I have only recently realized why I used to hear comedians say "tip your waitresses" as a closing joke, and why tipping culture is quite prevalent in the United States. Being someone from a place that doesn't have that custom, I only thought that the dual meaning behind the act of tipping was the punchline of the joke, and it is. But I didn't know how necessary tips actually are for servers in the United States.
Charlotte Andersen at Reader's Digest explains the rationale quite simply: servers in restaurants generally receive a "minimum food wage" of $2.13 per hour, much lower than the actual minimum wage of $12, depending on the state one lives in. This rule is stated in the Fair Labor Standards Act, and the law presumes that servers will be able to make up for the difference between this food wage and minimum wage through customers' tips.
So, what is the general rule of thumb when it comes to tipping etiquette? Perhaps, one may have been accustomed to the 10-15-20 principle in which 10% is the base tip, 15% is for decent service, and 20% is for excellent service, but times have changed. Nowadays, people are expected to tip at least 20%. But this isn't the no. 1 mistake people make when tipping. Andersen asserts that it's tipping strictly based on the total amount of the bill.
We are presented with four different scenarios in which the customer either makes use of discounts, coupons, or other benefits that cause them to pay lower on their tab, or are given free food or drinks as a service from the kitchen.
In these cases, Jan Goss, an etiquette expert, suggests that the best way to keep in step with proper tipping etiquette, one should always consider the actual total amount of the bill had such discounts or rebates not been used, as well as adding the amount of the free food or drinks to the total amount on the bill, and then tipping from that.
Another thing to note is that some people would tip based on the pre-tax amount on their bill. Goss states that it's best practice to always calculate tips based on the total amount after-tax.
Despite these practices being the custom, there is an argument about the tipping culture becoming a bit too overwhelming these days. However, Goss contends that servers should not have to bear the brunt of the dissatisfaction people might have on excesses of tipping culture.
Many servers work hard to earn an honest living, and if customers can help alleviate that burden and show gratitude at the same time, then that would be quite swell. Otherwise, it might mean that the law needs to be revised to either abolish this "minimum food wage" or at the very least, raise it so that neither the customer nor the servers have to bear this heavy burden.
(Image credit: Kenny Eliason/Unsplash)
And now point of sale systems basically default to asking for a tip whether you're carrying out a pizza or picking up your dry cleaning. Someone's going to feel awkward about selecting "no tip" while the person behind the register stares them down, or they just don't think about it, and now that's a tipped position. It's a broken system but too many people make too much money off of it, both employers and employees alike.
I disagree with the advice "Regardless of how you got the free food, you should tip on a total that includes the free items". If you don't want the free food (like, they bring out a free dessert because you had to wait two hours), you should not be expected to tip on it.