Have you encountered this?

Pretty sure the waitress wasn't the one who fucked with the register. Probably the restaurant trying to ensure they don't have to pay the difference if the tips come up short and leave the staff below minimum wage.

"Fuck you restaurant for trying to scam me, now I'll only pay the correct 20% extra on top of my bill"

They also paid it on the tax. Supposed to figure off the subtotal

The solution is to never step foot in the restaurant again not punish the server.

Yep, that's a solid 0% for me

Do a review on Google maps, and TripAdvisor, if you are in a touristy city. Warn the world, and put the ownership on notice.

I call and complain for crap like this all the time now. I make sure to let them know I removed to all my friends and coworkers about it too.

My latest crusade is restaurants that put 4% service fees to help pay for people's health insurance. Just raise the price on the individual items on the menu. Making me math out what you are actually charging like that is bullshit.

I would have gone back and not left until I had both 20%s in my hand. Call the police? Please do!

Smart businesses know that the key is "customer retention" and they don't screw you. Dumb businesses operate on "one and done". "We'll screw them and they probably will never come back"

Tipped minimum wage in the US is $2.13/hour, hence the reason for the high percentages.

20% has actually been the norm for a while. Maybe it was a bit on the upper end a couple decades ago while now it's more default, but I remember my parents tipping 20% for normal service back in the 90's. Of course, with prices soaring tipping is still getting pricier and pricier, but the expected percentage here has been relatively stable.

The thing that's out of control is where you're expected to tip now. I often see a tip prompt come up at retail stores where the only service the employee provided was ringing up the items I brought. I never tip in those kinds of situations, and I doubt the employee would see any of it even if I did.

the idea of percentage based tipping is so wild to me, in my mind a tip is only based on the reason i want to tip them.
If they did an impressive job but just did their job then i'll give them a euro or something, if they had to endure something miserable like cleaning up baby vomit then they get like 10 euro because god knows that's what i'd need to stay on that job.

Also, importantly, the tip is in cash and goes directly to the person i think deserves it, and i'm going to tell the worker that wink wink nudge nudge if the employer asks then i didn't give them a tip.

Laughing in European

Stop tipping culture. If you just stop tipping people who rely on tips, you just make their lives much harder

I think the only chance this will work is moving somewhere it’s not a thing.

I like tipping. The service is better, and servers are paid more than they would be without it.

Pauly must be busy.

Wow must be cool living somewhere completely irrelevant to this post!

I don't tip on tax.

But on the flip side if I receive a discount of some sort, I tip on the pre-discount amount.

My Dad taught me that as a kid. I'm extremely supportive of wait staff, and I'm an excellent tipper (25% is not unusual), but I'm not tipping on tax. I draw the line there.

Makes me wonder how many servers out their think their customers are being cheap because they only tipped X% when in reality they actually tipped 15% or whatever before tax.

Your logic is inverted. The lines would have to have a place for folks to add in the taxes. Otherwise the math would work in the opposite direction – the calculated amounts would be lower than the amounts based on the number at the bottom. (Unless a discount was applied that’s not shown.)

You think the wait staff setup the machine to do math wrong?

Yeah, what's likely happening here is that the tip numbers were calculated off the subtotal intentionally. So say you buy a "happy hour" drink and it is $3 instead of $6, they tip is calculated before the "discount".

Their machine could have actually been wrong, but using a total before discounts seems more likely.

Tips are a big reason I stopped going out. Everybody wants one.

It looks like the percentages are based of a total of $37.95, so it’s possible there was a discount included that made their total closer to $30.

My only exception to the "pre-discount" price is when places have a "buy 1 get 1" deal and they try to make you tip based on that, but the single item price is way overpriced because of it. Happens around me a lot where they're like 3pack tacos, buy 1 get 1 $21, like yeah that's great price for 6 small tacos, but I wouldn't be paying $21 for 3 tacos, so I'm not gonna tip whatever crazy amount for a bill that "would have been" $75 or something for some tacos and a drink. Granted these are usually carry out orders, but don't try to artificially inflate my bill to get better tips because you discounted it to a lower price.

Edit before people give me flak: I still tip fairly, but if a place tries to give me some "your bill was 100$, but we discounted it to 20$ that'll be a 20$ tip though" they can fuck off. I'll tip right, but don't try to guilt trip me with a discount when you know I wouldn't be here at all of it wasn't for the discount.

Also, the restaurant probably has no control over those numbers. The software might give them a Yes/No option on showing suggested tips or not at best.

Why would you calculate the tip before the final amount? And why would that incorrect amount be printed out for the customer?

That would be quite optimistic, but this is something I've noticed at multiple restaurants myself. I saw the tip "suggestions" were not accurate so I checked to see what numbers they might have been using and tried the after tax amount etc, but nope the numbers are just inflated artificially. It's happened with or without alcohol on the tab, with and without sale items, and I don't ever really get anything "comped" unless it's a sauce on the side or something. I wouldn't say it's a scam, but I did roll my eyes the first time I noticed it.

I’m all for refusing to tip, but be up-front about it. Let the server know ahead of time that you won’t be tipping. Hell, let the manager (or if it’s a smaller place, the owner) know too, so you can actually get your opinion heard by someone who may be able to effect change. Make it clear that your refusal to tip is not a reflection of the server, but a protest against tipping culture.

Hell, while talking to the manager, you should also ask if they require servers to tip out the back-of-house staff. If you’re refusing to tip, it’s entirely possible that your server is losing money on your order, because they’re required to pay the kitchen a percentage of your bill. If the server is required to tip out, be clear that you want your bill excluded from the tip out, since you’re refusing to tip based on strongly held personal beliefs. If the manager protests or says it isn’t possible (it is possible, but they’ll lie to try to get you to tip), then they can serve you personally.

You’ll still get served, but it’ll be with the level of service that the waiter thinks you should get, rather than with the level of service that you think you deserve. If you’re going to refuse to tip, at least take the mask off and be honest so your server can do the same.

If you’re willing to do that, then more power to you. Believe it or not, many servers will be chill about it, and treat you the same as any other customer. Especially if you’re there when it’s slow, and they don’t need to tip out the back of house staff. They’re not losing any money by serving you, and they aren’t super busy so they have no reason to ignore you. But if you’re afraid to be honest because you might get worse service, then you’re just a scab who is leeching from the tipping culture and only hurting the working class.

You pay for the service of being waited on… don’t want to tip… then go to McDonald’s! wtf! 🤬

It's not hard to include a disclaimer tip prices based on full price if that's the case to avoid looking bad.

I don’t know if Groupon is still a thing, but at its peak there were posts online on a regular basis from wait staff who got stiffed, because customers would tip based on the balance they owed after the 90%+ discount Groupon voucher.

Understood, but not my problem. If it says 20%, it should be 20%. For trying to pull shit like this it is going to be a 0% from me.

That would be a reason to throw hands (okay, I'd consider it for a second and then calm down but still!), and I'd definitely leave without paying, nvm the tip, lol. You'd be lucky if I didn't scream cause I randomly found a cockroach in my coffee or something. 🤷

No it isn’t. I agree tip culture is ridiculous, but if you go somewhere where that is the norm, and then you don’t tip, you’re an asshole. No question.

It's probably basing the tip on a pre discount amount.

The writer is proud of doing math but should be ashamed of their critical thinking and ego.

It's entered manually, usually at the end of the shift. It's standard for most, if not all restaurants in the United States

The server has to manually enter it.

Here's their bullshit workflow:

• Print the check
• Customer reviews it
• Credit card is given to the server
• Card is swiped/authorized at the POS
• Server returns with the receipts
• Customer then writes in the tip amount and signs on the merchant copy
• Server takes the signed receipt and enters the tip amount back at the POS

For whatever reason, the USA keeps using their signature, when the technology for pay at the table has been around for decades.

Meanwhile, chip & PIN has been standard everywhere in Canada for the last decade, with some businesses using it for almost another decade prior to that. Mexico wasn't far behind either, so it's absolutely possible to adopt better methods.

The transaction remains open until the end of the shift. At the end of the shift, the checks are closed out with the updated tip amount included in the final charge.

Going back to the picture...thanks, now I have to confirm the restaurants math is correct and I'm bad at math.

I've seen auto-calculated tip of all combinations of with/without tax, with/without percent discount, and with/without individual item discounts.

I wish tipping would end, by mandating a living wage for all workers from the chef to the dishwasher and including all the waitstaff and everyone else in both the front and the back. But, until it does, I try to be generous with my tips, but also kind to people that can't or are simply tired of "tipflation".

But the government does get some from the "claimed" wages of the server

Hahah in my country she gets a wage for that shit

Not only that but that waitress at a diner is probably providing a hell of a lot better service than that bartender where I have to wave money just to get served

Highly doubt the server was being malicious. They aren't putting that on the receipt. It's a shitty thing for sure but it's unlikely that server had anything to do with it.

I was going to say I would have calculated out and either an even lower option and written it in and then tipped that 😂

“we forgot to charge that on another table, someone has to pay for it”

Da fuq?

I haven't seen this. Name and shame this place?

Yep, this is highway to a $1 tip from me.

But that depends on the business. The $1 tip would only be for a chain company where I know the employees are making at least normal minimum wage and the tips are just a tip on top.

Yes punish the server for the restaurant's crimes. A story as old as tipped wages.

Must be wunderbar

where is here?

It was always a dumb idea to pay servers LESS because they got tips. There was a time when tips were mostly cash and you didn't have to claim them as income. But now that advantage is almost completely gone. And we should just end tipping. If you go out and don't like the service then don't go back. Just like it works with any other business.

Yeah, I'll tip you 20%, but I'll be damned if I don't round down because of your petty scam!