Stiffing

[samsonite2100]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
tuq,

agreed. i think adding the tip in automatically for large parties is a stupid policy, but places that automatically add 20% are a bit ridiculous.

[/ QUOTE ]

Try serving a party of 15 people including 5 screaming kids, and get back to me on whether autograting is stupid or not.

Also, yeah, 10 percent is an awful tip these days. 15% is marginal and 20% is good. Most people seem to leave around 17-19%, which is fine.

[/ QUOTE ]

yeah, but nowaways with everyone paying in credit, how hard is it for the person paying to simply do his own math and write it on the credit slip? do you feel that, on average, waiters get more/less/same because of this? what about someone who knows his 5 screaming kids are a pain and would tip extra, but then the tip is auto-added so he doesn't?

also, i do think its dumb when some places have it set at 6 people or more and there are three adult couples dining together and they add in the tip.

fwiw you might be right about the hassle and judging from all the non-tippers in this thread, automatic is probably the way to go.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think it's probably about the same as when people paid with cash more. Actually, probably better, because it's easier to part with 20% on a credit slip than to peel off the same amount of bills and leave them.

As far as auto-grating goes, it's a crapshoot. You definitely sometimes grat tables that would have left you more, but better that than to be run ragged for 3 hours by a big table that leaves you 12%, or whatever.