Hypothetical Management Decision re: non-tipping patron of restaurant

[ceczar]

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Big parties are exponentially more difficult and time-consuming to serve than smaller ones.

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i don't think this is true. it wouldn't surprise me if the returns to scale aren't significant, but i'd be shocked if it was on average more difficult to serve a table of 12 than 3 tables of 4.

now, your other point is certainly valid and a good reason to institute an autograt. when splitting the bill, people often make huge mistakes when calculating their share of the bill, and these mistakes are almost always biased towards paying less (forgetting to add tax, forgetting about your share of that appetizer you split with a friend, etc).

that said, i really think the autograt should be 15% and not 18%. the few times i've seen a %20 autograt i've stiffed (left 15%, not 0) them out of principle.