to the people who are willing to work and keep struggling businesses going. When I can’t afford to tip at least appropriately, I’ll stop eating out.

* Yes, I make contributions to trustworthy charities as well.

Total. Sales tax where I am is either 5% or 5.5%, depending on county. On an $80 tab with $4.40 in taxes, the difference in a 20% tip is 88 cents, not worth the extra math to save... and I like doing math.

20% of after tax total. Adjust up or down depending on quality of service.

quote:

Originally posted by 12131:
Total. Not that big of a deal.

Ditto.

At Carmen’s Mexican Food, a take-out place for me nowadays, I give em a BIG tip because I like the food, and the proprietors, so much.

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:

quote:

Originally posted by sigarms229:
Frankly I think we get better service because my wife and I are known to the staff as good tippers.

Funny how that works, eh?

Although I’d never put it that way to the servers, I look at large tips at local restaurants as a form of charitable donations to people I know and who do something for me rather than going into some anonymous pit that might or might not benefit those whom it’s supposed to help.* In these times in particular I’m grateful to the people who are willing to work and keep struggling businesses going. When I can’t afford to tip at least appropriately, I’ll stop eating out.

* Yes, I make contributions to trustworthy charities as well.

I think just frequenting makes a huge difference. Obviously if your a POS customer then no. But here I Korea there is no tax or tip. We go the the same Korean BBQ joint, family-owned, once or twice a week.

Every meal we get free add ons, dessert or soup or something.

Plus on the kids birthdays they get 100$ each from the owner, crazy good relationship.

Both - Since we have no sales tax in Montana.

quote:

Originally posted by 12131:
Total. Not that big of a deal.

My first thought after reading the OP.

There're some real tightwads on this forum...

Acts 20:35 ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’


YMMV...

I go off of total. I'm not nit-picking my tip for food service. The folks working in that industry have been getting screwed for quite awhile.

I'm a standard 15-20%, more for stand-out service. Anything less than $25, I'll automatically default to a $5 minimum tip.

Pre tax. Tax is pushing 10% here. I tend to tip 20-25% so it’s probably a wash.

Clearly you can tip whatever you want, but to the Original question, official tip etiquette is based on pre-tax.

quote:

Originally posted by frayedends:
I always tip on total including tax. I never bothered finding the pre tax amount to calculate from. That being said electronic pads are being used more where I just click the percentage and it adds it automatically. These calculate pretax. I love these things as I don’t need to think about it or do the math.

Yours might do this, however it’s up to the programming by the restaurant. Sometimes they base those numbers on pre-tax(your experience) many times it’s programmed post tax (to give them more money) and often I’ve found that they don’t correspond to anything and it’s even higher than what it says. I like math, and I always check those things out of habit. I find that they are incorrect probably 20% of the time, proposing artificially high amounts. It’s of course up to the consumer to tip whatever they are comfortable with and not really feel like they got ripped off because they just agreed to the proposed tip on the machine.

quote:

Originally posted by ridgerat:
I tip based on total BEFORE tax.

Why would anyone tip on money nobody has earned?

All tipping is arbitrary. The easy way: take total bill, divide by 10, then multiply by 2. That’s you tip. Round up, round down, adjust for service. Per vs post tax is silly. If you tax is 10%, the tip might move a few dollars. At the end of the day, why does serving a $20 burger warrant less tip than a $50 NY strip. It doesn’t. It’s arbitrary. I prefer the Japanese system of no tipping.

Tip on the total bill. Minimum of 20%, or at least $5 per guest.

I think the cultural expectation is based on pre-tax.

Lived in a state where state and local ended up being 7.5%. That was handy from a calculation perspective, i.e. 'double the tax for the tip' was a useful guideline there.

The difference is not all that much, mathematically (a modest percentage times a small percentage is really small) though in high-tax states the difference could be noticeable on large meals.

Always on total. I worked as a bartender/server throughout my 20s. The vast majority (like 98%+) tipped at least 20% on the total. I'm well aware the "rule" is to tip on pretax amounts but no one does that.


My uncle's been known to say when it comes to tipping "for a few extra bucks you're a hero."